September 2015
Are you confused about Cloud, Mobile, SaaS? Join the club! And how about Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud? This article isn’t going to define these terms. (Stay tuned for definitions in the March Newsletter.) Instead, it will walk through the movement of technology that gave rise to these terms and the impact of that movement on enterprise data and applications. Buckle up! At the core of this movement of technology are two trends:
1. Increased Accessibility
2. Decreased Local (in house) Infrastructure
Although these two trends are related they are not necessarily interdependent. In other words, decreased local infrastructure does not automatically result in increased accessibility and increased accessibility does not strictly depend on decreased local infrastructure.
First, let’s explore number 2. Decreased Local (in-house) Infrastructure. In one way decreased local infrastructure brings to mind the way enterprise data and applications were managed before more than half of the readers of this article were born. In those days companies “rented” capacity and time on large mainframe computers to store data and run applications. Todays’ trend toward decreased local infrastructure is moving data and applications to “rented” capacity and time in either discrete offsite facilities or into the cloud.
I use this illustration not to suggest that technology is going backwards; but to give a reference point for those of my generation. In reality the differences in renting infrastructure in the era of the mainframe and now are vastly different. This is true for both discrete facilities and the cloud in terms of accessibility. Unlike in the days of the mainframe when access to applications and data was severely limited (particularly to smaller companies), today's offsite infrastructure provides access comparable to (if not better than) in-house infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure has the added advantage of tremendous scalability. In the cloud you don’t have to reserve extra capacity to cover peak periods; but rather you pay for the capacity as it is needed. What is even more exciting is that the move to offsite infrastructure, particularly cloud, is leading to increased opportunities for collaboration, intelligent data mining, and other benefits yet to be discovered. Of course most businesses can’t and shouldn’t instantly move all their business applications and data to the cloud. However, I do recommend looking to the future while maintaining a focus on the present by asking yourself: Can my company start moving infrastructure from in-house to offsite and what will be the benefits, both immediate and long term?
Increased accessibility in the enterprise is led by a similar trend already well established culturally. In our lives outside the enterprise we enjoy instant communication with friends, family and even strangers, anytime and anywhere. Our entertainment, our bank balance and the ability to transact from and to our account, and pictures of the latest addition to our families and our cousin’s vacation are all instantly available at our fingertips. The “Global Village” predicted by the Technology Prophet Marshall McLuhan is here to stay. It is only natural in this “Global Village” that we also want information about our business and the ability to interact with our business systems at our fingertips. This technology trend of today which is moving us toward an exciting future. I would suggest calling it the “Global Enterprise”; but there is already a consulting firm by that name. So much for my ambition to become a Technology Prophet.
How does this relate to you and your MAX system?
In case you haven’t already heard, information about your MAX system and the ability to interact with it are already available at your fingertips via MAX Anywhere. Unlike most other mobile ERP applications that provide the capability to view data and perform very limited data entry, MAX Anywhere provides powerful inquiries, order entry and transactions in a feature rich application accessible in-browser from any smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. You can learn more about MAX Anywhere here or contact your account manager to talk about mobile ERP.
Welcome to the future!
We encourage your participation in future MAX Customer events and welcome your comments and suggestions.
Questions or comments? Contact Shiromani Misra at shiromani.misra@exact.com or 650-286-2617. Or Steve Budnik at steve.budnik@exact.com