Are Hosted (Cloud) Solutions for ERP Distribution Software Better?

Cloud Hosted ERP Software for Wholesalers Reduces IT Costs

Definition: Hosted Solution

When you rent a virtual server from a company that takes over the responsibility for maintaining and keeping your server running, this is referred to as a hosted solution (sometimes also referred to as Cloud hosting). The hosted virtual server is located at the hosting company’s data center and you connect to it remotely over an Internet connection.

Hosted solutions provide users a similar application experience through their Web browser as they have in the past with traditional desktop applications. One of the many advantages of hosted solutions is that they are deployed and maintained easily compared to older client-server software applications.

ADS Solutions works with several hosting companies that can offer distributors this type of hosted solution where you pay a monthly charge for a hosted virtual server. All of the hosting companies ADS Solutions works with have multiple connectivity options, redundancy, data backups, and disaster recovery procedures.
With a hosted solution, you purchase a perpetual license to use ADS Solutions software for wholesalers, which is installed on the hosted server. You are responsible for keeping your software updated. An annual maintenance contract, which is a required part of our hosted solution, will help you do this.

Benefits of Hosted (Cloud) Solutions for Distributors

• Monthly hosting charge rather than an upfront cash outflow to purchase hardware outright
• Networking and other infrastructure costs are reduced
• No internal IT resources required to maintain hardware
• Improved hardware uptime and reliability
• Can access the hosted solution using any device (e.g., PCs, Macs)
• Data backups, periodic procedures, and utilities and software updates are all handled for you
• Much easier to scale this model as a distributor’s business grows
  Considerations
• Pose a lower risk of local system corruption because they are designed to be accessed via a Web browser

Perceived Drawbacks to Hosted ERP Software Solutions:

• Concern over data security (this may be more of a perception that reality)
• Perceived lack of control as distributor doesn’t own the hardware

Cloud hosting continues to gain popularity among distributors when choosing deployment methods for ERP software. Please get in touch to discuss which deployment option is best for your company.