Global cloud-based ERP market growing more than 10% through to 2018

TechNavio, the tech-focused global research firm, says that the global SaaS-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) market is healthy, with a projected CAGR of 13.8% from 2013 to 2018. Convenience and a need for energy conservation are the main factors driving this growth, the company said.

Source: TechNavio.

SaaS-based ERP is a web-based service that provides access to enterprise-wide data from any location at any time. One of the key features of SaaS-based ERP is the secure storage and maintenance of all data on off-site servers. 

SaaS-based ERP also enables organisations to conserve energy because users do not have to purchase and configure their own servers and storage systems on-site. This eliminates the associated energy consumption at user sites.

On-premise ERP requires at least 12-36 months for installation, whereas SaaS-based ERP requires an average of two to three weeks for installation. As all support is outsourced, companies implementing SaaS-based ERP can focus on their core business activities instead of managing an internal team for software maintenance, TechNavio notes.

Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio, said that intense competition is forcing businesses to deploy ERP faster than ever. "Companies are benefiting from the ability to deploy SaaS-based ERP more quickly than traditional on-premise ERP and the method offers ease of adding new user functionality,” says Ghaus.

Key vendors include Epicor Software, Infor Global Solutions, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle and SAP.