Cloud ERP: a new dilemma to modern organisations?

For almost two decades, on-premise ERP has been adopted very prevalently in the industry. Accompanied with the emergence of cloud computing technologies in the late 2000s, there is an increasing trend for companies to migrate their hitherto internal ERP applications and databases into the cloud. Such ERP resources re-migration, which can offer a range of opportunities to user companies, is also associated with new challenges. The study reported in this paper aimed to explore potential benefits and barriers associated with the adoption of cloud ERPs. A set of in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 ERP and cloud consultants. The findings, derived from a thematic analysis, identified that whilst the economic and technical benefits promised by cloud vendors are attractive, the success of cloud ERP adoption can be affected by critical challenges related to diverse organisational factors as well as with current legal and technical complexity in the cloud environment.