Cloud Native ERP vs. Cloud-Adapted ERP
In this article, we aim to clarify the difference between Cloud-native ERP applications and ERP applications adapted for the Cloud, as well as explain why moving non-cloud-native applications to the Cloud is not advisable.
ERP Cloud Native vs. Cloud-Adapted ERP: There's a Huge Difference!
Many ERP applications on the market today operate in the Cloud, but there’s a crucial characteristic that often goes unnoticed, which is fundamental to fully leveraging the many benefits the Cloud offers. The difference lies in how the Cloud operates — whether the application was designed natively for the Cloud or if it was adapted using tools that make the application work in the Cloud, even though it wasn’t originally built for it.
Let’s start by saying that most of the ERP applications available in the market that claim to operate in the Cloud are actually adapted, not Cloud-native.
These are applications installed on a Cloud server, where remote technologies like Terminal Services and Remote Desktop Connection are used to allow users to access the Cloud server and display the application locally on their client machine.
So, while the application runs in the Cloud and is displayed in the Cloud, the image that appears on the user’s screen is “copied” from the server in real-time. In essence, all the processing takes place on the server, not the client machine. The client’s PC mainly just moves the mouse and sends keypresses to the server, with virtually no processing power needed from the local machine.
These are outdated and obsolete technologies that can only render non-native Cloud applications running on a remote server.
Problems with Cloud-Adapted Applications
1st Problem: Economic Issues
When a company wants to remote-enable an application or a set of applications, it typically has to purchase Microsoft licenses for remote technologies, which can be quite expensive.
Moreover, whenever the operating system version on the server is updated, these licenses need to be repurchased. For example, when an organization upgrades from Windows Server 2010 to 2012, 2016, or 2019, it has to buy new licenses each time a new release of the server is installed.
The number of required licenses is proportional to the number of clients. For instance, if a company has 10 clients, it will need 10 licenses; if there are 100 clients, 100 licenses are needed. This can quickly become a costly process.
To avoid these costs, many companies choose not to upgrade and stick with older versions, but this means they remain locked into outdated technology, including older server software. This becomes a kind of “self-sabotage,” since eventually, older versions of operating systems are phased out and no longer supported, meaning the company falls out of maintenance.
In this case, the economic problem causes further technological issues. By not upgrading licenses, the company becomes technologically outdated, which can create security risks, operational inefficiencies, and difficulties with future upgrades or integrations.
2nd Problem: Technical Issues
When remote-enabling an application, the connection between the client-side and the remote server in the Cloud must be highly reliable. If this connection is lost, even for a few seconds, the result can be frustrating: the monitor will go black or freeze.
This happens because the server is no longer able to transmit the application image to the local renderer due to the lost connection. Essentially, without a stable connection, the process of rendering the application on the local machine fails, causing disruption to the user experience.
This kind of dependency on constant connectivity introduces vulnerabilities to performance and reliability, making it unsuitable for businesses that require continuous, uninterrupted access to their systems.
3rd Problem: Performance Issues
As we’ve seen, trying to move non-native Cloud applications into the Cloud using remote technologies is not only costly in terms of licensing but also comes with significant technical drawbacks.
Another major issue is the performance requirements the Server must meet to support this technology. Imagine a company with 50 workstations—today, all our PCs have processors of at least 2 GHz, which is quite powerful (+8 GB of RAM and a solid hard drive for storing our data). Now, multiply that by 50 users. We quickly realize that there is no processor in existence that can go beyond 4 GHz.
A 4 GHz processor is the maximum frequency a server can achieve.
To support this type of solution in the Cloud, an enterprise would need a very powerful server, which comes with a significant cost. Cloud servers with such high computing power are extremely expensive, and the CPU and RAM size directly impact the cost of the necessary virtual machine on the Cloud.
The collective computing power of all the local PCs in a company far exceeds the capabilities of even the best Cloud servers. So, why should businesses waste this local power and pay for an expensive, powerful server in the Cloud?
This demonstrates that using a non-native Cloud application in the Cloud leads to exceptionally high Cloud costs.
The Legitimate Concerns of Companies About Moving to the Cloud
At this point, one might ask, “Why should I bother moving to the Cloud?” And this is exactly why many companies are hesitant to make the move: they realize that to work the same way as before, they would need to spend much more. But why? Because they consider a so-called “hybrid” approach, which involves moving the company to the Cloud with their old applications.
They underestimate the fact that for the Cloud to be truly efficient, everything in the environment must align with Cloud technology, including applications that need to be Cloud-native. The so-called hybrid model is not a native approach; it’s something that can be done, but it costs a lot.
To move a non-Cloud-native application to the Private Cloud, you’ll need to purchase a Virtual Machine with high specifications and processing power, which increases proportionally with the number of users.
A Private Cloud set up this way is very expensive—much more so than having the same Virtual Machines hosted on a physical server maintained within the company.
So, a company with a bit of logic will do the math and discover that within 3 years, they could buy the hardware outright instead of renting it in the Cloud. Why does this happen? It happens because the applications being installed on that Virtual Machine aren’t truly Cloud-native. They’ve been adapted to the Cloud using technologies like Terminal Services.
How Cloud-Native ERP Applications Work: A Very Different Approach
Cloud-native applications are designed to truly take advantage of the Cloud’s benefits, avoiding the technical and economic issues we’ve discussed so far.
In a Cloud-native ERP system, the application doesn’t get installed in the Cloud and then rendered on the user’s PC. Instead, it is directly installed on the user’s device, which can interact in terms of data transition and functionality with the Server component installed in the Cloud. This approach leverages the distributed power of all the local PCs in the company, which, as we’ve seen, is far greater than even the best server in the Cloud.
For Fluentis ERP, the Server component is installed on a Virtual Machine in the Cloud, while the application is installed on all company PCs, communicating with the Server environment through a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).
This model moves away from the traditional Client-Server structure and embraces a Service-Oriented approach.
Service Oriented
In other words, the Fluentis application installed on the client’s PC communicates with the Server in the Cloud through a series of commands sent from the client application to the server. These commands are used to extract data, execute procedures, delete information, request reports, and perform all other tasks typically carried out.
This is a very different scenario from traditional applications, where everything has to be installed on the Server in order to function. In our case, only the “core” of Fluentis is installed on the Server, which has no interface but only the required functionalities.
Thus, the load of Fluentis on the Server is much lighter compared to applications not designed for the Cloud. As a result, the increase in the number of users does not cause a proportional increase in the server’s processing requirements.
Distribution of Processing Power
An application designed for the Cloud distributes the processing power between the Server and the Client. The Client is an application that performs tasks locally but communicates with the Server only when it needs to process data transactions or operations.
In contrast, older applications, which require continuous interaction between the Client and the Server, demand much greater processing power and cause greater network strain. This issue is avoided with a Cloud-native application.
Thus, the processing power required by a Cloud-native application on the Server’s Virtual Machine is far less demanding than that needed to run legacy applications.
Efficient Use of Server-Side Resources
A next-generation application is one that makes efficient use of server-side resources. It is optimized to take full advantage of local applications and the local resources of the PC, rather than relying heavily on remote server resources.
For example, on our smartphones, we prefer using an app over accessing the same service via a browser because the app, which is installed locally, is able to utilize the smartphone’s resources much more efficiently than if it had to continually rely on data from the network.
We download apps because they maximize the processing power of our smartphones. Similarly, Fluentis ERP works in the same way on the PCs in your office, utilizing the local resources of the machine running the software to optimize performance and reduce reliance on server-side resources.
Native Cloud ERP via App or Browser? Best to Have Both Interfaces
Cloud-native applications can be built in two ways: either through a locally installed app or via a website hosted on the server side.
Fluentis ERP is available in both formats.
Today, users increasingly expect dynamic access to applications, using different workstations and devices. Fluentis ERP offers maximum flexibility with a centralized interface available in multiple ways.
- Desktop Version: The typical interface, based on a WPF workstation, installed on client PCs as a distributed Client-Server application.
- App Version (Android & iOS): For those who want to access data from smart devices anytime, anywhere.
- Web Version: For users who prefer to use the application without installing any components locally. This version is also suitable for MAC and Linux users.
Want to learn more about Fluentis ERP Cloud solutions?
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