Small and Midsize Enterprises used to be at a significant disadvantage when it came to the IT infrastructure they could adopt to run their mission-critical applications. Constrained by their size and revenue stream, many SMEs looked to acquire IT systems (such as data centers, databases, servers, and security software) that would run on low-cost IT infrastructure. Some SMEs resort to having physical servers under their desks, and not to mention the challenge of hiring and retaining IT staff qualified and specialized in all the different parts of IT to just keep it all running and secure.
Staffing is one of the biggest challenges IT Managers in SMEs face towards meeting the needs of the business.
You might be thinking: “Well, the cloud takes care of all that, right?”. Well, there are clouds and then there are clouds. NetSuite has stayed true to its vision of a “Software as a Service”, the type of cloud most aligned with the vision of allowing companies to just use the software, without having to administer the layers of infrastructure and security needed to have a safe place to run your applications.
Some ERP and Financial Management systems only take care of providing the datacenter and server layers as part of their cloud offering, but still leave you with having to administer the IT platform, and not just the use of the application. Lack of a “true-cloud” led to many potential customers being hesitant to adopt cloud platforms in the early days.
This “hybrid” approach leaves a considerable technical burden still in the hands of the user and is closer to what some call Infrastructure as a Service, but not really Software as a Service. For SMEs, staffing hybrid cloud IT specialists can be even harder than for the traditional server-based systems.
But what makes NetSuite special with regards to IT infrastructure is that SMEs get to run their mission-critical IT applications, such as Financials, on world-class secure, reliable and scalable Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). IT infrastructure and the capability to recover from physical incidents, such as power outages, is not something NetSuite clients need to worry about, like those companies who find themselves hiding servers under their desks.
With NetSuite, you get access to Oracle’s world class IT staffing that keeps it all running securely and reliably. No need to sink lots of cash upfront or to justify fixed costs to host it or hire staff for IT infrastructure. With just a personal computer and an internet connection you are ready to utilize the full power of NetSuite’s functionality. The end result is a level playing field for SMEs against their larger and more established competitors.
Interested in learning what NetSuite can do for your business? Contact ScaleNorth today.