‘Power Up’ with the latest innovations in the Unit4 Cloud
The Cloud has redefined the landscape by introducing innovations that drive digital transformation. At Unit4 we provide our customers with solutions to empower businesses and people to focus on what really matters.
At our recent virtual X4U event I discussed how the Cloud, and its continuous innovation, is key and how a SaaS service model will bring the greatest value to our customers.
In this blog, you can hear why the Cloud is vital to ERP innovation, and how you can power up your operations by embracing the latest technology.
Cloud innovation is driven by customer needs
Innovation is pointless without implementation – our focus on innovation is not simply for the sake of technology but it’s driven by what our customers want.
Based on Unit4’s 40+ years of experience, we are focused on becoming leaders in automating finance, planning, and people operations, for service-centric organizations in the mid-market, and beyond.
Our continuous innovation is focused on satisfying customer needs, enabling them to:
- Handle Service Organization Complexity
- Support Perpetual Change
- Accelerate Strategy
- Boost Performance and Growth
To ensure that we can continuously innovate, and deliver value to our customers, we are now focusing on the Cloud SaaS delivery model for our major applications.
Foyer Global Health chose Unit4 to support growth with technology
At X4U we also got the chance to hear from one of our customers, Foyer Global Health, who elaborated on why innovation was a key factor in choosing Unit4 as their technology provider.
With a diverse international user base, adopting a new Cloud API architecture emerged as the obvious solution to fortify and future-proof their digital strategy.
Michel Etienne, CTO of Foyer Global Health, emphasized the crucial role of Cloud systems in facilitating growth and meeting customer demands, leveraging Unit4’s Cloud-based technologies such as the Extension Kit.
Michel points to 6 factors, influenced by innovations made possible through Cloud technology, that led to their choice in Unit4:
- Alignment of their API/Cloud strategy
- Real-time payment feature made possible
- Alignment and integration of platforms
- Organizational resilience and being able to adapt
- Heightened security
- Positive track record with similar organizations
Foyer Global Health’s use case perfectly illustrates the capabilities of the Unit4 Cloud, showcasing its potential to drive innovation in customer support.
Across Unit4’s customer community, we harness the strength of the Cloud to deliver tailored solutions to our customers, allowing them to satisfy the needs of their own customers.
On-premises systems won’t be able to keep up with innovation in the Cloud
At X4U we were also joined by Ray Wang, Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Constellation Research who discussed the world-class innovation and security that is driven by Cloud computing.
He stressed that customers still using on-premises systems will fall behind the pace of innovation in the Cloud, as on-premises systems will not upgrade often and lack the extensibility that drives the bespoke innovation customers need.
In the Cloud, updates will occur automatically which will not only drive innovation but will also allow security to be cutting-edge, with less responsibility on internal security teams, providing organizations with more succinct protection.
The Cloud’s contribution to security includes:
- Cloud-based file sharing eliminates traditional security vulnerabilities associated with peer-to-peer sharing
- Integrated ERP suites can identify employees who require cybersecurity training, ensuring protection against threats like malware and phishing
- Trusted Cloud services such as Microsoft Azure offer robust security features such as automatic data encryption and constant monitoring by experts
Removing the constraints of hardware
When you migrate your data to the Cloud it exists digitally on Cloud servers, rather than on the physical hardware of on-premises data servers – there are many benefits to this digital infrastructure over physical hardware.
When your organization grows on the Cloud you can easily scale your operations without hardware-related obstacles. In other words, the Cloud allows your systems to grow with you rather than presenting an obstacle to growth.
Software development methodologies, such as DevOps, enable faster and more frequent releases. This agility accelerates the time it takes to bring new products, features, or improvements to the market, giving you a competitive edge.
The ability to update and modify software quickly also allows organizations to adapt to and adopt emerging technologies more easily.
Additional benefits include a reduced carbon footprint, making sustainability compliance more straightforward, while also supporting the hybrid working conditions that are now commonplace.
Click to read How Cloud ERP can change your organization for the better gated
Application integrations and low-coding
Even with on-premises systems, it is unlikely for an organization to rely on one application or service.
Organizations rely on the integration of multiple applications and services to help make their organizational processes more efficient, fostering the creation of innovation ecosystems. This enables organizations to leverage external innovations and stay at the forefront of industry trends.
The Cloud allows enterprises to adopt and create integrations and extensions to third-party apps and data sources much more easily, enhancing the ability of organizations to optimize their processes using these Cloud-based tools.
In the Cloud:
- Application integration is made possible through built-in tools and allows for seamless interaction between applications
- Low-code/no-code tooling allows non-technical users to create their own integrations and custom applications
Unit4's Cloud allows enterprises to easily adopt and create integrations and extensions to third-party apps and data sources. Application integration is facilitated through built-in low-code tools, ensuring seamless interaction between applications.
AI and Automation
Another huge innovation in the Cloud is the ability to integrate artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation into everyday business processes. Many Cloud providers offer a wide range of AI and machine learning tools and services, making it easier to integrate AI capabilities into your applications.
These services can include pre-trained models, data storage, data labeling, and more. Leveraging these tools can significantly reduce development time and complexity. These automation tools allow us to boost performance and accelerate strategy as our customers desire.
At Unit4 we utilize AI technology to be pragmatic, making the most of this innovation where it is most useful and appropriate, to have the largest impact on our customer’s productivity.
What Unit4’s Cloud offers
The Cloud has revolutionized ERP innovation, accelerating digital transformation in security, remote access, scalability, application integration, and AI automation.
At Unit4 we harness Cloud innovation to meet the specific needs of our service-centric customer base. In partnership with Microsoft Azure, we stand at the forefront of ERP innovation - here's how Unit4's solutions work hand-in-hand with Cloud innovation:
- Ensuring secure, worry-free operations with automatic updates, secure file sharing, and minimal manual data entry
- Tools such as the Extension Kit and App Studio empower organizations with low-code integrations and app creation, creating tailored, efficient employee and customer experiences
- Unit4's advances in AI and automation enhance core processes and reporting, freeing professionals from repetitive tasks, and enabling a more dynamic approach to their work
- Unit4's collaboration with Microsoft Azure ensures organizations can benefit from Microsoft’s investment in Cloud technology and tooling
Hear my full keynote, and others, on Cloud innovation at X4U, on-demand. On our website, you can hear how we’ve helped our customers achieve operational efficiency on the Cloud or see more descriptions of our ERP suite.
