03 August 2006 | Paul Snell

Top executives and buyers believe that on-demand supply management systems are outperforming traditional licensed and installed software in most areas, according to a survey.

In the study, conducted by Aberdeen Group, 57 per cent of the 135 people interviewed said on-demand offered better return on investment. A total of 56 per cent said they thought externally hosted systems were easier to upgrade and 52 per cent said they were better at saving time and effort in implementation.

With regards to return on investment, the report found value is usually gained more quickly because on-demand systems are generally ready within two months compared with a much longer implementation period for licensed software.

According to the survey, 65 per cent of interviewees said faster implementation and better return on investment was the primary motivation for choosing an on-demand system.

Data security remains the primary concern of those adopting the internet-based systems, with 59 per cent listing this as the main concern.

However, fears have been allayed by better security controls and the number of big organisations using these systems.

The study recommends companies interested in trying on-demand start on a small scale.

Of those firms surveyed, 62 per cent were North American, 20 per cent were in EMEA and the rest in the Asia-Pacific region.

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