Lise Hagen, research manager: software and IT Services Africa, IDC, says that cloud-based ERP potentially gives SMEs access to technology that has typically only been within the reach of large corporates. However, she notes that someone from a corporate environment might be used to having every aspect of every facet of the business at his fingertips.

Delivering that functionality to smaller organisations raises questions for Hagen, primarily: how do you scale it? How do you get such rich functionality at a lower level and at a price point that is sensible?