On Tuesday 18th November, Cloudflare went down. A few weeks earlier, AWS had its own outage.

Two of the world’s biggest internet providers stopped working and thousands of businesses went down with them.

When this happens, one question really matters:

Can your business still function if the internet goes offline?

For many companies, the answer is no. Jobs stop. Orders pause. Staff can’t access the information they need. All because your systems rely 100% on a live connection.

This is why more businesses are now looking at self-hosted ERP systems or ERP platforms that offer offline mode.

These options mean you can keep working, even when the internet doesn’t.

The Problem With Cloud-Only ERP

Cloud systems are great… until they’re not.

If your internet drops or your provider has an outage, your entire business can come to a standstill. This affects areas like:

• Stock updates
• Job scheduling
• Order processing
• Engineer callouts
• Sales and quoting
• Production and dispatch
• Customer communication

A simple outage can freeze your whole operation.

Why Consider a Self-Hosted ERP?

A self-hosted ERP lives on your own server (either on-premise or on a private cloud).
That means you stay in control.

The benefits:

1. No dependency on external providers
If AWS or Cloudflare go down, your system keeps running.

2. Designed around your needs
You can build your own backups, failover systems, and security setup.

3. Cost-effective long term
Especially for larger teams.

4. Better control of your data
Ideal for privacy, compliance, or sensitive industries.

Offline Functionality: Keep Working Anywhere

If self-hosting isn’t for you, an ERP with offline capability is the next best thing.

This allows your team to:

Keep accessing key information

Schedules, jobs, stock, customer details, all still available offline.

Continue working as normal

Create tasks, update work, record stock movements, and more.

Sync automatically when the internet returns

No lost work. No duplicate data. No hassle.

Stay productive during outages

Your staff carry on even if your internet provider doesn’t.

Hybrid ERP: The Best of Both Worlds

Hybrid systems combine local performance with cloud convenience:

• Works offline when needed
• Syncs to the cloud when online
• Accessible from anywhere
• Maintains uptime even during outages

It’s flexible, resilient, and ideal for growing businesses.

Time to Review Your ERP Setup?

Cloudflare and AWS won’t be the last major outages we see. The more we rely on big providers, the more impact these failures have.

If downtime is something your business cannot accept, then it might be time to consider:

• Self-hosting
• Offline-ready ERP
• Hybrid architecture

At NW ERP, we help businesses choose solutions that keep operations running smoothly even when the internet doesn’t.

Protect Your Business From the Next Outage

Want to explore offline ERP, hybrid setups, or self-hosted solutions?

Book a free discovery call with NW ERP
We’ll help you build a system that stays online, even when everything else goes down.