Infor CloudSuite vs. On-Premise Lawson: An Honest Comparison from Someone Who's Implemented Both

I've spent 26 years in the Infor ecosystem, starting with Lawson S3, living through the Lawson v10 transition, and now guiding organizations through CloudSuite migrations. When someone asks me "should we move to CloudSuite or stay on Lawson?"—my answer is never a simple one. Here's the honest comparison I wish every vendor presentation would give you.

A Quick History: From Lawson S3 to CloudSuite

If you're evaluating an Infor CloudSuite vs Lawson on-premise decision, it helps to understand how we got here.

Lawson S3 was the workhorse that defined enterprise HR, finance, and supply chain for mid-market organizations throughout the 2000s. It ran on IBM i (AS/400) or Windows/Unix, and it was remarkably stable. Many organizations ran S3 for a decade or more without major issues.

Lawson v10 (later branded as Infor Lawson after the 2011 acquisition) modernized the platform with a browser-based interface through Lawson Smart Office and later Infor Ming.le. It kept the core strengths of S3 while adding more modern architecture. For many organizations, the Lawson S3 upgrade to v10 was their last major platform investment.

Infor CloudSuite represents the full cloud transformation—multi-tenant architecture running on AWS, with a modern UI (Infor OS), embedded analytics through Birst, and integration through the ION middleware layer. It's not just Lawson in the cloud; it's a fundamentally different platform built on different principles.

Architecture: The Fundamental Difference

This is where the Infor on-premise vs cloud comparison starts, and it's the most consequential difference.

On-premise Lawson gives you a dedicated environment. Your database, your servers, your network. You control the upgrade cycle, the patch schedule, and exactly what runs where. Your IT team manages infrastructure, applies security patches, and handles capacity planning.

CloudSuite runs on Infor's multi-tenant AWS infrastructure. Infor manages the servers, the database, the patches, and the upgrades. You get a tenant within a shared infrastructure—isolated logically, but sharing physical resources with other customers.

What You Gain Moving to CloudSuite

Let me be specific about the real advantages, not the marketing fluff:

• Automatic updates: Infor pushes updates continuously. You stop falling behind on versions. No more multi-year upgrade projects costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Modern user interface: The Infor OS experience with Ming.le homepages, contextual apps, and responsive design is genuinely better than legacy Lawson screens. User adoption improves.
• Mobile access: Real mobile capability, not just a resized browser. Managers can approve requisitions, check dashboards, and handle workflows from their phones.
• Embedded analytics: Birst integration gives you analytics capabilities that would cost six figures to replicate on-premise with third-party tools.
• Scalability: AWS infrastructure scales with demand. No more capacity planning exercises or emergency hardware purchases before year-end processing.
• Security investment: Infor's security posture on AWS is stronger than what most mid-market organizations can maintain internally. SOC 2 compliance, regular penetration testing, and dedicated security teams.
• Reduced IT infrastructure burden: Your team stops managing servers and databases and can focus on business process optimization and user support.

What You Lose or Change

Here's where most vendor presentations fall short. Let me be candid about the trade-offs in this Infor ERP comparison:

• Customization flexibility: On-premise Lawson let you modify nearly anything. CloudSuite restricts customization to protect the multi-tenant model. If your organization has heavily customized Lawson, this is your biggest challenge.
• Upgrade timing control: Infor decides when updates roll out. While they coordinate and communicate, you no longer choose to "stay on this version for another two years."
• Some legacy features: Certain Lawson features haven't made it to CloudSuite yet, or work differently. I've seen this particularly in niche Supply Chain Management and Healthcare-specific modules.
• Direct database access: On-premise, your team could query the database directly for reporting. In CloudSuite, you work through Infor's data lake and provided APIs.
• Stored procedure integrations: If you've built integrations using direct database stored procedures—and many Lawson shops have—those all need to be rebuilt.

Total Cost of Ownership: The Honest Math

This is where the Lawson vs CloudSuite conversation gets complicated, because both sides cherry-pick numbers.

On-premise Lawson costs you're probably underestimating:

• Server hardware replacement cycles (every 5-7 years)
• Database licensing (Oracle, SQL Server)
• Full-time infrastructure staff (DBA, system admin, security)
• Periodic upgrade projects ($200K-$1M+ every 3-5 years)
• Disaster recovery infrastructure
• Security compliance maintenance

CloudSuite costs you're probably underestimating:

• Subscription fees increase over time (annual escalators)
• Migration project costs (often $500K-$2M+ depending on complexity)
• Integration rebuilds (ION/API architecture vs flat files and stored procedures)
• Change management and retraining
• Temporary parallel running costs
• Third-party tool replacements that don't integrate with cloud architecture

Performance in High-Transaction Environments

One question I get frequently: "Will CloudSuite handle our transaction volume?"

For most organizations, yes—and often better than on-premise, because AWS infrastructure scales dynamically. Month-end processing, year-end close, open enrollment—CloudSuite handles spikes that used to require over-provisioned hardware sitting idle 90% of the time.

However, I've seen performance challenges in specific scenarios:

• Very large batch processing jobs that previously ran directly against the database
• High-volume, real-time integrations that are latency-sensitive
• Complex custom reports that previously used direct SQL queries

These aren't unsolvable, but they require architectural planning during your Lawson v10 migration. Don't assume everything will "just work the same but faster."

Integration: The Biggest Shift

If I had to pick the single area where Infor CloudSuite vs Lawson on-premise differs most dramatically, it's integration architecture.

On-premise Lawson integrations typically use:

• Flat file imports/exports (CSV, fixed-width)
• Direct database stored procedures
• Lawson Add-ins and custom programs
• Scheduled batch jobs via Lawson Process Flow

CloudSuite integrations use:

• ION (Intelligent Open Network) middleware
• BODs (Business Object Documents) for event-driven integration
• REST APIs for real-time data exchange
• ION Desk for monitoring and management
• Data Lake for reporting and analytics

This shift means every integration you've built over the years needs to be re-evaluated and likely rebuilt. For organizations with 20, 30, or 50+ integrations, this is the most time-consuming and expensive part of migration. It's also where I see the most project risk.

When Staying on Lawson v10 Still Makes Sense

Yes, sometimes the right answer is to stay put—at least for now. Here are scenarios where I've advised clients to hold off on a CloudSuite migration:

• Heavy customization: If you've invested millions in custom Lawson development that your operations depend on, and CloudSuite doesn't offer equivalent functionality, the migration risk may outweigh the benefits today.
• Recent Lawson v10 upgrade: If you just completed a major Lawson upgrade in the last 2-3 years, you haven't realized the ROI yet. Jumping to another migration doesn't make financial sense.
• Pending organizational change: Mergers, acquisitions, or major restructuring in progress. Don't add ERP migration on top of organizational upheaval.
• Budget constraints: If the upfront migration investment isn't feasible in the current budget cycle, a phased approach with clear milestones is better than a half-funded project.
• Missing CloudSuite features: If specific modules your organization relies on haven't reached feature parity in CloudSuite, waiting for Infor to close the gap is reasonable.

When CloudSuite Migration Is Clearly the Right Move

Conversely, here are strong signals that it's time to move:

• Infrastructure end-of-life: Your servers or database platform need replacement. Instead of reinvesting in on-premise hardware, redirect that budget to cloud migration.
• Staffing challenges: You can't find or retain Lawson technical staff. The talent pool for on-premise Lawson administration is shrinking every year.
• Security/compliance pressure: Your auditors or regulators are pushing for stronger security posture than your internal team can maintain.
• User experience demands: Your workforce expects modern, mobile-friendly tools. Legacy Lawson screens are driving user frustration and workarounds.
• Analytics needs: You need embedded analytics and real-time dashboards that are cost-prohibitive to build on-premise.
• Strategic alignment: Your organization has a cloud-first strategy, and on-premise Lawson is one of the last holdouts.

The Hybrid Approach

Some organizations I work with are taking a phased, hybrid approach to their Lawson migration—and it's often the smartest path:

1. Phase 1: Move HCM/Payroll to CloudSuite first (often the most mature cloud module)
2. Phase 2: Migrate Financials once the team has cloud experience
3. Phase 3: Move Supply Chain or industry-specific modules last

This approach lets you build internal cloud expertise, prove value incrementally, and manage risk. The trade-off is a longer overall timeline and the complexity of running both environments simultaneously with integrations between them.

Building the Business Case for Migration

If you've decided CloudSuite is the right direction, here's how to build a credible business case:

1. Document your current true costs: Include infrastructure, staff, licensing, upgrade projects, security, disaster recovery—everything. Most organizations undercount by 30-40%.
2. Get honest CloudSuite pricing: Include subscription fees, migration services, integration rebuilds, training, and ongoing support. Push Infor for multi-year pricing commitments.
3. Model the 7-10 year horizon: Short-term comparisons favor on-premise. Long-term comparisons favor cloud. Present both honestly.
4. Quantify non-financial benefits: User experience, mobile access, analytics, security posture, reduced IT burden. These matter even if they're harder to put a dollar figure on.
5. Include risk costs: What does it cost if your on-premise environment has a major failure? What's the risk of falling further behind on versions?

Infor's Roadmap and End-of-Support Reality

Let me be direct about what Infor's roadmap means for your Lawson on-premise environment:

Infor's investment is overwhelmingly focused on CloudSuite. New features, new capabilities, AI and machine learning functionality—all cloud-first. On-premise Lawson is in maintenance mode. You'll get security patches and critical fixes, but not innovation.

While Infor hasn't announced a hard end-of-support date for Lawson v10 as of early 2026, the writing is on the wall. The Lawson talent pool is aging out. Third-party tools are moving to cloud-compatible versions. Each year you wait, the eventual migration gets more complex because the gap between your current state and CloudSuite widens.

The Bottom Line

After implementing both platforms across healthcare, education, public sector, and corporate environments, here's my honest summary of the Infor CloudSuite vs Lawson on-premise decision:

• CloudSuite is the future. That's not debatable. Infor's direction is clear.
• The migration is real work. It's not a lift-and-shift. It's a transformation project that requires serious planning, investment, and expertise.
• Timing matters. Moving too early (before readiness) is as risky as moving too late (when forced).
• There's no single right answer. Your customization profile, integration landscape, budget, staffing, and organizational readiness all factor into the decision.
• Experience matters enormously. Having someone who's done this before—who knows both platforms deeply—is the difference between a smooth migration and an expensive lesson.

Whether you're evaluating a Lawson S3 upgrade path, planning a Lawson v10 migration to CloudSuite, or just trying to understand your options—the most important step is getting an honest assessment of where you are today and what the real path forward looks like.