Planning to Switch from SAP Business One?

Since you landed on this blog, you may have heard about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. As you are aware of them you have understood the advantages of a real cloud ERP. Now, you must be searching for the most suitable one to suit your specific business requirements. 

As per the recent report from Panorama Consulting Solutions, 95% of businesses migrated a major part or complete operations to ERP. Today, most businesses from small, medium to large enterprises including public, private, non-profit and distribution companies, are improving their processes through ERP implementation.

And this tendency is not expected to come to a close any time soon. Indeed, the ERP industry's market will touch almost $50 billion by 2025 according to this report. So, if you still believe ERP deployment is yet another IT buzzword, think twice.

What are ERP solutions? and why do they gain so much popularity? Read on, 

What is an ERP Solution?

Remember, in the current business scenario, being slow and steady will not make you win the race. For your gain, you must dash like a rabbit while being attentive till the endgame.  

Look back to when you have struggled with data loss, tracing invoices and lack of understanding of projects leading to disruption of processes. It was a time when your expenses rose, and you wasted a lot of money because of the imprecise financial reports.   

All these pain points become your competitors' gain. Here is where an ERP solution can do wonders.  

An ERP is an enterprise resource planning software that helps businesses handle their processes more efficiently, and manage daily activities, including accounting, purchasing, project management, risk reduction and compliance and supply chain processes.  

Three distinct factors of ERP 

• Integrated platform

• Cloud-based 

• Provides a variety of features for business management 

Why Would You Require an ERP Software Provider 

If you are seeking a solution for your enterprise in...

• Managing and organizing data 

• Simplifying business processes and activities 

• Consolidating all processes in a single platform 

• Having Real-time access to the details and insights 

• Delivering an improved customer experience with better reporting 

…then it's high time to abandon your obsolete system and allow ERP to do the magic.  

Yes, you read it right. Implementing an ERP system in your organization enhances its productivity and saves time. Another advantage is that it fits in with most business managements and its functional areas.  

Major modules in an ERP solution are: 

• Finances and budgeting

• Customer relationship management

• Order processing 

• Human resources 

• Supply chain handling 

• Data processing 

• Manufacturing 

While going through these modules you may think that, with these numerous capabilities available, will every ERP cater to the specific requirements of a business? 

Well, it is a No.  

According to a survey conducted by Ultra Consultants in 2019, 67% of manufacturers and suppliers are satisfied with their ERP implementation. Why did the rest of the implementations not provide the expected results? 

We would say that choosing the appropriate ERP solution plays a vital role in the success of a business even if it's challenging and time-consuming.  

For successful implementation, every business requires an eminent implementation partner. We have done the groundwork and reached the conclusion that NetSuite and SAP Business One are two of the favored ERP solutions among businesses.  

Both solutions are referred to as the leaders in the field. But how can you pick the best among the two?

NetSuite is a cloud-based ERP software used by 32,000 rapidly expanding enterprises worldwide. This platform comprises a set of capabilities that helps businesses manage their operations, understand performance, and attain major efficiency gains and slash cost. 

SAP Business One is a unified and cost-effective Enterprise Resource Planning system to handle your complete operations including accounting, inventory, storing, sales, customer relationships to analytics and reporting.     

Difference between NetSuite and SAP Business One 

1. Implementation

The implementation refers to the procedures, physical and automated methods and activities employed to make software available and acquirable to the end-users. ERP implementation method clearly details when, where and how you can utilize your chosen ERP.  

NetSuite Implementation

NetSuite is a real cloud system. Additionally, the mobile application for IOS and android in NetSuite allows you to undertake transactions and access reports in real-time. 

SAP Business One Implementation

Initially, it was developed for on-premise use. It can be implemented in the cloud or through a hybrid configuration (cloud and on-prem).  

One can acquire SAP through mobile devices even though it depends on third-party solutions for mobile access. 

2. Customization

At certain times, basic ERP functionality does not cater to every business requirement. In such cases, software must be adaptable in order to satisfy a particular industry or usability needs.  

NetSuite Customization 

It is easier as it demands less coding. The platform employs APIs that ensure simple customization and scalability.  

Moreover, extensive NetSuite extensions extend the system by including non-native functionality to satisfy particular business requirements, including editing, altering, and modifying records, tables, forms and so forth.  

SAP B1 Customization

SAP’s dashboard can be customized as per the requirements of the customer. It enables them to view only those tables and fields required for their work.  

Yet, it is significantly difficult to adapt SAP B1’s native functionality as it needs a specific understanding of diverse APIs. Additionally, upgrades need relevant IT support and can be both costly and difficult to implement.

3. Integration 

Enterprises regularly need to associate and bridge certain business solutions to do away with manual data entry and enhance efficiency. This is attained through system integration.   

The two ERP solutions have APIs that permit their systems to interact with others directly or via interface solutions.  

NetSuite Integration 

The best advantage of NetSuite integration is diverse add-on choices and the reality that it is developed with Application Programming Interfaces and an Integration Management System that helps integrations with other source systems to be simple. Integration via APIs is becoming a norm since it is impractical to have previously developed connectors for all obtainable systems.   

SAP B1 Integration

As SAP interfaces with SAP-certified applications, custom coding is unnecessary. Indeed, production, invoicing, manufacturing, sales, scheduling and shipping activities can be easily consolidated with other applications. SAP has unlimited add-ons than NetSuite and requires an open architecture for integration with third-party apps.  

4. Analytics and Reporting

Businesses require automated analytics and reporting in order to make knowledgeable choices and prepare well in advance. Other ERP platforms gather data without providing useful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in exchange, while NetSuite ERP and SAP ERP do not. SAP Business One and NetSuite provide sophisticated reporting and analytics. 

NetSuite

NetSuite's SuiteAnalytics provides handy reporting equipment for creating real-time reports and obtaining insight into functions and operations.

SAP B1 

The most effective real-time reporting, automatic computations, and tracking are offered by SAP Analytics. SAP ERP, when compared with NetSuite, connects with High-performance Analytical Appliance (HANA) and includes an Excel tool for data analysis. 

Many SAP Analytics capabilities, however, need separate licenses, which might be prohibitively expensive for small enterprises. 

5. Licensing

There are some differences in licensing for NetSuite and SAP B1.

NetSuite 

There are several editions of the NetSuite software, consisting of midsize, average, and premium. It can be purchased straightly from NetSuite or through a partner or solution provider like Jobin & Jismi. Selecting the proper license might be a complicated process though.

SAP B1

License for SAP B1 can only be obtained through authorized resellers only.

6. System Updates

Technology is undergoing changes regularly, and so are ERP solutions? 

NetSuite

The significant factor of NetSuite is that its updates are automatic since they are executed in a multi-tenant atmosphere. That is, whenever NetSuite executes an upgrade, every system updates simultaneously.  

In addition, these updates will not affect the customizations since they do not disturb custom code and integrations. 

SAP B1 

In SAP B1 ERP one can upgrade it as and when required as its upgrades do not happen in a multi-tenancy atmosphere. Even though the flexibility gained through this offers extra security, system updates should be handled thoughtfully with dedicated teams to prevent adversities to custom code and workflows.   

These are the major differences between NetSuite and SAP B1. The leading advisory firm Technology Evaluation Centers helps evaluate and compare the best software solutions closely. They prepared an Oracle NetSuite ERP vs SAP Business One Discrete ERP Comparison Report. According to them:

1. Financials

On the analysis of functions and features associated with financials delivered by both the software, NetSuite has a 100% support score whereas SAP B1 gains 86%. NetSuite advances when it comes to the features that are backed by the extensions from the partners.  

2. Human Resources 

In terms of human resources, NetSuite scores 97% and SAP B1 scores 80% whereas their industry average is 81%. Both the software has similar levels of support in this domain.

3. Manufacturing Management 

In this domain, NetSuite obtains a 97% support score whereas SAP B1 scores only 71%. The industry average is 94%. 

4. Inventory Management 

In inventory management, NetSuite is stronger as it scores 98% whereas SAP B1 has a support score of 85%. 

5. Purchasing Management

Among the two, NetSuite possesses powerful features for Purchasing Management. NetSuite scores 98%, while SAP B1 obtains 87%.  

6. Quality Management 

Again, NetSuite scores the highest support score of 98% in quality management whereas SAP B1 scores 72%. 

7. Sales Management 

In terms of sales management, each software has a comparable score. NetSuite scores 95% and SAP B1 scores 87%. Their industry average is 94%.

8. Product Technology 

NetSuite scores 89%, which is much higher than SAP B1, which has 71% in this domain.  

Considering all the facts detailed above, you will get an idea of the best and most appropriate software that suits your specific business requirements. The TEC report seems to imply that NetSuite has a significant advantage over SAP Business One. NetSuite has significantly more ERP software capabilities and functions than its chief competitor SAP Business One. 

Choose the best for your business by evaluating the above details. The excellent professionals at Jobin & Jismi will guide you throughout. We have expertise in the field of NetSuite services. We will assist you better.  

References 

1. Oracle NetSuite ERP vs SAP Business One Comparison. (n.d.). TEC. https://www3.technologyevaluation.com/selection-tools/comparison-reports/21832/sap-business-one-vs-netsuite-erp-comparison-report 

2. 2018 ERP Report. (2017). Panorama Consulting Solutions. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2184246/2018%20ERP%20Report.pdf