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SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (6th)
SAP S/4HANA
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
ERP (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business ByDesign is designed for Cloud ERP and holds a mindshare of 4.3%, down 9.4% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 6.3% mindshare, down 13.2% since last year.
Cloud ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP Business ByDesign4.3%
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP18.8%
NetSuite ERP17.6%
Other59.3%
Cloud ERP
ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP S/4HANA6.3%
SAP ERP10.4%
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central4.0%
Other79.3%
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Divisional Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Valuable features enhance sales and service capabilities while performance improvements are needed
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handling. My feedback about the modular architecture and customized features of SAP Business ByDesign is that it is only good, but we have not explored much on this one. The initial setup for SAP Business ByDesign was complex. One disadvantage was that we had the legacy system, SAP Business One, and we could not migrate our data to SAP Business ByDesign. They should have provided a migration path.
Effendy Mohamed - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Instrument and Control at PETRONAS
Empowered decision-making accelerates with enhanced analytics capabilities
In my opinion, areas of SAP S/4HANA that have room for improvement would be in AI and insights generation, which would be a good enhancement for the future. Currently, this analytics is still driven by some sort of structured reporting system. Although it is easier, you still need to do some configuration of it. With AI functionality, you could just prompt and request the information, and then the version would quickly be revealed to you.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It could be used for any financial use case; production companies can use it, wholesale distributors can use it, and any professional services company can use it."
"When comparing SAP Business ByDesign to much larger ERP solutions, such as SAP ECC 6.0 or SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business ByDesign is more user-friendly and easier to implement."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."
"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful. There is plenty of features and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"The most helpful feature is the integrations. Integrating the tool with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy, facilitating implementation and deployment. The runtime analysis checks for real-time analytics to see if the software works properly. This is a powerful feature."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"This solution has reduced our costs because we don't have to pay for a third-party database or replication software."
"I think technically it's a very responsive, comprehensive and optimized solution."
"SAP S/4HANA is the preferred database because of its scalability, faster accessibility, compatibility, and other well-suited features for large data sets."
"S/4HANA is so much faster today than it was before. High performance is one of the best features, but the backbone of S/4HANA is its integration capabilities. They've also shifted to a focus on user experience."
"I have found the most valuable feature to be the SAP Fiori application."
"We can do a lot with S/4HANA, like HR, sales, distribution, production planning, quality management, transport management, and more."
"I like the user experience and usability of SAP Fiori, which is one of the main features that we are using."
 

Cons

"Scalability is difficult."
"The payroll module of the solution could improve."
"Scalability can be an issue. That is why SAP Business ByDesign needs to be more customizable and more flexible."
"SAP Business ByDesign is a very vast product, but it has to be a bit more centralized. All the models need to be more centralized for a better experience."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"SAP Business ByDesign can improve the flexibility and user-friendliness of the reporting during the implementations. Customizing the reports inside the device requires a lot of knowledge and most of the time a developer level is needed. For example, if you want to have a more specific reporting layout."
"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"The licensing of SAP S/4HANA needs to be improved"
"With the public cloud, now everything is being pushed into BTP. This has created challenges, as it requires us to redo our coding and development."
"The tool needs to improve its interface and functionalities."
"While the solution contemplates a competitively priced model, its pricing could be cheaper."
"We are always looking for a better user experience. We would like to see more consolidation in SAP S4HANA because of all the financial compliance and regulatory changes."
"S/4HANA could be improved with better integration. At the moment, a main issue I see is that there's so much growth in the functionality, complementary modules, and cloud solutions which were acquired by SAP and which extend the functionality of the SAP ERP suite. It looks to me that they tend to acquire more and more functionality from acquisitions, but they don't invest enough effort into making them integrated with S/4HANA or ERP. I would say that the functionality is great, but integration is something which still needs more attention. Instead of focusing on acquisitions, they should invest, integrate, and better the existing portfolio of products in SAP. It would help us, as implementors, to have a more complex or compact solution."
"SAP is generally a very expensive license globally."
"The user experience could improve. In recent years, SAP has acquired different third-party applications and integrated them into SAP S_4HANA, which was a good opportunity for users. However, as a consultant and super user, I believe SAP S_4HANA is a good tool, but the user experience takes time to learn."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"The price of SAP Business ByDesign is less expensive than SAP S/4HANA. However, the price is on par with other similar competitors, such as Microsoft."
"Everything is included in the licensing cost of the solution. However, they use a per-user model for additional charges."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly. There is no flat pricing involved and everything has a range. Pricing depends on the functionality that you would use. You need to also pay for the additional hosting and maintenance costs."
"We have to pay yearly."
"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
"The price of SAP S4HANA could be cheaper."
"Available at a high price"
"SAP is a costly product in terms of maintenance for an organization who has reached a particular level."
"Though we are talking about a competitively priced model, the pricing could be more cost-effective."
"The product is expensive"
"It is never a cheap product since it is a prime tool in the worldwide market."
"I have heard others saying that SAP is only for big companies that have money."
"We're not sure yet. I think it was six figures a year, over 100,000. It has straight-up licensing fees."
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Answers from the Community

RB
SAP Practice Manager at Data-core systems
Jun 30, 2021
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...
See 2 answers
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Jun 28, 2021
Hello @Terry Jones ​, @Sanath Premachandra ​, @Ben Melchionno ​and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?
PB
Project Delivery Head - MENA at WMS Middle East LLC
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud.  So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per user on the cloud.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise53
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP Business ByDesign?
The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business ByDesign?
The price is high, as every year SAP increases the price by 3.5%.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handl...
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
In my opinion, areas of SAP S/4HANA that have room for improvement would be in AI and insights generation, which would be a good enhancement for the future. Currently, this analytics is still drive...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
My experience with SAP S_4HANA involves working on several projects helping customers prepare their transition from ECC to SAP S_4HANA. My role was to study the gap and technical feasibility by exe...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Standard Bank of South Africa, AOK Bundesverband, PT XL Axiata Tbk, Tvoy Dom, Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG, DeLaval International AB, EMC Corporation, Lenovo, Castle Importing Inc., Unilever, Rifle Paper Co., RAK Ceramics, Rough Country, B&G Manufacturing, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
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