Infor M3 alternatives and competitors

Our company helps customers integrate the solution for interface resource planning and cutting across different functions. The solution manages end-to-end processes for sales, material or inventory management, material or production planning, quality management, human resources, financial management, and cost accounting. 

We have 100 consultants scattered across the globe including 30 in the United States, 45 in Latin America, and the rest in India. We have many large customers in North America and one of the leading telecom providers in Latin America. 

We help with rollouts, maintenance, and acquisitions. We are also in the process of becoming a silver partner with the solution. 

The solution's framework is amazing because it is architected to follow the principles of cost and financial accounting. 

The accounting module's record and report process is closely integrated with almost every other process. Any event happening across any function of the business is automatically updated in the accounting reports. 

The solution is quickly expanding its hybrid cloud and cloud-to-cloud integrations. Its new tool called Business Technology Platform catches integrations. It provides a single platform for development with the SAP-owned ABAP and other technologies like Java or open source. Integrations are available for systems both within and outside of the enterprise. 

The solution is not ready for the current e-commerce environment. Its was built for large enterprises who need to predictably optimize their human, material, and financial resources. 

ERP has evolved and businesses are changing. There are not many large corporations. Most are small enterprises with the capabilities of large enterprises through networking and platform integration. Some companies promote products but get things done with other enterprises as a network. Companies do not want to create new capacity but want to leverage existing capacity with innovative products. They do not want to spend resources on duplicating capacity or facilities. 

I do not think any ERP product is ready to support this environment so ERPs as a whole might end up being used for back-office functions only. It is not easy to evolve an ERP product because its intent is to integrate functions and processes within an organization. Whereas, in the new business model, processes are not limited to one's own enterprise but cut across different enterprises. There is no enterprise solution as this point in time for the current e-commerce environment so companies must integrate with many solutions. 

I have been using the solution for 21 years. I am a SAP specialist so use the solution extensively with a particular focus on the financial accounting and controlling modules. 

I started with the ECC6 on-premises version that is no longer sold. Once cloud computing concepts evolved, users dismantled their data centers and migrated to the cloud version. Similarly, 4HANA had an on-premises version that migrated to the cloud. 

I have exposure to both on-premises and cloud versions of the solution but have only completed one cloud-based project. 

The solution is stable and that is very important for SAP. 

The scalability is amazing. The solution is the number one ERP in the world and can be scaled up to any size. 

In 2004, I was working for Deloitte with a company called Rohm and Haas that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. They have since been acquired by Dow Chemicals. But at the time, they implemented the solution for 178 countries throughout the globe in one single instance. That is the level of scalability. It is huge. 

The difficulty of setup depends on the individual. I am basically a finance professional by qualification. My academics and professional career have been focused on finance functions. The principles of accounting have been extensively followed and built into the solution. It is amazingly done. 

People who do not know the subject well might find the setup more complex. For example, some users might not have a manufacturing facility so do not have exposure to manufacturing accounting. 

The financial accounting is easy. All you have to do is set up the chart of accounts or other basic requirements, integrate with other modules, and you are done. Accounting entries will automatically post. At the end of the monthly, quarterly, or annual financial period you just close the account books. 

Our company works with customers to implement the solution. 

The solution has moved from a licensing model to a rights-based, subscription model in the cloud. Licenses are a capital expenditure so they have done away with them. Subscriptions are based on the number of users. 

The solution is very expensive, no doubt about it. There are different options for different market segments such as small to medium, micro, or large enterprises. 

The solution created SAP Cloud Private Edition for large enterprises. This option might run $200,000 for the subscription with 60 user licenses. The Fully Equivalent License allows one license to be shared across two to five users. For example, the 60 licenses could be extended to accommodate 180 to 200 users. 

The Public Cloud is a good option and is intended for small to medium enterprises. 

Business By Design SAP is intended for the micro category. 

I have practical exposure to other ERP products such as Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics. Their integration features are very loose because they are not architected as a single solution. 

For Oracle, they acquired different companies and tried to integrate them together. With each architecture being different, the integrated solution is not robust. For example, Oracle will process payroll and push accounting entries into the ERP through a robot process automation. But these things were all achieved by SAP 25 years back as an integrated solution.

For Microsoft Dynamics, they too acquire and try to integrate so the end products are not robust. They have rebranded and relaunched four or five different ERPs including Acceptor, Great Plains, and Solomon.

The solution remains the number one choice in the market and I strongly recommend it. It is SAP so businesses in any industry vertical can embrace it.

The solution has all the features you need so I rate it an eight out of ten. 

Our company is a partner with Microsoft and we sell the solution to customers. 

The Power Apps are very good for developers. 

The solution's integrations and interface are very good. Many options are included such as different IPs, APIS, and Azure SQL Database. You can interface with handheld machines and other products. This makes things easy on developers and saves time.

The dashboard very user friendly and the best we have seen in ERPs. You can see KPS, sales, and customers in a virtual front desk. With one click you see what you need because Power AI sends everything to the dashboard. 

Information changed in Excel or another integrated tool automatically pushes to the solution. 

The solution could include the retail tool in the native version. Currently, it is sold as a separate product.

I have been using the solution for two years. 

The solution is the most stable business ERP available. Changes in development, processes, and integrated apps does not affect the stability. 

The solution is scalable. 

Technical support is good and there are three levels available. For level one, customers work with support directly to resolve issues. For level two, we step in to assist customers. For level three, we determine an error or issue is difficult and call Microsoft directly for assistance. 

The setup and implementation are good. Implementations take a bit of time because clients define the process and they sometimes struggle with that. Mexico also has some different laws and tropical-sized invoices so the process takes time. 

It takes about four months to fully deploy which is a short time in comparison to other ERPs that could take eight months to a year. 

I rate setup a nine out of ten. 

We implement the solution for clients. 

At the start, we have three to five consultants on the team. One or two consultants join the team to cross-implement to call centers. 

It will take at least six months from the up-front investment to start to realize ROI. It really depends on the customer's environment and how much they automate through the solution with regard to inventory, products, and sales. 

The per user price of $100 a month is better than competitors.

Much of an ERPs cost is in the implementation. The solution takes less time to implement than competitors so that saves on costs. 

For example, the solution takes about five months to implement but a competitor tool might take eight months to a year. That doubles your cost. 

The solution is a good, smaller sized ERP but its reach is big. It is not expensive like Oracle Business Suite. The price is good for the client and the per-month price is good for users. The solution includes tools for manufacturing, retail, finance, and warehouse. 

The solution's biggest competition is Oracle Business Suite which is more expensive and uses products unfamiliar to the typical Office user. 

The solution is easy to use. The user experience is similar to other Microsoft products like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Power AI. It is much easier to use than Oracle which has different products and uses colors. 

I rate the solution a nine out of ten.