What is our primary use case?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
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.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and that is very important for SAP.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
Our company works with customers to implement the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner