Ra456it - PeerSpot reviewer
Digital Business Solutions - Key Account Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reseller
Comprehensive, perfect for utility service providers, and capable of scaling up to meet the needs of large organizations
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a utility-focused solution, and the deployment is very much aligned with utility service providers. If you look at the supply chain and the overall business model of a utility service provider, SAP is something that fits very well. That's because the company has invested tremendously in creating appropriate workflows pertaining to this segment or domain."
  • "It could always be cheaper. There is no doubt about it."

What is our primary use case?

Primarily, I'm the account manager for an account that has the largest SAP implementation in the world in the utility segment. It is being used by a national utility service provider, and they use everything SAP, except for SAP SuccessFactors.

We primarily have on-premises solutions being sold in this region for the utility companies. In UAE, there are a lot of data residency regulations because of which cloud solutions are not preferred. Companies prefer on-premises solutions.

What is most valuable?

It is a utility-focused solution, and the deployment is very much aligned with utility service providers. If you look at the supply chain and the overall business model of a utility service provider, SAP is something that fits very well. That's because the company has invested tremendously in creating appropriate workflows pertaining to this segment or domain.

What needs improvement?

It could always be cheaper. There is no doubt about it.

In terms of features, it is as good as it can be. It cannot be anything more with its current structure. When a new challenge comes up, they're going to scale up to meet that challenge.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for quite a number of years. It has probably been more than 10 years.

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March 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I am absolutely satisfied with its stability and performance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. There are only a few companies that can actually deliver an ERP or the overall business model solution at this scale. There are not a lot of players. We have SAP, and we have Epicor and others too, but we know that Epicor can never scale up to what a national service provider would need. We are talking about serving 80,000 or 85,000 people on a daily basis, so a different type of business scalability is required. Overall, we have about 10 clients who use this solution.

How are customer service and support?

We have dedicated support from SAP, and there is nobody more knowledgeable than SAP when it comes to SAP products.

If we need to change anything, we can just call up SAP, and they would come down and do it for us because we are not an SME. If it were an SME, then obviously, SAP, Oracle, or other big companies will not be able to do a change for us, but because of the size that we have, if we need to make a change, SAP will go ahead, invest, and make the change in the application itself.

How was the initial setup?

It is an extremely complicated deployment. The deployment is completely customized for my customers here, and it could not be made simpler. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It could always be cheaper. They don't have a very easy model of licensing, but large entities would get the upper hand in negotiating the license.

What other advice do I have?

For a large organization, SAP is the best way to go. It is also perfect if you are into manufacturing, oil and gas, natural resources, utilities, etc. If you're into finance, you can go with Oracle. If you are a small and medium business, you can go with Epicor or something else. It depends on the business requirements you have and the scale of your organization, business operations, customer base, etc.

I would rate it an eight out of 10. It is definitely up in the top three. No product will ever reach a 10 because the landscape keeps on changing in terms of the requirements within the business and the requirements of the customer. So, there is nothing that can be 100% aligned to meet all business requirements. We are in an evolving, constantly changing business environment, so it is not something that is practical. You can keep on striving, and you can keep on trying to improve your processes, tools, technologies, and the people who work on them, but at the end of the day, when you're looking at an ERP system, it is not about 100% alignment. It is about going for the best-fit approach, and in my opinion, SAP is a good fit for customers.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Sr. SAP Portfolio Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable solution; great tech support
Pros and Cons
  • "Their tech support is always good."
  • "SAP ERP is scalable. We have some five to ten thousand SAP ERP users."

What is our primary use case?

All of our business transactions happen in ERP. 

What needs improvement?

All SAP solutions are quite costly. They could be cheaper. The license costs are pretty high. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using SAP ERP for more than a decade. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SAP ERP is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

SAP ERP is scalable. We have some five to ten thousand SAP ERP users. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Their tech support is always good. 

What about the implementation team?

We deployed in-house. Some 200 members of our technical team were involved. They were in roles like manager, engineer, admin, and support team member. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SAP ERP
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about SAP ERP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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Deputy Manager - SAP / ERP at Cooper Corporation Pvt Ltd
Real User
Best for transactional integration of operations, but lacks in reporting
Pros and Cons
  • "The transactional integration of operations is the best-recommended feature of this product. It provides integration of all operational modules."
  • "The version that we are using lacks in reporting. The reporting feature needs to be constructed more in this product. There can be better scope for mobility. They could include the technical development of reports instead of depending completely on programming. The programming method needs to be easy."

What is most valuable?

The transactional integration of operations is the best-recommended feature of this product. It provides integration of all operational modules.

What needs improvement?

The version that we are using lacks in reporting. The reporting feature needs to be constructed more in this product.

There can be better scope for mobility. They could include the technical development of reports instead of depending completely on programming. The programming method needs to be easy.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using SAP ERP for around nine years. 

We are using the ECC EHP 8 version, which is not the latest one. SAP HANA is the latest one.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There is not a very simple answer to this. The version that we are using is not too stable. The newer version seems to be good, more scalable, and more stable. We are yet to evaluate the newer version of this.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We have around 180 users. We have licenses for 250 users, but 180 users are actively using the system.

How are customer service and technical support?

We get technical support from our external consultants. Whenever required, we also directly get technical support from SAP for any information. There is a waiting time for it.

How was the initial setup?

It was complex. As we moved forward, we slowly got used to it. I won't say it is straightforward now. It is still complex, but somehow we got used to it, and we are working with it. The deployment took around eight months.

What about the implementation team?

We used external consultants.

What other advice do I have?

You need to be well prepared to implement this solution. The most important thing is that there should be management involvement. It should not be left alone to the IT team or the applications team. The key to the success of any ERP is the involvement of the management.

I would rate SAP ERP a six out of ten. I won't rate it more than the average scale. This rating is based on the experience with the current version, which has a lot of scope for improvement. If I use the latest version, I might move the ranking up.

I have heard that the newest version has some capabilities to overcome the issues faced by the users in the present version. We are planning to implement the newer version. The industry or the current situation is holding us back. After we are out of this pandemic situation and the industry downturn, we will, of course, implement it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chief of Systems Development at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Significantly reduces the time required to produce our financial reports
Pros and Cons
    • "SAP is not making a big effort to make it easy to integrate solutions from other vendors. It's not easy at all... Integration is what they can do better."

    What is our primary use case?

    We're using it for accounting, materials management, and sales and distribution. We are happy with SAP solutions. We are in the dairy products industry here in Chile, and there are good solutions for SAP in this industry.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The best improvement that we have seen using SAP solutions is that it shortens the cycle when creating financial reports. Before we installed SAP solutions, we had to do about 10 days of work to create the account reports for the managerial board. Now, ita takes about three days of work to do it. We are able to give information to the board in a more agile way.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the security. We have a very small IT team in our company, so a lot of the maintenance has to be done by the provider. So SAP gives us the maintenance and software solutions that we need.

    What needs improvement?

    They are not making a big effort to make it easy to integrate solutions from other vendors. It's not easy at all. When you have solutions from other vendors, SAP is not doing a good job integrating them.

    SAP is giving us the solutions that they provide. They buy companies. They buy solutions. And they expect that we will choose the solutions that they buy. I suppose that's the reason that they are not making a big effort in making it easy to work with solutions from other vendors. I imagine Oracle is the same. 

    Integration is what they can do better.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It works well. In our company, we don't have issues with stability. We haven't had any in 10 years, and that's a long time.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We don't have scalability problems. We can go 100 times our volume of transactions and we won't have any problems with it. We are not a very big shop so we don't have any problems, nor do we think that in the future we are going to have trouble with it.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We don't have problems with support. However, it's not as good as it used to be. In the past, they gave better support. I imagine they want you to go to Gold Support, or Platinum, or Titanium Support. We are using Standard Support, and it's good for us. We don't need anything more for the time being.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We were using an ERP that didn't have a big company behind it. The company started to have financial problems, the stock price went from $200 to about 10 cents. So we thought the solution would no longer be supported, and we didn't want to have our financials and materials management in software that didn't have a big company behind it.

    So we started looking at ERP solutions in our industry. Here in Chile, the best option was SAP ERP. We spoke with people in the same industry in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. They had no problems with it, so it was the natural option for us to go with ERP from SAP.

    When selecting a vendor the most important factor is the vendor's availability. We don't want to find that our provider has problems with availability. When we have a problem, they have to have a solution. The provider has to have a lot of clients that are similar to us, and it has to have been providing the solution for a long time. That way, if we are going to have problems, somebody has had them before and there will already be solutions for them.

    How was the initial setup?

    I was involved in the setup and it was not easy. We had to bring a technician from another country, from Brazil. He had to come for three to four weeks to do the installation. So it wasn't easy at all.

    But once they did it, they documented it. So today, it's not that hard because we have everything written. Today, we can install another system and do it with internal IT staff. So we learned from the process.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    PeopleSoft was on our shortlist at that time, although today it's Oracle. But they made it very hard for us to go with them because they didn't want to do meetings. They didn't respond to our calls. That was the worst kind of vendor you can find when you are looking for a new one.

    There was another, Meccano, here in Chile. It wasn't on the same scale as SAP ERP. So we went for the sure bet and went with SAP.

    What other advice do I have?

    Check and double-check the fine print of the contract. Also, find a hardware provider that can scale to the volume of your business, and have a hardware provider that already has implemented solutions. In our case, IBM made a mistake when sizing the server that we needed and we had three months of performance problems. It wasn't the fault of SAP, it was the fault fo IBM. It was a bad way to start with a new system, but they didn't have enough experience in sizing the server for the solution.

    I give the solution an eight out of 10. Everything works well enough, but something that could be better is their ability to work with customer's processes in the way the customer does them. I understand that they propose best practices, but when you have been in your industry for 50 years, you know what the best practices are. So you are not always going to change your process because your ERP provider thinks there are better ways.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Reliable, scalable, but the agility needs improvement
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's a good ERP system."
    • "The speed to build and the speed to deliver could be better."

    What is our primary use case?

    Predominantly, we are using SAP as an ERP solution.

    What is most valuable?

    It's a good ERP system.

    What needs improvement?

    Agility is an area that needs to improve. The speed to build and the speed to deliver could be better.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's a stable product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This solution is scalable.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We are looking for different options to connect to SAP.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate SAP ERP a seven out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    IT Manager at Chun Wo Construction
    Real User
    Comprehensive and robust with good scalability
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is a comprehensive and robust solution. It can provide lots of functional features."
    • "In general, a user should attend training before they can use this platform. There's definitely a learning curve. As a new user or employee, there may be some difficulty with onboarding."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using SAP ERP and the financial part and procurement part and also HR, as well.

    What is most valuable?

    It is a comprehensive and robust solution. It can provide lots of functional features. 

    It's great for enterprise-level organizations.

    What needs improvement?

    The user interface isn't that great. This is an area they could really improve on.

    In general, a user should attend training before they can use this platform. There's definitely a learning curve. As a new user or employee, there may be some difficulty with onboarding.

    The assisting module is good enough for our construction company, however, some specific areas for construction domains are not tailor-made for construction. Ssome construction operations within the solution do not fulfill our requirements. That it is an ERP struggle, and perhaps not specific to this solution. It may not have specific details for our industry. It's fair to say that the existing module, on HR and on procurement, is good enough for us.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    In this company, I've been using the solution for more than ten years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability of the solution is quite good actually. It's very stable. Once you have set up and configured it well, the system works very well. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I haven't really dealt too much with scalability. Our company has been pretty steady in terms of usage. We haven't really increased anything. IN our environment, scalability isn't so much of an issue.

    That sai, it is my understanding that the solution scales well, and if a company needs to expand it, they can do so with relative ease.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I have dealt with technical support in the past. I consider them to be quite good. They are not too bad, actually. Whenever we raise a support ticket, generally we have got a response within two to three days. They are knowledgable and answer our questions.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup can be quite complex. You need to have someone who is quite knowledgeable on the solution in order to successfully implement it. SAP is quite difficult.

    What other advice do I have?

    We're just a customer. We don't have a relationship with the organization.

    If a company is considering using this solution, they need to know that training is a must for new users and employees.

    I'd rate the solution at an eight out of a score of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Head of ICT Infrastructure at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Fast, 100% stable, and good data integrity
    Pros and Cons
    • "It has a lot of integrity of data, and it is fast. All the users feel that they can trust this data. So, data integrity is the most important value of SAP."
    • "It is not flexible for the users. SAP works in a specific way, and the users and the processes have to adapt to the way it works. It is hard to customize it to the level that we need for our work. It is not easy to get new extensions for process functions, modules, or activities."

    What is our primary use case?

    Almost all of our data processes are running on this platform. We use it for finance, production, logistics, and human resources.

    What is most valuable?

    It has a lot of integrity of data, and it is fast. All the users feel that they can trust this data. So, data integrity is the most important value of SAP.

    It is scalable. It has the capacity to get bigger and consolidate data from all business processes.

    What needs improvement?

    It is not flexible for the users. SAP works in a specific way, and the users and the processes have to adapt to the way it works. It is hard to customize it to the level that we need for our work. It is not easy to get new extensions for process functions, modules, or activities.

    It doesn't integrate well with other solutions. SAP is a closed circle, and it is not easy to share information with all of our ecosystems. SAP has its own solution for everything, such as for business intelligence and other things. There are many specialized vendors who are doing better than SAP, but it is not easy to integrate SAP with other solutions.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    It has been about 16 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is 100% stable. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Its scalability is good, but it is not flexible. 

    We can keep going with SAP. We have been growing, and we have been adding new business entities to our SAP. The number of enterprises that we manage with our SAP is growing. So, it is scalable.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate it a nine out of 10. It is a very good platform.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Projektmanager Logistik/SCM at a mining and metals company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    It provides one overview of the capacity planning but it needs to incorporate more S/4HANA features
    Pros and Cons
    • "It provides one overview of the capacity planning."
    • "It needs to incorporate the new features from the SAP S/4HANA release, such as, utilizing data processes, which is quite nice."

    What is our primary use case?

    It's for production planning, logistics, supply chain, and tasks. It is operations oriented with logistics planning and material creation.

    Our company has been using the product for over ten years now.

    What is most valuable?

    The capacity planning, which is useful to see what has been planned and the time that is needed. It is also easy to shift plans or production planning. It provides one overview.

    What needs improvement?

    It needs to incorporate the new features from the SAP S/4HANA release, such as, utilizing data processes, which is quite nice. Also, SAP S/4HANA has a good visualization feature that should be added to this product.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability has been quite good. Since I have been working with it, there hasn't been much downtime. Most of the time, there has not been problems.

    What other advice do I have?

    Check what features you need, which features the solution solves, and look at features are already in the product.

    When selecting a vendor, look at the pricing, as well as the support and their knowledge.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
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