Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions are popular among organizations looking to manage their business functions and optimize business processes within a centralized and integrated network.
While ERPs were initially reserved for large enterprises, growth in the industry has allowed smaller businesses to reap the same benefits. With countless ERP solutions to choose from, it’s important to compare your options—such as SAP Business ByDesign and Acumatica—to see which is best for your business.
What Is SAP Business ByDesign?
SAP Business ByDesign (SAP ByD) is a cloud ERP software package designed for small and medium-sized enterprises. SAP ByD allows these companies to enjoy the power of large-scale business applications without the need to install or maintain their own IT infrastructure.
Offering a full range of ERP features, SAP ByD helps small and medium organizations improve efficiencies by optimizing and integrating processes. SAP ByD also helps them simplify the management of new sales channels and channel partners, as well as increase customer satisfaction and loyalty with a 360-degree view of each customer.
What Is Acumatica?
Acumatica is an ERP solution offering modules from basic online accounting to advanced ERP functionality. Although Acumatica promotes its benefits for those operating in the distribution, manufacturing, service, retail, ecommerce, and construction industries, it is also frequently used by small and medium-sized businesses.
The intuitive design of Acumatica, coupled with its optimization and being a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, makes it very scalable as a business grows.
Acumatica has a flexible pricing model that makes the app an excellent option for resource planning in small manufacturing businesses looking for a solution for ERP, general ledger accounting, and inventory management.
Comparing SAP Business ByDesign and Acumatica
Although SAP ByD and Acumatica are both ERPs designed for small and midsize businesses, they take different approaches to helping companies reach their organizational goals.
Functionality
SAP ByD offers a comprehensive set of integrated functionality with eight key modules. Acumatica’s suite of tools includes four major modules: financial management, customer relationship management, project accounting, and distribution management.
Although SAP ByD offers a broader range of functionalities, Acumatica offers better performance for the modules they share in common. Choosing between the two should be based on the modules your business requires.
For more information on SAP’s functionality, read our recent article on SAP Business ByDesign versus Sage Intacct.
Flexibility
Although ERP solutions come out of the box with a long list of features, most companies have unique processes that need unique solutions. Therefore, ERP solutions need to be flexible and highly customizable.
In addition to offering more modules and features, SAP ByD offers an almost endless list of customization options, allowing businesses to tailor the software to meet their requirements. Acumatica may offer simpler customization options in some cases.
Integrations
If you are looking to integrate more functionality via a Value Added Reseller (VAR), then SAP ByD is the preferred option. While Acumatica has more than 340 VAR partners, SAP ByD has over 850 VARs. This translates to more integrations available to SAP ByD users.
However, since both ERP solutions have stable ecosystems and multiple options for extending an ERP solution, you will need to work with VARs to purchase and implement new software integrations as required by your business.
Security
Acumatica and SAP ByD are both industry-leading ERP solutions that offer stellar security for businesses. Because they are cloud-based solutions, the risk of being hacked is significantly reduced. SAP ByD also uses encryption for outgoing emails and checks the signature of incoming emails. Both offer external access protocols, security audits, password fortification, and multi-layered security mechanisms to keep the business networks safe at all times.
Cost
Acumatica offers a unique pricing model, allowing users to pay based on the computing resources and applications they need. To make this work, Acumatica is only available through its partner channel. However, the license fee is approximately $1,000 per month and goes up as businesses integrate more features.
On the other hand, SAP ByD is sold by SAP. The price tag starts at $18 per user with a monthly subscription package. Integrating additional features can push the price up to $120 per month, or higher, for advanced users. However, when compared side-by-side, SAP ByD is the less expensive of the two ERP options.
In Conclusion
No one ERP solution will meet the requirements of every company. For example, Acumatica and SAP Business By Design have their respective strengths and weaknesses. Businesses need to select an ERP solution based on the requirements of their business, as well as how much they have available to invest in software.
