The top ERPs for startups-Business Central, an Honest Comparison
Business Central is the top ERPs for startups designed specifically for startups,small and medium-range enterprises. But why should you not be able to still compare the top ERP platforms like Business Central VS SAP and SAGE; out there and decide for yourself which is the best fit for your business? Our confidence stems from the exhaustive research we have done and you should be presented with the same opportunity.
So here we will compare the 3 top ERPs Business Central VS SAP-Business one and SAGE 50, for startups out there today. We have condensed the features to the most relevant ones and then initiated a comparison so that you may be able to gauge which ERP is the best based on numerous parameters. Then we have elected to score the 3 ERP platforms on a scale of 1 to 5 depending on how they perform on the parameter in question.
The Comparison of the top ERPs-Business Central VS SAP and SAGE
# | Features | Microsoft Business central | SAP- Business one | SAGE 50 |
Free Trial Option |
Sign in and get started or get a partner to show you a demo and there can be many ***** |
Request a demo or get in touch with a partner but will be limited to find ** | Request a demo or get in touch with a partner and even lesser options to find someone * | |
2. | Ease of Implementation | Easy to get started, Demo company has got configuration packages which can be moulded to the client’s requirement
***** | Difficult to manage and implement hence even for a partner would require time. Complicated UI can take some time to understand *** | Still relying on old User interface and does not have a lot of features which can be used to map business processes
* |
3. | Core Modules (Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Accounting, Banking) | All core modules are extensively developed and can be used to cover all major business processes
***** | All core modules are extensively developed and can be used to cover all major business processes
***** | Modules are developed but they do not have the same feature and functionality as other ERPs *** |
4. | Customer interface | There is no simpler and easy-to-use UI having worked with different ERP systems than business central
***** | There are UI issues and can be cumbersome to use or customize and that is a known issue with most SAP systems *** | Easy to use interface but limited functionalities to customize
** |
5. | Data management | Stored in configuration packages easy to view, download or create your own package, Downloadable to excel
***** | SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench can be used it is recommended to use with a partner and does not allow posted documents to be migrated over
**** | Difficult to export and import the data as you have to do it one by one for each file instead of getting downloaded as a package. Also, the formatting of the columns and data validations are not in place makes the data clean up a mandatory task * |
6. | Excel-based reporting | Being a Microsoft product there is tight integration with Excel to download, upload and modify and can be integrated directly with Power BI ***** | Data can be downloaded to excel but not as efficient as business central
*** | Ability to migrate data from Excel but not as compatible as expected
** |
7. | Outlook integration | Outlook based integration allows to read, write and Automation to show customer insight based on email reply ***** | No outlook or email integration available
() | No outlook or email integration available
() |
8. | Automation | Integration with Power automate with a whole bunch of predefined templates here supported by Microsoft , There are AI and ML based integration along with Integration with Power BI ***** | Not so many options but can be done with some 3rd Party tools like UI path, Custom apps
* | Limited capacities with Sage AP Automation But not for SAGE 50
()
|
9. | Ongoing Support requirements | Customer does not need more than 2 functionals and 1 Technical if there is a basic implementation as an ongoing support approx. 20 hrs a week should be enough to support a small business 2 consultants * 10 ~20 Hrs a week each Approx 40-80 hrs a month and can be found easily and are not so expensive between 20-50 USD This assumed there is no changes or complicated business process only implementation of core modules and min level of configuration changes needed each week *****
| With SAP it is important to note that not one person would specialize in entire ERP, and you may need multiple functionals and technical implement and support for the project. Also for customizations and Development changes, it required a dedicated partner or Inhouse team as it could take a week to 2 weeks for any minor change to go to production Also keeping in mind that SAP resources and vendors are expensive to find and hire starting from 50 USD/ hr and going up to 125 USD Per hr ** | There is not much requirement of ongoing support as there is little to no changes which you can really do, hence after the customer takes over they can pretty much run the show themselves SAGE Support consultants are also not quite common to find in the market as there is not much demand and budget with the client who chooses to implement SAGE
** |
10. | Integration with 3rd Parties | Appsource shows 2159 apps on the store and adding more each week See the link here
***** | SAP business one shows around 47 apps that can be integrated into SAP b1 check the link here ** | SAGE has 15 apps that shows on store page here
* |
11. | Security & Authentication
|
***** | Security features as below are support but are not straight forward to customize or change if need be and setup would require an expert SAP consultant to manage the system.
*** | Audit trail Backup and Restore services Creating User ID and password for admin and different users with roles and permissions 1. Does not integrate with Active directory
** |
12. | License Cost | Upfront and Cost effective with monthly cost and no hidden price. It is a value for money as you get With Business Central, users get a free Power BI license that provides access to the most common features in Business Central and Power BI. 8$ > 70$ > 100$
***** | Quote based pricing and if the customer is not aware or does not have a good negotiation capability they can be charged a lot more than usual
** | Monthly subscription Fees and no hidden costs.
33$ > 52$ > 87$
*** |
13. | Customizations | Customers can make changes on all tables, and configuration packages as well as any of the UI Level changes as needed. This is supported by extensions, 3rd Party Tools, Development packages, and config options to cater to multiple business scenarios
***** | Customizations can be done but using SAP SDK and B1 APIs none of the two are easy to implement or manage. SAP is known for its complicated UI and backend and for a smaller client to afford many hrs of customizations may not be a feasible option
*** | Not much options to customize the system. Except adding some fields and doing some Print layout changes for documents
** |
14. | Compliance | Business central compliance listing can be found here Supports: GDPR, Helps complies to SOX Compliance, IAS / IFRS HIPPA compliant, Multiple ISO certifications, FERPA certified ***** | Supports GDPR compliance SAP is multiple ISO certified company but there is no specific detail on the product having the relevant certification Supports GDPR and EU data privacy *** | Sage data is stored in AWS cloud and is also multiple ISO Certified
*** |
15. | Mobile App | A comprehensive app that allows you to get notifications, Approve, Create, and view documents and reports ***** | A comprehensive app that allows you to get notifications, Approve, Create, and view documents and reports ***** | Mobile app exits and covers most basic function but limited ability in terms of creating the document
*** |
16. | Industry Specific | Mostly suited for All small to medium business Partner add on which can be enabled for Industry-specific solutions * | Mostly suited for All small to medium business Partner add which can be enabled for Industry-specific solutions
* | SAGE has a specific module for Ecommerce which can be seen here
*** |
17. | Localizations | Exists in most the countries
***** | Exists in most the countries
***** | Mostly for the US but not does exist for other countries ** |
18. | Customer reviews | G2 34 reviews and 3.5 * Capterra 97 reviews and 3.8 * *** | G2 461 reviews and 4.2 * Capterra 183 reviews and 4.2 ***** | G2 121 reviews and 4* Capterra 254 reviews and 3.8 ***** |
| OVERALL SCORE 18*5 = 90
| 84 /90
93% Recommended | 52/90
57% recommended | 35/90
38% Recommended |
To Sum Up-Business Central VS SAP and SAGE
Hope this helps summarize the features and options which can help you get started in choosing the right software with some tangible metrics to compare.
If you’d like to understand more, or get a free demonstration – please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at the earliest.
You can contact us by filling the form on our site or drop us an email at info@peritossolutions.com
Use Business Central To Boost Your Retail Business’s Sales Efficiency And Transparency Instantly!
Business Central is the perfect ERP tool to assist your Retail Business by bringing innovation to sales. The hypercompetitive retail industry requires constant innovation in order to make itself survivable and viable, as you being a retail business owner will know. Sales is an area within retail that has the potential to become completely transparent while also boosting the efficiency of the entire Retail Business. Conversely, not upgrading a retail business’s sales profile can result in being easily outpaced by your competition while letting redundancy creep into your business operations. Check out the various ways in which Business Central can help optimise your Retail Business’s sales operations:
- Sales Source Analysis Business Central allows you to tag your sales representatives and other sales sources so that you know exactly how each of these is performing. This way you can optimise those nodes which are getting you the most revenue while you can either modify or eliminate the nodes that are performing the worst. This can be done iteratively to always ensure that your business maximises its profitability.
- Unique Customer Creation: Business Central revolutionises how you look at the source of your sales order by ensuring it is customer-oriented and not platform oriented. This ensures that even if your retail business is to receive two orders from two platforms, but from the same customer, then the orders will be credited to the single customer instead of creating two separate customer entities. This is a great asset when it comes to reconciling payments.
- Seamless Dropshipping: Using Business Central, when you place an order which needs to be drop shipped are you able to inform the purchaser immediately. You can create a Purchase order using the line from the sales order itself which helps you track the shipment that should be sent by the Vendor and would be updated in the system on the sales order as well when shipped. This saves time and reduces complexity within your system.
- Managing Error: Business Central has created an almost artistic system through which it can handle cancellation of orders, correction of incorrect orders and refunds seamlessly. This system is virtually automated and requires minimal guidance to keep it operational saving your business hundreds of man hours.
- Seamless Integration: Business Central ensures near seamless integration with different systems like Amazon, e-bay, WooCommerce, and others. In this manner, Business Central automates the tedious and manual process of creating these orders in your retail business system. This is an especially useful feature for Retail businesses that are expanding as they will scale up t receiving thousands of orders a day, and with that volume, seamless automation is the only way forward, something that Business Central guarantees.
Conclusion
Peritos Solutions has helped many retail businesses by helping to integrate Business Central is the working of their business after understanding how to perfectly customise the ERP to suit each unique business operation. In fact, please read our e-book which details how Business Central can assist with all operations within a retail business and make them more optimal and efficient. Given its unparalleled customization as well as compartmentalization, Business Central is uniquely suited to assist your Retail Business, whatever its size, to become better and more profitable.
