In Today’s world, the various issues of running a company with ERP (enterprise resource planning) software aren’t lost on executives. But, the ERP is at the core of everything a company does. An ERP deals with the core task of integrating and managing main business processes in real-time. The ERP usually deals with order management, sales, production, project management, procurement, logistics, shipping, distribution, supply chain management, and scheduling.
An ERP may also address several other tasks like customer relationship management (CRM), data governance, data management, human resource management, and accounting. And by coordinating and managing workflows and data among and between these components, it’s highly possible for a company trim costs, improve processes, and accomplish a more effective and streamlined business framework. As a result, ERP solution interacts with many other enterprise software in the cloud and on the premises as well.
The complete process of search, evaluation, purchase, and deployment of an ERP is not as simple as it used to be once. We are living in a highly personalized world, and there’s no such thing as one size fits all, especially when it comes down to finding the most suitable ERP solution for your company. The enterprise solutions today come in several flavors, where each feature has a particular set of capabilities, drawbacks, and strengths. And choosing the correct vendor for an ERP solution is a hectic process that needs through research and usually comes down to more than just the solution and its capabilities.
This is why; we are gazing into the future of ERP solutions. So, whether it’s the inclusion in an expert analyst report, a small bump in funding, or the launch of a new tool, these are the ERP solution vendors that have gained watch list status from solutions review for the current year, 2019.
Apart from these, these ERP solutions increasingly deliver to an increasing array of machines connected via mobile devices as well as the Internet of Things (IoT). And this has transformed as well as disrupted the ERP landscape that caused a shift in competitive positioning. But before we go any further, let’s understand the ERP solution from several perspectives like, what is an ERP solution, different types of ERP solutions, core features of an ERP solution, benefits of using an ERP solution, etc. And if you already know all these then you can skip and continue the top 10 ERP solution of 2019 at the end of this article. But the list of those ERP solutions that made it into our list of the top 10 ERP solutions of 2019 is following;
- Oracle NetSuite
- Sage Intacct
- SAP ERP
- Epicor ERP
- PeopleSoft
- Microsoft Dynamics GP
- SAP Business One
- SYSPRO
- Acumatica
- Odoo
What is an ERP Solution?
An ERP is a complete suite of software that enterprises use to manage their day-to-day business activities. An ERP solution enables enterprises to use integrated solutions for efficient business management and automate various departments’ functions like IT, Human resource, and services. The solution also caters to effectively integrate the functions of sales, marketing, manufacturing, product planning, and development. An ERP is used by large organizations to analyze and customize their business data and to upgrade and deploy them with ease. SMEs can execute all these using a simple ERP that is more suitable for their industry. And mobile ERP, social ERP, two-tier ERP, and cloud ERP have joined the band little late but are gaining much popularity these days.
Types of ERP Software
There are mainly three types of ERP solutions that are fairly different from each other in terms of their complete suite of features and the final beneficiaries.
Web-Based ERP Software
These solutions are also known as cloud ERP that is either open source or hosted by the vendor. The organization has to pay a monthly subscription fee for the continuous use of the solution, store data, and then work on the web from any remote location. The highly simple installation and setup of ERP solution make it highly suitable for every organization, especially bootstrapped startups with small budgets.
Small Business ERP Software
These ERP solutions are designed to cater to small businesses that need to manage their human resource and orders but don’t have a manufacturing component. They receive a limited set of ERP functions like the ones that lack CRM or automated accounting. As a result, the ERP for small businesses is the most affordable ERP solution available in the market.
Industry-Specific ERP Software
These solutions were specifically designed to cater to the complex needs of large enterprises. Most of them among these solutions were purposefully designed to cater to the vast and complex needs of logistics and finance companies.
Core Features of ERP Solution
The core goal of an ERP solution is to get real-time data to be used for several purposes and to streamline the business processes. So, each ERP solution should have the following functions;
Customer Relationship Management
The CRM component of an ERP solution tackles the sales aspect of an organization. Meaning, the ERP solution handles customers, manages leads, and track growth opportunities. Apart from these, some ERP solutions are designed to tackle order management and invoicing.
Financial Management
This is another core module of every ERP solution trying to simplify financial reporting and efficient allocation of resources.
Human Resource Management
The most valuable asset of every organization is its employees that make the management of human resource the most important activity they have. The HR component of an ERP solution enables businesses to do things fast and accurately using functions like time tracking, performance assessment, KPI, reporting, and payroll.
Integration
Since every company is unique and works with a different set of applications, so an ideal ERP solution is able to blend within its software infrastructure in all cases. And your best option here is open API programs that you can configure yourself to fit your other programs.
Customization
Unless the ERP solution is industry specific, the customization is considered as top efficiency criteria. This means that the ERP solution has to be flexible, and enable viable tailoring for your upcoming and current needs.
Benefits of ERP Software
It is not unusual for SMEs to deny ERP solution when they choose to believe that they still haven’t reached the chaos of the state of inventory, which would require one. Although this may seem like a cost-efficient solution in the beginning at the start, organizations underestimate the criticality of the “better safe than sorry”, and the truth that “chaos” is scarier after it has occurred.
So, why would you implement an ERP solution?
Industry-specific ERPs reveal best practices
Unlike most of the tools catering B2B industry, ERP solutions specifically designed to cater to the needs of specific branches. It means that by buying an ERP solution, you become a member of an industry community having access to best practices and advice.
ERPs showcase relevant information for making smart decisions
It is quite obvious that you will be left blind without a solution to consolidate your inventory. Your approach for making a decision is the thumb rule and your guesswork is the only one to blame whenever an idea doesn’t produce the desired result. And lacking an ERP solution is walking on thin ice, not only because made the wrong decisions, but because you can’t truly describe what went wrong in the process.
Visibility is made easy
An ERP solution collects all the data that is relevant to you as a team and to the customers as well. And having an ERP solution on board would imply that you can quickly accept or deny control delays, rush orders, or just monitor every part of your supply chains.
Operational efficiency is improved
Thanks to the highly advanced ERPs, now you can plan production efficiently and at the same time decrease teardowns as well as downtime like never before. The ERP solution will also help you better control your margins and costs, keep customers satisfied and improve DIFOT rates, and facilitate month-end closure through a fast financial report and automated audit trails. Everything combined, an ERP solution will reintroduce you all the strong and weak aspect of your business. Once all the company process is integrated, the company gets a real opportunity to hit top-line growth in its revenue, since the absence of finances to capitalize on flourishing opportunities is no longer present. More advanced supply/demand planning makes sales even more efficient, and at the same time reduces inventory’s cycle times to the point where you can leverage several times from just one investment you have made so far.
Supply and Demand are not only balanced but organized too
Every ERP solution has a component called “MRP”. It is the section in charge of making the balance between supply and demand in a way that will never allow any deficit/suffice of the stockpile.
The ERP feature suite is advanced
Apart from the basic components of an ERP, popular ERP tools provide functionally and advanced modules for executing more business-centric tasks. And the ideal ERP tool among them should enable IoT tracking, support several destinations and languages, landed cost tracking, and commission processing.
How to choose the best ERP solution?
Irrespective of the size of the company, every business leader would agree that the most important part of every business decision is the financial one as the numbers represent the best quality of the operation, considering both the internal as well as the external satisfaction level of the participants in the business process, meanwhile the productivity drives that deserve the most attention. And helping businesses tackle these challenges online is what an ERP solution specializes in; it utilizes what you already have in a more smart way, driving to the desired results while using minimum efforts and time.
These ERP programs are in fact the actual resource planners that can easily provide a multitude of the benefits for process manufacturing companies. The ERP solution effectively calculates return on investment (ROI) better than any manual process can ever do, produce real-time business expectations depending on the quality of current and previous performance, and automate critical phases of complex workflows. Since there are many ERP solutions currently available in the market, it can be a hectic task to select an ERP solution that can effectively cater to all your needs. And in this article, we are listing the main features of an ERP to help you select the most suitable ERP solution for your company.
Get to know each product with free trial
It’s a good idea to begin your search for the ERP solution by trying out several demo or free trials, as well as basic unpaid plans from trusted ERP solution providers. In will save you some money and
time as you will get to experience all critical features first hand to have a comparison and find any possible problems as well. And during this research period, you will get to better understand which ERP solution is better.
Targeted Businesses
The ERP solutions are welcomed by every company that is trying to manage and plan their resources in an adequate manner or to reestablish more control over their customers. And the companies that qualify as potential users of ERP solution are the following;
Large companies with lots of customers to respond to
The core reason for the lack of control over critical business operations is the lack of an ERP solution that would maintain inventory and customer data in just one location, and for instance, would disable sales of popular products/service whenever a certain threshold is reached. The data will be accessible to each team at the same time, and to the customers trying to make a new order or to check the current status of their order.
Medium companies facing accounting issues
Accounting is the first department to unify inventory management issues as the employees there are still depending on invoices printed on paper that they have to enter manually in the order to execute quality reporting. And as the issue becomes more critical, consolidating needs more and more time, and the medium-sized companies cannot reach the key numbers. While on the other hand, an ERP solution gathers all the financial data in a single place and at the same time provide easy access to it.
Small companies using several complex programs to manage resources
Managing inventory is highly time-consuming, especially when a small company having a patchwork on their on-premise solution and legal programs that needs a regular and costly upgrade. And each of the solutions needs a different implementation process to build an incredible workload for IT teams that are in charge of integrating those solutions. This is where an ERP solution is most helpful; they collect all the data in a single database, maintain its accuracy, and at the same time dissolve any data logjams to free up time and help the employees to make better decisions.
Method for ranking the top 10 ERP solutions of 2019
We considered many ERP solutions trying to shortlist our list of the entire ERP solutions of 2019. And during the shortlisting process, we have applied the following qualitative and quantitative criteria’s to finalize the list of top 10 ERP solutions of 2019;
- Ease of implementation including their average cost and time.
- The flexibility of the solutions.
- Market share.
- Scalability of solutions.
- Maturity of cloud solutions.
- Integration with 3rd party solutions.
- Average time to benefit realization.
- Strength of the vendor ecosystem like partners and system integrators.
- Ease of organizational change management and training.
Following are the top 10 ERP solutions that you should be considering for your company;
1. Oracle NetSuite
Oracle NetSuite is the pioneer in the cloud ERP solutions category. Just like Workday and Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite was created in the cloud. And unlike Workday and Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite has always focused more on broader functionally of ERP solution that includes financials, HCM, CRM, inventory management, and light manufacturing.
If you look ten years back, Oracle NetSuite was a good fit for mostly for small businesses and few mid-sized businesses. Although this is still the case, we have identified a highly demonstrated scale of the product at the upper-midmarket and larger businesses. And it still continues to deepen and broaden its functionality to tackle the needs of project management, manufacturing, and some other advanced features that are traditionally limited to the larger ERP solutions.
2. Sage Intact
The Sage Intact focuses to help small and medium-sized businesses manage every aspect of their organization. It also offers extensive 3rd party solutions. And with Sage Intact, you have the flexibility of choosing a plan that just handles payroll processing or both payroll taxes and payroll processing. Sage Intact also integrates seamlessly with their accounting solution and a range of other services to choose from like retirement plans and attendance and time systems.
3. SAP ERP
SAP ERP solution is a proven foundation for the world’s largest enterprises that efficiently streamline manufacturing, finance, sales, service, procurement, and HR processes.
It enables you to achieve multiple finance and operations goals. You can also program it to allow you to do several operational tasks like creating invoices, inventory, purchase orders, bill backs, etc.
SAP ERP offers a rich set of capabilities and features, including excellent treasury and financial risk management tools, logistics and supply chain management, human resources components and procurement capabilities.
4. Epicor ERP
Epicor ERP focuses more on enterprise business processes that include distribution, manufacturing, supply chain, service, and sales. Epicor ERP provides several solutions that come under the general ERP category via its flagship product is Epicor ERP. The solution was first launched in 2008 and since then the company has established itself as one of the top players in the ERP category. It has a customer base in more than 150 countries.
Epicor ERP can be easily deployed on-premises or in the cloud is known for its flexibility and ease of use. And the companies that have adopted Epicor ERP are enabled to adapt it to their business processes and workflows with minimum difficulty.
5. PeopleSoft
Oracle’s PeopleSoft ERP solution was designed to tackle the most complex business needs. PeopleSoft offers comprehensive business and industry solutions, enabling companies to increase productivity, accelerate business performance, and provide a lower cost of ownership.
6. Microsoft Dynamics GP
Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly known as Great Plains ERP solution offers comprehensive out-of-the-box business management functionality, from operations management and financial management to HR management and manufacturing. Microsoft Dynamics GP connects the many moving parts of a company, providing you with better visibility into and control over what’s going on in your company.
7. SAP Business One
SAP Business One is an ERP solution of Sapphire System that offers easy-to-implement, affordable, and real-time business management solutions, which are backed by the latest SAP HANA database technology. SAP Business One ERP solution increases control over your small company with a solution built to grow with you. And it streamlines key processes, gains greater insight into your business, and make better decisions based on real-time data– so you can drive more profitable growth.
8. SYSPRO
SYSPRO ERP solution was created to simplify business complexity for distributors and manufacturers by providing actionable insights that support effective decision-making, cost control, efficient processes, and increased productivity. SYSPRO ERP solution is a product of SYSPRO, a company based in the United States.
SYSPRO ERP solution is available for distribution and manufacturing industries like;
- Electronics
- Packaging
- Food and Beverage
- Automotive Parts and Accessories
- Plastics and Rubber
- Industrial Machinery and Equipment
- Fabricated Metals
- And more
9. Aumatica
Acumatica is a leading provider of Cloud ERP and Cloud Accounting solution for mid-size companies and for non-profits as well.
Acumatica ERP offers flexible cloud and mobile technology with a unique all-inclusive user licensing model, enabling a full, real-time view of the business anytime, anywhere.
Acumatica ERP offers the complete suite of integrated business management tools, including Financials, Manufacturing, Distribution, Project Accounting, and CRM.
10. Odoo
Odoo EPR solution is completely customizable and integrated open-source suite of business applications including sales, CRM, project management, manufacturing, inventory, accounting, and other business needs in one software solution. Odoo ERP solution was created to tackle the needs of businesses of all budgets and sizes.
The depth of integration inside the Odoo ERP solution enables users to decrease redundant manual processes. Odoo ERP solution is open-source and offers security features to business technology and software development communities around the world. Odoo ERP solution keeps all business functions in one place allowing teams to collaborate with other departments from one unified platform.
