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ERP Software
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For many enterprise-rated organizations, standard financial accounting software will be sufficient to meet their business processing needs. However, other organizations require the additional solutions that enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can provide. ERP software suites are modular, meaning the user may purchase only the necessary features of the software. Compare the best ERP software currently available using the table below.
Plus & Minus Software
Built around a single-file system, Plus & Minus is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) financial platform. Plus & Minus has collaborative tools for accounting, purchasing, managing sales, and reporting operations. With Plus & Minus, users are able to manage core finance operations, track sales operations, generate custom business reports, and monitor business documents. Plus & Minus enables users to deploy on-premise or in the cloud.
Ecount
Achieve efficiency across all areas of your business with ECOUNT ERP. A cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, ECOUNT ERP helps small to medium sized manufacturers, distributors, and other service-based businesses stay ahead of the curve. The platform integrates tools to simplify production, purchasing, payroll, inventory, sales, accounting, and team collaboration. And for only $55 per month, companies can take advantage of the entire ERP package.
Mindbridge Systems
Based in Livonia, Michigan, Realtrac Performance ERP is a leading software provider that specializes in manufacturing software for job shops and modular machine shops. Realtrac’s ERP software solution provides in-depth analysis of a company’s current and past status, thereby allowing the organization to make smart, educated decisions to maximize the return on investment. Easy to learn and use, Realtrac’s ERP software enables businesses to monitor shop operations, schedule workflows, track inventories, manage purchases and report business operations in real-time.
Aquilon Software
Aquilon ERP provides affordable, adaptable, feature-rich and proven business software solutions to achieve the Financial, Distribution, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Supplier and Customer Relationship Management functions of Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (SMB’s). The platform includes powerful data analysis tools, reports, and real-time queries to help organizations manage their business efficiently We bridge the gap between entry-level accounting systems like QuickBooks – which fall short in areas like inventory and production - and mid-range ERP systems that are too expensive for small and medium-size businesses.
Jonar
ParagonERP from Jonar is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for small businesses. For as low as $250 per month, small businesses can take advantage of a plethora of ERP features that help improve productivity and profits. It covers accounting and finance, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing and inventory, reporting, purchasing, product management, and sales.
Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct is a top-rated cloud financial management software for growing, mid-sized businesses. It features innovative technology, powerful automation, and a modern cloud architecture to help businesses scale. Sage Intacct covers all core accounting applications, including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash management and order management. It also includes built-in reporting and dashboards, time and expense management, project accounting, revenue management, and more.
aACE Software
Efficiently manage operations with aACE, a cloud-based and on-premise business management software for small and mid-size businesses. aACE has modules such as customer relationship management (CRM), accounting, inventory management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), order management, and production management. With aACE, users are able to manage their production process from job tracking to delivery.
Acumatica
Unlock your business potential and drive growth tiwh Acumatica Cloud ERP. Built on the latest cloud and mobile technologies, Acumatica Cloud ERP offers a suite of integrated applications to help modernize SMBs. The platform includes tools for financial management, distribution, customer management, manufacturing management, project accounting, field service, business intelligence, and more.
Brightpearl
Brightpearl offers a complete cloud-based back office solution for omnichannel retailers and wholesalers. With Brightpearl, businesses can access the tools they need to streamline the back office so they can focus more on delivering quality service to their customers. Top tools include inventory and order management, financial management, warehousing, accounting, purchasing, CRM, POS, and fulfillment. Brightpearl seamlessly integrates with leading ecommerce platforms and marketplaces.
Oneir Solutions
Oneir Solutions offers full-featured Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to mid size and growing businesses. With Oneir Solutions ERP, businesses can efficiently manage key functions through one shared database, increase sales with CRM, and monitor performance through powerful reporting tools. Oneir Solutions ERP is suitable for companies in wholesale, manufacturing, service, construction, food and beverage, and retail sectors.
CentralBOS
CentralIBOS is an all-in-one business management system designed for your business needs of today and future growth. CentralIBOS integrates with all of your other business components such as accounting, inventory management, order management, HR/Payroll, and CRM. With their real-time order and inventory features, CentralIBOS helps enhance organization within your entire company from Sales to Procurement to Warehouse Management.
Sapphire Systems
SAP Business One is a powerful ERP solution available on-premise, in the cloud, or powered by SAP HANA, SAP's in-memory computing database. SAP Business One covers all core business functions in one platform, giving managers access to critical data and allowing for quicker, better business decisions. Some of the functionalities available in SAP Business One are CRM, stock contol, sales management, financials, purchasing, reporting, and more.
Khaos Control Solutions
Streamline business stock control, order processing, CRM, and accounting with Khaos Control Cloud, a cloud-based enterprise resource management (ERP) solution. Khaos Control Cloud is suitable for small businesses across all industries and designed to work on desktop and mobile devices. Khaos Control Cloud has features including processing, courier integration with MetaPack, payment integration with Sage Pay, and more. Simple and informative, Khaos Control Cloud features sales functionalities that enable users to track stock levels across multiple sites, manage promotions, and more.
IntegrateIT
ERP123 by IntegrateIT is one of the top rated that automates and integrates business operations. The software allows users to organize their MRP, inventory management, picking and shipping, customer management, and accounting. It’s compatible with Windows operating systems and can be installed on-premise or accessed through a web browser. The solution is also highly customizable, including the Excel integration feature allows the user to export data for reporting.
IndustryBuilt
JustFood is a cloud ERP solution for food manufacturers and food distributors. Powered by Microsoft Dynamics, JustFood is an end-to-end enterprise management software that aims to help food manufacturers and distributors take control of their food production process, ensure safety, quality, and compliance, and improve finance and accounting. It also comes with additional modules such as advanced warehouse management, handheld device support, production scheduling and EDI
xTuple
Consolidate all manufacturing and distribution processes into a single business system with xTuple, an open source ERP for Mac, Linux, Windows and mobile. Suitable for small and mid-sized manufacturers and distributors, xTuple empowers companies to efficiently manage their growing needs, take more control over their operations, and achieve greater profitability. The platform integrates all critical supply chain functions, including accounting, sales, inventory control, customer and supplier managment, and manufacturing and distribution.
VersAccounts
Streamline processes and achieve great business outcomes with VersAccounts Small Business Cloud ERP system. VersAccounts are suitable for small and medium sized businesses looking for a capable ERP system to continue growing. The platform's core modules include multi-entity accounting, purchasing and order management, distribution, production, customer relationship management, project accounting, support for e-commerce and multi-channel retail, and more.
YetiForce Sp. z o.o.
Are you looking for a system to boost your sales? Do you want to improve your relationships with customers? Do you want to contribute to the fastest growing open source project on GitHub? You can use YetiForce completely free of charge. With YetiForce’s help you will manage 12 business processes in your company, no matter the size. The vast number of features available for free helped us win the first place in Capterra’s “Most Affordable CRM Software” ranking. YetiForce’s open source code was released under a very flexible and liberal license, which gathers a large and active community around the project. You too can contribute to it no matter if you are a professional programmer or software development is just your hobby. Download YetiForce for free and find out why you should become one of more than 250 000 people who already use it. Testing versions: GitStable: https://gitstable.yetiforce.com/ GitDeveloper: https://gitdeveloper.yetiforce.com/
VISCO
VISCO is a robust enterprise resource planning (ERP) software designed specifically for importers and wholesale distributors. VISCO is uniquely designed to handle cost calculation, shipment, and inventory tracking; document generation and management; and foreign currencies and unit of measure conversion. This sophisticated ERP software can be integrated with warehouse management, inventory management, and procurement features to help import and distribution businesses operate efficiently.
Aqxolt
ERP MARK 7 by Aqxolt is an Order Fulfilment Management software that is customizable to how your business needs. You will deliver on orders faster with the use of the intuitive in-app features, that include Estimate Shipment Costs, Accept and Enter Payments, Raise Manufacture Orders, Manage Work Orders, Receive Stock Items, Dispatch Stock, and Ship & Track orders. All of this is done from one simple easy-to-use platform, no more countless emails or never-ending spreadsheets.
MIE Solutions
MIE Trak Pro is a cutting-edge Production Control platform that gives administrators and owners an in-depth look at how different centers are operating. Ranked higher than 600 other ERP software providers, MIE Trak Pro brings everything under one easy-to-use interface that allows seamless integration of other apps, Multi-Site management, and a Dashboard to view reports, drag and drop graphs and charts to know every metric you want to see.
Sellsy
Manage your sales cycle from start to finish with Sellsy, a complete online customer relationship management (CRM) and online sales management software. With Sellsy, sales teams regardless of size and industry can manage and track leads, create quotes and invoices, and engage customers with ease. A modular offer based on a team's specific needs, Sellsy comes with business management, CRM/opportunity management, subscription management, POS, website blog and ecommerce, purchases, margins, expense tracking tools, and so much more.
These ERP suites were created with the small to midsize enterprise (SME) market in mind. This designation is less an indicator of the actual size of an enterprise and more an indicator of its complexity. This distinction is important, given that an organization that isn't particularly complex may not have a sufficient need for a customized ERP suite. Typically, an SME would need to be involved in international commerce, have a complex supply chain, or simply be a large enough enterprise to require custom business solutions for an investment in ERP software to be worthwhile.
At its core, an ERP suite is modular software that handles the most basic financial aspects of running a business. Users can build outward from that base by adding additional modules to handle other specific business functions. These modules can include business functions such as supply chain management and business intelligence. It can also include materials resource management, which is a broad topic that can address fixed asset management, review point of sale performance, offer project management solutions, and even manage inventory through Just-In-Time strategies.
What differentiates ERP software from more basic accounting software is that an ERP suite provides a system that can be used to manage an entire enterprise instead of merely track its finances. Outside of convenience, users also benefit from all of these resources working cohesively through one base ERP suite thanks to the possibility of creating new processes or gaining a better holistic view of an organization that wouldn't be available under a series of unconnected software tools.
For example, while accounting software would only offer a basic framework limited to accounting processes, most ERP systems have more expansive options that allow for modules that integrate basic payroll functions into a broader human resources tool. An ERP suite can also add modules that would customize inventory software for an organization with unique distribution or logistical needs.
At first glance, generic single-use applications that only serve one specific part of an enterprise may seem sufficient. It may not be obvious on the surface but a one-size-fits-all application likely won't be effective for every type of enterprise. Payroll systems, for example, can have vastly different requirements across different types of businesses. A service organization will be more concerned with payroll software that is able to integrate billing and expense management, while a restaurant chain is going to be more concerned about recording employee tips and factoring in any related tax issues. Both of those types of enterprises will have needs that are far different from that of a construction company that has to account for contractors versus employees and even calculate different rates of pay for the same worker depending on what task he or she is performing that day.
Another area outside of payroll that can have a wide variance in needs is inventory. For example, an enterprise that focuses on manufacturing will need more than just spreadsheets tracking inventory; such a company would potentially need a barcode scanning system to track building components. Those needs are completely different from a seasonal business that would need an automated system able to manage production levels for high and low volume seasons.
Ultimately, the modular and highly customizable nature of ERP suites requires an SME to game plan for what they need from the suite long before contacting a vendor. To determine exactly what type of ERP suite is needed, an enterprise must do a top-down review of its processes and the way it does business. This includes contemplating every phase of business from development, to implementation, to manufacturing, to the sales and billing process all the way through customer support. An enterprise will need to consider how all of these phases work together and how it processes information between all of these phases. The process of an enterprise looking inward when reviewing its ERP needs will go far beyond the questions that are asked for standard financial software, which includes reviewing the number of servers needed and calculating the number of software licenses required. While those questions would still apply to an ERP suite an enterprise would need to go deeper and ask questions that will lead to a greater understanding of the way an enterprise operates.
A comprehensive understanding of the way an enterprise functions is important for designing an ERP suite for reasons other than utilizing the wide range of business systems ERP can offer. Because ERP modules all function together on the same framework it's possible for an enterprise to achieve increased integration between the different modules and the various parts of the business they represent. Because standard business software usually has one function, it's rare that it encourages integration with other software. For example, assume a food processing company receives a delivery of beef on a specific day of the week. The company has employees that specialize in processing the beef when it arrives. In this circumstance, an ERP platform's HR module might coordinate with the inventory module to make certain the correct employees are scheduled to work on the day the beef arrives. Traditional business software is unlikely to have this capability. In most cases, the software would be unable to work with each other and the potential for synergy between processes would be lost.
The example above is just one of the many possibilities that might arise. The potential for what an ERP system is capable of is limited only by the boundaries of the platform and an enterprise's understanding of the manner in which it conducts its business.
ERP software is not a new concept. First marketed in the late 1990's, ERP has long been available but until recently was typically outside the budget of most SMEs. The reasoning is pretty simple; the computing power needed to operate these modules and allow them to run optimally can be intense. ERP suites often need multiple servers to function. Many require a server for each separate module. For instance, an SME might have separate servers for an HR module, one for the database backend, one for financials, etc. That's not to mention additional redundant servers for increased performance and backup. All of this hardware adds up quickly, often costing more than the ERP suite itself. It's no surprise that since the development there have been many enterprises unable to take advantage of an ERP system due to budget constraints.
Luckily for some SME's, cloud-based computing has opened doors to ERP not seen before. Many vendors are using cloud-based computing to power their ERP's which they are deploying with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. The SaaS model allows a business to license software that is centrally hosted elsewhere. It allows them to save on the upfront hardware costs of hosting the software themselves, including server and network costs. With all servers operating on the cloud, an ERP system can offer a much lower cost and much higher scalability.
The higher scalability possible through the cloud can make an enormous difference for some businesses. For example, a retail business might have a module for online sales. During the holiday season, it's not uncommon for businesses to see large spikes in traffic. To accommodate that traffic without SaaS distribution would require the business to buy new servers for redundancy to handle the increase in traffic. That would involve a large hardware cost for a server that will no longer be necessary for much of the remaining year. That leaves the company with a tough choice: settle for spotty e-commerce during peak online buying, or spend more money on hardware that will only be needed a few weeks out of the year. Cloud-based ERP systems remove the need for that difficult choice. A company can simply pay for additional cloud-based servers for the busy holiday season and then dissolve those servers once they are no longer needed. This allows an enterprise to only pay for the server space they need and only when they need it.
One final benefit of SaaS deployment of an ERP suite is lowered licensing costs. When software is hosted on-site an enterprise must pay a setup fee as well as a dollar amount per licensed user. This amount per user is often between $1,000 and $5,000 and the license would last until there are significant changes made to the software. Cloud-based ERP systems often charge a nominal setup fee or waive it completely. What’s more, the monthly amount is usually between $90 and $500. In many instances, the subscription route of paying a lower monthly rate can be significantly cheaper than the traditional method of paying a larger lump sum per license.
There is one area in which an ERP system won’t save any money over traditional software, and that is when using a third party to handle software deployment. Most ERP vendors suggest or require an enterprise to deploy an ERP suite through a third-party partner. The third-party partner will manage the actual deployment of the ERP system which can take up to several months. This is more than simply installing software, as the third-party partner is responsible for in-depth work including coding middleware that connects the modules if they weren’t already coded prior to purchase. These third-party partners are also responsible for employee training and troubleshooting after deployment. While hiring a third-party partner may not be required it’s likely to be highly recommended by the vendor.
The bottom line is that an enterprise should take stock of the way it does business and evaluate its needs long before even contemplating an ERP system. There will likely be a third-party partner to guide an enterprise through the process and smooth out any issues, so the real work is for an enterprise to go into the relationship knowing exactly what it wants from an ERP system.