ERP Software

Getting Down to Business with ERP Comparisons    - Part 6

This is part six where we will continue to compare ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions.

IOA Software makes an ERP solution called Integrated Office Accounting.  The average cost per user for this solution is nine hundred dollars.  IOA is a Canadian company with three thousand customers.  Their target customer base includes companies making five to nine million dollars per year.  This ERP offers the following functionality; financials, distribution, limited manufacturing, some service management, limited construction, and professional services automation.  Integrated Office Accounting Enterprise Resource Planning comes with the source code so that you may easily customize the product.

Intuit Canada Limited makes two ERP products.  Let’s compare ERP solutions.  One is called Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and the other is called Intuit QuickBooks Pro and Premier.  Intuit QuickBooks Pro and Premier supports up to five users while Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions supports five to thirty users.  Intuit QuickBooks Pro and Premier is meant for small business owners while Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions provides entry level Enterprise Resource Planning functionality for slightly larger businesses.

CaseWare International makes an Enterprise Resource Planning solution called Time & Today.  Time & Today provides financial and professional services automation functionality.  It comes with extensive reporting capabilities and typically cost two hundred dollars per user.

To fully compare ERP solutions, you need to demo each and every one of them.  Before you compare ERP solutions, define your business processes.  Determine where your weaknesses are and how an Enterprise Resource Planning solution can help.  Know your current system architecture and determine how you’ll integrate an Enterprise Resource Planning solution.  Create a budget and stick to it.  You need to budget in many things such as; implementation costs, training costs, upgrade costs, support costs and the like.

Getting overwhelmed when comparing Enterprise Resource Planning solutions is typical however you can easily narrow the field of ERP solutions by looking at industry specific products.  Consider whether you want an on-site solution, SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, or an open source solution.  There are pros and cons to each of these.  You need to decide which will work best with your business model.  What’s good for one company doesn’t mean it will be good for another.  Think about return on investment (ROI) and which ERP will enable you to get the best ROI.  Don’t forget to shop size.  If you’re a small shop, shop smaller ERP solutions unless you plan to grow rapidly.

Written by :

kristine H