ERP Software

Free Download of ERP Software

The intent of ERP Software is to help companies increase profitability. Enterprise resource planning software, or ERP, was first designed to merge the varied functions of a company into one computer system.  This combined data will then be utilized to carry out the particular needs of each department.

Traditional ERP software systems were able to accomplish this by automating processes and connecting disparate information systems within a business enterprise. During the late 1990s, however, a growing number of businesses turned their focus outward. As a result, the scope of ERP escalated with the addition of new functions, making it an even more complete solution system. ERP software was able to take the place of the legacy systems that had previously operated independently of each other in departments such as finance, HR, manufacturing, and the warehouse. Good ERP software was then able to unite all departments together to make a whole; information from one department became accessible to the others: finance could look at shipping, and human resources could look at sales, etc.

Everything worked well until the smaller companies recognized they, too, could benefit from the use of ERP software, but found they could not afford the astronomically high prices associated with purchasing and implementing a system. The outcome of this predicament was the movement towards free ERP software.  In other words, the advents of the free download of ERP software.

A comparison study measuring the advantages and disadvantages of Commercial ERP software versus Free Download ERP software showed some expected results. In other words, the study proved that vendor sold ERP software systems are geared to big enterprises while free download ERP software systems are geared to small and medium sized businesses.

The study took the following six, different features and compared them: pricing, flexibility, results, training, security, ease of integration, and longevity. A closer look at these reveals that companies that use free download of erp software report an almost fifty percent savings over commercial, proprietary systems because there are no up-front licensing costs. On the other hand, vendor sold erp software is so expensive it is really suitable only for the large businesses.

Commercial systems are not very flexible. Businesses are faced with having to change the way they operate if they want to get the most out of the newly purchased software system.

Free download ERP software allows companies to perform all necessary modifications in code. Another advantage is that free download ERP software does not impede day to day timetables during the implementation stage.

As far as final results go, the success rate of free download erp implementations is much higher than the success rate for proprietary ERP software systems.  In fact, while horror stories abound about ERP packages bought at high premiums that never end up being set up in a fashion that would profit the business, there are almost none of those stories associated with free software.