What is our primary use case?
The main use case for SAP Business One is for small and medium-sized enterprises in various industries, such as manufacturing, trading, and services. It can be implemented across various domains.
What is most valuable?
SAP Business One has valuable and helpful features for standard utilities, such as sales, purchasing, inventory, and finance, including Indian localization. Additionally, it is strong in the area of production. It has enhanced capabilities in advanced production planning, maintenance, and other features as needed through the use of add-ons provided by partners. These add-ons run within the solution and can be provided to customers based on their specific production needs.
What needs improvement?
The standard SAP Business One is sufficient for the Indian region. There is no need for further enhancement as custom solutions can be designed and developed to meet specific needs. For example, HR and payroll is not a standard feature of the solution, but they can be created as a separate custom solution. However, payroll is not a standard function due to the varying norms and regulations across India's 29 states and union territories. Therefore, a standard payroll solution cannot be provided by SAP to add utility and features. Adding it would lead to different versions of the solution and more complexity in managing them. However, it would be useful to have addons to cover the other states which have different regulations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP Business One for approximately 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SAP Business One is highly stable in regions or countries where the taxation norms are simple, such as European and American companies. However, in regions such as India or Asia, where more customizations are required, it may be less stable. In those cases, support would be needed to manage stability.
I rate the stability of SAP Business One an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of SAP Business One is great. It is highly scalable and can be designed and developed to add any kind of features and functionalities required. Additionally, it is highly integrable with other third-party applications.
I rate the scalability of SAP Business One a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The support typically provides query resolution for the customers and customization if it is required.
I rate the support from SAP Business One a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SAP Business One is straightforward, but it depends on the specific processes and requirements of the organization. It may need to be configured to fit the organization's needs.
The implementation for a trading company will take a minimum of two and a half months. If it is a manufacturing company, the time can be higher, approximately eight to nine months.
I rate the initial setup of SAP Business One an eight out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
We used three to four technical people for the implementation of the solution.
What was our ROI?
Utilizing SAP Business One can greatly reduce the people needed for management and time efforts for the organization. Additionally, when it comes to managing inventory, using the solution can lead to a significant ROI by reducing leakage and inefficiencies. We estimate that by using this system, inventory management costs can be reduced by five to eight percent.
I rate the ROI from SAP Business One an eight out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of SAP Business One is not comparable to other solutions. SAP is a well-known brand, and its price is on the higher side. However, if the solution offers the right fit for an organization the price is not a major concern for those who choose to use it.
There are two main types of licenses, one for administrative management and the other for users. Users are the ones who input the transactions. In addition, there are other licenses, such as integration licenses that are provided as needed. However, generally, there are two types of licenses.
What other advice do I have?
SAP Business One does require annual maintenance and support from the partner who implemented the solution after implementation. We provide maintenance to our customers the solution.
A dedicated team is responsible for providing support services for SAP Business One, consisting of approximately 32 individuals. This support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week as customers are located in various time zones, including India, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and European countries.
I rate SAP Business One a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner