We performed a comparison between Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and SAP S/4HANA based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two ERP solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The initial setup is easy - because it stands on Microsoft offerings, it's simple and intuitive to use."
"The solution is easy to use, flexible, and customizable."
"I have found the flexibility to be very valuable. It's highly flexible, and at least for us, it has been effective. It is also highly functional."
"Microsoft Dynamic 365 has everything we need, like Teams, Outlook, Excel, etc. I do a lot of data visualization, so I work a lot with Power BI. I bring in tables from Oracle and use Power Bi to manipulate and visualize the data. I handle all the stats and track everything that goes in and out of the company. We use all the modules, but I work primarily with Power BI, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. They are all equally important and work together."
"The solution has good dashboard functionalities and export functionalities."
"This is readily available and affordable, as well as user-friendly and simple to use in my opinion."
"The tool covers most of the business requirements that most companies have, especially financial institutions."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV is good for smaller-sized companies."
"S4HANA is a completely integrated solution. It's an end-to-end ERP system with strong manufacturing and financial integration, which is not common among ERPs. And it's a solution that's driven by industry best practices."
"The functionality of SAP S4HANA is very good when comparing it to others, such as Oracle, Microsoft, and other ERP solutions."
"The most valuable feature is the detail in all of the processes. The solution captures our policies and enables us to implement our policies in SAP. There are different models that address our needs."
"Because I'm a procure-to-pay consultant, I mostly look at that angle, and I have a bit of experience with sales and distribution. I also like the integration between S/4HANA and other ERPs because S/4HANA is a suite. For example, the integration between S/4HANA and EWM Transportation Management, and Ariba."
"I have found the user interface very modern and it has simplified many user jobs, such as the embedded logistics. They have introduced central finance which has been a benefit."
"The solution's new UI called Fiori is user friendly."
"The Fiori design is a valuable feature."
"I find everything I need in S4/HANA."
"The UI is not particularly user-friendly and the CRM could do with some enhancements."
"The stability could always be improved."
"I think Microsoft should improve on the process of how the user decides on a business workflow. For example, there may be some kind of drag-and-drop interface that lets us decide for ourselves how to develop the business workflows that fit our purpose."
"There is room for improvement in terms of compatibility."
"I wouldn't say that Microsoft Dynamics is very scalable."
"Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has been buggy in my experience and they should improve in this area. Additionally, there are too many updates. The updates involve a whole bunch of applications as part of the package, such as the Edge browser. The updates are too broad across the whole package of applications."
"It would be nice if the integration process was easier."
"I work in Pakistan, and many people want desktop solutions. They don't want to work on the cloud. They want a strictly on-premises solution."
"It requires a lot of planning to implement the product correctly."
"I'm not a big fan of SAP S/4HANA because it needs a lot of hardware. It is really fast, but it needs a lot of hardware. The hardware for S/4HANA is too expensive."
"It should have more support. Documentation and support for mobile apps can be improved."
"Documentation could be improved."
"There should be an easier way to migrate customers from all versions to SAP S/4HANA."
"We found that the implementing partners themselves are struggling with S4HANA's features. It's not an exact translation of the older ECC, so SAP has taken a new route to do things with S4HANA. Maybe it's a good product, but the implementing partners also like to have an in-depth understanding of the full feature set the product offers."
"Technical support has been declining. They aren't as responsive as they used to be."
"Lacking in some customizations."
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is ranked 3rd in ERP with 62 reviews while SAP S/4HANA is ranked 2nd in ERP with 65 reviews. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is rated 8.2, while SAP S/4HANA is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central writes "Easy to deploy, extremely stable, and highly scalable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP S/4HANA writes "The solution is highly scalable, with solid performance and integration". Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is most compared with Microsoft Dynamics AX, SAP Business One, SAP ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite and Odoo, whereas SAP S/4HANA is most compared with SAP ERP, SAP Business One, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite and NetSuite ERP. See our Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs. SAP S/4HANA report.
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Hello Amit, I am posting this answer on behalf of Gene Hammons, a Director at a small tech services company. He says: "Hey Amit - I believe there are huge price differentials between SAP S/4 HANA and MS D365 Business Central (the new web version of the old Navision code base). In most of our clients evaluating SAP we're comparing that to the D365 Finance & Operations (the new web version of the old Axapta code base). Pricing-wise, we'd see $3m for SAP, $1.5m for D365 F&O, and $400k for D365 BC. There is Business One from SAP that would fit in the middle of those Dynamics price points - and it's all relative, a smaller company would cost less, a larger company more - but you see where the competition would play. We do get a lot of calls from companies who have licensed D365 Business Central as part of their Microsoft IT stack and try to implement it themselves. After a couple of years, they start calling around and find out you need a real consulting team to get anywhere - and that's not free. Anyway - the key is who you partner with, make sure they have plenty of experience in your size company, in your industry - and let your business requirements drive the evaluation. The pros and cons of each system are only relevant depending on the requirements of your particular business model - any of these have the ability to be a total nightmare or productivity dream depending on where you try and fit them."
Hi Amit, I have experience with both SAP S/4HANA and Dynamics. SAP is a Tier 1 system, meaning it is meant for very large multinational companies. If you are looking for a midmarket solution, Dynamics Business Central is a better alternative, if you are in a country that is supported either by Microsoft or by an ISV partner. An ISV is an extension on top of Business Central that offers productized functionality (it is as if MSFT has extended it). For your company, it is possible an ISV with business domain-specific logic is possible. With the right partner and extensions (standard products), you can reduce your ERP implementation effort by 80%. Although SAP is a very good high-end ERP solution, it has a price and implementation cost. For the midmarket, MSFT is trying to reduce this radically with a combined offering of an ERP system with a low-code extension platform (Power Platform). From my experience, never go for on-premise, always go for cloud. Also use your own cloud environment, not a partner one. It is your ERP system, never get a partner to take you hostage. I have experience in the domain your business is operating in. I know many run on a Business Central platform.
Hello Amit,
I believe I can safely recommend SAP S/4HANA as a better ERP solution for your organization. Being directly involved in multiple SAP implementation projects, I have seen organizations transform and grow with S/4HANA. The only concern is the cost as I see it because SAP S/4HANA is costly as compared with other products.
Another thing that you need to consider is the change in management in your organization. SAP encourages organizations to adopt best practices and in doing so, users are not always facilitated. So how flexible your organization is when it comes to adapting the change is a million-dollar question.
Let me know if you need further details and we can specifically discuss accordingly.
Regards,
Muhammad Tuaha Mustafeez
SAP Solution Architect & Project Manager