In today’s business environment, CTO’s and CIO’s will often have to make critical, well-informed decisions in relation to their ERP software. A few products stand out for their popularity and brand name, but are they the right choice when it comes to what they can do for your company? Let’s put two of the most popular ERP software brands head-to-head and show you which one is the most scalable, cost-effective, and convenient business software solution for your company’s needs.
The Competitors
In one corner, we have Dynamics SL: technology giant Microsoft’s ERP offering for project-based small-and-medium businesses. In the other corner we have Acumatica ERP, a unique cloud-based ERP software with an integrated CRM that has been designed for cloud and hybrid environments.
Dynamics SL: The Legacy ERP
This highly-capable platform not only has the trusted seal of Microsoft excellence behind its development, it is a versatile ERP that can easily adapt to a wide array of industries that need project-oriented functionalities. Dynamics SL also delivers one the most comprehensive and solid accounting solutions available on the market. This ERP provides the familiarity of being a Microsoft product that seamlessly integrates with many widely-used Microsoft applications. It offers add-on suites for additional functionalities such as Sales and Marketing, which integrate with accounting data and it also allows limited mobile access through iOS and Android apps.
Dynamics SL also gives you the choice of deploying the ERP on-premise or in a cloud environment; a SharePoint license is required to deploy Dynamics SL on a cloud environment, however. Dynamics SL is priced on a license per-user and is available in Business Essentials Edition, which includes core finance and distribution features, and Advanced Management Edition which offers additional features for project management, advanced financial, accounting and distribution functionalities.
Acumatica: The Future of Enterprise Resource Planning
Acumatica has several distinctive features that make it a unique offering in the ERP software industry. In first place, Acumatica was designed and developed for the cloud business environment and allows on-premise, hybrid, or full cloud deployment with no additional licensing requirements.
Acumatica is an accounting powerhouse that is simple enough for small businesses, yet robust enough to meet the needs of complex multinational corporations. It also offers additional functionality like distribution and project accounting, plus industry specific solutions for manufacturers, eCommerce shops and more. Acumatica becomes extremely versatile with its long list of pick-and-choose applications and extra features that can be added to the main subscription. This also includes fully-functional mobile applications.
But, perhaps the most interesting and attractive features of Acumatica are its pricing model and scalability. Acumatica licensing is priced based on consumption and resource needs; the amount of transactions-per-hour and the amount of applications being used define pricing. Companies using Acumatica Cloud ERP receive no hidden fees and can scale up as needed, paying only for what they need as they expand; Acumatica grows parallel with your company. With Acumatica, you will never be in a position where you are forced to buy a package software with more applications that you will need to use. This makes it a cost-effective ERP and CRM solution for small-to-midsized project-oriented businesses.
The Verdict
There is no weak contender in this fight, since both ERP software offerings are solid options to consider deploying your business on. However, as modern business move’s further away from on-premise solutions in favor of cloud-based and hybrid environments, an ERP that is natively developed for cloud functionality becomes the more attractive option. Acumatica ERP is designed to adapt to emerging trends and offers unmatched scalability for growing companies and offers the lower total cost between both options.
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