Best ERP Software for Businesses

What is ERP Software?

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is an on-premise or cloud-based software designed to streamline almost all operations performed by an organization.

A list of standard features that come with the best ERP software include:

Supply Chain Management
Product Lifecycle Management
Customer Relationship Management
Project Management
Sales and Marketing
Big Data Analytics
Business Intelligence
Asset Management
Financial Management
Support and Service Management
Human Resource Management

Clearly, ERPs are the all-in-one solutions that all businesses need regardless of their business scale or even their industry. Catering to all the aspects an organization needs to be taken care of, the ERP software market has gained a worldwide value of over $40 billion in the past several years.

A 2020 report shows that 93% of the total number of companies implementing ERPs into their infrastructures reported their projects as successful. And 95% of these businesses reported significant business performance improvement after implementation.

As a manufacturer, it’s important to understand that an ERP isn’t as simple or limited as your regular OMS, IMS or WMS. Think of it as an amalgamation of all the important tools an organization can need with customization options and flexibility.

Difference Between ERP and OMS, WMS, IMS and More

An order management system (OMS) serves to provide organizations and fulfillment centers with a platform to coordinate and communicate with one another. Some OMS can offer real-time visibility to clients and even to end consumers awaiting their orders.

In addition to an OMS, companies often have to rely on inventory management systems (IMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS).

Both of these software applications can help to keep your warehouse working smoothly by streamlining labor schedules, stock management, and maintaining client databases and finances.

Whereas, an ERP can provide you with all the above and more in one single window. Not only does this simplify the management of operations but it also saves time while reducing the creation of data silos.

Since all your data is coming in and going through the same system, you don’t have to check different applications for statuses and updates of different operational processes.

This uncomplicates a lot of work for various departments such as demand forecasting, marketing and support, product lifecycle management and supply chain operations.

Major ERP Solutions

Let’s take a look at the best ERP software for startups that you should check out.

NetSuite

There’s probably no disagreement in the claim that NetSuite is one of, if not the biggest ERP software for organizations. This cloud-based system offers a plethora of extensive features and capabilities that allow companies to achieve enormous tasks in a matter of minutes.

As per technology evaluation sites, NetSuite provides a list of 1442 features that are categorized as follows:

ERP
Global Business Management
Professional Services Automation
Human Resource Management
Accounting Software
Commerce
Infrastructure
Analytics & Reporting
Customer Relationship Management

Simplifying various aspects of business management including but not limited to finances, human resources, supply chain and product lifecycle management, NetSuite comes as an all-in-one package, though it can be priced a little over the budget limits shared by many startups.

In fact, you can manage taxes, receive detailed accounting reports, and remain compliant with each transaction being logged into your safe and secure ledger that is accessed by the software to provide financial analytics.

Compared to traditional CRMs, OMS, IMS and WMS, NetSuite comes with everything packed together as it allows you to automate financial processes such as client handling and inventory visibility to optimize supply chain operations by providing business analytics to help businesses with demand forecasting.

In a single window, you can use this ERP to manage your orders seamlessly between manufacturing plants, material suppliers, fulfillment centers and even end consumers.

In addition to this, NetSuite also offers a cutting-edge warehouse management module that improves workflow and helps companies achieve top-tier efficiency.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for NetSuite is its OneWorld module that helps companies manage their businesses globally while ensuring financial consolidation and visibility.

NetSuite OneWorld can process all your calculations in multiple currencies while keeping you updated on global tax regulations and reporting requirements for your subsidiaries spread across multiple geographies.

Syspro

Rivaling NetSuite is SYSPRO, another cloud-based ERP that is famous for its cutting-edge modules that seamlessly automate a variety of business operations, with a cost that most startups can afford.

In fact, Syspro offers different packages that cater to different segments of your organization’s processes.

The Syspro Foundation package, for instance, provides you with the basic functionality of an ERP that can streamline intra-organization communication with customizations that allow companies to choose what they want to be viewed on their dashboards.

Syspro offers almost the same number of features as NetSuite, categorized into:

Order Management
Planning and Scheduling
Supply Chain
Production Control
Manufacturing Operations Management
Inventory Management
Traceability
Cost Control
Business Operations
Financial Management
Procurement Management
Warehouse Management
Business Insights
Process Improvement

Coupled with the Syspro Manufacturing Solutions package, you can plan, execute and control production with ease while having the option to integrate your ERP with your other tools.

Not only does this help reduce data silos, but it also makes it easier for departments to share data inclusively.

This ERP comes with extensive control, allowing companies to set up custom rules for every part they’re acquiring for production while helping with the assignment of tasks and ensuring operational integrity to meet deadlines.

With the Syspro Distribution Solutions package, you can manage your sales cycles, customers, and suppliers and even manage your inventory everywhere from a single window.

Data collected with these modules also come in handy to provide you with key insights and market predictions.

Similar to the above, the Syspro Financial Solutions package works best when you have all the other components as they integrate with each other to highlight and reduce costs accrued and efficiently manage resources.

In addition, Syspro offers Foundation+, Manufacturing+ and Distribution+ packages that each entail significant upgrades such as in-depth customization and integration capabilities.

These modules also include batch tracing, demand forecasting AI, promotional management, and other features for enterprises that would require them.

Acumatica

If you’re looking for user-friendliness, it doesn’t get much better than Acumatica. Known for its interactive design and easy interface, this cloud ERP comes with cutting-edge AI-powered automation that seamlessly executes several tasks at once, reducing management hassles by a lot.

In a nutshell, Acumatica Cloud ERP offers:

Financial Management
Multi-Entity and Intercompany Accounting
Project Accounting
CRM
Reporting, Dashboards and Business Intelligence
Inventory Management
Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Order Management
Commerce Connectors
Point-of-Sale (POS)
Construction and Manufacturing Management
Service Management

Providing everything an effective ERP should, you can expect Acumatica to provide you with robust finance, construction, distribution, customer relationship, and process manufacturing management modules that come ready to streamline your business.

The option to have the Retail and E-Commerce module that allows you to dive into inventory management, financial management, order management and integration support for Shopify and BigCommerce makes Acumatica a great option to consider.

To help you optimize your business, you can rely on credible business analytics and reporting features of the ERP to help you stay ahead.

SAP S/4 Hanna

SAP S/4Hanna Cloud is an enterprise resource management giant that features spectacular frameworks and diverse functionality.

Known for its appealing design and customizability, this cloud-based ERP solution can prove flexible enough to work for almost any industry in the market.

SAP S/4 Hanna comprises the following modules that provide a vast array of functionalities and features:

Asset Management
Finance
Manufacturing
R&D and Engineering
Sales
Service
Sourcing and Procurement
Supply Chain

Offering Asset Management, Finance and Manufacturing Management, R&D and Engineering modules, sales and services, sourcing and procurement and supply chain management tools, SAP S/4Hanna makes for the perfect fit for small to medium sized businesses.

This modern cloud software can make it easy for businesses to automate tedious tasks such as accident investigations and defining workflow processes to help human resource departments.

Accuracy tracking of forecasted quantities with detailed comparisons of planned and actual data reports is an appealing convenience that several clients of SAP S/4Hanna have learned to rely on.

If you already have several datasets that your organization is working with, you can use their easy integration capability to make a combined database that’s shareable over the ERP across your company’s departments.

The ERP promises to streamline supply chain operations with Improved order management and fulfillment optimization along with enhanced customer support and sales management.

Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a newly introduced ERP system that is easily one of the easiest ERP systems to integrate with. Dynamics can serve as an innovative CRM that gives you complete access to your customer profiles and sales data while compiling and synchronizing them across your network.

The fact that it can integrate with all Office products makes it easier for almost every company to switch. It offers crucial sales insights that consider a large amount of data from your CRM to find opportunities by recognizing trends in buying behavior.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a well-known ERP that brings its own unique functionalities and features:

Sales Insights
Relationship Analytics
Project Service Automation
Customer Journeys
Email Marketing
Landing Pages
Event Management
Segmentation and Lead Scoring
Supporting Services
LinkedIn Network Accessibility
Mobile Accessibility

With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, businesses that had trouble reaching audiences found the window they needed to pitch their products to the right people through a reliable platform. This, combined with the ERP’s customer support features, makes Dynamics the go-to ERP for startups.

Since most warehouses are already using Excel sheets, it’s not that difficult to integrate your current WMS into Dynamics’ modules that help streamline warehouse management along with other crucial supply chain operations such as inventory replenishments.

The best part? Dynamics is one of the few players in the market that have optimized their software to be compatible and work perfectly on mobile devices, making it easier for sales and support departments to stay connected with customers even on the go.

Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is another major ERP for startups that may appeal to your needs. Offering absolute control over almost all aspects of your organizational operations, Sage Intacct can take care of your finances, including billing and reporting, inventory management, order management and much more.

Some of the major features this software comes with include managing accounts receivable and payable while taking control of your invoices in an intelligent ledger management module.

Sage Intacct competes with all major ERPs in the market with its robust modules including

Core Financials
Analytics and Reporting
Billing
Dynamic Allocations
Inventory Management
Multi-Entity and Global Consolidations
Project Accounting
Revenue Recognition and Spend Management
Vendor Payment Services
Sales and Use Tax
Time and Expense Management

The multi-entity and global consolidation platform that Sage provides has proved significantly helpful for companies trying to expand their geographical boundaries.

Combined with its billing and planning management modules, you can quickly assign tasks to a large group of workers and monitor their progress in real-time.

This ERP provides dynamic reports that offer deep insight into your business performance while automating regular calculations such as revenue recognition, sales and use tax, spend management, time and expense management and much more.

In addition to all this, Sage Intacct comes with custom integration options that aren’t limited to just big giants like Salesforce. You can make use of Sage intelligence by integrating the API into any existing system.

Medium Scale ERP Solutions

Brightpearl

Since 2007, Brightpearl has evolved to become one of the industry-leading ERP solutions in major regions for medium-sized businesses. When it comes to functionalities for a locally operating business, Brightpearl’s supply chain optimization is top-tier.

Supply chain management facilitation down to fulfillment optimization, that’s a promise Brightpearl offers to companies.

Brightpearl offers to facilitate supply chains by providing them a robust set of modules for streamlined automation.

With an efficient shipping management system that incorporates third-party logistics and flexible infrastructure to accommodate integrations, the ERP makes it easy to focus on sales growth with seamless automation.

Brightpearl offers the following features in its ERP:

Inventory Management
Order Management
Shipping & Fulfillment
Warehouse Management
Purchasing & Supplier
POS
3PL and Returns Management
Inventory Demand Planning
Retail Accounting
E-Commerce Analytics & Business Intelligence
CRM
Plug & Play Integrations
Hyper-scalability
Flexible Infrastructure

Dear Systems

If you’re looking for a state of the art cloud ERP that is perfect for wholesalers, manufacturers, and most small to medium-sized businesses, Dear Systems is the way to go.

Offering modules that help achieve a variety of business objectives such as supply chain management and optimization, this ERP provides real-time visibility for operations such as purchasing processes.

The Dear Systems cloud-based ERP features inventory management, warehouse management and order management modules to simplify and automate your supply chain operations. You get all credible and reliable information on your dashboards in the form of clear and colorful graphical representations.

A complete list of modules provided by Dear Systems includes:

Inventory Management
Warehouse Management
Manufacturing
E-Commerce
Purchasing

Cin7

Identified as the best inventory and order management software for manufacturers, Cin7 is one of the best additions businesses can make to their tech stack.

Many companies that started out in search for ERPs have discovered Cin7’s remarkable platform that focuses on providing complete business optimization and automation for manufacturing companies.

Ideal for small to medium-sized businesses, Cin7 boasts features such as a built-in EDI customer management system, payment portals, order fulfillment management and tons of integrations.

In fact, Cin7 has a remarkable list of over 700 essential business tools that the ERP can easily integrate and share databases with.

A list of modules provided by Cin7 include:

Inventory Management
Order Management
B2B E-commerce
Order Fulfillment
Built-in EDI
Amazon Integration
Reports and forecasting
Point of sale
Payment Portal
Production Management
Sales quoting
Order Fulfillment
3PL

E2Open

E2Open has been a renowned supply chain management tool for startups but this ERP’s scalability makes it ideal for anything short of a large-scale enterprise.

Like all of its competitors, E2Open leaves nothing to chance by offering businesses the chance to improve their supply chain operations with more than just tools and features provided by the ERP.

E2Open comes with the E2Net, which is the world’s largest direct business network that facilitates global operations.

That means users can even leverage resources and geographical connections and networks to expand and target markets worldwide.

Some of the most notable innovations made by E2Open include Harmony, the unified user experience that synchronizes and centralizes all workflows executed across the ERP.

Some of the modules offered by E2Open include:

Channel Shaping
Demand Sensing
Business Planning
Global Trade
Logistics
Collaborative Manufacturing
Supply Management

This SaaS platform uses artificial intelligence to identify patterns and possible disruptions that can hinder operations. In addition to the basic modules, here’s what makes E2Open a tremendous option:

Control Tower Capabilities
Logistics as a Service
Omnichannel Experience
Direct Procurement and Transportation Procurement Services
ESG Compliance for Supply Chain

For Startups

OnCloudERP

OnCloudERP is a modern solution designed specifically for startups that don’t want to spend a lot on their digital infrastructure without compromising on their needs.

Giving you all the access and synchronization options that you need to share your data with your organization, this ERP comes equipped with all the basic modules that are expected of a management system.

An easy set-up makes OnCloudERP a friendly and appealing option for those who are looking for accounting and finance management, asset management, inventory and production management, purchase and payroll automation options, sales modules and a sharp CRM to keep track of your clients.

Easy on the budget and technically sound for organizations, OnCloudERP proves to be a good starting point for startups and small-scale businesses.

A list of modules and features offered by OnCloud ERP includes:

Accounting
Sales
Purchase
Payroll
Production
Inventory
Assets
Project
CRM

Zoho

Although Zoho is a platform famous for its customer relationship management services, it’s also a popular ERP that has several integration options available. Zoho can work with almost any type of business with its cutting-edge sales analytics and customer database synchronization.

A list of Zoho’s capabilities and features includes:

Sales Force Automation
Product Customization
Automation and Process Management
Prediction and Artificial Intelligence
Analytics and Reporting
Social (CRM)
Marketing Automation (CRM)
Webforms
Team Collaboration
Inventory Management
Customer Support
User Portals and Data Administration

By avoiding data silos, you can reduce the communication hassle and time it takes to get shared data internally and streamline your operations while ensuring and retaining visibility in real-time.

The ability to automate repetitive data entry and calculation tasks that were prone to manual errors have proven helpful for all organizational departments making use of the ERP.

The best way to use Zoho is to integrate it with all the other apps in your tech stack so that it can get to work on organizing your customer relationships and generating important workable data.

Odoo

One of the most scalable options on the list, Odoo is an enterprise resource planning system that can be amazing for startups as they progress to further stages in their development.

Odoo offers cutting-edge features in carefully designed modules that streamline multi-faceted operations in a seamless manner.

In short, Odoo offers top of the line accounting and finance management, HR management and S&OP optimization. Some of the features offered in these modules include:

Reconciliation
Purchasing and Budgeting
Multi-Currency processing
Inventory control
Multi-carrier Shipping Integration
Project and Warehouse Management
Inventory and Order Management
Business Analytics, EDI Integration and Document Management
Material Requirement Planning and Manufacturing Execution Systems

Things to Consider Before Deciding on ERPs

Have a Good Foundation

Most businesses make the mistake of opting for automation when they don’t have the basic infrastructure in place.

You can’t streamline a process that hasn’t been perfected. Businesses need to understand the process that is executed on a regular basis before proceeding to automation.

This is why you need to start things off manually. This will allow you to view the nuances of your particular business and anticipate possible problems before you make a long-term decision.

While it’s true that you won’t get stuck with an ERP for life, you can waste a significant amount of resources.

Don’t Overbuild

Some organizations don’t look beyond the first year or even the first few apps they incorporate into their tech stack. This inevitably leads to overbuilt stack problems that cause problems with scalability.

One of the reasons this happens is the mistaken goal of retaining flexibility. While companies should and want to be flexible enough to integrate additional applications to their stack, ERPs that offer flexibility aren’t always that scalable.

This means that though your infrastructure can be customized, it won’t prove to be durable when you’re experiencing growth and have to take your operational scale to the next level.

Applications that aren’t good for medium-sized businesses but work well for smaller businesses to integrate are common examples.

Although it may be tedious and can require getting used to, it’s important you choose the right ERP from the beginning, after doing the requisite research and consultation, in order to make the most of your tech stack for the longest time.

Make Long-Term Plans

Tied to the problem described above, short-term tech stack additions can seem fruitful but as you scale beyond current operational capacities, you’ll find the need for extended features and modules that small ERPs just can’t provide.

And even though there are ERPs that integrate easily with other apps, you’ll find the costs running high for such a customized system and as stated before, this can also be counterproductive in terms of scalability and business growth.

Consider Your Requirements

While it’s true that ERPs can make or break businesses, it’s also true that not all startups actually need them. Or to put it more precisely, not all startups require all features and functionalities of an ERP.

As you’ll find below, there are a myriad of different options in the market, with more on the way, and each of these ERP systems offer a wide range of features and functionalities that you, at your current stage of business, might not require.

For example, if you’re not targeting international audiences, you don’t require something that’s over your budget or not part of your immediate requirements. Depending upon your needs, you’ll have to check your budget and the available options that are helping you get the job done.

Since most modern ERPs allow maximum customization which include integrations, you can easily merge your tech stack together later on for added features and functionality.

The best way to go about this would be to consider consultation with experts at Izba.

Our team of professional supply chain consultants can discuss your organization’s operations and help you choose the ideal tech stack, team, frameworks and infrastructure to execute operations with precision.

Consider Goals

You can select any of the above-listed ERPs and still find yourself unable to achieve a specific goal particular to your scenario. One such example is startups that are hoping to sell themselves and are looking for acquisition opportunities or acquirers in the market.

An ERP like NetSuite can also help you in this regard as it’s frequently used by acquirers. Several companies have been acquired through NetSuite’s massive network of multinational corporations and organizations.

Heavily considering your goals before you buy and integrate an ERP system into the mix is necessary, unless you’re looking forward to regretting your decision for the next year or more.

Ready to Evolve?

Get in touch with Izba and let’s partner together to scale and develop your business. We can help you decide on the ideal ERP for your organization and set up the infrastructure to do so!

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