Why choose SAP Business One over Sage 50?

Most small businesses use Sage 50, Sage One Accounts Extra or Sage Instant or similar accounting products which are perceived to be a lower price point. This software helps manage their accounts as they are easy to use, basic in nature and provide reliable solutions. Sage is a great choice for small enterprises, but growing businesses will inevitably outgrow the limited features and performance that Sage offers. When this happens, it’s time to consider moving to a true ERP solution such as SAP Business One. SAP Business One  is more than just an accounting system.  It is a powerful solution that encapsulates and performs many functions from streamlining and automating to standardising the business management processes.

Below is a comparison between SAP Business One and Sage 50 where some essential features are addressed that have an impact on overall growth, efficiency, decision making, and profitability.

Overview	SAP Business One is industry-leading ERP software used to manage all aspects of business. Appropriate for businesses that have outgrown Sage 50.	Sage 50 is a common purpose small business accounting software.
Prestige	70% of the world economy transactions run on an SAP system.	Ireland and the UK’s most popular basic accounting software.
Target Customers	Growing small & mid-size businesses with accounting along with business management needs.	Small businesses with limited budget and basic accounting requirements.
Number of Users	Unlimited users and role specific privileges.	20 users maximum
Business Area	Accounting & Financials Inventory & Distribution Sales & CRM Purchasing & Operations Mobility Real-time Reporting	Accounting
Software Type	Standalone, On Premise, Cloud	Standalone, Cloud
Platforms	Desktop, Mobile, Cloud	Desktop, Cloud
Features	19 features for business management.	7 features for accounting.
Multi-Currency Support	It supports exchange rate changes for specified period or per transaction. Value of foreign creditors and debtors can be changed.	Only one exchange rate can be set per currency. It’s not possible to alter the value of foreign debtors or creditors.
Stock Control	Stock can be controlled in multiple warehouses for multiple locations. It gives the ability to restrict which warehouse should hold which stock items.	Stock cannot be controlled location-wise.
Financials	Flexible number and length of accounting periods.	12 calendar months are set in each financial year.
CRM	CRM is integrated in as part of the software. Track marketing activities, sales opportunities, manages campaigns, service contracts and much more.	Only track calls and set reminders for a particular customer.
Workflow	Streamlines workflow with customising work-space in order to meet each user’s individual requirements. Automatically forward tasks to certain users.	None
Inventory Management	It handles all of the inventory management functions. Allows flexible pricing structures. It ensures you have the most updated and detailed inventory information as and when you need.	No stock traceability, locations or individual customer stock codes.
Production & Manufacturing	Have in-built Production & Manufacturing modules.	Not supported
MRP	It has integrated MRP module that predicts demand of materials based on the existing stock and sales orders. Parameters can also be adjusted considering what-if scenarios.	Not offered
Increased Data Volumes	There’s no limit on the data such as products, orders, customers and vendors entered.	After a certain number of transactions, the performance declines and system slows down.
Custom Reports	Built-in Crystal Reports and custom queries, enables creating and publishing reports, charts, dashboards and KPIs.	Sage Report writer and Excel plugin available.

Read this to know some little known facts of SAP Business One. Join the other 50,000 small and mid-size businesses already using SAP Business One. Call us on +44 – (0) 203-872-5140 or e-mail at info@silvertouchtech.co.uk  for a free SAP Business One demo.

Kunjan Jasani

An experienced business leader, heads the UK operations of Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. With 15 years of experience in the industry, he has set the track record of delivering transformation and revenue growth with SAP Solutions.