SAP Business One: A Stronghold on the Future of SMB

Selecting an ERP system for your business is a big decision.  To be done correctly, it requires considerable time and effort by many people involved in the business.  First there is the task of documenting existing business processes and determining the requirements for future state needs.  Those requirements and needs then need to be prioritized and further defined to document the requirements for a new business system.  Considerable research needs to be done to find the right solution and partner candidates to evaluate.  Then comes the important evaluation period where the company meets with and mutually explores the fit of a partnership followed by product evaluations and demos.  Agreements and contracts need to be reviewed while determining roles and responsibilities involved in the successful deployment of a solution.  Oh yeah, and then there is the business of implementing the system while the daily operations of the business continue to try and meet increasing demands.

While all of these tasks and steps are important, none of the previously mentioned activities matter if the ERP system is not around to support the future growth of your business.  It’s one of the biggest concerns that we hear when talking with clients- “how do I know this is an investment I can leverage far into the future?”  While we can’t say that SAP Business One is the right fit for every business, we can say that’s it’s a system that is well positioned for longevity in today’s ever-changing market.

The concern we hear from prospects is understandable.  Significant consolidation of ERP providers has taken place in the since 2000 resulting in many business applications that have been sun-setted or become obsolete.   Companies that have experienced owning a system where development and support efforts have been either reduced or cut are fearful of once again seeing their investment of money and time undermined by a software’s declining relevance.

While SAP has not been a company people are concerned will be turning out the lights anytime soon, since the Business One product was bought to the market in 2002 there was scepticism about SAP’s real interest in a product for the SMB market.  After all, for a company that has dominated penetration of the business application system for the Fortune 500’s, it seemed plausible that SAP could tire of providing a quality system to the $10M company down the road.  Well, 11 years and over 30,000 customers later, this has proved to be far from the case.  Not only is SAP Business One continued to be a viable and growing platform for the SMB business, it’s also strategic to SAP’s long term direction.

SAP co-CEO Jim Snabes has outlined the extensive investment SAP has made to make Business One a world-class product for the SMB market.  Furthermore, he has defined what it means to the direction of SAP to have Business One as an offering in the company’s portfolio today and long into the future. While there are many important factors that go into selecting the right ERP system, it’s good to know there’s at least one solution with the long-term sustainability to support the investment of time and money well into your company’s future.