What is SAP Business One?

by Cherry Hidjaja

At AdvanceOne, our consultants often get asked ‘What is SAP Business One’. The question usually comes from growing business owners who are evaluating solutions such as QuickBooks, NetSuite and other accounting or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software.

Usually when people hear “SAP”, they usually think of solutions that are designed for huge corporations when in fact, over 77% of SAP’s customers are actually small to midsize businesses like yours. Bottom line is, you of any size to run SAP Business One.

So, what is SAP Business One?

Contrary to popular misconception, SAP Business One or commonly called, SAP B1 is not a scaled-down version of the larger SAP products.

SAP Business One is an affordable and comprehensive best-of-breed solution that can run your entire business. SAP Business One covers all core foundation including financials, operations, customer relationship management, vendor relationship management, inventory management, warehousing and more.

From a technical perspective, SAP Business One is built on rock-solid Microsoft SQL Server Database and now supports SAP’s own in-memory platform HANA, which is their fastest-growing product in SAP’s 43 year history. SAP HANA allows you to analyze massive amounts of data in real-time and eliminates the complexities of legacy IT architecture so your business can run smarter, faster and simpler.

I have specific industry requirements. Can SAP Business One adapt to my needs?

Luckily, SAP Business One adapts to your business process, not the other way around. SAP Business One offers the flexibility to meet your business’ unique process requirements and challenges, regardless of the industry your company services. With over 550 prepackaged, fully integrated industry-specific ERP modules for retail, produce, manufacturing, brewery and more, SAP Business One provides your business with the tools your business needs to succeed.

What business challenges does SAP Business one tackle?

SAP Business One is designed specifically for small to midsized businesses that have outgrown their current packaged accounting software or spreadsheets and/or want to have better visibility of all departments from one program. Many of our customers first start their research knowing they have a specific business pain – such as redundant data entry, poor reporting or sales challenges due to lack of visibility into customer accounts and inventory. Through the discovery process, they see how SAP Business One can solve these challenges and streamline operations dramatically. SAP Business One is also a good fit for large enterprises using SAP and looking to quickly integrate their subsidiaries or rapidly grow into new geographic markets.

How can SAP Business One benefit my growing business?

SAP Business One is designed to meet the needs of SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) and subsidiaries of large enterprises. Businesses that adopt SAP Business One very quickly see measurable benefits when using an integrated ERP application including:

• Targeted business growth through streamlines operations
• Improved customer retention and satisfaction through quicker response times and instant access to customer information
• Operational efficiency achieved by eliminating redundant and manual data entry errors with integrated core functionality
• Closer relationships with key stakeholders including customers, vendors, and employees through better supply chain management
• Lower technology costs and a quick return on investment.

We’ve noticed that our customers that use SAP Business One very quickly see that the ERP system reengineers and optimizes their business processes. Our customers, such as Humangear, Tundra Solutions and Crocker Ventures have witnessed improvements in operational efficiency, greater data transparency and business process reengineering. Find out more about the business benefits our customers have experienced here.

How long does it take to implement SAP Business One for my business?

Several factors determine how quickly SAP Business One can be implemented and customized to your business. As your implementation partner, Vision33 follows a specific methodology to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the time and resources necessary at the outset of the project. Additional considerations include; the size of your business, complexity of your business structure, type of ERP deployment, and any specific add-ons or customizations required.

What deployment options are available?

SAP Business One is available as an on-premise or hosted solution through Amazon Web Services (AWS). The decision to deploy the solution using your own infrastructure or through a hosted platform depends on your company’s overall requirements, system investment, and long-term goals.

So if your colleagues ask you ‘What is SAP Business One’? You can say that:

• SAP Business One is designed to be affordable and expand to your company needs as you continue to grow.
• SAP Business One is a powerful all-in-one business management software that covers all areas of your business.
• SAP Business One is flexible and adapts to your business needs. Not the other way around.

We hope that we’ve answered your “What is SAP Business One?” question.