NetSuite vs. SAP Comparison Guide

Netsuite vs SAP: A Comparison Guide

Since the company's founding in 1998, NetSuite has ranked among the top integrated cloud business software suites. Due to the integration of corporate accounting, CRM, and eCommerce capabilities, the solution is frequently regarded as one of the top enterprise resource planning software alternatives available on the market.

Similar to this, from the introduction of its first ERP system in 1972, SAP has been a pioneer in business software. As of 2021, they introduced SAP Business Network, the first step toward building the greatest business network in the world. They provide hundreds of ERP solutions for almost every size of business and every industry.

ERP software like SAP and NetSuite is made to automate corporate procedures like inventory control, accounting, and customer relationship management. Although there are some obvious variations that potential users should be aware of, they are similar in many aspects.

For this blog, we'll take a closer look at the differences between NetSuite and SAP, to make it easier for you to choose which of these ERPs best suits your business.

Comparing NetSuite vs SAP

Two of the most well-known ERP systems on the market are SAP and NetSuite. They are considered the baseline on standards for ERPs. Both ERP alternatives are marketed as business software, however, there are stark contrasts between NetSuite's primary features when compared to SAP's. 

While SAP's solution contains more conventional internal company capabilities, such as sales modules and professional services, NetSuite's ERP offering targets traditional manufacturing and supply chain firms.

Let's look a little deeper into both platforms and see their ERP software capabilities compared to each other, starting with NetSuite.

NetSuite Overview

Oracle's NetSuite ERP is a comprehensive business solution. Numerous capabilities are provided that enhance and address important business requirements, such as automating and streamlining procedures, rapidly obtaining and presenting accurate, real-time data, and on-the-fly controlling of inventory and supply chain adjustments. 

The company generally has a single source of truth (SSoT) within its ERP data if these characteristics are integrated into the broader ERP. Companies benefit from the data visualization and BI tools built into the SSoT system.

NetSuite excels by enhancing operational awareness and enhancing resource control in crucial areas, in addition to great capabilities aimed at managing accounting, financial, business, order, supply chain, and warehousing.

NetSuite for marketing automation

With the use of landing pages, forms, lead management, email and campaign management, and other tools, NetSuite's marketing automation capabilities may simply automate your entire marketing process. For marketing and sales to agree on lead information, these characteristics complete the top of the funnel.

Without the complicated and time-consuming lead qualification and conversion processes, you can expertly align and coordinate focused marketing campaigns with your sales team to generate highly qualified prospects. The complete connection prevents crucial data from being lost during manual transfers between email marketing, CRM, and lead management by keeping lead data in one place.

Additionally, NetSuite ERP makes it simple to manage, measure, and analyze every aspect of a campaign. This allows you to maximize ROI.

NetSuite for eCommerce

With a shorter buying cycle and repeatable selling procedures, NetSuite's eCommerce solutions enable businesses to further complete their client profiles for both consumer and B2B businesses. Companies' many locations or brands may be seen in detail thanks to centralized order management, and their whole supply chain can be seen thanks to linkages to ERP warehouse modules.

Customers and users of NetSuite SuiteCommerce may quickly and conveniently place orders and monitor transaction history from any device, anywhere. Through a mobile-optimized cloud e-commerce platform, an engaging online experience will increase traffic to your web stores, convert browsers into consumers, and encourage repeat business. 

In order to make wise business decisions, users can also access client information, orders, inventories, and other specifics in real-time.

NetSuite for Human Capital Management

The SuitePeople module from NetSuite is a full-service human capital management solution that aids in key areas including workforce automation, talent management, and talent acquisition on a single platform, and similar solutions like Quickbooks.

With integrated payroll and HR data, automated hiring, talent development and retention, time management, attendance tracking, benefits, and precise reporting and analytics, SuitePeople handles it all.

SAP Overview

Similar to other ERP systems, SAP has a variety of modules that are intended to simplify business operations inside each department at your firm by integrating not just your employees but also their ideas.

Just to name a few, the SAP modules include those for sales, finance, and human resources. You can buy any module, and it would be difficult to discover one that does not match your needs depending on your business.

SAP for inter-departmental collaboration

More networked data and software can promote collaboration. With SAP Business One, you can send data to any department at any time, allowing any employee to have access to the same level of information if they so want. This enables workers to interact with one another more intelligently and actively.

SAP for data management

A strong organization must have effective data management. Every integrated program's data is gathered, processed, and displayed in one location via SAP. Multiple departments may easily access this data, keeping everyone up to date. Integration into the SAP system is simple if you intend to use a CRM solution in the future.

SAP for scalability

Although it was actually created for small to medium-sized firms, SAP Business One is sometimes considered a huge corporate solution. You can utilize SAP B1 whether you've recently established a startup business or are continuously growing toward the billion-dollar revenue target. 

Growth in all directions is supported by the ERP. In order to assist you to plan ahead, SAP has been created to take into account business requirements. Additionally, you may always scale the system to meet your demands.

NetSuite vs SAP

Keep your industry needs in the forefront of your mind while contrasting NetSuite with SAP, similar to how one might assess Safe Intacct vs NetSuite ERP. Both systems are capable of managing manufacturing and supply chain, however, NetSuite might be a better fit for mid-sized businesses that don't require marketing or HR modules in the same system as their manufacturing data.

Alternatively, larger businesses with significant needs for human resources can benefit from SAP's professional services functionalities. Despite sharing many of the same features and modules as NetSuite, SAP provides considerably wider coverage of ERP software capabilities.

In terms of technology, SAP generally has to catch up. Although both SAP and NetSuite currently provide cloud-based ERP software, SAP's cloud software capabilities have only been available for around nine years, whereas NetSuite has been a market leader in cloud ERP for over 20 years.

NetSuite vs SAP business one

The majority of SAP products, including SAP Business One, were designed with on-premise use in mind. SAP has developed and now offers a sizable selection of cloud-based ERP applications that, at the user's discretion, can be hosted elsewhere. One of such choices is SAP Business One.

As an alternative, NetSuite was created from the ground up to be a cloud-based ERP system. As a result, compared to some SAP options, there is just one version of NetSuite to manage, and accessibility concerns across numerous devices are less of a problem.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises want an ERP that enables them to select and exclude the modules or features they need. With the exception of the ability to remove the CRM application, SAP Business One does not give you this option.

A more reputable software developer is behind SAP Business One, which is known for being a tried-and-true software solution. They can be seen as having more stability and ERP experience than NetSuite as a result. However, Oracle backing up NetSuite should change this perception in favor of NetSuite.

Ultimately, your level of tolerance for pricing, dependability, scalability, and performance will determine which solution is ideal for your company.

NetSuite vs SAP ERP

Since its launch in 2006, SAP ERP has been among the most popular on-premise solutions. Due to SAP's market share dominance, its ERP software is a highly advanced offering with a diverse range of applications.

Mobile clients and other apps can access master data management features through the usage of NetWeaver, a technology made to transmit data between SAP and non-SAP systems.

Despite efforts to improve its mobile capabilities, SAP ERP is still behind NetSuite. In this regard, SAP has been attempting to find solutions in areas that are not a priority.

But with recent advances in technology, it won't be long before SAP ERP takes use of its industry knowledge and corporate visibility to establish itself as a leading cloud ERP solution. Just keep in mind that SAP ERP is considered to be more of a classic on-premise product for businesses in the market at the moment.

The transparency of NetSuite's price is a significant advantage. NetSuite promotes a very competitive pricing structure based on users per month. In contrast to SAP ERP providers' reluctance to disclose information, their stance on providing something relevant to pricing online is encouraging.

NetSuite vs SAP S/4HANA

Suite 4 HANA, also known as SAP S/4 HANA, is a new generation of enterprise resource planning software that uses the SAP HANA database architecture. SAP S/4HANA is a cloud-based or on-premises deployment option that is developed to deliver immediate value to all business lines and sectors.

SAP S/4HANA has a significant advantage over NetSuite in terms of business intelligence and reporting features. The SAP HANA in-memory relational database management system excels in areas like analytics, data modeling, and database management.

Machine learning-enabled business processes, real-time embedded analytics, automated group-wide processes, live material requirements planning, delivery delay prediction, and intelligent remediation are additional features of SAP S/4HANA that can aid in multiple areas like manufacturing management, financial management, and project management..

Overall, it's critical to consider your industry's requirements when contrasting NetSuite vs SAP S/4HANA. Your production, inventory management, and supply chain management requirements can be met by both systems. But compared to NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA has better marketing and HR features. Do you need an all-encompassing enterprise system for your company, or can NetSuite be used for manufacturing processes with an additional HCM application?

Stats Comparison for NetSuite vs SAP

For this particular comparison, we will be looking at NetSuite and SAP business one in particular:

Integration

From pre-built APIs like SuiteTalk to unique integration features made possible by RESTlets, NetSuite offers a wide range of add-ons and integration choices. Among others, NetSuite offers integrations for Salesforce, Shopify, HubSpot, and Celigo.

On the other hand, SAP Business One offers various add-ons and access to its database, but its services fall short of those provided by NetSuite. For SQL-based integrations, it does offer access to data and user interface APIs.

NetSuite can be your best option if your company needs customizations or several integrations with specialized software that isn't on the list of standard integrations. There is no assurance that SAP Business One will have the required integration capabilities even if you chose SAP.

Deployment

The deployment strategy is one of the main distinctions between SAP and NetSuite. At first, SAP Business One could only be deployed on-site. In order to give clients more flexibility and technology for their business software needs, SAP Business One was published in the cloud in 2012.

However, NetSuite has always been an ERP solution that runs in the cloud. Since NetSuite was effectively the original cloud software firm and has been deploying and managing cloud software solutions for more than 20 years, they are unquestionably the market leader in cloud ERP.

Because of its history as a cloud software solution, NetSuite tends to be simpler to adopt because partners have the requisite expertise to establish an efficient yet thorough implementation process. However, NetSuite often has a quicker time to go live. 

Of course, the overall implementation date for any ERP software relies on the customizations required by your company.

Customizability

Compared to SAP Business One, NetSuite has a lot more built-in customization features. In order to make NetSuite specifically fit your function, you may configure the home dashboard, reports, saved searches, and much more.

Although the options are somewhat limited, SAP Business One users can also change the code. Additionally, each user who needs the capacity to create certain custom reports must purchase SAP Crystal Reports. Software updates for SAP Business One can have a detrimental impact on any customizations and integrations done beforehand.

Software updates

NetSuite updates are released automatically, thus users have little control over when their program is updated. If a new update breaks particular integrations or customizations, this could be problematic.

Users of SAP Business One can schedule software upgrades so they can make sure they don't happen at busy times or during business hours and have enough time to prepare. 

Customizations made to SAP BusinessOne are likely to be affected by updates, thus users will require the help of developers to restore the software to its pre-update form.

Reporting and data visibility

Strong reporting capabilities are offered by NetSuite, including complete modifications and out-of-the-box drill-down reports. Business owners may make data-informed decisions thanks to its real-time reporting. Additionally, users can create pertinent dashboards and presentations using custom reports and data analytics as needed.

Although SAP Business One has more restrictions than NetSuite, its reporting capabilities are still rather extensive. The SAP Crystal Reports add-on is necessary to get extensive modifications for SAP Business One, like specific custom reports and dashboards.

Taking SAP S/4HANA into consideration

ERP system SAP S/4HANA was developed to offer superior data processing, AI, analytics, and business improvements than any other SAP product. SAP S/4HANA is a powerhouse that can handle all of the software requirements for major businesses. 

It is one of SAP's biggest developments in recent years and is now their most expensive software. It can be set up on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid of the two.

When compared against NetSuite on the previously mentioned parameters, SAP S/4HANA has a significant advantage. However, deployment and implementation comes at a greater cost than NetSuite or SAP business one.

Final Thoughts

The best ERP software for your organization ultimately depends on your individual demands. There's no perfectly fit solution to whether or not you should choose NetSuite or SAP. The answer varies depending on a number of factors, including the required integrations, add-ons, customizations, and deployment type.

If you're still unsure about what to choose, let us help you. Here at SUEG, we offer everything you'll need in terms of eCommerce and NetSuite expertise. Contact us here so we can get started on making your business reach its full potential.

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