Accounting Software: Sage 50 vs. SAP Business One
Most small businesses start using Sage 50 or similar products at a lower price point such as Sage One, Sage One Accounts Extra or Sage Instant. This allows them to manage their accounts as they are simple, easy to use, basic and reliable solutions.
When a business starts to grow and become more successful they require more than just an accounting system. There is increasing complexity in business processes which require managing to gain control. More sophisticated analysis is needed to make decisions and run efficiently.
If your business is using excel sheets to manage areas such as inventory, operations, sales & customer management, it’s a sure sign that your current systems cannot fulfill your need and an upgrade may be needed.
As a result, many businesses choose to upgrade their accounting software such as Sage 50 to an ERP system such as SAP Business One – a trusted business management system aimed at small and growing businesses.
Faced with a decision to add to your current Sage solution or find a solution that better meets the needs of your growing business, we have completed a side-by-side comparison between Sage 50 and SAP Business One. We addressed some essential features that typically impact sustained growth, efficiency, decision making and profitability.
Comparison: Sage 50 vs SAP Business One
| Sage 50 | SAP Business One | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Sage 50 Accounts is a general purpose small business accounting package | Industry-leading ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software used to manage all aspects of your business, ideal for businesses who have outgrown Sage 50 |
| Reputation | Ireland and the UK’s most popular entry-level accounting software | 70% of the world economy’s transactions run on an SAP system |
| Target Market | Small business with relatively small budget and basic accounting needs 1-50 employees €100k-€10 million revenue |
Growing small & mid-size businesses with accounting and business management needs 5 – 1,000 employees €100k – €250 million revenue |
| Number of Users | 20 users maximum | Unlimited users and role specific privileges |
| Basic Features | Accounting | Accounting & Financials Sales & CRM Inventory & Distribution Purchasing & Operations Real-time Reporting Mobility |
| Multi-Currency Support | Only one exchange rate held per currency. Not possible to change the value of foreign debtors or creditors | Support for exchange rate changes for specified period of time or per transaction. Foreign creditors and debtors can be revalued. |
| Locations | No location control for stock | Support for multiple warehouses. Support for multiple locations within a warehouse. Ability to restrict which warehouses can hold which stock items. |
| Database Availability | Proprietary file based database limits simultaneous user count and transaction volume. Difficult to integrate with other application and 3rd party add-ons |
Fast & Flexible database management system that performs exceptionally well with a large amount of users and transaction volume. This allows you to expand your solution as your business grows. Can integrate with 3rd party software |
| Role Based User Privilages | Not possible | Users are granted role-specific privileges ensuring sensitive business data can only be seen by appropriate users |
| Financials | 12 calendar months in each financial year | Flexible number and length of accounting periods. Periods can be different lengths. |
| CRM | Very basic, track calls and set reminders against a customer | CRM is integrated as part out of the box functionality. Ability to track activities, sales opportunities, campaign management, service contracts and more |
| Workflow | None | Helps streamline workflow with the ability to customise work-space to meet each user’s individual requirements. Can automatically route tasks to certain users |
| Inventory Management | One stock code can be defined as a set of other stock codes. No Stock traceability, stock locations or customer stock codes | SAP Business One’s handles all of the highlighted inventory management functions not present in Sage 50. Allows for very flexible pricing structures. SAP Business One ensures you have the most up-to-date and in-depth inventory information at your fingertips at all times |
| Production & Manufacturing | Does not support production or manufacturing | Comes out-of-the-box with robust built-in Production & Manufacturing modules |
| MRP | Not offered | Integrated Materials Resource Planning module that predicts demand for materials based on existing stock, sales orders, purchase orders and production orders. Adjust the parameters with powerful what-if scenarios |
| Increased Data Volumes | After you reach a certain number of transactions, performance declines and they system slows down | No limits to the total number of data such as employees, products, orders, vendors and customers entered in SAP Business One |
| Custom Reports | Sage Report writer and Excel plug in available | Built-in Crystal Reports and custom queries, to create and publish reports, charts, dashboards and KPIs. Rich integration with MicroSoft Office |