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SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Business One
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
ERP (5th)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business One is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 3.7%, down 6.4% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud ERP, holds 19.2% mindshare, up 12.4% since last year.
ERP
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Ijlal Naqvi - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy but needs to improve in the area of BI
If I speak about a feature in the tool that helps with financial management, I would say that of all the products I have ever worked on, used, or implemented, the finance part is pretty much the same in all ERPs and bookkeeping software tools. Finance is a regulated thing. It has to generate financial statements related to all the accounts. All financial management systems will look into the ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. Generally the tool has two models. If the tool's in-house model is opted, then just one person is needed to maintain the product as an ERP administrator. If it is through a partner, then we usually have managed services, so you get access to a whole bunch of resources, technical, functional, finance, manufacturing, supply chain, or resources that you can have as part of the managed services contract. My company does not use much of AI with SAP Business One since it is pretty much manual now. It's still pretty much manual for business process enhancements and it still requires more of a consultative approach with more of a human touch. With SAP S4/HANA, there is a process navigator, process data mining tool that does help users since with the use of AI it provides answers to their questions. Recommendations are subjective to the requirements of the users. I would not recommend SAP Business One to a financial services institution or a bank. I would most definitely recommend it to a small family-owned business with about 20,000,000 of revenue, and that too in the area of discrete manufacturing. I rate the tool a seven out of ten.
Sajid Farooq - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides seamless integration of different modules in one place
Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't provide a quality control module. SAP S/4HANA Cloud does not have its own payroll and HRMS system. The partners develop their own cloud and integrate with the solution. There are certain modules specific to some industries, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't deal with those modules. Every partner of SAP S/4HANA Cloud has to develop its own and then integrate and certify with that solution. We can't say that these modules are part of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. There is a little area of improvement that SAP has to opt for particular types of solutions like QC, payroll, and HRMS. The graphics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are not user-friendly. They don't look like they belong to a branded solution that costs too much. The solution's user interface is not appealing or user-friendly. On a scale from one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I rate the solution's user interface a five out of ten. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has built-in reports that are hard-coated. We have to alter or modify built-in reports in different marking segments, but there are no options for that. We have to build complete reports from scratch, and SAP-developed reports are not used in the market. SAP should provide a tool for customizing its developed reports so that there should not be a process of reengineering or reinventing the process.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We are using it for accounts and finance and also for maintaining third-party transactions and non-CRM transactions."
"I had been using it for the end-to-end functionality."
"The most valuable features of the solution are reporting, a dashboard, customized reports, and third-party integration."
"It's user-friendly and comes with comprehensive manuals. So, it is easy to learn to use SAP Business One"
"One of the biggest advantages of SAP Business One, especially in the public cloud, is that many features are standardized, which reduces the need for customization."
"The most valuable features of the solution revolve around the fact that it is easy to deploy and scalable and is not resource-intensive."
"Technical support is quite good. They are helpful and responsive. We are quite satisfied with their level of support."
"All parts for inventory control, project budget, accounting, and business information are valuable. It is very friendly to obtain information. It is also very easy to make the changes that we need. We have a developer with us, and he can make the required changes or rules."
"The guidance SAP offers for implementing the product is clear and the online resources are great."
"The solution is stable."
"SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides easy database access."
"It is a straightforward solution."
"Finance aspects of it and transportation management, asset management, and inventory management are valuable."
"Managing the server and taking advantage of the services provided by SAP itself is the most valuable feature."
"The solution is versatile with various integrated tools such as connecting with finance modules, controlling parameters, and creating universal journals."
"The integration between SAP EWM and S4HANA Cloud is seamless."
 

Cons

"There are a lot of good improvements coming out in every version. They release a new version every quarter, with all new up-and-coming things on each one. However, it might be lacking specifications for the specific verticals. However, SAP Business One is a generic tool. It's very widely used, and I understand why it's not into each vertical. There are solution partners available out there to give it those extra areas of what it needs, but this is depending on what kind of business you run."
"You get support through the vendor, not SAP directly. If your vendor is good, you get good support. If it is not a good vendor, the support is very bad."
"There is room for improvement in stability."
"Our customers often request concurrent licensing, which is not available with SAP Business One. Adding this option would be beneficial."
"The solution could improve by having better integration with other systems and reporting."
"The production scheduling, manufacturing, and planning could improve in SAP Business One. Additionally, the projection management module could improve. These functionalities are important in the construction industry we are working in at the moment."
"SAP Business One consumes a lot of network resources and bandwidth, especially when accessing the web solution, B1 Web Access."
"Lacks ability to integrate with other tools."
"Generally, there's not much noise or many issues, but we sometimes open tickets. These are mainly due to underestimating business needs at the beginning of deployment or sudden changes in the business. For example, when we suddenly open branches in other countries, add many users or the business grows fast, we might need more memory or disk space. We sometimes underestimate our needs from the cloud. This isn't a problem with the cloud or the vendor but more about our estimation. We raise tickets for things like increasing memory, dealing with one-time errors, or issues with space utilization. We might need to increase resources or improve performance."
"It's not easy to facilitate the solution between us and SAP, so we have had to leave those issues open."
"The only thing I would improve is the overall user experience, particularly the mobile app. S/4HANA is a powerful, scalable platform, but the user experience isn't positive. It's a bit complex. The look and feel aren't attractive, and the mobile experience isn't great."
"There have been some pain points in moving from SAP to S/4HANA, but the company seems to be staying on top of those issues."
"We'd like to have more of a low-code platform."
"I would like to see a feature where it allows integration with more platforms."
"SAP S/4HANA Cloud's customization can be improved."
"The solution is expensive. That can be an issue for clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"I would rate Business One's pricing five out of five."
"This solution can work with a very small company, but the price may not be the right, it may not be the right fit for them. We can't help with this because we have to really understand the market, the target audience, and we have to position the product accordingly. The price is not a very big concern because if the customer is finding value or the dealer, distributor, or implementation partner can show real value in the solution, then the price will not be a question at all."
"The price of SAP Business One is expensive and there is only a standard license."
"Its licensing model is good. There is a one-off payment for the software license, and after that, you only need to pay the annual maintenance fee. Compared to other cloud-based systems, this cost model is quite reasonable for SMEs."
"The price of SAP Business One is high for smaller businesses to afford. The currency plays a large part in the fluctuation of the solution's price when we convert the USD to our local currency. $1,400 is for a limited license and $3,700 is for a professional license."
"We are on a perpetual license for SAP Business One and the price it should be less expensive when comparing it to other solutions."
"SAP Business One is not cheap."
"The pricing of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is on the higher side."
"SAP S/4 Hana isn't cheap, but its value depends on how much you can leverage from it. It's not just about the system but how well your people are trained to use it and adapt to derive benefits."
"The solution is affordable."
"S/4HANA is an enterprise solution that many can't afford. You must invest a lot to get the most out of it. It isn't cheap. I rate the price seven out of 10."
"The solution's costs have significantly increased, and we have not seen any anticipated cost savings."
"The solution’s pricing is very high."
"The license for S/4HANA is expensive, and the licensing structure is hard to understand. The admin license is something like 500 euros per user. Other ERP solutions allowed you to pick only the modules you need. The SAP ECC version requires you to take all the modules even if you are not using them."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
6%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What do you like most about SAP Business One?
It's user-friendly and comes with comprehensive manuals. So, it is easy to learn to use SAP Business One
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business One?
The pricing model of SAP Business One is average. It is neither too good nor too bad, and there is room for more flexibility in pricing.
What do you like most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The manufacturing area is a good feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is very expensive, both to purchase and maintain. It's important to evaluate the costs of recruiting and maintaining trained personnel as it's not just a one-time payment yet requ...
What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The system is very heavy and requires a lot of resources and a dedicated team. It is costly to maintain, demanding trained professionals, which adds to the expenses. This makes the overall cost ver...
 

Also Known As

Business One
SAP S4HANA Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ego Pharmaceuticals Pty. Ltd
La Trobe University, Carrefour Comércio e Indústria Ltda, Delaware Consulting and Corning Inc.
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