SAP is a German-based software development company offering enterprise (ERP) systems for business operations and customer relationship management (CRM).
Founded in 1972 as System Analysis Program (SAP) Development, the company is now a multinational operation. SAP uses in-memory data processing and supports new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Organizations looking for a complete digital platform choose SAP to connect all their business operations. According to SAP, 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system.
On premise or cloud-based solutions provide centralized data management for a single view of data across multiple business functions. This streamlines your complex business processes and provides easy access to real-time insights across all your operations. Workflows, operational efficiency, productivity and customer experiences can all improve.
Table of Contents
Cloudfy provides a comprehensive business to business (B2B) ecommerce solution with pre-built integrations for SAP Business One and SAP S/4HANA.
Ecommerce-ERP integration gives you a single view of your sales, business operations and processes. You can streamline your operations, improve data accuracy, and increase efficiency. You can bridge the gap between B2B ecommerce, your CRM system and electronic data interchange (EDI), for example.
You’ll improve data accuracy and can simplify and automate processes. You’ll save time and money and free up resources for other value-added parts of your business.
Cloudfy’s out-of-the-box SAP connectors work with both SQL and HANA databases so you can easily import master data records. You can replicate SAP pricing logic and near real-time scheduling and synchronize your product information and inventory levels.
SAP’s most widely used ERP solutions are SAP Business One and SAP S/4HANA. Both use SAP HANA (high-performance analytic appliance) as the basis for in-memory database technology. You can host either option in the cloud or locally using Microsoft Windows infrastructure for scalable business solutions.
As you would expect, the enterprise level S/4HANA includes additional support, scalability and security. However, both are technically strong as ERP solutions.
Either might be a good choice for your business’s unique requirements, so here are some things to think about.
Key features – SAP Business One
SAP Business One is a good ERP option for small businesses across multiple sectors including IT, retail, manufacturing, and engineering. It can support every aspect of your business, helping to improve efficiency and manage accounting, sales, customer relationships and inventory. You can choose to implement all its functionality immediately or introduce different modules as needed. Billing is a monthly subscription depending on the number of users in your organization, up to 500 key users.
Finance
SAP Business One doesn’t have the same depth of financial management tools as SAP S/4HANA. It does have robust accounting capabilities and provides bank reconciliation and transfers, budgeting, and fixed asset management.
HR
SAP Business One provides tools for both managers and employees. It’s suitable for a wide range of personnel management activities including recruitment and career development.
Manufacturing
If manufacturing management is a priority for your business, SAP Business One has tools to plan product processes, configure products, and manage work. S/4HANA offers more manufacturing functionality.
Inventory
SAP Business One can provide information about product locations and forecasting. SAP S/4HANA offers a wider range of enterprise-level features.
Purchasing
SAP Business One includes purchasing tools such as invoicing, returns management and purchasing reports. These can all help increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Quality control
SAP Business One can help you produce high-quality products and meet national and international quality control standards. For more in-depth functionality S/4HANA is a better option.
Sales
SAP Business One is designed to meet the sales needs of small and medium-sized businesses. You can track, monitor, and report on a range of sales order management tasks and processes. These include quotations, sales order processing, invoice management and sales reporting.
Key features – S/4HANA
S/4HANA is designed to support larger enterprise-level organizations across multiple sectors. Its modular design allows you to create personalized workspaces designed to increase operational efficiency for complex businesses.
You can integrate all your business functions to optimize operations and manage supply chains. Data collection and predictive analytics help you improve your business model. The price depends on user numbers, revenue and your overall expenditure.
Finance
S/4HANA provides greater depth of financial management tools including real time cash flow management, online payment processing support, and a financial compliance management toolkit.
HR
HR capabilities include recruitment, learning and development management, performance tracking and succession management.
Manufacturing
If manufacturing management is a priority for your business, SAP S/4HANA provides some powerful tools. These include product process planning, product configuration and work in progress (WIP) management. The S/4HANA manufacturing module includes material requirements planning (MRP), bill of materials (BOM) and safety training.
Inventory
S/4HANA can meet the complex needs of large businesses. Its features include bar code and radio frequency identification (RFID) support, inventory monitoring, warehouse management and predictive analytics. You can improve demand planning and potentially save time and money.
Purchasing
S/4HANA purchasing features include supplier segmentation, real-time transactional data tracking and employee self-service. Team members can create, manage and track orders from a central location.
Quality control
Features include material and production lot inspections, early risk detection, and closed-loop quality management support. You can continuously assess processes, identify opportunities for improvement and implement changes to improve quality.
Sales
S/4HANA sales tools are designed to meet the needs of large organizations and provide configurable user roles. Sales features include price management, contracts, workflows, claims, returns, refunds, and customer experience development.
UK-based Cooksmill supplies kitchenware, tableware, clothing, cleaning, disposables and appliances to commercial kitchens, caterers and restaurants. They also sell to wholesalers and directly to consumers (D2C). They wanted to streamline their business and improve efficiency by offering more self-service features to their customers.
Japanese entertainment company, Tomy, merchandise children’s toys around the world. The company chose Cloudfy to modernize their European B2B ecommerce platform to improve customer service and integrate with SAP’s ERP central component (ECC) and S/4HANA.
The company now has a modern ecommerce platform to maintain and grow its European B2B ecommerce business. They have an enhanced customer interface for fast and intuitive purchasing, including real time inventory visibility.
The best B2B ecommerce and ERP integration solution for your business
SAP is well established as a solution provider for manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers. Your choice will depend on the size and complexity of your operations. SAP S/4 HANA provides more functionality but this comes at a price. For smaller but fast-growing businesses SAP Business One might provide all the functionality you need.
Whichever ERP you choose, integration with Cloudfy allows you to create a market leading B2B customer self-service portal.
To find out how to simplify, save and scale your B2B operations with Cloudfy and ERP integration contact us today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both SAP ERP offerings are robust and scalable. They are suitable for a wide range of sectors. The main difference is that they are designed for different types of business. Business One is for smaller, fast growing businesses while S/4HANA can meet the needs of larger and more complex operations.
Both are enterprise resource planning solutions providing tools to run your business. These include finance, HR, inventory management, accounting and customer relationship management.
Industries that commonly use SAP include food & beverage, life sciences, oil & gas services, aerospace & defense, manufacturing, distribution, and retail.
SAP Business One and SAP S/4HANA can use either SQL servers or HANA (high-performance analytic appliance) databases.
