A suitable ERP can help reduce expenses, lower costs, and increase efficiency, among other benefits. For a company that wants to operate more intelligently and efficiently using ERP software, there are many options available in the market, but two names often stand out, occupying a significant market share: SAP and NetSuite. Despite their similar functionalities, NetSuite and SAP differ in strategic importance, which might influence your decision.
SAP offers multiple ERP products tailored to businesses of different sizes, providing more choices and specificity to customers, whereas NetSuite solely focuses on its singular product.
Therefore, as digital experts, we aim to provide a comprehensive comparison between NetSuite and SAP, allowing you to fully understand their differences and make informed decisions.
Oracle NetSuite and SAP have both developed globally popular ERP products. However, while Oracle NetSuite has only released a cloud-based ERP product, SAP has introduced multiple cloud products suitable for different businesses.
Oracle NetSuite and SAP have both developed globally popular ERP products. However, while Oracle NetSuite has only released a cloud-based ERP product, SAP has introduced multiple cloud products suitable for different businesses.
SAP, known as the “management mastermind behind Fortune 500,” is a top global ERP software provider, with 86% of Fortune 500 companies using SAP systems. With over 280 million SAP cloud users worldwide, more than 100 research centers, and 24,000 partners, SAP offers a comprehensive suite of Cloud ERP solutions for enterprises of all sizes, including large, medium, and small businesses. SAP Cloud ERP is renowned for its robust customization capabilities, comprehensive functionality, and industry-specific solutions. It can provide deeply customized solutions based on specific business needs, catering to complex business processes and management requirements.
The current mainstream products for NetSuite and SAP are Oracle NetSuite and SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Let’s compare their differences.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides a multidimensional and flexible modern financial architecture with enterprise-level functionality that has auditability and granular control, supporting group reporting and advanced consolidation. In SAP Cloud ERP, reporting and profitability analysis are included in the suite for customer business operations without the need to export to an OCI data warehouse.
Oracle NetSuite offers a robust set of native functionalities for finance and other departments. However, the native financial reporting in Oracle NetSuite has limitations in areas like supporting intercompany transactions, cross-border subsidiaries, viewing multiple general ledgers, and full closures. More advanced analytics require data warehousing and complex Oracle tools, which exceed the capabilities of many medium-sized enterprises.
While NetSuite is a comprehensive native cloud ERP, its scalability in both performance and functionality is limited, with no clear path to upgrade to a multi-product fusion. Not all of Oracle’s “cloud” technologies are multi-tenant or even true public clouds.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a 100% pure cloud architecture that can run as a full SaaS product based on the customer’s growth path, offering single-tenant, hybrid, or hosted services. This allows customers to smoothly transition their existing business processes to the cloud or coexist with on-premises deployments. Whether it’s on-premises, public cloud, or hybrid deployments, SAP can provide customized solutions, ensuring customers can deploy based on their business models.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides deep support for industry processes in over 20 verticals, with strengths in manufacturing, life sciences, and energy. SAP’s manufacturing and supply chain capabilities are more advanced than NetSuite’s for product-centric companies.
And, NetSuite still lags in asset-intensive manufacturing, project-based manufacturing, process manufacturing, work-in-progress tracking, and cost accounting.
Why do we recommend Chinese enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises in China, and businesses expanding globally to choose SAP over NetSuite, including the following crucial reasons:
ERP data is a critical digital asset for any enterprise, making data security of utmost importance. As early as 2017, SAP launched a local data center in China, complying with domestic and international technical and information security standards. The localization of SAP Cloud ERP ensures greater security, stability, and compliance inside and outside China. In contrast, Oracle NetSuite still lacks a localized data center in China to guarantee data security and compliance.
More than just the establishment of data center in China, SAP has also clearly defined its positioning and strategy in the country. SAP aims to empower Chinese enterprises and has consistently adhered to the value proposition of “In China, for China” for over thirty years. From product development and market strategies to the entire ecosystem, SAP has fully rooted itself in China.
With over 280 million global cloud users, SAP has established more than 100 research centers and over 24,000 partners worldwide, forming a comprehensive partner ecosystem. Whether it is Chinese enterprises expanding globally or global enterprises establishing ERP projects in China, SAP and its global network of partners can provide consistent and continuous support.
● SAP uses Active Configuration with validated best practices, an easy-to-use configuration tool and methodology, enabling quick training and use.
● SAP’s solutions for SMBs can be implemented in 8-12 weeks.
“SAP is too expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises.”
● SAP’s solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises offer flexible deployment options, including subscription-based cloud deployment.
● SAP provides financing options to meet capital and operating cost needs.
“SAP is too complicated and not user-friendly, unlike the simplicity of NetSuite.”
● SAP leverages UX innovations like SAP Fiori for a simple, intuitive, responsive interface that is easy-to-use and customizable.
● With the addition of more modules, the need for more “SuiteApps,” as well as additional extensions and third-party applications, NetSuite can also become more complex.
This article "Choosing the Right ERP for Your Business: SAP or NetSuite?" by AcloudEAR. We focus on business applications such as cloud ERP.
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