ERP is a set of software applications commonly used for integrating all of a company's processes and providing a database containing business data available for all users from across all of the company's departments including human resources, accounting, manufacturing, purchasing, sales and so on. It automates many stages of business routines and keeps control of all information that is useful for the completion of these stages such as cash, raw materials, capacity and the status of business commitments like orders, purchase orders and payroll.
Since ERP is made up of a suit of software applications, it's important that said software products be compatible with the company's underlying infrastructure. This means that this sort of system relies on a number of hardware and network configurations in order to establish a consistent database and data repository, making the development of ERP systems an exacting undertaking calling for the extent analysis of current business processes, process identification and the needs of the company.
Two common software solutions for ERP needs are Oracle and SAP. From the Oracle website, the following description is given as to why Oracle/SAP are choice picks for ERP implementation:
Oracle Corporation and SAP AG support our joint customers with long-standing reseller and customer support agreements that provide enhanced access to Oracle hardware and software technologies as well as world-class customer service.
The Oracle development teams manage and implement joint integration projects for Oracle/SAP database, Oracle Solaris, and Oracle Linux, while Oracle Global Technology Centers for SAP provide pre-sales support, including sizing and IT infrastructure optimization.
Src: Available at <http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/sap/introduction/overview/index.html>. Retrieved on 21st/4/2016.
From this description it seems that Oracle and SAP work in conjunction to achieve a common goal. But what are their unique features?
As the core foundations of any ERP implementation are scalability, risk, cost and duration, it is only self-evident that both vendors are in possession of closely related features with a host of common functionalities.
A common different pointed out between Oracle and SAP is that the average Oracle customer experiences less expenditures while SAP customers are able to deliver closer to expected implementation durations. Despite their shared features and intended purposes, there are many tradeoffs and variables for consideration when choosing when vendor or the other. For instance, SAP has a higher-risk implementation profile than Oracle. On the flip side, functionality and customisation seem to favour SAP, making it easy for adoption for different technological backbones.
While either vendor does not have a clear, across the board advantage over the other, the superiority of any given option is only situational. ERP buyers should evaluate their software options and the nuances and priorities of the target organisation, without overlooking the business values, the combination of which should answer the question of which product is more likely to get the job done best.
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