When it comes to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), many clients
ask which is better between SAP and Oracle Financials. It is because
both can offer numerous benefits to different types of businesses, but
only one can perform the best for a particular business. So, which is
better for your business?
What is SAP (Systems, Applications and Products)?
In data processing, SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and
Products. It is an ERP application or software, which integrates various
business applications. It allows tracking of productions, sales,
accounting, human resources, and accounting in an enterprise. It also
allows real time management to businesses.
Typically, information systems (IS) are used for various kinds of
businesses to manage several business processes including accounting,
sales, and production. Each IS maintained its own databases as well as
interactions between every system connected to IS. The maintenance and
interactions of the systems are completed in a scheduled manner. SAP, on
the other hand, maintains one information system for an enterprise and
all applications access the common data only. The interaction between
applications occurs when there is a real business event that happened.
For instance, when there are events in productions and sales that
occurred, accounting will be done automatically.
SAP became popular because of providing a complete solution to the
standard business requirements including accounting, financial
management, human resources, and manufacturing. It incorporates several
concepts in ERP and BPR or Business Process Reengineering into
integrated solutions.
SAP is software that was marketed and developed by SAP AG, a German
company. The company was founded in the year of 1972 by the IBM
application developers. As time passed by, the company continues to grow
rapidly, and various applications were developed for several companies
like Fortune 500.
The purpose why SAP was developed is to provide support to all
business activities of enterprises by integrating an efficient and
effective solution. But, according to experts in data processing, SAP is
not the answer to all of your problems in operating your business
successfully. It is not also an alternative for good planning, and it
requires involvement of the users because not all transactions in the
system are automatic. That is the reason why you must not expect that
after implementing SAP, all your problems will disappear. It is because
SAP has also both advantages and disadvantages.
When using SAP, it is essential to pay importance on the commitment
of users when implementing it to ensure effective use. Once you have
implemented SAP, there are several benefits that you may experience.
Some of these benefits include information integrity, smaller amount of
workload, cost optimization, easy to measure results, and fast customer
transaction.
SAP also has different modules. These include finance, material
management, controlling, production planning, and sales and
distribution. Each module has its own purpose, and once the
implementation of these modules is successful, any company will
experience better resource management. Their customers will also
experience the highest level of customer satisfaction because of the
easy and fast transaction without committing any mistakes.
What is Oracle Financials?
Oracle Financials is one of the products included in the Oracle
E-Business Suite. It is a collection of applications, which can serve as
a solution to your problems in daily transactions and processes of your
business. Although the majority of the experts stated that Oracle
Financials is not the key to solve your business issues, the
implementation of Oracle Financials can still be a good idea to achieve
all your business goals because implementing this system can be an
efficient way to satisfy your customers.
The products of Oracle Financials aim to provide solutions to types
of accounting system issues of different kinds of businesses. No matter
what size of your company is, Oracle Financials will help you meet your
demands in accounting management with the implementation of several
modules including:
Oracle Assets- sees to it that the equipment investment and property
of an organization is accurate to ensure that the asset tax accounting
methods you have chosen are correct.
Oracle GL (General Ledger)- this provides a complete and integrated
solution to budgeting, financial reporting needs, allocations, and
consolidation.
Oracle Inventory- this helps organizations make better decisions in
inventory through eliminating stock and by increasing cash flow.
Oracle Order Entry- this provides an organization a sophisticated and
efficient system for order entry to manage customer commitments.
Oracle Personnel- this improves employee management and other issues
that are related to retaining and maintaining personnel data.
Oracle Payables- allows businesses to process many invoice with a
fewer number of staff members. If your company is just starting in the
industry, this might help you save money by bank float, duplicate
payment prevention, and maximum discounts.
Oracle Purchasing- this enhances the buying power, eliminates the
paper flow, boosts productivity, increases financial controls, and can
assist you in negotiating bigger discounts.
Oracle Cash Management- allows you to perform cash forecasting and bank reconciliation.
Oracle Revenue Accounting- provides businesses accurate and timely revenue. It also gives flexible commissions reporting.
Main Difference Between Oracle Financials and SAP
The main difference between Oracle Financials and SAP is the level of
complexity. Based from the statements of experts in ERP market, SAP is
much complicated compared to Oracle. SAP can be used or integrated in
different business applications while the Oracle Financials can be used
in the enterprise environments. SAP lets users experience real time
management while Oracle only allows management of data in the
enterprise.
Overall, both SAP and Oracle Financials can provide you benefits,
which will help you achieve your goals and reach the top of success. You
can choose any from the two, but see to it that your chosen ERP
software is best suited to the needs of your business to avoid any
inconvenience in the future.
If you can’t still choose one from the two options, you can consider
hiring IT experts or availing their services. They might help you pick
the right ERP software that will take your business into the next level.
Just make sure that your hired experts are knowledgeable with the main
differences and benefits of both SAP and Oracle Financials.