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IFS Cloud Platform vs Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

IFS Cloud Platform
Ranking in ERP
13th
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
CRM (21st), Customer Experience Management (7th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (11th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (3rd), Local Government CRM (6th), IT Asset Management (10th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (10th), License Management (3rd)
Sage Business Cloud Enterpr...
Ranking in ERP
23rd
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 2.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Brendan Fisher - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust, customizable, and modern
IFS is a very large and complex software, and implementation of IFS can be challenging and may lead to a difficult lengthy project. It can take between 12 and 24 months in some cases to deploy. I have found that not all clients are fully aware of how big the task is that they're undertaking when they make a decision to move to software like this. Companies need to be more aware of the complexity of an ERP implementation project and while I fully recommend moving to IFS, it is not easy and does require business change when adopting an ERP solution. New features are a difficult ask - I work across multiple industries and everyone would probably choose a different feature. Maybe BIM in Construction or Customs link-ups for importers/exporters.
Muhammad Uwais - PeerSpot reviewer
An elastic, multi-company structure that naturally parameterizes and adapts
The best feature is the solution's elastic, multi-company structure. You can expand or add companies at any time while retaining the same architecture and flow with minimal affect on your wallet. The solution is parameterized so you don't need a lot of customizations because it naturally has the ability to parameterize, configure, and adapt to various organizational procedures. You don't have to stick to some standard way of doing things because the solution adapts to your way of doing things. The approval and audit engines are very powerful. The built-in development component allows you to customize and develop without depending on third-party factors. Across six years, 80% to 85% of our use cases are completely managed within the solution because of its architecture.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Feature-wise, I like the way it provides inventory details...It is a stable solution."
"One of our favorite features is the "Info-Zone", which provides operational intelligence in flight and in context to guide both business users and support teams to productivity."
"Some of the strengths are Enterprise Management Solutions and the series of Management solutions which is number one in Gartner's report and has been for the last five years."
"I like the connectivity and interfaces. In V10, it's easy to modify the interfaces and layouts, but it's becoming more complicated in the cloud. IFS is excellent at asset maintenance and incident management. They have specialized modules for IFS that cover incident and asset management and everything else connected to finance. The reporting in IFS is also easy to use."
"A high level of ERP can be handled in IFS."
"What I like about IFS Applications is that it's easier to use and implement than SAP. I also like that the IFS Applications team is more flexible than the SAP team."
"Having a young talented programmer, during the six years of use, we were able to save around 75 000 EUR preparing simple modifications using customization rather than ordering them in IFS / Partner."
"All the modules are valuable in their own right, but everything has to go through the ERP. IFS has done an excellent job integrating the various modules to complete these processes. My expertise is in the finance module, but I have used the other verticals. It's an all-around good product."
"The accounting part and the procurement part are most valuable. It is a very good system with workflows and notifications."
"The solution is parameterized so it naturally has the ability to parameterize, configure, and adapt to various organizational procedures."
"The interface is rich in features, allowing efficient management of business operations."
"The initial setup is not complex. The deployment process was relatively straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is the business intelligence module. Additionally, report consolidation, cloud access, and analysis are useful."
"Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management has helped by making processes such as calculating costs, accessing inventory information quickly, validating offers, and extracting data easier."
 

Cons

"There are certain digital features that need to be incorporated, such as IOP."
"Sometimes from the sales perspective, clients don't always fully understand how large a task or a project they're getting involved in when they decide, "We're going to switch across to IFS." They could probably do a little bit more, maybe around preparing people for these projects."
"IFS Applications can improve the reporting capabilities and increase the speed of feedback time in the IFS Applications. This would help with the overall performance of the solution and provide better experiences for customers."
"Ability to place approval check-points in the custom workflow, so clients can decide what they want it."
"Aspects of HR and payroll could be better."
"We would like to see AI-driven CSI functions built into the tool that would allow us to quickly tie our improvement goals to metrics and activities, so Assyst will suggest the next steps to help us get closer to our goals."
"Technical support could be improved."
"The integration is a bit complex, and post-implementation support services need to be improved. They have a service center based out of Sri Lanka. The support aspect is good, but the response time is a little slower than we anticipated. In the next release, it would be better if Warehouse Management could be improvised. They have a product line that's a data warehouse management system, but it's still premature and requires a bit of enhancement."
"It is not suitable for corporate or manufacturing companies. For example, it's challenging to use it for a manufacturing company."
"Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved."
"The solution does not have a solid, out-of-the-box API architecture that is supported."
"Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management could improve the search functionality. For example, if I was to search for a transaction from last year it would be difficult to accomplish. I have to scroll through to find what I am looking for. The approach should be more similar to Quickbooks where when you search for something it takes you directly to the searched item."
"Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved."
"Its implementation process is kind of complicated. If the person implementing it doesn't know what he is doing, the system can have many issues. Sage X3 is just an accounting system. As compared to Oracle E-Business Suite, it does not cover a lot of functionality. It doesn't have the payroll, lease management, and HR modules. Oracle E-Business Suite is better than Sage X3."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
"Licensing is on an annual basis, with no additional costs."
"We pay for a license to use the solution, which is not very expensive."
"There's an additional yearly cost for support."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The additional cost that comes with the solution includes the overhead of the people who are trying to fix the tool issues. These people are trying to reproduce the issue and report it to the technical support and testing with them which is huge. It is the cost of quality in the end."
"There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
"IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."
"The cost is not expensive."
"The price of this solution is expensive. However, it depends on the number of branches used. The price can be upwards of $40,000 annually."
"The solution delivers the same capabilities of SAP or Oracle at about 30% to 40% of the cost."
"It is very cheap. There are no additional charges, but the problem is that you have to acquire an additional supporting system such as a budgeting system. You will have to implement the integration and maintain two systems. So, you need to pay for the license of that budgeting system and this one. You also need to pay the license for the payroll and integration. There are all these integrations that you have to pay for."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IFS Applications?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
I am not able to recall much about batch. Documentation-wise, they need more. There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products,...
What do you like most about Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
The initial setup is not complex. The deployment process was relatively straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
The pricing of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is high compared to other solutions like Bitrix.
What needs improvement with Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved. The importation of configurations like BOQs is challenging as each line has to be added individually, which is time-consuming...
 

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
Sage ERP X3, Sage X3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Power Distributing, Universal Paper and Plastics
Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.