Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (4th)
SAP S/4HANA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
ERP (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business ByDesign is designed for Cloud ERP and holds a mindshare of 8.1%, down 12.8% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 15.7% mindshare, up 15.2% since last year.
Cloud ERP
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Majid-Mustafa - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides custom versions of reports personalized for users
For AI initiatives, you need to purchase a separate AI license to integrate with SAP Business ByDesign. I'd recommend SAP Business ByDesign for large companies that want to check data graphically, especially for monthly income, expenses, and taxes in the millions or trillions. Overall, for large-scale companies, I'd rate it ten out of ten.
VARUN-JAIN - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is highly scalable, with solid performance and integration
S/4HANA implementation is always complex because you need to configure it to work with your infrastructure. SAP only provides the license, not hardware, but they will connect you with a partner like HPE or IBM. It's extremely costly if you ask for SAP to implement it, but you can deploy through some vendor like HCL, TC, Infosys, or Capgemini, and then you need to enlist a hardware partner. The complexity also varies by industry. If it's a small industry with $40 million of revenue annually, the business processes will be simple. However, deployment is tricky for heavy manufacturing, energy, etc.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When we were using it, we did see an immediate benefit, especially in the inventory on consignment issue. We were a biotech pre-revenue company and most of our manufacturing was outsourced. So being able to track inventory within the system without creating a financial impact was very key for us."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful. There is plenty of features and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."
"The most helpful feature is the integrations. Integrating the tool with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy, facilitating implementation and deployment. The runtime analysis checks for real-time analytics to see if the software works properly. This is a powerful feature."
"The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports."
"The standard system is stable."
"I like the tool’s customization."
"The most valuable feature is the feature called Financial Closing Cockpit. This feature allows us to monitor our accounting and processing closely."
"S4HANA is very scalable - we use it across seven or eight factories, and everything is running fine."
"I have found the most valuable feature to be the SAP Fiori application."
"One of the most valuable features is the in-memory database."
"S/4HANA offers a lot of additional capability with respect to performance due to its in-built architecture for many functions including finance, production, quality, manufacturing, inventory or sales distribution and logistics."
"One of the things I like about it is its well-integrated and secure nature."
"Responsive, comprehensive and optimized solution."
"It is really fast. It is also very stable."
"It's helped with business aspects and improved material planning and RMA processes."
 

Cons

"The database needs to be more customizable."
"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface. It lacks Arabic translation or support from right to left."
"There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth."
"With SAP S/4HANA, you can design your release strategy and modify it to include as many people as possible, which is missing in SAP Business ByDesign."
"Scalability is difficult."
"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
"The payroll module of the solution could improve."
"The Purchase to Pay process could benefit from further sophistication and additional functionality. It would be helpful for the user community to receive clearer information about the future roadmap of the business. Unfortunately, there were some confusing articles in the German press towards the end of last year about the future of SAP Business ByDesign. Therefore, more clarity is needed in the support function to address this."
"We are always looking for a better user experience. We would like to see more consolidation in SAP S4HANA because of all the financial compliance and regulatory changes."
"The customer service and support are average. There is room for improvement in response time."
"There should be a place where I can get the best available applications in one place. Currently, Fiori applications are available in different tiles on the dashboards. If anyone wants to check the financial, sales, and inventory reporting in one place, it is not possible in Fiori. We would have to develop a custom Fiori application. If that feature can be incorporated into the standard Fiori, it will be helpful for us."
"The analytics part of SAP S/4HANA needs to be improved"
"The initial setup was difficult, presenting challenges for users."
"Maybe its user interface and reporting can be improved across the board, but it is manageable."
"Items that impact the TCO should be improved because the solution is very complex to integrate and keep running."
"The migration to SAP S/4HANA is hard."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of SAP Business ByDesign is less expensive than SAP S/4HANA. However, the price is on par with other similar competitors, such as Microsoft."
"We have to pay yearly."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly. There is no flat pricing involved and everything has a range. Pricing depends on the functionality that you would use. You need to also pay for the additional hosting and maintenance costs."
"Everything is included in the licensing cost of the solution. However, they use a per-user model for additional charges."
"The problem with SAP is that it offers two licenses, namely runtime license and enterprise license. If you have a runtime license, then you are doomed since you can't take any data out from the tool."
"It's quite expensive. However, it can be expensive to maintain the solution."
"I don't think any company would find the product expensive"
"The solution's pricing depends on customers and how much discount they can get. However, the list price is expensive."
"As for pricing, it depends on the business size and flow. If it's a medium-sized business, it might seem affordable, but for larger businesses with complex processes, it could be considered expensive."
"It is on a quarterly basis. There are no additional costs. There is just the standard fee."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is very expensive. It is not cheap."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud ERP solutions are best for your needs.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

RB
Jun 30, 2021
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...
See 2 answers
EB
Jun 28, 2021
Hello @Terry Jones ​, @Sanath Premachandra ​, @Ben Melchionno ​and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?
PB
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud.  So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per user on the cloud.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
University
12%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Educational Organization
38%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP Business ByDesign?
The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business ByDesign?
The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth.
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
The cost of their support services could be more affordable. It's currently an expensive proposition.
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
We have several different application scenarios that we are implementing, including procurement, sales, and finance.
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Standard Bank of South Africa, AOK Bundesverband, PT XL Axiata Tbk, Tvoy Dom, Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG, DeLaval International AB, EMC Corporation, Lenovo, Castle Importing Inc., Unilever, Rifle Paper Co., RAK Ceramics, Rough Country, B&G Manufacturing, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about NetSuite, Oracle, SAP and others in Cloud ERP. Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.