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SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Support for SAP Business One depends on partner quality, with satisfaction varying based on partner relationships and regional availability.
Sentiment score
6.9
SAP S/4HANA support receives mixed reviews, with strengths in expertise but areas needing improvement in response time and process efficiency.
Getting support is not easy and requires more personnel and documentation to improve the support ecosystem.
The quality of customer service is excellent, and the speed is commendable.
The quality of technical support from SAP can be rated as eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.8
SAP Business One needs UI and integration upgrades, better cloud features, enhanced scalability, and improved support for third-party add-ons.
Sentiment score
4.9
Feedback on SAP S/4HANA highlights UI simplification, better app integration, more custom options, and improved AI, documentation, and support.
The solution lacks scalability as it targets medium to small-scale industries.
The cost of their support services could be more affordable.
It could be improved by focusing on user-related challenges, as end users might face certain difficulties.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
SAP Business One is praised for scalability and customization, though some users find it inadequate for very large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP S/4HANA is highly scalable for medium to large enterprises, adapting well to cloud environments with customization flexibility.
SAP Business One is not very scalable, as it is aimed at medium to small-scale industries.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
5.6
SAP Business One is cost-effective with a fair licensing model, though costs can be high for smaller businesses.
Sentiment score
2.6
SAP S/4HANA is expensive with complex licensing, varying by deployment, user count, and modules, challenging affordability for smaller firms.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
The cost of support services could be made more affordable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
SAP Business One is stable and reliable, with users praising its performance, except for occasional slow speeds in older versions.
Sentiment score
8.0
SAP S/4HANA is generally stable and reliable, with skilled teams enhancing performance, though customizations can affect stability.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.2
SAP Business One provides comprehensive features for financial, inventory, and project management, ideal for small to medium businesses.
Sentiment score
8.2
SAP S/4HANA offers a user-friendly interface, real-time analytics, and robust integration, enhancing adaptability and efficiency for businesses.
One of the biggest advantages of SAP Business One, especially in the public cloud, is that many features are standardized, which reduces the need for customization.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
Its analytics capabilities are valuable as they enhance data analysis and insights.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Business One
Ranking in ERP
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP S/4HANA
Ranking in ERP
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the ERP category, the mindshare of SAP Business One is 4.5%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 15.7%, up from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Sajith Morais - PeerSpot reviewer
Caters to the company's B2B business model and highly stable solution
I have seen some limitations. For example, in Sri Lanka, I implemented SAP Business One in the fashion industry, specifically the footwear industry. Currently, the system does not support creating size-wise items with a size grid, which would be a beneficial feature to have. Additionally, in some areas, particularly in budget preparation and cost accounting, there are certain limitations that could be improved. Specifically, the budgeting side needs enhancement. When comparing SAP Business One with Netsuite and Microsoft Dynamics, Netsuite has a feature that allows easy integration with email, whereas SAP Business One lacks this capability. Users need to log in to the SAP Business One application separately to access emails, unlike Netsuite. These minor features make a difference, and if SAP Business One can include and improve such aspects, it would become the ideal product for SMEs. One another thing is SAP Business One consumes a lot of network resources and bandwidth, especially when accessing the web solution, B1 Web Access. While NetSuite is a completely cloud-based solution that can be accessed via a web browser, SAP Business One has this facility but faces some constraints, especially in terms of top performance and speed at the browser level. However, in the network, there are issues regarding application slowness. This could be a major concern with SAP Business One. These are some areas of improvement for me.
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.
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Answers from the Community

Shibu  Ms - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2023
Sep 6, 2023
Hi Shibu, Here is a brief comparison between SAPB1 and SAP S/4 Hana. SAP B1 was not originally a SAP product it was a product developed by an Israel founder in 195 built only for MAC OS SAP bought it over in 2003, Whereas SAP S/4 Hana is natively built by SAP. Scope and Complexity: SAP B1: SAP Business One is designed for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and covers a broad range of b...
See 2 answers
Avigayil Henderson - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 10, 2023
Hello Shibu, I am writing this answer on behalf of a Director at a small tech services company: The key difference is about 2 and a half million dollars - jokingly - we’ve had some clients go with B1 and the projects were smallish - $70k - $120k. We’ve also had clients spending nearly $3m on S/4HANA projects. I’d say B1 is more for mid-market, and S/4HANA is a tier one large company, Fortune 1000 size project. Now of course that’s super generalized from a small sample size - for what it’s worth.
Mohammed Shakir Ibrahim - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2023
Hi Shibu, Here is a brief comparison between SAPB1 and SAP S/4 Hana. SAP B1 was not originally a SAP product it was a product developed by an Israel founder in 195 built only for MAC OS SAP bought it over in 2003, Whereas SAP S/4 Hana is natively built by SAP. Scope and Complexity: SAP B1: SAP Business One is designed for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and covers a broad range of business processes, including accounting, inventory management, and sales. SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA is an enterprise-level solution designed for larger organizations, offering a more comprehensive suite of applications that include advanced analytics, industry-specific features, and support for complex business processes. It's strong in manufacturing, Service industry, government, and Oil & Gas industries. Database Technology: SAP B1: SAP B1 typically uses Microsoft SQL Server as its underlying database management system, but there is a new variant where you can use the HANA database with Business One. SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA uses in-memory computing and the SAP HANA database, which enables real-time data processing, faster reporting, and advanced analytics capabilities. This technology shift is a major differentiator and provides significant performance advantages. Scalability: SAP B1: SAP B1 is not scalable for large organizations due to the complexity of the processes. SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA is made for larger organizations which can cater to any complicated business processes. If you need further information you can reach me at shakir52268@gmail.com
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Retailer
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

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 do you like most about SAP Business One?
It's user-friendly and comes with comprehensive manuals. So, it is easy to learn to use SAP Business One
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business One?
The pricing model of SAP Business One is average. It is neither too good nor too bad, and there is room for more flexibility in pricing.
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.
What do you like most about SAP S4HANA?
It's helped with business aspects and improved material planning and RMA processes.
 

Also Known As

Business One
SAP S4HANA
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ego Pharmaceuticals Pty. Ltd
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Business One vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
823,795 professionals have used our research since 2012.