We use the solution primarily to manage financial business processes.
IT Development Director at Lottomatica SpA
Overall good functionality, beneficial financial modules, and highly stable
Pros and Cons
- "I have found all the modules related to finance valuable, such as account management and HR. The entire suite is very useful."
- "When evaluating the current version I am using now, the SAP GUI is old-style and needs to be replaced with something more modern and easy to use. However, the SAP GUI is very optimized for connection networks and is extremely good. Many people would like to have a WebGUI or something else to have access in a different way. Additionally, there could be some drag and drop functionality added because these features are normally in any website that this solution does not have."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I have found all the modules related to finance valuable, such as account management and HR. The entire suite is very useful.
What needs improvement?
When evaluating the current version I am using now, the SAP GUI is old-style and needs to be replaced with something more modern and easy to use. However, the SAP GUI is very optimized for connection networks and is extremely good. Many people would like to have a WebGUI or something else to have access in a different way. Additionally, there could be some drag and drop functionality added because these features are normally in any website that this solution does not have.
We are not using the newest version of the solution, it is difficult to say what needs to improve when the improvements could have already been made in the newer version. I did however see a demo version of the newest version and they have made improvements in the overall ability to manage with the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately 15 years.
Buyer's Guide
SAP ERP
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP ERP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution stability and performance are very good we are extremely happy. We have not had any problem and when we moved from the old database to SAP HANA it provided improved performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In the company where I worked before, we had a large installation of SAP with approximately 10,000 licensed users. The solution was able to handle it without a problem and we were using the classic version of the Oracle database.
In the company I work for currently, we do smaller installations of approximately 350 users. We have not had any problem or any issue regarding performance, it is highly scalable. However, working with S/4 HANA, where all the database is working in the RAM memory could pose some difficulties if you want to scale because you would have to have a computer system with a large number of gigabytes of RAM.
How are customer service and support?
We have only used support a few times for some minor issues, such as the production system blockage, and our experience was good. The support agent was very helpful and quick to answer our problems. I felt we were receiving the maximum level of support.
What about the implementation team?
I have an internal team working on SAP ERP and we are using a very large system integrator from Italy that is assisting us with the implementation, technical support, and safety. We are working together with this system integrator for any big project that we cannot manage internally. This is not for any competencies issues, we only want to increase the number of people working with us to speed up the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When you have a solution that is stable, reliable, and has a high performance as this solution, the price is going to be expensive. However, when you evaluate the service you are paying for the cost is quite reasonable for this solution.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SAP ERP a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager at Mitsubishi Electric in India
It is a scalable solution and adapts to different business requirements
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution."
- "The solution's UI could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to manage our organization's financial supply chain and customer interactions.
What is most valuable?
The solution provides a lot of essential features to meet our business goals.
What needs improvement?
The solution's UI could be better. Also, they should improve the initial setup process.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution; our organization has around 250 solution users.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup process is complicated.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is less expensive than its competitors. But it is costly for ERP services.
What other advice do I have?
The solution caters to different business requirements. If you have a good user base and many business processes to manage, you should opt for SAP ERP.
I rate the solution as an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
SAP ERP
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP ERP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Vice President at Abacus Consulting
A complete business solution that is continuously transforming and innovating
Pros and Cons
- "I like the solution’s features in finance, supply chain, sales, and distribution."
- "I would like to see more integration with other partners. Some of our customers already use specific or in-house applications for their business processes. They do not want to replace those applications."
What is most valuable?
I like the solution’s features in finance, supply chain, sales, and distribution.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more integration with other partners. Some of our customers already use specific or in-house applications for their business processes. They do not want to replace those applications.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the tool a nine out of ten. The tool is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable and I would rate its scalability a nine out of ten. We have around 40 customers for the solution.
How are customer service and support?
There are different teams based in various regions. They are available 24/7. You can raise a ticket either day or night. The support is very good and they respond within a short period of time. Our customers are comfortable with it.
How was the initial setup?
The tool’s setup is straightforward. From the technical perspective, we can complete the solution’s deployment in less than a month. However, on the business side, the deployment depends on the customer’s requirements such as finance, supply chain, etc. It can take around four to six months for those aspects to complete. We follow the SAP Activate methodology for the tool’s deployment. This methodology has different phases to deploy the solution. Apart from the methodology, we use a tool called Solution Manager for the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The on-premises licensing model comes with annual maintenance whereas the cloud-based licensing model is a yearly subscription. The tool’s pricing is normal and not expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. This ERP solution is useful for large enterprises and companies with complex code structures. A lot of manufacturing companies in my country use SAP ERP. They have a lot of integrations with other products and legacy systems. The tool is a complete business solution that is continuously transforming and innovating. There is no comparison for SAP ERP.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Big business speciality, with excellent stability, and seasoned functionality
Pros and Cons
- "Everyone who uses SAP ERP has benefited from the functionality."
- "I would like to see the customization of the reports become easier to work with instead of having technical support have to assist us."
How has it helped my organization?
Everyone who uses SAP ERP has benefited from the functionality.
What is most valuable?
I think the most valuable feature is that we get live real-time reporting.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the customization of the reports become easier to work with instead of having technical support have to assist us. I would also like to see them continue adding new features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with SAP ERP for the past eighteen years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The flexibility is excellent on a scale of one to ten I would rate it a nine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would say that the scalability is around a seven on a scale of one to ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup has some complexity to it.
What about the implementation team?
The depolyment can take anywhere from six to eight months. We have a team of around forty five people that help us with the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When we talk about pricing it is expensive. On a scale of one to ten, it would rank a two. There are no additional fees but the user licenses are high.
What other advice do I have?
SAP ERP is mainly for big businesses, so just try to see that if your business is big enough to handle such an expensive ERP system because, for mid businesses we have NetSuite, but for large businesses we have SAP. I would rate SAP ERP a ten on a scale of one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Manager at Arabian Cement Company
Has many modules, and is useful for all business processes
Pros and Cons
- "The Material Management and Sales and Distribution modules are great. The Financial Accounting module is also great."
- "It should be less complex. It should also have better integration capability. I am using the ACC version, and in this version, the integration and the communication are very difficult and complicated."
What is our primary use case?
It is for all business processes. It is for material management, financial accounting and controlling, sales and distribution, and HR.
Our SAP version is a little bit old. It is the ACC version.
What is most valuable?
The Material Management and Sales and Distribution modules are great. The Financial Accounting module is also great.
What needs improvement?
One module that is not doing well is HR.
It should be less complex. It should also have better integration capability. I am using the ACC version, and in this version, the integration and the communication are very difficult and complicated.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it in our company since 2008.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I doubt if it is scalable. That's because it is on-prem, so you have a lot of parameters, and scalability would be a little bit hard.
We have 130 people, but in my company, only about 65 people are using it. It is being used every minute of every day. There might be a plan for expanding its usage, but I am not sure.
How are customer service and support?
Every time we need technical support, we take the help of a local consultant.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't do it, but I'm sure it's complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know the price, but I know its licensing is on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at a tech consulting company with 10,001+ employees
A great all-in-one product that can scale and is stable
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is quite scalable."
- "It's very difficult to find people who are well versed in it."
What is most valuable?
It's a good solution as you get everything in one software. You get all modules in one software and therefore one doesn't have to look outside for any other software.
The solution is quite scalable.
The stability is excellent.
What needs improvement?
The solution has a few problems here and there.
It's slightly complex and can be hard to understand if you are new to the product.
The product is very, very expensive, and therefore not really suitable for smaller organizations.
It's very difficult to find people who are well versed in it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 20 years at this point. It's been somewhere around two decades. I have a lot of experience with it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it's not a problem. Users should be able to do so.
It is scalable in the sense that tomorrow if you have 10 users, you can scale it to 50 users, 50 to 100. That's not a problem. It's pretty easy to scale. SAP is now pushing cloud. It used to be on-premise. When it was on-premise you would have to change your hardware. Now, that is not necessarily the case.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of maintenance, due to the fact that the solution is complex and nobody can know everything, it's important to have at least two people on staff for maintenance that can handle it and understand how everything - or mostly everything - works. That means either hiring out experts of having in-house personnel.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very high. For enterprise-level organizations this may be okay, however, for smaller companies, it's likely not suitable.
What happens is that if small companies implement it, the maintenance cost is very high for this kind of ERP. It's a problem for those companies who want to implement ERP, and they find implementation cost is higher and the license cost is extremely high. The maintenance cost is very high as well.
What other advice do I have?
I'm an implementor.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
It covers pretty much everything. It's not that something is missing. There are better products than this, however, they are not necessarily as complete. If you're buying those products, you will have to spend money to interface with the backbone of SAP.
They're making it more user-friendly. A user has to work smart and if he's not able to work smart, we spend so much less time training people. Unless you have a photogenic memory, SAP can take a bit of work.
Other software can be learned in 15 days, however, SAP takes a while.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Head of Sales and Marketing at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Improved financial controls with robust support and supply chain focus
Pros and Cons
- "Its customer support is highly rated, and the technical support provided by SAP is considered very good."
- "The initial setup was challenging initially. People did not understand much about what SAP could do."
What is our primary use case?
I am currently working in a group of companies, and we have the SAP HCM module. It is not fully implemented due to cloud issues, but we plan to transition to it. We are also using SAP S4HANA and have incorporated some aspects of the HR module, primarily focusing on payroll.
How has it helped my organization?
SAP ERP has improved our organization in several ways. For example, since moving to SAP HANA around eight years ago, the company I used to work for has gained substantial experience and benefits.
The deployment of SAP ERP has primarily strengthened our financial controls. Although our production planning initially relied on personal interventions and Excel, the finance aspect has shown significant strength and improvement, which is a primary focus for most companies within our group.
What is most valuable?
The most critical feature of SAP ERP is its focus on supply chain and finance, as our companies are primarily oriented towards financial operations and payroll management. Its customer support is highly rated, and the technical support provided by SAP is considered very good.
What needs improvement?
There is a need for improvement in the business analytics aspect in financial reporting and also in sales and marketing analytics.
For how long have I used the solution?
Different companies are at different stages. I have used SAP since the year 1985 or 1986 when I was part of the Toyota group, and we transitioned to SAP HANA around eight years ago. Other companies, like Obertronix, began using SAP two or three years ago.
How are customer service and support?
The support from SAP has been very good. When SAP ERP was used, we did not experience any significant issues. Their technical support is rated highly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to using SAP ERP, there was no similar solution in use. We started with SAP in around 1995 or 1996, transitioning directly from using forms, Google, and Excel. There were no alternate ERP solutions before SAP.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was challenging initially. People did not understand much about what SAP could do. However, with experience, the transition to S4HANA became easier, as the capabilities of SAP were better understood.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of SAP ERP is extremely high and often seen as unreasonable. An SLA agreement on maintenance is required, and it constitutes an annual expenditure. The licenses must be bought in bulk, which presents additional challenges, making the pricing not very friendly.
What other advice do I have?
SAP ERP is definitely recommended for larger companies, such as public limited companies, due to its extensive capabilities. However, smaller companies may find the maintenance and licensing fees prohibitive, and they should consider other ERP solutions.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 28, 2024
Flag as inappropriateProcess Mining Consultant at AG Consultancy & Apps. Lt.
Stable product with a centralized and well-integrated system
Pros and Cons
- "The product’s most valuable feature is a centralized system integrating different departments within the organization."
- "They need to improve a few processes, including transformation, intelligence, governance, modeling, etc."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for accounts payable and accounts receivables processes. It helps us analyze the throughput time between goods receipt and the completion of the entire accounts payable process. It identifies any delays or lags in the payment of invoices and ratios.
What is most valuable?
The product’s most valuable feature is a centralized system integrating different departments within the organization. It works much faster compared to other vendors.
What needs improvement?
SAP ERP lags a bit compared to Oracle for reporting features. Oracle provides predefined standard reports for vendor and customer-related financial statements. This feature could be included in SAP for creating reports adhering to standardized compliance requirements.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using SAP ERP for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable. There are a lot of clients that maintain their systems for several years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable and suitable for large enterprises.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support services are good. However, they cannot provide solutions for certain problems.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The deployment process requires a lot of resources and is expensive. It takes a lot of time to configure and deploy SAP applications. We need around 50 to 60 skilled resources for configuration setup. For finance, we may need another 50 resources. The process involves technical modules. Thus, we need expertise in finance and cost to handle the functional models, including warehouse, production, and plant maintenance. SAP provides good support services to help us set up the application.
The deployment time depends on the size of the data records and their processes. Some implementations might happen for years together.
The number of engineers and architects required depends on the existing data and processes. On average, we need a minimum of 10 executives to work on each module. We have around 20 modules in total. We may need overall at least 100 resources to implement the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product has high pricing. They provide a yearly basis license. The customers have to pay extra costs for support services.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I reviewed some articles and blogs and interacted with IT consultants to learn about Oracle.
What other advice do I have?
SAP ERP provides a lot of features compared to other systems. It is a well-integrated and feasible solution. It is a perfect solution if you can afford to invest in SAP. They are improving themselves rapidly. They provide all the organizational level services, including transaction, dashboarding, reports, automation, etc. They need to improve a few processes, including transformation, intelligence, governance, modeling, etc.
I rate the product an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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