Compare the Top 14 Cloud ERP Solutions
If you’re considering making the move to cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, you will find IDC research useful in your vendor selection process. Last year, the technology analyst firm published a MarketScape report: “Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Operational ERP Applications 2019 Vendor Assessment.” The report compares the 14 top cloud ERP providers, from IDC’s point of view.
IDC takes the perspective that cloud ERP is essential for digital transformation (DX). As they put it, “Smart DX businesses have turned their focus to SaaS and cloud-enabled software because they need flexible and agile financial applications that are relatively easy to implement, configure, and update.” The firm sees growing demand for cloud ERP for this reason. In particular, IDC felt that cloud ERP was necessary for accessing and analyzing large amounts of data in near real time. This is best accomplished in the cloud.
The report includes assessments of the major cloud ERP platforms: SAP, Oracle, IFS, Oracle-NetSuite, Microsoft (Dynamics), Infor, Plex Systems, Priority, Acumatica, Epicor, Ramco Systems, Syspro and Sage. As with all MarketScapes, IDC divides the vendors into “Leaders,” “Major Players,” “Contenders” and “Participants.” The placement is based on IDC’s evaluation of each vendor’s capabilities and strategies.
Acumatica ranked as a “Major Player” in the report. As an Acumatica partner, we found this to be an exciting and well-deserved development. Acumatica has been innovating and growing since its founding in 2008.
IDC praised Acumatica for being a “modern platform.” They liked Acumatica’s open (RESTful) APIs along with the platforms ability to automate business workflows. They characterized the Acumatica mobile application as “highly functional.” For IDC, the full integration of Customer Resource Management (CRM) into the platform helped position Acumatica as a major player. IDC also highlighted the value of Acumatica’s user interface (UI), dashboards and reporting.
The report lauded Acumatica’s multi-entity transaction capabilities. They said, “Acumatica has enhanced its offering significantly and is now able to support customers with complex global corporate structures, allowing the books to be closed independent of other subsidiaries or business units.”
Acumatica stood out for IDC for what they call Third Platform and innovation investment. The analyst firm expressed the view that Acumatica’s continued investment in Third Platform and relevant innovation accelerators would help with the company’s future growth. These included investments in data-driven functions like machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), business intelligence (BI) and data analytics.
The Third Platform is a concept developed by IDC that refers to blending of traditional IT with mobile, social, cloud and Big data. Third Platform innovators like Acumatica focus on the consumer and end user, rather than on the enterprise alone.
The IDC report is valuable because it allows you to compare the strengths and challenge areas for so many leading cloud ERP providers. The analysis is fair and even-handed. We recommend Acumatica for many of our clients, but there are certainly many good choices on the market today. At the same time, it’s worth paying attention to areas where certain vendors are struggling. Not all cloud ERP solutions are cloud-native, for example, as Acumatica is.
Get the full report here. To learn more about Acumatica, contact us to arrange a demo.
Additional ERP Resources
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