With our ERP Selection Tool, you can filter ERP software by application, tier, and industry. Additionally, you can drill down to information about the system including industries supported, number of customers, underlying technology, and critical generic functionality. You can also identify the implementers of these ERP software and drill down for additional ERP implementer information including industries supported, location(s), and number of employees.
However, our selection tool did not include Best of Breed software, which is specialized software for specific business functions for an industry. We were recently talking to John Macdonald, Group Chief Sales Officer and Regional President, North America at ExpandIT about Field Services. Our selection tool did not include ExpandIT, which is a shame considering it should be considered by an organization seeking a solution for field services. The same goes for other systems that are specialized for an industry – like Procore for construction.
There are advantages to an ERP solution including
- Don’t need integration
- Consistent user experience
- One throat to choke
- Includes accounting functionality (some best of breed systems integrate with ERP or accounting systems)
But the functionality and business process advantages may outweigh any disadvantages. You may also find that some best of breed vendors offer fixed fee contracts and lower total cost of ownership.
Some best of breed systems are built from scratch with their own database and UI. Others are extensions of an ERP system, like FIELDBOSS, also for field services but built using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
We define ERP as software that automates most if not all business processes for an organization. ExpandIT, Procore and FIELDBOSS do just that for their industries, so our selection tool will now include best of breed software too.
