ERP Buyer's Guide 2020-21
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TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS ERP Buyer’s Guide 2020-21 Your guide to the leading ERP and financial accounting solutions for medium to large enterprises in the A/NZ region. Copyright © 2020 iStart Ltd. All rights reserved. Ltd. iStart © 2020 Copyright Businesses have been given a lesson in the benefits of migrating off systems that do not support remote work and anywhere/anytime access for staff. iStart ERP Buyer’s Guide 2020-21 | istart.com.au | 1800 462 388 | istart.co.nz | 0800 928 268 | 2 UPDATE_10.20 TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS Market Commentary 2020-21 4 Best practise ERP selection & evaluation 7 ERP Solutions by Industry 10 Cloud ERP guide 11 ERP Features vs Price guide 12 ERP Market Share (A/NZ) 13 Product guides Abel 15 Epicor ERP 10.6 16 IFS Applications v10 17 Infor CloudSuite 18 Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations 19 MYOB Advanced 20 MYOB Exo 21 MYOB Greentree 22 N2 ERP 23 Oracle NetSuite 24 Priority v20.x 25 Pronto Xi 760 26 Sage 300cloud 27 Sage Business Cloud X3 28 Sage Intacct 29 SAP Business ByDesign 30 SAP Business One v10.0 31 SAP S/4HANA 32 SYSPRO ERP 33 ERP Partner Guide DXC Oxygen 34 EMDA 34 Medatech 35 Realtech 35 Velocity Global 36 Zag 36 Methodology: The data presented herein is based on structured survey responses either direct from the vendor or their partner. iStart invites all key midmarket and enterprise ERP vendors with an established presence in the A/NZ region to respond. Vendors pay a small administrative fee to cover compilation and publication of the guide. If you represent a vendor you think should be included please get in touch at: [email protected]. iStart ERP Buyer’s Guide 2020-21 | istart.com.au | 1800 462 388 | istart.co.nz | 0800 928 268 | 3 UPDATE_10.20 MARKET COMMENTARY 2020-21 Welcome to the 2020-21 edition of iStart’s annual ERP Buyer’s Guide. This year has been like no other as Covid-19 continues its scourge. It has pervaded every human toil on the planet including the people behind the products presented in this guide. It is a year where IT has been a hero in maintaining business continuity. But perhaps you are here because the technology that underpins your business was less hero and more villain, and you’ve been tasked with doing something about it? The good news is that modern business management systems are incredibly good. Just make sure you buy the right one for your business. ERP market gets cloudier Covid-19 has created a clash of market drivers. Which will out?... BY HEATHER WRIGHT Market predictions in any vertical are Technology buyers were already Feedback from the trenches does not tricky at the best of times, and the seeking the benefits of modern present a conclusive picture. While ERP market is no exception. cloud-based architecture to support there is no doubt that the sector has digital channels and provide access- been lucky to be cushioned in relation This year, Covid-19 brings an overdose from-anywhere tools. to others’ brutal realities, it is not all of risk and uncertainty as the beer and skittles out there. pandemic’s tumultuous impacts roll Covid has underlined that as an out across global markets and society. imperative and starkly highlighted It’s more like a barn dance, with Billy Will the ERP market be a winner the advantages of remote access for Bob Covid knocking a few casualties or loser in the fallout? system owners and users alike. off the floor. Instinctively, the answer is that Buyers should be lining up to get Business from afar themselves some of that digital juice. for modern ERP systems, it will The first and most obvious driver is But are they? be a positive. the work-from-home phenomenon In short, no. where businesses and managers iStart ERP Buyer’s Guide 2020-21 | istart.com.au | 1800 462 388 | istart.co.nz | 0800 928 268 | 4 UPDATE_10.20 MARKET COMMENTARY 2020-21 It (Covid-19) forced business to step up on IT matters, which was something of a win for longer term relations between the two. who could were suddenly forced to “Projects that were in progress Pulse of business operate remotely. For most in the continued and provided a welcome David Reece, head of go-to-market tech sector this was business as focus on productive work while for enterprise systems at MYOB, was usual, so customers getting more physical operations were closed in a unique position to understand comfortable and confident working or severely curtailed due to the impact of Covid lockdowns. via screen rather than in-person has lockdowns. They were an opportunity Telemetry from MYOB’s cloud-based benefitted both parties. This had, and to put to good use resources that SME accounting and mid-tier ERP will continue to have, far-reaching would otherwise have been idle,” systems provided a rich source of implications across business, and observed Mulcahy. empirical data. particularly the tech sector. From an IT perspective, WFH created It informed not only MYOB’s response Importantly, remote working provided a big challenge to get laptops for staff but was shared with the Australian a means to continue with projects who had previously operated using Government’s epidemic response desktop machines. With these being and in fact probably improved team to quickly reveal how sectors unsuitable for shifting to home office engagement and productivity. were being affected. The impact was environments, hardware procurement immediate on hospitality and tourism, Nick Mulcahy, CEO at A/NZ SAP became a high priority and with but pain was also felt across any partner Zag said the changes were by Covid-restricted supply chains, businesses unable to quickly substitute and large positive for work in progress. took time to put in place. open doors with open browsers. Mulcahy’s team had just signed off Another major challenge arose The information allowed MYOB to go-live on a major S/4HANA upgrade for IT managers in businesses that target an outreach programme to at Hydro Tasmania which was relied on internal networks to access phone customers and offer relief delivered almost entirely remotely, on-premise systems. There was through alternative licensing plans or bringing a degree of veracity to blowtorch intensity applied to deliver rescheduling of upcoming renewals. his comments. VPN access so that users could Customer outreach was also an “Interactions via online meetings maintain operations. important part of the response for tend to be much more efficient than While most of the IT impacts tended Gary Patterson, sales director A/NZ in-person. Design workshops do to be on day-to-day operations, they for Infor gold partner EMDA. “We sometimes break down into several created disruption for IT staff involved made a concentrated effort to check conversations at once, but when they with ERP and digital transformation in on clients and offer relief where are online people keep to the point projects. It forced business to step up we could. Often it wasn’t about any more, they don’t want to be seen as on IT matters, which was something specific financial discussion but being dominating the conversation and so of a win for longer term relations seen to be doing the right thing. tend to say what they need to and between the two. “The conversations were humbling, hand the floor over.” The overall sentiment was that the and the appreciation expressed by Zag’s experience was repeated immediate impact of lockdown was many made it a rewarding exercise,” across ERP vendors and partners. relatively minor and often positive. Patterson reflected. iStart ERP Buyer’s Guide 2020-21 | istart.com.au | 1800 462 388 | istart.co.nz | 0800 928 268 | 5 UPDATE_10.20 MARKET COMMENTARY 2020-21 Implementing new ERP solutions or upgrades are major strategic projects and in times of uncertainty conservative boards avoid committing to such projects in favour of the status quo. Of course, vendors and partners “The move to more subscription- work and anywhere/anytime access themselves were in uncharted based licensing models has created for staff. territory and many scrambled to get a mind shift in how software licenses With that mode of operation now contingency plans in place. EMDA’s are perceived. entrenched, it is confidence that senior team modelled from a baseline “Subscription fees are now budgeted needs to return before the rates of ‘lose no staff’ to map scenarios as as part of core expenses and not seen of conversion from opportunity to to how the business would respond as discretionary, which has not always implementation will be back to their should business conditions collapse. been the case when support and ‘new normal’. The same sentiments were common maintenance fees fell due.” The consensus is that pent-up across many discussions reflecting a While delivering a new ERP system demand will drive a strong recovery sense of community around ‘we’re all itself may not have been classified as once confidence returns to the wider in this together’ that has been created essential, supporting the systems of consumer and business markets. and may indeed prove to be another essential businesses was, and kept long-term benefit of the pandemic. The big question is when? many ERP support teams busy. Essential work, essential The crux systems Gartner’s strategic It might be concluded that ERP Jane Mattsen, executive director at assumptions on ERP: providers, cushioned from the brutal Abel Software, highlighted ERP’s impacts in some sectors, have • By 2022, 30% of large essentiality as another aspect that continued their happy dance enterprises will have moved cushioned the ERP market from the with sales prospects.