If you look at most cloud ERP solutions on the surface, it’s difficult to tell them apart. The market is overflowing with products that share common strengths but often cannot show their true value in key differentiators. As a business manager, you’ll find that most ERP software offerings cover the basics. You’ll also find it takes research and some technical knowledge to understand the pros and cons of each system. But a couple of years ago, Acumatica, a relative newcomer to the market, caught the attention of our experts. The following four factors make Acumatica different from its competitors:
- Mobility
- Flexible deployment model
- Consumption-based licensing
- Open cloud platform that allows comprehensive scalability
Throughout your ERP research, it’s likely you’ve encountered some of these differentiators in many Acumatica alternatives. It’s unlikely, however, that you’ve found them all in the same cloud based ERP product; aside from that, Acumatica’s licensing model is unique. Let’s explore each of these factors to reveal the true value behind them.
Mobility
It might seem obvious in 2018 that any worthwhile ERP should offer mobility within its core strengths. For this reason, most ERP vendors will offer some level of mobile access. But Acumatica works hard to take mobility a step further.
One of the software’s major benefits is that users can access the solution from anywhere, on any device, as. This means more than just being able to use some basic features from your smartphone. Acumatica understands the need to cater to today’s online culture, where a lot of business happens outside office walls. It gives workers the constant connectivity they need to be productive on the go. The software offers users the full experience on their mobile version, while also exploiting the inherent features of smart devices to enhance the software’s usability.
This makes Acumatica different from its competitors; it takes native mobile features like touch screens and voice recognition and uses them to deliver the all the functionality of its ERP in a pocket-sized package. Acumatica is also currently developing a virtual assistant that implements big data, business intelligence, and machine learning elements as part of its mobile application. These enhancements are key in achieving Acumatica’s vision to make the most of technology. They will only strengthen Acumatica’s position as a leader in the ERP market as smart devices overtake computers in popularity.
Flexible Deployment Model
Acumatica often brands itself as Acumatica Cloud ERP, which leads most people to consider Acumatica a cloud-based software. This is obviously true, but it doesn’t mean that Acumatica is restricted to public cloud deployment under a SaaS model. Acumatica is rooted in cloud technology, conceived to be a Cloud ERP and engineered as a SaaS solution, always with deployment flexibility in mind. While SaaS has become the preferred deployment option for ERP software in recent years, there are still many companies that prefer on-premise deployment. Acumatica understands this and gives users the option to deploy the software in a public or private cloud, as well as on-premise.
If you’ve done your research, you could say that this specific point doesn’t really make Acumatica different from its competitors. But Acumatica stands out for being a pioneer in both Cloud and SaaS solutions, having an upper hand as a provider for these offerings. Flexibility is a powerful selling point, but Acumatica is loaded with benefits for its subscription-based options that make it a highly attractive ERP choice for companies of all sizes across many industries. Acumatica invests heavily in developing for SaaS models on cloud-based environments, so if you’re looking for a Cloud ERP service, it should be on your shortlist.
Consumption-Based Licensing
Perhaps licensing is what most makes Acumatica different from its competitors. While per-user licensing is the standard for nearly all Acumatica competitors, consumption-based licensing is unique to Acumatica. Acumatica offers unlimited users and charges based on usage. This is measured by how many transactions per hour are made, as well as by which features are being used. This pricing model considers the size of your organization, the functionalities that your organization needs, and the deployment model you choose. The following example serves to show how Acumatica measures its transactions per hour for its pricing:
Company A is a small business with 50 users’ total. Since Acumatica allows unlimited users, what is important is how many transactions these users are making per hour. A transaction is considered any change made to a record. Each record has multiple categories that count as a record change, and each category has a maximum number of transactions per hour that can be made before moving on to the next tier (small, medium, or large). A small company is limited to 10,000 transactions per hour, per category. Therefore, Company A can make 9,900 PO transactions, 9,000 SO transactions, 9,900 CRM transactions, and so and so forth, without having to move to the next tier.
This model can prove highly beneficial to SMB’s seeing as under traditional user- based licensing they often must pick which employees to whom they will grant access. But, this can limit how well the software can do its job of streamlining processes and improving productivity. With Acumatica’s pricing model, organizations can take full advantage of the system and pay only for what they need. This unique model is another factor that makes Acumatica different from its competitors.
Open Cloud Platform That Allows Scalability
Another key feature growing small and mid-sized businesses must look for in an ERP solution is scalability. Technology shifts quickly and modern businesses expand and grow and lightning speed once they begin. This calls for an ERP that can grow with them and adapt to their expanding needs without creating too much downtime or requiring too much support from their vendors. Its agile scalability and ability to grow and innovate make Acumatica different from other ERP systems. The previous three factors mentioned all come together in Acumatica as an open cloud platform with strong, non-invasive customization tools. Acumatica makes heavy investments in “microservice” architecture and technology that enable their partners to customize the ERP to suit the specific needs of their clients. The open platform starts with horizontal functionalities that cover basic business needs for almost any organization, while vertical functionalities are developed as applications that cover more specific functions related to specific industries and markets. Acumatica gives users the power to build unique structures on their open platform to meet their unique requirements. Acumatica offers a very high-level of customization, supported by heavy research and development investments, making it an attractive solution for innovative businesses that are banking on growth.
You can find out more about what makes Acumatica different from its competitors by visiting their website. You can also follow us on LinkedIn for news and information on Acumatica!
