Overview
Choosing the right ERP solution for your business is a crucial business decision. Most ERP solutions cover the basic needs of financials but if you’re in the manufacturing, distribution, or construction industry, we find that for a lot of people, it comes down to choosing between Acumatica or Sage. Besides a full list of functionalities, our clients are primarily concerned about the “real” total implementation cost (TCO), vendor reliability, and user reviews. Let’s take a closer look at how Acumatica and Sage compare.
Acumatica
Over the past decade, Acumatica has become a major player in the ERP space for all types of small and mid-sized businesses. Built on a true cloud architecture, Acumatica ERP provides the best business management solution for transforming your company to thrive in today’s economy. Whether manufacturing, construction, or distribution, everything integrates on one, single platform with open architecture for rapid integrations, scalability, and ease of use.
- Unlimited user license model – pricing is on the level of transactions you process.
- True mobile-ready platform – resizes automatically depending on mobile device.
- Easy and powerful built-in reporting tools – KPIs, dashboards.
- Scales as you grow, can easily be the last ERP you need. Acumatica calls this “future-proof”, and we agree.
- Award-winning, intuitive interface, with familiar ribbons and buttons that your team is able to use from day one.
- Low code/no code customizations, for users at every technical level from newbie to expert.
Sage
Sage products have been around for a long time. They are traditional (legacy) ERP solutions for small- to mid-sized companies. Sage 100, Sage 300, and Sage 500 each have its own feature set, and each is targeted for a specific market segment. Sage products have a long history and can offer adequate functionality for small- to mid-sized businesses. However, when comparing to a modern-day ERP solution like Acumatica, there are a few significant drawbacks:
- Sage licenses are priced per user, which becomes expensive for growing businesses.
- Sage solutions were built using an older system architecture. This becomes a problem in scenarios designed for the latest technologies, including cloud deployment options, customizations using current development tools, and integrations with CRM and other external software applications.
- All of the Sage products were developed independently on different platforms, meaning there is no direct or easy way to migrate from one product to another.
Total Cost of Ownership
The real cost of ownership (TCO) of any ERP solution looks at the cost involved from software licenses, subscription fees, software training, data migration, customizations, hardware if needed, maintenance, support, and other related services. When calculating the TCO it is important to make sure you discover any “hidden costs” as well. Depending on your needs these numbers can vary greatly.
A few areas that are notorious for incurring additional costs:
- Internal resource costs – how much time your team (and you) will need to devote to making this implementation a success. This is easily the area clients neglect to calculate most often.
- Testing – another huge area that clients often downplay, just because it often isn’t fully explained and planned. Testing is imperative to getting the most of your ERP investment – don’t skimp here.
- Process analysis and improvement – if you are investing in a new system, don’t clog it up with old, manual work-arounds. Just because you’ve always done it “this way” doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it that way! Take the time to optimize your operations.
- Integrations – really good ERP implementers have learned by experience that the better your integrations, the better your insight into your business. Do yourself a favor and list every single service, software and solution you use, from A to Z and ask if you’d be well-served if this system talked to your ERP. It will save you tons of time and headaches down the line.
These are just a few areas where hidden costs can lurk. Make sure you are working with a team that can ferret out all the items that can come back to bite you.
Let’s take a closer look at Acumatica and Sage features and functions for a true comparison.
Acumatica vs. Sage Functionality
| Functionality | Acumatica |
Sage |
| True cloud (built for cloud)
“True cloud” means all functionality is accessible through the internet using a standard browser without the need for any software installation on the user’s device and no additional software licensing required. The bulk of the Sage product line uses older software development practices and platform architecture. These products were built for on-premises deployments and retrofitted for the cloud. Moreover, these products suffer from being unable to match the level of speed, functionality, and ease of use offered by a true-cloud platform. Acumatica was designed to leverage the capabilities of cloud computing and can run equally on-premises or in the cloud. You can even switch between the deployment models as well. |
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| True mobility (supports all devices with no special apps)
Out-of-the-box, Acumatica can be accessed on the device of your choice. Acumatica is built to resize every page and every screen to whatever device you are using. Every screen has the same information and flow, whether it is on a PC, tablet, or phone. Sage online products support browser access on multiple devices, but the web pages do not automatically resize to accommodate mobile devices. |
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| Flexible licensing options
Both products are available through subscription licensing. Sage allows licensing based on user count, using either concurrent or named user licenses depending on the specific product. Acumatica offers a choice of licensing options and charges based on the resources needed – not by user – so your business is not penalized for growth. |
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| Multiple deployment options
Sage and Acumatica can support deployments on-premises, cloud, or hosted. Most Sage products cannot be deployed as true cloud because of their legacy architecture. This affects their accessibility, support costs, scalability, and functionality. Cloud-native Sage products (e.g., Intacct and X3) cannot be deployed in a private/hosted nor on-premises model. |
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| Scale as you grow | |
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Download the Comparison
Download this free report from Info-Tech. Use it to figure out which vendor is a better fit for your business. The report directly compares Acumatica to Sage based on the most important criteria for SMBs.
Find out how Acumatica and Sage compare in categories such as:
- Satisfaction of cost relative to value
- Quality of features
- Continual improvements
- Net Emotional Footprint
- The respect these vendors show to customers
Next, give us a call at 1-833-432-7278 to answer all your ERP questions. Our team of certified specialists are here to help you.