In my first post I talked about six reasons I trust Acumatica as a company. Now it’s time to talk about the actual system.
What factors set Acumatica apart from other cloud-based ERP offerings?
- Modern Technology: Acumatica came onto the market in 2010. Many other cloud solutions came onto the market around 1999-2000 and, of course, the technology was very different then. By 2010, different tool sets were available, different technologies, different devices, and that made a difference in the way that Acumatica was designed. Remember, 10 years ago, we didn’t have smart phones. A lot has changed.
- Responsive Design: Responsive design means that the core application is written with technology embedded that allows you to move from one device size to another and the application will look and feel the same on any size device. As you reduce the size of the platform for example a PC versus a tablet versus a smartphone, the screens will automatically responsively change the design. Why is this an advantage? Many of the products that were developed earlier had a desktop version that would run only on a desktop and a mobile version that would run only on a mobile device. With Acumatica, different versions are not necessary because of the responsive design.
- No Additional Fee Per User: The core premise of Acumatica is to involve everybody in the company. That is the goal of many other ERP solutions too, but most of them will charge more for each named user. With Acumatica, you still define who users are, but you are not be charged by their roles within the company. There is no per user fee. With other systems additional users fees can be an unanticipated expense as the company grows, and may even change the contract terms. With Acumatica’s unlimited users policy you are not penalized as you grow.
- Resource Level Pricing: Acumatica pricing is based on “Resource Level” which roughly corresponds to the number of transactions a company does monthly. For example, you may start with 10 users on the Small Resource level. But you can grow to hundreds of users if you want to. If you are processing less than a hundred transactions an hour you still only need the Small Resource Level. Your costs remain fixed as you grow. And you will not be forced to upgrade to a higher resource level even if you have more transactions, you will just notice that your system is slower. There is even an Extra Small version available. So if you are a very small growing company just starting out, Acumatica has a size that will fit you too.
- Deployment Choices: When I talk to my clients, I want to offer them choices. Many of the cloud offerings out there right now offer only one option, SaaS in the cloud. But not all organizations are the same. If you are distributor or manufacturer in an area that doesn’t have the best internet coverage, and you can’t afford to be disconnected from your system, SaaS is not a good option for you. In that case, you still might want a pure cloud solution, one that was born in the cloud like Acumatica, but you want to be able to run it on-premises. With Acumatica, you can run it on your servers, so you can have all the benefits of the cloud accessibility but none of the risks of poor connectivity.Acumatica also has what we call a hybrid model. That would allow you to subscribe to the software but put it in your cloud or with your cloud provider, such as Amazon or Microsoft Azure. This is another option that the other cloud ERP vendors do not offer. And of course, Acumatica also offers a pure SaaS solution too. The bottom line is that the solution can be delivered the way you need it – SaaS, on premise or hosted.
- Strong core technology: Many of the solutions out there in the cloud space rely on apps or other add-ons tools for much of their functionality. That’s not to say that Acumatica doesn’t have apps and add-ons. But when you look at the core application, Acumatica has CRM, BI, sales, inventory sourcing, etc. included. Other systems have strong accounting but weak CRM. Or they don’t work with all of your mobile devices. They are not connected.Acumatica is a connected business solution. The CRM, sales systems, order entry, inventory, purchasing, and mobile are all in the same user interface as the core. We can connect your mobile workforce to the Acumatica platform and, based on that responsive design, the screens that they see at work when they’re connected in the office are going to be the same as they see in the field; it’s just going to be on a smaller device.
At CAL Business Solutions, we’re excited to be working with Acumatica. If you’d like to learn more about how this versatile solution can benefit your business processes, contact us at 860-485-0910 x4 or sales@calszone.com
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By George Mackiewicz, CAL Business Solutions, www.calszone.com/acumatica
