Industry-Specific vs. General ERP Software: Pros and Cons
Once you’ve decided to invest in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, you’ll need to determine which system is best for your business. It’s a critical decision since the right system can help you lower operating costs, increase data accuracy, and improve decision-making.
To narrow down your choices, you’ll first need to decide between industry-specific software that provides niche functionality and a general ERP solution that provides broad functionality to address the needs of multiple industries. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of each option.
Industry-Specific ERP Software
Like all ERP systems, industry-specific solutions offer accounting, sales, purchasing, human resources, and customer relationship management capabilities. In addition, they offer specialized features and functions designed to meet the unique business requirements of the target industry.
Pros:
- Highly specialized, with more than enough features for the target industry
- Typically developed by people who are or were in the industry
- Support, development, and sales teams speak the industry language and offer in-depth industry knowledge
Cons:
- Accounting is typically an afterthought and features may be weak
- Smaller companies develop industry-specific software, so there are fewer resources available
- Can create hiring challenges because fewer organizations use the systems, so fewer workers are familiar with it
General ERP Software
General, or generic, ERP systems are universal solutions designed to provide all the typical ERP features and functions to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of customers in different industries.
Pros:
- Can be modified and configured to address industry-specific needs
- Extensive sales, development, and support resources
- Typically have many customerrs and may be public companies
- Very strong at accounting
- Can simplify hiring because many people know the system
Cons:
- Consultants will often have to learn the industry nuances
- Some industry-specific features may not be possible to develop or configure
- Some reports may need to be customized that come standard with industry-specific ERP systems
Choose the Right ERP System for Your Business
ACI Consulting has more than 25 years of experience implementing new ERP systems in an efficient and timely manner. Contact us today to discuss which types of ERP software solutions can meet your business needs and how we can help you implement your new system in less time and with limited business disruptions.
