SAP B1 Business One

As you know, SAP was founded in the 1970s. It started to be used in large-scale and global companies especially at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. In the following years, relatively smaller companies started to make SAP projects and use SAP.

 SAP ERP was obviously not very suitable for SMEs. This was due to the high total cost of ownership and the fact that the corporate culture required for the use of the software was not readily available in SMEs. In fact, SAP saw this shortcoming in itself and in 2002, it incorporated the product previously known as TopManage in the Israeli market and started to be sold in Europe at that time, and changed its name to SAP Business One B1. SAP has always incorporated different products, but this time it was a step towards entering another market.

So what does SAP Business One ( SAP B1) do? In fact, this is basically an ERP for SMEs. There are modules in it, just like in SAP ERP. SAP B1 contains 15 modules. These modules include indispensable processes for companies such as Financials, Banking, Sales and Purchasing, Inventory and human resources.

Since B1 consultants are often interested in SAP ERP positions, I had the opportunity to chat with some consultants during job interviews. As far as I have observed, SAP B1 consultants are responsible for multiple modules like production, human resources and financials at the same time. This is not a situation we are used to in the SAP ERP ecosystem. There are module-based specializations in SAP ERP like MM expert or SD experts. In B1, usually one or two consultants can complete and deliver the whole project consisting of many modules.

As far as I observed in a demo meeting, while creating a new field in customer masterdata  is a time consuming and demanding task in SAP, in B1 the field can be opened by almost right-clicking and giving the field name and data type. Although I do not have very detailed knowledge, some things that are difficult in SAP can be very easy for B1.

In summary, SAP Business One ( SAP B1) is a lower cost and more flexible ERP solution for SMEs. It has been spreading rapidly  recently and it seems to increase its customers.