Beginners Guide
SAP Business One
Contents
3 Purpose of this guide
4 SAP myth busting
5 What is SAP Business One?
6 A platform to grow your business
7 Core modules
9 Next steps
Purpose of this guide
This guide provides an overview of the capabilities of SAP Business One Cloud. It is intended to assist in
early-stage decision making, before you get into detailed system evaluation. For details of pricing and
costs, please download a copy of our SAP Business One Cloud Buyers Guide. For guidance as to what is
involved in implementing SAP Business One, please refer to our SAP Business One Cloud Implementation
Guide.
Download Buyers Guide
Download Implementation Guide
What gives us the right to comment?
We have more than 30 years' experience delivering Financial Management, ERP, Spend Control, and
Performance Management solutions to organisations around the UK. A combination of longevity and
exceptional staff retention means that we can draw on that experience in writing this guide.
This guide is an example of our commitment to transparency. We are not the kind of organisation that is
preoccupied with the software we sell; we prefer to focus on customer requirements. Once we
understand what you want and what you are trying to deliver, we offer practical solutions and employ
structured methods to deliver those solutions. Transparency is one of the ways we ensure on time, on
budget delivery.
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SAP myth busting
We all know SAP to be a market leader in business management software. But some of what I am about to tell you may come as a surprise.
Myth #1: SAP is only for big companies
The history of SAP dates back to 1972. In the early decades it developed an outstanding reputation as a solution for big companies. Over the years that has
changed. Today, more than 80% of SAP customers are SME businesses. SAP Business One has been at the forefront of that change, providing everything
small to mid-size companies need, at a price they can afford.
Myth #2: SAP takes years to implement
SAP Business One is not “big SAP”. It is designed for companies like yours that demand a rapid return on investment. Implementation projects of this size
cannot be compared to those of the larger SAP products that are used by large multinational companies. SAP Business One is delivered effortlessly from the
cloud and is engineered to be implemented quickly and painlessly. LAKE's extensive experience and implementation tools and accelerators ensure you will
be up and running in record time.
Myth #3: SAP is too complex
Once again, SAP Business One is not “big SAP”. It combines flexibility with the kind of “out of the box” usability demanded by small to mid size companies.
Our approach to implementation helps deliver a solution that is easy to use and supportable. Users are presented with modules appropriate for their role,
and navigation is both intuitive and customisable. Reporting includes personalised dashboards that deliver timely and relevant information to improve
decision making.
And you do not have to implement all modules. Indeed, a number of our customers have chosen to implement SAP Business One as a financial management
solution rather than full ERP.
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What is SAP Business One?
ERP for Small to Mid-size Companies
SAP Business One is an ERP solution - an integrated system to help you run your entire
business. ERP is often contrasted with an approach known as “best of breed” in which
solutions from multiple vendors are integrated as part of the implementation project. With
ERP, the whole thing comes pre-integrated “out of the box”. ERP used to be associated with
large companies only. Now, with SAP Business One, it is an option for small to mid-size
companies too.
What sort of companies choose SAP Business One?
SAP Business One built its reputation in wholesale distribution and manufacturing. More
recently, the list of sectors has been extended to include many retailers and service
companies.
Online retailers are attracted by its power as a financial management solution that integrates
well with all leading eCommerce platforms. Service companies are drawn to its flexibility and
scope.
The broad categories listed above cover many sectors and the list is growing. In our
experience, we have found SAP Business One to be suited to the needs of companies as
diverse as Animal Feed, Food and Drink, Medical Supplies, Machine Tools, online retail of
Consumer Goods, and many others.
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A platform to grow your business
Our SAP Business One Buyers Guide establishes that the two most common drivers we see for digital
transformations are:
• to manage business growth
• to manage complexity
On reflection, they go hand in hand and can be summed up by the phrase “platform for growth”. The
following extracts from recent testimonials are typical. Do they strike a chord with you?
"This is a rapidly growing business and its very important that our systems can grow with us as we
expand.“
“We wanted an ERP product that would fulfil all our requirements without having to bolt on additional
modules and would be able to grow with our business”
“We had outgrown the capabilities of the cloud accounting software we were using. SAP Business One
provides much greater flexibility. One of the really good things about it is the scope of the solution.”
"SAP provides plenty of capacity to cope with future growth in transaction volumes. And SAP offers
scope to extend the system to cater for other aspects of our business, should the need arise."
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Core modules
SAP Business One is a single, integrated solution that provides clear visibility into your entire business and complete control over every aspect of your operations. The
scope of the solution is listed below.
Users are presented with features and functions that are appropriate for their role. Please refer to our SAP Business One Cloud Buyers Guide for an explanation of
licensing options.
Financial Management Analytics and Business Intelligence Sales and Customer Management
SAP Business One is more than just a great ERP Empower faster, more agile decision-making with SAP Business One includes all the tools you need to
solution, it is a powerful and comprehensive Finan- real-time information from right across the business streamline the entire sales process and improve the
cial Management suite that includes dashboards, including profit and loss, cashflow, inventory and customer experience - from initial contact to after
forecasting, self-service Excel reporting and a range production. sales service.
of pre-built reports to get you up and running
• Role-based Dashboards • eCommerce Integration
quickly.
• Cashflow Forecast Report • Process Efficiency
• Multi Dimensional Analysis • Custom Analysis Dimensions • Multiple Price Lists
• Multi Company and Consolidation • Stock Reporting • Revenue Maximisation
• Multi Currency • Excel Reporting • Customer Service
• Fixed Asset Register • Notifications and Reports via Microsoft Teams • Multi-dimensional Sales Reporting
• Automation and Efficiency
Inventory and Distribution Purchasing and MRP Production and Resource Planning
Reduce operational costs and improve accuracy Streamline purchasing to optimise stock levels and Create and maintain multi-level recipes and Bill of
with an easy-to-use barcode scanning solution. increase margins. Ensure Just In Time delivery of Materials. Automate the issue and release of
Improve visibility, accuracy and traceability of items goods into your warehouse. production orders. Plan machine and labour
and orders right across your business. resources.
• Automation of purchasing of components and
• Account and Item Management finished goods • Production Planning and MRP
• Warehouse Management • Forecasting of stock requirements • Routing and BOM
• Shop Floor Data Capture • Purchasing approval workflow • Shop Floor Data Capture
• Raw Material Traceability • Stock level notifications and alerts • Raw Material Traceability
• Integration with shipping • Easy PO, receipting and invoice matching process • Automation and Efficiency
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Next steps
Hopefully, by now you are convinced of the need to take a closer look at SAP Business One. To
take things further, you now need some form of guided tour to help you understand how the
solution can be configured to your needs and to introduce you to LAKE, your potential service
provider. And, as we often say, the choice of service provider is as important as the choice of
software.
Webinars
Webinars are a popular first step. They are an excellent way for you to gain an overview of
capabilities and are commonly used at an early stage prior to detailed evaluation.
Talk to us
We see it as our role to help you in the evaluation process. Our goal is to deliver practical
solutions to your business requirements. We don’t simply want to sell something, we want you
to become an advocate for our service. The quotes below are extracts from recent testimonials:
“LAKE immediately understood our problems. They were forthcoming with solutions. And the
issues I hadn’t raised, they already knew about them. They have been excellent to work with
and incredibly professional. It was clear from the start they were the right partner for our
business.”
“With LAKE, we found from the outset that there was a high level of transparency, honesty and
realism that we found quite refreshing. That set them apart from the others we spoke to.”
“When LAKE came to pitch for the business, they just hit it bang on. They were very honest and
very candid with us and you could tell they knew more about our sector. It was clear they had
researched our business and invested in trying to understand what we do.”
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Lake Financial Systems
+ 44 (0)113 273 7788
[email protected]www.lake.co.uk/sap
