I do have a lot of experience with open source CMS and e-commerce software - what I would recommend if you go this path is to ensure you have an in-house developer to make up for a lower level of support you’ll have access to. The challenge with using open source as part of a business system is that it almost always involves more hands-on maintenance, and often doesn’t have long-term support available.
For instance, Drupal can likely do most of what you’re looking at SAP to do, but it’s not an easy system to build with, and would likely rely on other modules (like Magento) to get you to where you really need to go - and each module / plugin you add decreases stability. Joomla is easier to work with, but less stable and requires even more plugin maintenance.
Ultimately, I’d say your decision really depends on scale. If you’re a company with less than 100 employees, open source is usually a good bet if you’ve got a good in-house dev who can scale up the system as your company grows. If your company is larger with established revenue and business processes, then it’s usually wiser to look at a commercial solution.
The other thing to consider is what you actually want to do with your ERP. If you’re looking primarily at content management and e-commerce, open source will likely have the stronger software packages. If you’re looking at a traditional business model, where you’re looking for extensive inventory management from multiple locations, then I’d probably recommend a closed source solution - Dynamics Nav over SAP (despite Nav’s headaches, it is a better system). Open source does great on the web, but since most open-source devs got their start in e-commerce, it tends to lag in supporting traditional business models.
Thank you for your feedback. I’ve seen Odoo mentioned in another comment, do you have any experience with it?
I don’t with Odoo - looks promising, though.
I do have a lot of experience with open source CMS and e-commerce software - what I would recommend if you go this path is to ensure you have an in-house developer to make up for a lower level of support you’ll have access to. The challenge with using open source as part of a business system is that it almost always involves more hands-on maintenance, and often doesn’t have long-term support available.
For instance, Drupal can likely do most of what you’re looking at SAP to do, but it’s not an easy system to build with, and would likely rely on other modules (like Magento) to get you to where you really need to go - and each module / plugin you add decreases stability. Joomla is easier to work with, but less stable and requires even more plugin maintenance.
Ultimately, I’d say your decision really depends on scale. If you’re a company with less than 100 employees, open source is usually a good bet if you’ve got a good in-house dev who can scale up the system as your company grows. If your company is larger with established revenue and business processes, then it’s usually wiser to look at a commercial solution.
The other thing to consider is what you actually want to do with your ERP. If you’re looking primarily at content management and e-commerce, open source will likely have the stronger software packages. If you’re looking at a traditional business model, where you’re looking for extensive inventory management from multiple locations, then I’d probably recommend a closed source solution - Dynamics Nav over SAP (despite Nav’s headaches, it is a better system). Open source does great on the web, but since most open-source devs got their start in e-commerce, it tends to lag in supporting traditional business models.
Thank you!