Prices and costs for SAP Business One

This article was updated on 19.07.2017

The costs that arise when purchasing ERP software such as SAP Business One must be considered and determined from many different angles. When an SME manager decides to purchase ERP or business software, the most important questions to ask are: What will it do for me? and moreover: What are the prices and costs of SAP Business One?

Costs for SAP Business One licences very simple ?

Take an SAP price list, analyse which licences you need with the function matrix, add it all up and voila: You have the licence costs. Then you have to take into account which

license types sap b1

SAP Business One licence types

You can use this list to check which SAP Business One function is possible with which base licence.

Database licence modell one chooses. On the other hand, there is also a discount scale. The costs for the add-ons are also added (with their own discount scale). On the one hand, these can be smaller functional extensions such as the Versino DATEV interface or equally mature industry solutions such as MariProject. I would say that 5 ? 10 price lists can still play a role here in Germany at the moment.

As a result, it can be difficult to calculate valid prices. Depending on how the licence composition looks, it may be more favourable to take higher-value licences in order to get into a better discount scale. Here are upgrades are possible, but are ultimately determined by the upgrade prices. One must also take into account the costs that relate to the period of use of the software. Maintenance must also be taken into account here. This in turn is based on the price of the licence. The range of what a single user can cost is therefore not exactly small: from 250.00 EUR to 5,000.00 EUR, everything is possible. Behind this is a configuration option of up to 30 individual components per user licence.

Lack of transparency in pricing for SAP Business One?

Now, one could speculate that the intention behind this multitude of possible combinations is to make the price for Business One as non-transparent as possible. Admittedly, transparency looks different, but it is what it is: variety.
After all, this diversity means the possibility of precisely Licensing model for the customer that suits them.

SAAS, PAAS, Hosting, Housing... the price of diversity

Essential for costs and how and when these expenses are incurred is the operator model on which SAP Business One is to be based.

Do you want to buy the SAP B1 or rent or lease it?
If one prefers a real SAAS Model from the cloud to operate SAP Business One?
Should it be a hybrid model? How does a Platform as a Service (PAAS), such as cloudiax, and run purchased SAP licences on it.
Do you want a ?classic? Hosting for the SAP Business One Installation?
Tend towards server housing that is managed by your own IT.
Can you set everything up on your own IT infrastructure?

These questions bring to light a wide variety of aspects, all of which need to be weighted against the background of your needs, goals and prerequisites:

What are the costs of your own IT, including personnel costs and depreciation for the corresponding IT infrastructure?
How long do you plan to run SAP Business One as ERP software in your company?
How will the use of SAP Business One scale?
How much growth is planned for the company?
How will user numbers for SAP B1 fluctuate?
Which different company locations should work with SAP Business One?
What are the technical possibilities at which locations?
How will conditions change?

Costs for consulting , integration and training

The licence costs for SAP Business One are one side of the coin. The other side is the cost of Consulting and introduction of the software. Accordingly, there can be an enormous range here. This is mainly based on the customer's processes. The more processes that need to be mapped with the software, the higher the effort. The same applies to the complexity of the processes. It's true: we are dealing with standard software in which standard processes are mapped. Nevertheless, there are peculiarities in every company that should be reflected in the software. Because it is often precisely these peculiarities that make the difference and thus the advantage over the competitor.
Incidentally, one of the strengths of SAP Business One is the ability to understand precisely these peculiarities, despite standardisation. The customisation options within the basic system contribute to this. Also helpful are the many functional extensions through ADDONs.

Price calculations on the internet are dangerous

How do you arrive at a price determination for SAP Business One. Some people have already tried an automated solution to determine prices. Here you can click your way through a series of questions and data on the internet, similar to car configurations, and at the end you get information or even a ready-made offer. Nevertheless, everyone is aware that this is only a house number. After all, there is no point in giving a house number if it ends up being located in the wrong street. In short, it can be plausible, but it can be totally wrong if a small speciality is disregarded.

Why are there consultants for SAP Business One?

There's only one thing that helps: pick up the phone and call someone who knows about the Budgeting ERP projects understands something (or should understand something). However, one should ask oneself beforehand:

What do I want to achieve with a software solution?
Where is the first priority of my goals?
What do I like about my current solution? What don't I like?

The most essential resource that can still be used to assess the costs and prices of an SAP Business One project with a consultant is: experience.
Those who can look back on several or many projects also have a sure sense of where a planned ERP project could develop and what a possible budget looks like.

and (very important)

What do I want to spend?

When you buy a car, your primary goal is to get from A to B. You can do that with a Golf or an S-Class, for example. You can do this with a Golf or an S-Class, for example. Likewise, there are always several approaches to implementing needs with software. And some things, on closer inspection, become an expendable luxury, others an absolute must, without which the whole investment makes no sense.
After discussing these or similar questions and the upcoming quantity structures, an experienced consultant should be able to give a house number of what investments are to be estimated for the implementation of SAP Business One.

Project examples SAP Business One

Finally, another key strength of SAP Business One is the scalability of the ERP system. Just like the term SME, the applicability of SAP Business Software is also broad in terms of the size of the customer. The smallest customers operate with one to two users, while the largest have several hundred.
Moreover, the prices and costs for the implementation projects of the SME solution naturally also vary greatly. Some examples:

Start-up / Service company

Project costs : 6.000,00 EUR
monthly costs: 238,00 EUR

The newly founded company uses SAP Business One in the cloud version. Cloudiax was chosen as the platform. The monthly rent for the SAP B1 licences / Cloudiax including the SAP HANA database is EUR 238.00. For the introduction of the system, a two-day analysis workshop was also booked and otherwise the remote service was used. The costs for this amounted to EUR 6,000.00.

SME / Service

Project costs : 18.450,00 EUR
monthly costs: 155,00 EUR

A company engaged in the provision of services uses four SAP Business One users. They decided to install SAP B1 on the existing Windows server. The licences were purchased for 8,450.00 EUR. The monthly costs for maintenance and support are EUR 155.00.
For the introduction, an SAP Business One consultant accompanied the company for a few project days. The costs for this were 10,000.00 EUR

SME / Producing medium-sized enterprise

Project costs : 38.000,00 EUR
monthly costs: 370,00 EUR

The company is in the metalworking industry and has implemented SAP Business One as a fully integrated system. It is working with 8 employees in administration and 45 employees in production. For the Production data acquisition In addition, a certified SAP B1 add-on was also licensed. The licence costs for the ERP project amount to EUR 20,000.00. The monthly costs for maintenance and support are EUR 370.00.
The software is operated on the company's own IT infrastructure. The ERP system was introduced within a project. EUR 18,000.00 is to be budgeted for this.

Medium-sized wholesale

Project costs : 115.000,00 EUR
Monthly costs: EUR 4,000.00

The company is active in wholesale and operates from locations in Germany and Switzerland. It has 280 employees, 60 of whom work in administration, including purchasing and sales. The rest work in logistics and field sales. In addition, a mobile warehouse solution was introduced. The licences were purchased for around 70,000.00 EUR. The software is provided on the PAAS by Cloudiax. The monthly costs for operation, maintenance and support accordingly amount to about 4,000.00 EUR.
The ERP solution for wholesale was introduced within a project with costs of approx. 45,000.00 EUR.

SME / Medium-sized plant manufacturer

Project costs : 157.000,00 EUR
Monthly costs: EUR 2,000.00

The company is in the plant construction active. 220 employees work in-house and also on-site at the customer. Almost all company processes were mapped in SAP Business One with an industry extension. Quotation calculation, purchasing processes, resource management, project planning and project accounting were integrated with SAP B1. Mobile data entry and a maintenance module for the plants were also important. The PLM system and CAD design were connected via the integration server.
The software was installed on the company's own servers.
The licences were purchased for approximately 77,000 EUR. The project required service at the cost of 80,000 EUR. Finally, the monthly costs for maintenance and support amount to approx. 2,000.00 EUR.

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