Each business and its processes are different. So, it’s unlikely that the same management software will be appropriate for all businesses. This is why developers came up with the idea of designing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that responds to the unique needs of a business while staying on budget.

Both SAP S/4HANA and Sage Intacct are ERP solutions that promise to streamline business processes and improve overall business functions significantly. Each of these ERP solutions accomplishes these goals in a slightly different manner.

What is SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition?

 SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition  is designed for growing and mid-sized companies that need a modern, scalable ERP solution without the complexity of managing IT infrastructure. It’s a cloud-based, ready-to-run ERP system that provides best-practice processes for finance, supply chain, sales, and more.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is ideal for growing businesses that need a powerful yet easy-to-manage ERP system. It’s designed for companies looking for scalability and flexibility without the burden of IT maintenance. With a fast implementation timeline and built-in industry best practices, it’s perfect for organizations that want to streamline operations quickly. Additionally, businesses that prefer a subscription-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model over large upfront investments will benefit from its cost-effective and future-ready approach.

What Is Sage Intacct?

Sage Intacct is a premier cloud-based accounting solution that automates a wide array of accounting processes, allowing businesses to achieve significant productivity improvement, compliance with relevant regulations, and scalability without excessive onboarding of new talent.

Although the application focuses on accounting, Sage Intacct has extensive integration capabilities to cover other business areas including payroll and customer relationship management. Sage Intacct comes with extensive functionality to help businesses increase operational efficiency, manage IT costs, and gain valuable real-time insights into their financial situation.

The core modules of Sage Intacct handle general ledgers, cash management, order entries, account receivables, purchasing, reporting, dashboards, and accounts payable. However, Sage Intacct also offers advanced financial and operational modules for time and expense management, contract revenue management, planning, dynamic allocation, spend management, project costing, multi-currency and global consolidations, and other features.

Comparing SAP S/4HANA and Sage Intacct

When comparing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and Sage Intacct to determine which ERP solution is better for your business, you need to compare their strengths, weaknesses, and offerings with your business's priorities and requirements. 

Here are the major differences between the two ERP solutions:

Functionality

Sage Intacct is a robust horizontal platform that is consistently rated at the top in the accounting software category. However, SAP offers a broader range of functionality, including modules for accounting and supply chain management, among others.

The major difference between the two systems is that Sage Intacct offers a strong function-specific application while SAP offers broader functionality that is not as deep as Sage Intacct when it comes to accounting. Choosing between the two depends on what the business needs to accomplish.

Scalability

SAP was designed specifically for growth-focused midmarket businesses, while Sage Intacct is more scalable for different business sizes. The on-premises version of Sage Intacct is more scalable, too.

For more information on SAP’s scalability capabilities, be sure to read our post on SAP Cloud ERP versus Acumatica .

Flexibility

SAP offers more flexibility than Sage Intacct because it has an intuitive user interface and is easier to configure with many other applications and modules. S/4HANA users report that the solution is easy to learn and many are able to realize value immediately through its reporting and automated accounting features. However, they also say that it is more prone to errors without proper training.

Integrations

Their different designs mean SAP and Sage Intacct handle integrations very differently. Because SAP S/4HANA was built to be a fit-to-standard solution for growing businesses, integrating other applications into the system is not needed, unless it already works for the business. However, applications can always be integrated for scalability.

Sage Intacct, on the other hand, is a multi-tenant environment that gives businesses the option to make configurations and easily integrate third-party.

Security

As cloud-based solutions, SAP and Sage Intacct offer enhanced security and have dedicated resources that focus on making sure their hosted environments remain secure and protected.

However, both have their respective shortfalls. While SAP is newer, Sage Intacct has its own security concerns because it is a multi-tenant cloud system. Because security is a crucial part of every business, you should decide which hosting system works better with your organizational structure. 

Want more information on SAP security? Check out our latest article on Compliance Management with SAP .