| > From my experience SAP is nothing but a database with a GUI. Yeah, its a database with a GUI. > I haven't seen how SAP can do anything that any database (mysql, postgre) with a webframework (django, rails, etc.) couldn't do. Sure, the difference is that the ERP has already had a lot of resources investing in (1) researching what large enterprises users are likely to need it to do, and (2) implementing the specific code to do that. And lots of money marketing that investment to enterprise decision makers. > Am I missing something here? Probably. > I don't see why anyone would go with these vastly expensive ERP systems rather than hiring a few programers and using something like django or rails. Convenience record, perception of a proven track record (though ERP implementations aren't exactly historically problem-free), having an stable institution committed to support when inevitably things do go wrong, and likely a combination of you underestimating and purchasers overestimating the amount of programmer time and cost that would go into implementing the functionality any individual purchaser needs from scratch rather than starting with the canned modules of the ERP and doing any needed customization. Both rational and irrational factors are involved. > ERP's seem like outdated over-priced nightmares to me. They are designed for the massive enterprise market which has a different preference for the degree and types of risks that purchasers are willing to take on, and the price they are willing to pay to mitigate them, than many other markets, and where the decision-makers are usually pretty far removed from the details of technology. |