How IBM i Fared in Top ERP List

November 9, 2016 Alex Woodie

Every year, Panorama Consulting comes out with a list of the top ERP systems and vendors. The list for 2016 has the usual suspects in it, as well as a decent representation of ERP systems that run on the IBM i platform.

While there’s no hard data on the matter, anecdotal evidence suggests that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the primary type of application that customers run on IBM i servers. Whether companies develop their own software or buy a shrink-wrapped product from a vendor, most companies that run the IBM i server bought it to run a core application that’s usually an enterprise-strength transactional system (even if it’s not called “ERP”).

There are a handful of IBM i-based ERP systems that have stood out over the years. IBM itself developed MAPICS to run on System/3X machines before selling it to another company; it’s now owned by Infor. JD Edwards World and EnterpriseOne, now owned by Oracle, attracted thousands of loyal customers over decades of distinguished service, while SAP currently has a strong following with several thousand Business Suite customers running the software on IBM i servers.

All of these ERP systems are represented in Panorama’s Top 10 ERP Systems report for 2017, which it published last week. The 11-year-old consulting firm accepts no money from ERP vendors, which it says allows it to provide customers with unbiased advice as an independent party.

For Panorama’s 2017 report, the company surveyed about 200 of its own consulting customers for the purpose of comparing how real-world deployments of the ERP systems Fared. The consulting firm selected five factors to shape the comparison: market share; cost of ERP implementation as a percentage of customer revenue; average time to implement; functionality; and average payback period.

Here’s Panorama top 10 list:

Epicor: High scores in the functionality and average payback departments gave the San Diego, California, company the top score.
Infor: With a plethora of IBM i products, including XA, M3, LX, System21, and Distribution A+, the New York City-based ERP giant scored well in the implementation time and market share metrics. Panorama also lauded Infor’s business intelligence and mobile functionality.
SAP: Number one ratings in market share and payback period, and a number three rating in in implementation time, boosted the overall rank for the German ERP giant.
IFS scored the highest out of all ERP vendors in the functionality department, and low implementation cost also helped the Itasca, Illinois, company.
Oracle: Having the lowest implementation time and second-best functionality rating among all ERP vendors helped the storied Silicon Valley firm to a top-five finish.
Netsuite: The cloud-based ERP vendor, which is being bought by Oracle for $9.3 billion, benefited from having the top score in the implementation cost metric.
Microsoft: The Redmond, Washington, company may have the third-largest installed base of ERP customers, but lower scores in the functionality, payback period, and implementation cost departments dropped it in the rankings.
Sage: Strong multi-language and multi-currency functionality and a robust BI module weren’t enough to lift the Georgia company higher in the rankings.
SYSPRO: A fourth-place finish in the functionality department helped boost this 38-year-old South African developer of Windows-based ERP software in the eyes of Panorama.
IQMS: Good scores in the functionality and implementation cost departments boosted the fortunes of this small, privately held, Paso Robles, California-based company.

Panorama founder Eric Kimberling acknowledges the top 10 list will not be the final determining factor in what ERP systems companies ultimately select. But he does present it as one source of data to help make a selection.

“There are plenty of enterprise systems to choose from in the market, and these just happen to be the ones that made our first top 10 list,” Kimberling writes in his blog. “Second, it means that while this is good information to start with during your ERP software selection process, it is just one of many data points you should use when considering new software.”

You can download a copy of the report here.

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