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| Best of Breed Software |
As defined by techopedia.com, a best of breed system is "the best system in its referenced niche or category. Although it performs specialized functions better than an integrated system, this type of system is limited by its specialty area.”
Never before has the case for best of breed applications been more compelling. Cloud computing has made it financially and operationally viable for a company to pick their industry’s best software solution for every business case. Companies no longer have to sacrifice functionality for the sake of integration. You can have your cake and eat it too.
A great example of a successful best of breed software for a specialized area? Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It manages everything the sales team could possibly want, but isn’t designed to address other functions in a large business, like HR or operations.
Why choose of Best of Breed:
Diminishes software functionality gaps
Best of breed ERP software vendors are passionate about their area of expertise, and the companies hire individuals with deep subject matter expertise fueled by this inherent passion. The result is full-featured software that covers the full range of necessary capability in the chosen functional areas. The depth of functionality allows customers who choose best of breed software to use the enhanced capabilities to provide a competitive edge and to ensure maximum efficiency.In contrast, when software companies spread their resources over the entire spectrum of business applications, including customer relationship management, human resources, financial applications, business analytics and manufacturing and supply chain planning, one or more areas of the application often receives less focus than the others due to lack of expertise, interest or strategic focus. This frequently results in significant gaps in the provided functionality.
Works with the software investment you already have on-site.
Best of breed software developers know that you are not locked in to using whatever functionality they choose to provide. For this reason, they not only provide more and better functionality than integrated software vendors, but they also design the software in a way that makes it easy to integrate with other applications. This enables their customers to assemble a suite of applications that all work together and that provide the full spectrum of functionality and capabilities necessary to run a business, without settling for lesser solutions in some business areas. Large enterprises may have the budget to upgrade or replace applications frequently whenever their requirements change, but business software represents a significant investment for SMBs. That’s why best of breed ERP software can be a better fit for small to midsize manufacturers, since it works with other business systems such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. With best of breed, your investment in existing applications is protected.Costs less to get best of breed versus integrated
You make a substantial investment in your business systems, and you deserve to get the most from every dollar of your investment. Best of breed applications provide more of the necessary functionality for every dollar you invest. Because the best of breed vendor focuses on a single area of the business, it directs all of its resources to ensuring that the functionality is as deep, flexible and efficient as it can be. The team’s expertise and experience in the target area, such as Vicinity’s focus on process manufacturing, ensures that the software reflects best practices without compromise. Unfortunately, with integrated ERP you run into the need to customize the software to compensate for functional gaps and ineffective workarounds that take away your productivity. Maintaining customizations can be expensive, cumbersome and time consuming, especially because they often impact many cross-functional areas within the application.Updates are easier
Software updates include new techniques and best practices, process improvements and support for the most recent regulatory requirements, so it’s vital that your company stays up to date with the newest requirements critical to your business. Updating a best of breed application can be simpler than updating an integrated ERP system; the update only affects a single area of your business, minimizing risk and disruption. In contrast, integrated ERP systems usually require you to update the full suite all at the same time, putting every business process at risk and requiring substantially more resources and planning.If your company is dynamic in nature and experiences changes in requirements as years go along, your company has limited development resources in house to address gaps in your system functionality and you embrace competition as a way to reduce cost and increase functionality then the best-of-breed might be a better model for you.
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