The Best ERP for SaaS Companies
Company Growth Architects
Ready to manage ERP before it manages you?
What We Can Achieve Together
Lower ERP Total Cost of Ownership by 17% Annually
Use an ERP Strategy to lower software cost and scale the company without scaling staff
Increase Process Automation and Labor Productivity by 21%+
SaaS ERP automates subscription quotes, orders, billings, service delivery and renewals
Use a Tech Stack to Decrease Integration and IT Maintenance
Tech stacks lower IT integration and maintenance costs and future-proof technology decisions
ERP Software for SaaS Companies
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is the application that will most help or hinder a growing Software as a Service company.
And recognize that accounting software for SaaS companies is different than for other industries. Some of the factors that make it unique include the following:
- Quotes and invoices designed for subscription periods, not product sales; highly configured product subscriptions benefit from Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) automation
- Recurring billings and online renewals
- Project accounting with flexible contract types (T&M, fixed fee, percent complete, cost-plus, not to exceed)
- PSA integration for improved resource management, implementation outcomes and financial margins
- Telemetry integration to understand how different customer segments are using your products
- Revenue recognition pursuant to accounting policies
- SaaS metrics reporting, such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), average revenue per account (ARPA), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), annual recurring revenue (ARR) and customer retention
So, what's the best ERP for SaaS companies?
There is no standout market share leader and no single ERP application to accommodate all SaaS companies. But there is a 3-step ERP selection process to find and design the system that will best support your user, customer and company requirements.
Start with ERP Strategy
Enterprise Resource Planning systems deliver the maximum value at the minimum cost when deployed as part of an ERP strategy.
A good strategy tightly aligns the application to support the company's business strategy, the customers' lifecycle journey and the broader technology stack.
When helping clients create a strategy, we often apply the PACE model to align technology capabilities with business benefits.
This model aligns the methods business leaders use to create competitive advantage, described in terms of common ideas, different ideas and new ideas, with a technology portfolio that segments business applications into layers called Systems of Record, Systems of Differentiation and Systems of Innovation.
PACE is the most used IT strategy in the world in part based on how it maximizes technology investments. It allocates more of the limited budget to the capabilities that drive the most business value and less investment toward capabilities that don't deliver differentiation or competitive business advantages.
Align ERP Processing with the Customer Lifecycle
When software companies align ERP capabilities with the customer lifecycle, they remove friction points, reduce customer facing missteps, improve customer experiences and help the company scale.
Enterprise Tech Stack for SaaS Companies
ERP systems should not be designed in a vacuum. They deliver more value at a much lower cost when designed as part of the company's tech stack. A B2B SaaS tech stack example is shown below.
Tech stacks ensure each app is used for its intended purpose, which increases ease of use and decreases software customization. They replace departmental and piecemeal systems with a holistic application portfolio that simplifies IT management, reduces total cost of ownership and future-proofs technology decisions.
Even better, an integrated application stack improves the user experience, lowers labor costs, automates cross departmental processes, and simplifies enterprise-wide reporting.
Designing the right enterprise tech stack up front will save years of user frustration, IT aggravation and technology overspend.
Johnny Grow Signature Services
ERP Strategy for SaaS Companies
SaaS ERP Software Selection
Fixed Fee Implementation
Implementing ERP for SaaS Companies is our Core Competency
Johnny Grow practitioners have been designing and implementing ERP systems for over three decades.
We help SaaS clients implement these applications using best practices that maximize company growth and minimize time, cost and risk.
Our prescriptive methods, evidence-based best practices and acceleration tools bring proven techniques to achieve predictable results. Our purpose-built analytics bring visibility and predictability to progress and forecasted results.
And to de-risk our programs, we round out our services with agile delivery, enterprise project management, organizational change management and governance.
How To Get Started
Design Thinking Workshop
When it's time to select, design, implement or step up your ERP system, a one-day Design Thinking workshop will surface a prioritized list of the most important and highest impact user, customer and company outcomes.
These outcomes become your onramp to improved operations and company growth.