In the beginning of 21st century we can recognize the trend in international business. Multinational corporations are moving their manufacturing facilities and sales operations to Brazil.
Typical scenario – a regional office is established in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro and a manufacturing facility in Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus, etc. The first step in establishing controllable operations is ERP system implementation – this formalizes the chain of command, decision making and management. In this small article we will give you a Brazilian ERP market review for midsize and large businesses. We will compare Microsoft Business Solutions, Oracle, and SAP as well as local ERP vendors: Microsiga and RM. Let’s get to the topic:
Local versus International brand. We do not pretend to be the judge, just giving pluses and minuses. Local brand ERP has local market experience, tax, typical chart of accounts, payroll specifics implemented. They are probably very competitive if you are a Brazilian business. However if you represent a multinational company or corporation – you should think about the users’ experience for your international management team, IT centralized support and things like that.
SAP. If you are committed to a SAP solution, SAP Business One is probably the system of choice. It has transactions integration to SAP, CRM, MRP/Production, POP, SOP, HR, Multilanguage, and multicurrency. SAP Business One is just localized for the Brazilian ERP market, especially (we should mention) localized tax engine. SAP tested its localization with 7 pilot implementations in 2005. You should be looking for a SAP Business One customization partner (who is licensed to develop customizations and integration in SAP Business One SDK). SAP Business One sits in Microsoft SQL Server and is written in C++ – it also has integration with MS Office on the level of COM objects.
Oracle. Oracle E-Business Suite, also known as Oracle Financials (as part of Oracle E-Business Suite) and Oracle Applications are the natural choice if your Headquarters in Europe, USA, Australia or elsewhere is committed to the Oracle platform. Oracle has had a long-time presence in Brazil and is a very good choice.
Microsoft Business Solutions Navision & Axapta. Microsoft is currently on the way of merging/integrating its applications – this is known as Project Green. In September 2005, a new marketing name was introduced – Microsoft Dynamics. Respectively Microsoft Navision and Axapta became Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX. A more traditional solution for the Brazilian market is Navision. It has a very strong position in both Europe (where it is recommended by Microsoft in all the countries, except the UK – where both Navision and Great Plains are in use) and the USA- especially in the manufacturing sector. Axapta, however is newer and respectively its design should be more geared toward new technological trends. Axapta should be released for the Brazilian market in 2006.
Arthur Ferretti is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus, Lisboa, Coimbra, Porto, Cascais and having locations in multiple states and internationally
