5 Reasons Why an Integrated ERP System is Better Than a Best of Breed Approach

When looking at financial solutions for companies there are two main camps - best of breed and integrated solutions. 

In a best of breed scenario, various unconnected applications are selected and connected to provide the range of financial operations. The idea is to select the best applications possible and stitch them together into an integrated quilt of functionality.  Integrated ERP solutions like Microsoft Dynamics GP provide world class financial applications without the hassle of integration. Though there can be areas where an integrated solution isn't quite as full featured as a best of breed, in most cases ERP functionality is both good enough and much less painful than connecting disparate systems. An ERP solution doesn't mean that you'll never have to integrate other applications, it just means that you have to do it a lot less.  

To be clear here, I'm not talking about true third party solutions that connect and interact with an ERP system as if they were part of the package.  

I've worked in companies that have pursued each of these strategies. One company I worked for used SAP for part of the business, Dynamics GP for another portion, PeopleSoft for payroll, a custom solution for AP and they tied it all together with a GEAC-based GL. Another firm used Dynamics GP for just about everything. Why do I think that an integrated ERP is generally better than best of breed? Here are five reasons:

1. Connecting disparate systems is a nice idea that often doesn't get done.

I was visiting a prospective client not too long ago. They are a growing business that has fallen into a best of breed strategy for their accounting ...