SAP Business ByDesign Overview
Find out everything you need to know about Business ByDesign (ByD).
We cover topics including functionality, industry fit, customer references, customer reviews, ByDesign pricing and implementation with our independent overview.
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SAP Business ByDesign Pricing
SAP Business ByDesign pricing is licensed on a subscription basis which is typically paid annually.
Licensing is dependent on the amount of users, their level or responsibilities within the system, advanced modules and third party extensions you require.
Let us know how many users you need and we'll be in touch to provide a quick, hassle free SAP Business ByDesign cost estimate.
Download our comprehensive guide to Business ByDesign
Trying to learn the ins and outs of SAP Business ByDesign ERP can be an intimidating task. There are a lot of features, modules and functions to get your head around. The good news is that we've put together a comprehensive guide to SAP Business ByDesign ERP, to help you on your journey to become an expert.
This guide includes the latest features and functions of Business ByDesign, as well as best practices for each process area, so that you can implement a successful project right out of the gate. Download your free copy now.
SAP Business ByDesign User Interface (UI)
See how SAP Business ByDesign’s intuitive user interface, role-based dashboards, configurable workflows, native mobile apps, and robust reporting and analytics provide a modern platform for growth.
SAP Business ByDesign was built on the idea that every business should be built for growth.
SAP Business ByDesign differentiates itself from other ERP vendors by providing an integrated, end-to-end business solution that delivers:
An intuitive user interface, role-based dashboards, configurable workflows, native mobile apps and robust reporting and analytics.
What is SAP Business ByDesign?
SAP Business ByDesign Functionality Overview
SAP Business ByDesign (ByD) is a Cloud (SaaS) ERP solution with a comprehensive set of integrated functionality. This functionality is built around over 30 core processes which can be configured towards the needs of your business.
SAP Business ByDesign offers several modules as part of the core product as well as many advanced modules and third party extensions. In this section we have curated a list of the core modules and functionality which SAP Business ByDesign offers:
Financial Management
SAP Business ByDesign provides finance and accounting covering general ledger, accounts payable and receivable with comprehensive support for disparate organisations operating over several locations, countries and operating entities.
Projects & Accounting
SAP Business ByDesign offers a lot of functionality for professional services automation, including project management and accounting capabilities that support your operational & finance teams.
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
SAP Business ByDesign Cloud ERP enables you to optimize material flow by managing demand and supply. Design, set up, and execute flexible warehouse and manufacturing processes to fit your products and business model and gain maximum insight into your business.
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
SAP Business ByDesign Cloud ERP helps you identify and manage the best suppliers for materials and services. Gain insight into order management, supplier invoicing, and purchase requests.
Human Resources (HRIS)
SAP Business ByDesign provides functionality for time recording, expenses management, holiday, absences and leave request management, plus an employee database with basic payroll functionality.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
SAP ByDesign gives small businesses and SME's an integrated customer relationship management capability for sales, marketing and service.
SAP Business ByDesign Demo
ERP Research can organize a personalized demonstration of SAP Business ByDesign. We'll reach out immediately to schedule your demo.
See how SAP Business ByDesign ERP software can help your business to create new efficiencies, hassle free by checking out our SAP reviews or by comparing ERP systems
Organise a personalized demo of SAP Business ByDesign with a local certified solution provider suited to your business needs and industry.
Business ByDesign Industry Fit
SAP ByD is running on 20 different industries going beyond the sweet spot of the business processes initially designed for Professional Services or Whole Sale Distribution.
Which industries are best suited to Business ByDesign and why?
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Professional Services
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Manufacturing & Discrete Industries
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Pharmaceuticals
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Scale Ups & Start Ups
Professional Services Businesses Run Better on Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign offers a lot of functionality that can help professional services firms including integrated financial management & accounting, deep project management, billing, customer relationship management and more.
A service based industry in SAP ERP encompasses both small service based jobs through to complex, long term projects. The services suite enables visibility of the full customer requirement, management of the service and integration with other ERP elements to enable evidence and data based decision making and analytics.
Industry specific functionality:
- Connect and automate key professional services processes
- Get real-time project insight to maximise client value
- Understand customer lifecycle data to effectively position your service offerings
- Evaluate project and client profitability to help meet your portfolio goals
Helping manufacturing organizations to streamline shop floor processes
With dedicated ERP modules for ‘Manufacturing’, Business ByDesign has developed the software to enable end to end management of the manufacturing process alongside integration with financials and other elements of the ERP. The manufacturing module can track production, materials management and inventory.
SAP Business ByDesign provides a rock solid foundation for businesses in the discrete manufacturing industry. ByDesign supports multi-level BOMs, supply chain planning, quality management, traceability and more.
Combining manufacturing expertise, micro-vertical functionality, and modern technologies, our solutions help industrial organizations of any size transform even the most complex manufacturing processes into a competitive advantage.
Business ByDesign helps you to meet customer demand and develop new revenue streams by shrinking supply chain costs, speeding time to profit, shortening cycle times, and minimising scrap and rework.
Industry specific functionality:
- Get a view of your entire manufacturing operation from start to finish and in real time
- Improve manufacturing efficiency
- Simplify channel and partner management to meet market demand
- Increase customer satisfaction and loyalty with a 360-degree view of customers
The Scalable Foundation For Modern Pharmaceutical Businesses
SAP Business ByDesign offers robust functionality for pharmaceuticals specific requirements including batch traceability and serialisation. This makes it easier for pharmaceuticals manufacturers and distributers to comply with industry requirements and complete any product recalls. Find out more information about medical and pharmaceutical ERP software.
Business ByDesign Delivers An All-in-One Solution For Start Ups
SAP Business ByDesign offers integrated functionality which allows fast growing businesses to quickly harness their organizations and implement standardized back office processes. With support for multiple entities and with several localizations available, it supports companies with global ambitions.
SAP Business ByDesign Pros & Cons
Let's explore the various pro's & con's and strengths & weaknesses of Business ByDesign ERP, provided by current users through ERP reviews and independent analysts of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution:
SAP Business ByDesign
Pros & Strengths
- Wide and deep functionality across many key business areas.
- Strong industry capabilities for professional services and discrete manufacturing.
- True Software-as-a-service (SaaS) Cloud ERP offering.
- Completely SAP developed solution.
- Business ByDesign pricing model is simple and transparent.
- Strong localization capabilities for international businesses.
SAP Business ByDesign
Cons & Weaknesses
- Configuration rather than customisation approach can limit flexibility in very agile organisations, although this is a benefit in some cases.
- ByDesign consultants are in very high demand.
- SAP has larger ERP solutions such as S/4 HANA that are the companies true strategic focus.
- SAP Business ByDesign lacks productized integrations into the wider SAP portfolio compared with SAP S/4 HANA.
Third Party Extensions
SAP Business ByDesign offers further functionality via over 70+ third party extensions to the core ByDesign ERP solution. These extensions are offered via the SAP Store and are generally developed by SAP Solution Partners or SAP Value Added Resellers (VAR's). These third party extension extend the capabilities of the core SAP Business ByDesign Cloud ERP software to offer it's customers greater industry capabilities.
Extensions cover additional capabilities for SAP Business ByDesign such as:
- Advanced Quality Management
- Contract and Utilities Billing
- Further localization packs
- Enterprise Asset Management
- EDI integration
- Field Service Management
- Integrations into other platforms such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Hubspot and many more.
Business ByDesign History
SAP Business ByDesign was first launched in 2007 at a time when Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) was a very new concept. ByDesign came to market hailed as one of the most complete Cloud ERP solutions available. It is the first true Cloud or software as a service solution from Germany software giant, SAP. The product has experienced many ups and downs over that time, primarily the fact that it has been poorly marketed by SAP. Regardless of that, it remains a strong performer in the SAP product ecosystem and continues to receive strong investment.
As a Cloud ERP solution, SAP Business ByDesign continues to receive quarterly upgrades which are pushed out to customers automatically, the product continues to receive considerable new functionality every quarter, including new innovations around machine learning & artificial intelligence, small user interface changes, brand new functionality and accounting and compliance updates.
ByDesign is one of two ERP solution from SAP that have been specifically designed for SMB & SME organisations, the other being SAP Business One. Both products are generally sold by SAP value added resellers (VAR's), rather than by SAP themselves. SAP relies on it's network of value added resellers to scale the sales and implementation of ByDesign & Business One into its global customer base and into a wide variety of industries.

Deployment
SAP Business ByDesign is offered only as a Cloud ERP solution, in a true Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. The solution is hosted by SAP themselves and includes quarterly upgrades and product support directly.
SAP ByDesign cannot be purchased as a perpetual license or On-Premise solution.
GET PRICINGIntegration & User Function
SAP offers a robust range of integrations with third party tools and extensions. These capabilities allow customers that integrate seamless with their own pre-built solutions or third party applications.
SAP Business ByDesign is a Cloud ERP solution which offers a modern user experience (UX) compared to older SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions such as ECC6 and R/3. Built on HTML5 technology, the solution optimises itself regardless of the device being used, enabling users to access the solution on mobile solutions as well as desktops & laptops.
Each user can also personalize the solution to their own specification, hiding or showing different work centers on their home screen depending on the specific responsibilities of their role.
SAP Business ByDesign also makes use of a useful Enterprise search function which allows users quickly locate business documents, customer records and more within the system.
ByDesign also offers mobile applications for iOS & Android devices, providing a fast window into the system for purchase order approvals, project management tasks and expenses management.
GET PRICINGSAP Business ByDesign Localization, Languages & Support
In this section we'll cover the localization packs, languages and support available in SAP Business ByDesign ERP.
Localizations
Business ByDesign supports over 130 countries.
If you are operating across countries, particularly in Europe, SAP Business ByDesign allows for multiple companies in multiple countries with multiple sets of books to be in the same system at the same time.
These include:
Languages
SAP Business ByDesign is used by almost 10.000 companies in more than 130 countries and supports 41 languages.
(13 standard and 28 partner translated, including simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Hebrew).
SAP Support
SAP provide a number of ways to get support for Business ByDesign. These include:
- The SAP ONE Support Launchpad - which provides access to task-driven support resources in an intuitive interface.
- SAP for Me - is your digital companion to easily interact with SAP and get immediate guidance to the best solution for you.
- SAP Support Portal - where you can search for SAP Notes, SAP Knowledge Base Articles, SAP Community content and more.
Start Your SAP Business ByDesign Evaluation
ERP Requirements Document
Compare and evaluate Business ByDesign as well as other ERP solutions with our free ERP requirements document checklist. Use our free template to build your own ERP functional and non-functional requirement.
ERP Vendor Selection Criteria Checklist
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Compare ERP Systems
Get 1-1 advice with an ERP Research specialist to help you compare SAP Business ByDesign and select the best ERP solution for your business.
SAP Business ByDesign Licensing Types
Lowest Cost
Self Service
Self-service and data-entry tools. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Time and expense reporting
- Travel management
- Leave requests
- Editing time sheets
- Editing personal data
- Creating incidents
Medium Cost
Team User
The standard self-service user functionality plus everything in Team:
- Specific modules for CRM, SCM and Project Management
- Management of accounts and market information
- Activity Management
- Marketing and campaign management
- Lead and opportunity management
- Built-in analytics
- Internal Project Management
- Purchase Request and Order Management
Most Expensive
Enterprise
The standard self-service user functionality plus everything in Enterprise:
- Organization and business data setup
- Financials
- Internal project management
- Personnel administration, compensation, and, time and labor management
- Marketing, sales, and service
- Contract management
- Purchase request and order management
- Collaboration, groupware integration, and desktop integration tools
- Built-in analytics
- Regulatory compliance tools
SAP Business ByDesign FAQ
How much does SAP Business ByDesign cost?
The cost of implementing Business ByDesign will vary from project to project. As with any ERP solution, Business ByDesign has it's own set licensing, implementation and support costs. So Business ByDesign costings are tailored to suit the requirements of their customers.
The quickest and most accurate way to understand the costs for your business is to contact a specialist software supplier. Get in touch to speak to a member of our team today.
How do I get Business ByDesign ERP?
You can contact us for a free demo to explore SAP Business ByDesign. If you want to explore the complete functionality and module available. Compare ERP solutions here.
To help you get ready for doing business in Business ByDesign, you can download our assisted setup guides, templates or documents for getting your project set up. Get ready for Business ByDesign by visiting our resources.
When you are ready to buy Business ByDesign, you can request pricing on the Business ByDesign pricing page. For more information, see our free ERP advice page.
How do I get technical support for ByDesign ERP?
As SAP Business ByDesign is sold through partners, we can help match you with an implementation partner which will be able to help you with technical problems. If your Business ByDesign partner then cannot resolve the problem, they will raise a support ticket with SAP directly.
How do I find a reselling partner?
Business ByDesign (ByD) is sold and implemented through a global network of SAP partners with industry expertise. Contact us today for a detailed assessment, consulting services, and additional pricing.
What licenses do Business ByDesign offer?
SAP Business ByDesign has one primary licensing model that serves as a Cloud solution. As a result, Cloud customers typically pay an annual subscription fee inclusive of software, hosting, upgrades and basic support.
Get a quick, hassle free cost estimate for Business ByDesign software licensing and implementation for your business.
Is SAP Business ByDesign suitable for small businesses (SMB) & SME's?
SAP Business ByDesign was purpose built to meet the specific needs of small businesses (SMB) and small to medium enterprises (SME) organisations. The SAP Business ByDesign customer base ranges from organisations with as little as 20 employees up to several thousands.
How do I install or implement SAP Business ByDesign?
SAP Business ByDesign is primarily implemented by SAP's value added reseller network and therefore it's generally not recommended that you try to install the solution yourself.
Is SAP Business ByDesign open source?
No, Business ByDesign is not an open source ERP software or framework. The code is maintained by SAP however custom code and modifications can be made using SAP's partner network. SAP Business ByDesign is therefore a system which allows users to customize it towards their needs.