Comparison
An ERP against a dedicated procurement system
An ERP is not a bad product. It is a different product. It was built to cover every department in an organisation, and that is exactly what makes it heavy for a business that needs one thing: that the money does not leave before somebody has checked.
What InPlace refuses to be
- Not another dashboard of metrics with no decision on it
- Not an expense product that defines value through spending alone
- Not a heavy general ERP
- Not a loud or colourful SaaS brand
The practical difference
| A general ERP | InPlace |
|---|---|
| Every department in the organisation | One chain: from the order to the bank transfer |
| An implementation project | You can start with a single supplier |
| Permissions defined during implementation | Three fixed roles, built into the system |
| A procurement module inside a large system | The whole product is the procurement |
When an ERP is the right choice
When the organisation needs one system for manufacturing, inventory, people, finance and procurement, and when it has the time and the people for an implementation of that size. In that case the ERP’s procurement module works against the same data as the rest of the organisation, and that is worth something.
The businesses InPlace was built for sit on the other side of that line: they need control over procurement now, not a project.
The cost of implementation, not the cost of the licence
The large expense in an enterprise system is not the monthly price but the time of the people who have to learn it, configure it and migrate data into it. An ERP is built on the assumption that this project exists and is budgeted for.
InPlace was built on the opposite assumption: that you can start with one supplier on a Monday, and that the system has to prove itself before anybody allocates a project to it.
What happens when you need both
It happens. An organisation with an ERP running manufacturing and inventory can still suffer from procurement managed over WhatsApp, because the ERP’s procurement module was never implemented to the end.
In that case the question is not which system wins but where the payment decision is taken. Whichever system holds that decision should also hold the comparison that leads to it.
What they have in common
Both require the work to pass through them. A system somebody bypasses over WhatsApp is not a system, whether it cost a hundred thousand or nothing at all.
The difference is how easy it is to bypass. When the system covers one complete chain and speaks the language of the people working in it, going around it stops being the short way.
Start with one supplier, and watch the chain work on your own business.
Open a free accountNo credit card. Start with one supplier.