SAP S/4HANA Cloud vs Dynamics 365 Finance

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Our analysts compared SAP S/4HANA Cloud vs Dynamics 365 Finance based on data from our 400+ point analysis of ERP Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Dynamics 365 Finance Software Tool

Product Basics

Running a growing business comes with enough challenges — managing core processes shouldn’t be one of them. That’s where SAP S/4HANA Cloud by SAP steps in, a modern cloud-based ERP solution designed to simplify tasks like finance, procurement, manufacturing and supply chain management.

It’s built for mid-sized to large enterprises, offering real-time insights and advanced analytics to keep things running smoothly. It also integrates advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning.

Top features include its user-friendly interface, customizable dashboards and industry-specific workflows. It beats traditional on-premise ERPs with faster deployment, lower maintenance and automatic updates.

Users love the flexibility and accessibility, helping them simplify daily operations. It offers various deployment options to meet different business requirements, including public cloud, private cloud, on-premise and hybrid models.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers a 14-day free trial at no cost that includes guided tours and sample data to help you navigate the system. Pricing depends on company size, number of users and selected modules. However, SAP S/4HANA Cloud hasn’t mentioned it directly on the website.

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Dynamics 365 Finance, a cloud-based Accounting ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software, streamlines financial operations for mid-sized to large organizations. It automates core accounting tasks like general ledger, payables, receivables, and project accounting, providing real-time financial insights. Its strengths lie in scalability, integration with other Microsoft products, and industry-specific features. Users praise its ease of use, reporting capabilities, and workflow automation. However, some find the initial setup complex and customization options limited. Pricing is subscription-based, tiered by modules and user count. It's pricier than basic accounting software but cost-effective compared to comprehensive on-premise solutions.

Pros
  • Real-time insights
  • Scalable & flexible
  • Integrates with MS tools
  • Automates workflows
  • Easy to use (reported)
Cons
  • Complex setup (initial)
  • Limited customization
  • Pricier than basic options
  • Reporting can be complex
  • Subscription-based
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$40/User, Monthly
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$480/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Automate Business Processes: Use intelligent automation, AI and robotic process automation (RPA) to handle routine tasks while optimizing others. This capability reduces manual work and lets employees focus on more valuable tasks. Our analysts give it a 100 for its intelligent capabilities.
  • Reinvent Your Business Model: Implement industry-specific solutions and best practices to introduce new strategies. Create customized products and explore innovative strategies to elevate how you do business.
  • Make Data-Driven Decisions: Access real-time data, embedded analytics and digital assistants to make informed decisions quickly. Engage with visual reports and use a context-aware digital assistant for a seamless, intuitive experience. Its standout capabilities earn it a perfect 100 for reporting.
  • Adapt: Address changes with real-time analysis and flexible tools for configuration, pricing, and quotes. These features help users quickly identify and manage changes. The system also notifies users of issues and suggests solutions. Our analysts rated SAP S/4HANA Cloud as the best solution in its category for procurement.
  • Accelerate User Adoption: Access a wide range of onboarding resources through openSAP and the SAP Learning Hub. These online hubs offer various learning formats to ensure users can easily understand and adopt the new system, no matter their preferred learning style.
  • Increase Efficiency: Equip employees with automation tools and real-time data insights to improve decision-making. This strategy reduces errors, saves time and money, and boosts productivity, driving better overall business performance.
  • Improve Usability: Built with SAP Fiori, the system is responsive, intuitive and designed to be simplistic. It provides a personalized and role-based user experience that can be accessed from any device. The system also supports 85% of functional requirements out-of-the-box so you have the features you need from the get go.
  • Centralize Data: In-memory computing stores all data in one unified system, avoiding fragmented databases. This centralization enables users to analyze large volumes of data at once and quickly spot trends, making data management more efficient.
  • Boost Time to Value: Start with guided implementation, quick technical setup and an intuitive interface. This helps the team to adopt the system quickly and deliver results faster.
  • Lower Expenses: Minimize total cost of ownership (TCO) with a subscription-based model. This cuts hardware, maintenance and upgrade expenses when compared to traditional on-premise systems.
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  • Artificial Intelligence Data: Utilize Dynamics 365 Finance's AI-powered data tools to evaluate business health as well as boost financial controls, maximize cash flows, and develop and execute better business decisions. 
  • Budget Planning: Dwindle operation expenses and increase spending for businesses throughout various regions with the budget planning apparatus. 
  • Reduce Risks: Swiftly adjust to global and local financial regulations with a pliable standards-based chart of accounts and dimensions that permit users to effortlessly and properly superintend their financial operations. 
  • Power BI-Applicable: Initiate wiser, quicker actions and choices through the role-based workspaces that are embedded with Power BI's synergistic data visualization capabilities so users may examine KPIs with more depth as well as dive into transactions to overview the health of their business. 
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  • Financial Management: The SAP S/4HANA financial and accounting management tool scored 100 in our assessment. Below are some key capabilities:
    • Run your business efficiently using built-in best practices, reporting and predictive analytics to maintain compliance and manage risks.
    • Analyze your revenue and costs in real time, allowing you to view data across various dimensions to understand profitability at any level of detail.
    • Automatically record financial transactions as they occur, ensuring reports are up-to-date while supporting multiple accounting principles for asset valuation.
    • Use KPIs to monitor and manage payables, receivables, and cash flow, giving you a real-time view of key financial metrics through a centralized dashboard.
    • Prioritize payments, track overdue invoices and identify high-risk customers to help your team manage costs more effectively and reduce the risk of bad debt.
    • Centralize tax and financial reporting, ensuring that all departments access the same consistent data, while guiding users through an interactive financial analysis process.
  • Sales Management: The SAP S/4HANA Sales module offers effective order and contract management, incentive and commission management, and support for sales teams. Its key capabilities include:
    • Manage the order-to-cash process efficiently across various revenue streams, including physical and digital goods, services, subscriptions, projects and bundles.
    • Oversee bundled orders from one place, tracking profit, cost and revenue for each order line item. Automate alerts for project changes, deadlines and expirations.
    • Equip sales reps to sell more effectively with a personalized home page, intuitive interface and quick access to tasks, applications and reports.
    • Create sales orders from unstructured data like PDF or image-based purchase orders using machine learning to extract information automatically.
    • Simplify incomplete sales order documentation with AI-powered autocomplete, which suggests missing fields based on historical data.
    • Automate invoicing by integrating billing and accounting, improving cash flow accuracy and simplifying accounts receivable, all while meeting local requirements.
  • Supply Chain Management: The SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain tool achieved an outstanding score of 100 in our assessment, surpassing Visibility ERP and Oracle Fusion Cloud. It offers users a range of capabilities, including:
    • Get real-time visibility into your supply chain with customizable dashboards. Track inventory, predict stock trends with AI and monitor deliveries instantly.
    • Automatically confirm and process customer orders, ensuring that they align with business priorities to meet customer expectations.
    • Help teams cut costs and reduce waste with easy-to-use mobile apps for packing goods more efficiently as part of the logistics process.
    • Shorten delivery times by making sure you have the right vehicles, optimized routes, and the right quantity of goods, saving both time and fuel.
  • Manufacturing Management: The SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing module is built on methods like lean control, continuous improvement and just-in-time replenishment. It can:
    • Optimize production by integrating processes smoothly, whether you're manufacturing to stock, order or custom specifications.
    • Meet customer demands by identifying and fixing capacity issues, bottlenecks or shortfalls early, using planning simulations to find the best solutions.
    • Balance supply and demand with real-time material requirements planning (MRP). The system immediately flags MRP exceptions and helps you resolve them quickly.
    • Ensure timely product delivery by tracking each container’s status with a real-time graphical Kanban board.
    • Deliver high-quality products by running quality inspections throughout the production process.
  • Procurement Management: The SAP S/4HANA Procurement module offers a scalable, value-driven and compliant process for managing operations. Its key features include:
    • Easily view and update all purchase requisitions at once. The Joule copilot simplifies how employees collaborate during procurement tasks.
    • Efficiently manage the entire procure-to-pay process, with real-time insights available at every stage.
    • Identify bottlenecks and cost-saving opportunities with a customizable dashboard that shows all key tasks. Automate workflows for purchase orders, contracts and invoices, and analyze them in detail.
    • Improve purchase contracts by setting up approval workflows. Track contract usage, plan renewals and negotiate long-term discounts with suppliers.
    • Predict delivery dates for purchase orders to improve planning and avoid production delays.
    • Make informed decisions by accessing real-time purchasing data without needing to open multiple reports.
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  • Elaborate Reporting: Balance and close books quicker with in-depth reporting and real-time analytics appliances. Users may enable pliable financial reports that showcase numerous currencies and legal entities to administer foreign exchanges and expedite end-of-month bookkeeping procedures. 
  • Grow Revenue: Work with machine learning capabilities that come with reporting, financial intelligence and analytics that compile forecasted recommendations and provide guidance for opportune customer expenditures. 
  • Role-Based Workspaces: Personalize crucial documents and reports such as invoices and statements that align with ever-changing business necessities with the role-based workspaces and modules. Users may also activate automatic recurring bills that seamlessly adapt to new revenue recognition rules, dwindle audit costs and cipher financial statements with precision.  
  • Compliances: Ensure that businesses align with local and global standards to reduce risks with the compliance attribute that guarantees compliance in approximately 37 countries and 42 languages. 
  • Financial Planning: Keep organizations running smoothly whether they're local, abroad or both with the financial process automation, financial planning and analysis, encumbrance and budget control modules. 
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Product Ranking

#61

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ERP Software

#116

among all
ERP Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Analytics And Reporting Asset Management Customer Relationship Management Finance And Accounting Human Resource Management Inventory Management Manufacturing Order Management Procurement Project Management Service Management Supply Chain Management Warehouse Management 99 84 70 99 87 100 92 92 100 91 65 100 83 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 2815 reviews
Great User Sentiment 3543 reviews
87%
of users recommend this product

SAP S/4HANA Cloud has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 2815 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

89%
of users recommend this product

Dynamics 365 Finance has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 3543 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

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4.0 (19)
4.5 (730)
3.6 (90)
4.3 (338)
4.5 (3273)
4.2 (388)
4.0 (40)
4.3 (1359)
3.6 (121)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated SAP S/4HANA Cloud and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Finance and Accounting, Procurement and Supply Chain Management.

Finance and Accounting Award
Procurement Award
Supply Chain Management Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Real-Time Inventory Visibility: It optimizes stock levels and avoids stockouts with instant inventory updates, reducing carrying costs and boosting customer satisfaction.
Purchase Order Accuracy: Some users say automating purchase order generation based on real-time inventory and demand has minimized errors in procurement.
Production Planning: It refines production schedules and resource allocation with real-time data insights from connected machines and sensors, increasing efficiency and output.
Financial Reporting: Many users appreciate the ability to generate accurate and timely financial reports with automated data consolidation from all departments.
Sales Team Productivity: It gives the sales team the ability to access customer data and manage orders directly from mobile devices. This increases overall productivity and works efficiently from anywhere.
Automatic Updates: Users say that SAP manages regular updates and maintenance, ensuring up-to-date features and security patches without the need for external resources.
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Streamlined Workflow: Automates tasks like payables, receivables, and GL, saving time and reducing errors. Users highlight improved efficiency and fewer manual processes.
Real-Time Insights: Provides instant access to financial data through dashboards and reports, enabling data-driven decisions. Users appreciate the ability to quickly track performance and make informed choices.
Seamless Integration: Connects seamlessly with other Microsoft products like Office 365 and Power BI for a unified user experience and enhanced data sharing. Users value the convenience and improved collaboration across departments.
Industry-Specific Solutions: Pre-built templates and industry-focused features cater to specific needs in sectors like retail, manufacturing, and non-profits. Users benefit from faster implementation and reduced customization costs.
Scalability and Flexibility: Adapts to your growing needs with cloud-based architecture and modular functionality. Users praise the ability to easily add users and modules as their business expands.
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Steep Learning Curve: It can be tough to transition from traditional ERPs to a new interface and cloud-based model. This could affect initial productivity, requiring user training to get fully up to speed.
Limited Customization: Users say the customization options are limited compared to on-premise systems. The ability to tailor the system for specific business needs is restricted.
Integration Challenges: Users find integrating with older, non-S/4HANA systems challenging. The process often requires additional tools and expertise, which can increase the complexity and overall costs.
Vendor Lock-in: Some users mention the reliance on SAP's cloud infrastructure makes it harder to switch to alternative solutions later. This dependency can reduce flexibility for future expansion.
High Subscription Costs: Some users say the cost of the software is a big barrier for small businesses since the initial implementation and ongoing subscription fees are relatively high.
Response Time: Customer support could be more responsive and efficient in addressing issues. Users mentioned that providing more thorough assistance would enhance the overall customer experience.
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Complex Setup: Initial configuration and data migration can be complex, requiring professional assistance for larger organizations, leading to higher implementation costs.
Limited Customization: While offering flexibility, extensive customization can be expensive and require developer resources, potentially negating cost savings and increasing maintenance needs.
Subscription-Based Cost: Ongoing subscription fees can be higher than upfront costs of on-premise solutions, especially for smaller businesses with limited usage, raising concerns about long-term affordability.
Reporting Complexity: Advanced reporting features can have a learning curve for non-technical users, requiring training or dedicated personnel, impacting user adoption and efficiency.
Mobile App Limitations: Some users report occasional glitches and lack of full feature parity with the desktop version, hindering on-the-go access and real-time updates.
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As a free trial user of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, I can confidently say it excels in simplifying core business processes and offers top-notch capabilities. Our analysts give a perfect 100 for their Finance, Procurement and Supply Chain Management modules.SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a robust ERP solution widely used across various industries due to its flexible, modular design and comprehensive functionality. After trying it firsthand, I was surprised by the initial setup. It was smooth and intuitive, with sample data and guided tours provided to explore all modules easily.The main menu and search bar were easy to navigate without redirects. I also liked how user-friendly the interface felt, especially for a first-time user.The finance module stood out to me. It provides a centralized dashboard where you can store and generate all sorts of reports, and it's easy to keep track of payments and overdue invoices. For someone looking to optimize manufacturing, it offers real-time visibility into operations, making it easier to meet customer demands efficiently.That said, the free trial had its limitations. I couldn’t access all features or sample data completely, which made it harder to fully explore the system’s potential.That being said, our analysts rated the Finance, Procurement, and Supply Chain Management modules a perfect 100. Many recent reviews have echoed the same sentiment, praising its real-time inventory view and automated workflows. However, others mentioned the inability to customize workflows during the trial.Users also pointed out the system’s complexity, but I personally found it easier to navigate than expected with the sample data. Still, I’m unsure how it would perform with real-time data in an actual business setting.Pricing wasn’t listed directly on the site, but compared to competitors, SAP S/4HANA costs—including implementation, licensing and training—are higher, especially for smaller organizations with tighter budgets.Overall, SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a powerful tool with advanced capabilities, though its learning curve and customization limitations may be challenging for some. For larger organizations with the budget and resources to implement it fully, it can significantly improve operations and drive growth.

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Dynamics 365 Finance users offer a mixed bag of opinions, with praise for its robust functionality and cloud-based accessibility countered by criticisms of its complexity and implementation hurdles. Compared to competitors like SAP Business One and Sage Intacct, Dynamics 365 shines in its tight integration with other Microsoft products and its advanced business intelligence capabilities. However, its steeper learning curve and higher upfront costs can be deterrents. Users laud the software's comprehensive financial management features, from core accounting to project accounting and budgeting. One reviewer, a finance manager at a mid-sized manufacturing firm, highlighted the ease of generating real-time financial reports, enabling them to make data-driven decisions. Another user, the CFO of a growing tech startup, appreciated the seamless integration with Dynamics 365 Sales, streamlining order-to-cash processes. However, the complexity of the software is a recurring pain point. Users report a significant learning curve, requiring extensive training and support, especially for non-technical users. A controller at a non-profit organization mentioned the difficulty in customizing workflows, making it less adaptable to their specific needs compared to more user-friendly competitors like Sage Intacct. Implementation challenges also surface in reviews, with users citing lengthy setup times and integration issues. One reviewer, an accountant at a construction company, emphasized the need for experienced consultants to navigate the initial setup, adding to the overall cost. This can be a disadvantage for smaller businesses or those with limited IT resources. Despite these drawbacks, Dynamics 365 Finance's strengths in functionality, scalability, and future-proof cloud technology make it a compelling choice for larger organizations with complex financial needs and the resources to invest in its implementation. For smaller businesses or those seeking a more user-friendly option, other alternatives might be a better fit.

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