Best of Breed vs. Enterprise Software

Best of Breed Software vs. Enterprise Software Suites

An Overly Simple Analysis…

Many will have an opinion on this topic.  In an attempt to achieve a more objective analysis, let’s look at the upside and downside of each alternative.

Best of Breed Software Solutions

The upside…
By definition, these software packages provide the best solution to a particular set of problems.  You can expect them to provide more functionality.  You can expect them to provide a more complete solution.

The downside…
You can expect that these software packages won’t talk to most of your other Best of Breed software.  Therefore, you can expect to spend money:

•       To re-key data from one source to another
•       To create the integration needed to eliminate the re-keying

Enterprise Software Suites

The upside…
By definition, these enterprise software companies provide a wide variety of suites that address many [if not most] of a company’s needs.  You should expect that these suites are integrated.  And, you believe that you can trust the Oracle’s, the SAP’s, etc. to solve any concerns you might have.  After all, no one was fired for purchasing Oracle or SAP software…

The downside…
You can expect that they will not provide all of the functionality that you may want.  Therefore, you can expect to spend money:

•       To add functionality
•       You will discover [like so many companies have] that their suites are not fully integrated requiring you to spend money on integration
•       Because of the customization that you need, future software upgrades will tend to be more expensive than you expect

Decisions, Decisions…

If you are looking for the most functionality for the lowest price, then your decision should be to go with Best of Breed software.

If you are looking for one stop shopping with your favorite supplier, then you will likely go with enterprise software suites. 

In each case, you do not need ‘total’ integration.  There is some information that needs to be passed between applications and some that does not.   So, rather than full blown integration, look at a data virtualization strategy that selectively passes information from one application to another.  The cost of integration will be greatly reduced and upgrading your software applications will be a much easier project [translate that to less expensive].