Integrated Systems vs. Separate Systems

Integrated Systems vs. Separate Systems
Comparing Business Management Systems for The Small
Business
Summary
This report considers the benefits and drawbacks of using one integrated business
management system versus using several disconnected business systems.
Although we highlight these benefits and drawbacks in reference to small
businesses, the results are relevant for a business of any size.
A normal, disconnected business system is one that handles only one aspect
of accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), customer support,
document management, human resources, etc. An example would be Highrise
CRM (www.highrisehq.com) or Freshbooks (www.freshbooks.com) accounting
software.
An integrated system is one that handles all aspects of the business in one
system. In an integrated system, all data between the different modules is
connected by default, without the use of third party or customer integrations. An
example of an integrated system is BusinessVision (businessvision.me) Online
Business Software.
Our report considers the following Needs, identified as most important to business
owners/managers looking to implement a business management system
Needs Considered (in order of importance to customer):
1. Ease of Implementation
2. Ease of Use
3. Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
4. Scalability
5. Ease of Updates
For each Need, we'll consider which method meets the Need better. We'll declare
one method a winner and one a loser for that method. Then, we'll consider which
method is the winner overall.
Report
Ease of Implementation (Winner: Integrated)
While separate systems for accounting, customer relationship management
(CRM), etc. are easier to implement one-by-one than a integrated system, one
must consider the time it takes to implement the communication between these
separate systems.
For example, a business owner signs up with SalesForce, a popular CRM, and then
signs up for Freshbooks, a popular accounting software for small businesses.
Signing up for both of these systems takes very little time and effort. (Of course,
signing up for an integrated system takes the same amount of time.)
The business owner will also take about the same amount of time and effort to
load data into the separate CRM and the accounting software as he or she will
take loading the information into the integrated software. (Although, some time
and effort is saved with the integrate systems, since accounts and contacts need
only be loaded once, compared to twice with the separate systems.)
But, when the business owner tries to connect information from the CRM to the
accounting software, he or she is limited in option and must use a workaround.
He or she could either a)install a third party integration software, increasing the
chance of a system breakdown, b)hire someone to code a new integration
method, increasing the cost and effort required to implement the whole system,
or c) just deal with the separate system ad hoc, which ads complexity for the
entire time the business owner continues to use separate systems.
On the other hand, an integrated system is just as easy to sign up for, easier to
enter information in (since you are not entering information twice), and far easier
to connect information, since the system is already designed with all the data
connected.
Therefore, considering the Ease of Implementation for the total business
system, an integrated system is easy to implement than disconnected
systems.
Ease of Use (Winner: Integrated)
We have found that integrated systems are, in general, easier to use than a
network of disconnected business systems.
Every business system, integrated or not, has different levels of usability. It is not
the scope of this report to compare all these systems. Rather, we've found that as
a whole, integrated systems are easier to use because of their integration—a key
requirement for business management systems.
A business owner must be able to connect documents with customers, costs with
service requests, and staff with projects, just to name a few. Using one system
for project management and another for accounting and another for customer
relationship management (CRM) compounds the difficulty of using the total
business system for the user. The user is forced to integrate outside of the
system. Once this step is taken, the integration is temporary and unusable by
others. In other words, every time the integration must occur in a disconnected
system, it must be integrated again by each user at that moment. The integration
doesn't last and it doesn't transfer.
An integrated system is built to connect all pieces of data together in meaningful
integrations. The integration is part of the system, and the user is not given the
task of making the integration, it is already done. This makes the system much
easier to use for information retrieval and decision making.
Therefore, considering the Ease of Use for the total business system, an
integrated system is easier to use than disconnected systems.
Low Total Cost of Ownership (Winner: Integrated)
Even given the limited amount of data we were able to find on the costs of
running disconnected system versus an integrated system, it's clear that an
integrated system gives the business owner a lower Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO)
Disconnected systems can run anywhere for $4/user/month to $300/user/month.
Considering a business that must manage accounting, customer service, customer
relationship management (CRM), support, projects, and documents, the lowest
monthly cost came out to be $597/user/month (considering an office with 5-10
users).
This high subscription cost for disconnected systems doesn't consider the costs of
integrating the systems to make a functional business system. Whether that
integration cost is recognized by developing/paying for integration software, or
paying staff for the time they spend integrating individually, the lack of
integration between disparate systems raises the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
significantly.
An integrated system costs much less on average ($99 /user/month considering a
5-10 user office). Plus, with an integrated system, there is no integration cost,
since the system is already built integrated.
Therefore, considering the Total Cost of Ownership(TCO) for the total
business system, an integrated system has a lower TCO than
disconnected systems.
Scalability (Winner: Integrated)
An integrate system scales much more gracefully than disconnected systems
since an integrated systems can scale up once where disconnected systems must
scale up many times.
Disconnected systems have their own abilities to scale as a business grows or
shrinks. Some systems can reliably support 1-20 users, others 5-50, others 25-
1,000. A business owner attempting to scale up a total business system, if he or
she is using disconnected systems, would have to switch different systems at
different levels of scaling. Every time a switch must occur, the costs and hassles
of starting up and integrated a new systems reoccur.
An integrated system, however, can scale all necessary features together, with no
need to switch systems at any point. An integrated system that can handle 100
users in the accounting module will be able to handle 100 users in any other
module.
Therefore, considering the Scalability of the total business system, and
integrated system is more scalable than disconnected systems.
Ease of Updates (Winner: Integrated)
An integrated system is easier to upgrade than disconnected systems since
disconnected systems will need to be upgraded separately, and any integration
between disconnected systems will most likely be destroyed with each upgrade.
Each disconnected system will have its own team of developers processing the
upgrades. Since each team is only concerned about upgrading its own system,
upgrades will be released on schedules that don't consider the needs of the total
business system.
Also, every time a disconnected system is upgraded, any third party integrations
the user has implemented will likely need to be updated as well, doubling the time
and effort it takes to update the total business system.
Integrated systems, on the other hand, are updated by one team. Every update
enhances the integration, rather than destroying it. An update to the project
management module will cause benefits to trickle down to all modules connected
to it. And the integration to the modules will not need to be updated separately by
a different team.
Therefore, considering the Ease of Updates, an integrated system is
easier to upgrade than disconnected systems.
In Total (Winner: Integrated)
The integrated business system meets the needs of the business better than
disconnected systems.
The integrated system is easier to implement, easier to use, less expensive, more
scalable, and easier to update.
Business Vision is an integrated online Business Management solution. Business
Vision handles Project Management, Support, Human Resource Management,
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Accounting. All features are
integrated for maximum efficiency.
To learn more about Business Vision, and start a 30-day free trial with free oneon-
one implementation, visit BusinessVision.me today.