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Why this matters
Apps Run The World reports the global ERP market at 135.9 billion USD in 2024 with 9.4 percent year-on-year growth. Oracle and SAP each held roughly 6.5 percent share. Those figures matter less than competent partners and a defensible scoring process.
Best fit when
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Stable business models with clear standard processes benefit from established mainstream platforms.
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Growing Mittelstand companies with international expansion benefit from multilingual, multi-entity platforms.
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Industry-specific requirements are usually served better by specialised vendors than by general ERP suites.
Not the right approach when
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Market position is the headline criterion. The real risk lies with the implementation partner on the ground.
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Vendor-driven processes without arms-length assessment. Structural conflicts of interest distort the outcome.
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Exit clauses are not negotiated. Switching cost in five years determines true lifetime economics.
ERP vendors compared
| Criterion | SAP S/4HANA | Microsoft D365 | Industry specialist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mittelstand fit | upper Mittelstand | broad Mittelstand | deep industry fit |
| Typical timeline | 9–18 months | 6–12 months | 4–9 months |
| Exit options | complex | moderate | usually more manageable |
| DACH partner ecosystem | very large | very large | small, specialised |
In short: Established platforms are rarely wrong but often not the closest fit. From decades of advising the DACH Mittelstand the lesson is consistent — anyone asking the vendor question first is asking the wrong question.
Read next: data-driven ERP vendor scoring, decisive selection criteria, cloud vs on-premise trade-off.
Next step
If you would like a structured, methodical assessment for your selection, book a first conversation.
