OTTAWA, Ontario, July 11, 2012 — Oracle CEO Larry Ellison recently purchased Lanai, Hawaii’s sixth-largest island, for an estimated $500 million. Coincidentally, OfficeBook Inc. Founder and President John Hunter is also in the market for a big-ticket item. Hunter is comparison shopping at Ottawa’s car lots, looking to upgrade his 2002 Honda Accord. (So far, he’s leaning toward a Nissan Altima.)
As one might expect, Ellison’s extravagance and Hunter’s thrift underscore a fundamental difference between the two enterprise resource planning (ERP) system providers. Oracle's NetSuite ERP solution is undoubtedly a big player in the ERP space and a top choice among corporations with budgets to match the solution's bells and whistles. OfficeBooks, on the other hand, has been quietly and consistently rolling out updates that make the ERP solution ever more useful to small businesses right out of the gate.
Of course, there are obvious performance differences between NetSuite and OfficeBooks — a point OfficeBook Inc. acknowledges. In fact, the company prides itself on the ways its product differs from NetSuite, because those very differences save OfficeBooks users thousands of dollars every year.
Although NetSuite’s full pricing structure is not readily available (prospective customers must call for pricing), even the basic, accounting-only NetSuite package is out of the ballpark for many small enterprises, a market that appears not to be a NetSuite priority. OfficeBooks, on the other hand, actively embraces the small business customer. Its cloud-based business management solution costs only $495 per year total for a five-user company.
Big companies like Oracle succeed in the ERP software market by offering custom options for their products. But that customization comes at a steep price, warns Hunter. “Customers that choose large ERP software companies pay for complex customizations to ensure the tool is perfect for their businesses,” he explained. “After customers make that significant investment in customization, they’re trapped in a long-term contract and by the perceived loss of investment if they walk away. It’s an extremely lucrative strategy for companies like Oracle.”
Instead of locking its users into expensive contracts or charging them for complex customizations, OfficeBook Inc. has been listening to what its customers want. The company welcomes user input on new features they’d like to see. If developers can find a way to make those features broadly applicable to OfficeBooks users, they develop them. This practice has resulted in numerous improvements to the system, including optional user-defined document numbering, implemented in January 2012; variance reporting on work orders, implemented last week; and Tax Time Ready Accounting™, set for roll-out in September 2012.
OfficeBooks may not offer all the dazzle of NetSuite, but it does offer a solid, dependable, easily implemented ERP system that brings efficiency to smaller businesses without breaking the bank. It probably won’t get John Hunter his own island in the Pacific anytime soon, but he’s just fine with that.
About OfficeBook Inc.
OfficeBook Inc. began as part of LightMachinery Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-power laser systems and precision optics. In 2008, the company became a standalone entity dedicated to business management software and systems. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, OfficeBook Inc. is led by a core team of manufacturing veterans. The company’s flagship product, OfficeBooks, is the first cloud-based, comprehensive business management solution created for manufacturing businesses. Learn more at http://www.officebooks.com.
Contact:
Gregg Senechal
OfficeBook Inc.
(613) 853-6394
Email
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