In the evolving landscape of digital transformation, businesses often face the challenge of choosing the right tools to streamline and scale their business operations. The debate often centers around whether to invest in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems now—known for their high costs and extensive custom development—or to opt for specialized platforms like Avokaado Operational Intelligence Platform (OIP). While both systems address critical business needs, their functionalities, target audiences, and value propositions vary significantly.
A recurring concern, particularly from centralized IT teams, is why an ERP system cannot handle every operational process, or, after enduring a costly and time-intensive ERP implementation, resistance builds against adopting any new solutions. However, this all-or-nothing mindset often overlooks the specialized benefits and agility that platforms like OIP bring to the table.
In this article, we’ll unpack the distinctions between ERP and OIP, discuss their respective strengths, and offer insights into when to implement each system—or when to combine both—to drive efficiency, compliance, and scalability.
Main Value Proposition
Avokaado OIP for Growth Companies and Medium-Sized Organizations
Unlike traditional ERP systems, which focus on integrating and managing core business processes like finance, inventory, and HR, Avokaado Operational Intelligence Platform (OIP) is a data-centric solution built to automate document workflows, enhance data transparency, and ensure compliance across business operations.
Avokaado OIP is ideal for:
- Medium-sized enterprises with 50–5,000 employees seeking scalable, automated solutions.
- Compliance-heavy industries such as banking, finance, insurance, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, and telecommunications that need to navigate strict regulations.
- Companies that lack the resources for custom ERP development but require data-driven tools to automate core operation(s) and ensure compliance within a manageable budget.
- Organizations looking to replace multiple point solutions (e.g., CLM, DMS, digital signing platforms, MS Office) with a unified platform for document and workflow automation, without incurring excessive implementation costs.
ERP Systems for Large Organizations
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems offer an all-in-one solution to manage a company’s core business processes, such as accounting, procurement, project management, and supply chain operations. These systems are designed to consolidate operations across large enterprises with complex structures and high volumes of data.ERP systems are best suited for:
- Large enterprises with diverse operations and a need for centralized control across multiple departments.
- Organizations requiring tools for managing inventory, production, finance, and HR in a unified platform.
- Companies with the capacity and budget to invest in extensive implementation, customization, and employee training.
Pricing
Avokaado OIP Pricing
Avokaado’s pricing model is usage-based, making it accessible for companies with varying needs. Costs typically range from €12k to €100k annually, depending on the number of parties or records managed on the platform.
- The pricing structure is transparent, with no hidden fees for customization or integration.
- Minimal setup costs ensure businesses see a fast ROI with streamlined operations and reduced manual work.
- As businesses grow, they can easily add additional modules for analytics, pattern detection, AI-driven agents, and advanced reporting.
ERP System Pricing
ERP systems often come with a higher price tag, reflecting their extensive functionalities and implementation complexity.
- Initial implementation costs can start at €100k+ for medium to large enterprises.
- Ongoing licensing, support, and maintenance fees add significant costs over time.
- Custom modules, integrations, and employee training require additional investments, making ERP systems a more expensive solution overall.
Main Functionalities
- Document Automation
- Avokaado OIP: Automated document creation, approval, signing, and storage workflows.
- ERP Systems: Limited or requires custom modules.
- Compliance Tools
- Avokaado OIP: Built-in compliance monitoring (KYC, DORA, NIS2 etc) and automated data retention rules.
- ERP Systems: Requires custom configurations or separate tools.
- Data Transparency
- Avokaado OIP: Real-time data registries for parties, contracts, and operational data.
- ERP Systems: ERP systems are not inherently data-centric.
- Workflow Automation
- Avokaado OIP: Pre-configured workflows for contracts and compliance processes.
- ERP Systems: Workflow automation often requires custom development.
- Scalability
- Avokaado OIP: Modular and easy to scale across geographies and teams.
- ERP Systems: Scalability often comes with high additional costs.
- Integration
- Avokaado OIP: API integrations with tools like Salesforce, BambooHR, and Pipedrive,
- ERP Systems: Limited integrations; often built-in applications.
Features Comparison
While Avokaado OIP focuses on document, data, and compliance management with an emphasis on collaboration and modularity, ERP systems serve as a backbone for overarching business functions like financials, supply chain, and HR.
Avokaado OIP Key Features
- Data Tools: AI-powered data extraction from documents, with data registries and party registries directly connected to source documents for seamless data management.
- Contract Automation and Integration: Off-the-shelf integrations for data connectivity and contract automation to streamline workflows.
- Compliance Monitoring: Built-in monitoring and adherence to regulations like GDPR, DORA, and NIS2, ensuring businesses remain compliant.
- Modular Structure: Flexible setup to expand capabilities as needed, such as AI agents, advanced data tools, negotiation modules, and more.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Facilitate internal and external collaboration, ensuring alignment across teams and stakeholders.
- Centralized Document Lifecycle Management: Full control and transparency over the document lifecycle, from creation to retention or archiving.
ERP Key Features
- Financial Management: Comprehensive accounting and financial planning tools to handle budgets, forecasting, and reporting.
- Inventory and Supply Chain Management: Optimize inventory levels, manage supply chains, and improve logistics operations.
- Human Resource and Payroll Functionalities: Tools to manage employee information, payroll processing, and workforce planning.
- Comprehensive Analytics and Reporting: Robust data analysis to provide insights across various business functions.
- Integration Across Operations: A unified platform to integrate multiple business operations like procurement, sales, and production into one centralized system.
Examples from the Market
Avokaado OIP in Action
- Banking & Finance: A mid-sized bank uses Avokaado to manage compliance by automating loan agreements and tracking client data in real-time, ensuring regulatory compliance.
- Healthcare: A clinic group leverages Avokaado to centralize employee records, automate policy updates, and ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.
- Logistics: A transportation company uses Avokaado to streamline vendor agreements and manage cross-border compliance.
- Telecom: A telecom manages B2B revenue operations and integrates the data flows with ERP
ERP in Action
- Manufacturing: A global manufacturing company uses ERP to manage inventory, track production schedules, and streamline procurement.
- Retail: A large retailer integrates ERP to unify supply chain operations, track sales, and manage HR across stores.
- Telecom: A telecom giant uses ERP to manage customer billing, network inventory, and financial operations.
When OIP and ERP Can Work Together
For some organizations, the answer isn’t choosing one over the other but integrating both. OIP can complement an ERP system by handling specialized compliance, document, and workflow automation needs while ERP manages broader operational functions like accounting and supply chain management. Together, they create a comprehensive and efficient operational infrastructure that addresses both specific and enterprise-wide needs.
When to Use Both OIP and ERP
- Compliance Meets Complex Operations
If your business operates in a highly regulated industry (e.g., finance, healthcare, manufacturing) and also manages complex operations like inventory, supply chain logistics, or multi-regional teams, having both systems can address both specific and enterprise-wide challenges. OIP focuses on compliance, document workflows, and data-driven insights, while ERP integrates financial, inventory, and resource management. - Growing Beyond Initial Operational Needs
Businesses that start with simpler processes may find that as they grow, their needs expand to include broader operational functions like supply chain or enterprise-wide reporting. OIP is perfect for building a foundation of streamlined workflows and compliance before scaling into ERP for more complex requirements. - Balancing Cost and Complexity
For medium-sized businesses, deploying ERP alone can be prohibitively expensive and overly complex for immediate needs. Combining ERP with OIP allows companies to optimize specific workflows (e.g., contracts, compliance, and document management) while scaling up gradually into broader ERP functionality as the company grows. - Enhanced Data Synergy
Using OIP and ERP together creates a seamless ecosystem where data flows between systems. For example, contract and compliance data from OIP can integrate with ERP modules for procurement, accounting, or resource management, enabling end-to-end operational intelligence.
What to Implement First and Why
Starting with OIP for Operational Intelligence
Implementing OIP first is ideal for businesses looking to address immediate pain points related to compliance, document management, and workflow automation. OIP’s lightweight deployment, fast ROI, and data-driven focus make it an essential starting point for growing businesses that need to modernize quickly without significant upfront costs.
Why Start with OIP?
- Immediate Impact: Automates high-volume, standardized workflows like contracts and compliance processes.
- Cost-Efficient: Affordable and scalable, making it accessible for medium-sized businesses.
- Foundation for Growth: Sets up data registries, document workflows, and compliance frameworks that can later integrate with ERP systems.
Add ERP for Enterprise-Wide Management
Once your business scales and operational needs expand to include areas like inventory management, payroll, and advanced financial reporting, ERP becomes a logical next step. By this stage, your OIP will have created a strong foundation of data and workflow automation, which can feed into ERP for broader operational oversight.
Why Add ERP Second?
- Scalability: ERP systems are resource-intensive, so implementing them after streamlining initial operations ensures smoother integration.
- Data Preparedness: With OIP already managing structured data and workflows, ERP implementation becomes faster and more effective.
- Strategic Growth: ERP enables businesses to scale operations across geographies, manage resources, and optimize financial performance.
How OIP and ERP Work Together
- Data Flow: OIP manages structured data from contracts, compliance, and workflows, which integrates seamlessly into ERP for financial and operational reporting.
- Efficiency: OIP automates the front-end processes, such as contract approvals and compliance tracking, while ERP handles backend processes like resource planning and accounting.
- Compliance Across Functions: OIP ensures that all documents and workflows are compliant before they feed into ERP systems, creating a closed-loop compliance system.
Example Implementation Scenario
- Year 1: Implement OIP to manage document workflows, set up live data registries, and automate compliance.
- Year 2: Expand OIP use across teams and geographies while preparing data for ERP integration.
- Year 3+: Implement ERP to integrate inventory, payroll, and supply chain management, using OIP data for seamless setup and synergy.
Key Takeaways
- Start with OIP if your primary needs are compliance, document workflows, and efficiency in operations. It is lightweight yet powerful, data-driven and provides live, actionable insights through real-time data registries to HR, Sales, Procurement, Vendor Management, Finance, Compliance and Legal teams
- Expand with ERP when your business reaches a size where centralized resource and inventory management becomes critical.
- Use Both Together as a large organisation to create an integrated ecosystem that combines OIP’s agility and compliance focus with ERP’s enterprise-wide management capabilities.
By implementing these systems in the right order, businesses can maximize ROI, minimize complexity, and achieve sustainable, scalable growth.Interested to learn more and learn if Avokaado fits your organisation ? Book a demo to see Avokaado in action and discuss your use case or request access to a free trial workspace to see how Avokaado can help you manage data, workflows, and documents on a single platform.
