Best-of-breed sounds great… until you have to run it.
Scroll LinkedIn and you’ll come across:
‘Traditional ERP is dead’
‘The future is best-of-breed’
‘Vibe coding will replace ERP’
It’s an attractive idea. Choose the best accounting system. The best CRM. The best warehouse tool. The best marketing platform. integrate your own AI built app. Connect them together and you have yourself a modern stack.
On paper, it’s brilliant.
In practice, many SMEs discover something else.
Best-of-breed sounds great… until you have to run it.
The hidden cost: running the stack
The challenge isn’t choosing good software, but managing what happens after.
For many SMEs, best-of-breed brings:
- Multiple vendor relationships
- Support finger-pointing when something breaks
- Integrations that need ongoing maintenance
- Data that doesn’t always match across systems
- Reports that require reconciliation
Large enterprises can absorb that overhead.
Most SMEs do not want to.
They want to focus on customers, delivery, margins and growth; not managing integrations.
What usually works better
In reality, most growing SMEs need:
- One operational backbone for core workflows and master data
- Selective specialist tools where they genuinely add value
Clear ownership and accountability
That’s not ‘old ERP’
But a modern, modular approach.
Where Enapps fits
Enapps is designed as a modular operational ERP platform for manufacturing, distribution, installation and maintenance businesses.
Alongside the strong Finance and Operations functionality, we include built-in capabilities like CRM, FSM and WMS because in these sectors they are tightly linked to operational execution. Separating them often creates more friction than flexibility.
At the same time, we are deliberate about scope – we don’t aim to build everything. For example:
We don’t try to be a payroll system
We don’t try to be a marketing platform
Instead, we support direct integrations and a customisable API, so specialist systems can connect cleanly to a stable operational core.
We covered previously how we decide what to build and what to integrate here
Bottom line
ERP isn’t dead…
…Monolithic thinking is.
Best-of-breed can be powerful, but only if you are not forced to become the system integrator.
For most SMEs, the winning formula is simple:
One modular ERP.
One accountable party.
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Less time managing software.
More time running the business.
Do you want to run your business or run your software stack? The best system is the one that supports your business all day – not the one you have to spend all day supporting.
