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The Swedish market is considered by many vendors and partners to be a tough market with many local systems. And Sweden has, compared to many other countries in Europe, an unusually high number of local vendors relative to both the population of Sweden and the number of companies. It is possible to count and categorise the vendors in several ways, but today there are over 50 different systems that qualify for the term ERP systems, which include finance and several other process areas. Including all the smaller systems aimed at sole proprietorships, we can add another 20+ systems.
Some of these systems are niche-focused on a specific industry or target group, but most cater to a quite broad customer base. In addition, there are a number of new players who primarily provide digital services, but where the service includes an ERP system supplied by the vendor. Examples of the latter include Bokio and Wint.
In the last 4-5 years, with the transition to cloud-based ERP systems, we have seen an increased influx of foreign systems which are now gradually taking market shares from our local and Scandinavian vendors. Examples of systems now growing in Sweden are: SAP Business ByDesign, Sage X3, Netsuite, Workday, Rambase, and Rootstock.
Currently, there is further incursion from two new vendors – Financialforce and Odoo. Both systems, which are naturally public cloud systems, have achieved great success abroad. Odoo, founded in 2010, today has over 10,000 customers and is translated into more than 50 languages. Financialforce, a joint venture between Unit4 and Salesforce, founded in 2009, currently has several thousand customers spread across several countries.
Common to the new players that have entered Sweden in recent years is that they are public cloud systems that have already established a customer base of several thousand clients in Europe and the USA. The investors behind these systems have a strong focus on developing and improving their databases/platforms to meet the challenges and opportunities that come with a world of so-called microservices.
It can be observed that the Swedish market continues to be a hornet's nest with many vendors and systems. Customers have great choices, and there are many partners competing for the relatively few deals conducted in the Swedish market. The difference today compared to a few years ago is that customers now also have a large selection of modern and cloud-based systems to choose from instead of a market that primarily previously consisted of traditional systems with local installation.
