Guide
Do SMBs really need an ERP?
If you've started looking into ERPs, there's something to ask first. Is the pain your books — or not knowing how far the work has gotten?
Written 2026-09-23
An ERP is a tool that ties your books into one
Accounting is at the center of an ERP. Purchase and sales entries, tax invoices, inventory and production, and payroll calculation are connected in one ledger, so entering something on one side keeps the numbers on the other side in line. For companies that stock inventory to sell or run a factory, that connection is their competitive edge.
But building that connection has a cost. You have to design the chart of accounts and item codes first, adoption takes weeks to months, and the numbers only line up if staff follow the input rules.
But that's usually not why companies like ours look for an ERP
Companies like contractors, agencies and startups, where people's time is the product, have no inventory. When these companies search for an ERP, the pain is usually this:
- You have to ask the owner how far a project has gotten. Tasks are in one tool, schedules in another document.
- Deals exist only as rows in a sheet. You color-code which deal is at the quote stage and which is about to close, and total them by hand.
- Every month-end, you match contract sheets against bank deposits. To know this month's revenue, you have to open the sheet.
- Annual leave and purchase approvals go back and forth over messenger. Later, you can't find who approved what and when.
Three questions to tell which problem you have
- 01Do you have inventory or production?If so, an ERP is the right fit. Work where items, inventory and costs need to connect to accounting is what an ERP does well.
- 02Do you keep the tax filing books yourselves?If a tax accountant handles it, there's little reason to move your accounting books into an internal tool. What you need isn't a ledger but a screen that shows "how much came in this month" right away.
- 03Is the pain the numbers, or the progress?If "how far is this project?" and "who's handling this deal?" come up more often, the problem isn't your books — it's that work is scattered across tools.
If scattering is the problem — an all-in-one work management platform
Sprintingo isn't an ERP; it's an all-in-one work management platform. It doesn't handle accounting entries, tax or inventory — instead, you see projects, HR, sales and revenue in one account.
- Projects — Create one and weekly sprints, kanban and a timeline come with it, and progress goes up each time you finish a task.
- Sales — See which stage each deal is at on a kanban board, with the count and estimated quote total for each stage.
- Revenue — Check off a contract payment and it counts as revenue for the month it was received. Enter monthly goals and quarters and years are summed up.
- HR & approvals — Org chart and job titles, annual leave and purchase approvals are in the same account, and each request records who approved it and when. The payroll screen shows salary history and this month's expected payout to C-level only.
If you need both
The most common combination is keeping the books with your tax accountant or accounting software as now, and tracking work progress and sales and revenue on a work management platform. You open the accounting tool once at month-end and the work tool every day — the one you open every day has to be light for the team to use it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Sprintingo an ERP?
- It isn't a product that handles accounting entries, tax or inventory like an ERP. It's an all-in-one work management platform for managing projects, HR, sales and revenue in one account.
- Does a 20-person company need an ERP?
- If you have inventory or production, or keep your accounting books in-house, yes. Otherwise, if the goal is to see the status of projects, sales and revenue, a work management platform that's lighter than an ERP is faster to adopt and easier to use every day.
- How long does it take to get started?
- Choose 'Create a new company' on the sign-up screen and you start right away for free. If you'd like us to set it up with you, it goes contact → company setup → 1-hour admin training.
- How does pricing work?
- It's a flat price per company, and every plan has unlimited users. The price is the same no matter how many people use it, and it stays the same as your team grows. Prices for each plan are on the pricing page.