Best-of-breed means picking the best tool for each job — great flexibility, but you own the integrations. ERP ties inventory, production, billing, and often accounts into one system — higher upfront discipline, simpler operations day to day.
Consider ERP when data must stay consistent across departments, stock-outs are costly, or auditors need a single trail. Stay lean with separate tools if you’re small, processes change often, and you only need one or two strong integrations.
We’ve implemented both patterns for Indian SMEs; the right choice is usually about team size and how painful your current gaps are — not the logo on the box.