The benefits of an ERP system are similar for Large Enterprises and for SMEs - the ability to have a common database platform so that all departments can talk to each other and to enable 'management' to 'see the big picture'.

Traditionally, however, ERP tools have been large & expensive software systems that required equally expensive computer hardware to run on, and well trained (highly paid) IT staff to run them.... Hence they were affordable only by large enterprises.

Now the ERP vendors are offering new ERP systems redesigned for SMEs - at a price that they can afford. - which accounts for the marketing material that you are translating!



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Note added at 21 mins (2007-02-11 03:17:43 GMT)
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... I see that Armando has already explained this very clearly.

Erp Solutions for Small Businesses
As sales of ERP systems to large manufacturing companies began to slow, some vendors changed their focus to smaller companies. According to a survey by AMR research reported in Modern Materials Handling, the overall market for ERP systems grew 21 percent in 1998, despite the fact that sales to companies with greater than $1 billion in revenues declined 14 percent during the same period. "ERP applications are no longer just the stuff of huge corporations," Constance Loizos noted in Industry Week. "While billion-dollar manufacturing companies are now completing their ERP implementations, mid-size customers—witness to the improved business processes of manufacturing market leaders—are beginning to refine their own operations…. Invariably the mostsubstantial reason for companies to implement ERP is that without it, staying competitive is a practical impossibility. The business world is moving ever closer toward a completely collaborative model, and that means companies must increasingly share with their suppliers, distributors, and customers the in-house information that they once so vigorously protected."
Of course, small and medium-sized companies—as well as those involved in service rather than manufacturing industries—have different resources, infrastructure, and needs than the large industrial corporations who provided the original market for ERP systems. Vendors had to create a new generation of ERP software that was easier to install, more manageable, required less implementation time, and entailed lower startup costs. Many of these new systems were more modular, which allowed installation to proceed in smaller increments with less support from information technology professionals. Other small businesses elected to outsource their ERP needs to vendors. For a fixed amount of money, the vendor would supply the technology and the support staff needed to implement and maintain it. This option often proved easier and cheaper than buying and implementing a whole system, particularly when the software and technology seemed likely to become outdated within a few years.

Pasted from <http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=ERP&gwp=16>