Breaking the Limits of kintone — A Complete Guide to Migrating to ERPNext

Are you experiencing any of these issues with kintone?

Three years, five years since implementing kintone... I started using kintone because I was attracted to the idea that "the team can freely create apps." It was really convenient at first. But recently, haven't you heard comments like this from people on the ground?

• 📱 "Which app is this data in again?" — With over 50 apps, no one can keep track of the whole picture.
• 📦 "I shipped the item, but the inventory figures don't match..." — Inventory management that relies on manual updates
• 💰 "Another full day at the end of the month, manually entering data into freee..." — Double data entry repeated every month
• 🏭 "Isn't the only way to calculate the timing of parts orders to use Excel?" — I can't do BOM development or MRP.
• 💸 "We'll be adding more employees next term, but that means the kintone fees will go up too..." — Ever-increasing user charges

If even one of these points resonates with you, then this article was written specifically for you.

It's not kintone's fault. kintone and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are tools with fundamentally different roles. Continuing to use these tools without understanding their "differences in function" results in tens of hours of wasted work per month and over 1 million yen in extra costs per year.

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Five "Structural Limitations" of kintone

kintone is a fantastic tool. The flexibility that allows on-site teams to create their own apps is a strength that no other tool offers.

However, as the company grows, things that are structurally impossible with kintone become apparent. This isn't a flaw of kintone, but rather stems from a fundamentally different design philosophy compared to ERP systems.

❶ App Sprawl — Uncontrollable Growth

While kintone's flexibility is appealing, the flip side is that anyone can create something with it.

Before you know it, the number of apps increases to 50, then 100, and similar apps start popping up everywhere. "Which app contains this data?" "Who created this app?" Business processes are becoming increasingly opaque.

If the number of references (lookups) between apps increases too much, it becomes difficult to predict the scope of the impact of changes. This will create apps that people are too scared to touch.

This situation will only worsen if left unattended. The complexity increases exponentially with each new app, and there's a risk that one day it will suddenly become a system that "nobody can fix."

❷ Automatic withdrawal of inventory cannot be performed.

This is the biggest obstacle for manufacturing and wholesale businesses.

It is possible to create an "inventory management app" using kintone. However, registering a shipping slip does not automatically reduce the inventory count.

To keep inventory levels accurate, you need to manually update a different app for each shipment. As long as people are involved, mistakes are unavoidable. As a result, the situation where kintone's inventory count and actual inventory do not match becomes the norm.

A 1% inventory error can result in a 3 million yen opportunity loss for a company with annual sales of 300 million yen. Lost sales due to stockouts and tied-up capital due to excess inventory are often difficult to see, leading to delayed countermeasures.

❸ Accounting and business data are disconnected.

Kintone does not have a built-in accounting function. Therefore, order and sales data must be manually entered into software such as freee, MF Cloud, Yayoi.

This "double input" is the tricky part.

• Transcription errors occur
• End-of-month closing procedures take a full day.
• Inconsistencies between sales data and accounting data are found, resulting in rework.

If we assume that an accounting staff member spends 20 hours a month on this task, that amounts to 240 hours a year. This translates to 600,000 to 1,000,000 yen being wasted on unnecessary work.

With an ERP system, accounting entries are automatically generated the moment a sale is recorded.

❹ Inability to develop MRP/BOM — Core manufacturing functions are absent

One of the most important functions for manufacturing companies is MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and BOM (Bill of Materials) development.

• "To make 100 units of finished product A, you need 300 units of part B and 200 units of part C."
• "We don't have enough stock of part B, so we need to place an order this week."

This process of "receiving an order → calculating necessary parts → checking inventory → automatic ordering" is This cannot be achieved with kintone's design philosophy. This is because MRP, the core function of ERP, is based on the premise that data is integrated into a single system.

As long as we continue to rely on Excel and manual processes, the risks of ordering errors, excess inventory, and delivery delays will never disappear.

❺ Expansion of user charges

kintone's pricing structure is monthly billing per user (prices revised in November 2024).

• The Lite course does not allow API and JavaScript customization, so the Standard course is required for practical use.

Furthermore, since kintone alone is insufficient for business operations, plugin fees will be added. It's not uncommon for plugins to cost ¥20,000 to ¥50,000 per month for features like report output, calendar integration, and workflow extensions.

This expense will continue this month and next month. The more employees we have, the higher the total cost of kintone plus plugins will become.

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With ERPNext, it's integrated from the start.

Here are five points I cited as the "limitations" of kintone. How are these issues resolved in ERPNext?

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The difference between a "kintone mindset" and an "ERP mindset"

Let's take a moment to clarify the differences in our perspectives. Understanding the differences between kintone and ERP systems helps you realize that it's not a matter of "which is superior," but rather that they "have different roles."

kintone is ideal as a tool for quickly solving on-site problems. ERP is a system that connects all of a company's operations in a single pipeline.

As a company grows, and the need arises for cross-departmental data integration and integrated management of inventory, manufacturing, and accounting— This doesn't mean that "kintone has reached its limits," but rather that "the company has moved on to the next stage."

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Migration Roadmap — 3 Steps

It's natural to think, "Migrating to an ERP system sounds like a huge undertaking." However, there are almost no cases where companies that have successfully transitioned have switched over company-wide all at once. Everyone is proceeding in stages.

Step 1: Try ERPNext.JP's 30-day free trial (zero risk)

Let's start by trying it with zero cost and zero risk.

• The ERPNext.JP trial environment can be issued in 1 minute.
• No credit card required — No worries about automatic billing
• Check the user experience by inputting actual business data.
• Fully supports Japanese, includes demo data for immediate use.

You can check whether it's suitable for your business operations without spending any money. If it doesn't suit you, simply leave it as is. You don't even need to go through the cancellation process.

Step 2: Migrate core business operations to ERPNext

If we determine during the trial that it's "usable," we'll first migrate our core business processes to ERPNext.

• Order Management — From quotation to order placement to shipment to invoicing, all in one seamless process.
• Inventory Management — Automated management of incoming and outgoing goods ensures that actual inventory always matches the recorded inventory.
• Accounting — Sales and purchase journal entries are automatically generated. Free yourself from manual data entry using software like freee.

At this stage, elimination of duplicate data entry, improved inventory accuracy, and faster monthly closing are achieved. This is the step where many companies find themselves thinking, Why didn't we do this sooner?

Step 3: Gradually integrate or continue using the remaining kintone applications.

Once our core business operations are stable with ERPNext, we will organize the remaining applications in kintone.

• If integrating: Migrate daily reports, CRM, workflows, etc. to ERPNext. Cancel kintone to further reduce costs.
• If you continue using both: If the team is already familiar with kintone, continue using it as is. Data will be automatically synchronized via API integration.

You can choose either route. The important thing is that you can proceed at your own pace.

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Cost Comparison — Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over 5 Years

There are costs associated with "not moving." Let's compare what happens if you continue using the current system for five years versus migrating to ERPNext.

Furthermore, even more significant than cost savings is the reduction of effort.

• End-of-month data entry into accounting software: Zero
• Manual inventory update: Zero
• Data matching between apps: Zero

This eliminates 20 to 40 hours of manual work per month. In terms of labor costs, this translates to an annual saving of 1 to 2 million yen.

In other words, when you combine cost reductions and labor cost reductions, you can make a difference of up to 15 million yen or more over five years.

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One Year Later: Companies That Make the Transition vs. Companies That Don't

Finally, try to imagine the future one year from now.

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