Event Summary
On
December 14th, at the eBusiness Conference & Expo in New York, SAP AG (NYSE
ADR: SAP) announced over 5,000 users in North America have embraced Application
Hosting with mySAP.com since January 1999. Application Hosting with mySAP.com
enables small to medium-sized businesses to use business software over the Internet.
"By
using Application Hosting with mySAP.com, customers can implement their inter-enterprise
solution by using preconfigured applications known as SAP Accelerated Solutions,"
said Tom Melchiore, director of Application Hosting, SAP America. "Together
with our certified application hosting partners, SAP enables customers to instantly
and cost-effectively participate in a collaborative global village."
SAP Accelerated Solutions are industry-specific solutions that offer preconfigured,
business processes to streamline the time, cost and resources required for small
to medium-sized companies to implement SAP solutions. There are currently 10
SAP Accelerated Solution areas: Automotive, Consumer Products, Enterprise, Financials,
High Tech, Human Resources, Public Sector, Retail, Service Provider and Chemicals.
Through
Application Hosting with mySAP.com, prospects can "test-drive" solutions using
the SAP Internet demonstration and evaluation service, which enables customers
to evaluate mySAP.com solutions online. After making a decision, customers can
choose to implement their solution in a hosted environment from SAP, or one
of its partners.
Market
Impact
This
announcement comes at a time of convergence. Digital market place, or "netmarket"
vendors, and ERP vendors are focusing on efficiency solutions coupled with web
delivery mechanisms. This is producing technology partnerships, (eg: Peoplesoft
and Commerce One, SAP with Hewlett-Packard, American Express and Tradex) in
an effort to deliver comprehensive Internet based solutions. The result is ERP
vendors are expanding their offerings, not only by web-enabling them, but working
to create a full service environment.
SAP's
focus is small to mid-sized organizations looking to leverage web technology
to improve business efficiencies. If the remaining components, such as "mySAP.com"
and the "SAPmarketplace" are as well planned and deliver functionality, we expect
them to enjoy a similar success. This will lead to an accelerated adoption rate
of SAP web solutions in the next 4 to 9 months.
User
Recommendations
We believe that SAP has launched a well planned initiative through forming partnerships
with service providers, creating an environment where users can test drive solutions,
and making the the solutions easy to implement.
Application
Hosting with mySAP.com provides an opportunity to test before buying for those
organizations considering an ERP solution that fit into the SAP's Accelerated
Solution model. Further, the time spent checking out the application may provide
SAP and its partners time to further streamline the solution. (For more information
see TEC News Analysis article: "SAP/HP
on the Web Together" Janauary 7th, 2000).