Further info on SAP hybrids

Recently, SAP has announced plans to move its entire CRM suite to a hybrid model by 2007, and that strategy will begin with the SAP CRM 2006s to be released this summer, stated company PR. The CRM 2006s will be hybrid applications of on-premise or on-demand modes. The new SAP programs will be web-enabled and employ a single user interface for both deployment models.

The single UI is a significant move forward, as it seeks to make both dual-purpose model deployment and customer transition more attractive by reducing user training and adoption issues. SAP has supported a single data model since the on-demand version was released in February. SAP product and technology group senior vice president Bob Stutz claimed that “from a strategic perspective on demand does work. Customers could use on demand for ever because it suits the business or division. It really is an individual choice.

It is not about it being an on ramp, it is about giving options and choices. We have the ability to do that seamlessly. You don’t have that with SaaS vendors and the cost of transition is expensive." Not all 2006s functions will be available on demand, and those requiring tight integration to the back office will only be available via the on-premise version. The plan is to gradually move to a position where a large fraction of functionality will be available regardless of deployment model. Key functional additions include loyalty and points management, pipeline management and what-if scenarios. Extra vertical functionality for financial services, life sciences, public sector, and telecommunications are also promised.

The hybrids and the slated myriad of other releases is part of the bid to fulfill the corporation ambition of becoming the CRM leader in best-of-breed and best-of-suite and grow its overall SAP customer base from 30,000 today to 100,000 by 2010. "The pure plays are gone,” said Stutz, dismissing thoughts of competition for the new products. “Siebel has gone – it is slowly being chopped up by Oracle," said Stutz. "Pure-play CRM is not a good place to be right now, [because] you can only go so far before you push into the back end. You have to play in the back-office space." Stutz believes the combination of simplicity, flexibility, and multiple deployment models will be a winning combination.