More for One and One for all

SAP AG representatives today announced the introduction of new e-commerce and web-based capabilities for SAP Business One. Specifically designed for the small- and mid-size enterprise market, the integrated application seeks to assist companies in setting up online stores easily and deploying customer relationship management software quickly and simply via the Internet. The SAP strategy here is to extend the reach and accessibility of SAP Business One to a new set of users.

The SAP brain trust believes that the demand is on the increase among small- and mid-sized enterprises to make e-commerce and CRM core parts of their businesses. SAP will incorporate the new e-commerce and CRM capabilities through the recently completed acquisition of former long-term SAP Business One partner, Minneapolis, Minn.-based Praxis Software Solutions. Through Praxis, SAP will integrate the acquired technology and Praxis employees into SAP Business One operations. Strategically speaking here, the transaction was in line with SAP’s stated mission to fulfill “targeted, fill-in acquisitions that add superior functionality to [the SAP] portfolio while continuing to grow its business organically.” In press material regarding the refinements and acquisition, SAP cited some recent research to support their recent strategizing.

In a Yankee Group survey, small- to mid-sized enterprises surveyed ranked integration of the company website alongside accounting and inventory among the most pressing technology problem areas. Meanwhile, most e-commerce and web-based CRM is more appropriate for the smaller business, and these are among the largest growth areas in business software for such. As SMEs have expanded their sales channels with e-commerce, goes the argument, “the associated data has remained siloed (sic) in e-commerce systems.” Praxis essentially offers e-commerce and web-based CRM capabilities enter user hands through NetPoint Commerce, a fully integrated e-commerce package designed for those wishing to sell and market online; and NetPoint Focus, the online CRM package that allows access to SAP Business One CRM functionality with a web-based user interface.

The integration is a logical (and for customers, cheaper for the nonce) extension of each product. Both are currently available as extensions but will be integrated into the solution’s core development. SAP spokespeople have promised to continue investment in the products, both in functionality and in support of the SAP hybrid delivery approach. SAP Business One is a single software solution designed for enterprises of ten to one hundred employees. The product is available in forty-one national versions used by over 10,000 customers and delivered by a network of 1,200 partners.

A flexible platform, the SAP Business One portfolio now sports more than 250 seamlessly integrated solution extensions developed by a worldwide network of ISV partners. SAP applications are today used by more than 33,200 customers in 121 countries. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver platform, SAP software has been deployed in more than twenty-five industries, including the high-tech, retail, financial service, healthcare and public sectors.