SAP launches new ERP, CRM software

The Sapphire Customer Conference (now underway in Orlando, Fla.) is known for its product launches, and yesterday SAP entered the fray with an interesting new hybrid of on-demand and on-premise CRM product; a new version of SAP’s core ERP product was also releases. These programs and the concomitant publicity represent yet another bid in SAP’s attempt to invest in all areas of the web-based service-orientated market. SAP CRM 2006, to be available in the coming weeks, promises to allow businesses a choice between an on-demand subscription-based pricing model, an on-premise license model or even a combination of both.

“The whole idea is to give customers choice,” said SAP board member / customer solutions and operations president Leo Apotheker, sounding like a populist. According to press material, Apotheker envisions a business world in which clients seeking to introduce CRM would start with an on-demand model and move to an on-premise model after CRM operations are built up. Alternatively, Apotheker suggests, a business may prefer to run a single CRM application on an on-demand model and others on-premise; the SAPer also noted that the software’s single code base allows users to move back and forth, “which is an industry first.”

The new CRM suite, includes SAP’s new sales and marketing on-demand applications in addition to enhancements including financial services leasing and account origination, public sector grants management and life-sciences contract management. SAP also announced the global availability of mySAP ERP 2005 at the conference. This is the latest version of the company’s core enterprise resource planning software, which runs on the NetWeaver integration middleware. The application suite offers more than 300 product enhancements including improved management dashboards and new credit-management capabilities.