SAP looks to partners

By Warwick Ashford for SAP

Johannesburg, 31 Mar 2006

South African companies are among the business partners set to benefit from SAP's new strategy to quadruple its customer base and double in size by 2010, according to SAP Africa chief executive Claas Kuehnemann.

At the opening of a countrywide SAP partner ecosystem road show in Bryanston yesterday, Kuehnemann said SAP's business partners are key to achieving these targets and would now benefit from a much stronger and more clearly defined support infrastructure.

"Admittedly, committing to these targets publicly is a bold move because the market is unforgiving, but based on market analysis and belief in a partner-focused strategy, we are confident we will succeed," said Kuehnemann.

To overcome the perception that its products are aimed exclusively at large enterprise and to engage the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) market segment between enterprise and small business, SAP has chosen a hybrid of the go to market strategies used for the market extremes.

SAP plans to sell to the SME market exclusively through channel partners, but also engage more directly with those customers who require a higher level of specialisation than that offered by the existing 28 industry-specific products.

Kuehnemann said SAP will work with partners wherever customers need solutions that break new ground, such as a new small industry where SAP has not been active in the past.

"A generic approach will never work in the sophisticated SME market, where we believe success is dependent on our ability to meet the highly specific requirements of industry verticals and even micro-verticals, which is why business partners are crucial to our strategy."

According to Kuehnemann, the ability to deliver specialised solutions through its partners based on industry expertise differentiates SAP's offering from the more generic products of competitors.

"We are assured of success because specific industry expertise takes time to acquire and cannot be replicated overnight," he said, alluding to Microsoft's apparent plans to challenge SAP's NetWeaver with its evolving suite of business applications.

Describing the local IT market as mature, buoyant and open to innovation, Kuehnemann said the SME segment presented an important business opportunity for SAP's business partners as well as the company itself.

To illustrate how business partners could benefit from SAP's ability to take solutions to the global market, Kuehnemann cited the example of a solution developed by a partner that was sold through SAP to Sasol to help New York Stock Exchange requirements.

"We would love to see those types of solutions coming from SA to sell to customers elsewhere in the world, and I am confident that we will see that from our partners here."