SAP looks to small businesses for new markets

Global software giant SAP is moving to extend the company's software expertise to a new segment of the small and midsize business (SMB) market in South Africa through a strategy which includes new channel partners and the launch of new products later this year.

SAP is not alone in courting SMB clients. Oracle and Microsoft, through its CRM and Great Plains initiatives, have also repositioned their businesses to embrace smaller organisations, so SAP's decision to adjust its focus is not surprising.

What is surprising is the depth and breadth of SAP's small business offerings. This is not a watered down version of an enterprise-class business computing solution. It's the real deal, and it's available for South African businesses today.

Patricia Martins, manager of SAP's SMB division, says SMBs want what big businesses want - an affordable, simple and powerful solution.

"SMBs want a trusted advisor that focuses on delivering a real value," says Martins. "And they want it priced right and functional out of the box."

SAP this week announced that it had stepped up its partnerships with local solutions providers SCT Services and EPI-USE, who offer solutions aimed at coping with the budget and infrastructure requirements of the smaller business.

According to EPI-USE director James Brits, the SAP partnership is of great value. "We are extremely excited about this new opportunity, it expands our market potential and also provides EPI-USE an opportunity to capitalise on its experience gained from SAP HR implementations completed to date."

"Specialised, niche needs are paramount in the SME market - generalised solutions are not the best option," says Martins. "Achieving this customisation is the role our partners play, basing their solutions on our core technology which we have scaled into products that can handle as few as five users but which offer many of the abilities of our enterprise solutions."

SCT Services CEO Victor van der Watt agrees. "By drawing on SAP's best practices that were developed over many years, we were able to deliver an All-in-One consumer product that is cost-effective and easy-to-use."

Within the software industry, the interest in answering the needs of SMBs ties in well with the fact that many of the larger companies' development partners are small businesses themselves.

This gives them an immediate understanding of the market at the same time as they supply the technology to support small businesses exploring wider markets.

"Cost of ownership is a critical concern in the small and mid-market," said Martins. "Producing an end-to-end solution that is cost-effective is critical in serving the SME market. Many of these companies are on the cusp of breaking through into global markets and have sophisticated requirements that need to be addressed."

While many small and midsize firms have invested in multiple software applications, they often lack the ability to access the information they need, when they need it. SAP is looking to address these problems in an affordable, easy-to-implement solution.

"More and more small business owners are recognizing that business software is a tool not only to help them improve efficiency, but also to improve collaboration with customers, partners, suppliers, and distributors, ultimately giving them a competitive edge," says Martins. "SAP is now able to offer a technology entry point for growing organizations hoping to achieve that edge."