ORLANDO, FLA. – At its annual user conference here, SAP AG announced on Tuesday that it has expanded its alliance with IBM Corp. in order to meet the demands of small and midsized businesses (SMBs).
According to a statement released by SAP, IBM will work with SMB customers to help them realize the benefits of the mySAP All-in-One industry-specific solutions.
IBM has built the mySAP All-in-One solution portfolio with 27 vertical and horizontal solutions, which will now be available worldwide due to its agreement with SAP.
According to the company, IBM will also introduce a new pre-packaged solution for the wholesale distribution industry based on mySAP All-in-One in the U.S., designed to serve electrical goods wholesalers, hardware plumbing and heating suppliers and machinery equipment suppliers.
The IBM solution is designed to help customers manage key business processes including finance, sales, production planning and logistics more efficiently, SAP said.
IBM, along with other business partners, will offer mySAP All-in-One solutions globally and have already begun piloting this offering in some European countries as well as in Japan and Australia.
SAP America Inc. has also announced a mySAP prepackaged software product in partnership with BearingPoint Inc., targeted at SMBs.
This product – which boasts a 10 week implementation period – is targeted at high-tech electronic device businesses and can support the financial, sales, operations, materials and manufacturing needs of small and midsized high-tech electronics companies.
Also on Tuesday, SAP released new versions of its mySAP customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) software applications.
According to the company, both run off the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, which enables multichannel interaction processes through a collaborative services architecture.
The new CRM 4.0 platform was designed to focus on the industry-specific needs of customers including: automotive; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; engineering, construction and operations; consumer goods; high tech; industrial machinery and components; leasing; media and entertainment; oil and gas; professional services; public sector; retail; telecommunications; and utilities.
Volkswagen Group worked with SAP to develop new processes for the automotive industry including customer relationship and vehicle management. According to a statement released by SAP, this new process will allow automotive companies to track and monitor information about its customers along with business transactions, the configuration of vehicles and the vehicle life cycle from the perspective of the customer for as long as the customer owns the vehicle.
This technology will allow automotive organizations to institute fraud protection, market to used car buyers and manage spare part planning while creating new individual sales, service and marketing strategies, SAP said.
According to SAP, mySAP CRM provides a modular approach, which enables customers to deploy the industry processes and core functionality in phases, according to strategic priorities and return on investment (ROI).
On the SCM side of mySAP, the company introduced version 4.0, a program developed to provide customers in the process manufacturing and consumer products industries with more than 20 new processes and more than thirty process enhancements. Available June 30, the offering will help users build their supply chain networks, the company said, and provides customers with vendor-managed inventory (VMI), supplier-managed inventory (SMI) and trade promotion management (TPM) which together link promotion planning between CRM and SCM.
SAPPHIRE runs from June 16 to June 18. SAP Canada can be found online at www.sap.ca.