Top SAPPHIRE + ASUG 2007 Takeaways

By Sam Sliman
President, Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.

SAP representatives, customers and solution providers gathered at SAPPHIRE + ASUG ’07 in Atlanta last week in record numbers. As always, this annual marquee SAP event was not short on fanfare, but beyond the hype, there was a pronounced earnestness among SAP customers to delve deeply into best practices, insights, and expert advice that would enable their organization to achieve and maintain maximum profitability, efficiency and growth.

Here are some of the top SAPPHIRE + ASUG ’07 Takeaways as reported from the trenches.

SAP MDM moves beyond hype

A certain amount of hype precedes all major enterprise technology breakthroughs, and SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management (SAP MDM) is not exempt. But at SAPPHIRE ’07 there was a discernable trend of MDM prognostications giving way to pragmatic, hands-on approaches for the strategic implementation of MDM across complex, heterogeneous SAP environments.

Many SAP customers must synchronize a large number of legacy systems as well as several, if not dozens, of SAP systems-each of which has some need for master data, and each of which has its own format and business rules for how master data is defined and used. While the ultimate SAP MDM endgame may be to enable all enterprise applications to work off the same master data, the prevailing SAP MDM implementation practice today is a controlled, sustained approach that begins with a single data domain and proceeds methodically in an iterative manner to support subsequent data domains, leveraging lessons learned along the way and implementing strict, often new data governance processes and rules for how additions, deletions, and updates are initialized, approved and propagated.

Customers embrace mySAP ERP 2005 and new upgrade policy

It has been nearly six months since SAP announced that mySAP ERP 2005 would remain its core ERP platform through 2010, and that, moving forward, the company would do away with its long-standing practice of issuing monolithic upgrades of its ERP system. Instead SAP will issue smaller, more easily implemented functional enhancement packages that allow customers to pick and choose new capabilities that tightly align with specific business needs.

For SAP customers that are running their business today on R/3 Enterprise, SAP 4.6 version or below, the business drivers for upgrading to mySAP ERP 2005 arise from the enhanced functionality and faster, more flexible business process innovation capability enabled by this solution’s service-oriented architecture (SOA). Lower maintenance costs and lower cost of ownership are also factoring heavily into decisions to upgrade.

There is a consensus growing among SAP customers that ECC 6.0, the core of mySAP ERP 2005, is a mature and stable product. And because mySAP ERP 2005 will remain SAP’s ERP platform for the next several years, customers have the visibility and stability they need to innovate. Also, performing future upgrades via smaller, less costly functional enhancement packages makes it easier to build an ROI case for upgrading and allows customers to selectively choose and integrate only those functional components they need.

The call resounds for SAP business process experts

The SAP business process expert is a unique individual who combines a mastery of enterprise technology architecture with deep expertise in global business process design and execution. Straddling the IT and business worlds, the business process expert is a skilled and capable translator who eliminates the friction between IT and business, facilitating meaningful and productive dialogue. Something of an über-consultant, a business process expert combines business insight and IT know-how to drive business process innovations quickly and routinely.

Just prior to SAPPHIRE, SAP announced that its BPX community had surpassed 100,000 members. Which is good because as more and more SAP customers embrace service-oriented architecture (SOA) and the SAP NetWeaver platform, the need dramatically increases for consultants who possess in-depth knowledge of core SAP applications and extended components, as well as proven business process subject matter expertise. The specialized skills and experience of an SAP business process expert enable organizations to harness the full potential of SOA and the SAP NetWeaver platform.

More on SAP’s mid-market play

While SAP made no official announcement regarding its highly anticipated, highly hush-hush, hosted solution for the mid-market, the A1S demonstration at SAPPHIRE generated considerable buzz.

Based on the NetWeaver platform, A1S will complement SAP’s existing mid-market product SAP Business One and SAP All-in-One. A hosted solution, A1S is comprised of self-contained application process components that can be mixed and matched as needed by customers. While no definite time has been set, it is expected that A1S will be ready for market late 2007/early 2008.

Together with SAP All-in-One and SAP Business One, A1S rounds out SAP’s mid-market offering. SAP plans to have 100,000 mid-sized customers by 2010, accounting for 40% of the company’s software revenue. To scale, sell and service to this volume, it’s no secret that SAP must rely more than ever before on its growing partner ecosystem.