Partnerships should make the SAP products better.
(Photo: Bert Bostelmann / picture folio for Handelsblatt)
Dusseldorf A warehouse navigation system, a QR code scanner, a list of tasks: SAP has developed an app designed to make warehouse work more efficient. While the workers are on the move, the warehouse operator feeds the data about the delivery into the software manufacturer’s management system.
The clear design for use on the go, which probably surprises users of complex SAP programs, is no coincidence: it is the result of a partnership with the iPhone manufacturer Apple.
Customers who use apps for Apple devices to organize their logistics benefit from simple handling, said SAP boss Christian Klein on Tuesday at the Sapphire customer conference in Orlando, Florida – “and that makes our solutions stronger”.
At the event, the software manufacturer traditionally does not present any major innovations, but rather a long list of small improvements to the product portfolio: from new functions for the sustainability platform to a project for the use of cryptocurrencies in a corporate context.
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What was particularly striking this year was how strongly SAP management emphasized the importance of partnerships, says Holger Müller, analyst at Constellation Research, the Handelsblatt. “That’s not the approach of the ‘old’ SAP,” he concludes. The company used to claim to develop everything itself – “that didn’t always work, and when it did it wasn’t always good enough”.
23,000 partners, from Accenture to Ecovadis
The role of partners is growing. The approximately 23,000 IT service providers, system integrators and software manufacturers advise companies, help with the introduction of programs and develop extensions. They serve a significant portion of the approximately 440,000 customers and conclude more than 80 percent of all new contracts. The group cannot do this alone.
However, the relationship is currently changing: the partners should play a greater role in product development. “Partnerships enrich our portfolio and strengthen our value proposition,” said Klein.
There has been a conscious change at SAP over the past year, said Julia White, who has been responsible for partnerships with the Marketing and Solutions board department for a year.
The group wants to consciously decide which products and functions it develops itself and where it offers the solutions of other companies. “I’m committed to doing more with the ecosystem.”
The partners presented at the Sapphire included consulting firms such as Accenture and McKinsey, IT providers such as Microsoft and IBM, but also the industrial group Siemens, the PC manufacturer Lenovo and the data supplier Ecovadis. And the projects range from the introduction of cloud services and the easier setup of logistics robots to the tracking of electronic waste.
Large SAP portfolio: “It doesn’t work without focus”
These changes are no accident. “For SAP, one of the greatest challenges is to further develop all of the many products,” says Holger Müller. “You can’t do it without focus. That’s why partnerships are necessary,” explained the analyst, who advises customers on IT projects for Constellation Research.
SAP has a broad portfolio: The group develops software for finance, production, marketing and data analysis, as well as special solutions for 25 different industries, many of which need to be renewed. At the same time, he formulates the claim to map business processes completely and consistently, for example from the factory to the customer.
The effort is gigantic. SAP boss Klein therefore repeatedly emphasizes that a focus is necessary. Last year, for example, the group spun off its business with banks and insurance companies into the joint venture Fioneer.
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In addition, software manufacturers such as SAP are dealing with increasingly complex problems. Take sustainability as an example: measuring CO2 emissions requires data on energy consumption in production and logistics, but also from suppliers and consumers. “Sustainability is a team sport,” said Klein. The “Who’s Who” of the consulting industry also belongs to the approximately 40 partners of SAP.
But one thing is important in the partnerships, emphasizes analyst Holger Müller: Even if the software manufacturer relinquishes responsibility for certain products, it must continue to present concrete plans for product development, so-called roadmaps. “SAP has to tell the customer: What is coming when – and what isn’t?”
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