The newest feature pack, 2.6, for Business ByDesign follows version 2.5 released last July. Now that Business ByDesign is generally available, with 250 customers already using it, the Germany-based software vendor has set a modest target of 1,000 users globally by end of 2011.
But when the hosted suite was originally launched in beta in 2007, SAP had set a much higher target of 10,000 users by end of 2007. General availability, however, was hindered by problems of scalability and multi-tenancy.
In the meantime, said Wallis, there has been substantial adoption of cloud computing in areas such as sales force automation, recruiting and collaboration, limited adoption in platform-as-a-service and cloud-based server and storage computing, and definite interest in private cloud computing. However, he added, “ERP and related integrated horizontal enterprise applications have been slower to be adopted.”
Feature pack 2.6 comes with capabilities including extended mobile support to the iPad and BlackBerry in addition to existing support for the iPhone, as well as in-memory-powered sales and financial planning modules.
SAP Canada’s national vice-president of small-to-medium enterprises and indirect sales, Rene Guguere, couldn’t speak to specific user adoption targets for Canada for Business ByDesign, but did say it will be “something that makes sense.”
The tendency for any vendor, acknowledged Guguere, is to set lofty expectations for user adoption but “we’re going to be realistic in Canada and overachieve those goals this year.”
Guguere said there will soon be a salesforce in place in Canada to bring Business ByDesign to market.
That said, Wallis thinks Business ByDesign has the advantage of an “SAP stamp of approval, which, in a market so critical to business success is important.”
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