SAP Initiatives Reinforce Commitment to the Region and Accelerate Customer and Partner Adoption of SAP NetWeaver
Singapore — SAP Asia Pacific has seen an increase in customers adopting enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) as momentum continues to build for SAP NetWeaver®, SAP’s composition platform designed to help companies innovate business processes and fuel growth. Leading companies such as Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd are turning to SAP NetWeaver, the foundation for enterprise SOA, to optimize their existing IT landscapes and reduce total cost of ownership – while preparing for future business growth. Additionally, with the introduction of new initiatives focused on growing the ecosystem and promoting co-innovation, partners such as Cognizant are adopting the SAP NetWeaver platform to build new solutions addressing key customer requirements.
“The market is experiencing a radical shift in mindset as IT proves its mettle as an enabler of business innovation and growth,” said Simon Dale, vice president and chief technology officer, SAP Asia Pacific. “By adopting enterprise SOA – powered by SAP NetWeaver – companies are able to stay ahead of the challenges of complexity and demands of market changes in order to empower information workers.”
Accelerated Customer Adoption
As IT organizations look to optimize their existing infrastructures and enable business process innovation, customers are recognizing the flexibility, agility, and competitive advantages of adopting an enterprise SOA.
“Business Process Virtualization is a fundamental building block for organizations that want to implement a service-oriented architecture,” said Anant Phenany, assistant general manager, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. “SAP NetWeaver offers a platform that enables composition and integration which maps to business process. This empowers organizations to adapt changes seamlessly and compete in an open e-business environment.”
SAP’s Extends Investments to Grow the Platform
SAP recently announced two new global initiatives supporting the development of the ecosystem. The first is the establishment of a global SAP NetWeaver fund of US$125million, targeted to grow the ecosystem of qualified independent software vendors (ISVs) building next-generation composite applications on the SAP NetWeaver platform. ISVs in Asia Pacific, seen as among the key beneficiaries of this fund, will be able to take advantage of this continuous investment in recruitment, partner enablement, training and joint go-to-market activities. Today, of the 400 solutions offered as part of the “Powered by SAP NetWeaver Partner Program,” 40 solutions are offered in Asia Pacific – with 30 percent having migrated from competing Java platforms onto SAP NetWeaver.
The second initiative is the Enterprise Services Community, a collaborative, cross-industry program enabling partners and customers to define and influence the way software is developed and deployed to solve evolving business requirements. Endorsed by SAP’s ecosystem of customers, ISVs, technology partners and system integrators, it is the only community that focuses on identifying and defining enterprise services while protecting individual member companies’ core intellectual properties.
SAP continues to surge ahead with increased market development activities such as the 2006 World Tour series, which includes 12 cities in Asia Pacific. Targeted at the business user, these events address the business innovation needs of SAP customers. The events provide the opportunity to receive first-hand information from key management executives about SAP’s go-to-market strategy and latest developments in software and service offerings. Also scheduled for rollout in the Asia-Pacific region in Q3 is the 2006 NetWeaver Technology Tour. There are 17 stops planned across Asia Pacific to bring enterprise SOA ‘live’ to corporate developers and ISVs through hands-on workshops and detailed expert sessions.
“Businesses should be looking at how they can use IT not just for efficiency but also to facilitate business growth, and SAP is enabling this through a business process-driven approach to SOA,” said Dale. “mySAP ERP 2005 provides businesses with a solid foundation for future success, allowing them to achieve and sustain excellence in core operational areas. It delivers on SAP’s promise of enterprise SOA: the high levels of flexibility and adaptability needed to innovate and address today’s business challenges, and the capabilities end-users require to do their jobs effectively and efficiently.”
SAP’s Co-Innovation Platform with Partners
Customer adoption of composite applications in Asia Pacific continues to grow, especially with the recent launch of a co-developed product, Duet™ software for Microsoft Office and SAP (formerly known as project Mendocino). Duet aims to simplify the way information workers access and use information, enhancing self-service processes such as time, budget, organization, travel and leave management through Microsoft Office. Future versions are expected to extend other self-service and line-of-business processes in the mySAP™ Business Suite through Microsoft Office.
Partners are also increasing their own investments in SAP NetWeaver. Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH), a leading provider of IT services and one of SAP’s Powered by NetWeaver ISV partners, recently announced the opening of a multi-million-dollar SAP NetWeaver Test Center at its techno-complex in Bangalore, India, with an initial capacity of 200 expandable to 600.
“We are committed to making ahead-of-the-curve investments to meet growing customer demand to enable next-generation solutions on SAP NetWeaver,” said Lakshmi Narayanan, president and CEO, Cognizant.
The company has also developed two solutions (Waste-Trace and Yardelligent), targeted at the chemicals and automotive industry respectively, on the SAP NetWeaver platform.
Securing Developers’ Mindshare
Asia Pacific continues to be the fastest-growing region in the world for the SAP Developer Network (SDN) with approximately 70,000 unique members at the end of Q1, accounting for over 24 percent of SDN’s global membership. Additionally, more than 30 percent of the unique visitors to SDN each month came from Asia Pacific, with India having the highest number of visitors followed by Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea.
SDN is an active online community where ABAP, Java, .NET, and other cutting-edge technologies converge to form a resource and collaboration channel for SAP developers, consultants, integrators, and business analysts. SDN hosts a technical library, expert blogs, exclusive downloads and code samples, an extensive eLearning catalog, and active, moderated discussion forums.
