SAP News

http://websphere.sys-con.com/read/366207.htm: "SAP Fulfills 2007 Promise, Maps Out Next Five Years
Kagermann also declared that SAP has fulfilled its promise to largely deliver the first service-enabled suite of enterprise software to the market. With SAP® ERP as the front-runner, SAP is on track to service-enable all SAP Business Suite applications in 2007. Leveraging the blueprint of enterprise SOA, this flexible business process platform promises to further grow its ecosystem of software partners. By using services from SAP Business Suite applications as well as a new composition environment delivered via SAP NetWeaver, partners can compose new industry-specific solutions. Together, these advances will help organizations transform their business networks into adaptable systems of collaboration.
'Our vision for the next five years is based on the achievements of the last three years,' said Kagermann. 'With enterprise SOA now established in all of our products, we can deliver innovation to customers without disrupting their IT landscape. In the years ahead, we anticipate that the speed of change in business will continue to accelerate and that companies will need a stable, open platform that has the ability to support innovation. Enterprise SOA and the business suite we have built using this architecture is the only platform that can deliver the level of stability and flexibility organizations will need to empower the business network transformation and collaboration necessary to differentiate themselves and outpace competitors and commoditization.'"

Wild replaces SAP with Oracle applications - CBRonline.com: "Wild GmbH & Co, a privately owned manufacturer of natural flavor ingredients for the food and beverage industry and inventor of Capri-Sun, has decided to migrate from mySAP ERP to the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.
Wild decided to evaluate other vendors after realizing that its current, highly customized version of mySAP ERP 2004 had significant gaps in modeling business processes across its process manufacturing operations.

WIld selected the Oracle applications to replace its legacy SAP system based on Oracle's modern, standards-based architecture, increased flexibility and projected overall lower total cost of ownership."

IT Business: "'Business network transformation has become the primary source of competitive differentiation,' said Kagermann. 'It's about business connectivity, it's about speed, and it's about people productivity.”
Joel Martin, vice-president of enterprise software at IDC Canada, said that while SAP is doing some exciting things around Web 2.0 with its social networking initiatives, he was struck by the 'stay the course' theme of Kagermann's address.
“There's not a lot of fancy new things going on here,” said Martin. “The message to their key customers, the multi-billion dollar companies, is we're not throwing you any curveballs. We're here to support your business processes and help you execute.”
The strategy is not without its downsides though, said Martin. Oracle, by moving to consolidate the market through acquisition, is a more attractive upgrade option for companies that are already using many of the products Oracle has acquired.
“It makes it harder for SAP to go in there and compete if more and more of their platform is being consolidated with Oracle,” said Martin."

» The Post-Shai Era II Enterprise Anti-matter ZDNet.com: "Finally, the reason that the post-Shai era promises to be a good one is that the company’s German-style management culture assiduously cultivated an extremely broad array of talent, and rewarded that talent even before they were ever asked to step up to the plate and fill in for Shai. This breadth of talent starts at the board level and permeates the culture of the company all the way down. Shai himself was particularly good at hiring smart, talented people whose job descriptions did not include sycophantic agreement with everything that that top management said or did – unlike some other companies and managers I could mention (unfortunately, you don’t know who you are.)

The result was a unique transition, one that SAP should get lots of credit for engineering: most companies would have suffered the loss of a charismatic leader with a visible vacuum at the top. At SAP, there was no sense of great loss, and while no one who stepped up to the plate is necessarily as charismatic as Shai, their respective abilities to articulate the message and further the strategic goals of the company speak volumes about what collective management – as opposed to the cults of personal initiative that American companies tend to cultivate – can do in easing transition and ensuring continuity. No a bad showing after all. "

SAP swears off buying binge The Register: "That, combined with Oracle's SAP attack tactics, and the fact SAP's last year missed expectations, delivering 13.5 per cent growth instead of the anticipated 15 to 17 per cent range, has left some on Wall St feeling unsettled over SAP's prospects.
It's probable that some have been whispering in Kagermann's ear over the judiciousness of a prudent acquisition or two to help match Oracle, in the way certain analysts in the past advised Sun Microsystems to spin out Java.
Kagermann, though, held firm. Asked about the effects consolidation and competition are having in an environment where enterprise spending is down, Kagermann said he believes SAP can hover above the forces of consolidation and slow down.
'[We are] doubling the addressable market to make it clear to investors that SAP doesn't depend on [the] growth rate of the markets, and we create our own markets. We have 25 per cent market share today. If we go for 35 to 40 per cent, we will have more than double digit growth for the next few years,' Kagermann told press, analysts, and bloggers.
'Consolidation is being driven by one company [Oracle], which we are not following because it's not a good solution,' he said.
SAP claims to have taken 550 Oracle customers."

SOA Is The Future For SAP, Says Company CEO > Intelligent Enterprise: Better Insight for Business Decisions: "While companies focused on business process reengineering in the past decade, they're now starting to move toward what Kagermann calls business network transformation. That includes using SOA and SAP's NetWeaver middleware to allow companies to more easily collaborate and ease the pain of mergers and acquisitions. 'It's about agility and transformation and connecting and reconnecting business partners on the fly,' Kagermann said. 'It's about building the right infrastructure to mesh different systems in one performing network. It's about speed.'
Yet most of SAP's 39,000 clients aren't yet using these technologies. About 8,500 customers use SAP NetWeaver for integration, and about 2,574 use MySAP ERP 2005, the company's latest enterprise software suite that's based on SOA. Yet Kagermann cited a survey by SAP's main users' group, ASUG, that shows 75% of group members want to upgrade to MySAP ERP 2005 by mid-2008, and 53% want to use NetWeaver as a strategic platform. Kagermann's take was that the adoption rate was fast. 'We have established enterprise SOA, and we will see a major uptick,' he said. "

ShadowRAM: April 30, 2007 - IT Channel - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness: "• An Agassi-less Sapphire was bound to have fewer fireworks. (Last year, Shai Agassi took public exception to various Oracle marketing antics.) But there were signs of irritation last week as minions from Oracle, SAP's biggest rival, handed out Oracle bags and tried to solicit negative comments on video outside the show. Then, SAP CEO Henning Kagermann sniped at an unnamed competitor for 'consolidating the past' while SAP 'innovates the future.'
Push came to shove when a reporter referred to SAP's NetWeaver as proprietary. 'What makes you say it's proprietary?' shot back Henning.
'Well, can it work with Oracle?' asked the scribe, clearly taken aback.
'Yes,' said Kagermann.
'Does Oracle know that?' was the follow-up, to which the reply was something like 'Ask them.'
The scribe did just that.
The answer? 'NetWeaver does not work with Oracle.' "

Investor's Business Daily: SAP Response To Oracle's Lawsuit Is Considered Muted: "The matter isn't Silicon Valley's standard intellectual-property dispute. No one interviewed for this story could recall a precedent for such an unusual lawsuit in the tech industry's history. Several tech analysts and lawyers wouldn't discuss it at all, saying they wanted to stay out of the feud.
The dramatic nature of the charges — and SAP's sedate public defense — gives Oracle the upper hand, says Dezenhall, the crisis-management expert.
'The power of allegation is one of the most powerful tools,' he said. 'This suit allows Oracle to make allegations that put the adversary on the defensive.'
Oracle might be using the suit as part of a communications warfare campaign, making charges even if they don't stick, Dezenhall says. He likens it to 'throwing a refrigerator onto the train tracks.'
On a recent earnings call with financial analysts, Kagermann said the lawsuit shows that Oracle is 'trying to limit customer choices by trying to discredit their competition.'
Just how this case will be resolved is anyone's guess, says Jonathan Paul of the Tech Law Center. If Oracle does win the dispute, the punishment for SAP 'could easily run into millions of dollars in damages,' Paul said.
Whatever the outcome, Oracle's charges are already having an effect on SAP, says Brendan Barnicle of Pacific Crest Securities.
'I think Oracle is trying to rattle SAP and distract them from other things, and they're probably having some success with that,' he said."

Did Shai Agassi read The Dip by Seth Godin?: "Seth Godin recently released a new book called The Dip that fundamentally questions the belief that quitters never win and winners never quit. He argues that smart, successful people know when to quit. They recognize what fights are worth fighting, and when its time to seek out other causes. Read his excellent interview with Guy Kawasaki here. The following is a summary of the book:

Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

According to bestselling author Seth Godin, what really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you'll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip-they get to the moment of truth and then give up-or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.

So perhaps Shai read this book and decided it was time to quit SAP. A vote for green technology or a vote against SAP?"

Sales Technology The premier source of CRM & SFA information for decision makers - Current News (Home) - SAP CEO: We are not arrogant, we are the market leader

"We are not arrogant, we are the market leader. We cannot learn from the competition, but we watch them. If you look at who is running the backbone of largest companies, it is us, so we are learning from customers. They give us best the possible knowledge of what is going on in the market," Kagermann said during an interview I attended with a group of fellow bloggers.
“We believe we are in the lead,” he continued. “It’s not so much about how many clients we can take over from the competition. Enterprise software is pretty sticky. We have a clear indication of where we are heading.” Most SAP customers exist in heterogeneous environments, and have multiple, overlapping enterprise software providers. “Our first objective is to convince customers that SAP is the strategic vendor of choice,” he said. Without mentioning Oracle by name, he said, “SAP co-innovates the future while our competition consolidates the past.”
“We know there are companies out there innovating faster than us. It’s OK with me. Over time we will enter these spaces, particularly with A1S we will have an entire on demand suite.” He noted that 65 percent of SAP's revenue ($12.8 billion US in 2006) comes from small- and medium-sized businesses, what SAP calls SME (E for Enterprise). SAP has been slow to adopt the on demand model, but based on presentations by several company executive, including Chairman Hasso Plattner's discourse on the future of business suites, the tide has turned.
A1S is slated for volume shipment in 2008 and is aimed at mid-market customers, typically with 50 to 500 employees. It is more horizontal than SAP’s higher-end products, such as the A1 suite for the upper mid-market, and is designed from the ground up with an enterprise services architecture. It doesn't have the deep vertical slices of A1, but will include some vertical capabilities, such as blended manufacturing and project accounting, according to Scott Lutz, vice president of marketing for SME.
He also said that A1S will have a standard price per month per user (he mentioned $160, but he said it was just an example), no matter how much functionality of the suite is used. Customers will be able to try before they buy and deploy the end-to-end business suite within a week, he said.
NetSuite, like SAP's phantom A1S, is an on demand suite covering the sweep of back office applications. I asked Kagermann whether he viewed NetSuite as a competitor. He responded, “They have been working on it for eight years. It cannot be a very modern technology.” Workday, a company founded by PeopleSoft founder Dave Duffield, is also working on a complete business suite based on an SOA architecture, and claims that it will have feature parity with SAP in 18 months. MORE

SAP, Microsoft Detail Plans for Duet: "SAP has had some success with Duet: About 400,000 licenses have been sold in less than a year. Microsoft, however, could be stepping on its own toes by enabling SAP users—particularly those in the midmarket—to be able to work on SAP applications in the Office environment. Microsoft sells its own brand of ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications with its Dynamics line of software (a clear leg up Microsoft has is its inroads with users already familiar with Office and Outlook; the company claims it has 500 million PCs loaded with Office). Microsoft has already developed a Duet-like set of integrations between Office and Dynamics—Snaps launched in 2006—that lets Office users access data in some Dynamics applications.
Raikes said during a press conference April 24 that 'the Dynamics group is also looking at how the Officer user experience can enhance access to Dynamics. [But] the most important point today is the leadership both companies are taking together to open up the value to SAP customers.'
Apotheker had a more telling response to the potential clash between SAP applications—which have a 65 percent penetration in the midmarket, according to SAP—and Dynamics applications.
'We will meet them in the market and ace a fair, honest competition,' said Apotheker. 'It will not have any impact on Duet.' "

Introducing Leo on Managing Automation: "Insiders also say that Apotheker, in some ways, couldn't be more different from the scientist Kagermann, a professorial personality who is just as much at home talking about philosophy as technology. But they also say that Apotheker, with his reputation for relentless execution, may just be the right guy to lead SAP in the years ahead.
That's because the 53-year-old Apotheker, a child of Holocaust survivors who was born in Germany, grew up in Antwerp, and now lives in Paris, is viewed as right for the times. SAP has solidified its basic strategy around NetWeaver, its Business Process Platform, and service-oriented architecture. Now, the insiders say, SAP's future success rests on executing on this strategy in a world that is very different from that of the 1990s when R/3 catapulted the company to the top of the enterprise software market. Today's world is characterized by the need to manage innovation with customers and partners, and deliver what Apotheker calls the 'next quantum leap in business improvement.'
SAP's man from Paris, fluent in six languages and capable of unexpected flashes of humor, will have his work cut out for him should the top job eventually become his. For one thing, he will have to be that important public face at a time when SAP, at $10 billion and 40,000 employees, has become a large and complex company. He will also have to decide just how aggressive SAP needs to be in the market — he prefers the term 'assertive' — against such competitors as Oracle."

A bigger leadership shift came with the departure of Agassi. Longtime SAP executive Leo Apotheker, who leads SAP marketing as president of Customer Solutions & Operations, also became Kagermann's deputy CEO last month. President of Americas Bill McDermott added oversight of Asia-Pacific. Kagermann split among several executives the oversight of products and technology.

Agassi was "brilliant in presenting," Kagermann says, but "it's good to have several people with product experience."

Agassi's resignation is telling of SAP's unwillingness to bend its culture.

SAP was asking Agassi to serve as co-CEO alongside Apotheker for five years, and then after that, commit to at least five years as solo CEO. SAP would ask for such a commitment from anyone seeking the top spot, Apotheker says.

SAP is part of an industry in transition, and it's made changes, too--in management, in technology, and in the types of customers it's pursuing. But it also knows what it doesn't intend to change.

From:
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=199202333

Shai Agassi's (missing) Sapphire 2007 keynote: "Well-known for being passionate about the work of SAP and quick with a 'Shai-ism,' Agassi has been a must-see keynote speaker at SAP events since he took over SAP's technology development in early 2003.
Agassi resigned from SAP abruptly a month before Sapphire. Previously considered the heir apparent to CEO Henning Kagermann, he will reportedly pursue an interest in environmental policy and alternative energy sources. He had obviously prepared a keynote address."

Henning's Kagermann's keynote. « Vendorprisey: "Tim Murphy from the Design Services Team did an excellent high speed demo of some of the enterprise 2.0 developments going on here at SAP.
The slides are so much better than they used to be. Many of us at SAP will be infliciting these on folks for the next year, so to the team that worked on them, well done.
Like many SAP watchers, I was hoping for more details on A1S. All this NDA stuff really tiresome. At least I got to hang out with some of the A1S solution management team on the side. They really do exist but they were on some secret mission. I could tell you but then I’d need to use a neutraliser (I’m not quite sure how this fits in with my transparency riff earlier!)"

The name game. My My. « Vendorprisey: "I won’t play the podcast here, but perhaps we will need to rerun it in a quieter environment.
“why is everything numbered differently?”
“Is it a component is it a feature it a platform?”
“what is ECC 6.0, I’ve got 4.6c”
“Netweaver 7.0?”
“what does the s in Netweaver 2004s stand for?”
Actually perhaps we could run it like the university challenge. We could play consultant vs the marketing department.
“A starter for 10.”
“fingers on the buzzers.”
“SAP’s HR solution has had several names. For 10 points give me at least 3 of them.”
” SAP HR, mySAP HR, mySAP HCM, mySAP ERP HCM….”"

Sapphire 2007: Users talk Duet, upgrades and MDM problems: "Many companies consider a master data management (MDM) solution the way to get the most mileage out of their new analytical features. Cheryl Young, global master data manager at multinational healthcare company Johnson & Johnson in Bridgewater, N.J., had some unfortunate experience in that department.
'We actually stopped our SAP MDM project,' Young said. 'It turns out standard XML just didn't read the same in SAP, and we needed a better way to store financial data. SAP MDM simply couldn't deliver.'
Johnson & Johnson runs several instances of SAP, ranging from R/3 4.6C to ECC 6.0, so Young was here to keep the ship afloat and find new alternatives for dealing with global data quality. "

Sapphire 2007: Users talk Duet, upgrades and MDM problems: "Practically everyone SearchSAP.com spoke with had either just completed or was planning an upgrade, most of them to mySAP ERP 2004 or 2005. SAP has been advocating upgrades since announcing that there would be no more core upgrades until 2010. It seems the user community is beginning to heed the call. SAP's discontinuation of R/3 4.6x support last year may have helped drive the momentum as well.
Kathy Ward, an IT manager at oil giant Halliburton in Houston, Texas, said her company is currently running R/3 4.6C and is in the assessment phase for an upgrade to mySAP ERP 2005 next year. The plan at this point is to do a Big Bang implementation, which requires quite a bit of preliminary legwork. That's proving to be a bit of a problem, Ward said.
'We're trying to bridge the gap between 4.6C and mySAP ERP 2005, but it's hard because there's no delta training,' she said. 'I wish we had some training CDs, online education and the like, but all we've been offered by SAP so far are expensive custom classes.' "

SAP edges into on-demand - 26 Apr 2007 - Computing.co.uk: "SAP chief executive Henning Kagermann described A1S as fitting into the company’s strategy to be “fast, easy, low-risk” and insisted that the target audience is distinct from All-In-One or Business One.
A1S is aimed at the “entirely different needs of customers who are more in the low end [and] who say … we don’t need modifications or a lot of implementation services, we want you to do it for us,” Kagermann said.
However, some watchers were disappointed with the lack of detail from SAP and others doubted whether the firm’s culture and sophisticated programs would fit with the on-demand model.
“The historical problem SAP has always run into in the mid-market is that someone has to go out to sell,” said Dale Vile of analyst firm Freeform Dynamics. “The economics of the business mean you have to keep cost-of-sale to a minimum and I’m sceptical about self-implementation outside of the low-end. It’s quite a romantic idea.”"

WILD Replaces SAP with Oracle Applications: "As the world's largest private producer of natural ingredients for the food and beverages industry, WILD's motto 'We Create Great Taste' is demonstrated by the company's successful production and sale of the Capri Sun(R), Caps(R), and Soy & Joy(R) brands as well as the licensed beverage, Libella(R). WILD and its affiliated Companies employ 2,500 people, operate 17 production facilities in 12 countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia and have branches in more than 70 countries worldwide. Seeking a comprehensive technology solution that delivers the financial benefits needed to maintain its market leadership and adhere to the highest standard of quality guaranteed in its products, WILD turned to Oracle.
WILD evaluated Oracle's functionality for process manufacturing, financial consolidation, customer data handling and trade and promotion management. The Oracle E-Business Suite was also evaluated on its ability to deliver the following tangible benefits: efficiency at plant floor level, superior quality management, effective control of inventory, automation of manufacturing, increased user productivity, regulatory compliance and ultimately higher customer satisfaction and optimized profit. Deploying a comprehensive suite of applications built on top of the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware will help WILD overcome its operational challenges, while also running, securing, adapting and expanding its business through the consolidation of data into a single, global instance."

SAP earnings fail to meet expectations - International Herald Tribune: "SAP, the world's largest maker of business-management software, said Friday that first-quarter profit rose 9.9 percent because of higher product license and support fees.
The results met analysts' forecasts for sales of new software licenses, but missed expectations for earnings after a difficult first quarter, in which SAP lost a top manager and faced a lawsuit from a rival.
Net income climbed to €310 million, or $422 million, from €282 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Software and related service revenue rose 9.4 percent to €1.52 billion.
Henning Kagermann, chief executive of SAP, overhauled the company's management last month after the surprise resignation of Shai Agassi, the top software executive."

WILD Replaces SAP with Oracle Applications: " WILD decided to evaluate other vendors after realizing that its
current, highly customized version of mySAP ERP 2004 had significant gaps
in modeling business processes across its process manufacturing operations.
By implementing the Oracle E-Business Suite, WILD will be able to
streamline manufacturing processes, help eliminate the need for further
customization and focus on meeting long-term business objectives. With
Oracle, WILD anticipates strengthening its foundation for providing
customers with great tasting food and beverage products of the highest
quality, worldwide.
'An in-depth selection process and comprehensive business analysis
revealed that Oracle's flexible and integrated product functionality would
not only be a fit for WILD on an operational level, but economically it
would enable us to quickly achieve significant financial returns,' said
WILD Chairman and Owner Dr. Hans-Peter Wild. 'We also found that Oracle
Process Manufacturing, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, supports WILD's
business model far better than the SAP applications we have been using.'"

CIO India - SAP set to Expand NetWeaver Line: "Rodney Masney, global director of IT infrastructure services at Owens-Illinois Inc., a Perrysburg, Ohio-based maker of packaging materials, said there is a great deal of interest among customers in learning about SAP's SOA offerings, though his company has no plans to use them at this time.
Masney, also president of the Americas' SAP Users' Group, said that his company is currently rolling out SAP's mySAP 2004 ERP applications to its offices worldwide.
A potential downside to SAP's SOA efforts, Masney noted, is the abrupt departure last month of Shai Agassi, who was president of the SAP product and technology group and the architect of the company's SOA strategy. 'We're sad to see Shai go,' said Masney. 'He was a man of tremendous vision and breadth and depth, and a key to SAP's overall Net­Weaver platform strategy.'
The SAP spokesman contended that Agassi's departure won't affect the company's strategy and that the SOA team continues to execute Agassi's strategy."

With Disparate Applications Galore, Oracle Touts Integration -- Enterprise Applications: "Oracle describes its new Application Integration Architecture software as a way of giving customers a choice between waiting for the company's integrated Fusion applications to arrive next year and buying integration packs for must-have apps now. The first packs, which range in price from $30,000 to $90,000 per CPU, are due next month.
There's pent-up demand for Fusion, a next-generation application suite that draws from the best of Oracle's existing and acquired products, says Jose Lazares, Oracle's VP of application development. And the 2-year-old Fusion development project is on track, he says.
Easy Integration?
Oracle's packs will facilitate eight business processes, including:

Bank Account Opening
For connecting Siebel CRM to I-flex Flexcube Account Origination
Complaint And Adverse Event
For communications between Siebel Call Center and Oracle Adverse Event Reporting System
Promotional Campaigns
Links Siebel CRM Trade Promotions and Deductions to Oracle E-Business
Freight Rate Shopping And Routing
Connects Oracle Transportation Management to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

Using Application Integration Architecture, customers can start creating composite applications from Oracle's existing lines of software. Any development work they do now will be compatible with Fusion, Lazares says."

SAP says Oracle lawsuit is attempt to discredit it Reuters.com: "Kagermann told a conference call, 'We believe in the importance of intellectual property rights and we will aggressively defend against the claims made in this lawsuit.'
'However, this case is in its early stage and we will formally respond to these claims within the next weeks,' Kagermann added.
In a later conference call for analysts, Kagermann was more robust in rejecting Oracle's charges, and explicitly defended the activities of SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow, a specialist in support for companies using JD Edwards and PeopleSoft software.
SAP bought TomorrowNow in 2005 as the basis for its so-called Safe Passage programme to woo former JD Edwards and PeopleSoft clients away from Oracle, which acquired JD Edwards and PeopleSoft as part of a two-year buying spree.
'SAP and TomorrowNow are actively engaged in legitimate competition,' Kagermann said. '
'TomorrowNow's business success is all about customer choice. This lawsuit demonstrates that Oracle is trying to limit customer choice by trying to discredit the competition.'"

» Is NetWeaver Finally Hitting Its Stride? Enterprise Anti-matter ZDNet.com: "So, that leaves us with 57 percent doing NetWeaver as a strategic platform, with an additional 18 percent (the difference between 75 percent upgrading and the 57 percent doing strategic NetWeaver) planning on deploying NetWeaver without necessarily considering it strategic. If we take out the four percent that said they will never deploy NetWeaver, we’re left with 21 percent that are sitting on the fence. Or, as they say in the land of opportunity – 21 percent of the customer base is still ready to be convinced that NetWeaver might be right for them.

Does this mean that NetWeaver has arrived? I think it’s a pretty good sign. Bear in mind that an ASUG survey is not definitive – by definition it’s a self-selecting group of customers that are leaning towards SAP as a strategic partner anyway, hence their participation in the first place. And it only tells the NetWeaver story on this side of the Atlantic – which still leaves some pretty large markets unaccounted for.

But the general momentum seems to be indicative that critical mass has been achieved. It may not be in every shop, and it may not be the strategic platform of choice, but NetWeaver has arrived. Finally. "

All Eyes Will Be On SAP At Its Sapphire Customer Conference -- SAP -- InformationWeek: "That NetWeaver is a leading middleware offering for helping businesses solve their integration problems. Graf cited a Morgan Stanley survey in January of CIOs that showed 16% of respondents having purchased NetWeaver in the past year, compared with 13% who purchased IBM middleware and 4% who purchased Oracle middleware. NetWeaver was outranked only by Microsoft, with 17%. That's a big reversal from a comparable survey by Morgan Stanley in 2004, which showed SAP with just 4% of middleware purchases, Graf said, adding that SAP believes it can beat Microsoft for accounts where Java plays a big part in development. 'We have a tremendous amount of customers using NetWeaver as an integration platform,' Graf said, even if most aren't yet using it as a foundation for a service-oriented architecture. "

SAP Is Investigating Oracle's Charges Of Theft, CEO Kagermann Says -- SAP -- InformationWeek: "SAP plans to respond to Oracle's lawsuit alleging corporate data theft next week, said SAP CEO Henning Kagermann in a sit-down interview with InformationWeek Tuesday. He also indicated SAP is doing its own investigation into the charges.
'We have policies in place to ensure obligations as management,' Kagermann said. 'Nevertheless, having policies is one thing, having them enforced is another thing. We have to have a complete picture.' The company plans to file a legal response next week; Kagermann wouldn't comment as to whether it's a countersuit.
In its March lawsuit, Oracle alleges that SAP employees pretended to be Oracle customers to log on to one of the company's Web sites and copy proprietary technical and customer-support data. Describing SAP's actions as 'corporate theft on a grand scale,' Oracle claims that SAP gathered the support documentation to provide cut-rate support for Oracle products, then shift those companies to SAP products. "

MS, SAP extend Duet partnership InfoWorld News 2007-04-24 By China Martens, IDG News Service: "The Duet partnership had appeared somewhat strained last month when Microsoft unveiled plans to come out with Dynamics Client for Office and SharePoint, a new product to more tightly integrate its own rival Dynamics business applications with Office and its SharePoint Web portal. Microsoft, which has tended to focus more on small to midsize users, also promised to compete more aggressively in the enterprise applications space against both market leader SAP and number-two player Oracle Corp.
Microsoft executives positioned the Dynamics Client, due out in May, as 'a superset' to what Microsoft and SAP currently offer with Duet. For instance, unlike Duet 1.0, the Dynamics Client will provide Microsoft's customers and partners with access rights to information and processes managed by Dynamics so they can customize and build their own Office business applications. "

http://virtualization.sys-con.com/read/366207.htm: "SAP Fulfills 2007 Promise, Maps Out Next Five Years
Kagermann also declared that SAP has fulfilled its promise to largely deliver the first service-enabled suite of enterprise software to the market. With SAP® ERP as the front-runner, SAP is on track to service-enable all SAP Business Suite applications in 2007. Leveraging the blueprint of enterprise SOA, this flexible business process platform promises to further grow its ecosystem of software partners. By using services from SAP Business Suite applications as well as a new composition environment delivered via SAP NetWeaver, partners can compose new industry-specific solutions. Together, these advances will help organizations transform their business networks into adaptable systems of collaboration.
'Our vision for the next five years is based on the achievements of the last three years,' said Kagermann. 'With enterprise SOA now established in all of our products, we can deliver innovation to customers without disrupting their IT landscape. In the years ahead, we anticipate that the speed of change in business will continue to accelerate and that companies will need a stable, open platform that has the ability to support innovation. Enterprise SOA and the business suite we have built using this architecture is the only platform that can deliver the level of stability and flexibility organizations will need to empower the business network transformation and collaboration necessary to differentiate themselves and outpace competitors and commoditization.' "

» SAP and Microsoft lay out Duet roadmap Between the Lines ZDNet.com: "As I discovered yesterday, the SAP-Microsoft co-development on Duet has not been easy. Dennis Moore, who has been in charge of the Duet project, said that working with Microsoft on Duet has been a challenge.
'Our focus on the customer is somehow different from Microsoft's. We don't have a common understanding,' Moore said. 'A minority at Microsoft thought we could somehow control access to data by pulling it into a file and using Microsoft DRM.' SAP's security is far too granular to support Microsoft's idea, he said. 'Microsoft's assumption is that software has to be capable of being installed and run without support. There are certainly areas where we are learning from each other.'
SAP and Microsoft compete on the application side, with Microsoft Dynamics and SAPs similar products, but executives from both companies said it wouldn't impact Duet development. 'The key principle here is that customers want to get more value out of ERP systems and leverage their familiarity with Microsoft Office,' said Raikes, adding that Office reaches 500 million users. 'We took a major step together with SAP two years ago and the customer demand is great. The Dynamics group is looking at how Office can enhance access to business processes.' "

SAP says Project X plasters over Fusion cracks - CBRonline.com: "However Moore begged to differ.
'Oracle likes to paint Oracle as being standards-based and everyone else as proprietary. That's pretty rich given that all 28 of their business applications are written in proprietary languages.'
Moore said that SAP's own enterprise application service offerings are all standards-based around SOA. 'There are around 75 three letter acronyms that our services comply with.'
He pointed to over 13,000 customers today using the SAP NetWeaver platform to build standards-based SOA applications.
'We wish [Oracle] would stop trying to mischaracterize us as not being standards-based when in fact we've built our business applications suite on standards from day one.'
'We have in excess of 1,000 standard services and integration points to tie into SAP applications suite today.'
Moore believes that integration initiatives like Project X are symptomatic of Oracle's 'growth by acquisition' strategy. Oracle has forked out almost $20bn in buying companies like Siebel and PeopleSoft over the past three years.
'Oracle has been distracted buying companies. They have integrated people but have done nothing so far to integrate technologies.'
Moore said that strategy also has a profound impact on Oracle's ability to churn out innovative new products.
'If you decide that your strategy is not to innovate yourself but instead to just buy-up innovative companies, then it's not surprising that it doesn't lead to new innovation.' "

WILD replaces SAP with Oracle applications: "Oracle has announced that WILD GmbH & Co. KG, the world’s leading privately owned manufacturer of natural flavor ingredients for the food and beverage industry and inventor of Capri-Sun, has chosen to migrate from mySAP ERP to the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. WILD selected Oracle Applications to replace its legacy SAP system based on Oracle’s modern, standards-based architecture, increased flexibility and projected overall lower total cost of ownership.

WILD decided to evaluate other vendors after realizing that its current, highly customized version of mySAP ERP 2004 had significant gaps in modeling business processes across its process manufacturing operations. By implementing the Oracle E-Business Suite, WILD will be able to streamline manufacturing processes, help eliminate the need for further customization and focus on meeting long-term business objectives. With Oracle, WILD anticipates strengthening its foundation for providing customers with great tasting food and beverage products of the highest quality, worldwide.
_B reak_ “An in-depth selection process and comprehensive business analysis revealed that Oracle’s flexible and integrated product functionality would not only be a fit for WILD on an operational level, but economically it would enable us to quickly achieve significant financial returns,” said WILD Chairman and Owner Dr. Hans-Peter Wild. “We also found that Oracle Process Manufacturing, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, supports WILD’s business model far better than the SAP applications we have been using.” "

Dr. Dobb's Oracle Talks Up Application Integration Architecture April 16, 2007: "Oracle's promised 'Fusion' application lineup -- essentially, the converged set of functions now available across several brands -- is still on track to be rolled out in 2008, Lazares said.
Oracle is on an ambitious, two-prong app attack. The company continues to build more integration between its product islands, and it's trying to build more and more shared code and processes over time into its current brands, which include Oracle, Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards.
In many respects, Oracle and Microsoft face a similar issue. Both software behemoths field multiple ERP and business app code bases that they're trying to converge and rationalize. But Oracle customers tend to be at the enterprise level, whereas Microsoft ERP is found in smaller companies.
SAP, which is by far Oracle's biggest enterprise apps rival, is trying to manage a transition of enterprise accounts off legacy R/3 ERP and onto MySAP, while also fielding All-in-One and Business One for smaller businesses. "

Oracle reveals Project X - CBRonline.com: "Oracle's new integration and composite application strategy is great news for the thousands of users who are quite happy with their existing applications because it brings a new level of flexibility to their business application infrastructure and an opportunity to take advantage of new technologies without having to undergo an expensive and risky upgrade (in the sense that all application upgrades carry inherent risks) to Fusion applications.
It could draw attention away from the planned Fusion applications and delay adoption as users may see Project X as a reason not to upgrade, which may not be so good from Oracle's perspective.
However, Oracle's application strategy has undergone a quiet transformation over the last year or so, whereby it appears to have prioritized customer retention and related maintenance revenue over cajoling the customer base to move to its next generation technology. "

SAP poised to flick hosted ERP switch - 16 Apr 2007 - IT Week: "SAP will be under pressure to present a solid plan that will counter questions surrounding its strategy and divert attention from other recent issues.
At the end of March, Shai Agassi, an executive widely assumed to be the firm’s next chief executive, surprised observers by announcing his intention to leave the company. Agassi had been leading the German giant’s Netweaver plans to make its software platform for other software developers.
Agassi’s resignation followed on the heels of an Oracle lawsuit alleging that SAP staff had illegally accessed software and documentation.
SAP has also twice in the last year issued warnings of below-par financials and has been under pressure to make more decisive moves into on-demand software. However, SAP is renowned for its pragmatic approach to the market and is unlikely to be railroaded by recent events. “If our competition believes that this has crippled SAP, then they are in for a surprise,” wrote Thomas Otter, a solution architect in a recent blog entry. “There is a steely resolution and determination here.'"

Oracle talks up Application Integration Architecture - Platforms & Applications - www.crn.com.au: "Oracle Co-president Charles Phillips is announcing the news at the Collaborate 07 conference in Las Vegas, where several thousand Oracle applications customers and partners are gathered.

As part of Project X, Oracle will define common data objects and services in a way that they can be easily found, accessed and reused.

'We're creating a semantic model so we can use English language to define attributes and create a set of defined interfaces,' Lazares said.

In a new report, AMR Research analyst Bill Swanton described it this way: 'Oracle is defining common data objects and services for communicating among its applications using its SOA architecture, which some Oracle development groups refer to as 'the canonicals.'

'The approximately 100 objects are based on Open Application Group (OAG) object definitions, with some tweaks to maximise the usefulness among its portfolio of applications. They will be extensible for specific industry and customer needs but still upgradeable for future releases,' Swanton wrote."

Oracle unveils tool to link multiple applications: "The offering will also include Industry Reference Models, which Oracle describes as a set of tools and documentation to help users create workflows that exploit both Oracle and non-Oracle apps.
Brian Simmermon, CIO of Subaru of America Inc., said in a statement that he expects to use the new offering to manage processes on several different applications. 'By leveraging an open, standards-based architecture, we will have the flexibility to make discrete changes without disrupting the entire business process,' he said.
The first adapters, slated to ship in May, cover Oracle's Siebel CRM and Siebel CRM On Demand products."

Oracle's Project X revealed InfoWorld News 2007-04-16 By Eric Knorr: "Anne Thomas Manes, an analyst at Burton Group, characterized Oracle's AIA as 'brilliant.' Oracle has 'done a beautiful job of service-oriented design. They've defined a set of XML vocabularies that their applications can now share.' She noted that, with Oracle's multiple acquisitions, AIA has solved a problem faced by many large enterprises: creating arrays of interoperable services in a diverse application environment.
The announcement appears to target hardcore Oracle shops that already license multiple Oracle applications -- and have the stomach for multiple PIP licenses as well. But the potential for greater flexibility is there, because both the PIPs and the Oracle applications interoperate using standards that are application-independent. Ultimately, Oracle wants to create an ecosystem of third parties that can license their solutions in the AIA mix. "

SAP license negotiations: Beware of shelfware: "Having unused software around may not seem like a big deal, especially if it was obtained at a deep discount, but it can end up costing a customer in other ways. One major hit can be maintenance and support, Disbrow explained. This generally costs 15-17% of the discounted software price per year -- whether the product is used or not.
SAP's CRM modules in particular have come under scrutiny in recent years, with SAP claiming market leadership based on license revenue and Oracle responding that SAP CRM amounts to shelfware at its customer sites. It's not easy to negotiate these fees based on whether the product is used, either.
'SAP takes a pretty hard line on this,' Disbrow said. 'They say, 'We gave you this discount based on the total amount of money you were spending, and we won't reduce your maintenance and support because you're not using these modules.''
The risks associated with SAP license negotiation don't end with shelfware. Other problems that may pop up surround terms that aren't included in a contract. Disbrow called these 'missing terms and conditions' and said they often have the potential to wreak havoc on a deal. "

Oracle $3.3B Hyperion Deal Cleared: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "Oracle Receives Regulatory Clearance for $3.3 Billion Acquisition of Hyperion Solutions
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. (AP) -- Software company Oracle Corp. on Wednesday said it received regulatory clearance to acquire Hyperion Solutions Corp. for $3.3 billion.
The all-cash transaction was first announced in March.
The purchase of Santa Clara-based Hyperion is the company's largest since buying Siebel Systems Inc. in late 2005 for $6.1 billion.
Hyperion Solutions shares fell 5 cents at $51.85 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and Oracle shares ended down 26 cents at $18.59 on the Nasdaq."

SAP sees orders from mid-sized businesses climbing to 45 pct from 30 pct by 2010 - Forbes.com: "SAP (nyse: SAP - news - people ) expects its new software for mid-sized businesses - due for release in the second quarter of 2007 - to have its first 'relevant impact' on sales in 2008, reported the magazine, citing Apotheker.
'In 2009 and in 2010 we expect sales to climb massively,' Apotheker added.
The software giant expects its group sales growth for 2007 to grow faster than the worldwide software market, which analysts see rising annually by 4 pct.
The Walldorf-based company also expects sales growth in its segment targeting mid-sized businesses to grow at a faster pace than the corresponding market segment, which is seen by analysts growing at an 8 pct rate, added the report. "

Shai's resignation -- good or bad? [SearchSAP.com Editorial Blog]: "Naeem Hashmi, CRO of Information Frameworks, is another veteran expert with a few things to say about Shai debacle. His verdict is perhaps a bit less abrasive than Axel's, but there are certain similarities. Here's his guest column:
Tribute to Shai - Psychology of a Visionary
Almost two years back at the Sapphire '05, a few colleagues asked me: How were the keynotes? My reply: Most keynotes were as usual, but Shai Agassi's keynote was a 'recital'. I sensed then that the euphoria of NetWeaver implementation is wearing down the 'Mind of a Visionary.' Real implementation of NetWeaver, though will be a success, is a long proposition and the visionary mind of Shai just could not recite the same slides over and over, year after year to almost the very same crowd. "

ChannelTimes.com > News > People-Business > India's ISVs Standardize on Oracle: "With Oracle fusion middleware, ISVs no longer need a variety of proprietary middleware technologies to integrate with different components of Oracle's enterprise applications family. Instead, ISVs use Oracle fusion middleware as a common integration and business process management technology to integrate with Oracle applications.

Customers can now leverage open, complete, standards-based service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions spanning Oracle and its partner solutions. Both customers and ISVs will benefit from lower costs of implementation, accelerated delivery times and a lower cost in the event of future changes.

India and other Asia Pacific ISVs representing a variety of industries including financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, pharmaceuticals, health care and public sector have turned to Oracle fusion middleware to deliver more comprehensive offerings for their targeted markets. "

SAP Network Blogs

Dear Colleagues,

By now, I am sure you have heard that I will be leaving SAP. It has not been an easy decision, far from it. The hardest part of all was my fear of writing this one email to all of you, the people who make SAP such a great company. After six years at SAP there is nothing harder for me to do than to say goodbye and leave this great company behind. I remember five years ago, on the day I joined the SAP board, one of you asked me in a town hall meeting “why am I at SAP?” The answer I gave was that “I came to SAP to work and fell in love with the company”. That love for SAP is still in my heart. I could have not dreamed six years ago, when TopTier was acquired and SAP Portals was formed what a great journey laid ahead of me at SAP. The opportunity given to me by Hasso, my colleagues on the board and all of you across SAP to create software that makes our customers so great is an opportunity I could have only dreamed of before experiencing SAP. As I look back on our accomplishments, I’m particularly reminded of these successes – among so many:

SAP NetWeaver
Composites/xApps
Duet
GRC
Enterprise SOA
Platform ecosystem
Creation and launch of SAP Developer Network (SDN)
BusinessOne

These are just a few of the great projects that we worked on together – and we all can be proud of them…I know I am.Taking part in our wonderful SAP community, interacting with thousands of customers, and tens of thousands of our employees worldwide was an opportunity of a life time. I thank you for letting me serve my part in this great story of creativity, I thank every one of you who helped me with our shared goals. In the process of the last six years, I have learned so many things, created so many friendships, shared so many great moments that I cannot start to summarize them all without forgetting one or another. And, as you taught me so well – my emails have to get shorter for you to read them…I will now move on to my next challenge in life, hoping to apply what I have learned at SAP to create solutions for various problems that affect us all as a global tribe. I truly hope that my next set of challenges will be able to match the immense experience I gathered through my years at SAP. I leave the company with a heavy heart, feeling that I leave a home, yet I also feel that I am not leaving the family SAP has become for me. I hope to play some role in our community, and stay close to all of you – I am now your biggest fan. Thank you for all the great memories we share of those six wonderful years. What an amazing journey, what amazing people.

Best Regards, Shai

The Ponderings of Woodrow: 64,000 Steps: Or SAP’s Daunting Customer Challenge: "For as talented as its sales organization may be [and it's talented through and through], SAP's stated goal of trebling its customer base won't come by either a) hiring 3x the current field sales force or b) raising quotas threefold. This is an efficient sales organization with a high win rate as it stands. SAP is only going to come close to matching its lofty goal through FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING THE WAY IT DOES BUSINESS"

InfoWorld Tech Watch InfoWorld Oracle's Project X April 13, 2007 12:55 PM By Eric Knorr: "The buzz is that Oracle will release business process components abstracted from its huge portfolio of ERP and CRM applications -- and will provide a framework for reassembling them into new apps tailored to specific business needs.
Actually, Oracle has been throwing strong hints in this direction for awhile now, suggesting that Fusion middleware will provide the SOA infrastructure for a new, more modular world of enterprise applications.
The Oracle Web site teases that Project X will be 'an important development initiative that has been underway to unify our broad portfolio of applications and help customers close the gap between evolving business needs and IT's ability to execute.'
Ironically, one of the best descriptions of what Oracle may be up to comes from an interview I did last year with BEA CEO Alfred Chuang about the future of software.
'You will have vendors like us that will be selling platforms (and) application vendors that will be selling application components, yet they will be assembled on the fly by an end-user. End-users will be using a tool -- or they will be using templates or processes -- that will represent what their environment is. They can always go back to change the process on the fly, yet the components will continue to be usable within those processes.'"

Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : SAP: Time To Buy The Stock, Merrill Says: "But all that is in the past (well, the litigation has really just started), and Lenschow thinks the stock looks cheap. “With the risk of a weak Q1 2007 diminishing by the hour as the pre-announcement season is coming ot an end, we believe it is worth having a look at the fundamental case again, especially as the news flow in the coming months should be much more positive and as comps for SAP are getting easier,” he writes. The analyst notes that the stock trades at its lowest P/E on forward earnings since 2003."

Column: SAP's Shai Agassi is gone -- Hurray!: "What about SAP in America now?
If there are fears, I can tell those in Palo Alto not to worry. SAP will now, no doubt, take a clearer course, focusing again on application development rather than technology. But there is still a lot to be done; the ESA [enterprise services architecture] framework, especially, needs still to become a reality.
I am convinced developer satisfaction will soar from now on -- both SAP's development teams and customers'. CEO Henning Kagermann, whom I see as the true technical visionary, takes responsibility for all development, and Leo Apothéker, deputy CEO, is the man who drove SAP America's growth.
Wasn't Agassi a major proponent of 'globalization,' making SAP compliant with international standards?
That is nonsense, and always has been. SAP did not conquer the North American ERP market because it transformed itself into an American company. To the contrary, SAP had its appeal because it introduced the solid and relaxed European style of innovation to America. Customers were intrigued by German 'Wertarbeit' (quality work), just as they are when they hear Mercedes, BMW or Porsche, and ThyssenKrupp Steel.
I challenge the allegation that there was a customer demand to transform SAP into a more American company. This alleged demand was created by business analysts, who don't buy or extensively use SAP software. "

openingerpsfuture: The boring bits are a SAP's strength: " am really astonished … Can we imply that SAP’s strengths against open source competitors are only built upon boring pieces?. Does Henning see open source competitors failing on their purpose because there is no fun on building ERPs?. If that was the name of the game … and you are working at SAP … please tell your boss that our growing community encompassing now more than 50 employees and more than hundreds of individuals working for IT companies around the world is really having “fun”!!!!. But please tell him that we are not having fun for the sake of fun. And here it comes the true reason why open source will make it in the world of ERPs: Fun for the sake of building Openbravo, the leading open source ERP Company in the space. At the end experience tells us that everything that can be built on open source, is finally built on open source (see other similar projects that are building business applications successfully with open source @ the Open Solutions Alliance )'.

Anyway … I am convinced that we will see Henning in the future adapting its pitch as many others (read Gates and Ballmer) have done it. Don’t you think?"

Journey of account - Case Studies & Profiles - BizTech - Technology - smh.com.au: "Now it should be possible to have access to consolidated accounts eight days after month end. Mrs Sutton also said the newly integrated system would improve stock visibility, particularly in the US. A resource scheduling system, expected to be complete by July, is slated to cut the costs of producing travel guides by 5 per cent.
It sounds like clockwork - but behind the scenes it was a different story.
In a presentation for an SAP User Group meeting, before the US roll-out was completed, Mrs Sutton explained that the company had been on a steep information systems learning curve. While regular reviews of the project meant that it was possible to learn from problems as they arose and rejig the teams working on the project on the fly, 'We really underestimated what it would take to support SAP when we went live,' she said."

[...]

However, she admits "SAP is a big and complex beast, an integrated solution which is a lot less forgiving.
"No one would describe it as friendly or easy-to-use."

Silicon Valley Sleuth: SAP's Agassi shows his true colours: "To put it more bluntly: Agassi wanted to become CEO, but got really upset last month when SAP decided to extend the term of its current chief executive Henning Kagermann until 2009.
Agassi didn't intend on waiting for his employer to assess his skills before they propelled him to the corner office. If it wasn't the fast track to the top, Agassi preferred to spent his days back in the Israeli desert thinking about the environment. After all, he succeeded in Israel, where he failed in the US."

Does ERP matter? InfoWorld News 2007-04-09 By Ephraim Schwartz: "If there was any question about whether the ERP market was in turmoil, the recent shakeup in senior management at ERP stalwart SAP that pushed out rising star Shai Agassi should have answered it.

If you recall, Agassi was denied a job as co-CEO after SAP chairman Hasso Plattner asked current CEO Henning Kagermann to retain his position until 2009 instead of leaving the job this year. According to reports, Plattner wanted Kagermann's hand on the wheel as SAP readied the launch of new products in the coming year. That didn't sit well with Agassi, the mastermind of SAP's NetWeaver and OnDemand offerings, who was recognized as a visionary thinker willing to embrace technologies such as SOA and Web services.

The shakeup at usually sedate SAP underscored the frayed nerves in the corporate boardroom of many leading ERP vendors, as technologies such as SOA and Web services enable enterprises to turn to smaller vendors and service providers who can deliver applications that meet their demands for speed, flexibility, and low overhead. "

Thinksum: Political Turf: "So Shai Agassi left SAP ... I'm sure he was disappointed in Netweaver's lack of success. Sure SAP customers may want to use it, but relevance beyond that is nil. Why do application vendors ever think they're going to make their own proprietary stuff into a hugely successful platform (hint hint salesforce.com)? It's like when Microsoft thought it could take over programming languages with C#. Self-delusion.
One interesting thing about SAP is the culture clash between the German parent and the platform team in California. At my last company, about two years ago we entered into serious discussions with SAP about being acquired (we ended up being acquired by someone else). I participated in due diligence with folks from SAP Germany and also SAP in Palo Alto. It was clear to those of us who participated that there was an uncomfortable relationship between the groups. The Palo Alto people considered themselves smarter (I'm not sure they were), but the folks from Germany were clearly in charge. Every meeting was fraught with internal politics, all the SAP people being very careful about what they would say in front of others, and saying different things to us when we were alone in rooms.
I never met Shai Agassi, but from what I could tell he seemed more like a politician than a software person (which he kind of purported to be in leading the SAP platform vision). I'm not surprised that political involvement is part of his future plan."

SDA India : India’s Enterprise IT, IT Business, IT Services & Management :: News :: Asia Pacific’s ISVs Standardise on Oracle Fusion Middleware: "Oracle has said that Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) across Asia Pacific have deployed more than 200 solutions on Oracle Fusion Middleware.

With Oracle Fusion Middleware, ISVs no longer need a variety of proprietary middleware technologies to integrate with different components of Oracle’s Enterprise Applications family. Instead, ISVs use Oracle Fusion Middleware as a common integration and business process management technology to integrate with Oracle Applications including Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle’s JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel products. Customers can now leverage open, complete, standards-based Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions spanning Oracle and its partner solutions.

Asia Pacific ISVs representing a variety of industries including Financial Services, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Health Care and Public Sector have turned to Oracle Fusion Middleware to deliver more offerings for their targeted markets. "

Special report: SAP technology chief jumps ship - 03 Apr 2007: "Gartner’s Daniel Sholler reckons there will be fall-out from Agassi’s departure. “For more than six years, Shai Agassi has been SAP's technology visionary and internal change agent,” he says. “We believe SAP will become more focused on delivering a portfolio of products, rather than a single product with a focused strategy. NetWeaver will remain the technology foundation of these multiple products and SAP will continue to support and enhance its flagship MySAP product.
“But customers must now consider that MySAP is not the only product and that it will be increasingly flanked by new offerings — including application suites — focused on different markets. SAP has stated it intends to announce the first of these major product initiatives during 2007. We believe that differences of opinion about this strategy shift, coupled with issues about the succession of the CEO, were the reasons for Agassi's departure.
“Agassi’s role as change agent was likely almost over, given that the company's strategy has become somewhat fixed. These recent adjustments move SAP in a more conservative direction. Whether Agassi would have done a good job of stewarding this strategy can't be known. The role of public visionary will pass to a new executive; it's not yet clear who that will be.”
For SAP there must be the fear that Agassi will decide to join a rival firm. “The most damaging possibility for SAP would be that Agassi could be tempted back into the software world to lead a competitor,” notes Ovum’s David Bradshaw. “When asked if there was a non-compete clause in Agassi's contract, Plattner seemed to imply there wasn't. Instead he said that Agassi has ruled this out completely."

Setbacks fail to dent SAP’s ambitions - vnunet.com: "But Kagermann is bullish about SAP’s prospects. He believes it can achieve double-digit growth and meet the ambitious target of increasing the number of its customers from 40,000 to 100,000 by 2010.
‘We have ambitious targets of doubling our addressable market, and we cannot do that just by going into new countries or industries, because we already have a presence in most of them,’ he told Computing.
While competitors such as Oracle are growing rapidly through acquisition, Kagermann says SAP is market leader and therefore expected to innovate.
‘We are bringing innovations to the market every year, such as the first business-critical application using service-oriented architecture (SOA),’ he said.
SOA is an increasingly popular method of software development, where open standard applications are developed independent of any platform.
‘We have been preaching the message since 2004 and the reaction we are getting from clients is that SOA is the future of software development,’ said Kagermann.
However, he is less impressed with software as a service, a distribution model where applications are hosted and made available over a network.
‘It is not solving everything,’ said Kagermann. ‘What we have seen so far is only pieces of what you need in a company. It has not been running the whole business, just a piece of it.’"

Bloomberg.com: Germany: "The seven-member board, including Chief Executive Officer Henning Kagermann, received 20.8 million euros ($28 million) in total compensation, down from 29.7 million euros in 2005, Walldorf, Germany-based SAP said in its annual report posted on its Web site today.
SAP last year created a plan to hand 300 million euros in cash to a group of high-ranked employees if the company's market value has doubled in 2010 from about 45 billion euros. SAP is relying more on performance-based compensation than fixed salaries to reward its workers and was one of the first German companies to offer stock option plans for all employees.
The company pays an annual bonus, the amount of which depends on whether SAP meets certain undisclosed financial targets for the year. SAP was named best employer in Germany among companies with more than 5,000 workers for two consecutive years by Capital magazine.
The company last year increased net income by 25 percent to a record 1.87 billion euros. CEO Kagermann, 59, received 4.35 million euros in fixed and variable pay in 2006, from 6.1 million euros a year earlier. Under the 2010 plan, Kagermann will receive an additional 4.7 million in bonuses. "

SAP News & Review » It’s All About Upgrades at the Annual SAP NetWeaver Conference: "The consensus is that the ERP 2005 upgrade is relatively painless when it comes to the current installations of SAP Business Warehouse, most of which are on version 3.5 or 3.0. You certainly have to go through numerous rounds of formal integration testing, validating that the data coming into the warehouse is still accurate and complete. However, you are more likely to struggle with syncing and re-loading your ERP and BW test systems than locating actual problems that were caused by the ERP 2005 upgrade.
The upgrade of the data warehouse itself to SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence 7.0 is a whole other ballgame, with quite a bit of changes in the front and back-end environments. Why upgrade? Most of the companies are doing it because of the new front-end functionality, such as Integrated Planning, Report Designer and updated Business Explorer for OLAP navigation, or due to the fact that BW 3.5 is running out of support in the near future. Although BI 7.0 does bring a whole new data flow concept on the back-end called Data Transfer Process, SAP has provided the option of completing a technical-only upgrade and then slowly migrating your existing models to the new DTP design. "

SAP Network Blog: The Sky Is Not Falling: "In any case, there can be no doubt that Shai's departure will have an impact. He is a true visionary, with a sharp technology mind and a keen awareness of global dynamics and their impacts/opportunities. The changes and initiatives he drove at SAP are permanent and 'living' in the DNA of the company.

Yet Shai's primary legacy will be the passion and quest for innovation that he instilled in so many other people inside and outside of SAP. And this legacy is precisely what will ensure that not only will SAP survive this change, but will thrive.

As many other talented people at SAP emerge from the large shadow cast by such a strong personality and visible representative of SAP, I can envision a multiplying effect on SAP's innovation, not a retreat. And I am certain that none would be prouder and happier to see this than Shai."

SAP Network Blog: Thank you Shai Agassi: "At first I was shocked to hear that Shai Agassi is leaving SAP. After reading the news at various websites and weblogs I am still in state of denial that this did not happen.

Shai Thank you for giving us a product like SAP NetWeaver portals.

Good Luck to you for your future endeavors. "

IT Business: "“Shai was really the catalyst for a change in strategy (at SAP) to get them to move on the notion of technology and platform (SAP's Web-based NetWeaver) versus just thinking about business applications,” Sholler said Thursday.
The NetWeaver side of the business has been growing stronger in the last several years, with mySAP moving from a client-sever-based application to a Web-based suite.
SAP has also been pushing NetWeaver as an integration and application platform for building an organization's IT services oriented architecture for SAP and other software.
But Sholler said, “there have been a lot of signs of the pendulum swinging back to a renewed focus on the traditional applications business.”"

SAP Gets Soggier [Fool.com] March 29, 2007: "SAP also announced in January that it will need to invest $400 million to $500 million over the next two years to improve its product line, making it more appealing to smaller customers. As a result, 2007 operating margins should fall from 27.3% to between 26% and 27%.
The massive investments are an admission that SAP came late to the on-demand party. Business software delivered via the Internet has been a growth business for companies like Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), RightNow (Nasdaq: RNOW), Taleo (Nasdaq: TLEO), and NetSuite. Agassi was SAP's on-demand evangelist, and it seems he didn't want to wait until 2009, at the earliest, to become SAP's CEO. There's also the possibility that he left because he felt SAP's on-demand initiatives weren't moving fast enough.
Driving real change in a global company takes a charismatic leader with a clear strategy. Without Agassi, things will only get murkier for SAP shareholders. In the meantime, rivals like Salesforce.com and NetSuite will continue to bolster their businesses. "

SAP shares near 2-yr low after key executive quits Technology, Media & Telecom Reuters: "Shai Agassi, on SAP's executive board since 2002, is leaving to pursue other interests because he was unwilling to wait to become SAP's next chief executive, as the company had planned, the world's biggest maker of business software said late on Wednesday.
SAP shares were down 0.9 percent at 33.32 euros by 1215 GMT while the blue-chip DAX index (.GDAXI: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 0.9 percent. They earlier fell as low as 32.83 euros, their lowest point since May 2005.
Many analysts are concerned about the management changes coming so close to the end of the quarter -- when many software deals are sealed -- although some investors are confident SAP can fill the void left by Agassi's departure in the longer term. "

SAP CEO-in-waiting to leave the firm - 29 Mar 2007 - IT Week: "In a statement, SAP chairman Hasso Plattner said: “I had shared with Shai my plan that he should become successor to Henning Kagermann as a co-CEO for SAP. With the extension of Henning’s contract to 2009, it became apparent that Shai was not comfortable committing to a 10-15 year period, which was not in keeping with his personal career timeline. Given this, I made the recommendation to the supervisory board that we change our plans and now adjust SAP’s executive management team responsibilities.”
Agassi will stay on as a consultant to the board but the majority of his time will be spent on other projects, including the development of new energy sources, environmental policy and the future of his native Israel."