The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP

 Jump-starting the world economy will be a central topic of discussion among world leaders meeting for the next few days at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Many of the business leaders in Davos lead large global companies. However, you cannot talk about growth, jobs, and innovation without talking about small (more…)

The scope of BI solution is pretty broad and includes reporting, dashboards, advanced query and analysis, data integration and data quality, as well as a number of analytic applications such as planning and budgeting (which fall outside of the scope of BI, but are natural extensions). With limited IT resources, small IT budgets and typically a difficulty for the operational and executive staff to take on multiple new initiatives simultaneously, how should SME customers take on BI projects? (more…)

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with SAP’s Senior VP of Mobile Strategies, Nick Brown to get a preview of the “mobility” announcements planned for SAPPHIRENOW + SAPTechEd, co-located in Madrid this week. As anyone that follows SAP knows, mobility is one of its three hottest topics, the other two being cloud and in-memory computing. Since May 2010 when SAP announced its intended acquisition of Sybase, the mobility buzz has been about an integrated platform and application story. (more…)

A lot has been written lately about moving from transactional systems to engagement systems, including one of my own blog posts. There is something to be said for better engagement with customers, but I don’t see this as a “from-to” transition. Recording transactions isn’t optional. Whatever tool you use to create your system of record (whether it is ERP or accounting applications or something else) is a necessary foundational tool and some Small to Midsize Enterprises (SMEs) struggle to provide that solid foundation. (more…)

When: 3:00-3:30pm EST, but may go longer – Thursday November 10^th, 2011

Guests: Sanjeev Aggarwal and Laurie McCabe , SMB Group ? http://www.smb-gr.com/

Description: Small and midsize companies that find themselves drowning in data need a lifeline to bring them – as well as valuable information and insights – to the surface. Getting a handle on dispersed, inconsistent and aging data isn’t a trivial task, but the benefits SMEs can realize by doing so far (more…)

HANA is effectively bringing companies into the 21^st century, where business is conducted in real-time.  Small and midsized businesses are turning to HANA to free themselves from their archaic 20^th century business processes, which are no longer capable of maintaining a competitive advantage in today’s market. They are also leveraging HANA to put information into the hands of the business users, giving them the freedom from having to rely on IT.  Given that most  (more…)

 If only there was a Snopes for enterprise software – the definitive reference source for urban legends, myths, rumors and mis-information.  Alas, it doesn’t exist, so allow me the pleasure of busting a few myths about enterprise software for midsize companies in the wholesale distribution industry.

Everyone wants to grow their business, right? If not, then why are you in business? Small, niche software providers will approach you with a very tailored (more…)

If you are a small or midsize company looking for a business intelligence solution from SAP BusinessObjects and not sure which one is right for you, you’re not alone. I was recently at the TechEd conference in Las Vegas and several people asked me the differences among various SAP BusinessObjects solutions for SMEs. I had the opportunity to discuss this topic with David Bernstein who is a (more…)

Ever since I heard a (bootlegged) cassette recording of Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” as a teen growing up in India several decades ago , the notion of the counting down the most wonderful songs or listing the best attributes about a particular topic has stayed with me. So, when our corporate strategy and brand marketing teams recently released the “Top 10 reasons why customers buy SAP,” it was obvious that we needed something similar – a document that counts out why small businesses and midsize companies (SMEs) buy SAP.

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This year’s SAP TechEd was the first to feature an SME (Small to Midsize Enterprise) track. As we wrap up Las Vegas (next stop Madrid), it is time to reflect on the real relevance to SME of the themes and messages presented at TechEd. Much of the event was an excellent presentation of technology, followed by some ideas and examples of how you might use that technology.  That is the way IT departments in large enterprises might approach their IT strategy and budget. And, after all the intended audience for the event was IT in general and developers in particular. But typically there aren’t any developers in small companies and most SMEs have very limited IT staffs. So really the SME audience at TechEd was the partners that service those SMEs. (more…)