The Future of SAP Consulting in Hybrid (OnDemand /...

richard_hirsch · ‎09-07-2011

I recently came across a new offering from SAP Consulting for integrating StreamWork into CRM. This offering is associated with a new consulting package called “SAP CRM express” which is a “flexible building block kit from SAP Consulting for a fast realization of your CRM-Strategy based on the SAP CRM Rapid Deployment Solution (RDS)”. The StreamWork integration is offered as an additional predefined service in the package and provides the following functional scope:

Integration into all three CRM areas: Sales, Marketing and Services
Multiple StreamWork activities can be created from many objects in SAP CRM, like accounts, opportunities and campaigns
Key StreamWork functions are available directly in SAP CRM. Create and edit everything directly in the native CRM WebClient UI
SAP StreamWork News Feed integrated both on SAP CRM homepage and object-specific in detail views
Installation of SAP StreamWork Enterprise Agent and Add-ons for SAP CRM
User training guide

Note: I’m especially pleased to see the StreamWork feed being integrated into CRM and would be curious to see how the filtering works in the “object-specific [feeds] in detail views” inasmuch as this shows social content presented in a process context.

A SAP press release in May announced a similar integration:

SAP StreamWork, enterprise edition, now offers integration with several SAP applications, including the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application for social CRM, enabling sales leaders to bring teams together — sales, customer service, consultants and more — to help close sales opportunities more quickly. Sales teams can also collaborate directly with their customers to help ensure the products and services are delivered when expected and to help address the requirements defined.

At the time, there were some details about how such “links” would be supported.

StreamWork customers would buy the application links "as either pre-packaged solutions from SAP (or consultants) or as small consulting engagements from SAP or consultants," according to a spokesman.

I’m unsure if the integration mentioned in the PR announcement is the same as that provided by SAP Consulting – which might be restricted to RDS-based solutions – but I found the SAP Consulting offering interesting for various reasons.

POV

Out-of-the-Box StreamWork Integration in BusinessSuite?

I had hoped that StreamWork integration with BusinessSuite applications would be standardized and be part of the out-of-the-box functionality provided by these applications. This would help StreamWork increase its footing in the landscapes of existing SAP customers. The fact that this functionality is an add-on that must be purchased separately rather than being available as standard functionality is disappointing. My impression of this decision is that the new style of collaboration in enterprise software (as represented by StreamWork) is still not considered to be an integral part of the BusinessSuite.

Most SAP applications require some degree of customization and the integration with StreamWork would in all likelihood also require customization. If, however, a special heavy-duty SAP Consulting effort is necessary to get the integration working, the penetration level of StreamWork in SAP OnPremise customers won’t be as high as might be expected.

Note: I was also surprised to see that SAP Enterprise Agent is a prerequisite for the SAP Consulting solution. This requirement means additional costs for customers – but also more security. I’d be interested to know if future BusinessSuite integrations have the same requirement or whether it might possible to use the Professional version of StreamWork.

StreamWork maturity level

The fact that there is a SAP Consulting offering regarding StreamWork integration shows that the platform has reached a high level of maturity and that other parts of the SAP organization are now becoming aware of its potential - they are realizing that they can make money from it. I’m hopeful that the SAP Sales organization also acknowledges this development and starts to more aggressively promote the platform.

Note: There may be other offerings from SAP Consulting in OnDemand platforms but the one in the SDN wiki is the only publicly accessible one that I’ve found. I also looked in the EcoHub for similar offerings but I didn’t find anything. Hopefully, this absence will be remedied in the future as more offerings emerge.

SAP Consulting efforts in different OnDemand platforms

When pundits pay attention to SAP’s OnDemand efforts, the focus is usually on BusinessByDesign and the other LoB OnDemand applications (such as SalesOnDemand). The above-mentioned SAP Consulting offering for StreamWork demonstrates that other OnDemand areas covered by SAP (for example, those associated with Edge OnDemand) also have potential for SAP Consulting offers. I assume that are also SAP Consulting offers regarding SAP CarbonImpact (which runs on River) but I didn’t find any evidence of their existence.

The potential of hybrid environments

The particulars of the SAP Consulting offer also reveal the area in which such consulting efforts will be the most lucrative in the future – the integration of existing OnPremise installations into OnDemand platforms. The importance of such hybrid environments was also acknowledged by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the recent DreamForce conference.
http://searchsap.techtarget.com/news/2240075698/SAP-on-demand-honcho-cites-growing-demand-for-hybrid...
The very nature of SaaS environments (for example, multi-tenancy) means that standardization is critical and huge customization/implementation projects in these environments aren’t to be expected. By focusing on the OnPremise customization necessary in hybrid environments, consulting companies can open new growth areas – albeit without the expectation of the large (in terms of the involved efforts) implementation projects with which they were accustomed. The skills necessary for such projects are more associated with integration rather than intensive back-end customization. Also the difficulties experienced in integrating standardized SaaS solutions and highly customized OnPremise environments isn’t to be underestimated and should also provide new opportunities for consulting efforts. The teams necessary to deal with such projects require experts who understand the involved SaaS solutions as well as consultants who are familiar with the customer-specific characteristics of the OnPremise environments.