SAP offers more than 200 mobile business apps. Is that a lot?

[Former Member]

The recent news around the big deal between SAP and CA, reminded me of a conversation I just had last week with a fellow "Hockey Dad", while waiting for our sons to finish practice. He's in technology sales for a large, well known technology company headquarters in the pacific northwest.  As is usual with tech enthusiasts, we were discussing the current state of the consumer smartphone market. We both agreed in our opinion that the iPhone is no longer the dominant provider it once was. To me, purely from my observations, the Samsung Galaxy smartphones seem to be everywhere now, and sometimes feel as ubiquitous as the iPhone.

My friend, who uses a Windows OS device  had a nagging concern that choosing Microsoft over iOS or Android, was limiting his app choices. That is a valid concern: what is a smartphone without useful, practical apps?  But, I tried to reassure him not to worry about the apps. "They'll come." "Yeah, but when? I mean, they just now released a Pandora app for Windows OS", he groaned. I replied, "Right. Even though Windows OS doesn't have a gazillion apps like the iOS platform, you should expect that apps that are developed are the best, proven, useful apps. Yes, iOS has a bunch of apps, but who really needs some "My Cupcake Sprinkles" app anyway. A collection of millions of apps will have a considerable amount of bloat and useless apps. Every smartphone user knows they only use a handful of apps anyway.

So, in reading about the SAP and CA deal, and then listening to SAP's first quarter 2013 investor briefing call,  I was reminded that companies needing to improve business processes and efficiency with mobile technology have no tolerance for waist and bloat.  CA's decision to partner with SAP and embed SAP MDM (mobile data management) platform into their own solutions (OEM), is real market validation that SAP's 200+ and growing app portfolio are not cupcake apps.So, yes 200 apps sounds like so few compared to the entire consumer ecosystem of apps. But, when you think in context of business, SAP is truly unique in it's offering:

“We are the only vendor that can deliver a secure enterprise mobile platform and offer more than 200 mobile business applications to our customers, with more on the way. All of our applications have mobile capabilities. With this comprehensive mobile offering, we are attracting leading industry technology players, like Computer Associates to embed our mobile technology solutions in their platform…”   

[First Quarter 2013 Results - Investor Call]

But, even with just 200+ apps, it might be a little overwhelming to know how to start researching how mobility can help support process improvements, efficiency an growth. I found this... I'll call it a  'configuration' tool that might help you start to shape a mobile strategy. 

Check out the SAP Mobile App Advisor here.

PS: Go Chicago Blakehawks!