Top Three Technologies

Technologies that matter

ERP, desktops and servers are the top three technologies mong large businesses. By Akhtar asha

When we started analysing the large enterprise IT infrastructure survey findings, we knew for a fact that enterprise application software (ERP) and servers would be the top two technology areas where IT investments are happening and that things will continue in the same direction. What emerged that was of interest is the fact that the third technology that these enterprises favour is none other than desktop and notebook PCs. This could be due to the fact that many large enterprises are growing and expanding their production capacity. The report was repared with inputs from 163 respondents in seven industry verticals with a turnover in excess of Rs 300 crores.

Let us go step by step in understanding how important these three technologies are for large businesses.

Micro-verticalisation and the expanding business

The survey indicates that for 20 percent of 163 respondents, enterprise application software (EAS) such as ERP, CRM, SCM and BI was their most significant IT deployment in the past year. Manufacturing/engineering, FMCG/consumer durables, Oil/energy verticals have taken a lead in driving the implementation of enterprise applications. Vertical-wise it is manufacturing/engineering that has set the tone for EAS spending. About 30 percent of these companies have already invested in EAS. After manufacturing, FMCG/consumer durables and oil/energy with 25 and 20 percent cite EAS as the most significant IT deployment of the past year.

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ABAP coding is out!

Wait a minute -- isn't Java in? Isn't ABAP out? Well, in the SAP of the future, all coding is out. Chairman Hasso Plattner's main point of emphasis in his keynote was "no more coding." Of course, what he really meant was that once companies upgrade to mySAP ERP, they won't have to code in order to customize and upgrade their core functionality.

The message is still the same: Coding is for the team holed up in Waldorf, not for SAP customers. SAP users will get the functionality they need through service-enabled "plug and play." Is this a fantasy? Perhaps to a degree, but SAP is making strides. At this year's conference, SAP could point to actual customer examples where SOA was used to build new apps and fill functionality gaps.

Yes, Java will still come into play with SAP development. The latest example is a press release on the NetWeaver Composition Environment (CE), which emphasized that the whole platform is Java EE 5-based. But that's less about Java and more about SAP opening up its architecture and adhering to open standards.

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SAP now with RadRails and Eclipse

SAP's now feature RadRails, Eclipse, PHP/Ruby/Python code generators. There are growing trend in large scale software companies of using free open sourse frameworks and ideas. Eclipse is a project aiming to provide open development platform of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. This is will make life easier for developers as this tools are freely available to them. Sun, Microsoft, IBM, and others have also started embracing open-source tools, however its going to take some time before they are offered in full potential.

Culture clash at SAP

"Americanization" may spell trouble for German software giant's global designs

Will greater speed jeopardize quality? Will SAP abandon its tried-and-true proprietary ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) language? Do customers even want all the new stuff?

SAP announced it was acquiring a couple of small software companies this week: CRM vendor Wicom and identity management solution provider MaXware. But the big SAP news is that details of the company’s recent turbulence and Shai Agassi’s departure are finally starting to come to light.

Just as Daimler-Benz recently decided it had overreached with its Chrysler acquisition, it seems the SAP home office in Walldorf, Germany, is grappling with backlash from its recent aggressive workforce globalization. A deep dive by The Wall Street Journal last week revealed the cultural and business tensions that have played out behind the scenes.

Rewind to 2001. SAP acquires Agassi’s company, TopTier Software, just as it’s becoming clear that the Internet will threaten SAP’s proprietary, self-contained software suite business model. Agassi convinces then-CEO Hasso Plattner to pour resources into NetWeaver and to start investing in lighter-weight Web-based software products with faster product cycles.

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Data 'Switzerland' Stretches Out

Orlando can seduce you. Informatica World, held the week of April 30 � May 3 at Marriott's huge World Center Resort, had to compete with unwavering sunshine, swimming pools, cocoa-butter smells and the patter of vacationing families as they flip-flopped their way down the long corridors with pool toys dangling from childrens' hands. The flight from San Francisco via Denver to Orlando can deposit you at the front desk feeling haggard and grumpy, but it's hard to maintain that sort of edge after a few hours on the grounds of one of these resort hotels amid such carefree folk.

True, nearly all my time was spent in the ballrooms and salons of the convention center. Food and drinks were plentiful, although I had my hand slapped for mistakenly lifting a muffin from a continental breakfast spread that it turned out belonged to a Lenovo sales meeting. Once I found the Informatica coffee and munchies, I settled in for keynotes and track sessions that painted seductive visions of their own. The subject was enterprise data integration; Informatica's goal is to be the hub that brings together structured and unstructured data and lets it flow easily across enterprise boundaries.

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RWD Technologies Releases RWD uPerform(TM) to European and UK Markets

LONDON, May 8 /PRNewswire/ --
- New Enterprise Performance Support Solution Enables Worker Collaboration, eLearning and Knowledge Sharing
RWD Technologies, Inc. (RWD), a company that develops, implements, and supports products and services in the areas of training, consulting, and organisational performance improvement announced today the release of RWD uPerform(TM) to markets in Europe and the United Kingdom. RWD uPerform is a comprehensive human performance support tool kit for businesses seeking to improve business results and return on investment (ROI) from their enterprise solutions, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force training programs.
SAP, the world's largest business software solutions provider, sells RWD uPerform under the name SAP(R) Productivity Pak powered by RWD.
In the ERP space alone, companies will invest upwards of US$39 billion per year by 2009 (IDC, "Worldwide ERP Applications 2005-2009 Forecast and 2004 Vendor Shares," August 2005). Yet despite such massive investments, many organisations are ill equipped to educate their employees on (or retain employee insight into how they use) these solutions.
"Our customers are telling us they need solutions that can help them maximise their investment in their technology solutions," said Mike Bray, executive vice president, Strategic Business Initiatives, RWD. "Rolling out complex systems across expanding geographies to workers with varying skill sets is a growing challenge as workforce demographics change and businesses operate in an increasingly global environment. RWD uPerform is an enterprise-level solution to help them succeed in today's marketplace."
RWD uPerform addresses workforce and technological challenges by enabling the creation, storage, management, and distribution of learning content.

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Close Control of Opportunities

When Tallard Technologies Inc. outgrew its legacy CRM application, it chose SAP Customer Relationship Management for a centralized repository of customer information, formal sales-tracking tools, and business-partner collaboration capabilities. Tallard now has a clear view of its sales and prospects and a platform for future efficiencies.

“Of course all our customers are important for us, that´s why each requires different strategies for attracting sales”, says Chris S. Meiser, executive vice president of operations at Tallard Technologies Inc. “All of the people who make up our multi-tiered business model – we sell to large enterprise IT buyers, systems integrators, large retail electronics chains, and small storefront shops throughout the Caribbean and Latin America – need to communicate about each opportunity, and we needed a vehicle for making that happen efficiently.”

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