SAP AG, the German enterprise resource planning vendor, is targeting its R/3 customers in the service provider industry offering software with faster implementation times and more customized ERP. This is the latest vertical market on which the Walldorf, Germany firm has focused, with Accelerated SAP (ASAP) products already released for various industries earlier this year including retail, automotive and high-tech (CI No 3,670).
Accelerated Service Provider will provide pre-configured templates and models suggesting best practices for the range of business processes in the services industry, from responding to initial customer interest with a quotation, to project management and asset management, through the back-end systems of recruitment and accounting. SAP claims it should enable services firms to save over 50% in implementation time, says Volker Enders, development manager for Accelerated Service Provider, while still providing over 90% functionality ‘out-of-the-box.’
SAP’s next accelerated ERP software should be targeted at the software industry, says Enders. Version two of the service provider edition will include integration with the software package to target tech start-ups and more established firms who offer both software and services. The second version will also feature customizable role-based portals for information distribution.
