The Dozen 2002SAP AGWalldorf, GermanyHang on to your hats: SAP is opening up. At TechEd in November 2001, CEO Hasso Plattner offered the latest evidence, putting Java on the same level as the company's proprietary ABAP language for mySAP.com application development. Plattner also detailed mySAP's infrastructure, now based on open standards. These moves fall in line with structural changes that Europe's largest software company introduced during the course of 2001. What might things be like if SAP's notoriously closed-world products were indeed open? The world is about to find out. In the aftermath of the wild and crazy birth of e-business, organizations are refocusing on efficiency. However, the emphasis isn't quite the same as it was when SAP, behind its R3 ERP suite, grew to prominence as the embodiment of business process reengineering. First, while many companies clearly desire packaged applications, they also demand the freedom to choose best-of-breed suppliers who can provide custom modules that shorten the path to ROI. Thus, the impact of SAP's opening to Java, XML, and other critical Web services standards could be a thriving software market, given the size and global character of SAP's customer base. Second, systems today must serve people — employees, partners, and customers — rather than the other way around. Business processes aren't truly efficient if they don't improve human productivity. SAP responded early to this trend with the introduction of mySAP.com; 2001 saw the maturation of its Workplace enterprise information portal (EIP) solution, which includes middleware and server functions. The EIP brings SAP's deep experience in role-based workflow into the user's personal domain — certainly not an easy leap, but one that clearly has the full attention of Walldorf's developers. The EIP also serves as the interface for SAP's budding Web services, as well as the personalized embodiment of its maturing CRM package. SAP PORTALS: BW'S HOMEThe EIP is so important to SAP's future that the parent company was willing to stand back and let it grow — as SAP Portals Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary. SAP Portals came into being after SAP's acquisition of TopTier Software, which had provided products critical to mySAP.com SAP Portals is now the home of Business Information Warehouse (BW), a maturing platform that now has a chance to grow independently. SAP Portals could become the leader in providing dynamic integration of BI, knowledge management, content, and end-to-end workflow for heterogeneous enterprise applications, not just those from SAP. The challenges are complex, but SAP's vision is in step with the times. SAP is out of the back office and into the great wide open. MAJOR MOVES IN 2001· Released mySAP.com Workplace 2.0 · Created SAP Portals, a wholly owned subsidiary, which included SAP BW · Introduced Java and open middleware support in mySAP.com's Web application server CLASSIC CUSTOMERS· Philip Morris U.S.A. is testing for deployment the mySAP.com suite to integrate multiple systems into one technology infrastructure · The U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Supply Systems Command are using mySAP.com and ERP modules to streamline supply and procurement
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