The Hindu Business Line : SAP India to launch `hosted model' solution for SMEs

Kolkata June 13 As part of its go-to-market initiatives, enterprise business solutions major SAP India Pvt Ltd will soon announce the launch of a "hosted model" B1 (Business One) solution for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, according to Mr Alan Sedghi, President & CEO of SAP Indian Subcontinent.

Speaking on the sidelines of the SAP Summit '07 held in Mumbai recently, Mr Sedghi said SMEs currently comprise more than 1,000 of the total 1,800 SAP clients in India. With the SME business in India growing by over 50 per cent year-on-year, SAP had decided to lay special focus on this segment. "No company in India, we believe, is small enough to deploy SAP," he said, adding that, while the mySAP ERP solution was packaged for small companies, the A1 (all-in-one) solution for the SME micro verticals came with some specifications. The B1 offering, which could well incorporate ERP, back office, finance, budgeting, etc, was a solution for SMEs, albeit without much specifications.

According to Mr Sedghi, SAP already has around 400 B1 customers in the country. Most of these have been a result of stand-alone sales. The company currently has 80 B1 partners in India. These partners are attached to three distributors, HP, IBM and Wipro. "In the next two-three weeks, we will announce the launch of a cost-effective B1 hosted solution in India. It can be deployed in companies across verticals, such as manufacturing, process, retail, etc," he said. "These could be single tenancy or multi-tenancy hostings. To begin with, we will have one partner. However, we are open to more partnerships later," he said.

SAP already has a hosted model for the HR division of Tata Consultancy Services. It has also launched CRM-on-demand.

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