SAP builds on mobile strategy

SAP has announced plans to push its partner network to new boundaries

SAP has revealed plans to extend its partnership with Research In Motion (RIM) to other mobile providers.

The firm's deal with the BlackBerry maker is just the beginning, Mike de la Cruz, mobile and analytics senior vice president at SAP, told customers at an event in Wembley Stadium as part of SAP's World Tour 2008 road show.

"We will take the innovation we have with RIM and move this forward," said Cruz.

The RIM partnership, agreed in May 2008, allows BlackBerry users to access SAP applications from their device.

SAP said that it intends to push its partner network to new boundaries. "SAP is transforming and this is not only about changing our product line but about changing our business partner strategy," Cruz explained.

The company is being driven to become more relevant to mobile users because the smartphone has developed as the main interface for business transactions, according to Cruz.

He explained that the large take-up in emerging markets means that developing countries are skipping the phase where business is conducted on a PC and performing all business operations on their mobile devices.

Cruz added that key to SAP's partnerships with mobile providers would be the development of 'push' SAP applications.

A push mode allows an 'always on' notification of email, rather than the traditional 'pull' mode in which users must establish a connection with their network by logging in to personal web applications.

RIM was a pioneer of push email with its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) monitoring email servers. When the BES registers a new email for a BlackBerry user, it pulls a copy and then pushes it to the BlackBerry device over the wireless network.

"We are increasingly seeing a mobility scenario where users want a push mode so they don't forget their information," said Cruz. "SAP information should be pushed to users just like their email is."

Cruz added that the final part of the mobile strategy will be to enable business users to push data from their SAP CRM applications directly to a customer. "The technology is there already, we just need to bring it to our customers," he concluded.