SAP inches into hosted CRM space

SAP has taken its first step into the hosted software space with the launch of a hosted customer relationship management (CRM) application. 

The enterprise application vendor touted the software as the first hybrid CRM offering that combines the ease of use of a hosted application and the ability to integrate with legacy enterprise software.

SAP claimed that this structure offers customers added flexibility compared with purely hosted applications.

The claim is an obvious poke at providers such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite which are major players in the growing market for hosted enterprise applications. 

SAP customers' data will be stored in dedicated databases, which the firm says offers a higher level of security. Competitors typically store data in a shared database, but there have been no known cases in which this has resulted in a security breach.

The SAP application will be available over the internet at a fee of $75 per user per month. The company is partnering with IBM for the on-demand aspect of the software.

SAP is late to the hosted software party. Pure-play vendors such as Salesforce.com have make large inroads into the market. Oracle already has an established hosted CRM business through its Siebel Systems acquisition, and Microsoft launched its offering in November.