| July 31, 2007 - Barbara Darrow, eWeek Channel
Insider. Enterprise Resource Planning kingpin SAP continued its
midmarket push this week, announcing 33 new partners offering
small and midsize business solutions in North America - 26 new
Business One partners and seven All-in-One partners.
Additionally, nine existing Business One partners have
expanded their offerings and coverage, the company announced at
its summer sales meeting July 30 in Washington, D.C.
SAP's overall goal is to help existing partners hit higher
goals and grow their own businesses and to add new partners
where more coverage is needed, said Michael Sotnick, SAP
Americas' senior vice president, Small and Midsize Enterprises.
In this quest, the company must walk a fine line between
expanding reseller and partner coverage without
over-distributing its product and stressing margins. One reason
some VARs prefer SAP to Microsoft and other ERP wares is that
SAP is not as widely distributed and margins are firmer.
New All-in-One partners include EntryPoint of Cleveland, Lat
Capital of Miami, Tryarc of Los Angeles and VS LLC of Ridgeland,
Miss. New Business One entries include: Advanced Business
Software of Savannah, Ga.; Advanced Systems Group of Tulsa,
Okla.; Advent Global Solutions of Houston; and Clients First
Business Solutions of Birmingham, Ala.
All-in-One is SAP's preferred solution for larger mid-market
customers (under $1.5 billion in annual revenue), most of which
have fairly complex business process models. Business One
usually targets smaller businesses with more straightforward
processes, although there is some overlap.
Rob Delf, a partner at Tryarc, a Beverly Hills, Calif.,
Business One partner with expertise in media and entertainment
verticals, says his company is adding All-in-One to its arsenal
to attack opportunities, including customers, such as
Ticketmaster, which run MySAP but have smaller subsidiaries
where Business One or All-in-One is a better fit.
"Hub-and-spoke" arrangements are common, he said.
Forrest Koch, CEO of The Omega Group, Portland, Ore., said
SAP has won him over with its channel policies. So much so, he
sold his Microsoft Great Plains and Solomon ERP practices to
concentrate on Business One.
Koch said SAP consulted with him before adding potential
competitor Yarrow Bay, of Seattle, and determined the two would
benefit by partnering on projects.
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