Reaching out to SMB market

Malaysia Star - Petaling Jaya,Malaysia
The system offers a unified view of operations across sales, financial
management, banking, purchasing, manufacturing, inventory management, and
customer ...

BUSINESS software solutions provider SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd expects to see more small and medium businesses (SMBs) implement automation in their operations this year.

Country channel manager Alwyn David said the company was seeing an emergence of the next generation among SMBs.

“They are a new generation of people that has been exposed to information technology (IT) and they know the value of IT,” he told StarBiz recently.

David acknowledges that there had been a lot of failed IT implementations in the past, which have made a lot of SMBs cautious in making information communications technology (ICT) investments.

However, he believes SMBs should re-examine their processes and understand the value proposition of IT, which should not be viewed purely as a cost but as a tool that could deliver improved performance. “The biggest challenge for us in the SMB space is addressing business owners who have come through the ranks without IT.

“There is strong resistance to change but SMBs must realise that it is imminent and that automation will make them more competitive,” he added.

SAP Malaysia's traditional stronghold has been large enterprises.

Realising that SMB's needs differed from enterprises, the company built from the ground up SAP Business One – an integrated, affordable business management software designed for that market segment.

The system offers a unified view of operations across sales, financial management, banking, purchasing, manufacturing, inventory management, and customer relationship management from a single integrated software system.

It provides companies with a single, accurate source for all critical, up-to-the-minute business information, facilitating the business to become more agile while enabling management to make informed decisions.

Business One was introduced in the local market in 2005 and to-date has about 150 customers. The software is targeted at companies with annual turnover of RM150mil and below.

“This year, we are targeting to add another 100 customers. Business One add-ons are going to help us meet this target,” David said.

Locally, he said there were currently about eight add-ons that the company was actively engaged in.

Customers that previously adopted Business One for a specific solution set can now look at other solution sets in the form of add-ons and have it implemented onto their existing Business One platform.

David said SAP Malaysia was encouraging more channel partners to develop niche add-ons for specific verticals.

“So far, our partners see this as a good business proposition not just for the Malaysian market, but outside of it too,” he said.

He added that most SMBs want simple solutions that could be rolled out fast while addressing their needs almost immediately.

“With SAP Business One, we are able to commit to customers a fixed implementation time at a fixed cost,” he said, adding that the system met 80% of most SMB business needs.

“The remaining 20% may have unique industry requirements which will involve some customisation but as a whole, Business One offers reduced time to market and total cost of ownership,” he said.

Channel partners, David said, would remain key to SAP Malaysia's success in the SMB space.

“We totally depend on our channel partners. They help us sell, consult and implement our solutions and we want to continue to leverage on their expertise to gain a wider market reach,” he said.

He added strong customer feedback has helped the company deploy Business One with “a lot of local flavour”.

To-date, about 75% of the Fortune 1,000 companies implement SAP's enterprise solutions.