SAP plans to increase Business One VARs
Vendor one step closer to implementing a two-tier distribution model
German software vendor SAP will develop a two-tier distribution model for its Business One software next year and increase reseller numbers “significantly”.
The vendor currently sells Business One, its SME-focused software suite, directly to resellers. However, Martin Stoker, UK head of SAP Business One, told CRN that the vendor plans to introduce an additional distribution route for the software next year.
“We have no distributors in the UK for Business One at the moment, but we do in Spain and Italy. It’s a strong possibility that we will bring a distributor on board next year,” he said.
Earlier this year SAP reorganised its UK channel structure to target the SME sector more aggressively. Some partners speculated that SAP might give its major resellers distributor status, allowing them to sell the product on to smaller resellers.
Stoker said the vendor has increased its UK reseller base by nine this year, and has 1,600 partners globally.
The overall growth from indirect channels now outpaces direct licence sales growth, SAP claimed.
“SAP will continue to recruit partners throughout 2005 and aims to significantly increase the number by the end of the year. We need extra channel capacity to handle the number of sales leads being created,” he said.
Jeremy Clifford, technical director of SAP VAR Impress Solutions, said SAP should sign up a niche distributor. “Gaining software from SAP is unnecessarily complicated. Adding a distributor would make things faster and easier for resellers,” he said.
Last month SAP announced intentions to launch its first hosted CRM service, ahead of a separate report by AMR Research that said sales of hosted CRM applications more than doubled in 2004.