SAP maps out its 'culture change'

ERP giant to launch channel strategy to HP resellers

ERP software giant SAP said it will officially launch its channel strategy to Hewlett-Packard's (HP's) resellers at the end of October, after appointing one of HP's distributors.

Following its announcement that it intends to sell SAP Business One through HP's SME channel (CRN, 9 September), the formerly direct SAP said it is going through a "massive culture change".

Tim Osman, head of SME solutions at SAP, said the vendor is planning three launches to organise its channel strategy with HP, starting with the official October launch. SAP is looking to have 40 accredited resellers by January.

It will first target HP's Centres of Excellence, then look at HP's regional resellers, and then at OEM opportunities with independent software vendors.

Osman said the firm will use just one of HP's distributors, to be appointed before the end October, to aid the two vendors with marketing, training and support. However, he did not rule out appointing another distributor and more resellers in the future.

"We want 70 SAP-accredited resellers within the first 12 months, but we will want to make sure the model works before appointing any other distributors," he said.

The next launch, in January, will be the formal sales launch of SAP Business One, to be shipped by March. Finally, the firm will announce five to 10 live SME Business One customers. "This will be SAP's first channel-only product," Osman said.

Mike Thomas, SME channel development manager at HP, said: "This is a great chance for us to approach SMEs with a very powerful offering."

Sue Richards, managing director of HP Centre of Excellence EBM, added: "If it's going to push more business our way, it will help reduce our losses to Dell."