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What triggered the idea of having an ecosystem?
SAP decided some three to four years ago to build the strongest ecosystem
possible. We kept in mind the SAP corporate strategy. The three pillars of the
SAP strategy are software, services, and solutions, and we have all of them. Our
first strategy is to expand in the mid-market. The second is to look out for
information workers or business users, and the third is our business process
platform.
Why the word ecosystem?
As in a natural ecosystem, different units work together, similarly in SAPs
ecosystem, technology partners, system integrators, software partners,
developers, etc work together to provide value to our customers. Our partners
and customers trust us and expect us to give the information about which
partners they should engage with and we, in turn, trust them.
What are the different types of partners you have?
We have channel partners system integrator or service companies like IBM and
Accenture, and our Indian partners like Wipro, TCS, Infosys, etc. We have
software companies and ISVs too. We also have technology partners like
Microsoft, Adobe, and Intel. These companies are building solutions and they
complement the SAP solutions.
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| Zia Yusuf,
executive VP, SAP Global Ecosystem & Partner Group |
What do you mean by communities of innovation?
The other side of SAPs ecosystem is what we call our communities of
innovation. This is a combination of online and offline communities. For
example, the SAP developer network (sap.sdn.online.com), which is an online
community, has more than 8,500 people from all over the world. These developers
are very much engaged with SAP and are a very active community.
What is the future of SAPs ecosystem?
In future, when the customers will buy software, they will look to companies
to deliver with that software, the strength and capabilities of a broad set of
partners in ecosystem and the communities. The challenge for all of us is to
make sure that we put all these pieces together.
Pooja Sharma
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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