Sunday, January 4, 2009

SAP, and the contribution to SMEs business

By Dave Torres

Back in the day when computers were infants, an engineer or IT tech (depending on which term more thoroughly describes the daunting challenge) was tasked with the logistics of juggling hundreds, at times thousands of computer systems all at once. All of these systems needed to be managed, well-kept, and looked after. And data coming from 2 different systems had to be matched, researched and applied to the collective data in a way that made sense. It was a tedious task to say the least, and expensive.

While organisations in the early 1970`s gladly chose for this bound mess of computer systems over old-fashioned hand written notes; they no doubt cared for a best way. In 1972, a savior was born in the tiny German town of Walldorf, that would anoint the industry with a solution.

SAP or Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing, created a revolutionary system called SAP R/2 in 1979, just 7 years after the organization began processes. This system was the basic scalable solution to enterprise management that integrated core capabilities into a single system. The launch was a success and was the impetus for a revision dubbed SAP R/3, merely over a decade afterwards, in 1992. It as well, was a big success.

Nowadays having been on the market for several 29 years, you would assume that it would have penetrated all of the major markets; and it has, except when you reckon that India and China were far from superior yet merely a few years ago. Industrialization has passed the torch of wealth to some seemingly unanticipated nations and produced new markets along the way.

China`s rise to wealth though, may not be so unexpected; dealing that for the past 30 yrs, 80% of each consumer goods came from this nation. India, on the other hand has been just a blip on the map of global trade; til now. Walk down any main city, and you will in all likelihood discover a merchandise made in India. The largest steel maker in the globe, Arcelor-Mittal, is a native Indian. Don`t leave that most outsourced jobs end up in India, not to mention that some of the greatest enterprises in the universe, have satellite offices in here. This large inundation of wealth comes from easy supply and demand; cost drives require and India can acquire volume on the cheap.

All this new found wealth brings with it the prospect for chance. Within that framework, entrepreneurs will reach to begin businesses. And every one of these businesses will become dependent on the need to handle selective information effectively. This realisation has led the aforementioned organization, SAP, to open its own satellite office to cope the important requirement. - 16492

About the Author: