SAP: We Hardly Know Thee
October 29, 2008
SAP seems to be in a pickle. I profiled the company’s aging TREX search system in one of the Enterprise Search Reports I wrote between 2004 and 2006. The system had a number of interesting linguistic features. One of the SAP search wizards was quite helpful, and I was confident that SAP would make TREX into a higher profile service. SAP, however, left TREX to improve without publicizing the system. You can see SAP’s search system in action. Just navigate to SAP.com and enter a query. I heard that the company, like Microsoft, uses it own technology. I found it interesting that the investment arm of SAP pumped money into Endeca. SAP seemed to be taking a step toward acquiring Endeca but stopped short, preferring to make a strategic investment. Endeca, like much of the SAP system, requires configuration. Unlike the Google Search Appliance or the Thunderstone appliance, Endeca requires a bit of tweaking and configuring to deliver its full payload to a licensee. The pairing of the tweaking and configuring champion SAP with the Endeca system made sense to me. I could see license fees supplemented with consulting fees where SAP deployed Endeca’s system.
I was surprised when I downloaded the SAP white paper “Realizing Maximum Benefits from SAP NetWeaver XI/SAP NetWeaver PI”. You can download the paper from Bitpipe.com, but you have to jump through the wacky Bitpipe.com hoops. I use my dog’s name and sign up for whatever option I am offered, download the paper, and let the mail go to a dummy email account. Also, I can’t keep the SAP lingo straight. R3 is the “regular” SAP system. NetWeaver, acquired years ago from an outfit in Israel, is the Web services component. TREX ran in NetWeaver, and to access TREX search in R3, you had to license both R3 and NetWeaver.
In the white paper, search is mentioned only in passing. The white paper tells me that search is part of the dashboard on page 11 and that’s about it. The remainder of the 14 page paper talks about magical benefits that seem to accrue to having data at one’s fingertips. Information access seems to be presumed in this “boil the ocean” approach.
NetWeaver block diagram. Copyright SAP 2007.
I did not buy the argument in this white paper. In my crawler I hit upon a story that suggests others are having the same doubts about these pie in the sky assertions from SAP. For example, Lionel Laurent, a Forbes’ Magazine writer, painted SAP bright red in “SAP May Need More Cuts to Survive.” You can read the full text of the article here. The main point of the article is not that SAP has to tighten its belt. I understood from Mr. Laurent’s write up that SAP may have to undergo a colectomy and a foot amputation to extend its life.
Sham Wow.
For me, the most interesting comment in Mr. Laurent’s article was:
the outlook is foggy for SAP, the aggravated slowdown is likely to push the firm to cut more costs–and probably even jobs as well.
Mr. Laurent points out that SAP’s effort to generate new revenues may run into resistance as the financial crisis continues to brake the global economy.
In the white paper, SAP promises roses and sunshine. In the real world, SAP is likely to face sufficient financial pressure that it may tank.
What’s wrong with this picture?
First, I think I can forget about SAP dominating enterprise search.
Second, the company’s incredibly expensive, hugely complex, and it-takes-years-to-deploy approach is in the same boat that some enterprise search vendors pitching massive platforms find themselves. SAP is a giant coal fired steam engine. Companies want hybrid autos. Big market mismatch in my opinion for SAP and other platform vendors.
Third, the plans for getting SAP out of its current financial barrel may be too conservative. SAP may have to send an email to Microsoft and suggest that the two companies sit down and talk about a deal. With two thirds of SAP deployments on Windows servers, SAP may as well get SharePointed.
Now don’t beat up on me for picking on SAP. I like SAP systems when they work. I just have some recollection of the Westinghouse implementation, and I think that type of expense and complexity is out of sync with the present technical options more and more organizations now have..
Stephen Arnold, October 29, 2008
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