SAP Gets Agile like an Aging Quarterback
September 24, 2010
A year round exercise program and a grueling pre season warm up can put bounce in an aging athlete’s step. SAP is back, buying companies and making waves in the enterprise software sector. The company’s most recent announcement caught the attention of Computerworld. The story “SAP Rolls Out Wave of ‘Rapid Deployment’ Apps” explains that “relationship management modules” can be up and running in as little as three months. Yep, the 40 yard time for an aging athlete is about that when racing against a 23 year old.
One of the more interesting comments in the story was, in my opinion, this passage:
SAP’s announcement is the latest effort by the vendor to shed its image as a provider of monolithic, difficult-to-maintain ERP systems. In recent years it has rolled out a series of “enhancement packs” that help customers of its flagship Business Suite add significant new features without the pain of a full-blown upgrade.
To me, this means that the future rapid deployment customer already has SAP up and running. That process can, in my experience, consume more than three months.
What we are learning is that our clients expect changes to be made quickly. For example, we are building one of our news filtering systems. The entire project had to be designed, implemented, and made operational in four days. We hit the target.
I don’t have too many clients who think in terms of a minimum of 12 weeks for a solution. SAP has and I envy the time windows in which their work may be viewed. I look out the window of a jet plane, so my window is open only briefly. That seems to be a trend here in Harrod’s Creek.
The write up strikes me as wishful marketing type thinking packaged as an announcement. To an aging athlete, leisurely agility is as good as real agility I suppose. Just my opinion. Honk.
Stephen E Arnold, September 24, 2010
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