SAP moves forward on cloud-based promises

Beyond that, Feature Pack 2.6 includes support for additional mobile devices – such as iPad and BlackBerry – and on-demand integration of operations into, for example, existing SAP Business Suite installations. Peter Lorenz, executive vice president for SAP On Demand, reckons SAP Business ByDesign has "gained considerable market traction", with around 250 firms currently signed up. He explains that SAP is now working with some 50 solution resellers and around 40 solution partners to serve what the company believes will be a fast growing customer base. He also suggests that about 80% of all project-specific adaptations – such as adjusting the user interface, creating new reports, building forms and adjusting business processes – can be completed by key users without programming. For the remaining 20%, SAP has also introduced a Microsoft Visual Studio-based SDK (software development kit), SAP Business ByDesign studio, which will enable partners to create add-on solutions. Lorenz says that the SDK is integrated into SAP's lifecycle management system and is currently being tested with selected partners. "With Feature Pack 2.6, we are not only delivering additional value to our customers, but are also providing new opportunities for co-innovation to our partners," says Lorenz. "As we have now moved to a cycle of delivering a new feature pack every six months, the next big step in our SAP Business ByDesign roadmap will be the general availability of feature pack 3.0 in August."