Times are charged for SAP, the customer community and partner ecosystem, and with more than 15,000 attendees converging at the premier SAP educational and networking conference, this year’s ASUG + SAPPHIRE conference in Orlando certainly was action packed.

With year's conference perhaps being co-CEO Henning Kagermann's last, the integration of Business Objects into the SAP fold, and SAP making bold moves to grow its business in the SME market segment, times are most definitely changing for SAP.

Read InformationWeek article by Mary Hayes Weier: SAPPHIRE Sets Stage for a Different Kind of SAP

SAP is slowing down the roll out of its on-demand Busines ByDesign solution for small and midsize businesses to ensure optimal functionality (and pricing), but it's gearing up to pull the trigger on on-demand components powered by the BBD platform for large enterprise customers.

Read Between the Lines post by Larry Dignan: SAP Confirms Business ByDesign Delay

Read InformationWeek article by Mary Hayes Weier: SAP Reveals Plan to Bring SaaS to Large Companies

On the SME front, SAP announced big gains for Q1 2008. SMEs now constitute 75 percent of SAP's overall customer base, totaling more than 35,000 customers.

Read CIO blog post by Thomas Wailgum: SAP Goes with Gusto for Small and Medium-Sized Business Customers

Also on the partnership front;

SAP Embraces Business Objects Partners and Demonstrates Benefits of Expanded Partner Ecosystem

SAP Teams With HP, IBM For Business Software Appliances 

SAP, IBM Still Chummy After BI Acquisitions  

SAP upgrade on your radar? Want to know what's new in ECC? Need help deciding if the time is right to upgrade, building a business case for an upgrade, or understanding the risks that can derail your upgrade?

SAP upgrade specialists from Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc. , a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm and Premier SAP Consulting Partner, can help. 

Register for webinar: Optimize for Upgrades -  Mitigating  Risks in Your Upgrades (April 24)

In a debate billed as 'The Future of Enterprise Software,' SAP's  Hasso Plattner and Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff squared off on  a number of critical issues that will shape how the battle for enterprise software supremacy plays out in the coming years.

By grilling Benioff on the vital need for enterprise software to integrate and be customizable, Plattner's shaping of 'future of enterprise software' question was the debate's most significant takeaway, according to Rory Doherty, Editorial Director of Optimal SAP Advisor.

Read article by Rory Doherty: SAP vs. Salesforce.com -- The Great Debate

CNET writer Dan Farber declared Benioff the debate winner by non-technical knockout.

Read article by Dan Farber: Salesforce.com's Benioff Bests SAP's Plattner in Debate

IDG News Service writer James Niccoli calls the debate a draw.

Read article by James Niccoli: SAP, Salesforce CEOs Spar  

The debate was hosted by ChurchillClub.

CD/DVD of debate can be purchase at the Churchill Club website 

While most vendors market their solutions for governance risk and compliance (GRC) and corporate performance management (CPM) separately, the truth is that the value of both GRC and performance management solutions is most fully realized when these applications are brought together to provide a consolidated view for the CFO.

It is not incidental that what is perhaps SAP’s most aggressive move to date on the performance management front is the company’s new portfolio of Financial Performance Management (FPM) products. Moreover, SAP's FPM portfolio integrates with the company's GRC offering.

By enabling deep business insight based on a holistic view of the enterprise, SAP’s integrated, one-two GRC-FPM delivery is a winning combination for CFOs and a knockout blow to all competitors.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc., a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm and a premier SAP consulting partner: SAP's GRC - FPM Combination -- A Knockout for CFOs

Check out SAP/ASUG Webcast Series: SAP FPM Overview Demo and Roadmap (ASUG members can download presentations and recordings)

SAP has been very active over the past several years building, buying and evolving its corporate performance management (CPM) offering. This spate of activity has brought with it a number of changes—in terms of both product nomenclature and underlying technology. These changes have occasioned considerable confusion among SAP customers eager to take their first (or next) CPM step. Not to worry, says Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm and Premier SAP® Consulting Partner. Amidst all of its recent activity, SAP's CPM vision remains crystal clear.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration: SAP Sees Clear Through CPM Confusion

Amid a host of not-so-optimistic IT spending forecasts for 2008, it appears that spending on ERP -- software giant SAP's bread-and-butter offering -- will continue strong throughout the year. According to a quarterly survey put out by UBS, spending on ERP software is a top priority for many executives.

Read Larry Dignan's Behind the Lines Blog Post: Amid Lackluster Spending, CIOs Say ERP is Back en Vogue

ERP is big, and SAP is the undisputed ERP king. According to IDC analyst Albert Pang, "The most lucrative [IT] segment is the $15 billion market for ERP software geared to huge corporations with more than 5,000 employees. Pang noted that "SAP dominated [the ERP market] in 2006 with 28.5% market share."

As companies struggle in a tough economy to drive efficiency, gain a competitive edge, and maximize their sizable past investments in enterprise applications, the growing importance of and dependence on ERP cannot be denied. According to a recent CIO magazine study, "More than 85 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their ERP systems were essential to the core of their businesses, and that they "could not live without them."

Read article by CIO writer Thomas Wailgum: Why ERP Systems are More Important Than Ever Before  

Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc., a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm and Premier SAP® Consulting Partner, sees growth for SAP as easy as one, two, three: Strengthen core business and drive adoption of enterprise SOA; tap midmarket and drive sales of Business ByDesign; and make large and small companies smarter by extending business intelligence throughout the enterprise.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: Growth for SAP Easy as One Two Three

Seems like everywhere you turn nowadays there’s talk about the U.S. slipping into an economic recession, dragging the world economy down with it and forcing a global belt-tightening across all industries. But all is not gloom and doom, and if the ‘R’ word should rear its ugly head, tech companies focused on delivering genuine value to their customers will plug on. Take SAP for instance.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration: No 'R' in SAP 

SAP has reported a 9% increase in total revenue to $15.28bn for the year ended December 2007. The strong growth was due to software and services revenue, which rose 13% to $11.03bn. Net profit was $2.83bn compared to $2.68bn a year ago.

Read ComputerwWre article: SAP '07 Revenue Tops $15B

TBR believes SAP is better positioned to drive new business at the start of 2008 than it was at the start of 2007.

Read TBR report: Future Looks Bright for SAP  

Business intelligence (BI) is red hot today, and for reasons more significant than the recent spate of high-profile vendor acquisitions. BI’s value is proven; its mettle is battle tested. For years now companies have leveraged BI and analytic software to make intelligent, timely business decisions that yield meaningful and measurable bottom-line results.

BI’s handicap, however, is that, historically, far too few people within a company have had access to these impactful, data-driven applications. SAP is on a mission to change this, making bold moves on multiple fronts to extend the power of BI throughout the enterprise—from the C level to the T (as in workers in the trench) level.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc., a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm and Premier SAP Consulting Partner: SAP: Bringing Intelligence to an Application Near You  

Check out previous Optimal SAP Blog posts for more info and insight into SAP's BI play:

Read post: SAP's Business Objects Buy Understood

Read post: SAP's Business Objects Play - Beyond BI

Investors' initial reaction to SAP's bid for BI vendor Business Objects was a tad trepidatious. After all, the deal was by far the largest in SAP's 35-year history and, ostensibly, was in contrast to SAP's stated commitment to organic growth. For the most part, industry pundits were a bit skeptical, underscoring the challenges inherent in acquisitions of this magnitude and playing it safe by adopting a 'wait-and-see' stance.

Now that SAP has had some time to educate the market on its short- and long-term strategy for Business Objects, lights are beginning to dawn as understanding of the payoff for both SAP and its customers becomes better understood. 

According to Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc., a leading SAP consulting and staffing firm, recent popular commentary that SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects is predominantly a defensive reaction to Oracle’s purchase of Hyperion and IBM’s Cognos takeover, or little more than a move by SAP to secure additional revenue by buying a piece of the BI market, is as shortsighted as it is ill informed.

Read Sliman's article: SAP's True Business Object

Upon completion of their merger, SAP and Business Objects wasted no time in announcing joint products--nine software packages that will go on sale this month and combine products from Business Objects and SAP. They include Financial Performance Management, Governance, Risk and Compliance, and Visualization and Reporting.

Read Computerworld article: SAP and Business Objects Announce Joint Products

SAP's global partners such as Accenture , Capgemini , Deloitte and IBM , among others, have stepped up and publically endorsed the SAP BOBJ deal.

Read CNMoney article: Global Ecosystem Embraces SAP Acquisition of Business Objects

Dan Farber & Larry Dignan report on recent commentary by SAP CEO Kagermann and Deputy CEO Leo Apotheker. The top-line takeaway is that market share numbers look good and the product development strategy appears sound. SAP and Business Objects have a combined ecosystem of 6,000 partners that will be developing products and services and developing the market. The two companies have about 40,000 customers each, but only about 15 percent overlap. 

For deeper analysis of the SAP, BOBJ roadmap, read Between the Lines Post: SAP-Business Objects Combo Ready to Roll

More info and insight on the SAP, Business Objects deal is covered in earlier Optimal SAP Blog posts.

Read Optimal SAP Blog Post: SAP's Business Objects Buy - Beyond BI

Read Optimal SAP Blog post: The Buzz on SAP's Bid for Business Objects  

The sluggish economy appears to have little impact on SAP. The company's 4Q numbers beat expectations with license revenue estimated to top 14 percent.

Read Bloomberg article: SAP's License Revenue Jumps 14%, Beats Estimates

Read Financial Times article: Strong Holiday Sales Lift SAP  

Read eWeek article: SAP to Oracle: Back Off, We're Winning Too  

2007 was an exciting time for SAP and SAP customers alike. SAP ERP upgrades, enterprise SOA adoption and MDM initiatives were among the top SAP trends in 2007, and all signs point to these interrelated trends gathering steam in 2008.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: 2007 SAP Trends Gather Steam in 2008

Top challenges for SAP in 2008 include integrating Business Objects, ramping up Business ByDesign, cleaning up TomorrowNow mess, and convincing customers to upgrade to SAP ERP 2006.

Read ChannelWeb article by Rick Whiting: SAP's Top Four Challenges in 2008  

Check out the following articles for additional prognostications, predictions and interesting guesses about SAP in 2008:

CIO: SAP Upgrades to Rise in 2008

SearchSAP.com: Top SAP Career Tips  

It is no surprise that the rise of SOA is fueling the creation of composite applications (aka xApps) on the NetWeaver platform. Afterall, SOA’s raison d’ être is to enable monolithic applications to be broken into discrete, reusable ‘enterprise services’ that reside on the network for fast cobbling into xApps that satisfy immediate business needs. That the reverse is also true; namely, that xApps are driving SOA adoption – is a phenomenon more interesting and useful to SAP customers mapping out projects for their SOA initiatives.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: Time to Whet Your xApp-etite  

In August of this year, SAP unveiled its roadmap for the company’s product lifecycle management (PLM) application. According to SAP, enhancements made to SAP PLM over the next 3 years will further help its manufacturing customers “accelerate and simplify the business of products.”  By breaking through the traditional engineering-only PLM barrier via fast-and-easy integration capability with other core enterprise systems, SAP has effectively Democratized PLM.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president of Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP Democratizes PLM  

Since the news broke in early October, the lion's share off commentary on SAP's Business Objects buy has focused heavily on the added business intelligence (BI) offering SAP gains with the deal.

Read Optimal SAP Blog post: SAP's Bid for Business Objects

Now that SAP's acquisition of Business Objects has cleared antitrust review, BI has again taken center stage. SAP, however, would prefer the market understand the Business Objects deal in terms of it bringing to SAP an enhanced offering of 'business user applications' rather than how it may signal a potential overlapping of Business Object's and SAP's BI capabilities.

According to Vishal Sikka, SAP's chief technology officer, the perception that SAP acquired Business Objects for its capability in business intelligence (BI) is off target: "It misses the point," said Sikka. "This [acquisition] is not about BI, but about business user applications. [SAP has] been in the BI business for the last 10 years and will continue to invest in BI technology including its analytics engine, called BI Accelerator.

Read New York Times article: Business Objects to Help SAP in New Class of Applications

In SAP's recent multi-million dollar win over Oracle, Yellow Pages CFO Greg Hurn cites SAP's product road map as the determining factor. According to Mr, Hurn, "What tipped [the decision] was our future long-term road map. SAP had more options for us."

Read article: SAP Wins Yellow Pages

In today’s world of increasing complex global supply chains, two business objectives reign supreme: reduce risks and reduce costs.  Built atop the SAP NetWeaver business process platform, the SAP GRC Global Trade Services (GTS) composite application helps businesses kill these two birds with a single stone.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP GRC GTS for Reducing Global Supply Chain Risks and Costs
 

How big is SAP’s recent Wal-Mart win? It’s tough to put an exact dollar value on the deal as mum’s the word for both companies when it comes to the financial particulars. But gauging from what we do know⎯a global rollout of SAP ERP Financials for the largest company in the world ($350B revenue, 2M employees, 6,775 stores) with one of the world’s largest, most complex IT infrastructures⎯it looks like Wal-Mart has all the markings to be yet another large and long-time SAP customer.

Read article by Rory Doherty, Editorial Director, Optimal SAP Advisor: How Big is SAP's Wal-Mart Win?

After conducting a thorough evaluation of its financial information systems to determine what was needed to support the company’s $350 billion business as well as its next stage of growth, Wal-Mart signed with SAP.

Read SAP press release: Wal-Mart Selects SAP

SAP's Wal-Mart engagement calls for replacing Wal-Mart's legacy systems with SAP ERP Financials, a deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Read InformationWeek article: SAP Wins Deal For Global Upgrade Of Wal-Mart's Financial Systems

Wal-Mart's decision to go with SAP ERP Financials marks the retail giant’s transitioning from reliance on homegrown IT systems to customizable packaged software for a competitive edge.

Read CIO article: Wal-Mart Buys SAP Financials  

A bit of history on Wal-Mart's past IT leadership and present IT challenges puts the SAP win in perspective.

Read CIO article: How Wal-Mart Lost Its Technology Edge  

The promise of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is very real, and mainstream enterprise transitioning to SOA is assuredly more of a question of ‘when’ than ‘if.’ In the fourth and final installment of his article that examines key contributing factors to a sustained boom for SAP consultants, Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc., takes a look at how amassing SOA momentum will create opportunities for SAP consultants in the years ahead.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP Boom is Here to Stay (Part IV): The SOA Payday

SAP' s announcement on October 7 that it will acquire business intelligence (BI) vendor Business Objects is creating quite an uproar in the enterprise applications market.

Read SAP press release: SAP to Acquire Business Objects in Friendly Takeover 

The initial reaction from investors was not terribly favorable, with SAP shares falling nearly 5% shortly after the announcement.

Read thestar.com article: Investors Snub SAP's Business Objects Bid

Some industry pundits predict that SAP's acquisition of Business Objects will further accelerate the acquisition pace of point solution vendors.

Read InfoWorld article: SAP's Business Objects Acquisition: The death knell for point solutions?

Most enterprise application luminaries agree on the inevitable convergence (and subsequent benefits) of transactional/process management systems and BI analytics.

Read Intelligent Enterprise article: SAP-Business Objects Deal Move Toward Smart Apps

Read Enterprise Anti-matterblog post: Why Did SAP Buy Business Objects?

SAP and Business Objects customers alike are curious and concerned about how they might be impacted by the acquisition, and it may be the case that Business Object customers have more to fear than fear itself.

Read ChannelInsider article: SAP, Business Objects Deal Leaves Market in Turmoil

Arguably the most significant event of the past decade in enterprise software, SAP's launch of its on-demand Business ByDesign midmarket solution has virtually monopolized headlines across business and technology trade media for the past week. To help you cut through the clutter, separate hype from reality, and make sense of SAP's much anticipated, strikingly bold move, we've compiled a round up of the most insightful and informative SAP BBD news and analysis.

First, straight from the horse's mouth, why SAP BBD is a 'game-changing solution.'

Read SAP press release: SAP Business ByDesign Unveiled

What does SAP's midmarket push mean for consultants?

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc: SAP Boom - The Midmarket Factor 

SAP's traditional big-company manufacturing market is saturated, and Kagermann must look down-market for growth.

Read CIO Today article: SAP Introduces Business ByDesign 

Industry analyst Josh Greenbaum hits the nail on the head with his astute assessment of SAP BBD's unique ability to help SMBs gain a competitive edge -- a capability, according to Greenbaum, utterly absent in existing SaaS solutions.

Read Greenbaum's ZDNet blog post: SAP BBD: Competitive Advantage and the Dynamics of Enterprise Software 

Forrester analyst Ray Wang offers up some quick yet provocative observations on the pros and cons of SAP's BBD strategy.

Read Wang's blog post: The Software Insider 

Forrester analyst Paul Hamerman points out the great benefits of SAP BBD's configuration tooling.

Read Forrester analyst Paul Hamerman's blog post: SAP Launches BBD

What does SAP BBD mean for SAP Channel Partners?

Read CRN article: SAP Set to Disclose A1S details, Role for Channel Partners  

Read eWeek article: SAP Reveals New Web Software, New Business Model 

Possible cannibalization of existing on-premise SAP products has emerged as one of the greatest challenges SAP must grapple with as part of  its rollout strategy for SAP BBD. In this candid Interview, SAP Deputy CEO Leo Apotheker addresses the 'C' question, and takes a shot at Oracle.

Read InformationWeek article: Five Questions for SAP Leo Apotheker  

Kagermand makes it clear that SAP BBD "is not a solution for larger enterprises [and] not a solution for midmarket companies who have high demand, deep demand for vertical solutions."

Reas InformationWeek article: Big Businesses Won't Be Interested in On-demand ERP

SAP will have to work hard to achieve its aggressive goals for SAP BBD.

Read Computerworld article: SAP Sets Improbable Goals for BBD 

Read InformationWeek article: SAP Will Have Tough Time Selling On-demand Software 

SaaS competitors dig in and speak out about SAP BBD.

Read Gavin Clarke blog post: Benioff Launches Pre-emptive A1S Strike  

Read eWeek article: Salesforce, SAP Battle for On-demand Supremacy

Read InternetNews article: Competitors Await SAP's On-demand Threat

Of course, Larry (the Klaxon) Ellison was quick to sound off, slamming SaaS in general and SAP's SaaS play in particular. Curiously, for all his bad-mouthing of SaaS, Ellison fails to mention, that Oracle paid big ($5.8B) for Siebel Systems, which had a significant on-demand offering, and that he personally owns about 41 percent of NetSuite, an on-demand ERP company that will compete directly with SAP's Business ByDesign suite.

Read eWeek article: SaaS Doesn't Pay  

Here's an additional selection of articles that provide a good overview of SAP BBD features and pricing:

Read Top Tech News article: SAP Unwraps Hosted Platform for SMBs 

Read eWeek article: SAP A1S Morphs into Business ByDesign

Read Reuters article: SAP Unveils Web Software, New Business Model

Read Bloomberg article: SAP Taps Smaller Customers with Web-based Software

Read InfoWorld article: SAP SaaS is not Just About Technology  

The SAP consulting industry is doing well and there are a multitude of factors sustaining the robust environment. In Part One of this four-part article, Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc. examines SAP’s solid fiscal performance, growing market leadership, and the large volume of pending SAP ERP upgrades. In this second installment, Sliman zeroes in on another key reason why the SAP boom is here to stay: An SAP Implementation Never Really Ends.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP Boom Here to Stay - Part Two 

SAP recently stated that it wants a prompt resolution of the lawsuit filed by Oracle back in March. From SAP's perspective, a "prompt resolution of the case is in the best interest of all concerned."

Read International Herald Tribune Article article: SAP Wants Prompt Resolution of Oracle Lawsuit

In a prior blog post, we looked at SAP's admission in July that inappropriate downloads had occurred, but that, according to SAP, the downloads were limited to TomorrowNow. SAP maintains that there was no involvement of SAP AG or SAP America, and that contrary to Oracle's claim, no "theft on a grand scale" had occurred. It is fair to point out that SAP delivered a response to the Oracle lawsuit in a reasonable time frame - approximately 3 months.

Read Optimal SAP Blog post: SAP Responds to Oracle Charge  

Unsatisfied with SAP's admission and dead set against anything that might provide a speedy and equitable resolution, Oracle portrays the case as highly complex and requiring lengthy discovery, including depositions from dozens of customers. It is seeking a trial date in September 2009. SAP, on the other hand, says the scope of the case should be narrower and that it is unnecessary to interview so many customers. It wants a trial date of March 2007 or earlier.

Read Computerworld article: SAP Pushes for Settlement Talks with Oracle

For all the hoopla, in the end, the greatest impact of this lawsuit may be that it educates the broader industry regarding the enormous cost savings available through 3rd-party maintenance of Oracle software. Much to Oracle's chagrin, its lawsuit has proven to be little more than  an annoyance to SAP.

Read Optimal SAP Blog post: SAP Q1 Looking Good, Oracle Lawsuit Looking Silly

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc .: Amid Distractions, It's Back to Business for SAP

It is pretty well known that TomorrowNow has the legal right to access the Oracle website because it does work for Oracle customers running J.D. Edwards and PeopleSoft software, and that Oracle's claims of "theft on a grand scale" are nothing but high drama with little substance. So why, then, is Oracle still so determined to stretch this ugly business out and continue trumpeting its less-than-airtight allegations?

According to Gartner analyst Vinnie Mirchandani, "The lawsuit freezes the market so Oracle gets what it wants. They are stalling any deals SAP and TomorrowNow might have or could have with customers looking for third-party support for their applications."

Read InternetNews article: TomorrowNow Incident Brings Scrutiny  

From out of this messy legal morass arises a fairly straight forward, though perhaps rhetorical, question: Who cares more about advancing business for its customers, SAP or Oracle?

The SAP implementation industry has been booming and many industry pundits, perhaps reflecting on the bygone heydays of the mid 90s, like to speculate about when the current run might end. It won’t. At least not in the foreseeable future, and for a number of verifiable, real-world reasons. In part one of this four-part article, I outline a few observations that argue the current SAP boom is here to stay: SAP’s solid fiscal performance and market leadership; and the strong ERP market and large volume of pending SAP ERP upgrades.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP Boom Here to Stay.

SAP professionals, particularly those working as consultants, command top-dollar today. According to a recent report from CT-based IT workforce research firm Foote Partners, SAP pros raked it in 2006, increasing their salaries 15.2 percent on average.

Read eWeek article: SAP Skills Pay Off Big for IT Pros  

Frenzied M&A activity, a growing need to manage huge amounts of data, and a strong trend toward business and process modeling are primary market drivers for SAP consultants.  David Foote, president of Foote Partners LLC, predicts a “tremendous opportunity over the next five years for SAP professionals.” Foote refines this prediction by observing that the current climate is especially favorable to corporate SAP pros looking to take the plunge into the rich waters of consulting. Top-paying SAP skills? BW/BI, sales and distribution, financial accounting and controlling, and cross-application production planning and materials management, among others.

Listen to SearchSAP.com podcast: SearchSAP.com Editor Jon Franke Interviews David Foote, president of Foote Partners LLC

The consensus among industry pundits is that master data management (MDM) is vital to realizing the promise of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). According to Gartner, “You won't get the business agility from SOA unless you build an enterprise information management layer first […] You will waste your investment in SOA unless you have enterprise information that SOA can exploit." Forrester points out that, "SOA by itself does nothing to address the question of how data should be managed within this architecture,” and Forrester analyst Ray Wang underscores the fundamental importance of MDM to any business intelligence (BI) initiative: “If you really wanted your BI to work you’d solve the master data issue.”

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP MDM: Linchpin for SOA 

After a painstakingly thorough review process you’ve chosen SAP as your ERP software. You are by now--if by some fluke you weren’t prior to this point--well aware of the potential hazards and high costs of an ERP rollout. Take a breath. You’ve made a good choice in SAP. Now the real challenge begins. Implementation. Will ‘go-live’ be a celebrated milestone in your heretofore illustrious IT career? Or will this day live in infamy with you holding the bill on a busted budget and paying the price with a wickedly bruised rep?

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: SAP Methodology Measuring Stick 

According to AMR Research, SAP R/3 serves as the application backbone for more than 20,000 midsize and large companies worldwide. Right now, under a licensing structure introduced in 2004 dubbed 5-1-2, extended maintenance on R/3 is available though 2007 at a two percent fee. Following that, the charge for extended maintenance for two additional years is four percent. Cost for post-2009 support is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

The window is slowly but surely closing for those wait-and-see SAP R/3 customers who opt for extended maintenance as they map out their upgrade strategy. The smartest SAP upgrade path, however, should not be solely determined by maintenance expiration.

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration, Inc.: What Should Drive Your SAP Upgrade Strategy. 

SAP's Q2 numbers top all expectations. 43 percent profit increase on net income of $519 million. Revenue Increases 9 Percent.

Read Forbes article: SAP Q2 Beats Forecasts, Shares Soar.

Read BusinessWeek article: Strong Numbers and New Products for SAP.

Optimal Solutions Integration , Inc.,a leading consulting and staffing firm experienced with SAP® solutions, today announced that it has achieved premier status in the SAP Consulting Partner Program for North America.

“We have a customer-driven culture at SAP, and all of our partner engagements must drive towards customer success,” said Ross Wainwright senior vice president of Consulting Sales, SAP. “Optimal’s premier status in the SAP Consulting Partner Program is based on its impressive history of achieving outstanding results. We’re confident that Optimal will continue to deliver unique skills and tools sets that help further ensure SAP customer satisfaction.”

Read press release: Optimal Named SAP Premier Partner.
 

In an excerpt from “Seven Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth: Blueprint to a Billion” (recently published in SAP Info ), renowned business author David Thompson makes an assertion about the business value of IT that flies in the face of Nicholas Carr’s infamous “IT Doesn’t Matter” article, originally published by the Harvard Business Review in May 2003

Read article by Sam Sliman, president for Optimal Solutions Integration: "SAP Factors Heavily in Blueprint to a Billion" 

SAP's reponse to Oracle's windy claim of "Theft on a Grand Scale" : Much ado about nothing...  Well, perhaps much ado about a little something... SAP admits that inappropriate downloads happened. But only at TomorrowNow. No grand invvolvement of SAP AG or SAP America.

Read article: "Business Software Makers SAP, Oracle Clash Over Data 'Theft'"

SAP CEO Henning Kagermann underscores how little Oracle suit will impact SAP's business.

Read Kagermann Interview: "SAP Chief Looks to day After Tomorrow"  

An SAP / Oracle setttlement is likely as Oracle would be hard pressed to prove involvement beyond TomorrowNow.

Read article: "Oracle Faces Long, Hard Road to Prove SAP Charges"