SAP and Sybase, now part of SAP, have announced a new wave of mobile apps which range from process-driven to consumer-facing applications. SAP says the new apps are designed to ‘mobilise’ key business functions, allowing employees to work at anytime and from anywhere via mobile devices, freeing them from the confines of their desks. The development is being driven by SAP and its partners, powered by the Sybase Unwired Platform.
The pace of this release has impressed some market commentators. Nick McQuire, research director, Enterprise Mobility Strategies EMEA, IDC says, “The integrated platform and application story of SAP and Sybase is strong with the delivery of apps to market — in the past, 3- to 6-month development cycles would be unheard of with companies of this size; this speaks to SAP’s commitment to speed innovation,” He added, “Companies are seeking the productivity and process improvements, cost reduction and business transformation opportunities that mobile applications can provide. This perfect storm of mobile device proliferation, 3G adoption, employee mobility and consumer app demand is propelling mobile enterprise applications up the CIO agenda.”
In order for customers to quickly access and download the new mobile apps, SAP is introducing SAP Store for mobile apps, an “enterprise ready” app store that they say will offer the ease of use and familiarity of a consumer app store and addresses the unique needs of enterprise customers. SAP Store is available both via website and through an on-device version for iOS called “SAP Mobile Apps,” with Android, BlackBerry and other operating systems to follow. Customers can download and evaluate apps before they buy and can directly request quotes. SAP plans to soon offer customers the ability to purchase apps directly via SAP Store and continue to make it easier to distribute and deploy mobile apps in an enterprise.
“SAP’s strong momentum in bringing to market waves of mobile apps is driven by tremendous customer demand to unwire their enterprise,” said Dr. Raj Nathan, executive vice president, Sybase, and head of Mobile Applications, SAP. “Not only does SAP see this market opportunity, we have a rapidly expanding network of partners in the mobile space that continue to grow with us. We foresee SAP partners contributing 80 percent of mobile application development in support of SAP solutions to further meet customers’ mobility needs.”
