SAP's announcement that it plans to reabsorb its U.S.-based Internet subsidiary is good news for most of its customers. It reduces the complexity of integration technologies across the broad SAP product line, removes sales channel conflicts and extends SAP's standard support processes across these newer products.
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When SAP acquired Top Tier Software and created SAP Portals a year ago, Gartnerhighlighted the risk that SAP would exert undue influence over the portal unit's direction. This influence was present during the past year, but it wasn'tstifling or obtrusive. However, now that SAP Portals is an operatingdivision of the parent company, it will have to focus more on the broaderneeds of SAP, possibly to the detriment of its original goal of independence.
Nevertheless, Gartner believes this consolidation was inevitable. Two yearsago, SAP Markets was launched to exploit exchange technology. One yearlater, SAP Portals was formed to exploit portal technology. Both areas,however, have rapidly matured from pure technology efforts intoapplication-driven opportunities. These smaller technology-drivensubsidiaries were free to evolve more rapidly than they could within SAP.
That kind of development was critical for SAP, which could not afford to belate to Internet opportunities twice. Enterprise Portal 5.0 has alreadyevolved to offer collaborative application content for interactive userintegration. Business Packages offers business content for internal users(employees, managers and directors) as well as external users (customers,suppliers and partners), based on information and experience derived fromSAP's application portfolio.
Shai Agassi, who led the subsidiary, will head the new group within SAP. Hispromotion to director promises a reinvigoration of the entrepreneurial spirit within theSAP board. Agassi will likely target the non-SAP market, but in a smallerway.
SAP customers should continue business as usual but pay close attention tothe future development of this new business unit. Much of the company's futuresoftware functions will likely be delivered by it. Non-SAP customers should viewthis announcement as a possible step back in the proprietary direction,rather than further down the open-systems road.
(For a related commentary on SAP, see gartner.com.)
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