SAP launches business management software for the GCC's small and midsize enterprises

by Anne-Birte Stensgaard

Delivering on its commitment to small and midsize enterprises and laying the foundation for continued industry leadership, SAP Arabia has launched the SAP® Best Practices Baseline Package offering, specially localized to meet the unique requirements of companies conducting business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Incorporating proven business process management capabilities from SAP's experience serving the world's leading enterprises, the offering is designed specifically for small and midsize enterprises seeking rapid implementation and fast return on investment, as well as by larger, global enterprises seeking to deploy standardized corporate templates across their subsidiaries and remote operating locations. With localized capabilities for GCC businesses developed by SAP Arabia, the offering can also be combined with other SAP Best Practices to manage strategic activities such as customer relationship management and specific processes for multiple vertical industries. Developed on the basis of ongoing customer feedback, the offering simplifies implementation and speeds deployment times to typically between 12-16 weeks.

'The offering applies SAP's proven global best practices to suit the business processes in the GCC,' said Essam Enany, president, SAP Arabia. 'We have localized requirements like accounting, materials management and procurement, sales, manufacturing, services, e-commerce for mySAP ERP and analytics, to suit the local regulatory regime. Midmarket companies have distinct needs that often are overlooked by vendors that try to lump them together in a single category with much larger or smaller businesses. At SAP, we are committed to providing easy, scalable and affordable solutions; accelerated implementation times and lower costs for our small and midsize customers.'

SAP Best Practices Baseline Package is a pre-configured business process platform providing an integrated offering that will enable small and midsize enterprises to automate and connect their core operations-including finance travel management, asset management and profitability analysis, inventory and procurement, sales, production planning including for both discrete and process industries, services such as customer service, maintenance and project systems and human capital management - and to better collaborate with their ecosystems of customers, suppliers and distributors.

'Increasing our presence among small and midsize enterprises is a key driver of ongoing growth and a significant area of strategic investment for SAP,' said Essam Enany, president, SAP Arabia, at the launch of the offering at Gitex 2006, the Middle East's premier IT exhibition. 'By developing a solution to cater to the unique needs of the Middle East, SAP and its partners are bringing more than 30 years experience of working with companies of all sizes to create affordable solutions for midmarket enterprises, with prepackaged best practices that can be quickly deployed at a lower total cost of ownership.'

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