SMB market awaits SAP’s Web 2.0 play

Can the company that gave the world something as rigid and monolithic as
R/3 transform itself into a Web 2.0-savvy alternative for small and
mid-sized businesses?

The answer could come as early as the end of this year when SAP  finally launches A1S, it’s much-hyped and long-awaited
software-as-a-service offering(SaaS) (define) geared for small and
mid-sized companies.

“We will have an announcement soon, very soon,” said Peter Graf,
executive vice president of solution marketing, in an interview with
internetnews.com. “We’ll be taking the process knowledge we’ve
accumulated over 30 years and delivering an integrated suite of
applications, on demand, to this new market.”

A1S represents a bold foray into uncharted territory for SAP. While few
outside SAP know exactly what it will ultimately look like, analysts say A1S
was built on a future version of the NetWeaver platform and will provide a
suite of business applications to the SMB market on a subscription basis.

It’s expected to include a slew of Web 2.0 bells and whistles including
widgets and mash-ups to help users tap into and gather data from its core ERP (define) and CRM (define) applications.

“A1S is a big bet for SAP,” said Gartner analyst Dan Sholler. “This has
to succeed or they will have a whole host of business challenges ahead of
them. No one has ever proven they can sell this type of business technology
this way. SAP is betting the profitability of the company that it will be
able to do it.”

Earlier this year, CEO Henning Kagermann said the company plans to grow
its total customer base from to 39,000 to more than 100,000 by 2010. Much of
that growth, he said, will be tied to the SMB market. That’s why the company
is investing between $300 million and $400 million on the A1S launch.

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