SAP launches free app to universal raspberry

At the end of last week and to very little fanfare, SAP launched a free mobile application at the Apple AppStore. It is called SAP Citizen Connect.

The idea is that local authorities can provide the app as a way for citizens to communicate with them: alerting the LA to issues such as graffiti, potholes and the like. Users can take a photo and provide geo-location data as part of whatever they choose to report. Which all sounds good, at least for those who use an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

At the back end, LAs require SAP CRM, ERP, Citizen Connect mobile app add-on and NetWeaver Gateway 2.0 support pack 2. That's a lot of software. And a lot of money to acquire licences, train and implement. Unfortunately, the extent to which LAs will need to commit expense is far from clear in order to get...

...a new channel to bring their services closer to their citizens, reduce their call centre workload and partially automate related process steps, saving time and reducing expenses.

Jarret Pazahanick picks up the beat, albeit from an HR standpoint:

Trying to get SAP to talk about the licensing model can be challenging but many of new apps, including all the HCM ones, have a pre-requisite of the Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP 2.1) and Gateway 2.0 which are additional licensed SAP products. In talking with customers the cost of these platforms can be substantial though I have also heard that SAP is still considering an alternative pricing model and my fingers are crossed.

"Challenging" is putting it mildly. Anyone who has seen the Sybase price book will know that simply wading through its 37 pages to figure out the right options requires the patience of Job and the mental agility of an Einstein. This is not the way it should be. Jarret goes on:

Can you imagine after purchasing your new iPhone or iPad that you had been told that for only $999 a year you could buy another piece of software that allow you to be able to download all the free and 3^rd party apps and, oh by the way, we have less than 50 apps available but promise to have many more in the future. No one doubts that the Sybase Unwired Platform comes with a slew of benefits and functionality but I think SAP should consider using the razor and blade business model

He then goes on to list a clutch of reasons why this makes good sense. Many of the arguments are those I have attempted to communicate to SAP at board level. The problem is that like other incumbent vendors with very large maintenance streams, SAP can 'see' the arguments, but struggles to act in a manner that makes good business sense for everyone. In comments, Stan Stadelman, product manager for SAP enterprise mobility group argues:

While I don't necessarily disagree with the concept proposed by the initial post - everyone knows about 'razor/blade' - a better way to look at this is 'xBox' - the successful gaming console system from Microsoft that added innovation like the Kinect to the living room.

This is classic SAP thinking where the company exhibits a bad case of myopia that demands money now rather than understanding a much larger, future benefit. It simply will not work and is not in the spirit of its much vaunted co-innovation strategy of allegedly sharing risk with customers.

SAP has said that it believes 80 percent of its mobile application portfolio will come from third party developers. Who will these be? I have seen precious little from the big boys like Accenture, IBM or KPMG.

My sense is they will build out custom applications for their global 2000 customers, possibly productising in the process for broader markets. Some customers will ignore SAP and do their own thing. That's already happening.

I do however see a steady stream of ideas coming from the small developer shops. Some of those ideas are for applications that can be used by any SAP customer. Others are for tools that larger SIs might be willing to pay the smaller developer. In tossing around ideas, one large SI I spoke with said it would welcome the idea of a 'tools' market that allowed it to quickly acquire technology solutions it could then use to concentrate building out end user apps. So there are two business opportunities right off the bat.

Anyone who understands innovation knows that the best ideas come from individuals, not large teams. If SAP is to get the business volume it claims it wants then it has to find ways to incentivise the small developer shops. It says there will be an AppStore of some sort in the not too distant future.

The problem is that no-one can articulate what shape that will take. At least not today. I have heard some early plans and expect to hear much more at SAPPHIRE/SAP TechEd Madrid next month but I am not holding my breath to see anything earth-shattering, although I am always willing to be pleasantly surprised.

SAP argues that enterprise is different from consumer (and, by implication more complex) because you have to manage product life cycles, undertake testing and so on. I get all of that. So do developers.

SAP also argues there are different kinds of customer that demand different things. I get that as well. But is it beyond the wit of the smart people at SAP to come up with a simple model that will work for everyone? Right now, that seems to be eluding them, despite the fact there are plenty of voices singing largely the same tune.

If SAP is serious about this topic then the time is now to be not only listening, as it claims to do, but acting. If they do not act soon then I can foresee its partners taking the initiative away from them. That is already happening in part via a recent announcement from Capgemini:

Capgemini will host mobile solutions powered by industry-leading Sybase Managed Mobility technologies and offer them on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) basis. In addition, Capgemini and SAP AG intend to enter into an agreement to build differentiated mobility solutions, through which Capgemini plans to make mobility solutions from SAP available to customers.

While couched as a partnership, I cannot envisage SAP as the senior partner. Can you?

In the meantime, I expect developers will continue voicing their grumbles and while SAP will politely listen, it will continue marching to its own peculiar beat.