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SAP CONFERENCE: DISCIPLINED, ON MESSAGE

Maybe it’s that legendary German engineering, but this week’s SAP partner conference in Savannah, Ga., was well-run and delivered clear and (largely) consistent messages. It was also more formal. I usually see that many suits only at funerals. Among the messages pounded home was that SAP pays attention to the reseller’s balance sheet and P&L.

That translates into helping out with cash flow through better financing. SVP Kevin Gilroy, the head of North American channels and essentially the emcee, returned several times to the effort to simplify doing business with SAP, which he said is not there yet. In interviews, Gilroy has emphasized SAP is well aware of the need to short “time to revenue”, the period when VAR starts making money after making the investment to ramp up. Eric Duffault, VP of channels worldwide, said much of the way of doing business had come from the enterprise side and was being changed. One example was a leasing document which he said was 20 pages long. “We have that down to two pages with a one-hour turnaround. Our goal is to get that to one page and one-minute turnaround. The consistent sense of urgency also stood out. Gilroy emphasized risk taking and also discussed financing programs to help provide working capital as a foundation for double-digit sales growth and more than once said SAP would make some of its partners “zillionaires.” Resellers were also repeatedly assured that SAP has clear rules of engagement to keep direct sales out of their way.

 

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