Enterprise Resource Planning kingpin SAP continued its midmarket push this week, announcing 33 new partners offering small and midsize business solutions in North America—26 new Business One partners and seven All-in-One partners.
Additionally, nine existing Business One partners have expanded their offerings and coverage, the company announced at its summer sales meeting July 30 in Washington, D.C.
SAP's overall goal is to help existing partners hit higher goals and grow their own businesses and to add new partners where more coverage is needed, said Michael Sotnick, SAP Americas' senior vice president, Small and Midsize Enterprises.
In this quest, the company must walk a fine line between expanding reseller and partner coverage without over-distributing its product and stressing margins. One reason some VARs prefer SAP to Microsoft and other ERP wares is that SAP is not as widely distributed and margins are firmer.
Will SAP support an open third-party support model?
New All-in-One partners include EntryPoint of Cleveland, Lat Capital of Miami, Tryarc of Los Angeles and VS LLC of Ridgeland, Miss. New Business One entries include: Advanced Business Software of Savannah, Ga.; Advanced Systems Group of Tulsa, Okla.; Advent Global Solutions of Houston; and Clients First Business Solutions of Birmingham, Ala.
All-in-One is SAP's preferred solution for larger mid-market customers (under $1.5 billion in annual revenue), most of which have fairly complex business process models. Business One usually targets smaller businesses with more straightforward processes, although there is some overlap.
Rob Delf, a partner at Tryarc, a Beverly Hills, Calif., Business One partner with expertise in media and entertainment verticals, says his company is adding All-in-One to its arsenal to attack opportunities, including customers, such as Ticketmaster, which run MySAP but have smaller subsidiaries where Business One or All-in-One is a better fit. "Hub-and-spoke" arrangements are common, he said.
Forrest Koch, CEO of The Omega Group, Portland, Ore., said SAP has won him over with its channel policies. So much so, he sold his Microsoft Great Plains and Solomon ERP practices to concentrate on Business One.
Koch said SAP consulted with him before adding potential competitor Yarrow Bay, of Seattle, and determined the two would benefit by partnering on projects.
Barbara Darrow is a Boston-based freelance journalist.
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