A pair of SAP partners created a new opportunity for themselves by treating supply chain ecosystems as branch offices of the enterprises they initially served.

The pair, IMG Americas, a subsidiary of Information Management Group, and SoftBrands, are delivering together a solution built on Business One, SAP's small and midmarket ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform, to distributors and dealers in common supply chains, much the same as the pair had done with far-flung enterprises, executives at both companies said.

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SoftBrands, a Business One ISV, which developed the application and IMG, a reseller partner, are working in conjunction on the strategy.

The idea is to treat them like spokes on a wheel, regardless of how they are connected to the pivot, said Larry Perlov, vice president of Philadelphia-based IMG Americas.

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"The headquarters or the common denominator is upgrading to MySAP All-in-One [SAP's more robust enterprise platform], while the spokes are left working on legacy systems," said Perlov said. "There is a push from the common host as the influencer to be compatible."

"The benefit is a consistent ecosystem," said Daniel Head, director of sales at Minneapolis-based SoftBrands. "There is a TCO [total cost of ownership] benefit to running on a common platform for both parties."