UberMobile
Eric LaiSAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
Summary: Talk about eating your own, delicious dog food: SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann tweeted yesterday that the enterprise software vendor has already rolled out iPads to 1,000 employees. And this isn’t just a superficial show of support for SAP’s new-found embrace of mobility: according to Bussmann, every iPad comes with e-mail, Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to [...]
Talk about eating your own, delicious dog food: SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann tweeted yesterday that the enterprise software vendor has already rolled out iPads to 1,000 employees.
And this isn’t just a superficial show of support for SAP’s new-found embrace of mobility: according to Bussmann, every iPad comes with e-mail, Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to server-based applications through Citrix software and Business Intelligence tools via BusinessObjects.
iPad-wielding SAP employees are also piloting the Mobile Sales for SAP CRM app built by Sybase for our then-partner, now-parent company.
According to Bussmann, the 1,000 iPads are spread among SAP’s 48,000 employees worldwide, not concentrated in either its home country of Germany or within its US operations.
And the 1,000 employee figure - a statistic which already comprises more than 2% of SAP’s workforce despite the iPad only being available for 4 months - is set to grow, promised Bussmann, who tweeted “More to come..”
We’ve seen reports of companies starting to deploy the iPad, such as Mercedes-Benz, Wells-Fargo, Bausch & Lomb, Kaiser Permanente, and others. And there is Apple’s statistic that half of the Fortune 100 are testing it.
But SAP’s rollout has got to be the single largest in the world. I doubt that Apple (34,000 employees) has anywhere near the same number of employees using an iPad today.
The usefulness of iPads and other tablets will only grow. Sybase is working with SAP to deliver a mobile SDK for SAP and other enterprise apps, as well as directly helping SAP mobilize its vaunted lineup of enterprise software.
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Do you think the time is ripe for companies to embrace iPads now? Or is the business and productivity case still unproven?
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Talkback Most Recent of 8 Talkback(s)
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RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
Maybe SAP should work on bringing their own flagship product up to spec first. SAP is the worst POS (piece of software) I've ever had to use. Years long endless implementations, nothing that ever really works the way it's supposed to. Even something as simple as printing an expense report requires a call to the consultants to explain the cryptic errors thrown back at users when it crashes. Honestly they need to start working on a clean rewrite of the whole thing instead of messing around with their silly iPads.
putty.master3rd Sep 2010 -
RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
@putty.master : am not sure about your experience, but Fortune 1000 companies agree that SAP is the world's best. Most people who haven't had the adequate training find themselves frustrated by its complexity. But, make no mistake, this is wholly intended. The impressive amount of safeguards make customers happy and developers sad.
Am sure you're a displaced AS/400 RPG "developer" which was forced to use SAP out of extinction of your platform (JDEdwards).
Don't waste your time defending another decaying platform (the PC) and start embracing the new one, or rest assured that some day you'll be b*tch**g how difficult is printing a simple Excel report on your company assigned iPad. LOL!!!
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RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
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meimeili23rd Sep -
RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
Dear Eric:
Regarding your statement:
"But SAPs rollout has got to be the single largest in the world. I doubt that Apple (34,000 employees) has anywhere near the same number of employees using an iPad today."
I wanted to let you know that we at Deutsche Vermoegensberatung (DVAG), the largest German independent financial adviser, have supplied around 1.200 iPads within our sales organisation that consists of about 37.000 people.
Kind Regards,
Christian Glanz, CIO
cglanz6th Sep 2010 -
RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
@cglanz Very impressive, indeed - that's already 3.25% of your workforce! I'd love to follow up to find out more about how DVAG did your rollout and why....best, Eric
ericylai@...7th Sep 2010 -
RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
@cglanz I note that SAP's CIO Oliver Bussmann spoke with the UK magazine Computing last week and said that the # of iPads deployed is actually closer to 1,500: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2269378/sap-cio-details-ipad-strategyericylai@...7th Sep 2010 -
RE: SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
@ericylai
I do not want to start a beauty contest or a competition with SAP, however, we have now deployed about 1.600 iPads along with a couple of or own apps to our sales force. Overall the iPad technology is a huge success within our company and becoming a key part of our IT-strategy.
If only Apple would be a bit more business friendly, much more would be possible...
For all German speakers: http://www.dvag-unternehmensblog.de/2010/05/25/dvag-erneut-benchmark-im-finanzvertrieb/cglanz22nd Sep 2010
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Blogger Biography
Eric Lai tracks the latest news and trends in enterprise mobility. A veteran tech journalist most recently covering enterprise software for Computerworld, Eric joined Sybase in April 2010. Follow him at ericylai@twitter. Eric's views are his alone and do not necessarily represent those of Sybase.
This blog is sponsored by Sybase.
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