SAP aiming for 1,000 Business ByDesign customers by end of 2011
SAP has 500 companies running their businesses on its Business By Demand cloud ERP suite today and is looking to double that count by the end of the year.
Speaking at a press conference in Orlando, SAP co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe highlighted a deal with China Telecom to sell Business ByDesign.
"We will hit 1,000 customers this year," said Snabe.
McDermott noted that China is a big growth opportunity for SAP and it plans on localizing its software and delivering innovative services specifically for the country.
Snabe said Business ByDesign will be a "significant, profitable revenue stream."
To complement the Business ByDesign effort, SAP is launching Sales On Demand, another effort to target specific software as a service verticals. SAP is aiming to connect back end systems to mobile devices via apps. SAP also plans a travel management cloud service and an on-demand suite for talent management.
Snabe said Business ByDesign is growing faster than its R/3 suite did at this point in its history. Snabe's point is that if a startup had launched Business ByDesign it would get a lot more play for getting to the 500 customer mark.
With a focus on talent management, on-demand ERP and sales application, SAP is clearly aiming at companies such as Salesforce.com, NetSuite, SuccessFactors and a bevy of others.
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