SAP and RIM Usher In a New Era for Enterprise Mobility
The Leader in Enterprise Software and the Leader in Mobile Connectivity for the Enterprise Partner to Change the Way People Work
New York - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP AG) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced a co-innovation partnership to usher in a new era in enterprise mobility. SAP, the leader in enterprise software, and RIM, the leader in mobile connectivity for the enterprise, have joined forces to change the way people work, by enabling anytime, anywhere mobile access to SAP enterprise applications through the widely adopted BlackBerry® platform.
Just as the BlackBerry wireless platform has transformed the way people use e-mail, SAP and RIM will bring the power and productivity of SAP enterprise applications to the BlackBerry platform in a similarly robust and user-friendly manner. Mobile users will soon be able to work freely on SAP, no longer tethered to their desktops or offices in order to perform their jobs. By tearing down the walls between enterprise computing and mobile connectivity, SAP and RIM are enhancing employee productivity.
The first output expected from this new partnership is a native BlackBerry smartphone client that will merge the power of the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application with core BlackBerry smartphone applications, including the BlackBerry Email, Address Book and Calendar applications, to deliver an indispensable tool for sales people. The new mobile SAP CRM application will leverage the inherent security, management capabilities and efficiency of the BlackBerry platform and the intuitive user experience of BlackBerry smartphones. Organizations that already have the SAP CRM and the BlackBerry solutions deployed will require only basic user training and minimal incremental IT infrastructure investments.
According to research firm IDC, the mobile user population is set to increase from about 800 million in 2007, accounting for 25.7 percent of the worldwide workforce, to one billion in 2011, accounting for 30.4 percent of the workforce.1
“Providing access to and securing broad adoption of enterprise applications with mobile workers has been a pervasive challenge over the years,” said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications, IDC. “Most existing solutions require users to learn yet another application and navigation paradigm on their devices, and for IT to manage a complex infrastructure to deploy and support. By having a native application on a BlackBerry smartphone that easily extends functionality but retains the native ease of use, users will find it non-intrusive to adopt applications such as CRM. This is an exciting partnership and definitely has the potential to change the game.”
This groundbreaking partnership between two leaders in their respective markets leverages best-in-class business applications and mobile technology to deliver:
Expanded Reach of SAP® Business Suite Applications – Users rely on their BlackBerry smartphones for access to people and information on the go, so it becomes easier to introduce new enterprise applications with a far greater adoption rate.
Automated Data Synchronization – The new solution leverages the push-based architecture of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server to automate data synchronization between business systems and mobile applications. BlackBerry smartphone users have the flexibility to use the mobile enterprise application even in the absence of network coverage. Once back in coverage, all updates queued on the handset and back-end servers are automatically transferred without user action, similar to how e-mail on BlackBerry smartphones works today.
Easy Deployment – The mobile device management capabilities of BlackBerry Enterprise Server allow IT groups to centrally manage and wirelessly deploy mobile applications to BlackBerry smartphones.
Market-Leading Enterprise-Class Security – The proven capability and demonstrated track record from SAP in enterprise applications security, combined with the renowned wireless security of the BlackBerry platform, helps ensure enterprise-class security for the end-to-end solution.
Low Incremental Cost of Ownership – Businesses that have already deployed BlackBerry Enterprise Server and SAP applications can leverage their existing investments and keep deployment and maintenance costs at a minimum.
“SAP is thrilled to bolster its long-standing relationship with RIM through the co-development of this breakthrough offering,” said Bill McDermott, president and CEO, SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan. “By combining RIM’s expertise for empowering the mobile worker and SAP’s strength in business computing, we are embarking on an exciting future to make it easier and more convenient for today’s business users to perform their jobs. Our extended partnership with RIM will open many new doors for mobile workers around the world who require real-time mobile access to enterprise applications in a secure setting.”
“In concert with SAP, we are bringing the unique benefits of the BlackBerry platform to SAP applications, providing organizations with the security, manageability, efficiency and ‘push’ capabilities of the BlackBerry platform with a dedicated client application that also integrates with core BlackBerry applications,” said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, Research In Motion. “Our partnership with SAP will allow us to deliver an unparalleled solution to our mutual customers who demand the very best in enterprise mobility. With this new partnership, we have an excellent opportunity to further entrench BlackBerry as the leading mobile connectivity platform for enterprise information access. The vision that users can have access to SAP’s enterprise computing applications from virtually anywhere, anytime, represents a new era of opportunity.”
As part of the work delivered through the partnership, RIM will enhance its framework for building intuitive, workflow-enabled mobile applications for the BlackBerry platform. The framework will serve as the basis for developing mobile applications for other solutions in the SAP Business Suite.
SAP and RIM will be previewing the mobile CRM application at the annual SAPPHIRE® conferences in Orlando, May 4 to 7, and Berlin, May 19 to 21, as well as at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) 2008, May 13 to 15 in Orlando.
For more information, please visit http://www.blackberry.com/go/sap. For more information about SAP CRM, please visit http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite/crm/index.epx
1IDC, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2007–2011 Forecast, December 2007 - Doc # 209813
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around wireless platform, the RIM WirelessÒthe world and include the BlackBerry Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
About SAP CRM
SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) is an important component of the SAP® Business Suite. With an eye toward empowering the growing business user market, this breakthrough product has been co-innovated with leading customers and partners, and is designed to be simple and powerful to solve real business problems. SAP CRM offers capabilities such as trade promotions management, business communications management and pipeline performance management. SAP CRM features a dynamic user interface (UI) that gives business users the power to easily access all relevant information to best serve customers.
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47,800 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)
New York - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP AG) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced a co-innovation partnership to usher in a new era in enterprise mobility. SAP, the leader in enterprise software, and RIM, the leader in mobile connectivity for the enterprise, have joined forces to change the way people work, by enabling anytime, anywhere mobile access to SAP enterprise applications through the widely adopted BlackBerry® platform.
Just as the BlackBerry wireless platform has transformed the way people use e-mail, SAP and RIM will bring the power and productivity of SAP enterprise applications to the BlackBerry platform in a similarly robust and user-friendly manner. Mobile users will soon be able to work freely on SAP, no longer tethered to their desktops or offices in order to perform their jobs. By tearing down the walls between enterprise computing and mobile connectivity, SAP and RIM are enhancing employee productivity.
The first output expected from this new partnership is a native BlackBerry smartphone client that will merge the power of the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application with core BlackBerry smartphone applications, including the BlackBerry Email, Address Book and Calendar applications, to deliver an indispensable tool for sales people. The new mobile SAP CRM application will leverage the inherent security, management capabilities and efficiency of the BlackBerry platform and the intuitive user experience of BlackBerry smartphones. Organizations that already have the SAP CRM and the BlackBerry solutions deployed will require only basic user training and minimal incremental IT infrastructure investments.
According to research firm IDC, the mobile user population is set to increase from about 800 million in 2007, accounting for 25.7 percent of the worldwide workforce, to one billion in 2011, accounting for 30.4 percent of the workforce.1
“Providing access to and securing broad adoption of enterprise applications with mobile workers has been a pervasive challenge over the years,” said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications, IDC. “Most existing solutions require users to learn yet another application and navigation paradigm on their devices, and for IT to manage a complex infrastructure to deploy and support. By having a native application on a BlackBerry smartphone that easily extends functionality but retains the native ease of use, users will find it non-intrusive to adopt applications such as CRM. This is an exciting partnership and definitely has the potential to change the game.”
This groundbreaking partnership between two leaders in their respective markets leverages best-in-class business applications and mobile technology to deliver:
Expanded Reach of SAP® Business Suite Applications – Users rely on their BlackBerry smartphones for access to people and information on the go, so it becomes easier to introduce new enterprise applications with a far greater adoption rate.
Automated Data Synchronization – The new solution leverages the push-based architecture of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server to automate data synchronization between business systems and mobile applications. BlackBerry smartphone users have the flexibility to use the mobile enterprise application even in the absence of network coverage. Once back in coverage, all updates queued on the handset and back-end servers are automatically transferred without user action, similar to how e-mail on BlackBerry smartphones works today.
Easy Deployment – The mobile device management capabilities of BlackBerry Enterprise Server allow IT groups to centrally manage and wirelessly deploy mobile applications to BlackBerry smartphones.
Market-Leading Enterprise-Class Security – The proven capability and demonstrated track record from SAP in enterprise applications security, combined with the renowned wireless security of the BlackBerry platform, helps ensure enterprise-class security for the end-to-end solution.
Low Incremental Cost of Ownership – Businesses that have already deployed BlackBerry Enterprise Server and SAP applications can leverage their existing investments and keep deployment and maintenance costs at a minimum.
“SAP is thrilled to bolster its long-standing relationship with RIM through the co-development of this breakthrough offering,” said Bill McDermott, president and CEO, SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan. “By combining RIM’s expertise for empowering the mobile worker and SAP’s strength in business computing, we are embarking on an exciting future to make it easier and more convenient for today’s business users to perform their jobs. Our extended partnership with RIM will open many new doors for mobile workers around the world who require real-time mobile access to enterprise applications in a secure setting.”
“In concert with SAP, we are bringing the unique benefits of the BlackBerry platform to SAP applications, providing organizations with the security, manageability, efficiency and ‘push’ capabilities of the BlackBerry platform with a dedicated client application that also integrates with core BlackBerry applications,” said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, Research In Motion. “Our partnership with SAP will allow us to deliver an unparalleled solution to our mutual customers who demand the very best in enterprise mobility. With this new partnership, we have an excellent opportunity to further entrench BlackBerry as the leading mobile connectivity platform for enterprise information access. The vision that users can have access to SAP’s enterprise computing applications from virtually anywhere, anytime, represents a new era of opportunity.”
As part of the work delivered through the partnership, RIM will enhance its framework for building intuitive, workflow-enabled mobile applications for the BlackBerry platform. The framework will serve as the basis for developing mobile applications for other solutions in the SAP Business Suite.
SAP and RIM will be previewing the mobile CRM application at the annual SAPPHIRE® conferences in Orlando, May 4 to 7, and Berlin, May 19 to 21, as well as at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) 2008, May 13 to 15 in Orlando.
For more information, please visit http://www.blackberry.com/go/sap. For more information about SAP CRM, please visit http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite/crm/index.epx
1IDC, Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2007–2011 Forecast, December 2007 - Doc # 209813
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around wireless platform, the RIM WirelessÒthe world and include the BlackBerry Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
About SAP CRM
SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) is an important component of the SAP® Business Suite. With an eye toward empowering the growing business user market, this breakthrough product has been co-innovated with leading customers and partners, and is designed to be simple and powerful to solve real business problems. SAP CRM offers capabilities such as trade promotions management, business communications management and pipeline performance management. SAP CRM features a dynamic user interface (UI) that gives business users the power to easily access all relevant information to best serve customers.
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47,800 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)
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