Does SAP's Involvement in ERP Projects Improve the Performance of Their Alliance Partners?

In late 1997, SAP Consulting came into existence in order to assure that SAP would have a stake in the success of SAP engagements. Prior to that time, in the words of many SAP executives, the software supplier had been relegated to "wildly cheering on the sidelines". While SAP Consulting is often the prime systems integrator for engagements, their role as a sub to alliance partners has been portrayed by them as a definite boost to engagement success.

A major study of the SAP market was recently completed by Performance Monitor, an independent marketing research firm. This research includes 809 interviews with clients of the leading SAP systems integrators, including Accenture, BearingPoint, Capgemini, CSC, Deloitte, IBM, and SAP Consulting. During the course of the interview, clients provide an assessment of their systems integrators’ performance during their SAP project.

In all, SAP Consulting has been included in a support role for approximately three out of four SAP projects conducted by their leading alliance partners included in this research. Contrary to SAP claims that their involvement in alliance partner projects is a plus, we find that as recently as 2004, the reverse was true. While SAP showed improvement in 2005, there was not much difference in the performance of alliance partners when SAP was involved and when they were not.

In 2006, however, alliance partners saw an increase in the quality of their delivery when SAP Consulting was included as part of the delivery team. So what has changed over the last few years that has caused this improvement? SAP Consulting’s performance as a provider has been increasing as well. They have been performing at above industry average rates for the last two years.

SAP Consulting’s performance has improved compared to the group average over a three year span. The results from the leading seven providers are separated by just over half a point, meaning that SAP Consulting’s year over year improvements are meaningful.

Clients still need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of including another partner in the mix for the SAP systems integration project. Adding another partner creates additional management on the part of the project team, but it can create additional value, as well as a more direct conduit to the SAP organization, when effectively managed. This data reveals an increasing trend that including SAP Consulting as a delivery partner with one of their alliance partners can improve overall project performance.

About This Research

This research was conducted by Performance Monitor, an independent marketing research firm. The research includes 809 SAP systems integration projects that have been completed over the last three years. For more information please visit: http://www.performancemonitor.net/mm.php?content=may_2007.

Paul Reynolds Chief Research Officer, Performance Monitor As Chief Research of Performance Monitor, Mr. Reynolds has conducted several major market studies that measure the field performance of the leading service providers in the enterprise application marketplace, including ERP systems integration, CRM systems integration, application outsourcing, and application development and maintenance. Mr. Reynolds’ expertise includes methodology development, data analytics, and research process design. Prior to co-founding Performance Monitor, Mr. Reynolds served as the Vice President and Director of Quantitative Research Services at META Group (acquired by Gartner), a Connecticut-based IT research and advisory firm. In this capacity he was responsible for all North American primary research conducted by the firm. He received the 2002 META Group Analytical Insight Award for his co-development of the METAspectrum vendor evaluation methodology. The award is given to the one analyst/consultant doing the most to advance the company’s analytical methodologies, tools, and frameworks. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_L_Reynolds