Newsflash: Is SAP SRM 6.0 No More? A Rumor that G/A is Called Off
While I'm not sure at this point the exact reasons for forcing customers to wait for SRM 7.0 which will be available in Q42008 from what I've heard, it provides a great window for Ariba, Ketera, and many others to push their wares into the SAP installed base. It also calls into questions the current market viability of SAP MDM, which was supposed to be a replacement for Requisite and previous SAP attempts at catalog content management (one wonders if that is the reason for the delayed release, or whether it was something else). Perhaps most damaging, the cancellation of the G/A release will benefit Oracle, who will clearly now get a check in the procurement arena over SAP in head to head ERP systems comparisons. I also suspect that it will force SAP to keep selling the old Frictionless contract management toolset which while highly configurable, lacked many of the capabilities of others in the market and the eye-candy benefits of Duet.
6.0 was also supposed to enable a category management approach to procurement and sourcing on a single platform including frameworks and category guidance based on third-party processes and expertise (i.e., it was to be a consultant’s dream to customize). The thought behind this was to essentially copy what Ariba pioneered with its own solutions by enabling standardized and formal sourcing and procurement organizational structure, global monitoring and significant process visibility and workflow controls. I suppose that companies looking for this today -- or anytime before 2009, for that matter, given SAP's historical track record of not meeting scheduled release dates in this space -- will have to turn elsewhere. And I'm sure Ariba, Ketera, Oracle, and many others will be happy to take their calls.
I will continue to update this story as information develops and becomes available.
- Jason Busch
In addition, see:
http://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2007/05/01/the-...
You'll see an archive of posts on my coverage of SAP at their event earlier this year. No biases. Just objective coverage.
SAP's previous app stack from C1 days (Enterprise Buyer Marketplace Edition I think it was) was a joke. This is similar because of all the stuff happening under the hood with MDM, contract management, and other NetWeaver components, combined with a Feature 500 list that likely turned into 5000 based on the innovation happening in the space (and maybe from the Frictionless stuff). Adding features with an existing data model and infrastructure is easy. Doing so while fundamentally re-architecting the data model underneath is the hard part.
I completely understand SAPs move. Better to delay than release an unusable and unstable app. Still, let's just say that SAP has not been the CPOs darling, and this delay is going to cost a lot of companies a lot of hard money and lost time and thus lost savings.