23 New SAP Apps

October 11, 2011 | SAP News | Clare Plaisance | 0 Comment

SAP fired off quite a salvo of new products at MBC 2011 (photo: Christiane Stagge)

At the NEO Mobile Business Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, SAP announced 23 new apps scheduled for release in October. Join us for a look at some of the highlights from the list.

Who was expecting that? When Michael Böhnke, manager of SAP’s mobility program, began presenting the company’s IT strategy at the NEO Mobile Business Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, he lit the fuse on a real explosion of products. Instead of another explanation of what users can anticipate in terms of SAP’s on-premise, on-demand, and on-device offerings, Böhnke unveiled 23 new SAP apps set for release on October 14. In addition to Apple devices, these mini-programs will also be available for the Android, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry platforms. Böhnke pointed out that today’s IT managers expect newly developed apps to run on at least four mobile operating systems, hence SAP’s desire to support a broad range of mobile devices.

SAP’s internal online portal confirms the company’s place on the cutting edge, offering around 20 different apps its employees can download for iPhone, BlackBerry, or tablet PCs.

SAP discovers end customers

At SAP events just five years ago, attendees discussed whether laptops would ever overtake desktop PCs. These days, it’s clear that smartphones and tablet PCs have already surpassed laptops.

Despite the many mobile devices in circulation, users seldom get the maximum utility out of their business functions; in fact, most only use their devices to check their e-mail. This is what SAP wants to change by making its new applications attractive to end customers, as well. Since the company’s purchase of Sybase, it has been providing mobile banking applications (mBanking) that many customers are already using.

The SAP apps currently available cover tasks in reporting, BI analysis, approval workflow management, and travel and campaign management. For more on SAP EAM Work Order, SAP Retail Execution, SAP Field Service, SAP Workflow, SAP CRM Sales, and more, check out the article “Another Helping of New Apps from SAP.”

Michael Böhnke speaking at the Mobile Business Conference

Clear words, hard facts: Michael Böhnke, manager of SAP’s mobility program (photo: Christiane Stagge)

The 23 new apps

The new mobile apps due to arrive in October are designed for end customers (mMarketing, mBanking, mCommerce), task workers (service, sales, and industry apps), knowledge workers (to support employee productivity, collaboration, and business analytics), and other employees (for viewing customers and dashboards and carrying out various management activities).

Meanwhile, the apps will focus on the following areas in particular:

Productivity: travel and time management, procurement, leave requests, authorization, workflows, collaboration, employee and customer contacts

Processes: sales, field service, human resources, finance, consumer products, manufacturing, public sector, analysis

Consumers: Cityconnect, patient e-care, Sybase 365 apps (mPayment, mRemittance, mBanking, mMarketing)

SAP has announced that the following apps will be released on October 14:

Sales

SAP Sales Order Notification
SAP Material Availability
SAP Customer and Contacts
SAP Customer Financial Factsheet
SAP Order Status

Finance

SAP Travel Receipt Capture
SAP Travel Expense Report
SAP Travel Expense Approval
SAP Payment Approvals

Procurement

SAP Cart Approval
SAP Support Search
SAP ERP Quality Issue

Human resources

SAP Employee Lookup
SAP Leave Request
SAP Timesheet
SAP HR Approvals
SAP Interview Assistant

Miscellaneous

Citizen Connect
Transport Tendering/Tracking
Electronic Medical Insight
SAP GRC Access Approver
SAP GRC Policy Survey

These new apps represent part of SAP’s goal of having a billion users by the year 2015. On the road to this milestone, 80 percent of the company’s apps are to be developed by its partners. SAP will even provide hosted development environments should smaller companies need them in order to join in the programming effort.

Meanwhile, those planning on attending the SAPPHIRE NOW event in Madrid this November can look forward to demonstrations of the first apps developed for SAP STORE.

This article was originally published by Christine Stagge at SAP.info on October 11, 2011.