SAP’s Acquisition of datango: Good News for User Training

SAP has kicked off 2012 with another acquisition.  This time, SAP intends to buy datango’s user training software.

datango, headquartered in founded in 1999, has built a comprehensive enterprise software training solution.  datango’s Performance Suite includes software that facilitates the development of training materials such as documentation, classroom presentations, e-learning sessions and online help.  datango’s solutions also include demos, simulated environments that support practice sessions and test sessions, in-line help in the live system, and automated translation support for 40 languages.

After the acquisition closes in a few months, SAP plans to integrate datango’s solution with its existing enterprise software offerings and rename it as SAP Workforce Performance Builder.  What will SAP Workforce Performance Builder offer to SAP customers?

The new solution from datango may be able to save SAP customers a substantial amount of time and money on user training. datango makes the following impressive claims on the efficiency of its product.

• Up to 80 % less time spent on preparing documentation
• Up to 30 % less time spent on presence training sessions
• Up to 60 % fewer standard inquiries at the helpdesk
• Up to 40 % less time spent on correcting errors
• Up to 90 % reduction in costs of Delta training courses

Markus Schwarz, Global Head of SAP Education, expects that this level of efficiency will be preserved when datango’s software is integrated with SAP and that the new training solution will lower the cost of SAP implementations.

As analyst Josh Greenbaum points out, good training has a positive impact in many areas of the enterprise.

[P]rocess mastery and overall software ROI is only the start. End users who are well-training tend to like their jobs more, customers who interact with well-trained employees tend to like their vendors better, and companies in regulated industries that train their employees well tend to stay out of regulatory purgatory more. There’s no end to the potential ROI of good training.

A less costly user training and support process for SAP will make it much easier to deliver the level of training that users require to help their businesses flourish.