Business software firm SAP held a virtual media briefing on Friday, April 28, to launch its “Grow With SAP” program intended to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) automate their businesses via the cloud.
The new initiative follows the “Rise with SAP” program, which the German ERP (enterprise resource planning) maker unveiled in 2021.
“Rise with SAP is also our cloud ERP offering, but for larger enterprises. Grow With SAP has S4 HANA public cloud as the foundation whereas Rise with SAP has got S4 HANA private cloud,” explained Verana Siow, president and managing director SAP Southeast Asia.
According to SAP, the newer program will help SMEs deploy cloud ERP faster while providing easier access to the Business Technology Platform (BTP) to connect to other systems they may already have.
The company added that SMEs can no longer rely on Excel and custom apps alone anymore. The cloud is the way to go, it said.
SAP said that while the new program is only available through its partners, it also offers it directly to customers in certain cases.
“In fact, our small and mid-market business is handled by our partners. Today, more than 70% of our mid-market business is led by partners,” Siow added.
“The Philippines has many SMEs who looking to expand and grow. So, we are very excited with the launch of Grow With Sap in the country,” she said.
The new program aims to attract new customers, especially those interested in greenfield implementations. Although some could be existing SAP customers who want to switch to greenfield, the software maker said the focus is on gaining new customers, particularly in the SME space.
“SMEs can look at Grow With SAP as a primary solution in scaling their business internally. We have a number of partners in the Philippines who can actually help these customers adopt a solution and realize their value faster,” said Vipin Chandran, chief partner officer at SAP Southeast Asia.
For his part, SAP partner and director of Delaware Singapore Christophe Derdeyn said the new program will allow customers to meet their budget and business needs.
“When they see the components and services clearly mapped out, moving to the cloud will no longer feel like such a scary leap, but a controlled, step-by-step process,” he said.
