Verizon and SAP to Offer CRM in the Cloud
Verizon and SAP yesterday began offering SAP CRM through Verizon’s CaaS cloud, enabling users to access the application from their desktops and on their mobile devices.
Verizon and SAP will offer enterprises a ready-to-use combination of software, pre-defined services, and pre-configured content at a pre-defined price that can be deployed in as little as eight weeks. Sales representatives also will have access to real-time customer information on their mobile devices through an integration of their SAP applications with Verizon’s Managed Mobility platform by leveraging the Sybase Unwired Platform.
According to Kerry Bailey, group president of cloud strategy and services at Verizon, the solution is “yet another step” for Verizon to deliver “everything-as-a-service.” “Enterprises are truly changing the way they do business,” she said in a statement. “Verizon and SAP have joined forces to harness the true potential of the cloud by delivering proven enterprise applications that enable workers to enhance their ability to serve clients and do better business outcomes. Together, we are opening up a whole new world that allows clients to truly work without boundaries.”
Vinay Iyer, vice president of global marketing at SAP CRM, says SAP and Verizon have been working on this partnership for several months and he believes this is a “win-win” for both companies. “We are trying to find more attractive ways for our customers to consume our solutions and Verizon has a very strong cloud-based infrastructure through which they can deliver solutions from SAP,” he explains. “They have a huge number of business customers for their mobile and landline services and I feel like they can reach a larger customer base through their existing relationships.”
Iyer says the solution is “still a product that offers the same amount of value” as existing SAP CRM solutions. He adds that SAP is also planning to expand the number of SAP solutions offered through cloud services in the future. “It’s not about offering a new product in the market, this is really offering more choices for our customers to easily consume SAP with flexible deployment options,” he insists.
The solution is now available and will be delivered based on a user-subscription model and customers can pay per user per month for the application, cloud hosting services, infrastructure, and management services.