SAP launches first piece of hosted CRM service

06.02.2006
SAP AG last week launched the initial piece of its first hosted CRM service, an on- demand sales force automation system.

The full offering, called SAP CRM On Demand, will add hosted marketing and services applications to the sales system later this year. The hosted software runs on IBM servers with the DB2 database.

Beta site Du Pont Co. in Wilmington, Del., has already deployed the sales force automation service, called Sales On Demand, in its global operations, said Michael Michlovich, director of marketing and sales for Du Pont IT.

Without offering specifics of the implementation, Mich-lovich said Du Pont is using the service to complement its packaged CRM systems. He declined to name the suppliers of those systems. Common Processes

The Sales On Demand service offers a common set of business processes for Du Pont's sales force, a significant portion of which relies on manual processes, Michlovich said. Over the long term, he said, Du Pont hopes to integrate the hosted system with its SAP ERP software and retire some CRM applications.

Peter Graf, executive vice president of SAP product marketing, described SAP CRM On Demand as a stripped-down, easy-to-use version of the existing SAP CRM suite. The service will offer out-of-the-box integration with SAP's ERP applications, he said.