The increasing interest in Web services should translate to a rise in popularity for SAP's NetWeaver, according to Boston-based Yankee Group.
In the Yankee Group's 2004 "integration demand" survey, which polled 465 users, 66% said they think Web services integration will be an influential factor for success this year. In addition, Web services integration rated as the top priority for users in 2004.
"We found that companies want to lower integration expense and are interested in building an ERP footprint for more flexible Web applications," said Yankee Group analyst Jon Derome. "SAP has a huge install base and should benefit from this."
SAP's integration platform, NetWeaver, was introduced last year. Derome said the technology and application platform can be helpful to companies looking to make better use of their "edge of enterprise" systems. Those systems support interactions with customers, suppliers and business partners, he said.
The NetWeaver platform attempts to harness Web services to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers, Derome said.
Companies that use NetWeaver in conjunction with other SAP products will benefit most, Derome said. Those enterprises that do not already use SAP products may not see as much benefit from using NetWeaver as an integration strategy.
The Yankee Group is recommending that companies planning to upgrade to SAP R/3 4.7 in 2004 consider the TCO advantages NetWeaver can deliver.
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Derome said that non-SAP shops should shop around for integration technology and compare products from IBM, Microsoft, BEA Systems Inc., Oracle Corp. and others.
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