As mentioned in yesterday’s TechEd keynote article, SAP has now announced the availability of NetWeaver 7.1. Renee Boucher Ferguson on ZDNet summarized the key improvements in her article earlier today.

“[NetWeaver 7.1] brings the discussion around the integration and development platform full circle—back to business process orchestration, where it started when NetWeaver was announced in 2003,” Ferguson said. “There are three main pieces being added to the NetWeaver stack in version 7.1: Composition Environment, Enterprise Services Repository and NetWeaver Process Integration. By incorporating the three elements into NetWeaver, SAP […] hopes to lay the foundation for business process management in the world of SOA.”

Practically all the attendees at TechEd we talked to were upbeat about the announcement.

“The improvements are tremendous,” said Oliver Kaluscha, independent SAP consultant from Frankfurt, Germany. “I mostly work with Mobile technologies, so this is absolutely helpful to my business.”

Peter Thiele, senior consultant with IDS Scheer in Philadelphia, Penn., echoed the sentiment.

“This is going to put SAP technologically on par with other EAI leaders like WebMethods, Tibco and others,” Thiele said.

What’s next for NetWeaver? Surely, the SAP folks who created NetWeaver 7.1 aren’t spending their days playing Tetris, so what are they working on now? We asked Aiaz Kazi, VP of Solution Marketing at SAP Labs in Palo Alto, Calif. what to expect from NetWeaver 7.2.

For new features, Kazi was tight-lipped. “Our internal NetWeaver road map stretches 12-18 months into future,” he said. “The public road map is typically less than a year.” Today, Web 2.0 technologies like wikis are all the rage, he said. Tomorrow is papier mache — who’s to tell what’s going to be hot?

What he could say, however, was that we can rest assured CE will drive the front end. It’s what happened with NetWeaver 7.1, and that’s what will happen in the future, he said. Furthermore, the focus will remain on maintaining and improving stability, Kazi said. He largely agrees with Ferguson’s full circle-comment, referring to the CE/ESR/PI as the “holy trinity” on which the future rests, although there’s always room for improvement.

Matt Danielsson
Editor

In a guest column on SearchSAP.com today, Jon Reed discussed many skills that will be important for SAP consultants in the future. As is sometimes the case, not all of Jon’s thoughts could fit into the piece. But, he had some interesting thoughts on industry specialization, so here’s a bonus piece of advice from Jon for SAP consultants going forward:

Hopping from industry to industry will be risky business. Up until this point, consultants with solid implementation skills could jump from industry to industry in search of the best project at the best rate. However, both SAP and its customers are emphasizing the importance of consultants who know a particular industry. I had one SAP product manager tell me that consultants without an industry focus would have a hard time in tomorrow’s SAP market.

SAP ERP 2005 ships with 25 different industry solutions — industry solutions no longer have separate and sometimes confusing release schedules. Consultants who know how to apply an industry’s “best practices” are going to be in demand, which also emphasizes the importance of overall business know-how as opposed to configuration skills.

So if customers are asking for more industry experience right now, why is it a future skill? Because as much as customers want this type of industry background, the SAP consulting market is hot enough that I’m not sure SAP hiring managers will always be able to hold out for industry-focused consultants. But in the future, consultants with a consistent industry focus are going to have a big edge and it may eventually become a non-negotiable requirement.

We’ll plan on running the second installment of Reed’s piece (”The present̶ tomorrow and the final chapter (”The past̶ on Friday.

Jon Franke
News Editor

By now everyone has been affected by at least one aspect of the advanced Internet technology dubbed ‘Web 2.0‘; it’s the technology that lends a personal touch to what would otherwise be cold information.

This video may help the people out there who are not so familiar with Web 2.0 appreciate this “transition” just a little more.

Person-to-person contact, a major theme in Web 2.0 and in this video, could potentially benefit SAP enterprise software through personalization and most of all comfort. SAP has waited before picking up on these trends until now because blogs and wikis that have the Ajax style functionality have proven their worth by the test of time.

During Kagermann’s keynote he mentioned something about failures in the past in regards to their applications. He goes on to talk about how SAP is supposedly going to slowly and accurately develop material in the future so that everything produced is a success. Of course this kind of talk could be interpreted as “I’m sorry, we’ll do better next time”, but this new adoption of communication truly seems to be a step in the right direction.

In his blog, Michael Cote writes, “I’m beginning to think that ‘Web 2.0′ is set to be the ‘SOA’ for [at least] this year and [possibly for] upcoming years”. Cote also points out that SAP has waited a long time to release this technology and when they launch these applications their users will be asking about what “web 4.0″ has to offer. I agree with Cote, there are new trends that will make their presence known, but to be fair SAP is utilizing the core features of the Web 2.0 revolution that have already proven their worth.

Even though SAP’s applications that utilize these Web 2.0 functions have received mixed reviews, one thing is clear: SAP is serious about Web 2.0.

Read more about how SAP plans to utilize Web 2.0 for the SOA.

Eric Samuels
Assistant Editor

The Web 2.0 video, Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us was created by Dr. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University.

There was a lot of buzz about the upcoming NetWeaver 7.1 at Sapphire the other week. Releasing in Q3 this year, it’s positioned as the springboard for really getting into SOA in the real world. NetWeaver 7.1 is a major milestone for SAP that packs plenty of juice, with a full Enterprise Services Repository which enables users to dig into ES composite use and creation, as well as laying the groundwork for SAP’s business process initiative.

Simply put, SAP’s Enterprise SOA bandwagon is on the move. But at the same time, SAP’s A1S on-demand ERP solution was one of the other big stories of Sapphire. Given the luke-warm reception of SAP CRM on-demand last year, it may seem a bit puzzling why SAP would double down on both sides of the fence. That’s why it was interesting to read Brad Shimmin’s take on the SOA vs. SaaS debate.

Conflict entertains, he said, but the sensible thing is to use SOA as a foundation for SaaS.

“Using an Enterprise Service Bus, SOA solutions can transform disparate data formats, mediate different protocols, and orchestrate transactions. Imagine if an enterprise that employs SOA internally were also to use a SaaS application, say Salesforce.com. That enterprise could use its ESB to connect Salesforce.com to its ERP or CRM systems. Salesforce.com, of course, has been shooting for this goal since 2005. But the real bang won’t come until SaaS customers themselves maintain a SOA infrastructure internally.”

In other words, these concepts are hardly mutually exclusive. That’s certainly food for thought in light of SAP’s stated goal of chasing both rabbits simultaneously.

Matt Danielsson
Editor

The natural high point of Sapphire 2007 was SAP CEO Henning Kagermann's keynote, and the message was clear: SAP is getting serious about this Web 2.0 business. Knowledge sharing, collaboration and self-service features are the tune of the future, which coincidentally goes hand in hand with the Harmony initiative we mentioned the other day. Social networking, wiki-style content building and similar user-driven activities are growing in popularity overall, so it's not surprising that SAP is embracing the Web 2.0 movement.

Basically, we're looking at a shift from a top-down, technically rigid structure to a more fluid, informal way of thinking with a certain trust in that people can find workable solutions to their problems. There are examples where this type of individual empowerment has worked out great, but it's not necessarily a given (browse a few controversial topics on Wikipedia for examples of information integrity breach). By and large, however, it makes a lot of sense and we'll be following this closely in the year ahead.

Kagermann also talked about the new Business Process Platform (BPP) and how they've now expanded it to the whole product portfolio (with Business One being the only exception.) That's in line with SAP's previously stated focus on business processes as well as Hasso Plattner's keynote presentation on Monday. 

A1S, the new on demand ERP solution that has been hinted at for months, was finally unveiled. Scaled for customers with 50-500 users, the product bridges the gap between Business One and All-in-One. It is NetWeaver-based with the same underpinnings as All-in-One, making it a natural fit in SAP's next-gen product portfolio. Further, it has a "try it, then buy it" feature that gives potential customers a chance to see what A1S can do for them before cutting a sizable check. Stay tuned as news editor Jon Franke dives deeper into this topic next week.

Finally, take note that the "my" in "mySAP" has disappeared. As a result, "mySAP ERP 2005" has been renamed to "SAP ERP 6.0". The change is in name only with no additional features.

Matt Danielsson
Editor

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Shai Agassi, president of SAP’s product and technology group and heir apparent to CEO Henning Kagermann, is set to resign from the company. SAP is refusing to comment on the report, according to Forbes.com.

According to the Wall Street Journal report:

“[…] in a move that could preface a management shuffle at the German software giant.

Shai Agassi, president of SAP’s product and technology group and architect of SAP’s Netweaver software, is leaving the company to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change, says a person familiar with the move.”

If true, SAP is obviously in for a huge shake-up in its management team and probably needs to rewrite Kagermann’s succession plans. I wonder how Léo Apotheker feels right now…

Check back here and on SearchSAP.com for more information as this story develops.

SAP consultants are experiencing a boom… or slow and painful demise. It all depends on what particular niche you're focused in on and the skills you've acquired. Most SearchSAP.com members are familiar with SAP jobs expert Jon Reed's excellent career advice, but this time he took it one step further with this in-depth report:
SAP consulting trends: Revenge of the core consultant and other new developments.

Some issues that are explored in the report:

• What are the "winner" vs. "loser" areas of SAP consulting?
• Why experience isn't enough and why some consultants can, once again, get gigs with just a certification
• How to cash in on the upgrade push to ECC 6.0
• How NetWeaver is changing the required skillsets
• How to tweak your current skill set to hit the profitable niches in the years ahead

It's a massive report featuring interviews with Brian Trout, SAP Practice Manager for B2B Workforce, Jerry Walter, owner of staffing firm Walter and Associates and Michael Doane, chief intelligence officer for Performance Monitor and author of the recently updated SAP Blue Book, among others. Check it out today!

Matt Danielsson
Editor

Following the predictions of Logos GmbH founder Axel Angeli and Ventana CEO Mark Smith, it is now time for veteran SAP expert Dale Young to put forth his take on the major SAP trend of 2007. Like Axel's most recent post, Dale chose to do it in the form of a guest editorial.

The key question
Why is the upgrade to mySAP ERP different than those that came before it?

Many SAP customers are at a crossroads for supporting future business needs and realizing the next wave of value from their SAP investment. First of all, today's business environment is VERY different from when they originally put in R/3. There is an increasing amount of business competition, collaboration, globalization, standardization, commoditization and change.  They are likely are faced with new competitors, markets and products and their enterprise solutions must serve a new generation of customers, employees and partners (from generation Y) for whom technology is a normal life skill.

More complexity
Secondly, their original application strategy and enterprise architecture are likely more than five years old.  The ideal "clean" hardware, software, OS and database environments that were targeted with the first install have likely been more complex and less heterogeneous.  Business needs have changed; technology and Web services have matured; and SAP has entered into the architecture, Web enablement and integration space.  Computing infrastructure capabilities have also evolved.  There are significant new opportunities to optimize your enterprise infrastructure. 

Finally, SAP has undergone a "Step Change" in its architecture and solutions.  NetWeaver and Enterprise SOA have emerged as the foundation for all SAP solutions; there are increased capabilities in the areas of data and information management; and new third party capabilities such as Microsoft Duet and Adobe IAF have been introduced. For the first time, the core business content that has been developed over the last 30 years by SAP will be available for an open, standards-based world. Also, SAP functional solutions have evolved and matured.  There are opportunities to take advantage of new functionality across the entire SAP solution suite and to simplify your overall enterprise architecture through additional legacy solutions retirement.

What does all this add up to?
When looking at all these factors together, you can see that this upgrade is different.  SAP customers are at a unique point in time where they can set the direction for their enterprise solutions for the next decade.  At first, this may seem to be a daunting task and very few enterprises have the luxury or can afford the risk of a wholesale rebuild.  Most organizations are following an "evolutionary" approach to dealing with this business revolution.

Dale Young, Vice President
North American SAP Alliance Leader

Editor's comment:
Do you agree with Dale on this being the number one trend for 2007? Is it really that vital to upgrade? Do you trust the new lineup of feature-packed NetWeaver toys, or do you prefer to sit back and see what happens? Sound off and send your thoughts to mdanielsson@techtarget.com today!

Matt Danielsson
Editor 

We recently asked veteran SAP guru Axel Angeli for his predictions of the major SAP trends in 2007. Now it's time to turn our attention to Mark Smith, CEO at Ventana Research, for his take on the matter.

SearchSAP: What's the biggest SAP trend for 2007?

Smith: The biggest trend is that SAP is moving to advance its use of Analytics and will evolve into offering its Customer Performance Management functionality across finance and operations management. These new advancements in applications and capabilities will become essential for SAP to maintain relevance with senior executives but to also help customers derive more value from existing investments. With a foundation year of new applications in Analytics and now an investment and focus in Performance Management, SAP is recognizing the importance of supporting not just the business processes but the management processes that can deliver improved results and effectiveness of organizations.

SearchSAP: Do you see any additional developments to keep an eye on?

Smith: SAP is moving to drive more value in its applications through significant advancements in the process and event drive architecture of SAP NetWeaver. The movement from transaction-centric architecture and systems to event-driven can help organizations move toward more automated and intelligent applications that improve the value and supply chains of industries. Integrated inter-enterprise processes are part of the next decade of innovations in ERP and CRM application suites and are essential to fulfilling the vision and promise of enterprise services architecture from SAP.

SearchSAP: What do you expect from SAP's ERP competitors?

Smith: SAP's key competition in ERP is Oracle, Infor and Microsoft at one level of mega application providers and then down to Epicor and Lawson. Each of these providers is working to maintain its existing customer base through new versions of its applications and new underlying application platform and capabilities. The places of significant new growth are in analytics and Business Intelligence and the underlying integration of these applications with information management needs of organizations. These application companies are continuing to build, buy and partner to expand these capabilities to stay competitive with SAP. In addition, the focus on Performance Management and new classes of applications for finance and operations is now advancing from many of SAP's large and small ERP competitors providing engines of growth and value for existing and new customers.

Stay tuned for more expert insights of what 2007 has in store for the SAP world! Also, be sure to take Ventana's latest survey on how to get the best metrics from SAP — there's a Starbucks gift certificate in it for you, plus a chance to win an iPod nano.

Matt Danielsson
Editor

As mentioned last week, it can be tough to cram as much information as we'd like to in a 15 minute podcast. So, we followed-up with author Scott Campbell recently and asked a couple questions that didn't quite make the cut in last week's interview:

SearchSAP.com: We talked about SAP jobs a bit in the podcast. If you were looking for an SAP job in this market, what is/are the most important things you would focus on?

Campbell: There are plenty areas outside of core NetWeaver which will be in high demand in the years to come. One place we are focusing our recruiting around is Architecture and BPM skills, especially knowledge around IDS Sheer's ARIS technology. Another place where skills will be needed is around xMII. As I mentioned on the podcast, ideally we look for people with good broad solutions experience as we can always provide additional training in any specific tool or technology. Another area emerging in 2007 is for people with the NetWeaver Composition Environment experience (next generation of WebDynpro and CAF, …etc.). And of course from the functional side, anyone who understands BPX concepts and can apply their business knowledge with the friendly modeling tools supplied by SAP. These people should be in high demand. I guarantee our recruiters are always interested in folks with any of these skills.

SearchSAP.com: You had a whole chapter in the book on the SAP ESA ecosystem. How is that playing out?

Campbell: The ecosystem has been very successful and is growing rapidly. From a standards perspective SAP is investing heavily on key SOA standards and implementing them into their products. A great example of this is their contributions and investments around SCA and SDO as well as Java EE 5 implementation. In addition, SAP is working with other platform vendors to define and deliver the broader standards needed to create next generation SOA Infrastructure and composite modeling environments. The number of ISV partners are exponentially increasing and moving beyond Powered By NetWeaver solutions to create more certified composite applications. Expect to see a lot more of the partners to move from engineering to real implementation and delivery of solutions in 2007. This is good for SAP, good for partners, and really good for their joint customers. Lastly, the results of the SAP Enterprise Services Community are yielding real fruit and this effort remains very important as a place where partners and customers can contribute to the future service enablement of SAP.

If readers find follow-up like this valuable, we could see it becoming a regular blog item. To let us know one way or the other, email me at jfranke@techtarget.com.