As companies continue to push their IT teams to do more with less, solutions that boost employee productivity are increasingly valuable. For many companies, mobilizing core business applications offers a way to get more out of their existing infrastructures.

For several reasons, SAP companies are more likely than ever to push more and more data into mobile devices and applications. The rise of the smartphone and the proliferation of mobile computing applications are the key drivers (Figure 1). There has also been a cultural shift in which employees are generally more willing to be tied to their jobs off-site in exchange for increased scheduling flexibility.

Figure 1

SAP sales functionality enabled on an iPhone

However, there are risks ahead for companies that don’t develop forward-thinking mobile application strategies, according to Troy O’Connor, CEO of Sky Technologies. Without proper planning, companies can easily end up with an unmanageable array of mobile point solutions, each with its own infrastructure and dedicated resources. In these situations, managing the security, performance, and maintenance of your mobile solutions can be prohibitively expensive and time consuming, says O’Connor.

A well-crafted mobile SAP strategy, on the other hand, offers several business benefits. Employees that are no longer tethered to the office can complete more work in the field, sales professionals can spend more time on client sites, and supply chain professionals can shorten their processes, says O’Connor.

“Companies running SAP have invested large sums of money in the infrastructure, the applications, and the skills required to operate that system. There’s no reason why they can’t take a mobility solution that leverages that system,” says O’Connor.

In this ERP Expert interview, O’Connor shares six keys for developing a mobile SAP strategy.

#1: Build From a Single Platform

Early adopters of mobile SAP solutions took advantage of point solutions that solved a particular need — perhaps connecting field service technicians to an SAP Service and Asset Management solution or enabling warehouse workers to scan barcodes into materials management.

As the second wave of mobility solutions hits, O’Connor says companies should think carefully about the impact of implementing multiple point solutions. Recent research from Gartner indicates that companies quickly lose the ROI on point solutions as they pile up, due to the expense of managing multiple technology infrastructures simultaneously.

“If companies take that approach, they could end up with six or seven different mobility applications throughout their business, and the cost of ownership just skyrockets,” says O’Connor.

The solution is to create a central framework from which your company can extend multiple mobile solutions on various devices, says O’Connor. That way, you can respond to business needs for new mobile solutions quickly without taxing the IT resources needed to keep all the applications running smoothly.

“The smart CIO now says ‘I need a strategy that is going to encompass my business today, but also be scalable for the future,’” says O’Connor. “That’s going to require an enterprise mobile management platform that can give you barcode scanning or production recording today, but can also do [SAP] CRM processing and workflow approvals, and can apply those functions to different types of hardware.”

#2: Mobilize SAP, Don’t Replace It

When many SAP companies think of mobile solutions, they think of middleware. That’s because many point solutions on the market require customers to manage their applications and devices from middleware that connects the devices to the SAP system.

There is a better way, says O’Connor. By managing your mobile solutions within your existing SAP infrastructure, you will be able to reduce the risks associated with a third-party middleware layer.

“The biggest mistake people make is replicating SAP processes and SAP data in the mobility solution, which is like the tail wagging the dog. That’s a big risk that companies take. It’s better to extend SAP into the field than to replicate it into middleware,” says O’Connor.

SAP companies also benefit by leveraging existing expertise into the business processes, workflows, data, and security measures already built into the SAP system, he says. Most companies can enable mobile SAP applications without recruiting additional resources.

“When our clients see they can do this with existing skills, they love it,” he says.

#3: Plan an Integration Effort

The approach recommended by O’Connor — ignoring point solutions with packaged middleware applications in favor of a central platform run from inside the SAP system — does require a heavy focus on integration. Every mobile application must be thoroughly integrated into the SAP system to work properly. O’Connor suggests that 70% of the work required to implement a mobile solution will be focused on integration.

“People underestimate the complexity of integration. You’re generating a lot of transactions in SAP, and across the board the mobile devices need to be able to handle that. You also have to make sure the mobile system doesn’t just pass things along to SAP, because transactions can get lost in the void. You need to manage that transaction to completion,” says O’Connor.

Some key steps in this effort are to ensure you have proper interface management within the SAP system (transaction and data integrity), and that the mobile solution will not compromise your SAP levels of security. The SAP system should remain the “master system,” says O’Connor.

#4: Consider Your Business Needs Carefully

Thanks to a rapidly-expanding market, companies have more choices than ever when selecting mobile SAP solutions. O’Connor says the following functions are popular candidates for mobile solutions:

• Field service and plant maintenance
• Workflow approval
• SAP ERP Human Capital Management
• Warehouse inventory and management
• SAP CRM and sales order capture
• Proof of delivery
• Point of sale
• Weighbridge automation (for data capture along a truck route)

However, just because you can mobilize these functions doesn’t mean you should. Companies must be careful to align their mobile strategies with business needs, according to O’Connor. He recommends beginning the assessment of your needs at the industry level.

“Certain industry verticals will align themselves quite clearly to the types of mobile solutions you need. Depending on what industry your company is in, that will lend itself to a particular set of mobile requirements,” he says.

For example, a company in the mining industry may look to mobilize the management of parts inventory, while a sales-focused industry may implement mobile solutions for sales order entry, proof of delivery, and other functions.

O’Connor also recommends a “try before you buy” approach. Vendors should be able to set up trial runs of mobile solutions within a matter of days, offering you a chance to assess the business value of the solution and sell it to upper management if necessary.

The most important thing, however, is to consider not only your present needs but future needs as well. A forward-thinking mobile SAP strategy will always leave the door open to future applications or innovations.

#5: Weigh Both Online and Offline Solutions

While a smartphone connection to internal SAP data may be the most seductive type of mobile solution, O’Connor urges companies to remember their core competencies when developing their strategies. Online solutions (which are directly connected to the SAP system via the Web) may offer business advantages to sales professionals, executives, and other employees, but in other areas offline solutions (which must be synchronized with the SAP system) may be preferable.

“Whatever platform you select, there will be areas in which you’ll need to support both,” says O’Connor. “For example, pricing and discounts in SAP CRM can be very complicated, and you may not want to replicate SAP business logic on a mobile device. So you may want to have the pricing check done through an online query to SAP. On the other hand, the process of taking an order could be done through an offline process.”

If you decide on an online solution for a particular need, you will need to make SAP data — such as inventory, order status, or pricing — accessible via that solution in real time (i.e., without synchronizing to a middleware database). Otherwise, you haven’t fully leveraged the capabilities of your SAP system, according to O’Connor.

However, online solutions can add a significant load to the SAP system if not planned properly, he says.

“The performance and user experience of an online solution can be affected by an overload of the online system. If you don’t provide a great end-user experience, you will face a lot of change management issues,” says O’Connor.

Offline solutions also require special considerations, according to O’Connor. While online performance is not an issue, users should be able to synchronize their mobile devices with the SAP system with little effort.

“You can’t expect your guys in the field to perform back-office functions. They need to operate independently while all the IT functions happen in background,” says O’Connor.

#6: Consider Your Support Needs

The high importance of performance in SAP mobile solutions means companies must plan carefully to support those solutions. A taxing user experience due to a system backlogged with transactions will inevitably harm adoption rates or generate multiple change requests.

While assessing possible platforms, companies should ask themselves several questions, according to O’Connor:

• Can I maintain the system myself? 
• How do I deploy changes? 
• Can changes be done remotely “over the air” or do devices need to be returned to base to be “uploaded”?
• How do I provide support to remote workers?

Even if you have no immediate plans to support remote workers, O’Connor suggests building that requirement into a mobile SAP strategy to meet potential future needs.

Companies should also consider the ability of a mobile system to be upgraded along with the SAP system, says O’Connor. Companies can deploy effective mobile SAP strategies on versions of SAP ERP and SAP R/3. However, you will want to ensure that you factor your mobile solutions into your upgrade plans, he says.

For more on building and maintaining mobile SAP applications, see “How to Select the Best Mobile SAP CRM Option for You,” by Martin Fecteau and Alexander Ilg.

Davin Wilfrid

Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.

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