Multiplying in India

Could you articulate your strategies for the Indian market?
This year, we are planning to provide a complete portfolio of solutions for our customers, while also looking at monetization of SAP solutions. Some of these include SAP In-Memory Appliance (HANA), mobile solution or on-mobile solutions, on-demand business solution portfolio, and subscription based hosting.

Could you also throw some light on your channel partner ecosystem in India? What is your criteria while appointing any new partner?
Currently, we have over 200 partners across industry verticals, and six global service partners from India namely Wipro, TCS, HCL, Infosys, Satyam, and Larsen & Toubro.

We choose our partners carefully by ensuring they share our passion for customer value. Together, we create a thriving ecosystem in which our valued partners can be successful-a win-win situation for all. As a set protocol, all partners need to go through a certification process as customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to us. This strict certification process further guarantees quality towards our endcustomers. Our PartnerEdge program supports a selective distribution system instead of an open one. We also distinguish among 3 levels of PartnerEdge status-Bronze, Silver, and Gold. This way a partner can gain value points based on revenue with SAP and based on capability (training, certified employees, demo capability etc).

We have also launched A1 Fast Start Program, which brings down the implementation cost and time considerably, and maximizes value for customers. Besides, SAP Partner Service Benefits Package, a comprehensive package of technical, service and educational enablement, helps partners deliver long-term satisfaction to SAP customers.

How does a strong partner ecosystem and channels act as a force-multiplier for SAP's growth in India?
Indian companies see value in automating and optimizing their business processes. They understand that through automation they derive scalability and improve operational effectiveness. We recognize the vital role our partners play in their ecosystem with a focus on a common goal, ie customer success.

Our partners play a key role in developing industry add-ons for the SAP solution portfolio. As a part of our collaborative effort, we leverage our partners' expertise, who are adding sub-vertical processes, which makes the offering even more attractive and allows companies to implement solutions even faster and at lower costs. In order to cover all segments of the market, we need to go through partners. Partners are key in maximizing our market coverage. They also act as a key in increasing our share of wallet within existing accounts through the delivery of specific industry solutions. Through partners, we have multiple touch-points within existing accounts and also several ways to monetize our solutions.

What are the reasons behind SAP's increased focus on the SME segment in India? And how are you gearing your partners for the same?
SMEs are one of the fastest growing market segments for SAP globally, contributing to almost 80% if the new customer names. With close to 3,600 SME customers in India, we continue to extend our market leadership through a multi-channel and open ecosystem strategy across industries. Traversing a successful SME roadmap across Indian shores, we offer a wide range of solutions for small and mid-size companies, which include solutions for business management and business intelligence.

SAP's PartnerEdge program for channel partners in the SME segment empowers VARs and other partners to successfully sell, build and implement solutions to meet the unique needs of the SME marketplace. SAP also follows a multi-channel/multi-solution model that effectively addresses the diverse needs of SMEs. Also, apart from our wide range of solutions portfolio running across more than 25 industries, we have introduced 22 ready-made templates for micro-verticals such as automobile, sugar, media, etc, and vertical-specific tailor-made products co-working with our ISV partners to suit unique requirements of various industries. This way, we have built products for 28 verticals and route them through channels.

What opportunities do you provide to your partners, so that they feel well looked after and supported, as they go to the market?
We leverage our direct sales and delivery teams, as well as inside sales and channels teams that work closely with partners to co-innovate and co-develop solutions, and to address the requirements for every local and regional market.

During the past one year, we took a series of initiatives that made SAP a trusted name in the SME segment. A critical factor to this success have been our partners. We have imparted education on value-based selling techniques and customer engagement. We have also invested in demand generation and helped our partners by creating joint sales and marketing initiatives with customer references.