SAP, HP Pull Channel Into Hosted Midmarket

Starting Wednesday, the business applications giant--in conjunction with longtime hosting cohort Hewlett-Packard--will deliver four domain-specific versions of its mySAP All-in-One suite as a managed service.

SAP initially will target midmarket companies in the oil and gas fuel distribution, consumer products food, high-tech device and technical service provider industries. To become an All-in-One solution provider, partners must create at least one niche-oriented extension to the suite. Partners wrote three of the four All-in-One flavors slated to be released as hosted offerings.

Both HP and SAP will compensate partners that sell the managed service, said Gary Fromer, SAP's senior vice president of SMB and hosting. HP will offer a one-time referral fee, while SAP will pay a recurring revenue stream.

"All of the All-in-One partners who are willing to be trained, which we will provide for free, can sell the services," Fromer said. "In addition, I will make an investment in educating HP partners. I want that group [to be] as large as possible."

SAP is looking for HP partners that already have experience in the targeted verticals, Fromer said. Both SAP and qualified HP partners will receive leads generated by Newtown Square, Pa.-based SAP America.

"We are looking to create a model for the partner to earn incremental margins and royalties," said David Booth, senior vice president of the customer solutions group for the Americas at HP, Palo Alto, Calif. "We get to augment a successful hosting service with additional offerings."

The service carries a monthly price of $325 per user and includes software, implementation, end-user training, support, functional management and application management from SAP. HP's contribution includes operations, infrastructure hosting, storage on demand, business recovery and security services. The cost assumes that customers will finance the managed service through the SAP financing program.