The announcement of a co-innovation agreement between SAP and Capgemini around retail solutions built on SAP’s HANA platform was an interesting precursor to the SAP Sapphire conference.
The agreement will see the two bring packaged industry-specific solutions to market that will integrate IP from Capgemini, including industry specific data models, KPI’s, dashboards and predictive analytics. SAP will oversee the business compliance aspects via its retail business unit. In addition Capgemini will develop the solutions in conjunction with pilot customers and resell them through its global channel. The first products are expected to hit the market – including the UK - in September 2013.
The agreement highlights the need for industry-specific solutions early on in the technology and market lifecycle – something we have been stressing for some time (see What is the market reality behind Big Data?). It also demonstrates the up front effort services providers need to put in to reap the benefits from the real time and big data trends. These trends very clearly lead to ‘software + services’ engagements but noticeable revenue will only come if they are teamed with packaged industry applications because of the expertise needed to exploit the technology. This is what is needed to shift the market from pilot projects to volume production systtems. Vertical solutions will also help offset loss of revenue from the move to the cloud and subscription models. Suppliers need to move quickly to capture market share.