Jim doesn’t like the name, me well I’m kind of partial to the word Design so I’m not dead set against it.

According to a report by Computerworld, SAP states it would invest $400 to $550 million by the end of 2008, and CEO Henning Kagermann called the unveiling of the product “the most important announcement I have made in my career.”

Thats a hell of a lot of money (Xero is investing its NZD15mill IPO fund over 3 years (give or take a bit and yes there will be some early stage revenue for them)). That sort of dosh buys (even with SAP’s behemoth like agility) a broad, robust and fully featured offering.

Business ByDesign is to be priced starting at $149 per user per month, and the service is targeted at businesses with 100 to 500 employees, and it is expected to be widely available by late 2008. Computerworld has more.

Obviously a very differnt market from Xero, bigger businesses an a much higher sub rate (Xero is NZD50/month).

The questions remain;

  • Whether the customers will come
  • Whether the investors will be happy with the changed revenue stream and
  • Whether they are too big to move nimbly enough to keep the product moving

More to come….

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

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