SAP Gets Small

Implementing R/3 is not a simple task. Often, smaller firms are more nimble at implementing R/3 than large companies with huge legacy mainframes and infrastructures.

NetManage, a fast-growing Silicon Valley-based network-application-development company, has about 500 employees and $105 million in annual revenue. The company came from a PC LAN-based invoicing and accounting system that could readily be dropped in favor of R/3. The cost was acceptable, and the firm gained a more flexible and scalable infrastructure from the migration. "R/3 was a perfect fit for us," says Sheryl Haller , business applications manager for NetManage. "It has the configuration capabilities buil t right in that made it work for us."

R/3 is a big product, and it requires customization -- sometimes extensive customization. To get around that, R/3 employs 20 industry-specific modules. The module for the software industry, for example, meets demands for the complex tracking of licenses, serial numbers, configurations, and software ownership.

Do these modules really save time? "SAP integration makes sense, especially in the software industry," says Haller. "We have nothing to ship except code, so e-commerce is obviously the solution for us." To program R/3 to carry out these functions would demand much scripting and worker-hours, but industry-specific modules can save this expense. "We don't waste too much time scripting," says Haller.

Some may fear that R/3 is simply too big to fit the needs of mid-size or specialized companies. "With R/3 we could select only the modules we needed, and we also got a system that can keep up with us as we grow," Haller explains. "We have the same issues as large corporations," she adds. "We all have to track sales, keep a general ledger, and track spending. We just do it at a lower volume."

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Sheryl Haller

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"R/3 was a perfect fit for us. It has the configuration capabilities built right in that made it work for us." -- Sheryl Haller