SAP bullish on Sri Lankan ERP market

From left: Pristine Solutions Business Development Manager Taizo Doll, Pristine Solutions CEO Sanath Premachandra and Pristine Solutions Chairman Priyantha Kumarage

By Devin Jayasundera

German software giant SAP intends to strengthen its position in the enterprise software (ERP) market in Sri Lanka with the aggressive promotion of SAP Business One.

With the launch of SAP Business One to the Sri Lankan market, SAP recorded a significant three-fold growth rate in both revenue and number of clients in the year 2015 compared to the previous year. According to Pristine Business solutions, the main agent for the local market, the rapid proliferation of the internet and the change of the demographic composition in senior management were the key growth drivers in expanding the market. 

“New generation directors in boards of large companies are keen to leverage the internet as a value generating avenue. They are also more inclined than older generations to use technology to improve business efficiency,” said Pristine Business Solutions CEO Sanath Premachandra. 

SAP is facing increasing competition from local providers who have a significant cost advantage in the ERP market. Premachandra argues that SAP does not intend to compete on price especially when the client requirement is only basic functionality which mainly involves processing inventory and reporting. “We do not compete with home grown ERP solution providers because we provide more than just recording transactions and generating reports.” Currently SAP commands 60%-70% share in the mid ERP services market in Sri Lanka.

Premachandra noted that the biggest challenge in taking a high end ERP platform to the market is the lack of awareness among businesses of its potential advantages. However this trend is changing where in the last three years, 45% of the total customer who purchased an ERP system invested in SAP Business One. 

ERP has evolved from being a static information silo to a real time interactive platform for making high quality business decisions at speed. With huge volumes of data generated in companies, SAP product specialist Satish Kumar Movva stressed that ERP and analytics should not be treated separately and insisted that they should often complement each other. 

SAP Business One, powered by the HANA engine ensures real time analytics with fast application performance. This enables speeding up planning cycles, sales and production processes and financial transactions while taking advantage of innovative business functionality to enhance the agility and effectiveness in business. Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe