SAP announces SME financing scheme, new BusinessOne version

• Pricing options for SAP HANA equip SMEs with more tools to compete against big boys
• New version of Business One offers features that are only possible with in-memory tech

SAP AG has announced a ‘buy now, pay later’ offering that provides small and midsize enterprise (SME) customers zero-percent financing for up to 24 months for the purchase of any SAP product on the reseller price list.
 
With more SMEs prioritising technology investments to help transform their businesses, SAP said it has made it easier for businesses to get the technology they need to compete with larger companies in their industry.
 
The ‘buy now, pay later’ plan helps lower the total cost of ownership of SAP solutions and provides rapid access to software licences.
 
“With more than 80% of our 253,500 customers being SMEs, SAP recognises the importance of providing these business owners with the option to easily invest in new technologies in a flexible manner,” said Kevin Gilroy (pic), senior vice president and general manager, Global SME Segment and Indirect Channels, SAP.
 
“SMEs want customised solutions at comfortable price points and with the option to access simple and compelling financing.
 
“With the ‘buy now, pay later’ plan available via our extensive ecosystem of partners, we will be able to provide SMEs with an easy way to upgrade their current IT landscapes without worrying about costs,” he added.
 
SAP also offers SME customers a choice in how they choose to deploy their software solutions – on-premise, in the cloud or in a hybrid model.
 
‘Buy now, pay later’ will be available initially in Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. More information is available here [PDF]. The offering will run from now until Sept 30, 2014, and includes SAP software and one year of maintenance.
 
SAP also announced the general availability of version 9.0 of the SAP Business One application for SAP HANA.
 
As the first business management solution for SMEs running on the in-memory computing platform SAP HANA, the application helps businesses supercharge application performance and analyse growing volumes of data in real time, the company claimed.
 
Available on-premise or in the cloud and hosted by partners, it is designed with flexibility and choice in mind to help SMEs innovate and achieve scalable growth.
 
The new version of SAP Business One for SAP HANA offers features that are only possible with the use of in-memory technology, enabling analysis of structured and unstructured information within seconds instead of days.
 
With deep insights from the predictive analytics capabilities of SAP HANA, SMEs are able to optimise business planning, operations and decision-making while simultaneously gaining insight into new consumer trends and behaviour.
 
Both announcements were made at CeBIT 2014, being held from March 10–14 in Hannover, Germany.
 
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