China Is World’s Fastest Growing Software Market
Gartner Report that outlines how China will remain the worlds fastest growing Enterprise Software Market through 2013. Areas of high growth will include On Demand ERP and data integration soltions

Is SAP a leader in Web 2.0?
SAP’s Timo Elliott details how SAP is leading other vendors in terms of adoption, rollout and usage of Web 2.0 tools and technology

US Air Force will further validate Cloud Computing
How the IBM/Air Force Cyber Security Cloud will help remove lingering thoughts about Cloud security.

Virtualization and Cloud Jobs on the Rise
Great article from Steve Jin that reviews what Virtualization and Cloud Jobs are hot at at the moment and the projected demand for Cloud related jobs in the future.

The Cloud Slam’10 conference runs from March 23 – March 25 2010.

In its second year, Cloud Slam is a virtual conference that focuses on Cloud Computing. A few of the conference tracks for this year include the Legal  Aspects of Cloud Computing, Cloud Implementation Experiences, Security in the Cloud and Cloud Business Models.

New in 2010, the conference also includes a virtual exhibition hall and a networking lounge for attendees.

IBM Cloud Computing CTO; Dr Kristof Kloeckner, will keynote the conference and will be joined by speakers from Oracle, SAP, Intel, Redhat , Adobe and Novell among others.

OnDemand Beat readers can receive 20% off either the VIP or regular conference registration fee by using discount code ONDEMANDBEAT.

SAP Launches 12Sprints Beta
SAP launches its Cloud Based Collaboration tool, months (and in some cases years) behind similar tools by IBM , 37 Signals and  a host of other cloud providers

Cloud Computing Revenue Predictions
Interesting article from Linda Leung that estimates revenue from Cloud Computing operations for a few major cloud providers

The IPad and Desktop Virtualization
How the IPad could become the must have thin client for Desktop Virtualization in 2010.

Private Cloud Adoption Models
EMC Global Marketing CTO Chuck Hollis describes the 3 primary adoption models he has seen companies adopt with private clouds.

This is part one of a two part series on customer experiences with SAP’s Business ByDesign. 2 years in the making; Business ByDesign (BBD) is currently on Feature Pack 1.11 (Feature Pack 2.0 is due to be released soon) and there are approximately 100 customers live in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.

During the recent  Sapphire 09 conference in Orlando, I had opportunity to meet with SAP Business ByDesign Senior executives in addition to a number of Business ByDesign Charter Customers.

One of the more recent Charter Customers is OneVision Solutions; headquartered in Irving, Texas. OneVision Solutions specializes in the consultation, sales, and implementation of advanced videoconferencing communication solutions, training and services. OneVision Solution’s revenue has increased exponentially since its inception in 2004 and the company is expanding rapidly into new territories and markets across the United States.

OneVision Solutions CFO Brent Walters discussed his firms reasons for selecting SAP’s Business ByDesign and his experience to date with utilizing an On Demand ERP solution:

OnDemand Beat – “What other integrated On Demand Financial Suites did OneVision explore before selecting Business ByDesign”

Brent Walters – “We didn’t have any other On Demand Financial Suites on the table, only an on premise ERP solution, which would have worked and provided the majority of our requirements, however, fell short on cost, maintenance, flexibility, reporting, etc….”

OnDemand Beat – “Was the evaluation process the same as for a traditional packaged ERP solution (with on site visits and mapping of functionality from the legacy system to the new system) or was the process more streamlined for Business ByDesign?”

Brent Walters- “Pre-sales with BBD went very smoothly and was a very collaborative approach between OneVision Solutions and the Business Solutions Manager. I think it was very beneficial to have the BBD Project Manager involved from day one, that way the direction of the solution was known by all of the key players.”

OnDemand Beat – “How long did it take for OneVision to implement Business ByDesign?”

Brent Walters – We did a 60% full ERP solution in 2 months, which required approximately 25 to 50% of my time and one other employee of OneVision Solutions, so we were still able to run the day to day operations.”

OnDemand Beat – “At the Sapphire conference you mentioned that OneVision has saved 35% on implementation and hardware costs and projects 45% annual savings on annual maintenance and labor costs using Business ByDesign versus packaged ERP. As your usage of Business ByDesign increases over time do you anticipate your firms annual savings will increase to more than 45%?”

Brent Walters- ” Most definitely, simply because the packaged ERP option was for 4 licenses or 8 concurrent users, with BBD, we have 25 licenses, so when we bring all of the sales staff into BBD we have the capacity with no additional cost, compared to having to purchase additional licenses for the packaged ERP. Also, once we roll out the sales functionality to the sales staff, we will terminate our contract with SalesForce.com, therefore, providing additional savings to the bottom line.”

OnDemand Beat – “What core features of Business ByDesign is OneVision using at this point?”

Brent Walters- “We are currently using CRM (50% for sales), FIN (100% for financials), SRM (100% for purchasing) and HRM (50% for Human Resources). Once we convert over to Feature Pack 2.0 in BBD, we will use the SCM for the drop ship functionality and more of the CRM for services.”

OnDemand Beat – “Were there any major extensions that OneVision had to implement to go live with Business ByDesign?”

Brent Walters – “I wouldn’t say that we had any considerable extensions or work around issues, with the exception of implementing our  drop ship processes into the current BBD system.”

OnDemand Beat – “How does having an integrated On Demand ERP system improve your close process?”

Brent Walters- ” The close process was pretty much nailed down in our prior system and we have been able to implement our processes with little issues, so we are still closing within 2 to 3 days.”

OnDemand Beat – “Has it been easier with Business ByDesign to create custom reports and if so are those done in house at this point?”

Brent Walters – “There really is no need for “custom reports” since the reporting function is setup in a cube environment, we are able to move information around quite easily and retrieve valuable information from the existing reports.”

OnDemand Beat – “You mentioned that ERP is not a cure all and that there are still a few spreadsheets and workarounds in place at OneVision. What is some of the functionality that OneVision plans to roll out in the future to address the remaining workarounds and spreadsheets?”

Brent Walters – “Once we convert to BBD Feature Pack 2.0, the spreadsheets will go away, because the drop ship functionality will provide the visibility that is currently being done in the offline spreadsheets.”

OnDemand Beat – “What advice would you have for other financial and company executives who are evaluating and implementing On Demand ERP solutions?”

Brent Walters – “Understand your current processes and have a good idea as to where you want to go with an ERP solution, otherwise it is easy to run down a rabbit hole and become boxed in to a solution that won’t work.”