CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
19 January 2009
Product News
IBM and SAP Announce Release of Their First Jointly Developed Software Product
Today at the annual Lotusphere conference, IBM and SAP AG announced the planned release date of March for their first joint software product, called Alloy™ software by IBM and SAP. IBM and SAP showcased successful early results of this product for several customers, including Colgate-Palmolive and Arla Foods at Lotusphere.
Alloy software combines IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP® Business Suite. Alloy is a new style of software application that presents information and data from SAP applications in the context of what millions of business users are familiar with – the IBM Lotus Notes collaboration software desktop. This will make it easier for professionals to do their jobs and greatly enhance the investment that companies have made in their SAP applications.
“We expect the new Alloy software from IBM and SAP to help us drive down IT management costs and boost productivity by allowing employees easy access to SAP reports, procurement data and product lifecycle management tools directly from their Lotus Notes e-mail,” said Tom Greene, CIO, Colgate-Palmolive.
“Alloy will enable our senior management immediate access to critical information residing in our SAP system directly from Lotus Notes,” said Claus Qvistgaard, senior director, Arla Foods amba, Global IT. “This will enable them to improve the quality and timeliness of their decisions, leading to superior business outcomes for Arla Foods.”
IBM Lotus and SAP have thousands of mutual customers who have been asking for the functionality that Alloy software will provide. The majority of IBM’s top 100 customers also use SAP offerings.
“In today’s challenging business environment, companies need to identify and respond to operational changes more quickly,” said Bob Picciano, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. “Tools that provide business people with seamless access to expertise, processes and information streamline work and improve productivity. Alloy software by IBM and SAP is designed to help individuals and companies work more efficiently to produce better business outcomes.”
For more than 35 years, IBM and SAP have collaborated to bring joint customers offerings to improve business efficiency at more than 13,000 client sites for their millions of users.
“In today’s economy, more than ever, our customers want to maximize the value derived from their existing investments,” said Michael Reh, senior vice president and general manager, SAP. “Joint Lotus Notes and SAP customers can do that by leveraging Alloy. With Alloy, organizations can bring people, processes and information together in one place for business users, thereby increasing adoption and providing opportunities to further improve return on investment on the technology solutions that run their businesses.”
Alloy supports SAP workflows, reporting and analytics, and the use of roles from within the Lotus Notes client. The product ships with a set of standard workflows and reports. These standard elements may be customized using standard Domino and SAP tools to reflect a company’s unique processes. IBM Global Business Services, SAP practitioners, Domino business partners and other global and regional systems integrators will be available to customize Alloy software. Alloy implementations will take advantage of the collaborative and offline capabilities inherent in Lotus Notes and Domino products.
The initial release will be sold by both companies.
For more information on Alloy, please visit http://www.sap.com/alloy or http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/notes/alloy.
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