Integrating SAP and Microsoft Systems

Beginning with an announcement in May 2004, Microsoft and SAP, two of the world’s largest software manufacturers, have steadily improved the depth and extent of integration among their products. This cooperation is mutually beneficial for the companies’ main lines of business (which are largely complementary), helps give customers access to SAP data and functions that have historically been the domain of back-office workers, and could streamline custom SAP development projects. Outside of their main lines of business, however, significant overlaps persist, resulting in a confusing landscape of products, tools, and technologies for customers and partners to navigate.

The Importance of Integration

Microsoft and SAP share a longstanding and for the most part mutually beneficial relationship. The companies’ respective flagship product lines complement each other: the lion’s share of Microsoft’s revenue derives from sales of OS and desktop productivity software. SAP, on the other hand, is the world’s largest supplier of business management applications—in 2005, SAP took in US$10.9 billion on sales and support of products such as its R/3 and mySAP (the successor to R/3) enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and its mySAP customer relationship management (CRM) product. In fact, Microsoft itself is a large customer of SAP—much of the company’s business operations are managed with SAP’s R/3 ERP product.