SAP Enabling Independent Software Vendors

ISV Summary DataXstream offers a configurable solution to integrate, certify, maintain, and promote third party solutions in SAP landscapes. Leveraging the Xstream Connector platform and DataXstream’s integration team, ISV’s can quickly deliver a tailored connector to pass data and trigger actions between their application and SAP. This solution lowers the total cost to certify with SAP, while facilitating the upside sales into the SAP marketplace. Read the Case Study Textron Success Story

Streamlined SAP Certification Methodology

SAP customers represent the Who’s Who of the business marketplace, making up over 70% of the Global 5000. In choosing the “SAP way” customers opt to run their core business functions within a tightly integrated eco-system, driving value by making resources more efficient, while minimizing the business friction across processes. This proposition forces third-party best-of-breed applications to tightly integrate with SAP in order to thrive in such a valuable marketplace. SAP’s strategic importance to the CIO, both because of the processes it drives, as well as the customer’s ERP investment, makes certification a necessity to all ISV’s targeting mid and large tier organizations. DataXstream has a streamlined methodology to integrate an application into SAP, and the required steps to achieve SAP certification. ISV’s can choose from the following options, based upon long-term goals.

Application Integration for ISV’s

The Xstream Connector is a pre-certified, SAP specific, integration platform, which bridges the gap between a custom one-off development effort, and using a general purpose middleware tool without SAP error-handling or logic. Starting with the Xstream Connector codebase, DataXstream assists the ISV to tailor an integration that optimizes their application’s value, maximizes the number of possible opportunities, and minimizes downstream maintenance.

Application Certification for ISV’s

Once the connector is packaged, DataXstream can broker the ISV’s certification with SAP. By leveraging pre-built document templates, test scripts, the company’s extensive in-house computing environment (over 20 unique SAP instances across multiple releases), and SAP Certifier relationships, DataXstream can shrink the certification process from months to weeks while ensuring positive results. Scheduled re-certification becomes a breeze by keeping the tailored solutions loaded, and changes carefully tracked.

Application Sales Support

SAP certification helps initial marketing efforts, but presenting and demonstrating at an SAP shop requires sales education and demonstration capability. DataXstream offers to educate your sales team on SAP specific terminology, benefits, and user-roles. Most importantly it provides a demonstration center, whereby your team can show the two applications working together, seamlessly moving data and triggering actions between them.

Application Deployment

Once a customer acquires the integration, DataXstream offers the professional services to deploy and configure it. Owing to SAP’s incredible flexibility, practically all customer environments involve multiple instances each extensively customized to address a customer’s unique business needs. Leveraging over 200 years of combined SAP experience, the DataXstream team has configured or integrated some of the largest and most complex systems in the world.

Application Maintenance

Just like your application and SAP, the connector requires adjustment whether for a customer’s ultra-unique SAP implementation, for upgrades to either application, or to add capability that further enhances your solution’s value to the customer. DataXstream provides annual technical support to your team, while optionally evolving the connector to meet the opportunities of new versions or computing environments.