Enabling Technology

SAP extends Safe Passage program to BPOs

Business application vendor SAP AG is extending its Safe Passage maintenance and migration program to BPO (business process outsourcing) service providers running PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards (JDE) applications, the company said Thursday.

The new offer is aimed at BPO companies that obtain a license directly from the vendor, according to Christian Baader, vice president of BPO activities at SAP. “With this extended offer, we are targeting BPO service providers that are currently licensed to provide PeopleSoft and JDE applications but interested in migrating to SAP,” he said.

Baader said he expects the pull for the new offer to come from enterprises that are currently running PeopleSoft and JDE applications and are interested in migrating to SAP but don’t want to invest directly in a license.

“There are companies out there that don’t want to make big investments in applications, such as human resource planning, and seek instead to work with BPO service providers on a one-stop-shopping basis,” he said. “They want the service providers to manage the entire licensing and migration processes.”

Earlier in the year, SAP extended the Safe Passage package to BPO companies providing service through the software license of their enterprise customers.

SAP, which collaborates with several BPO service providers, including Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) and LogicaCMG PLC, has already signed up human resources service provider Arinso International SA of Brussels for its new offer, according to Baader.

Without providing details, Baader said pricing for the new Safe Passage offering will differ from the model for enterprises but, in the end, “the dollar savings will be similar.”

Under the extended Safe Passage program, companies that choose to license SAP applications, such as mySAP ERP, are offered a maintenance service package that costs 17 percent of their SAP license fee. The package includes support not only for the SAP software but also for PeopleSoft and JDE applications.

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