A Fresh Look At SAP's Software As A Service (SaaS) Solution

After a year of silence surrounding SAP's newest Enterprise Resource (ERP) solution, SAP Business ByDesign is back.  During that year, many of its competitors pounced on SAP's silence, even going so far as to initiate and spread rumors that the new product was dead.  At Sapphire 2009, SAP showcased about a dozen Business ByDesign Customers, some brand new and some I had met a year ago, along with a test-drive area that allowed customers and analysts to touch and feel, and take a guided tour of the product.  Not being one that is easily led, this analyst went a bit off-road in the test drive.  While the data might not have been real, I left convinced that the application behind it was.