But the point of ERP II is that back-end systems are tied to the front end, often without the need for additional programming. It's point-and-click configuration. This has made it possible for so-called operational CRM applications to be married with analytical ones. In other words, software used by employees who interact with customers can feed information to colleagues who are responsible for things like market and competitor research; campaign planning, product and brand management; and sales team performance analysis.
"Companies can no longer afford to invest in point solutions and one-off CRM projects," says Lee Boon Lee, managing director of SAP Hong Kong. "CRM investments must be part of a long-term business strategy," he says. To date, SAP's rise up the CRM charts has been built on its installed base of 15,000 customers, which includes Philippine brewer San Miguel, Unilever South East Asia in Singapore, and India's Marico Industries. The latest release of mySAP.com's CRM takes SAP into a brave new world — the product is "standalone," which means companies don't have to be using SAP's sometimes intimidating enterprise software in order to install its CRM applications.
Knowledge Management
Home Advantage
The buzzword may be old hat in Silicon Valley, but the significance of a well-executed "knowledge management" strategy is now gaining acceptance in unlikely places, such as among manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta. Observes Edward Young, a Hong Kong-born expert: "There's growing recognition that knowledge management strengthens a company's ability to innovate, respond and compete through sharing and leveraging people's knowledge and expertise."
Young's credentials are sound: In 1992 he co-founded the pioneering data warehousing company, Prism Solutions, with Bill Inmon, the so-called "Father of the Data Warehouse." But there's a hitch. To date, most companies in this part of the world have not been able to afford such systems. "It's not just about buying the software, which can be expensive in itself," says Young. "Many companies lack the skill set or in-house resources to implement and service it so they need to bring in professional services."
Even companies at the other end of the spectrum have their problems. U.S. researcher IDC estimates the cost of "knowledge deficit" — defined as costs and inefficiencies that result from intellectual rework, substandard performance, and inability to find knowledge resources — at Fortune 500 companies is about $5,000 per knowledge worker per year, and rising.
Young decided that an approach tailored to the greater China market was needed. Although he is CEO of U.S.-based Consonum, an enterprise software company focusing on "extended relationship management" (XRM), he is also a director of Omnitech, a Hong Kong-based knowledge management outfit. In this capacity he designed Omnitech InfoBox, which brings data from different sources and of different nature together to form a centralized information center.
The idea is to provide local medium-sized organizations with a sophisticated tool previously only affordable by top-tier companies. The system, which supports Chinese characters, works with relational, application, desktop, or Web sources.
Adam Lincoln is the executive editor of CFO Asia. Additional reporting by CFO's Scott Leibs, John Edwards, and Jennifer Caplan.
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