SAP and Research in Motion are partnering to develop a mobile CRM application. The first output of this venture will be a native BlackBerry smartphone client that links SAP CRM with BlackBerry applications such as Email, Address Book and Calendar.
To be precise, they are developing a native RIM client that will sit on the BlackBerry and communicate with Netweaver mobile, AMR Research Director Chris Fletcher says.
The new app leverages the push-based architecture of BlackBerry Enterprise Server to automate data synchronization. This means, of course, that users don't have to be connected to use the apps on their smartphones. Once they are back in a coverage area, all updates queued on the handset and back-end servers will be transferred automatically.
Additional product development and long-term mobile strategies for the duo are less clear. Reading between the lines, Fletcher said, it appears as though SAP wants to move toward offering users the ability to get any SAP application or data via RIM's BlackBerry device.
It's debatable whether there would be a huge demand for such functionality.
Source: CRM Buyer, http://crmbuyer.com