May 08, 2012 // By: Dr. Christian Bätz and Christiane Stagge

Read here how to hook up SAP ERP with SAP Business ByDesign. (Photo: Fotolia)
The "Mini Business Suite"
SAP Business ByDesign is like a “mini SAP Business Suite” for the midmarket. It covers the most important business processes that run in small companies. These include financials, marketing, sales, services, human resources, manufacturing, planning and control of the supply chain, strategic and operational purchasing, and compliance.
SAP Business ByDesign comes in the form of software as a service (SaaS). The application is not installed on a company computer, but is hosted on external servers. Users work with SAP Business ByDesign through their Internet browser. Depending on its needs, the company can hire additional modules and new functions. In addition, the customer decides on what contract validity period best suits the company and when the licenses should expire.
Billing works using a flexible price model. There’s a fixed price for installation, which costs between €10,000 and €35,000, depending on the version. Then companies pay between €79 and €133 for each user every month. This includes service, maintenance, hosting, and support.
Small businesses and midsize companies often have limited IT budgets and resources compared with large enterprises, and the on-demand software should enable to them to save money and capacity. For example, there’s no need to hire a dedicated IT administrator responsible for the SAP software. Hosting and support is taken care of by the SAP partners and external IT service providers. To find an SAP Business ByDesign partner, click here.
Next page: SAP Business ByDesign for large enterprises