SAP is too inflexible and is being defeated by an AS400 legacy ERP software which is soon to be open sourced.
While the esoteric software outfit, which makes software that no one really understands, is jolly popular with distributors, it might actually be holding them back.
A top Italian distributor Esprinet has saved a fortune by owning the source code for an AS-400 legacy ERP system.
Speaking exclusively to ChannelEye , the CEO of Esprinet Alessandro Cattani said his company provided services to suppliers who were using his company’s services because they were hooked on SAP software.
He said that his company sells them services because the AS-400 legacy code is faster and more flexible than anything the distributors who use SAP ERP systems can write.
“SAP software is less flexible and is difficult and expensive for businesses to write specific code for what they want,” Cattani said.
Esprinet owns the source code for the code and has a team which can churn out code when ever it is needed.
Cattani said that he recently had the chance to benchmark his AS-400 applications against and an SAP equivalent. They cleaned SAP’s clock managing to be 50 percent more efficient and cheaper, he said.
While SAP might not be too concerned that one company is doing rather well ignoring its software, it might be concerned that an Italian firm called SME-UP is planning to open source the software.
That means that some of the bigger suppliers would be wondering why they would shackle themselves to expensive ERP installations when with some nice old IBM box they could be as free as a bird.
