Modules that are okay to “cloud-up” include ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management), PLM (product lifecycle management, SCM (supply chain management), and SRM (supplier relationship management), as announced by SAP.

This is not surprising news.  The SAP customer base has been screaming for this support since AWS became popular a few years ago, but SAP has been slow to move into the cloud computing space.  Perhaps this will serve as a stop-gap measure until SAP can figure out what they are doing, and move faster into the cloud.

In the meantime, SAP is between a rock and the hard place when it comes to cloud computing.  The world of enterprise software has been a huge cash cow for companies like SAP.  However, the movement to on-demand models and the success of pure cloud versions of enterprise software, such as Salesforce.com, is pushing them to provide their software in ways that will prove less profitable.  They are selling horses in Henry Ford’s world.  It’s time for SAP to get busy in the workshop.