Capgemini, SAP team up to develop new mobile commerce solutions

German enterprise software services provider SAP AG and consulting and technology services firm Capgemini yesterday announced plans to co-develop a mobile sales execution solution and a joint marketing plan for the next five years.

This follows the global managed mobility agreement Capgemini signed with SAP and Sybase in September 2011. The current announcement focuses initially on the consumer products sector to design a mobile application solution for companies selling products via mobile direct store delivery with additional requirements for accelerated customer relationship management (CRM).

The solution is planned to be based on Sybase's Unwired Platform and aims to help customers reduce costs but at the same time improve customer experience, as mobile channels become increasingly important.

''Having worked with SAP and Capgemini for many years on the Direct Store Delivery area, we feel that their shared knowledge is a huge asset to build a solution for the consumer products industry,'' said Alejandro Bombaci, CIO for Empresas Polar, a leading consumer products manufacturer and distributor. ''Capgemini's mobile development capabilities combined with SAP products and mobile strategy experience will produce a world-class mobile solution, which includes extensive process coverage and strong data integration, that should become the de-facto standard in the industry.''

The joint team will leverage SAP's strength in back-end architecture, process consulting, custom development and technical optimisation, along with Capgemini's experience in mobile architecture design, implementation and hosting services, drawing on its recently created 'global mobile solutions service line.

''We are delighted to sign this significant co-development agreement with SAP and to have been defined as the preferred systems integrator for mobile sales execution in the consumer products industry,'' said Fernando Alvarez, mobile solutions global service line leader, Capgemini. ''This agreement builds on our strong relationship with SAP in the area of mobile. It will help us deliver further value to our customers as we continually strive to build and advise on solutions, in a sector where mobile channels are developing at a rapid pace.''