Examine how flexible, integrated information technology makes it easier for you to adapt the way you do business in response to changing needs – helping you to out-perform the competition even as customer demands escalate, product life cycles shorten, and new competitors enter the market.

1. SAP Solutions for Small Businesses and Midsize Companies
RESPONDING QUICKLY
TO CHANGING MARKETS
ANTICIPATE, ADAPT, EXCEL

2. ECONOMIES OF SPEED
Market change is relentless: ever-higher customer
expectations, shrinking product life cycles, and new rivals
on the scene all accelerate the pace. But small businesses
and midsize companies have one distinct advantage over
larger competitors: agility. With fewer organizational layers
and less-rigid processes, smaller businesses can act much
faster than the big-gun competition. When your business
is poised to handle challenges with agility and speed,
market changes become opportunities to excel.
This paper examines how to tap into “Many of today’s small and
the potential in your nimbler organiza-
tion by instituting efficient operations.
midsize businesses are success-
By helping you predict and respond fully competing against larger
quickly to changing market trends and
customer demands, efficient opera-
firms by exploiting ‘economies
tions give you: of speed.’ By creatively combin-
• Visibility – to anticipate change
and support long- and short-term
ing the Internet and enterprise
competitive strategy information technologies, these
• Speed – to develop and deliver
innovative products and services
companies can expand their
and stake out an early-to-market geographic reach, partner in
position
• Flexibility – to make rapid adjust-
complex transactions, and
ments in response to changes in respond quickly to dynamic
market demand
• Scalability – to expand and contract
market opportunities.”
projects, workforce, and workload Dr. John Jordan, Executive Director,
as needed Center for Digital Transformation,
Smeal College of Business,
Flexible, integrated information technol- Pennsylvania State University
ogy makes it easy to adapt the way you
do business in response to changing
needs. It also helps you outperform the
competition.

3. MARKET DYNAMICS: FAST AND GETTING FASTER
Gone are the days when a company
could settle into a predictable niche,
perfect a process that would never “SAP software has been – and continues to be – an effective
n u e
change, and expect a stable business. change agent for us, facilitating business transformation and
n n i
In a global economy increasingly con-
nected by the Web, no aspect of the helping us to prepare for the challenges and opportunities
p e g u
marketplace stands still long enough associated with the globalization of the Indian economy.”
c h m
for that degree of comfort. Unpredict-
able economic shocks and market Sanjay Mittal, CIO, Navin Fluorine International Limited
events, around town or across the
ocean, can cause demand fluctuations
far greater than seasonal cycles.
Customers looking for the greatest
value for their money – and routinely
demanding lower prices, new product
features, extended services, and faster
deliveries – may turn to competitors
offering cutthroat deals. Constant
shifts of suppliers and employees keep
you on the edge, while accelerated
product life cycles squeeze develop-
ment, making time to market a linchpin
to success. You have to respond quickly
to the changing market dynamics or
risk losing your business to competition.

4. OBSTACLES: WHAT’S SLOWING YOU DOWN?
The fastest way to respond to change is ill prepared to respond quickly to Moreover, as small businesses and
is to anticipate it. Many companies change. Disconnected functional areas midsize companies grow, they often
can’t predict changes simply because can’t work together smoothly and struggle with outdated and inflexible
they can’t see “the big picture” within swiftly. When a manufacturer relies on infrastructure. Even the slightest mar-
their own organization. With critical an assortment of spreadsheets, dispa- ket fluctuation creates ebbs and flows
business information locked in different rate databases, and manual processes, in workload. Successful businesses
departments and systems, it’s hard order spikes or downturns could result scale to meet growing demands. When
to have enough accurate insight, let in materials shortfalls or excess inven- bottlenecks form around organizational
alone foresight, to anticipate rising tory. Why? The impact of changing structures and technologies, compa-
demands. demand can’t work its way through nies become too rigid to adapt quickly.
the organization fast enough to make
Furthermore, a company lacking cohe- appropriate shifts in supply and
sive and streamlined internal operations safety stock levels.

5. THE FAST LANE TO RESPONSIVE ENTERPRISE
Build and Scale Infrastructure to
Respond to Fluctuating Markets
For a small business or midsize com-
pany, the ability to flexibly scale opera-
tions is critical. If the markets you
serve are cyclical or seasonal, this only
adds to the demand swings affecting
your business. You can quickly hire and
train new employees to scale up cus-
tomer call centers, but your production
system and supply chain processes
must be equally scalable to support
sudden spikes in sales volume. When
How can small businesses and midsize Streamline Operations to you need to switch course quickly
companies avoid these pitfalls, using Accelerate Innovation and Delivery – at the first hint of an emerging trend –
nimble responsiveness to their advan- integrated business systems adjust
tage? By overhauling disconnected, Efficient, automated systems are sim- accordingly, and quickly, from human
manual, and redundant processes, and ply faster – and that can mean shorter resources staffing to production
replacing them with flexible and efficient cycle times, an earlier and stronger capacity.
integrated business processes. Infor- competitive position in the market,
mation technology such as integrated and quicker turnarounds when market Adopt Technologies That Are
business management systems can change calls for a course correction. as Adaptable as Your Business
also help provide you with the insight Efficient operations accelerate both
to accurately forecast, and flexible product innovation and time to market. “Nimble and adaptable” describe the
processes can help you adapt quickly With flexible software systems you can essence of your business and should
in response to changes. adapt business processes to meet your apply as well to your processes and IT
customers’ unique, frequently changing systems. IT systems that are difficult to
Anticipate and Be Prepared for product or service specifications. You modify, time-consuming to adapt, and
Changing Customer Needs can also better accommodate custom- cumbersome to analyze can’t help you
ers with new products and innovative create flexible operations. Rather, an
While customers have ever-increasing ways of doing business. For example, adaptable IT system must be easy to
and often unpredictable expectations, for customers who routinely request modify and configure to fit shifting
you can anticipate their needs and plan flexible ship dates, integrated business needs, and readily extensible to grow
ahead by collecting and analyzing com- systems can help you streamline and with your business. When you start
plete information about their buying automatically adjust order-to-ship pro- expanding your business to the over-
patterns. Integrated business manage- cess cycle times to meet delivery dead- seas markets, for example, your exist-
ment systems provide such critical lines with cost-effective production. ing IT system should be “intelligent”
information to help you accurately enough to natively and instantly accom-
assess and forecast what customers modate new business requirements,
will buy, and then recommend balanced from new languages and currencies to
stock levels to keep pace with customers’ taxations and other local customary
changing tastes. practices.

6. SUMMARY: RESPONSIVENESS SHARPENS
YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE
Your success is determined by how
quickly you respond to changing market SAP Speeds Your Response to Market Changes
dynamics – but not just by offering the
new products or services that the mar- SAP® Solutions for Small Businesses and Midsize Companies
ket demands at a cheaper price. You
need to be able to consistently bring When it comes to the widely varying You can see where and how your
products and services to market faster needs of small and midsize business- company is growing with a single,
than your competitors. By excelling in es, one solution certainly doesn’t fit integrated view of operations – and
product and service innovation, you all. SAP offers a portfolio of flexible quickly identify and respond to both
can build differentiation and carve out a and affordable business management threats and opportunities in the
competitive advantage. Your operations solutions designed specifically for the market. With a standardized, proven
need to be flexible and scale effectively – fast-changing requirements of small solution platform from SAP at pre-
maintaining operational efficiencies and midsize companies. dictable costs, small and midsize
while you meet growth goals, respond businesses can streamline operations,
to an economic downswing, or weather By seamlessly integrating sales, act on instant and complete informa-
an unforeseen market shock. You need customers, financials, and opera- tion, and accelerate profitable growth.
to throttle operations up or down to tions, SAP® solutions give you the
rapidly meet changing and unpredict- cross-company flexibility you need to For more information, please visit
able customer delivery requirements. react quickly to market changes and www.sap.com/solutions/sme/index.epx.
demands. SAP supports you with:
By implementing integrated, efficient • Up-to-the-minute, accurate busi-
business processes, your company can ness information across all aspects
gain the flexibility to respond quickly to of the business
market changes. Whether a new supplier • Easy-to-adapt business processes
is offering better prices, an important as you expand into new markets,
client sees an expanded role for your products, and lines of business
services, or an aggressive competitor • Robust, proven technology that
moves into a region you long dominated, can rapidly scale and seamlessly
you need flexible processes and sys- grow with your business
tems in place to respond quickly and
efficiently.
The SAP portfolio of comprehensive,
integrated business solutions, designed
specifically for small businesses and
midsize companies, provides the visi-
bility, speed, and flexibility to heighten
your responsiveness to both opportu-
nities and challenges – so you can
outmaneuver the competition.

8. 50 087 471 (07/12)
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