What is SAP software? This isn’t a topic I’ve looked forward to talking about, and it’s not because the software is bad or anything. Actually, within the context of what it does, it’s very useful. I dreaded broaching the subject entirely because of the naming convention problem.
What:
SAP is both the name of a company, and the name of the software suite they’ve invented. Now, it’s not uncommon for inventions to be named for the company or individual who invented it. And, we take a lot of these things for granted, such as “RCA Cables” for example.
But, this actually is a major nuisance. The biggest thing is, when asked “what is SAP software”, I have to waste a bunch of time explaining this. Also, it makes researching this topic a thundering pain, because all you find is a bunch of literature talking about the company, and saying almost nothing actually remotely useful about the software itself.
I can see where this is headed, when I inevitably have to explain how to work this software …
The Software:
SAP, in regards to the software, stands for “Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing”. It’s a very broken anagram, yes. And it’s also a stupid one.
Ultimately, what it is, is accounting and number crunching software. Where ERP software is used for balancing numbers for resources in enterprise projects, as well as man hours and all that junk, in this case it’s more about converting all costs and logistics into their monetary final form.
This software does a ton of things, and I’m not about to sit here and try to describe every one of them in absurd detail. But, its primary functions are recording financial trends, to project future trends and future costs of status quo as well as new ventures, log all transactions and expenses, and integrate, usually, with your CRM in order to keep finances up to date there, and to use it as a source of financial trends and records and the like.
The Company:
Well, I could give you a long history of the company, talk about the public opinion and reviews of their performance, and their public trade presence and all of that. But nobody cares about any of that.
In truth, at over four decades old, they definitely know about data processing, statistical, logistical and analytical handling, forecasting and allocation, and they absolutely know about digital systems geared for those tasks.
When they started out, computer use in businesses was definitely not the default platform for solutions, so they have the creativity of old business, which they apply effectively to new digital business.
Do I Need It:
Well, you need some kind of number crunching, tracking and analysis stuff. If you’re a big enterprise company, with a lot of new ventures underway at any given time (which isn’t uncommon), then you’ll probably have ERP systems in place, and those can handle what SAP does if a little less elegantly in some cases. Still, in that situation, the redundancy would be silly.
For the rest of us? Yeah, we need this, or something like it.
SO, what is SAP software? It’s commercial-targeted accounting software, basically.