When one company achieves dominance in its market, everyone and everything is affected. Think back to the 1980s when IBM had extensive control over the mainframe computer market. Then in the 1990s, Microsoft became the safe choice in the operating system and office environment space. Today, the enterprise solutions space is seeing a similar phenomenon with SAP's ascendancy. SAP is the dominant player, and this fact must be considered by manufacturing companies when selecting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems vendor. There are both substantial benefits that come from choosing SAP and critical risks that come from choosing a different vendor. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should take particular note, because SAP is growing rapidly with companies of this size. This growth is occurring because SAP is partnering with companies that have industry-specific expertise concerning design, implementation, and support.

SAP is now regarded as the safe bet, not the risky one, and this is a big change. People who still associate SAP with gargantuan implementations are living in the past. It is now possible to complete an implementation in 16 weeks or less, for a fixed cost, with a fixed scope, and with an SAP partner that knows your industry inside and out. A concrete and measurable return on the investment can show up in only a few months through immediate improvements with on-time delivery, inventory turns, and other key performance indicators.