IBM and SAP plan to roll out their first jointly developed software product in March.
The software - called Alloy - combines IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP Business Suite and will be sold by both companies, the pair said yesterday during the announcement at the Lotusphere conference in Orlando.
Alloy will support SAP workflows, reporting and analytics, in addition to the use of Lotus Notes client-based roles and will come bundled with a standard set of workflows and reports that can be customised for business-specific needs.
"In today's challenging business environment, companies need to identify and respond to operational changes more quickly," Bob Picciano, general manager at IBM Lotus Software, said in a press statement.
"Tools that provide business people with seamless access to expertise, processes and information streamline work and improve productivity. Alloy by IBM and SAP is designed to help individuals and companies work more efficiently to produce better business outcomes."
The two technology giants have thousands of mutual customers who have been asking for the functionality that Alloy software will provide, SAP said, adding that the majority of IBM's top 100 customers also use SAP offerings.
While the two companies didn't provide pricing details or information about the development costs involved, they did discuss the results of early trials of the technology with customers including including Colgate-Palmolive.
"We expect the new Alloy software from IBM and SAP to help us drive down IT management costs and boost productivity by allowing employees easy access to SAP reports, procurement, data and product life cycle management tools directly from their Lotus Notes email," said Tom Greene, chief information officer (CIO) at Colgate-Palmolive, in a statement.
