Cross The Topaz Bridge For Self-Service HR Apps
Company:
Headquarters: Bellevue, Wash.
Technology Sector: Software
Key Product: Topaz Bridge S2
Year Founded: 2007
Number of Channel Partners: Handful, recruiting now
Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution providers
Why You Should Care: Topaz Bridge's software builds on the popularity of Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server, using it as a platform for building front-end "self-service" applications that access SAP systems.
The Lowdown: Topaz Bridge Founder and CEO Noam Topaz recognized early on the wide gulf between how ERP applications function and how employees actually work. SAP's human resource management software, for example, just isn't designed to make it easy for the average worker to make a change in his or her medical benefits.
Topaz also recognized that Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server software was the perfect platform for building an application to provide workers with easy access to SAP systems. That's no surprise: Topaz was an enterprise technology strategist at Microsoft for 10 years, and he spent much of that time as a technical evangelist for the vendor's portal and collaboration products, including SharePoint. He also conceptualized the digital dashboard technology that eventually became the SharePoint user interface.
"It turns out SharePoint is an ideal front end for large applications," said Cornelius Willis, marketing vice
president at Topaz Bridge. Using SharePoint as a platform, Topaz Bridge S2 is a self-service HR application that connects to SAP HR forms, workflows and data. Providing a standard way to access the SAP application reduces training, support and customization costs, Willis said. It enforces compliance with corporate processes: In many companies, proliferation of ad-hoc portals for accessing SAP is a problem. And multinational corporations can adapt the Topaz software for local offices and divisions.
Topaz Bridge's visibility increased a few notches last month when it scored a sale to pharmaceutical giant Merck, which is deploying Topaz Bridge S2 to support the company's operations in 84 countries.
While Topaz Bridge is currently focused on its HR application, Willis said the company would likely leverage its technology to build talent management, procurement and travel policy applications that work with SAP.
Right now, Topaz Bridge is working primarily with a handful of large systems integrators and Microsoft Consulting Services. But Willis said the company has been working with Microsoft to recruit solution providers, particularly SharePoint resellers that integrate the collaboration platform with line-of-business applications. "Interoperability is a huge opportunity for the SharePoint reseller community right now," Willis said.