Startup Kinvey Launches Service For Connecting SAP Data To Mobile Apps

Startup Kinvey is working with channel partners to launch a new service that aims to let SAP users more easily connect their enterprise resource planning data to mobile applications.

The service, Mobile Data Connect for SAP, was unveiled as SAP kicked off its Sapphire Now conference Tuesday.

The service removes the need for SAP users to migrate data to HANA before connecting it to a mobile app, according to Boston-based Kinvey.

Venado Technologies, a Denver-based solution provider that specializes in mobile software development, is among those partnering with Kinvey. Justin Lake, a principal at Venado, said Kinvey's service allows the firm to focus on front-end development rather than on connecting to back-end data sources like SAP.

Many mobile workers need to access data from back-end systems multiple times a day, and ideally there'd be one place for them to access it through their mobile devices, Lake told CRN. "They don't have to know if it's coming from Salesforce, SAP, Sharepoint. It doesn't matter to the end user. They want a single experience," Lake said.

And that's what Kinvey aims to provide, he said. "Kinvey acts as our hub in the middle," Lake said. "Kinvey can grab data from Sharepoint, SAP and other back-office [systems], and my mobile developers on the front end can focus on what the user experience is going to work like."

A related goal is that it "empowers these companies that have no SAP skills to confidently bid and successfully execute" on mobile apps that use SAP, Kinvey CEO Sravish Sridhar said in an email to CRN.

One initial customer for Kinvey's Mobile Data Connect service is communications solutions firm Bell and Howell.