Henning Kagermann, SAP’s CEO, added: “Even a single inappropriate download is unacceptable from my perspective. We regret very much that this occurred. I want to reassure our investors, customers, partners and employees that SAP takes any departure from the high standards we set for all of our businesses very seriously, regardless of where it occurred or how confined it may be.”

Kagermann added: “When I learned what happened, I promptly took action to strengthen operational oversight at TomorrowNow while assuring that we maintain excellent service for TomorrowNow’s customers going forward.”

That policy held until a Monday night in the fall, when SAP announced the departure of TomorrowNow executives and added one more important thing: It was “considering several options for the future of the TomorrowNow business, including a possible sale.”

So while TomorrowNow’s customers are left to deal with a lack of direction (at least publicly) from SAP, others (including prospective customers) are left to ponder the uncertainty of this new business arrangement. IT leaders will always be drawn to lower prices for their enterprise software and support, but can they ensure that relatively new, relatively untested, cheaper third-party service providers will be allowed to do the work?

Whatever the case, observers say this whole saga—including the purchase itself—has seemed out of character for SAP, which historically has focused on its own internal products, technologies and service organization, and has sought to project clear, well-defined strategies.

Recalling TomorrowNow’s Origins

Andrew Nelson and Seth Ravin were the two PeopleSoft vets who set up TomorrowNow in 2002. Nelson had spent years in high-level roles with PeopleSoft’s installation and upgrade division; Ravin had served in senior customer service and sales positions. Ravin said that he and Nelson teamed up to take on support services four years after Nelson started a small consultancy with the TomorrowNow name.

Both Ravin and Nelson went to work for SAP after it bought TomorrowNow for an undisclosed sum in January 2005. SAP’s thinking at the time was that TomorrowNow could provide a conduit of former Oracle customers into SAP’s web of products.

The duo entered a mature, consolidating and fiercely competitive field for enterprise resource planning software.

For example, Bruce Richardson, the chief research officer at AMR Research who’s closely followed the SAP and TomorrowNow union, said that at the time of SAP’s acquisition, SAP had 2,000 customers that were using packages from PeopleSoft, a subsidiary of Oracle. SAP christened the “Safe Passage” program to transition Oracle customers over to SAP.