The Cube’s Dave Vellante and big data analyst Jeff Kelly sat down with John Sims, President, Sybase 365 at the SAP Sapphire Now conference held this week in Orlando, FL (video below).  Sims was appointed president of Sybase 365 almost a year ago in June 2011.

Sybase 365 provides mobile commerce services and controls a significant share of SMS infrastructure market processing 2 billion per day. SAP acquired Sybase in 2010, a move that might have been one of the first signals of SAP’s intention to expand its business from enterprise resource planning (ERP) into mobile products and services. In addition to providing SAP a foothold into mobile, Sims said, the acquisition of Sybase 365 by SAP also allowed Sybase 365 to expand its focus beyond the telecommunications and banking industries to additional, more consumer focused sectors, like utilities, retail and consumer packaged goods.

For many industry watchers, the combination of SAP and Sybase might not have seemed like a natural fit. However, now the transaction may be viewed in a bit more of a positive light. According to Sims, five years ago mobile was about providing information, but mobile has evolved into a channel for transactions and building loyalty. Mobile has become much more engaged. A huge amount of data is available with each interaction – who the customer is, what they are doing, where they are going, what they like and don’t like. Sims continued,

“with SAP, Sybase’s analytics capabilities and HANA you have a way of delivering even more value to customers from each engagement.”

When the Cube questioned Sims about SAP’s vision for these products versus the reality of what’s happening in the market, Sims affirmed that the benefits of SAP’s new offerings are very real. Sims cited Sysbase 365 customer Dutch-Bangla Bank, which  provides banking services to the “un-banked” population in Bangladesh, as an example. The information the bank is able to collect from transactions allows them to better target customers for potential cross-sell opportunities. Because of the new capabilities provided by Sysbase 365 and SAP, the institution’s retail banks now have quantitative sales quotas for financial products, which has improved revenue.

However, success isn’t limited to formal banking transactions. Sims explained that although micro-transactions haven’t gained wide spread adoption in the U.S., internationally there is enormous growth in the market. In the U.S., most consumers think about smart phones, but internationally there are also enormous number of feature phones, and international businesses can’t afford not to engage large segments of their customers simply because they didn’t have the right device. Sims said,

“Companies are recognizing that their customers live in a mobile environment. What they are finding is that a smart phone app isn’t sufficient. It’s part of the solution, but the rest  of these customers exist in SMS, or in some countries, USSD. So, Sybase 365 provides a solution that covers all of those channels.”

Mobile’s Contribution to Big Data

Mobile has become a significant contributor to data growth. Sensor data (e.g. location), commerce transactions and communication details produce result in gigs upon gigs of content each minute. This is definitely true within Sybase 365 where they process 2 billion messages for thousands of carriers each day. According to Sims, that’s where the company is beginning to use SAP’s much hyped in-memory database. Sim’s envisions a future where they can use HANA to add value to commerce transactions. Sybase 365 doesn’t just want to replace their customers’ credit card terminals with a mobile platform. They want to provide additional information during the transaction that could help reduce fraud, make the transaction more efficient or improve the interaction.

What’s next for Sybase 365? Sims says one of his key goals is integrating and teaching the broader SAP organization, about the capabilities Sybase 365 brings to market. According to Sims, the mobile division has been bit of a well-kept secret within SAP and even within Sybase before the acquisition, so it’s important that the entire organization understands the value Sybase 365 provides. Beyond the normal merger pains, Sims says Sybase 365 will be heavily focused on expanding into new markets with a need to better engage consumers with mobile.