Companies that use a SAP system have a very powerful and flexible platform at their fingertips. Due to the significant penetration of SAP into all areas of business, J-COM has developed a tool to help SAP administrators to communicate with a secure FTP site. The significance of an SAP to FTP connection combined with J-COM services is that it allows a company to send and receive only SAP IDocs.

Consider the example where Company X is a manufacturer that has 100 suppliers. The breakdown of these suppliers is as follows:

	10% have their own SAP system.
	20% have some other ERP system.
	30% have an Internet connection, but no ERP system.
	40% have no Internet connection and no ERP system.

For Company X to send and receive one format (SAP IDocs) with all of it business partners would require integrating a common format into a supplier base that does not have similar levels of technology. By using the J-COM FTP interface, Company X can send and receive SAP IDocs with all of its business partners. When J-COM receives data from Company X it then converts the data into a format compatible with the business partner's technology level. Often times this involves the sending of a fax at the lowest level. In turn, J-COM receives documents from Company X suppliers, converts to IDoc format, and makes the data available for Company X on the J-COM FTP site.

Company X can connect to all of its business partners without making unreasonable demands concerning technology. The use of J-COM services reduces the number of point-to-point connections and provides substantial savings to their entire supply chain. Please see the flash presentation called "Total Solution" for an animated example. If your company has an SAP system, contact J-COM to discus your connection to all of your business partners by using what you already have in house.