SAP has expanded and augmented impressively (for obvious reasons) in recent years.

Quite apart from its aquisition of Sybase, the company has been developing its HANA proposition and also been extending its cloud computing based offerings in line with the rapid-scale advancements being witnessed across the rest of the market.

But before you spend too much time analysing how this will impact your work at the coalface of Sybase tool implementation and usage... consider the fact that SAP chief financial officer (CFO) Werner Brandt has told German media recently that SAP's cloud business “will not be profitable this year”.

Brandt extended his comments to the degree that he also said, “It is too early to say whether we can do that as soon as 2013.”

Why is this so?

SAP has recently aquired cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software company SuccessFactors, but the necessary "integration" of this company has only just been completed.

One might reasonably assume then the full effects of the recently launched BusinessOne OnDemand suite are yet to be seen in the open.