Mendocino, the partnership announced last month between Microsoft and SAP, promises to link SAP process functionality seamlessly to Microsoft Office applications. In the financial services arena, where Excel has a strong foothold, there is potential for easier access into back-office functions, as well as an increased possibility that more vendors will begin forging tighter bonds between front-office applications like Excel and business processes, an analyst said.

The two companies said the partnership would allow users greater visibility and use of business information on the desktop. SAP processes like time management, budget monitoring, organizational management and travel and expense management, for example, will automatically be integrated directly into Microsoft Office. Users would be able to retrieve SAP information in Excel or submit data to SAP via Microsoft InfoPath forms.

“There is a lot of potential,” said Bo Lykkegaard, an analyst with IDC. “There is a gap between what we do on a daily basis, such as in an email environment, and the work that has to be resolved in back-office systems. There is a jumping back and forth.”

While the two firms made certain basic suggestions about how the integration could save time, such as in travel expense sheet processing, the way this type of integration is used will rest to some extent on the creativity of the user.

“We are excited to see what applications and developments come out of this,” Lykkegaard said.

In financial services, where Microsoft has strong front-office penetration, this could serve as an opportunity for SAP or a call to action by other vendors to forge stronger links with Excel.

“There is a lot of Excel out there [in financial services firms] but there isn’t always a common back-office system because a lot of firms have custom-built systems so the back office is not so standardized. This could be the start of a more integrative process,” he said. “Something we will see more and more is large vendors taking the same collaborative approach of crossing application automation with workflows.”

Lykkegaard credits the increased adoption of Web services for making this type of integration possible.