The declared objective of this transaction is to keep the strategies of the two companies aligned. However, the main effects will be for SAP to have an out-of-the-box B2B services connectivity solution, and for Crossgate to expand further into SAP's customer base. Access to Crossgate B2B services will ship as a built-in service within a SAP enhancement package, which minimizes the need for application integration. SAP customers will be able to connect immediately to all other companies subscribing to Crossgate’s B2B 360° Services, and add any trading partners that are not already there (at an additional cost, which can be fixed).

The investment is independent from, and different in nature from, the stake SAP founder Dietmar Hopp has in Crossgate. However, SAP will likely drive much of Crossgate’s strategy in the future. Crossgate will use SAP's investment to fuel growth, mainly by hiring more staff and looking into acquisitions.

SAP is finally making a more decisive move into the B2B infrastructure market, compared with prior B2B alliances, which were only focused on reselling third-party technology. It is worth noting it does so in B2B services (with a strong cloud connotation), not software, and by working with a growing company that has the potential to be a leader in Europe, where no established leader exists.

SAP has stated that this investment won't affect its current agreement with Seeburger, its traditional B2B software partner, but its customers are bound to compare the two offerings. Cost and time to market will play a fundamental role in their decisions.