SAP Certification

Compare SAP Software to Improve Your Business Processes

2012-01-16T08:00:00.001Z

Streamline your business processes – for increased flexibility, growth, and innovationDo more with less – and do it faster than your larger competitors.

SAP solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are built to help you streamline your business processes, so you're in a better position to drive growth and boost profitability.

*Help introduce innovative products and services into new and existing markets

*Facilitate customer engagement across all sales channels

*Accelerate logistics, manufacturing, service, and workforce processes

*Foster collaboration and communication across your business network

*Help monitor, manage, and improve financial and organizational performance

Introduction to SAP Business Suite applications

2011-12-19T08:44:00.001Z

Integrated enterprise applications delivered with SAP Business Suite software enable enterprises like yours to execute and optimize business and IT strategies. SAP Business Suite enables you to perform essential, industry-specific, and business-support processes with modular solutions that are designed to work with other SAP and non-SAP software.

Organizations and departments in all industries can deploy our business applications in a step-wise manner to address specific business challenges on their own timelines and without costly upgrades. Our business applications provide better insight and visibility across organizations, improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and increase your flexibility to address business change.

You can incrementally adapt and tailor SAP Business Suite applications through enhancement packages that alleviate the need for costly and time-consuming upgrades. SAP Business Suite applications increase visibility across departments and business silos - improving your ability to make clear business decisions and eliminating process bottlenecks.

Services-Enabled Business Applications
Built on an open, service-oriented architecture (SOA) - and powered by the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, SAP Business Suite applications offer companies like yours the opportunity to develop practices for greater differentiation and to integrate business processes that enable your company to compete more effectively in your industry.

SAP Enterprise SupportSAP Enterprise Support services help reduce the total cost of ownership of SAP Business Suite applications with integrated life-cycle management capabilities. The holistic support offering accelerates innovation and decreases implementation cycles by providing experts, tools, and best practices that simplify testing, reduce customization effort, and control operational risk and cost. Get more information about SAP Enterprise Support.

Sap Hana

2011-11-21T14:32:00.000Z

Invent new possibilities with the SAP HANA Appliance

Why wait for old-fashioned data analysis? Tap into huge volumes of detailed information as events unfold with the SAP HANA appliance - our new flexible, multipurpose, game-changing in-memory computing software.

The SAP HANA platform, a combination of this in-memory software and leading SAP partner hardware, can help you query multiple types of data sources in real time, at speeds and volumes like never before.

* Make smarter decisions - faster, with real-time analytics
* Create innovative applications to improve planning
* Enhance and accelerate business performance
* Reduce TCO with less hardware, maintenance, and testing

SAP Advances Enterprise Cloud Strategy, Delivers New Innovations Across Applications and Platforms

2011-11-14T07:39:00.001Z

SAP today announced significant new advances in the core areas of its cloud strategy: business network solutions, applications for lines of business, cloud platform development, online channels and virtualization. Customer adoption and partner success fuel these advancements to the SAP cloud portfolio. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE NOW being held as a co-located event in Madrid from November 8-10.

As cloud computing increasingly becomes a critical initiative for businesses of all sizes and across all industries, SAP is committed to bringing innovation and value to customers by leveraging its considerable assets. These include: business networks, platforms, online channel, applications and virtualization, all delivered as a service, thereby harnessing the paradigm shift in the marketplace, in an orchestrated way that offers real business value.

SAP is now making it possible for organizations to connect, transact and collaborate with their customers and business partners through the cloud to enable real-time content and insights.

The recent acquisition of Crossgate, which closed on November 1, 2011, has produced new offerings for the SAP cloud portfolio, including the ability for SAP customers to connect electronically with tens of thousands of trading partners and extend a company's business processes to its community. With Crossgate, SAP will provide customers with a 360-degree service if deployed entirely in the cloud. Participation in this business network will eliminate the need for costly point-to-point integration, helping reduce complexity today while enabling cost-effective scalability of the business network for the future.

SAP also announced planned enhancements to its social collaboration tool, the SAP® StreamWork™ application. The company continues to deliver on its results-driven social enterprise strategy by marrying social and collaborative capabilities with a user's business processes and systems to help ensure successful outcomes. For more information, see: "Business Analytics from SAP Moves to the Masses, Delivering Greater Value to Business Professionals."

SAP Delivers a Technology Vision for the Future
SAP combines the unique trio of in-memory, cloud and mobility technology to drive the next-generation architecture of applications - both on premise and on demand - now and in the future. Customers and leading industry experts have validated this differentiated vision. The vision that SAP has laid out continues to evolve with the SAP HANA™ application cloud and project "River."

Now in private beta, available to select customers by invitation only, the SAP HANA application cloud will provide a flexible and simple way for customers to reap the benefits of in-memory computing technology delivered via the cloud, at a lower cost. It is a new, in-memory, cloud-based platform that will power the next generation of cloud applications from SAP. Today, the SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence (BI) OnDemand solution and Charitable Transformation (ChariTra), an online network that connects people to charitable causes, are powered by the SAP HANA application cloud. More applications are planned for availability as powered by SAP HANA in the coming months. The private beta is being conducted with a limited number of select customers and partners.

SAP is moving project "River" to private beta. "River" is one of the key components of its cloud application platform-as-a-service (PaaS), offering an environment for customers and partners to extend core applications and develop and deploy business applications in the cloud. "River" is an open-standards-based development platform that includes support for multiple popular language development frameworks, collaboration capabilities on which SAP StreamWork is built and a "River" definition language to specify applications that can be implemented in any container. This aims to enable all types of developers to use their existing skill sets to build cloud extensions to existing SAP applications and new cloud-native applications.

"With these new cloud innovations, we are consolidating and removing the layers, and making it much easier for customers to consume our applications," said Dr. Vishal Sikka, member of the SAP Executive Board, Technology & Innovation, SAP AG. "By separating content from containers and making it much easier to move content around, across containers, we are delivering unbelievable efficiency in ways that weren't possible before."

Customers and Partners Rally Around Growing Cloud Application Portfolio from SAP
SAP Business ByDesign is showing maturity, with close to 1,000 customers globally, in which the average number of users per deployment is increasing steadily each quarter. New SAP Business ByDesign customers include R3D Consulting and subsidiary customers Velux (China) Co, Landi Renzo and Mahindra Satyam. To date there are over 200 resellers and 72 solution partners.

"We are both an SAP service partner and now a customer too," said Bernard Roy, president and COO, R3D Consulting. "When we saw SAP Business ByDesign in action, we realized it was the perfect cloud solution to give us the backbone to support our rapidly growing business, from a company we already know and trust."

SAP Business ByDesign now also expands mobile access to business processes via Microsoft Windows 7.5-powered mobile devices. Users can now access mobile apps integrated with SAP Business ByDesign such as sales, management approvals and reporting, and travel expense management. SAP partners can leverage this support to build mobile-accessible cloud applications integrated with SAP Business ByDesign by using the PaaS capabilities of the SAP ByDesign studio. SAP plans to continue to increase the breadth of mobile devices supported by SAP Business ByDesign.

SAP continues to grow the online channel through SAP® Store, where customers can discover and explore solutions and services from SAP and partners. In many cases, they can also test or download free trials, or purchase solutions. Now available on the Apple iTunes Store, SAP Store is the destination of choice for SAP customers for all their on-demand business software needs, from integration services and add-ons to report templates, mashups and mobile apps. Currently, there are over 100 complementary solutions for the SAP® Business ByDesign™ solution and mobile apps for SAP® Business Suite applications available on the store, with more added every week.

The SAP® Sales OnDemand solution, with its people-centric design, allows salespeople to collaboratively include all those who need to participate in the flow of a sales opportunity. Wave 2 of the offering is now in general availability and will follow a six-month release cycle, with the next planned wave to focus on integration with the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, sales forecasting and partner application integration.

In addition, the SAP® Career OnDemand solution is planned for availability to pilot customers in 2012. This people-centric, collaborative solution aims to support employee goal management and career development. The SAP® Travel OnDemand solution is planned for availability for first customer trials in the coming months, with general availability targeted for 2012. The solutions will join the expanding cloud application portfolio, which also includes the SAP® Sourcing OnDemand and SAP® Carbon Impact OnDemand solutions.

Recent partnerships that have expanded on-demand solution options from SAP and extended its ecosystem include Amazon Web Services, Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition and Verizon.

SAP continues to deliver key products and technologies via virtual and cloud infrastructures. The company today announced a deepening of its partnerships with EMC and VMware, for more information, see: "SAP Drives Openness and Choice for Virtualization and Cloud Computing."

Missed Sapphire Now?

2011-11-14T07:37:00.001Z

MISSED SAPPHIRE NOW FROM MADRID LIVE SESSIONS, WATCH REPLAYS TODAY!

Watch replays of keynotes and customer-driven sessions you may have missed live. Build a playlist of your favorite replays and read related session-specific documents for greater insight and understanding. Share your favorite online sessions with colleagues, view engaging discussions, or watch valuable presentations – all at your convenience.
Sign-Up Now

SAP TECHED ONLINE: WATCH REPLAYS FROM MADRID TODAY
Access the best of SAP TechEd Madrid. Watch on-demand replays of SAP Executive Keynotes, Demo Jam, InnoJam, select lectures, and over 25 expert interviews featuring SAP executives, speakers, and industry thought leaders.
Watch SAP TechEd Online

SAPPHIRE NOW FROM MADRID, NOVEMBER 9–10, 2011

2011-10-31T07:51:00.000Z

Innovate Now with SAP: Senior business executives, lines of business and IT decision makers, and business managers will gain unparalleled insights and networking opportunities from the entire SAP ecosystem – customers, partners, SAP executives, and experts.

Register for SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid

SPECIAL OFFER: BUY 4, GET 5
When your company purchases four, full conference registrations, the fifth is at no charge.

All residents of Spanish territories must pay 18% VAT in addition to the above registration fee. All other countries are not liable for VAT as per Spanish tax regulations.

Note: SAP TechEd Madrid requires a separate registration fee.

SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid Full Conference Pass Includes Access To:
Keynote presentations
Four campuses: Business Analytics, Mobility, Run Better, and Technology Innovation
Partner exhibitions
SAP demo and test-drive areas
Meet Our Customers Pavilion and Executive Meeting Center
Presentation sessions
Discussion and knowledge tables
SAP TechEd Demo Jam and Welcome Reception (November 8, 2011)
Celebration night (November 10, 2011)

SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid Day Pass includes:
All the offerings of a full conference pass, good only on the selected day.

Take advantage of unparalleled insights and networking opportunities.

The SAP 2011 Rugby Experience

2011-10-17T07:54:00.002+01:00

Register now and start becoming a rugby master with business analytics from SAP. Increase your knowledge of the game, and exercise the power of insights and information in the race to win the 2011 global title.

You don’t need experience to join in the fun - so put the ball in play and register now.

Here are a couple bonus offers to help hook you into the game:

Word Scrum Game
Get into the championship spirit by testing your rugby IQ with this fun-filled game of rugby trivia and facts - challenge yourself, family, and friends or your co-workers. Hook Into the Game Now

Preview From Within the Scrum
Get a sneak preview and put yourself into the action. Watch the Video Now

Driving business transformation by empowering enterprises

2011-09-26T07:50:00.003+01:00

SAP is driving business transformation by empowering enterprises of all sizes to mobilize their businesses. SAP, along with a broad partner ecosystem, delivers
mission-critical capabilities to mobile users by offering a wide range of mobile
apps and underlying infrastructure – with unmatched integration with SAP®
software systems – for secure access to business processes, anytime, anywhere,
and on any device.

Business Challenges
• Increase productivity by providing access to mission-critical information
• Reduce expenses associated with a distributed workforce
• Increase customer satisfaction and retention by delivering exceptional service
• Sharpen competitive edge with improved communication and collaboration
• Provide secure access for employees on a variety of mobile devices

Key Features
• Mobility platform – Quickly build and deploy business-to-enterprise, business-to-business, and businessto-consumer mobile apps, with an enterprise mobility management infrastructure that lets you centrally manage and secure mobile devices,
applications, and data
• Mobile apps – Extend your business processes to any device – for anytime,
anywhere access – with a growing selection of SAP and partner apps, including ones for people productivity, mission-critical, consumer, and mobile analytics
• Mobility services – Assess, install, and implement mobile technology initiatives

Business Benefits
• Extend the value of enterprise applications with mobile access
• Streamline business processes for better communication and collaboration
• Gain a competitive advantage with instant access to business information and systems
• Enhance productivity of task and information workers
• Improve decision making in the field – at all levels of the organization, anytime,
anywhere

For More Information:
Call SAP or visit sap.com/mobile

Duet Enterprise

2011-09-12T08:17:00.000+01:00

When it comes to enterprise business systems, the fundamental goals of business units and the IT organization are not always in alignment. For business units, the priority is responding to ever-changing market conditions while driving continued growth. On the other hand, IT organizations tend to focus on managing system cost and complexity, ensuring that business systems can be maintained efficiently and remain secure. To support business growth, it is imperative that technology solutions enable the business in a timely, agile, and effective way. To meet this need, IT is required to deploy systems that support flexible, innovative solutions while scaling to meet dynamic business needs.

To help business units and the IT organization address their goals, SAP and Microsoft offer Duet® Enterprise software. A product developed jointly by the two companies, Duet Enterprise enables all employees to consume and extend SAP applications through Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Duet Enterprise combines the collaboration and productivity supported by Microsoft SharePoint with the business data and processing functionality of SAP® applications.

Duet Enterprise enables companies to:

Drive people productivity – business users can enjoy a unified view of the data and tasks they need from Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Planned for both individuals as well as teams, Duet enterprise boosts people's productivity in successfully performing their business tasks.
Expand Value of IT investment – Duet Enterprise helps IT realize extended value by broadening the use of SAP software throughout the enterprise and expanding the scope of Microsoft SharePoint.
Rapidly Respond to Business needs – providing greater ability to meet business requirements through the ability to quickly compose solutions that meet changing business needs.

Read more about Duet here

SAPPHIRE NOW Madrid

2011-08-01T07:57:00.000+01:00

SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid November 9-10, 2011
The World's Premier Business Technology Conference with unparalleled insights and Networking.

At SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid, the focus is on business analytics and mobility and you'll experience visionary keynotes, customer-driven sessions, hands-on demos, and partner exhibits. Plus, you have the unique opportunity to learn from the entire SAP ecosystem in one location.

Early Bird Discount
Save €150 when you register by September 15, 2011 and get the
best choice of accommodations.

Become an Exhibitor
This year, SAPPHIRE NOW and SAP TechEd will be collocated in Madrid, Spain.

Learn more about exhibitor opportunities at sap.com

How to Implement Mobile Technology with SAP Services

2011-07-18T07:48:00.000+01:00

With SAP Services, you can seamlessly design, plan, and execute a mobility strategy across your organization.

Our experts can help you to quickly adopt our innovative mobile technologies – which include Sybase Unwired Platform and Afaria – via a sustainable and secure process that aligns with your enterprise mobility strategy.

As a result, you can develop, communicate, and implement an actionable, flexible enterprise mobility strategy that enables you to generate business value from your existing and future SAP investments.

Obtain Support in Implementing Mobile Technology
Assessment services – Provides insight into the different technology options that can best serve your requirements and support in evaluating the value of mobile connectivity and in preparing an implementation roadmap

Technology installation and setup services – Delivers expert guidance in quickly installing and leveraging basic connectivity and configuration settings

Mobile implementation services – Offers help in building robust and reliable mobile technology solutions

Gain Access to Important SAP Sales Data
From your mobile devices, you can quickly access important SAP sales data and manage accounts, contacts, and activities with your customers and prospects.

With our solution for rapidly deploying Sybase Mobile Sales for SAP CRM, you gain an integrated offering of software and services that provides you with essential CRM functionality quickly and affordably – all through your smartphones.

SAP Field Service Mobile App

2011-07-11T07:48:00.000+01:00

SET A NEW STANDARD FOR FIELD SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Outstanding service in the field is key to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Equipping your field engineers with the right resources, knowledge, and information at the point of service can help your company establish a reputation for service excellence that sets it apart from the rest.

The SAP Field Service mobile app gives field personnel anywhere, anytime access to relevant information from mobile devices, so that they can get to customer sites on time, complete more orders faster, and reduce processing time. By maximizing the field services capabilities of SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), the mobile app helps field engineers become more productive and improves the overall efficiency of your service operations.

How Can the SAP Field Service Mobile App Help You?
The SAP Field Service mobile app supports essential functions that field engineers need while on the go to resolve issues on the first visit and meet service level agreements – so your company can increase customer satisfaction, lower service costs, and boost productivity:

Alerts
Push alerts to field engineers about new assignments, allowing them to view and accept or reject the assignments in real time.

Debriefing
Debrief the order at the point of service, reducing data errors and billing cycles.

Google Maps integration
Enable field technicians to view the geographical locations of current assignments so they can best plan their visit routes.

Offline work support
Allow field engineers to work offline and have all data refreshed automatically when they're back on line.

Dashboards
Let administrators view and monitor service order status and progress in real time.

The SAP Field Service mobile app leverages the proven mobile infrastructure strengths of Sybase Unwired Platform.

SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid November 9-10, 2011

2011-07-04T07:15:00.000+01:00

The world's premier business technology conference

Unparalleled Insights and Networking
At SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid, the focus in on business analytics and mobility and you’ll experience visionary keynotes, customer-driven sessions, hands-on demos, and partner exhibits. Plus, you have the unique opportunity to learn from the entire SAP ecosystem in one location.

Early Bird Discount
Save €150 when you register by September 15, 2011 and get the
best choice of accommodations. REGISTER NOW

Become an Exhibitor
This year, SAPPHIRE NOW and SAP TechEd will be collocated in Madrid, Spain.

For the first time, SAPPHIRE NOW and SAP TechEd will be held simultaneously in the same location in November this year.
Since the exhibitions will be open to attendees from both conferences, you have a unique opportunity to target the entire SAP community at one event – SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid: customers, SAP executives, and experts; SAP TechEd Madrid: a technically savvy audience.
The SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid and SAP TechEd 2011 Exhibitor Programs will be announced soon. Please contact Exhibit Manager Silke Meyer-Borges for more information

Mobility: its impact, opportunities, and challenges

2011-06-06T07:19:00.001+01:00

Mobility is transforming how companies are run today. Game-changing mobility technology promises to revolutionize business in the future. By answering the following questions, this SAP Executive Insight can help companies understand the impact, opportunities, and challenges of the mobile revolution:

• How has mobility evolved, and what lies ahead for its technology?
• How will mobility impact businesses and their consumers?
• What are the key challenges that CIOs must consider when adopting mobile technology?

A Technology on the Move
With the extraordinary growth in the use of devices such as smartphones and computer tablets, mobile workforces and consumers alike have unprecedented access to information.

The statistics are startling. Today, it is widely estimated that more than one billion individuals worldwide use mobile devices to connect to the Internet. And
industry analysts predict continued and explosive growth in the future. The
adoption rates of mobile technology among the world’s businesses are also
high. For businesses that want to take full advantage of this global phenomenon,
it can be helpful to understand how mobility has evolved and where the
future of the technology is likely headed.

The Business Impact of Mobility
The growth of mobility is indisputable, and company CIOs cannot afford to underestimate its impact on their businesses. At SAP, we firmly believe that:

• Mobility adoption will be worldwide. In fact, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries) will lead in both mobility adoption and innovation.

• Consumer-led technologies will drive development and flatten channels between retailers and buyers.

• The application of mobility will be widespread, affecting industries from
healthcare to retail and transforming interactions from social networking to
machine-to-machine communication

• Advanced security and device management will be needed to adequately
protect company information

Organizations that can leverage these evolving technologies – by both retooling
their internal workforces and redefining their business-to-consumer models
– will be in a powerful position to improve employee efficiency and influence
consumer behavior.

New Rapid-Deployment Solution From SAP Harnesses the Power of In-Memory Computing

2011-05-30T07:28:00.001+01:00

SAP AG continues to execute on its vision to deliver a new reality for enterprise software by introducing a new solution based on the foundation of SAP® In-Memory Computing technology. The SAP® ERP rapid-deployment solution for operational reporting with SAP® In-Memory Appliance software (SAP HANA™) will provide companies with a real-time view of key insights from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011

“With its focus on line-of-business applications, SAP is making a unique contribution to in-memory computing,” said Henry Morris, senior vice president, Worldwide Software and Services research groups, IDC. “Companies need a way to manage, access and analyze the ever-increasing amounts of business information generated. In-memory computing allows them to rapidly access the freshest data, without having to trade data granularity for speed.”

This rapid-deployment solution, revamped with the power of in-memory computing, will provide operational analytics from SAP ERP quicker and more affordably. It will be able to deliver more than 15 individual reports in real time from SAP ERP in four key lines of business: sales, financial, shipping and procurement. Improving existing reporting capabilities, SAP, its partners and customers have identified these as data-intensive areas that require the heavy lifting provided by SAP In-Memory Computing technology to improve performance.

With the SAP ERP rapid-deployment solution for operational reporting, both large and midsize businesses can more easily take advantage of SAP In-Memory Computing. Like all SAP® Rapid Deployment solutions, the application will be focused in scope and preconfigured to eliminate guesswork, reducing deployment time to as little as six to eight weeks.

Sapphire Now and the ASUG Annual Conference

2011-05-09T08:56:00.000+01:00

Sunday, May 15
7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Registration – South Concourse, Orange County Convention Center
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Pre-Conference Seminars
11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. Registration – Orlando International Airport, Baggage Claim Level – A&B sides of main terminal

Monday, May 16
Coffee and light snacks will be provided at the convention center as you enter the keynote in the morning. Should you require a breakfast meal please plan accordingly.

7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Registration – South Concourse, Orange County Convention Center
8:15 a.m. Doors open for keynote
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Keynote: "The Future of Business - Imagining the World in 2015and Beyond" presented as a panel discussion by SAP in collaboration with digital knowledge forum Big Think.
10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Show Floor open
10:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. Presentation Sessions
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Meet Our Exhibitors
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Keynote: Michael J. Stoko III; Vice Chairman, ASUG Board of Directors, Anthony J.Bosco, Jr.; Chairman, ASUG Board of Directors, Bridgette Chambers; CEO, Americas' SAP Users' Group and Michael Eisner, Former CEO of the Walt Disney Company
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Happy Hour, Exhibitor Showcase including Partner presentations

Tuesday, May 17
Coffee and light snacks will be provided at the convention center as you enter the keynote in the morning. Should you require a breakfast meal please plan accordingly.

8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Registration – South Concourse, Orange County Convention Center
8:15 a.m. Doors open for keynote
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Keynote: Bill McDermott; Co-CEO of SAP and Member of the SAP Executive Board
and Jim Hagemann Snabe; Co-CEO of SAP and Member of the SAP Executive Board
10:30 a.m. – 5:45 p.m. Show Floor open
11:00 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. Presentation Sessions
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Meet Our Exhibitors

Wednesday, May 18
Coffee and light snacks will be provided at the convention center as you enter the keynote in the morning. Should you require a breakfast meal please plan accordingly.

8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Registration – South Concourse, Orange County Convention Center
8:15 a.m. Doors open for keynote
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Keynote: Vishal Sikka; Member of SAP Executive Board, Technology and Innovation
and Prof. Dr. h.c. Hasso Plattner; Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP AG
11:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Show Floor open
11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Presentation Sessions
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Meet Our Exhibitors
9:00 p.m. Concert Celebration - SAP, together with Deloitte, presents an evening with Sting

April 12 - SAP Media Day in London

2011-04-18T07:26:00.002+01:00

WOW, finally it’s done and all went well. We brought our co-CEOs to London for one day of media interviews. As it is still quiet period and they are not allowed to comment on the actual quarter it was a tricky thing: we had to convice the networks that even without talking about solid numbers Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe are great interview guests who can talk about important business relevant topics and their vision for the economy.

We managed to arranged an unique oportunity: co-hosting Europe’s most influential busienss show – CNCB ’Squawk Box Europe’.
Bill McDermott was the co-anchor for two hours and talked knowledgeable with Anchors Stepheen Sedgwick and Anna Edwards as well as with the guests of the show.

As Squawk Box Europe airs from 6 am to 9 am GMT(London time), you can imaging that the night was a short one.
We briefed Bill right before the show about last-second changes in the rundown as well as about the latest news from all over the world. The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan was one of the major topics that day. The show also commented on the impact of the crisis in Japan and the current debt situation in Europe as well as on comodity markets – gold, silver and aluminium.

Whilst Bill McDermott was on air, we monitored the show from the gallery.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Here some impressions:
The second TV appearance was an exclusive 2 on 1 interview on Bloomberg’s “Last Word” with Andrea Catherwood.
Schedule was tight and so was london traffic. The gentlemen arrived exactly 5 (!) minutes before they had to be on air – the show already running:

Bill and Jim talked vividly with host Andrea Catherwood and the rather long 10 minutes segment passed by in no time. The studio itself is located in the middle of the Bloomberg working spaces, rather funny to walk through rows of people wrapped up in work to the setup.

All in all it was agreat success and a wonderful experience in sunny!) London.

Don’t miss to watch the two videos here.

SAP Financials 2011 Amsterdam

2011-03-28T15:00:00.001+01:00

For teams that use, evaluate, deploy, and support SAP® functionality for financial management, reporting, and planning

SAP, independent consultants, and your industry counterparts share lessons for teams that use, deploy, manage, and are evaluating SAP® solutions for finance, accounting, and profitability and cost management. This is an opportunity to explore strategies and techniques developed by proven experts to optimize financial reporting, consolidation, closing, governance, and performance management activities.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

•Case studies from leading SAP customers to teach you to streamline financials business processes, reduce operating costs, and provide robust and timely business insight
•Best practices to upgrade and more efficiently utilize your SAP financial system
•Comprehensive education and updates for financial solutions from SAP
•Strategies to improve financial data analysis, reporting, and time-to-close
•Techniques to better mitigate risk and bolster ongoing compliance initiatives

More info at financials2011.com

SAP and IBM Test SAP® In-Memory Appliance Software and Demonstrate Incredible Results

2011-03-21T10:22:00.000Z

WALLDORF, Germany - March 11, 2011 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and IBM today announced the first official performance results of SAP® In-Memory Appliance (SAP HANA™), finding that the software easily handles 10,000 queries per hour against 1.3 terabytes of data, returning results within seconds. The test scenarios were directly based on the query workload requirements typical in SAP customers' enterprise resource planning (ERP) reporting requirements. They accessed the rich data found in the sales delivery database tables for the SAP® ERP application. The test was part of a joint project between the two companies to deliver real-time analytics by optimizing software and hardware, based on SAP® In-Memory Computing technology and IBM's industry-leading 3850 series servers.

The test, which was independently audited and verified by WinterCorp, used testing scenarios designed to measure the performance of the in-memory database processing analytical queries on operational business data. The test database scenarios closely mirrored the complexity of enterprise data, in terms of data definition, data types and data distributions, without pre-aggregating the data or tuning the database. The ad-hoc, analytical queries were specifically designed to reflect the demands of today's business, allowing companies to understand trends in their sales history such as their top customers, best-selling products and customer returns in any detail or time frame. These results confirm the incredible performance that SAP has seen with the 50 customers participating in the co-innovation program for SAP HANA.

"In a review of the test specification, test runs and outputs, I find that SAP HANA performance test is a valid determination of data warehouse query performance on in-memory test databases up to and including four terabytes of realistically generated test data," Richard Winter, president and founder, WinterCorp. "The test data values are closely patterned after real SAP data, and the test queries are similar to operational and analytical business intelligence queries that occur in practice."

SAP and IBM used this approach in order to more accurately recreate the data that is stored in actual customer systems and the real-time requirements of today's business intelligence (BI) systems. Highlights of additional findings included:

SAP HANA handles the massive and simultaneous demands for business analysis. A workload comprised of 10 analytical query streams and four operational reporting streams was tested against SAP® In-Memory Database. It produced the combined results of 10,000 queries per hour.
SAP HANA analyzes large volumes of data in seconds. Complex queries, such as understanding trends in the sales organization or material sales, were performed against 1.3-terabyte databases and returned results within seconds.
SAP HANA makes it possible to do analytics on the fly. SAP HANA can process ad-hoc analytical queries without pre-calculations, materialization of pre-aggregated data or extensive database tuning.
SAP In-Memory Computing technology and IBM hardware offers excellent ROI. In the 1.3 terabyte test, SAP In-Memory Computing technology was packaged with an IBM X5 server containing 32 cores, 0.5 terabytes of memory and a RAID 5 disk system. Results demonstrated an excellent cost-to-performance ratio. IBM eX5 servers were the first to introduce MAX5 technology, which decouples memory from processors and allows for increased scalability without the need to buy additional hardware.

"By dramatically outperforming traditional disk-based systems on analytical queries, SAP HANA opens new business opportunities and makes real-time business possible for the first time," said Jake Klein, vice president, Data and Analytic Engines, SAP. "The results of this performance test are one more important step for SAP and our hardware partners, demonstrating the significance of our in-memory computing technology to both the industry and our customers. With the incredible performance offered by SAP HANA as the foundation, we can develop a whole new generation of applications that offer unparalleled speed and insight."

IBM and SAP have cooperated closely to implement the advanced replication scenario for DB2-based customers. DB2 is SAP HANA-ready and can efficiently replicate data into SAP HANA in near real time using the Sybase Replication Server. Customers with ERP systems on DB2 can therefore seamlessly support demanding business needs for real-time reporting based on the latest available data with unmatched administrative effort.

"IBM is very pleased to add another record to our already impressive array of benchmarking results," said Alex Yost, vice president, System x and BladeCenter, IBM. "Our customers continue to benefit from the eX5 enhanced memory capabilities through SAP HANA."

Additional ResourcesMore technical details about the performance study and specific results, including the audit letter filed by Winter, are available in a blog post on the SAP® Developer Network site. Watch a video of Klein discussing the importance of the performance test and SAP In-Memory Computing technology for the industry and customers: "SAP and IBM Demonstrate the Power of SAP In-Memory Appliance Software."

For more information, visit the SAP Technology and Platform Newsroom.

EHP Just a Few Clicks Away

2011-02-21T11:32:00.001Z

SAP has begun offering enhancement packages in place of release upgrades and other expensive updates. From disk space to databases and downtime, we’ll show you what to keep in mind during the installation process.

To help its customers keep their software on the cutting edge, SAP has turned its focus from expensive upgrades to cost-effective enhancement packages. Rapid implementation, tailored functionality, and minimal downtime are just of the few resulting advantages.

Meanwhile, admins can look forward to a simple installation process – often without major interruptions to ongoing operations. In this way, SAP plans to provide its customers with constant benefits in the form of updates and added functions.

Each individual company and IT department can determine how many business functions it wants to implement and when. With the Switch Framework, it’s also possible to select specific features of each enhancement package for installation while leaving your core SAP system untouched.

Requirements
Installing an enhancement package requires a full SAP release – such as SAP ERP 6.0 – and the corresponding support package stack. It’s also crucial that your release run on SAP NetWeaver 7.0; if you don’t have this version of the technology platform, you’ll have to upgrade by conventional means.

Be sure to bear two other things in mind, as well: The activation of individual business functions can’t be undone, and the new features provided only apply to SAP applications in their standard form. Enhancement packages don’t account for special customizations users have made themselves – only the core software.

A 2011 Guide to Best-in-Class BI Service and Solution Providers

2011-02-14T19:19:00.001Z

SAP and its partners have been pushing the boundaries of traditional business intelligence (BI) with a wave of new business analytics solutions that enable true information innovation. SAP’s Sanjay J. Poonen kicks off this special report with a look at the market dynamics that are driving the current BI revolution, as well as what’s in it for customers. Then, SAP partners describe how they are lending their own talents to support this revolution.

You can download the guide here.

The inside edge for SAP customers worldwide

2011-01-31T07:46:00.000Z

Mobility is sweeping across the enterprise. Consider a company like Kindred Healthcare, which has boosted the productivity of its rehabilitation therapists and the accuracy of its patient records through the use of mobile devices. Kindred Healthcare is not alone: The worldwide mobile worker population will reach 1.2 billion in 2013, predicts IDC, up from 1 billion workers today.

Until recently, application platforms dominated the enterprise mobility story. Vendors like Sybase sold them and corporations bought them — to build mobile apps in-house.
SAP’s acquisition of Sybase, however, foreshadows a change. Packaged mobile apps will soon replace custom-built ones as the predominant deployment model inside the enterprise. This will not only slash the cost and time needed for organizations to roll out mobile apps, but will also kick-start a new phase of rapid growth for enterprise mobility. We’ve seen it happen before, with on-premise applications. In the 1980s, during the early client-server era, enterprises mostly built their business applications painstakingly in-house. By the 1990s, the market shifted to prebuilt apps — and then it exploded.

SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference: The Premier Events for the Global Business Technology Community

2011-01-17T10:01:00.001Z

May 15 - 18, 2011, SAP and ASUG partner again to offer two breakthrough events in one location, delivering the technological vision, insights, and actionable information customers need to drive profitability and growth and keep their organizations ahead of the competition.

SAPPHIRE NOW is the world's premier business technology event for executives, IT decisions makers, and business managers to discover new initiatives, solutions, products, and services, and access the entire SAP ecosystem. Through visionary keynotes, informative presentations, hands-on demonstrations, and hundreds of partner exhibits, SAPPHIRE NOW offers a unique showcase for the latest business strategies and industry best practices.

Register today and save $200

Sapphire Now Annual Conference May 15-18 2011

2010-11-29T07:40:00.001Z

The world's premier business technology event and the largest SAP customer-driven conference are being planned now. Sign up to receive a registration alert for the 2011 events. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

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SAP and itelligence Deliver Greater Value and Innovation for Midsize Companies

2010-11-22T08:54:00.000Z

SAP today announced that itelligence AG has signed a global value-added reseller (VAR) agreement, a program that transforms high-growth partners from local resellers into managed, global partners. The goal of the global VAR program is to provide customers with greater value through close collaboration of SAP and itelligence. The announcement was made at the SAP World Tour 2010, the global road show that takes place in more than 80 cities in over 50 countries and is being held in Sun City, South Africa, November 7–10, 2010.

Global VARs: SAP’s Overachievers
VARs sell SAP software licenses in th The global VAR program is highly selective via invitation through SAP management only, and is targeted at partner candidates that must comply with certain program entry requirements, such as geographic coverage, reseller and services practice coverage, as well as specifically defined revenue achievements for the SAP® Business All-in-One solution. The program demonstrates another way that SAP is supporting and enabling its partners to overachieve in their business.

Understanding Midsize Companies
With more than 20 years of SAP experience and more than 3,000 SAP customers in the midmarket worldwide, itelligence meets customers’ diverse requirements with its customized SAP Business All-in-One solutions across 14 industries. Accompanying SAP’s own growth serving small businesses and midsize enterprises (SMEs), itelligence has grown from an organization of 10 employees in 1989 to its current presence of about 1,800 colleagues in 19 countries. As a trusted advisor for SMEs, the company’s success is derived from its understanding of customer needs for easily adoptable business applications that comprise preconfigured, industry-specific best practices with flexible payment options. itelligence continues to be a key partner in the SAP® PartnerEdge™ program — as an SAP global services partner and an SAP channel partner. In addition, itelligence is an SAP global hosting partner as well as an SAP-certified provider of application management services.

Meeting all criteria to merit its status as a global VAR, itelligence demonstrates in-depth knowledge and successful products in a range of different markets. The company successfully operates as a VAR at a supra-regional level in several countries. It also meets the global VAR program’s quarterly requirements for jointly assessing resources, strategy, support and partnership alignment.

“Achieving global VAR status clearly emphasizes our unique selling point as a global partner of SAP for SMEs,” said Uwe Bohnhorst, COO, itelligence AG. “It shows that we offer a uniform standard worldwide. Our customers can rely on this, and will benefit from the very close collaboration the new global status shows. I’m very proud that we will be an SAP gold partner in every country in which itelligence complies with the global VAR requirements and subsequently joins the program.”

Successful Customers in More Than 19 Countries Across 14 Industries
By demonstrating clear understanding of the business needs of companies across diverse, rapidly changing industries, itelligence practices effective collaboration with customers to fulfill their most critical business goals. Customers such as Armacell GmbH, Cintas Corporation, COMET Group and David Brown Gear Systems Limited have grown their businesses internationally with itelligence.

Armacell GmbH, a global leader in engineered foams based in Germany, has 20 manufacturing facilities in over 13 countries. The time of the international rollouts of it.chemicals – the SAP Business All-in-One solution for the chemical industry – in China, France, Germany, India, Spain and Switzerland has accelerated by 30 percent. Therefore, Armacell benefitted directly from the close cooperation and subsequent knowledge transfer between SAP and itelligence. In addition, the greater transparency gained through the close collaboration improved the decision-making process across international subsidiaries.

“We have selected the industry-specific SAP Business All-in-One solution with itelligence as our service provider,” said Rigobert Kuhrmann, CIO, Armacell GmbH. “We decided on itelligence because it was capable of offering the SAP expertise required by us, including high-quality standards across language and country borders. We are a global company with deep industry know-how running an SAP solution; these are standards itelligence also meets.”

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cintas Corporation provides highly specialized services to businesses of all types. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides document management, fire protection, first aid and safety products. In 2009, the U.S.-based company selected itelligence’s hosting services in order to flexibly support company growth, quickly respond to business landscape changes and always meet their customers’ expectations.

“itelligence Outsourcing provides a distinct edge — services regardless of our locations, a large team of reliable, deeply skilled SAP experts and technical SAP services and support for all modules, operating systems and databases,” said Tom Thornley, vice president and CIO, Cintas Corporation. “This enables us to maximize our IT resources and clearly focus on our core competencies.”

Swiss-based COMET Group, one of the world’s leading provider of systems, components and services for non-destructive testing, security and semiconductors, has implemented it.manufacturing, the SAP Business All-in-One solution from itelligence for the discrete manufacturing industry, as well as the SAP® Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) application. Implementation began in Switzerland and was successively rolled out in Germany, Denmark and the U.S. The rollout in China is intended to begin soon.

After COMET acquired x-ray system manufacturer YXLON in 2007, a worldwide restructuring on the process as well as organizational level was necessary to secure an integrated system landscape to help enable seamless information exchange and international collaboration. In addition, COMET benefits from more transparency in finance and controlling and one consolidated data pool that provides role-based information, as well as standardized processes and improved process efficiency.

“As a globally successful company, we value itelligence as a partner that is no stranger to internationality,” said Christian Schulthess, head of SAP CC, COMET Group. “Over the years, itelligence has proved that it thinks and operates internationally – always with the customer’s requirements in mind. The fact that SAP has included itelligence in its global VAR program vindicates our confidence in itelligence. As a result of the close cooperation of itelligence and SAP, we will also benefit from firsthand information such as new product strategies, release updates and new technologies.”

David Brown Gear Systems Limited is a UK-based manufacturer of gearing products and services that has been providing engineering expertise to a range of industries worldwide for nearly 150 years. David Brown expanded to China and realized that the company needed to accelerate the access to its financial data as well as to its production status in order to quickly react to market changes.

The customer selected the modules financials and controlling (FI/CO), materials management (MM), production planning (PP) and sales and distribution (SD) of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP in order to gain immediate, holistic insight across its entire organization in the UK and its Chinese joint venture. The system has been set productive recently. Today it provides David Brown with consolidated information the company needs to improve the decision-making process and to smoothly run its operations in China.

“We appreciate the global strength of our SAP solution, implemented and supported by itelligence, as we complete our first system roll-out in China,” said Andrew Stevenson, director, Global Supply Chain, David Brown Gear Systems Limited.

“SAP is a ‘partner-first’ company,” said Pat Hume, senior vice president, Global SME Indirect Channel, SAP. “Our goal is to support and develop all of our partners into high-growth and successful businesses. Having achieved exceptional growth in the past few years, itelligence clearly underscores our partner-first tenet. The company has demonstrated a profound commitment to SAP through investment and local engagement with our support and enablement programs.”

First Mobile Application for SAP Available on iTunes

2010-10-18T07:17:00.000+01:00

As growing numbers of employees increasingly work from the road more than the office, companies of all sizes are demanding immediate access to business applications to be able to run their business from any location, at any time. Furthering its objective of supporting these companies through accelerating the mobilization of SAP solutions, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) has created an iPhone application for the SAP Business ByDesign™ solution, which is now available on the Apple iTunes Store. This mobile version of the integrated on-demand solution specifically dedicated to midsize companies is easy to use and available for free to all customers of feature pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign, launched in July 2010, and requires only a user and password.

“Customers today have to run real-time businesses with a mobile workforce that needs to quickly make decisions no matter where they are,” said Peter Lorenz, executive vice president, Small and Midsize Enterprises, and corporate officer at SAP. “This mobile app for SAP Business ByDesign is an integral step in delivering greater value for all users and expanding our on-demand business.”

In a first step, SAP has focused on providing content mainly for management and sales roles. Managers, for example, can instantly approve, reject or forward items that require immediate attention, including price lists and quote or payment approvals. In addition, personalized mobile reports provide up-to-the-minute details of company operations and key facts. Sales representatives are supported by mobile lead and opportunity management as well as account and activity management. A scenario that is also supported is the ability to check product availability online for sales orders, and the possibility to immediately create a sales order as follow-up.

With the next version of SAP Business ByDesign, SAP plans to make additional scenarios available and to support further mobile devices, including BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7. The company will also aim to enable partners to create supplemental content, which can then become an incremental part of the application.

The application is available for the iPhone, with a minimal requirement of version 3.1.3 of the Mac-OS operating system. Access to the application is granted via a secure https connection.

Customers of feature pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign can access the application on iTunes

SAP World Tour 2010

2010-10-11T07:46:00.000+01:00

SAP World Tour 2010 is a series of events that take place in several locations around the world. From Chicago, Illinois, to Shanghai, China; from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to Paris, France; from Dubai, UAE, to Stockholm, Sweden, the events of SAP World Tour 2010 bring to attendees the best of SAP. Set in the language of the host city, and without the need for long-distance travel, attendees can explore the entire SAP ecosystem (SAP experts, partners, analysts, and more) through unparalleled networking opportunities, thought leadership keynotes, and focused presentations and demonstrations in innovative formats.

In 2009 more than 85 events were part of the SAP World Tour. More than 66,000 delegates attended the events. This represents a 30% increase in attendance from 2008, showing the momentum and acceptance of the format: In times of economic uncertainty, you can access firsthand information from SAP and partners and enjoy SAPPHIRE conference – like networking opportunities, without the burden of heavy travel.

This makes the SAP World Tour the cost-effective event option for SAP customers and the business community in general. For SAP partners and sponsors, the SAP World Tour helps to invest marketing budgets for a high return. Partners and sponsors gain business opportunities, qualified leads, and marketing contacts, in both mature markets and emerging countries.

More at sap.com

Create Engaging and Interactive Dashboards

2010-09-06T07:24:00.001+01:00

Create Engaging and Interactive Dashboards SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, personal edition is the perfect way to get started in the exciting area of dashboarding. It lets you create business dashboards and data presentations from spreadsheets, corporate databases -- and share them “live” via SAP Crystal Reports, Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, AIR and the Web.

Why SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, personal edition?

-Consolidate multiple reports into a single dashboard.
-Develop and deploy sophisticated dashboards in a few days.
-Gain real-time insight into your business performance.
-Create interactive visualizations and what-if scenario models for your SAP Crystal reports.
-Align personal goals with organizational goals via KPI dashboards.

With SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, personal edition you will receive key features including:

-Advanced dashboard and visualization components
-Live data connectivity to an external data source via a SOAP-based Web service or an XML data feed.
-Enhanced SAP Crystal Reports integration
-Export to Adobe Flash, AIR and HTML
-Software Development Kit
-And, more!

Technical Specifications:
Version: 2008
Data sources: Microsoft Excel XP/2003/2007, XML databases, SOAP-based Web services
Licensing model: Licensed per named user. Learn more
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Dutch, Swedish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

System requirements:
· PC with 1.0 GHz processor, 1GB RAM (recommended), and 350 MB hard disk space
· Microsoft Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista
· Microsoft Office 2003, Office XP, or Office 2007

SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio

2010-08-23T07:28:00.000+01:00

Explore, report, and share data with the SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand solution. It's a comprehensive business intelligence solution in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model that helps users get up and running in minutes.

This self-service business intelligence (BI) solution supports an intuitive process for business users to explore, report, and share data "in the cloud" anytime, without the challenge of a long, complex technology project. Because it's offered in a SaaS model, it helps business users get up and running in a matter of minutes.

Free Trial

SAP Thought Leadership

2010-08-02T07:43:00.000+01:00

Consumers want you to give them something new and feature-packed at the lowest price point possible, and they want it yesterday. How do you stay ahead of the curve and remain in the black while consumers continue to be frugal in these difficult times?

Asian manufacturers are not recessionproof, and you need to differentiate yourself as a product and service leader to survive. You have to optimize your operations and streamline manufacturing processes to decrease time to market.
You also have to trim low-profit items from your product lineup while ensuring that your manufacturing processes comply with regulatory mandates.

Out of every crisis emerges a company that is leaner and stronger, with a portfolio
of products that takes advantage of the upturn. These companies look at their core portfolio of products and invest in R & D to ensure that they have the first-mover advantage. Asian manufacturers have had a good run with strong revenue growth over the last decade, but this growth came with poor margins. Now is the time to invest in
product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions to build the foundation for a
strong product portfolio.

Managing the product lifecycle for tomorrow’s market requires an end to end PLM solution that spans the entire value chain, from researcher to contractor and from supplier to customer. A PLM solution maximizes production efficiencies, enhances collaboration, and reduces time to market. And it identifies and solves many design and production problems before they reach the prototype stage, which means a
better-quality product and savings in terms of inventory, time, and labor.

The advantages of engaging an effective PLM solution include reuse of components and processes, improved sustainability, and reduced development cost. Internal and external communication is improved as well, since all stakeholders are privy to the same information. Making continuous improvements to your company’s PLM ultimately will lead to increased market share and service revenue.

ERP Everywhere - The highest standards of security

2010-07-26T07:37:00.000+01:00

Meanwhile, Web services and other software programs run on SAP NetWeaver Application Server, which supports current Internet security standards such as HTTPS, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). From user administration and authorization to digital certificates and signatures, SAP NetWeaver Application Server ensures the highest level of security between clients and servers. The component also includes technology that enables multiple employees to work on the same project simultaneously while supporting separate access rights for each individual user.

Alerts for admins
Besides having lifted technical restrictions on large amounts of data and users, SAP has added a number of improved functions for system administrators to the new version of SAP NetWeaver Mobile. Admins will now find it even easier to manage field employees’ mobile devices, including aspects ranging from device, user, and application assignments to synchronization monitoring.

Security logs, data encryption, and a remote wipe function prevent the misuse of sensitive information should a mobile device go missing, and admins have the ability to monitor all of the data on the devices at any time. Using a central monitoring console, they can also distribute patches, configure devices, and address errors. Alerts automatically notify them of irregularities, such as if an employee in the field has forgotten to sync his or her mobile device with the server. The Web Dynpro framework, meanwhile, makes it easier to develop applications thanks to its basis in open technology standards like Java, XML, and SOAP. Users can access it through a custom system interface or a Web browser.

ERP Everywhere

2010-07-26T07:36:00.000+01:00

With providers releasing more and more apps for iPhone or BlackBerry to supplement customers’ business software, the SAP NetWeaver Mobile platform serves as the interface between these mini-programs and SAP systems. Here, we introduce you to the latest version (7.1).

A few years ago, Apple showed the world how small programs known as “apps” can enable users to run software while on the move. Apps have since become commonplace in everyday business. For SAP partners, this a prime opportunity to program new, industry-specific software that integrates with existing SAP systems and makes it possible for employees to access them with their mobile devices. In the articles “The Best Business Apps for Your iPad” and “Best Business Apps for iPhone,” we told you about the mobile software currently leading the pack.

This time, we take a look at the link between partner software and SAP systems: SAP NetWeaver Mobile 7.1.

Just like SAP NetWeaver, SAP NetWeaver Mobile is a technology platform on which SAP software and third-party programs run. Whether it’s SAP ERP, SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), or SAP Business One, SAP software is based on the programming language ABAP. SAP NetWeaver Mobile, meanwhile, facilitates the integration of additional industry-specific applications written in C++, Java, or other languages. It also enables users to merge business information from various databases.

The concept behind SAP NetWeaver Mobile
SAP NetWeaver Mobile replicates data from the back end, syncs it to mobile devices, and handles the corresponding processing.

The platform’s Data Orchestration Engine (DOE) directs data and transactions to users based on individual rules, which ensures that it only distributes needed information and transmits changes in the order they are made. When an employee is assigned a new customer, for example, all of the required information is automatically sent to his or her mobile device.

In addition, DOE automatically syncs changes to the devices of employees in the field every time they log in. Rather than transmitting complete data records, the engine only transfers new information – an updated phone number, for instance – which saves time.

Since the data is made available on a middleware server, customers can skip buying additional hardware. From PDFs and Microsoft Word documents to image files, the server sends along the latest data every time users synchronize their mobile software. Technicians on their way to a repair assignment, for example, can access their service manuals whenever needed.

Cost and Profitability Reporting: Complementary Strengths of SAP Solutions

2010-07-19T15:48:00.000+01:00

Empower your users and your organization with integrated transaction and analytic solutions from SAP, including SAP BusinessObjects Profitability and Cost Management. Find out how to take advantage of their complementary strengths to gain a deep understanding of the levers affect organizational costs and profitability.

The SAP TechEd 2010

2010-06-28T08:14:00.000+01:00

The SAP TechEd conference empowers and connects you and your team with the essential training and community support needed to gain instant value from your IT investment. Develop practical skills through hands-on workshops and demo-enhanced lectures focused on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform and SAP BusinessObjects solutions. Learn from and network with SAP experts, customers, and community members.

Join our mailing list to receive SAP TechEd registration alerts and event updates.

Hundreds of Hands-On Workshops and In-Depth Lectures
Some of the best minds in the IT industry share product roadmaps, best practices, demos, tips and tricks, code samples, and hands-on exercises that can only be found at SAP TechEd.

Educational sessions are organized around the following content tracks:

Application Life-Cycle Management
Business Intelligence and Performance Management
Enterprise Information Management
Business Process Management, Integration, and Collaboration
Custom Development
Security, Compliance, Identity, and Access Management
Virtual SAP TechEd -- Try it for Free
If you missed SAP TechEd 2009, then Virtual SAP TechEd is your chance to experience 135 of the best educational lecture sessions recorded live at SAP TechEd 2009 Phoenix. Now, you can get a weekly dose of SAP TechEd for free! Each week, a different session will be featured, so return often and stay up-to-date on a wide range of technical topics.

Why Attendees Loved SAP TechEd 2009
"There are not many venues where one can get such a quantity of high quality, SAP-focused technical information for such a small investment (both in time and money). SAP TechEd is one of these venues."
Scott Comstock, Tetra Pak

"It was very valuable for me to be able to discuss current issues and opportunities face-to-face with SAP developers and product managers in a setting that is not all marketing."

Football Fans run smarter with SAP

2010-06-21T07:45:00.001+01:00

Can't travel to South Africa this year? Let SAP bring the excitement of world soccer to you! Whether you're a novice or an obsessed fan, "2010 Football Experience" lets you become part of the action and participate in a whole new way.

See how a live working business intelligence system from SAP can help enhance your experience of the game.

Learn more about the game. Explore your burning questions.
- What positions typically score the most points?
- What is a likely final score?
- Does being the host country influence success?
- Which teams consistently make it to the final rounds?
- Which players have previous tournament experience?
- Is there a particular area of the goal that a goalkeeper is less successful in defending?
- Is one player or team receiving more yellow cards than the others?

Have fun. Get involved. Our unique interactive models will allow you to:
- Easily review historical data from matches going back nearly 50 years to gain perspective on the game.
- Check out details on the teams and players as they compete for the title.
- Analyze match information, such as shot location, to search for patterns of play and success.
- Gain insight, spot trends, and use the information you uncover to make better decisions.
- Receive live commentary during the matches so you can stay informed.

More at sap.com

SAP on iPad: It’s All Going Mobile

2010-06-14T07:23:00.000+01:00

The iPad apps on display at SAPPHIRE NOW enable users to access SAP Business Suite 7, SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports 2008, enhancements for SAP Business ByDesign 2.5, and more. Join SAP.info as we tour the event floor!

The way the business world accesses its data is undergoing a phase of rapid upheaval. One tour of the SAPPHIRE NOW exhibition areas and it’s clear that many companies have not been able to withstand the magnetism of the iPad. Not only is nearly every stand giving away one of Apple’s new tablet computers at least once a day; a significant number of presenters are using the handy touchscreen device to access a wide variety of SAP software. An array of such apps are already available for iPad – such as the Hasso Plattner Institute’s dunning app for SAP Business ByDesign 2.5, displayed above – or are in the final stages of testing. With HPI’s app, for example, users can display open customer invoices in Google Maps based on their geographic location. In a demonstration at SAPPHIRE NOW, this data was loaded in real time from SAP Business ByDesign.

Ad
Even in the United States, iPad has sold out at nearly all Apple Stores throughout the country; most customers must now register on a waiting list to purchase the device. However, consumer demand was not the sole factor that drove Apple’s sales figures past the one-million mark in the device’s very month. At SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando, you get the feeling that iPad may establish itself in the field of business even faster than iPhone.

More proof of this is seen in the many presentations involving complex business applications, where Apple’s computer interfaces are considered the ultimate in user-friendliness. The talk is often of small apps with which users can access larger SAP applications from their iPads and iPhones. For many SAP partners, this opens a new field of business – one that many would have not predicted just one year ago.

In the near future, everything will be mobile: various devices, the corresponding software, and any users who have not already made the transition. With the right tools and integration, employees will be able to work on and analyze any business data from anywhere by smartphone or tablet PC. It’s evident that most SAPPHIRE NOW attendees have developed something of a dependency on mobile connectivity, constantly checking their e-mail and synchronizing their appointment schedules during short breaks at the event.

SAP is also accelerating its development of software for mobile devices. It wants to become the world leader in mobile business software, particularly with platforms and databases from the recently acquired Sybase. SAP plans to address the full range of mobile devices in the future, from smartphones like iPhone and Blackberry to tablet computers like iPad. The conventional desktop PC is no longer a topic of conversation.

Here, we present a number of iPad apps that have debuted at SAPPHIRE NOW.

1. Syclo Smart Mobile Suite: Integrated with SAP Business Suite 7
2. Mellmo Roambi Visualizer: Business Intelligence

More info at SAP.info

SAP Underpins On-Demand Strategy With the Proven Power of Partners

2010-05-31T07:43:00.001+01:00

Applying a proven partner strategy that has long benefited its customers of all sizes and industries, SAP today announced its plans to accelerate the creation of a partner ecosystem around SAP Business ByDesign, the comprehensive, fully integrated on-demand suite dedicated to companies in the small and midsize enterprise (SME) market. As it gears up for volume business, the company aims to establish the on-demand software as a foundation for solution and services partners to offer additional features and industry expertise that address the specific needs of a broader group of customers. The plans also foresee new opportunities for reselling partners to better position, sell and deploy SAP Business ByDesign. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE NOW, being held simultaneously in Frankfurt, Germany, and Orlando, Florida, May 17-19, 2010.

For its established portfolio of SME solutions, SAP already has a strong existing partner ecosystem of about 9,700 companies with proven expertise in delivering, enhancing and deploying solutions. Partners represent a core element of both the go-to-market strategy and the plans with SAP Business ByDesign. SAP has already been working with a group of approximately 80 partners that have closely followed customer projects or enhanced the solution with additional features, functions and services.

New Business Model Opens New Opportunities for Partners
The on-demand market represents an entirely new business model as well as new opportunities for solution providers, solution resellers and technology partners. With the on-demand solution, partners can focus resources on creating innovation and enabling customers rather than maintaining infrastructure. They also benefit from shortened innovation cycles, accelerated time-to-market and immediate access to constantly updated technology.

For SAP Business ByDesign, SAP aims to offer a variety of engagement opportunities for solution resellers or solution partners. Partners may play one or multiple roles depending on which option is best suited and most sustainable for their specific business model.

The company's plans also foresee enabling solution partners to develop business extensions such as forms and reports, or even comprehensive industry-specific functionality, to further maximize customers' successes. SAP and select partners are currently testing early versions of a development environment for partners to create and deploy such extensions.

In addition to developing solution extensions for SAP Business ByDesign, partners can also enhance the SAP on-demand offering by integrating mash-up technology such as Google, Hoover's and MapQuest.com, or services such as payroll. These solutions are connected and pre-integrated into SAP Business ByDesign and can be easily configured by customers. Furthermore, co-innovation with technology partners such as Intel and Microsoft contribute to SAP's expanded reach and continued success and innovation of SAP Business ByDesign.

SAP plans to offer future reselling partners a unique opportunity in the on-demand space: a defined value proposition and economic model that allows them to own the relationships and contracts directly with customers. The business model is designed so that such partners not only sell and deploy SAP Business ByDesign but also offer their own additional services, such as back-office services, consulting, change management or data migration, to supplement the service offering.

SAP will focus its on-demand ecosystem efforts on key countries including the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, and will later extend the program to China and India. SAP will also explore the possibility of additional partnering opportunities including referral partners who refer leads to SAP.

"Partners have always played a key role in the success of SAP's mainstay business, and we're taking a page from our own playbook as we expand into the on-demand market," said Doug Merritt, executive vice president, On-Demand Solutions, SAP. "A diverse, thriving ecosystem is critical to ensuring fast time-to-value for customers in an on-demand world, with partners serving as trusted advisors, providing industry expertise and developing additional services. As we take this significant first step in the on-demand market, we are committed to empowering our partners with the opportunities and tools they need to ensure customer success."

SAPPHIRE NOW
With SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP marks the next evolution of its SAPPHIRE customer conference and networking events, offering SAP customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held simultaneously in Orlando, Florida, and Frankfurt, Germany, May 17-19, 2010, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and a newly designed online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether onsite or online, participants can gain insight on how innovative business solutions from SAP are enabling long-term, profitable business growth.

About SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign is a fully integrated business management solution that delivers the best of SAP software, on-demand. This solution is designed as best-fit for companies who want the benefits of large-scale business management applications without the costs of supporting the corresponding IT infrastructure. SAP Business ByDesign unifies multiple business operations and enables companies to implement preconfigured business processes in order to solve immediate problems. Accessed via a single user interface, SAP Business ByDesign delivers preconfigured software for business processes and supports managing financials, customer relationships, human resources, projects, procurement and the supply chain.

The SAP Business ByDesign solution is delivered on-demand and managed, monitored and maintained by SAP experts in hosted data centers. SAP handles the maintenance and installation of upgrades.

SAPPHIRE NOW Frankfurt May 2010

2010-04-19T07:39:00.002+01:00

SAPPHIRE NOW offers executives and managers from every department the opportunity to discover solutions that help meet your business challenges like never before. It's the one essential event where you can:

-Get visionary updates on solutions for your industry directly from SAP executives
-Learn best practices and approaches from other top-level executives who are integrating solutions that support your business
-Get an in-depth look at future SAP applications that will support your growth strategies and create competitive advantages
-See how SAP delivers rapid and significant return on investment
-Access SAP partners and solution providers for the latest on SAP-supporting technologies
-Discover solutions with built-in best practices for your company's industry and roles
-Gather your entire team – from project managers to senior executives – to see firsthand how SAP helps solve their challenges in:
Human resources
effectively align employee goals with business objectives.
Finance
manage finance, performance management, governance, risk, and compliance solutions with a single platform.
Operations
identify, capture, and realize sustainable cost savings and streamline procurement operations.
Sales
keep your pipeline healthy and equip sales teams with tools to help enhance productivity.
Marketing
manage customer touch points while retaining high-value customers.

More about SAPPHIRE NOW here

SAP Fast Food

2010-03-29T07:47:00.000+01:00

To get a grip on its 200 sales orders a day, its 5,000 products, and its 20 commercial trucks, the Stuttgart, Germany-based wholesaler for poultry, game, and frozen food Kurt Ullrich uses the SAP Business One application.

The company Kurt Ullrich, which was founded in the German city of Stuttgart back in 1969, offers over 5,000 frozen, fresh, and dairy products, ranging from meat, sausages, poultry, game, smoked fish, fine foods, salads, and pastry. The family-run business employs around 60 people and supplies commercial kitchens, canteens, hospitals, children’s and retirement homes, butchers, and restaurants, mainly in the German federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. “We work in accordance with the latest European Union regulations, and complying with the HACCP management system is also a matter of course for us,” explains Jürgen Pfitzner, deputy operations manager at Kurt Ullrich. “What’s more, the fast and reliable processing of all business transactions is very important – we already started using a homegrown software solution many years ago.”

Replacing the heterogeneous IT landscape
With more sales orders, a much wider range of products, stricter quality management requirements, and accelerated sales and service processes, the ageing heterogeneous IT system was stretched to the limit. “With our old IT system, it was becoming increasingly difficult to meet the requirements of our rapidly expanding range of products, changed customer needs, and legal aspects. And as a result, we were also jeopardizing our future competitiveness,” says Pfitzner. “But it would have been unjustifiably time-consuming and costly to upgrade that software. In addition, upgrading would have made the system even more complex and difficult to administrate.” That’s why Kurt Ullrich decided to implement a new – integrated and homogeneous – application, which first of all ensured that all the key business processes would be mapped transparently from end to end, and second would be flexible enough to hook up third-party software using interfaces and easily cater to future company growth.

Exxaro Improves Shared Services Center Operations With Real-Time CRM Solutions from SAP

2010-03-22T07:40:00.000Z

Exxaro, a diversified mining company with operations in South Africa, implemented the SAP® Customer Relationship Management 7 (SAP CRM) application to better manage the growing number of queries handled by its “Finshare” shared services center. The center handles a large number of activities on a daily basis including direct inquiries from employees and vendors as well as payroll and accounts payable transactions. Now able to access real-time information from SAP CRM, the center’s agents are better equipped to respond and resolve employee and vendor inquiries and process over 12,000 invoices every month quickly and efficiently.

As an SAP customer for 12 years, Exxaro recognized that with the SAP NetWeaver technology platform it could easily integrate the financial and human resource information in its back-end enterprise resource management application, SAP® ERP, with SAP CRM, resulting in a cost-effective, end-to-end solution linking the real-time information needed to improve the caller experience and overall efficiency of the Finshare center.

Exxaro is also using SAP Business Communications Management software, an advanced, all-internet protocol (IP) communication solution for contact-intensive call centers with multiple functions and locations. The solution, which is also delivered as part of SAP® Business Suite 7 software, helps Finshare’s agents manage incoming queries more efficiently by reducing hold and response times as well as allowing users the flexibility to contact the center via e-mail, telephone and fax. The Finshare center supports inquiries in four languages; with SAP Business Communications Management, calls are quickly routed to agents that can assist callers in their preferred language.

SAP Business One 8.8 Beckons New Era of Software for Small Businesses

2010-03-15T07:19:00.000Z

SAP announced a new release of the SAP® Business One application that accelerates time-to-value, facilitates business adaptability and increases ease-of-use and affordability based on strong co-innovation with SAP partners for small and midsize companies. With thousands of customers in over 80 countries, SAP Business One is designed to enable small business owners to effectively manage their entire business and future growth. The new 8.8 release of SAP Business One includes new innovations and advancements in the areas of functionality, performance and user experience that will improve customers’ usability and productivity. For example, with embedded analytics from the SAP® Business Objects™ portfolio, customers can increase transparency of business operations and improve decision-making. The new release also offers enhanced business network connectivity that enables customers’ to quickly and affordably integrate their business partners in the ecosystems, local subsidiaries or branch offices with headquarters running the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP® ERP. The announcement was made at the CeBIT trade fair, being held in Hannover, Germany, March 2-6.

SAP Business One 8.8 has been in ramp-up since August 2009 and is planned to be generally available at the end of April 2010. Already, more than 150 customers are experiencing the benefits of the new release, including C&T Network Systems (Germany), Crayola (Costa Rica), Lifepark (Germany), Glowmac Lighting Pvt. Ltd (India), Interadapt Sistemas (Brazil), Orga-Buro (France), Reynolds Logistics (UK), Schulp Vruchtensappen (Netherlands), Skytek Telecomunicazioni Srl (Italy), Solis Import (Panama), SPM Instruments (USA) and Vet’s Sheet Metal Ltd (Canada).

“We produce optically unusual and very individual bikes, which we sell mainly through 19 online shops with integration to SAP Business One and a network of resellers throughout Europe; a delivery time of 12 days from order to delivery is very important,” said Manuel Ostner, managing director, PG Trade & Sales GmbH. “SAP Business One was known to us as one of the best products for these requirements. Since its introduction, we have all orders and inventory in one single system, so we are informed in time about missing parts and have no loss of production anymore. SAP Business One includes everything we need. We can also process new ideas right away.”

The new SAP Business One release accommodates the continuous demands of the changing market by including an upgrade wizard that is simple and straightforward, reducing customer’s downtime to a minimum. In addition, the new release integrates to partner applications and business services. Based on the flexible business platform of SAP Business One, small businesses can quickly start with core business management applications and add additional capabilities over time with easy-to-consume business applications from SAP partners. In the future, customers will be able to more easily extend their solutions with cloud-based applications, mash-ups and mobile integration.

“Innovative solutions whet the appetite, especially if you get benefits at the same time,” said German Mayr, managing director, Part Business Solutions GmbH. “During a presentation of SAP Business One we already saw the iPhone integration with SAP Business One. This was ultimately the impetus for the switch to the new version. While others may have taken the last days of last year as leisure time, PART used the time to migrate our operations to SAP Business One 8.8. The upgrade went smoothly in a very short time. Meanwhile, not only are our ERP processes running on the new platform, but we have also integrated the archive system. It saves time and money when your software helps drive business decisions -- and on top of that, is easy to use.”

Read more at SAP.com

BI for the Rest of Us: SAP Brings Together Integrated BI Toolset

2010-03-08T07:51:00.000Z

Meeting a growing demand from companies of all sizes for software-as-a-service (SaaS) business intelligence (BI) tools that are easy to use, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand solution. Targeted at casual BI users currently underserved by products on the market, the solution will deliver a complete BI toolset in one flexible offering. Its ease-of-use also will allow them to be up and running with no prior experience or training. With SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, business users will be able to access and visually navigate data from any source using SAP® BusinessObjects™ Explorer software. Even casual users can then combine that data in just a few clicks, and follow a guided path that walks them through reporting and analysis. The solution will have scalable pricing models based on business need, allowing companies to easily and cost-effectively scale as required.

With more than 260,000 subscribers, on-demand offerings from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio empower people with the tools and information required to drive their businesses forward. Responding to customer feedback, SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand brings together all SaaS BI solutions from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio into a complete, integrated BI toolset. Customers will be able to go to one vendor for all their on-premise and on-demand BI needs, rather than having to assemble a patchwork approach to their BI deployments.

The solution will also include capabilities that make it easier than ever for business users to tap into their data online, get better insight into their organization and securely share illustrative reports and dashboards with colleagues inside and outside the firewall. Significant features include:

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software, which empowers people with powerful data exploration and visualization capabilities.
Capabilities that guide people with no prior BI experience through the process of accessing, exploring, visualizing and sharing data – all without needing to switch between applications.
The ability to access all on-demand and on-premise data – including SAP data and data from the Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) application. People will be able to easily upload data to create dashboards, reports or interactive visualizations.
An on-demand solution for creating ad-hoc reports, conducting what-if analyses and securely sharing this information inside or outside the company. Business users will be able to provide customers, partners and employees across all lines of business with immediate, anytime access to the most current data.

“GENBAND has been using crystalreports.com for a few years, which allowed us to add reporting functionality to our Salesforce applications,” said Angie Reese, CRM Business Applications manager, GENBAND. “Everything I've seen in SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand is so easy to navigate. Tools like SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will be a great product to draw a much bigger audience of users. The components of this aren't as technical as seen with other BI applications. GENBAND is also a big Oracle shop for the back-end and a Salesforce shop on the front-end, so another key benefit of the solution is how easily and quickly it can integrate into our existing IT structure.”

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand will also include flexible pricing, allowing customers to try and use the product, and easily scale their deployment as necessary. Three editions are planned that range from a comprehensive version with limited storage to one with more advanced capabilities and the ability to handle larger data volumes. This pricing and packaging model allows even casual users to seamlessly move from individual use to departmental-wide deployments. They will be able to build out their SaaS BI system from a complete set of easy-to-use front end tools to add backend capabilities, such as a hosted data warehouse and development environment and single sign-on security.

“Current market trends show strong demand for SaaS BI tools that are easy to use and acquire, and IDC research expects the SaaS BI market to grow three times faster than the overall BI and analytics market over the next five years,” said Dan Vesset, program vice president, Business Analytics, IDC. “As organizations look for intuitive, cloud-based solutions that can empower their end-users, applications that supplement traditional BI functionality of query, reporting and analysis with support for workflow, search and collaboration will become increasingly attractive to them – especially applications that offer rapid, alternative deployment options.”

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand will be available as industry-specific and line of business-specific solutions through Oco, Inc., an SAP BusinessObjects OEM partner with a focus on large enterprise and upper-midmarket business segments. SAP is currently planning to make SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand available through its SAP® PartnerEdge™ program in the channel partner ecosystem later in 2010.

“As an SAP BusinessObjects partner, SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand gives Oco the unique opportunity to bring our cutting-edge analytics to companies in a new, innovative Web 2.0 solution,” said Bill Copacino, CEO, Oco Inc. “By combining Oco's pre-built industry and line-of-business analytics with SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, users gain rich content to create compelling dashboards and multi-dimensional reports with detailed, transaction-level data. Having clear insight into a rich store of business information will enable them to identify specific opportunities for improvement, analyze various response scenarios and take decisive action to realize value from their solution.”

“Customers want to work with their data their way – whether it's behind a firewall, on the Web, or on their local computer in spreadsheets,” said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager, Intelligence Platform Group and SAP NetWeaver Solution Management, SAP. “Only SAP can deliver what customers need in this new reality. We understand that user choice is driving the growth of SaaS BI. That's why solutions like SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand let customers understand their business the way they want – instantly and easily. With access to data at their fingertips, customers can make more confident decisions, share their insights with others and react quickly to any changes in their business. SAP makes BI more pervasive by giving underserved casual users an affordable, easy-to-use on-demand BI solution. This is an important milestone in SAP's on-demand vision, and further proof that we continue to innovate in the cloud.”

Follow SAP BusinessObjects on Twitter at @businessobjects, and be sure to check out the Needle In A Haystack blog.

Avoiding Traffic Jams with Twitter & iPhone

2010-02-22T10:40:00.001Z

It was SAP’s first official iPhone app, and an extremely useful one at that – particularly for the traffic-snarled cityfolk of Brisbane, Australia. Let's take a look at how AUS Traffic works and how it came to be.

“Multiple vehicle crash at the intersection of Beaudesert and Bradman.“ “Missing manhole cover at the intersection of Beatty and Marshall.“ These are the kind of traffic updates the iPhone app AUS Traffic displays using red pushpins on Google’s map of Brisbane. The updates come from the local road traffic authorities, radio stations, and alert drivers who post them to Twitter. AUS Traffic then brings them straight to iPhone users; it’s fast, easy, and always up-to-date.

How should I make it home?
But where did SAP Research employees in Brisbane get the idea to work on traffic reports, of all things? What does this have to do with SAP? “It all began with the flooding here last fall,” recalls project lead Marek Kowalkiewicz. Over the three days it took for the waters to subside, people all over the city posted over 1,200 tweets. “Twitter was the best way to find out where the most water was, which streets were passable, and how to get home or to the office,” Marek says. Since no one could read all of the messages, SAP’s researchers set about finding a solution that would provide only the information relevant to them. They soon had a server up and performing text analysis to help with the sorting. The seed thus planted, Marek and his colleagues then came up with a new application for their idea: helping car drivers avoid a different type of “flood” on the roads. The AUS Traffic app now also covers Sydney, and availability is planned for Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide in the months ahead.

“One of the main focuses of our research is text analysis, and we’re looking for sensible and innovative ways to implement this,” Marek says. “The app started as a spontaneous idea, but it’s also been an attempt to show our customers the potential of SAP software and how flexible our solutions can be.”

(source: SAP.info)

SAP Combines CeBIT 2010

2010-02-01T10:05:00.001Z

SAP AG, the world's leading provider of business software and largest software company in Europe, is expanding its presence at CeBIT 2010 in Hannover, Germany. Parallel to CeBIT, SAP will host the German SAP® World Tour from March 2-5. Being held as a regional convention for customers in Halls 19 and 20, SAP World Tour adds a new quality and depth to CeBIT by providing a forum for customers to meet with peers and hear from SAP executives on various topics that impact a company's day-to-day business practices. In addition, the SAP World Tour offers customers and stakeholders additional incentives for visiting SAP at the trade fair.

Casting off its traditional stands, the long-established booth in Hall 4 will be revamped as a pathway along which visitors explore and experience the use of SAP solutions in various aspects of daily life. The SAP booth in Hall 5, the SME hall, is also new: Here, together with partners, SAP will be presenting its range of solutions for small businesses and midsize companies. In the Public Sector Parc in Hall 9, SAP will demonstrate solutions for government organizations.

By hosting the SAP World Tour customer conference in conjunction with CeBIT, SAP aims to see a greater influx of visitors. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the trade show, while interested CeBIT attendees are invited to visit the SAP World Tour. The space for the SAP World Tour in Halls 19 and 20 is divided into exhibition areas with numerous booths from SAP and partners and is open to all CeBIT attendees. To access the actual customer conference area, visitors can purchase a special entrance ticket at a small fee. SAP World Tour tickets bought in advance also are valid for access to the CeBIT trade show areas.

Each of the four days of the SAP World Tour has a specific focus. On March 2, the main topic is 'corporate management,' with presentations, workshops and numerous product demos showcasing how business intelligence (BI) and distinctive software solutions can help businesses achieve better control, gain greater clarity and become more sustainable. The second day's theme, 'IT excellence,' primarily addresses IT managers and CIOs. The third day is devoted to how SAP® Business Suite software helps companies take a holistic approach to orchestrating complex business processes. SAP solutions for small businesses and midsize companies are in the spotlight on the last day of the SAP World Tour, March 5.

'Experience SAP' in Hall 4
SAP is pursuing an entirely new exhibition concept at its main booth in Hall 4 (Booth D12): seven realistic scenarios illustrate to CeBIT attendees how SAP applications touch each of their daily lives. The scenarios vividly demonstrate how the use of business software has changed our work and private lives - whether at home, at work, on vacation, while shopping or during leisure time. The exhibit showcases SAP implementations that customers are already running today as well as research projects envisioning tomorrow. Guided tours are offered at set times, in particular for students and SAP users.

SAP Booth for Midsize Companies in Hall 5
SAP will have its own booth specifically for small businesses and midsize companies for the first time, displaying the entire SAP portfolio of solutions for these market segments (Hall 5, Stand A 04). At more than 40 demo points, SAP and numerous partner companies will show how SAP-based solutions can improve the competiveness of many small and midsize companies from diverse industries. The booth is located at the entrance to Hall 5, near the main SAP booth in Hall 4. Numerous partners are also located near the SAP booths in Halls 4 and 5.

SAP in the Public Sector Parc in Hall 9
As in past years, SAP will host a booth in the Public Sector Parc (Hall 9, Booth C 52) at CeBIT. The main focus is "service-oriented administration," software supporting processes between public administration and citizens. Transparency - internally as well as for citizens - is a topic that has become increasingly important and much discussed in recent months. SAP will demonstrate how business intelligence solutions help administrations more effectively evaluate large amounts of data for reporting and controlling. Also present at the booth are the classic SAP applications for public accounting and procurement, as well as dedicated applications for areas of public safety.

"CeBIT is an essential platform for cultivating relationships with our customers, partners and the public," said Michael Kleinemeier, Managing Director, SAP Deutschland AG & Co.KG. "Therefore, we're further expanding our presence at CeBIT 2010 with the SAP World Tour. I'm convinced that we will be able to offer our customers an exciting and new conference and exhibition experience."

SAP World Tour Visiting 80 Cities in 2010
After hosting more than 66,000 customers in 70 cities at the SAP World Tour 2009 events, SAP will continue its local SAP World Tour conferences in 2010. The SAP World Tour 2010 events will explore how the SAP business software portfolio can help local companies with the execution of growth strategies and the delivery of value to their customers.

Further information about SAP at CeBIT is available at SAP Worldtour.

iPhone with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

2010-01-25T07:40:00.000Z

Graphical data analysis using an iPhone? An app as an analysis tool for business intelligence with access to SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator? SAP’s first cell phone application has hit the market.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is now available for iPhones. At the same time, it is also the first SAP cell phone application designed exclusively for the iPhone. As yet, there are no plans for the BlackBerry. The decision in favor of the iPhone was down to its graphical capabilities, its good performance, and its growing acceptance in the business world. The app (link to iTunes), which is available free of charge, can be obtained exclusively from Apple’s App Store.

This small app takes up a mere 491 KB in the iPhone memory and is currently offered in version 1.0.203. It enables simple and fast searches in data records by setting up access to the database server. In this respect, the app functions just like the “big” SAP BusinessObjects Explorer: Users access a desired data record that is located in the working memory of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator (SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator).

What users get is a high-performance analysis tool for business intelligence (BI), which can provide answers to business questions and uncover correlations in company data. As our initial tests with the two demo data records show, the results displayed on the iPhone look highly promising. With a few swift finger movements, users can navigate within a data record and create a diagram. On the currently available smartphones, the picture quality remains exceptionally good.

The mobile version of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is suitable for employees at companies that use SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator in combination with average-size and large data records. Other SAP components are not essential. SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is offered as an integrated system/blade server (based on Intel Xeon processors) by companies such as Fujitsu and HP. Depending on the size of the database, there’s the starter version with 24 GB working memory (two blades, each with 12 GB). The maximum size is 480 GB working memory (in-memory database)

Read more about the iPhone with SAP at sap.info

SAP Services - Software maintenance and support

2010-01-18T07:48:00.002Z

To successfully develop, implement, and operate information technology (IT), organizations often focus on developing and outlining processes for managing complexity, mitigating risks, and controlling costs.

To address these business challenges in 2010 and beyond, SAP now offers customers a comprehensive and tiered portfolio of support offerings. You can select your support level based on your individual business needs and considerations, including your landscape complexity and desired depth of SAP support.

All of our offerings are built upon long-standing experience in supporting enterprise-critical applications. With more than 35 years of close engagement with customers, SAP has developed and is continuously improving tools, processes, and methodologies to enable customers and deliver support at the highest level. With access to the SAP Service Marketplace extranet, SAP Notes service, and support packages, as well as the SAP Solution Manager application management solution, customers are able to maximize the value of SAP support offerings.

Our industry-leading offering, SAP Enterprise Support services, provides proactive support in addition to all the features of the SAP Standard Support option. These proactive support services encompass tools, processes, and services that enable continuous improvement, holistic application life cycle management for continuous innovation, business and operational process improvements, and levers to address total cost of operation (TCO). Your application landscape may increasingly support global business processes that extend to your customers, vendors, and business partners around the clock. SAP Enterprise Support addresses increased demand by providing support for mission-critical business processes, and as such, is the ideal offering for most businesses.

SAP Enterprise Support addresses underlying business demands by helping customers increase efficiencies, thereby reducing TCO and system downtime. Rapidly changing business environments require not only agile business process adoption, but also transparent processes and respective improvement measures. This transparency can highlight where risks to business processes reside, how to address them before business operations are disrupted, and how to improve the efficiency of business processes. Altogether, SAP Enterprise Support brings widespread advantages to companies of all sizes. Based on customer feedback, SAP Enterprise Support has already proven significant value and expects to do so going forward.

SAP Standard Support is a basic offering now available for reliable response to technical disruptions and for maintaining system health and integrity. With this offering, you benefit from insights into SAP solutions and expertise to mitigate risk, while tapping the innovations that SAP continually introduces. In addition, you have access to tools for use within your own IT organization.

Our supplemental support offerings are tailored to individual requirements. These offerings include:

SAP MaxAttention support – Our tailored support offering with a full range of services customized for your individual needs, driven by an on-site technical quality manager
SAP Safeguarding services – Our project-based offering to help you manage risks and enable the technical robustness of your SAP solutions during implementation, upgrade, and operations
These offerings help you gain protection for your system performance and stability, flexibility in support options to meet changing needs of your business, and collaboration throughout the entire application life cycle to successfully secure your operations.

Our support offerings are designed to help you respond to issues and continuously improve your core business processes – all while leveraging your existing solutions and providing the guidance you need to become a best-run business.

Want more? Contact SAP for more information.

Software for the Midmarket: SAP Business One

2010-01-11T08:06:00.000Z

By: Christiane Stagge

The SAP portfolio comprises various software packages tailored to the needs of small businesses and midsize companies: SAP Business One, SAP Business All-in-One, and SAP Business ByDesign. But who needs which solution?

For the vast majority of businesses, planning material requirements, running the payroll, sending out invoices, and managing inventory levels are part of day-to-day activities. Small companies don’t usually have a whole department dedicated to each task. Often, just one or two employees are responsible.

That’s why reliable business software that covers all the important processes is indispensable. It must be easy to install and affordable. The software shouldn’t be overloaded with superfluous modules or applications that users don’t need. It should help employees get on with their tasks, rather than hinder them in their work.

SAP Business One is suited especially for the midmarket.

SAP has developed SAP Business One especially for small businesses of between five and 100 employees. The software covers all business areas – from material requirements planning (MRP) and warehouse management to accounting, sales and distribution, and personnel administration.

SAP Business One is aimed particularly at the retail and wholesale trade, the manufacturing industry, and the service sector.

For the various industries – such as the automotive or food industries – modules are available from SAP partners, which companies can purchase in addition.

SAP pledges that the software will be up and running in an average of between six and eight weeks. It is delivered by SAP channel partners, who provide local services and support.

SAP Businessobjects Partners

2009-12-14T08:41:00.002Z

SAP Businessobjects OEM Partners - Drive New Business Opportunity

To stay competitive, you need to deliver innovation and value to your customers. You need a partner that can help you create a new, enhanced offering to expand your portfolio of products. With the SAP BusinessObjects original equipment manufacturers (OEM) partner program, you gain easy, efficient ways to create new revenue opportunities by including best-in-class embedded reporting, high-value analytics, and dashboard functionality with your software solutions.

Why Partner With SAP?
Over 750 companies that have already joined the SAP BusinessObjects OEM partner program are currently selling business intelligence (BI) software to increase their bottom lines. Whether your company offers software as a service (SaaS), a packaged application, or both, a partnership with SAP Business Objects will give you a new route to market, with less risk. You'll reduce development time and get your products to market quickly.

Partnership benefits of the SAP BusinessObjects OEM partner program include:

-Opportunities for new revenues
-Reduced development time and accelerated time to market
-New products and services to increase deal size
-Increased customer satisfaction with new BI features
-Enhanced perception and value of your products in market

Flexible Options to Suit Your Business
You can work with SAP BusinessObjects solutions, using the following and other flexible options to suit the needs of your business operations and processes – on platform or component technology:

-Embed the solutions in your application on a licensed basis
-Bundle them with your application as one offering
-Resell them as optional modules to your own application.
-Host them with your own application as an SaaS model
-Provide open-source reporting for the Eclipse platform
-Serve on-demand reporting with Crystal Reports software

Here's Where You Come In
The SAP BusinessObjects OEM partner program includes partners at four achievement levels: platinum, gold, silver, and bronze. Each level offers:

-Value-added marketing in account management and partner support
-Sales tools
-Technical support, including sales training and volume discounts
-Marketing tools such as market development funds, communication vehicles, and events
-Access to online resources

Want to learn more? Contact SAP for more information.

Better Business Decisions Made Faster

2009-12-07T08:15:00.001Z

Every day, your business faces a variety of challenges. Having quick access to timely and relevant answers is key to making critical decisions. But in order to find new insights, you need a new way to explore your data.

Introducing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. This information-discovery software lets you search vast amounts of data, in seconds. It combines an intuitive user-interface with high performance scalability–allowing you to empower your entire organization with business intelligence software that everyone can use. Watch the demo and experience the new SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you can:

Explore vast amounts of data
Find relevant answers in seconds
Visualize information with intuitive charts

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer empowers everyone in your organization with fast, easy access to information. Allowing users to explore data, spark new ideas, and find new insights, all at the speed of thought.

Customers Benefit from the Best of Both Worlds

2009-11-30T08:36:00.000Z

When SAP acquired Business Objects in early 2008, it was one of the most successful large acquisitions in software history. John Schwarz, former CEO of Business Objects and now member of the SAP Executive Board, gives his insights into postintegration successes and strategies.

SAP.info: What’s your take on the integration one year after?

John Schwarz: When we started the integration, our primary focus was on the customer. We wanted to make sure that customers clearly understood our product road map, that they will be able to do business with SAP in a consistent manner, and that we address all their concerns. I believe we have achieved that. Our road map has been well received by customers and the market.

Today, we have a common price list, a common set of terms and conditions, and the ability to sell to customers through one integrated channel. And, very importantly, we offer an integrated support infrastructure so that all customers, whether traditional SAP customers or former Business Objects ones, have the same experience of our support capabilities and service. Having integrated all aspects of our two companies – including services, product development,

and sales – our customers now benefit from the best of both worlds and from the joint innovations we constantly add to our portfolio.

SAP.info: Business intelligence ranges from reporting to data exploration to predictive analysis. Now, with the integration of SAP and BusinessObjects, what is SAP’s focus on BI?

John Schwarz: Our philosophy is to enable customers to get the clearest insight into their business. SAP now offers a portfolio of BI solutions that help companies get clarity on all aspects of their enterprise and manage their extended business networks.

We provide customers with a “universe of information” right at their fingertips. It includes a data service layer, which integrates and ensures the quality of all data, no matter where it comes from – whether it’s from a transaction-based SAP system, an SAP BusinessObjects solution, or some other source. On top of this layer, the user can choose from a variety of tools: query, reporting and analysis, visualization, or modeling.

Customers want trusted information when they need it and in the way they need it. That’s what we’re here for. In addition, by combining SAP and SAP BusinessObjects solutions, we are now a leader in enterprise information management, meaning that customers have a foundation of trustworthy data for all the business initiatives. With SAP’s leading in-memory analytics, we now can provide business users with immediate access to information.

Using Advanced Analytics To Gain Insight Into Your Revenue Stream

2009-11-16T07:31:00.001Z

Why is it becoming increasingly difficult to predict our revenue stream? What can we do to increase top-line revenue? Among all the questions asked within sales organizations of all sizes, these are the most frequently voiced.

The implications of knowing or not knowing the answers have a huge impact on the success of your business. The ability to answer both questions – and act on the responses– can come down to how well your company is leveraging the right combination of people, processes, and information. Analytics can help you leverage these resources. With analytics, you analyze your sales and marketing processes to gain insights more quickly and improve business performance

Leverage People, Processes, and Information
Leveraging a defined, repeatable sales process enables both sales and marketing organizations to drive consistent, and therefore more predictable, behavior and results. If your organization has a defined sales process, you can track your ability to successfully execute that process.

A typical company may find that its sales force comprises 10% to 20% of salespeople who sell intuitively. These salespeople don’t always understand why and how they are successful, and yet they often meet quota, typically self-train within 90 days, and are adept at impacting the market with new product offerings. The other 80% to 90% of the sales force does not sell intuitively; they function best when provided with tools, methodologies, and processes to execute in a consistent way. Because many intuitive sellers are not conscious of what they do well, they also may not know why they are not performing, and their unpredictability can outweigh their contribution. In addition, as managers they can’t articulate why they themselves performed well or analyze the performance of another.

This is not to say that you should replace the intuitive sellers and managers with the more process-oriented sellers and managers – each serves a purpose. The goal is to provide a system that gives the process-oriented people a road map to the high level of productivity yielded from the intuitive sellers. You must also give the intuitive sellers a path to become more consistent and communicate more effectively. Leveraging a defined, repeatable sales process enables both sales and marketing organizations to drive consistent, and therefore more predictable, behavior and results. If your organization has a defined sales process, you can track your ability to successfully execute that process. You can also identify early indicators of where the process or adherence to it might be breaking down. Management can then use this information to make business decisions to improve results.

The methods for collecting information on sales and marketing activities have evolved in recent years. Top-performing organizations have learned to discard the outdated practices of manual calculations within static spreadsheets in exchange for advanced analytics. Such analytics allows key decision makers to view information in real time and then take appropriate action.

These advanced methods provide business users with an intuitive way to move from analysis to insight to decision making more quickly. Additionally, when these tools are deployed via the Web, such as within software-as-aservice or on-demand models, the business user can receive value faster – without the need to engage IT.

Implement Analytics to Improve Business Performance
Leveraging a defined, repeatable sales process enables both sales and marketing organizations to drive consistent, and therefore more predictable, behavior and results. If your organization has a defined sales process, you can track your ability to successfully execute that process. You can also identify early indicators of where the process or adherence to it might be breaking down. Whatever your company size or complexity, your sales and marketing teams can improve their performance via analytics combined with business logic. Provided that each segment in your sales cycle has some identifier representing specific progress points, you can use analytics to measure the quality and efficiency of its execution.

One of the most common complaints from sales and marketing managers is that they have little time to accomplish many of the things that are required of them in this fast-moving business environment. Analytics, in effect, can help give people back time. Analytics can move the prework required to gain insights away from people and assign it to software. This lets people focus on the insights revealed and ultimately turn insights into actions and business results more quickly.

About the Author
Dan Ahrens is a sales methodology and process expert. His consulting and training practice is focused on helping companies define and implement a holistic, repeatable, and measurable sales system.

Source: SAP BusinessObjects

SAP Extends the Power of SAP® BusinessObjects™ Explorer to Tap into All Data

2009-11-09T08:19:00.000Z

In May 2009, SAP AG unveiled SAP® BusinessObjects™ Explorer software, a breakthrough solution that enables business users to explore vast amounts of information and find relevant answers in seconds. In November, SAP will usher in the next wave of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version, which delivers business insight on any data set through an intuitive Web-based interface anyone can use. With instant visibility into all the information needed to do their jobs, users can easily tackle tough questions and identify the root causes of business issues while navigating their business data at the speed of thought. Today, companies like Consol, Kraft Foods and OraSure Technologies are looking to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to solve key questions using a new approach. The announcement was made at SAP TechEd 2009, being held in Vienna October 27-29.

Despite an explosion of data in the last few years, most business users still lack the information and insight they need to move beyond a "gut feel" approach to decision-making to a fact-based approach that yields more consistently effective results. The second wave of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version, introduces the ability to accelerate any data source beyond SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW). Based on the packaging of SAP® BusinessObjects™ Accelerator software, any company, whether or not it is running SAP applications, will be able to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to visualize and act upon its business data.

The new capabilities can help organizations in many ways:

Sales and marketing units can gain a better understanding of key campaigns, product profitability and forecasting information, including third-party data and data from marketing databases in the cloud.
Operations can explore inventory levels, deriving insight from their enterprise data warehouse and/or data provided by their extended business network, their supply chain for SKU management, stock-out planning, product recall and traceability management.
Finance professionals can deliver revenue, cost and profitability insights to constituents in a safe, secure way, exposing a 'single version of the detailed truth' within the organization.

Providing Quick Access to Relevant Information
Consol Glass (Pty) Ltd, the leading Southern African glass container packaging manufacturer, plans to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to reduce the time and cost of access to business data, expanding the type and number of users in addition to analyzing its business quickly and accurately.

"We chose SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to help more business users easily identify the most relevant pieces of information in our data store," said Johan du Plessis, IT director, Consol Glass. "Our challenge is that we have a large business intelligence platform and needed a way to access information quickly and without a heavy degree of IT involvement. We are looking to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to provide more business people with the decision-quality information they need to get their jobs done."

Kraft Foods, maker of the world's favorite food brands, is working to bring quick business insight to a greater number of employees.

"With a company as large as ours, it is inevitable that we would have an enormous amount of data," said Laura Topel, senior director, Information Systems, Kraft Foods. "We are testing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer based on its ability to be a key enabler to our BI strategy of fostering superior decisions and driving business value by providing the right information to the right individuals at the right time. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer can make information more broadly and easily accessible across the entire organization. Potential users need simplicity and ease of use in their BI; we believe that this tool would help our business users quickly discover and visualize key relationships between information."

OraSure Technologies, a leader of point-of-care, oral fluid diagnostics, is using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to provide line-of-business executives with their own real-time analytical capabilities.

"In the past, the analytics I needed were custom reports with limited detail," said P. Michael Formica, executive vice president of Operations with OraSure Technologies. "With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, my team, the user community and I can perform our own analyses, identify potential variances in our distributor supply chains and take immediate corrective action based on data internal and external to SAP. As a result, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer helps OraSure Technologies act faster to positively impact our bottom line."

Teradata and SAP are delivering the availability of an Intel-based Teradata blade architecture for running SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse Accelerator software as well as SAP Business Objects Explorer - which supports capabilities ranging from enterprise data warehousing persistence to in-memory acceleration and intuitive search and navigation. This will give Teradata and SAP customers the opportunity to standardize on a single hardware platform across their existing investments.

To extend SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to even more hardware platforms, SAP also announced plans to collaborate with Cisco. Cisco Unified Computing System combines industry-leading Intel processors, 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified fabrics and expanded memory capabilities to offer stronger scalability for SAP applications. (See the initial announcement from SAP: "SAP to Revolutionize Business Intelligence With New Solution that Delivers Insight at the Speed of Thought.")

"With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you get answers in seconds, even if you don't know what question to ask," said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager, Intelligence Platform and SAP NetWeaver Group. "That implies you start asking questions out of curiosity, which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. New trends, new ideas, new opportunities begin to emerge immediately. The significance of this solution is that it is not only a breakthrough in data-exploration technology, it is also the catalyst for a cultural shift in the enterprise, empowering every worker to make informed decisions, which cumulatively and dramatically strengthens the effectiveness of the organization as a whole."

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 89,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Improve Order to Cash with SAP Business One

2009-11-02T07:49:00.000Z

Efficient management of your finances is critical to your business survival in tough economic times, and it's also the key to achieving growth. Although you may be tempted to look outside your business to find money, you should also examine internal processes and makes sure you're managing transactions to maximum financial advantage. One process that is frequently overlooked is order to cash.

From First Touch to Balance Sheet
At its most basic level, order to cash (OTC) involves all of the steps that transform customer interactions into the numbers on your bottom line. The activities associated with the steps typically include:

Sales activities and customer interactions
Inventory management and order fulfillment
Billing, customer payments, and collections
Reporting and analytics
Businesses tend to develop systems for managing OTC on an as-needed basis, choosing software in a piecemeal fashion. This can result in a collection of disconnected point solutions that create silos of information, room for error, and, ultimately, poor financial management. The SAP Business One application integrates all the steps in the OTC process – and integrates other business functions as well – to help businesses increase revenues, lower costs, and better manage capital.

Better Quotes Equals Closed Sales
One of the many processes in the OTC cycle that SAP Business One manages is quote to order. Most businesses generate sales quotes to establish terms for delivering goods or services. You may have a steady stream of regular customers or a new customer every minute, but generating quotes is often the first step toward earning revenue.

Quotes can be quite complex, involving pricing information, delivery terms, financing terms, timelines, and even legal information. SAP Business One doesn't treat quote generation as a separate process but integrates it with sales and inventory processes so that quotes are dynamic – based on customer profiles, historical information, inventory levels, and other market conditions.

Consider, for example, a product that is very popular. One customer orders this product regularly, accounting for a significant percentage of revenue; another customer orders this product sporadically and doesn't always doesn't pay on time. SAP Business One allows you to adjust OTC processes according to business conditions, for example, promising inventory to the more predictable customer and quoting more aggressive financing terms to the slow payer.

SAP Business One also automates these activities, allowing your sales staff to generate both standardized and customized quotes quickly. And, once the quote has been accepted, it's easy to set in motion the processes that follow. The benefits? More closed sales, clearer terms for your customer, and, ultimately, higher revenue.

When It's Time to Deliver
One of the processes set in motion by a closed quote is order fulfillment – processing the order according to contract. SAP Business One manages the fulfillment process by generating inventory directives such as "pick and pack," which lets you easily create pick lists and pull the listed items from the inventory for packaging and delivery. The software also includes bar code, serial, and batch number management capabilities to minimize handling of inventory, maximize productivity, and reduce errors.

Third-party shippers such as FedEx and DHL have their own systems and processes. SAP Business One can integrate your order fulfillment process with these systems nearly seamlessly, so you can see quickly when products can be delivered, predict what the costs will be, and share that information with your customers. The result is better management of inventory, leading to lower overall costs, potential savings on shipping costs, and the high customer satisfaction that comes from delivering reliably on contract terms.

Reduced Receivables and Faster Collections
Effective collections management is one other crucial step for optimized order-to-cash processes. SAP Business One provides the tools needed to better handle payment terms and cash collections. SAP Business One can notify you with alerts of overdue payments and send reminder letters automatically. Other tools, such as aging reports, provide an analysis of all open customer receivables that are due for a specific period, so you can stay on top of collections.

OTC Management is Essential
It may seem counterintuitive, but fundamentally sound order-to-cash processes can be a differentiator in business because too few companies have an integrated approach to OTC. The results for them are lost revenue, higher costs, and poor management of working capital.

That's why, through a nearly seamless integration of order-to-cash processes, you can actually gain a competitive advantage. You'll be more responsive to customers, more operationally nimble, and – most importantly – better able to manage your finances.

SAP Business One's robust order-to-cash functionality – together with its integration of other areas of the business, such as supply chain management and customer relationship management – is the right choice to run your business and manage your finances.

Source: SAP.COM

European SMEs Gain Business Clarity With SAP Solutions

2009-10-26T09:49:00.001Z

In early September, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) brought together some of its most innovative European customers from the small business and midsize enterprise (SME) market to showcase how they are using SAP solutions to achieve clarity in their businesses. In London, Luis Murguia, senior vice president of SME for SAP EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), hosted a panel of senior executives from different countries to discuss how having an end-to-end view of operations is critical to success in today's business environment, and how capitalizing on technology allows for greater transparency and accountability, as well as lean and customer-centric organizations. Customers that participated in the panel included: Consol (South Africa), Dishman (Netherlands), Kompak Nederland B.V. (Netherlands), Shoosmiths (UK), TMG Telecom (UK) and The University of Greenwich (UK).

"Through achieving more transparency in our business, we've already reduced our stock inventory by about EUR 600,000 and probably even more in the future," said Mark Ipema, operations manager at Dishman Netherlands. "These are huge money-savers that are extremely beneficial for our business, especially in the current economic climate. In addition, we are saving a lot of time, as colleagues who are involved in reporting appear to need less time to do the same work and can now dedicate themselves to other productive activities."

The executives at the event agreed that achieving business clarity is vital in today's turbulent economic times and that SAP technology has enabled them to reach a state where they can act and think clearly.

"We have 180 different applications and SAP is helping us reduce complexity to give us better clarity," said David Bason, IS director, Shoosmiths. "SAP will give us a competitive edge in the market; without our SAP solution, we wouldn't be able to be ready when the market improves."

Business intelligence technology from the SAP® BusinessObjectsTM portfolio also made a positive impression with customers participating in the panel, clearly stating that business intelligence is not a technology exclusively for large enterprises.

Christine Couper, head of planning and statistics at The University of Greenwich, said, "We need to become smarter in what we're doing in order to compete in a different higher education environment. We need to deliver to our customers and transparently share information. SAP BusinessObjects software is helping us to do just that."

Johan Du Plessis, IT director at Consol, reiterated the importance of having the right data available at the right time: "Business intelligence gives you a competitive edge; having one view of the truth makes the difference in our business."

"In today's new reality, enterprises must demonstrate transparency, agility and customer-centricity-no matter their size," said Murguia. "By providing a best-fit SME solution portfolio that is easy to implement and combines the power of dedicated business applications with industry-leading business intelligence functionality, SAP helps small businesses and midsize enterprises to make informed, timely decisions for maximum impact, fast adoption to changing market conditions and customer demands-oftentimes despite scarce resources."

The panel event demonstrated that despite an unstable economic outlook many SMEs are continuing to thrive. Each SME customer that participated in the event had different business needs and looked to SAP software to help them address their IT challenges:

Consol, a South African glass container packaging manufacturer, is the first EMEA organization to employ SAP BusinessObjectsTM Explorer software, using it to provide immediate insight into information to quickly make the right business decisions.
Global pharmaceutical innovator Dishman, based in the Netherlands, implemented the SAP Business All-in-One solution and is leveraging the SAP® Business All-in-One fast-start program to shorten its implementation time. With the solution, Dishman has achieved the transparency and visibility necessary to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
Kompak Nederland B.V., the Dutch co-maker and co-packer of market leading brands, is using the SAP Business Onesolution to grow and innovate in line with market demands.
Top-30 UK law firm Shoosmiths is rolling out the enterprise resource planning (ERP) application SAP ERP and its legal management solution to replace its practice management system and provide a new technology platform to support the growth of its business.
TMG Telecom, a UK provider of converged voice, data and IP solutions, is using the SAP Business ByDesignTM solution to increase operational efficiencies, support its growth strategy and tighten information security.
The University of Greenwich is using SAP BusinessObjects solutions to provide information and insight upon which senior staff can make decisions and guide its future direction.

SME Success for SAP
With more than 68,000 SAP customers worldwide, the SME market is a key sector for SAP, as well as a fast-growing one. In EMEA alone, SAP signed over 1,100 new customers in the second quarter of 2009, representing 30 percent growth compared to the same quarter in 2008. This growth has been supported by SAP's strong qualified partner ecosystem, with each partner each specializing in a specific SAP product, industry or service to provide small businesses and midsize companies with the expertise and industry-specific knowledge they require. For more information, visit www.sap.com/solutions/sme.

SAP TechEd 2009 in Phoenix, Vienna, Shanghai and Bangalore
More than 12,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAP TechEd 2009, the company's largest ecosystem education event, to gain the inspiration and skills needed to maximize impact on their organizations at a time when companies need both skilled professionals and agile, efficient IT solutions that can efficiently adapt to change. In its 13th year, SAP TechEd 2009 is being held in Phoenix on October 13-16, Vienna on October 27-29, Shanghai on November 11-12 and Bangalore on November 18-20. For more information, please visit www.sapteched.com. Join the conversation via Twitter at sapteched09.

About SAP Solutions for Small Businesses and Midsize Companies
With more than 68,000 small and midsize customers worldwide, SAP is a leading provider of business software applications to the small and midsize enterprise (SME) market. SAP's portfolio of solutions for the SME market is comprised of the SAP Business One application, the SAP Business ByDesignTM solution and SAP Business All-in-One solutions, as well as Crystal Reports software, Xcelsius software and SAP BusinessObjectsTM Edge solutions. With these affordable and easy to use solutions that deliver value quickly, small businesses and midsize companies can gain complete clarity and transparency across their business, improve operational excellence and decision-making, lower operating costs and risks and respond quickly to changing market conditions. Additional information is available at www.sap.com/sme

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 89,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

SAP World Tour - Strategies for Success in the New Reality

2009-10-19T08:18:00.001+01:00

The business world has reached an inflection point, presenting your organization with contradictory challenges. On one hand, you face increasing complexity in the form of changing business processes, global competition, and unprecedented economic conditions. On the other, you are required to operate with greater efficiency, openness, and transparency.

Attend one of the events SAP World Tour 2009 has planned by registering to an event in your nearest location. Meet SAP experts, customers, partners, and industry analysts and learn how to take advantage of today's open technologies to achieve and maintain profitability, efficiency, and growth.

But when challenges are at their greatest, so are the opportunities to find new and transformative solutions. In today's economy, "Best-Run" businesses must be transparent and accountable, lean and agile, customer-centric and collaborative. Now more than ever, meeting these challenges requires a highly focused business strategy and streamlined execution.

And that's what SAP World Tour 2009 is all about. SAP World Tour 2009 events are an essential stop for every professional who wants to harness technology to run lean operations, capture greater market share, and gain business openness and transparency. SAP World Tour 2009 events are tailored to the way your organization needs to operate today and tomorrow.

Contact SAP for more information.

Optimizing Performance with SAP BusinessObjects Solutions

2009-10-12T08:13:00.002+01:00

"Optimizing Performance with SAP BusinessObjects Solutions"
Learn how the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio can help you address the main barriers to optimized business performance and achieve key benefits such as strategic alignment, predictable performance, and confident decisions. Discover how the solutions can enable you to connect strategy to execution.

Date of Issue:
18 Aug 2009
Language:
English
Solutions:
SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions
SAP BusinessObjects EPM solutions
SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions
Industries:
All Industries

You can download the brochure here

2009-10-05T13:17:00.001+01:00

SAP MaxAttention support places a worldwide contingent of more than 4,500 SAP service and support specialists at your disposal. Join us for this Webcast as Michael Stoko, director of global operations at DuPont, discusses how SAP MaxAttention has helped DuPont optimize its operations, reduce landscape complexity, improve system uptime and data integrity, and help the company become a best-run business.

SAP MaxAttention combines services and methodologies for top-level support at every level and phase of your IT landscape. SAP MaxAttention enables customers to continually improve core business processes while leveraging existing solutions and drives the adoption of end-to-end solution operations for long-term stability and decreased total cost of operations. Hear what it has done for DuPont – and what it can do for you.

SAP MaxAttention provides you with more than 4,500 SAP service and support specialists at your disposal. It combines services and methodologies for top-level support at every level and all phases of your IT landscape, including:

Implementation: Minimize technical risks to smooth the transition to your operations phase.
Operations: Optimize the business user experience through knowledge transfer of standards and by implementing best practices for solution operations.
Upgrades and migrations: Improve customer-specific strategies for lower cost of ownership, superior ROI, and improved business practices.

You can watch the webcast here

Strategies for Success in the New Reality

2009-09-28T07:40:00.000+01:00

The business world has reached an inflection point, presenting your organization with contradictory challenges. On one hand, you face increasing complexity in the form of changing business processes, global competition, and unprecedented economic conditions. On the other, you are required to operate with greater efficiency, openness, and transparency.

Attend one of the events SAP World Tour 2009 has planned by registering to an event in your nearest location. Meet SAP experts, customers, partners, and industry analysts and learn how to take advantage of today's open technologies to achieve and maintain profitability, efficiency, and growth.

But when challenges are at their greatest, so are the opportunities to find new and transformative solutions. In today's economy, "Best-Run" businesses must be transparent and accountable, lean and agile, customer-centric and collaborative. Now more than ever, meeting these challenges requires a highly focused business strategy and streamlined execution.

And that's what SAP World Tour 2009 is all about. SAP World Tour 2009 events are an essential stop for every professional who wants to harness technology to run lean operations, capture greater market share, and gain business openness and transparency. SAP World Tour 2009 events are tailored to the way your organization needs to operate today and tomorrow.

Preparing for an Economic Rebound with SAP Business All-in-One

2009-09-21T07:20:00.001+01:00

Are you poised for an economic recovery?

Do you have your financial house in order? Do you know who your best customers are and why? How about how your operations stack up by profitability? Are your processes integrated and streamlined to lower costs and increase efficiency? To prepare for economic opportunities, now and in the future, you must be able to answer these questions. The SAP® Business All-in-One solution can help you see opportunities for cost savings and obtain an accurate measurement of performance against key indicators, so you can pinpoint any problems in your measure of success.

Building a solid business core
SAP Business All-in-One is business management software enabling you to integrate the people and processes that run your business. SAP Business All-in-One combines comprehensive functionality, including enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and business intelligence.

The cost accounting functionality – foundation to the core financials of the SAP Business All-in-One solution – allows you to set up profit centers from different areas and departments within your business. Once established, the software enables accurate cash management and transparency of expenses and revenue, allowing you to quickly determine which areas are profitable.

Integrated sales territory management features allow decision makers to identify the top salespersons within the company as well as those who need improvement. A close integration of sales management with financials allows you to tie financial terms and extension of credit directly to sales activities.

If you're going to capitalize on the recovery, you have to monitor your customers. A customer that begins making irregular payments may be suffering from insufficient cash or credit. To differentiate and prioritize high-value customers from others, you need to quickly understand not only who is in good standing, but also those in poor standing against your own key indices.

Dashboards and reporting functions available in SAP Business All-in-One put key performance indicators in front of the right audience and allow everyone to be on the same strategic page. You can't wait six months to find out that an area of business is underperforming, so it's critical that you have the information in time to support a more rapid correction of any problems.

The power of unified truth
A single, integrated approach to managing the business and supporting business decisions can mean everything to your success. You want a single version of the truth because it makes decision making easier, quickly showing you where problems and opportunities lie – even across multiple operations, countries, or currencies. And you want the comprehensive functionality to act on what you know because that ability is what ultimately allows you to grow your business. SAP Business All-in-One offers a complete integrated solution that gives you the tools and visibility to identify problems, focus on opportunities, and manage your entire business accordingly.

sap.com

Using SAP

2009-09-14T07:30:00.001+01:00

To achieve clarity and transparency, best-run businesses are using SAP solutions to help close the gap between strategy and execution – optimizing the performance of the business as well as the business network. SAP solutions, along with services and a wealth of extended value from the SAP customer-focused ecosystem, help customers become clear enterprises by providing insight for improved performance, efficiency for optimized operations, and flexibility to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.

With broader insight, improved efficiency, and greater flexibility, companies can become more:

-Transparent and accountable
-Lean and agile
-Customer centric and collaborative

The clarity provided by the SAP portfolio and the ecosystem can help companies preserve profitability by addressing challenges such as cash management, risk mitigation, customer loyalty, streamlining of operations, sustainability, and talent management.

SAP World Tour 2009

2009-09-07T08:22:00.001+01:00

Strategies for Success in the New Reality
The business world has reached an inflection point, presenting your organization with contradictory challenges. On one hand, you face increasing complexity in the form of changing business processes, global competition, and unprecedented economic conditions. On the other, you are required to operate with greater efficiency, openness, and transparency.

Attend one of the events SAP World Tour 2009 has planned by registering to an event in your nearest location. Meet SAP experts, customers, partners, and industry analysts and learn how to take advantage of today's open technologies to achieve and maintain profitability, efficiency, and growth.

But when challenges are at their greatest, so are the opportunities to find new and transformative solutions. In today's economy, "Best-Run" businesses must be transparent and accountable, lean and agile, customer-centric and collaborative. Now more than ever, meeting these challenges requires a highly focused business strategy and streamlined execution.

And that's what SAP World Tour 2009 is all about. SAP World Tour 2009 events are an essential stop for every professional who wants to harness technology to run lean operations, capture greater market share, and gain business openness and transparency. SAP World Tour 2009 events are tailored to the way your organization needs to operate today and tomorrow.

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Solutions Provide Makosi Consultants With Insight to Improve Efficiency and Client Service

2009-08-31T11:48:00.000+01:00

SAP AG today announced that Makosi, an international project management firm, is using SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence (BI) solutions to provide better visibility into its work with global financial institutions. Makosi uses Xcelsius software, the SAP dashboarding and data visualization solution, to help its clients identify trading compliance risks and flag those that are most immediate and severe. In doing so, it has helped large broker-dealers reduce their exposure to billions of dollars of liabilities and comply with federal electronic-filing regulations. Xcelsius helped enable Makosi to better manage its own teams of consultants, prioritize tasks, cut back on manual processes and increase productivity.

The collapse of the credit market has created new problems and risks for broker-dealers, companies that trade securities for their own accounts or on the behalf of their customers. Today, broker-dealers are turning to project-management specialists like Makosi to help them identify their biggest credit risks, comply with current government mandates and avoid reputation and financial losses. After years of using manual, spreadsheet-based processes to monitor the progress of its consultant teams, Makosi worked with SAP partner Everything Xcelsius to select and implement the Xcelsius data visualization tool. Makosi selected Xcelsius for its interactive analytics and dashboards and to gain a real-time view of key metrics that impact its broker-dealer clients. It also knew it could benefit from the software's ability to scale and handle high volumes of data in different formats from different sources.

"Before using Xcelsius, we knew we offered our clients the best consulting experts in the financial, accounting and operational consulting markets," said Darren Isaacs, chief executive officer, Makosi. "But what we didn't have was a way to track individual and overall progress, increase efficiency, and - most importantly - prioritize tasks by identifying trades that posed the highest risk to our broker-dealer clients."

Makosi Uses BI to Clear Thousands of Trades for a Large Broker-Dealer

A large broker-dealer recently worked with Makosi to manage risks associated with its thousands of credit default swap (CDS) contracts - contracts that existed only as unconfirmed, paper-based transactions as opposed to electronically filed ones. To tackle each contract, Makosi consultants had to confirm economic details, resolve discrepancies and ultimately solidify the contracts through upload onto the industry-wide electronic platforms. Xcelsius was the tool of choice for managing workload, helping to mitigate potential risk and monitoring performance over the life of the engagement.

Unconfirmed trades posed a serious risk to the broker-dealer for several reasons: without capacity to address the obligations, it faced billions of dollars in potential liability from "allegements" - CDS contracts filed against the broker-dealer without confirmation that sit and present an unconfirmed insurance contract. Also, the lack of visibility into its trades hindered compliance with federal regulations that require CDS contracts be confirmed within a strict timeline after the inception of the trade. Finally, failure to follow new federal electronic-filing guidelines could result in significant reputational damage and client losses.

"We chose Xcelsius," Isaacs continued, "because its combination of functionality, performance and scalability were far superior to other solutions we reviewed. We were also impressed by how cost-effective Xcelsius was to implement, and how quickly the solution could produce results for us. With Xcelsius we can tier and tackle trade backlogs systematically, measure performance targets, track consultant workloads and ramp up our efficiency on the ground. We are a smaller player often entering and operating in larger financial institutions, and Xcelsius has been a big competitive differentiator for us. Xcelsius has helped us become more effective as a team and has enhanced our performance. We now have the visibility to identify bottlenecks and resolve issues to keep us on track with our deliverables."

Makosi configured its Xcelsius dashboards to visualize key metrics like high-risk trades, trade days outstanding, electronic versus paper trades, trade status through the lifecycle, untouched trades and percentage completed. It also used Xcelsius to set thresholds and notifications for these metrics, and to signal when immediate action was needed. Makosi's first dashboard was up and running in less than one hour, and after a few hours it had a full proof-of-concept dashboard with all key metrics displayed. Teams of business users, regardless of technical skill level, could update dashboard data simply by uploading their spreadsheets via a Microsoft SharePoint Web portal. XML file feeds from a Microsoft SQL Server database also populated dashboard data.

Xcelsius enabled Makosi to dramatically reduce the broker-dealer's backlog of trades that were unconfirmed and not submitted to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). The client's electronic-submission numbers drastically improved and the confirmation timeliness was brought to within industry standards and beyond. As a result, the broker-dealer moved from not meeting federal guidelines to exceeding them. Not only did the broker-dealer avoid compliance violations and loss of its reputation, it gained greater visibility into billions of dollars worth of exposure and reduced write-off amounts. In total, Makosi teams have cleared thousands of trades for the broker-dealer.

"Makosi's use of BI technology to help banks manage the current credit crisis is a perfect example of how our solutions give customers the visibility they need to help get their business on track and positioned for growth" said Jonathan D. Becher, senior vice president, Marketing, SAP AG. "This is a powerful reminder of how visualizing business information can bring clarity to complex situations, and how that insight can transform the way work is being done."

SAP Publishes Offer Document for Acquisition of SAF AG

2009-07-27T08:16:00.000+01:00

WALLDORF, Germany - July 27, 2009 - SAP AG today announced that it has published the offer document for the purchase of all shares of SAF Simulation, Analysis and Forecasting AG, Tägerwilen (Switzerland) at http://www.sap.de/investor (original German language Offer Document) and http://www.sap.com/investor (non-binding English translation). The acceptance period commences upon today and ends on August 28, 2009 at 6:00pm EDT.

As announced in its press release issued on July 20th, 2009, SAP offers SAF shareholders an amount of EUR 11.50 per share, which represents a 9.5 percent premium to the XETRA closing price (EUR 10.50) for the SAF share on July 17, 2009, and a 33.9 percent premium to the volume-weighted average price of the SAF shares in XETRA over the past three months prior to the announcement of the offer. Dr. Andreas von Beringe and Prof. Dr. Gerhard Arminger, the founders and major shareholders of SAF who hold together approximately 38 percent of the shares, irrevocably committed themselves to accept the SAP offer for all SAF shares held by them, under certain conditions, in particular for a bid price of at least EUR 10.50 per share. The offer is made subject to a minimum acceptance threshold of 50 percent plus one share and the approval of the responsible anti-trust authorities. SAP has already filed the proposed acquisition with the German Federal Cartel Office. SAP will pay the transaction out of its existing cash. Due to the location of the SAF headquarters the offer does not fall within the scope of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act. Nevertheless, SAP has made the decision to follow the provisions of this regulation correspondingly to a large extent, e.g. with regards to the content of the offer or required announcements. SAP has appointed Commerzbank AG, Frankfurt, as the central settlement agent for the transaction.

Through the intended acquisition, SAP plans to further extend its current planning, forecasting and replenishment solution portfolio for retail and wholesale companies and to complement its SAP for Retail solution portfolio.

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 86,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit sap.com.

SAP Business One Provides Dramatic Improvements in Sales and Management Information

2009-07-20T07:23:00.000+01:00

The SAP Business One application helped North America's largest grapevine nursery rein in information and generate more opportunities for its growing business. With SAP, Vintage Nurseries has gained new levels of data accuracy, new insights into business processes, and better visibility into new sales opportunities.

Key Challenges
- Improve ability to manage a vastly increased customer base
- Enable easy access to data

Project Objectives
- Replace inflexible, unreliable business software with a robust application
- Ensure data accuracy
- Improve reporting capabilities
- Translate data into usable information

SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

2009-07-13T07:39:00.000+01:00

THE BLUEPRINT FOR AN OPEN IT ARCHITECTURE

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a blueprint for an adaptable, flexible, and open IT architecture for developing services-based, modular business solutions. SAP makes it easy to adopt SOA – enabling companies in diverse industries to quickly differentiate their businesses and optimize processes in their business networks. SAP enables businesses to adopt SOA at their own pace as part of their SAP solutions.

SAP's open-standards approach to SOA improves IT productivity and business value at the same time. At the heart of our approach to SOA is the concept of enterprise services – highly integrated Web services, combined with business logic and harmonized semantics, that can be accessed and used repeatedly to enable end-to-end business processes.

Using enterprise services, you can leverage SAP solutions in conjunction with partner solutions and homegrown solution landscapes to build new, flexible, and innovative solutions based on a consistent integration concept.

SAP and our partners can help your IT organization adopt SOA in a low-risk manner by delivering SOA-based technology, service-enabled applications, and prepackaged enterprise services grouped as business scenarios. SAP delivers SOA seamlessly via the service-enabled software (SAP Business Suite) and SOA-based, open technology platform (SAP NetWeaver). SAP consultants deliver services that complement SAP applications and accelerate SOA adoption.

We offer comprehensive methodology for design and development as well as operational SOA governance. This helps ensure high service reuse, reliable execution, efficient IT operations – and a reduction in cost. Modeling and implementation guidelines for service developers increase development efficiency. Moreover, SAP's enterprise services follow the enhancement package concept, so you can add new functionality continuously, without extended upgrade cycles.

To get started with SAP SOA download your starter kit today at SAP.com

SAP and RIM Usher In a New Era for Enterprise Mobility

2009-07-06T07:44:00.000+01:00

SAP AG and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced a co-innovation partnership to usher in a new era in enterprise mobility. SAP, the leader in enterprise software, and RIM, the leader in mobile connectivity for the enterprise, have joined forces to change the way people work, by enabling anytime, anywhere mobile access to SAP enterprise applications through the widely adopted BlackBerry platform.

Just as the BlackBerry wireless platform has transformed the way people use e-mail, SAP and RIM will bring the power and productivity of SAP enterprise applications to the BlackBerry platform in a similarly robust and user-friendly manner. Mobile users will soon be able to work freely on SAP, no longer tethered to their desktops or offices in order to perform their jobs. By tearing down the walls between enterprise computing and mobile connectivity, SAP and RIM are enhancing employee productivity.

The first output expected from this new partnership is a native BlackBerry smartphone client that will merge the power of the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application with core BlackBerry smartphone applications, including the BlackBerry Email, Address Book and Calendar applications, to deliver an indispensable tool for sales people. The new mobile SAP CRM application will leverage the inherent security, management capabilities and efficiency of the BlackBerry platform and the intuitive user experience of BlackBerry smartphones. Organizations that already have the SAP CRM and the BlackBerry solutions deployed will require only basic user training and minimal incremental IT infrastructure investments.

According to research firm IDC, the mobile user population is set to increase from about 800 million in 2007, accounting for 25.7 percent of the worldwide workforce, to one billion in 2011, accounting for 30.4 percent of the workforce.1

“Providing access to and securing broad adoption of enterprise applications with mobile workers has been a pervasive challenge over the years,” said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications, IDC. “Most existing solutions require users to learn yet another application and navigation paradigm on their devices, and for IT to manage a complex infrastructure to deploy and support. By having a native application on a BlackBerry smartphone that easily extends functionality but retains the native ease of use, users will find it non-intrusive to adopt applications such as CRM. This is an exciting partnership and definitely has the potential to change the game.”

This groundbreaking partnership between two leaders in their respective markets leverages best-in-class business applications and mobile technology to deliver:

Expanded Reach of SAP® Business Suite Applications – Users rely on their BlackBerry smartphones for access to people and information on the go, so it becomes easier to introduce new enterprise applications with a far greater adoption rate.

Automated Data Synchronization – The new solution leverages the push-based architecture of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server to automate data synchronization between business systems and mobile applications. BlackBerry smartphone users have the flexibility to use the mobile enterprise application even in the absence of network coverage. Once back in coverage, all updates queued on the handset and back-end servers are automatically transferred without user action, similar to how e-mail on BlackBerry smartphones works today.

Easy Deployment – The mobile device management capabilities of BlackBerry Enterprise Server allow IT groups to centrally manage and wirelessly deploy mobile applications to BlackBerry smartphones.

Market-Leading Enterprise-Class Security – The proven capability and demonstrated track record from SAP in enterprise applications security, combined with the renowned wireless security of the BlackBerry platform, helps ensure enterprise-class security for the end-to-end solution.

Low Incremental Cost of Ownership – Businesses that have already deployed BlackBerry Enterprise Server and SAP applications can leverage their existing investments and keep deployment and maintenance costs at a minimum.

“SAP is thrilled to bolster its long-standing relationship with RIM through the co-development of this breakthrough offering,” said Bill McDermott, president and CEO, SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan. “By combining RIM’s expertise for empowering the mobile worker and SAP’s strength in business computing, we are embarking on an exciting future to make it easier and more convenient for today’s business users to perform their jobs. Our extended partnership with RIM will open many new doors for mobile workers around the world who require real-time mobile access to enterprise applications in a secure setting.”

“In concert with SAP, we are bringing the unique benefits of the BlackBerry platform to SAP applications, providing organizations with the security, manageability, efficiency and ‘push’ capabilities of the BlackBerry platform with a dedicated client application that also integrates with core BlackBerry applications,” said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, Research In Motion. “Our partnership with SAP will allow us to deliver an unparalleled solution to our mutual customers who demand the very best in enterprise mobility. With this new partnership, we have an excellent opportunity to further entrench BlackBerry as the leading mobile connectivity platform for enterprise information access. The vision that users can have access to SAP’s enterprise computing applications from virtually anywhere, anytime, represents a new era of opportunity.”

As part of the work delivered through the partnership, RIM will enhance its framework for building intuitive, workflow-enabled mobile applications for the BlackBerry platform. The framework will serve as the basis for developing mobile applications for other solutions in the SAP Business Suite.

Explore the World of Microfinance with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

2009-06-29T07:33:00.000+01:00

Discover an Innovative Way to Help Fight Poverty

According to the United Nations, 2.7 billion people in the world today – almost half of the world's population – struggle to live on less than $2 a day. It is difficult for people in the developing world to get access to credit by conventional means because banks generally require the security of collateral loans. Through microfinance services, microloans enable microentrepreneurs to acquire working capital, equipment, tools, materials, inventory, or other means to start or expand income-producing businesses.

Come take a tour of the world of microfinance with a live working demonstration of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version for SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse. Discover how this software's interactive interface can allow you to explore business data and find answers to your questions at the speed of thought. With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version for SAP NetWeaver BW you can empower your entire organization with the intelligence to make important business decisions every day.

This powerful software runs on the new Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, with new Intel Microarchitecture Nehalem – delivering up to a 1.5x performance gain over previous-generation hardware.

Play the interactive quiz game "Explore the World of Microfinance"

SAP and PlaNet Finance Improve Microfinance Access and Technology
SAP is committed to providing financial, software, and expert assistance to PlaNet Finance, an international microfinance development organization. In a joint field initiative, SAP and PlaNet Finance will invest in the shea nut value chain in Northern Ghana to improve the incomes and living conditions of women who pick and process shea nuts into shea butter.

SAP World Tour 2009

2009-06-22T08:17:00.000+01:00

Strategies for Success in the New Reality

The business world has reached an inflection point, presenting your organization with contradictory challenges. On one hand, you face increasing complexity in the form of changing business processes, global competition, and unprecedented economic conditions. On the other, you are required to operate with greater efficiency, openness, and transparency.

But when challenges are at their greatest, so are the opportunities to find new and transformative solutions. In today's economy, "Best-Run" businesses must be transparent and accountable, lean and agile, customer-centric and collaborative. Now more than ever, meeting these challenges requires a highly focused business strategy and streamlined execution.

And that's what SAP World Tour 2009 is all about. SAP World Tour 2009 events are an essential stop for every professional who wants to harness technology to run lean operations, capture greater market share, and gain business openness and transparency. SAP World Tour 2009 events are tailored to the way your organization needs to operate today and tomorrow.

Attend one of the events SAP World Tour 2009 has planned by registering to an event in your nearest location. Meet SAP experts, customers, partners, and industry analysts and learn how to take advantage of today's open technologies to achieve and maintain profitability, efficiency, and growth.

Cargojet Selects SAP

2009-06-15T08:56:00.000+01:00

Leading Canadian Air Cargo Carrier to Integrate Financials and Reduce Costs With SAP® Business All-in-One Solutions

SAP Canada Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today announced that Cargojet Income Fund (Cargojet) (TSX: CJT.UN) will implement SAP® Business All-in-One solutions to better manage financial and reporting processes, increase efficiency and reduce costs as the company continues to grow its business. Cargojet is also leveraging Best-Run Now packages from SAP (see “SAP Helps Customers Weather Economic Cycle With Unique Offerings Addressing Most Timely Business Challenges”), which enable companies to quickly address their most pressing business challenges via pre-packaged SAP software and services. IDS Scheer will deliver sales and implementation support for the project.

Cargojet, Canada’s premier cargo airline, provides time-sensitive overnight cargo services to all major city centers across the country. Cargojet has enjoyed significant growth, increasing its freighter fleet and expanding its network by providing value-added services to its customers. As Cargojet continues to develop its business model, it has selected SAP Business All-in-One solutions to address Cargojet’s business and IT needs for the future.

“As Cargojet expands its services into new global markets, we need to establish a solid technology platform and seek partners such as SAP and IDS Scheer that can support our current and future requirements,” says Ajay K. Virmani, president and CEO, Cargojet. “Cargojet has selected SAP software as it delivers the functionality and industry best practices we need to optimize financial processes and enhance accounting while reducing our cost of IT ownership.”

Cargojet joins more than 13,500 midsize customers worldwide that use SAP Business All-in-One solutions to maximize their growth potential through comprehensive and integrated functionality to manage all their business processes including accounting, operations, sales and fleet management.

“We’ve seen an increasing number of customers seeking more in-depth and broader functionality out of their business software,” said Jason Mausberg, managing director, IDS Scheer. “SAP Business All-in-One is a perfect fit for Cargojet because it can help manage its entire business, across functions and geographies. Cargojet can also flexibly adapt and extend the solution as its business evolves and grows.”

With powerful analytic reporting capabilities and standard reports for providing enhanced visibility into business performance, SAP Business All-in-One enables midsize companies to take better control of their profitability. The solutions also provide tools and built-in support to help customers comply with regulatory requirements, as well as enhanced transparency for regulatory checks and audits by allowing them to build controls and checks into their business processes.

“Fast-growing companies such as Cargojet that are expanding to international markets need solutions that can help them further tighten business control, identify and leverage growth opportunities and respond quickly as business dynamics change,” says Conrad Mandala, vice president, SME, SAP Canada. “With the Best-Run Now packages, SAP helps customers to quickly acquire solutions that address pressing business needs and deliver benefits quickly, which is especially crucial in tight economic times.”

Cargojet is expected to go live with SAP Business All-in-One after approximately six months implementation time.

About Cargojet
Cargojet Income Fund is Canada's leading provider of time sensitive overnight air cargo services. Cargojet operates its network across North America, transporting over 750,000 pounds of time sensitive air cargo each business night, utilizing a fleet of thirty-four all-cargo aircraft.

About IDS Scheer
IDS Scheer is the market leader in Business Process Management (BPM) software, solutions and services for corporations and public organizations worldwide. With its unrivaled ARIS Platform for Process Excellence, the company offers an integrated, comprehensive solution portfolio for the strategy, design, implementation and controlling of business processes; allowing companies to continuously improve their overall business performance. Utilizing the ARIS Value Engineering (AVE) approach, IDS Scheer consultants bridge the gap between corporate strategy, business processes, IT solutions and process controlling. The IDS Scheer SAP Consulting practice delivers unmatched implementation services, winning the 2008 SAP Pinnacle Awards for Customer Satisfaction – Global Ecosystem; and the 2007 Channel Partner of the Year award in the US & Canada for its overall performance.

Approximately 2,840 employees serve the company's 7,500 customers worldwide. In 2008, IDS Scheer's revenues reached 399.1 million Euro. Established in 1984 by Prof. August-Wilhelm Scheer, IDS Scheer is listed in the TecDAX on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Germany).

For more information, please visit: www.ids-scheer.com/us or or www.ids-scheer.com/ca

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated for SAP NetWeaver BW

2009-06-08T08:04:00.000+01:00

For effective decision making, your business users require quick, easy answers to off-the-cuff questions and a better understanding of your business, without extensive training and dependence on IT. Even more important, your users need fast access to relevant, decision-quality information anywhere in the enterprise. But that can be a tall order, as traditional business intelligence tools typically require a deep understanding of data structures or knowledge of how to build a query in order to ask interactive questions or generate ad hoc reports.

What's more, your IT team is being pulled in a million directions – facing an unmanageable workload, being asked to do more with less in an environment with rapidly changing business priorities.

SAP can help

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software, accelerated version for SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW), combines intuitive information search and exploration functionality with the high performance and scalability of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, so you can empower your organization and extend the reach of BI to all of your business users. With immediate insights into vast amounts of data, your users can explore business at the speed of thought – and improve their ability to make sound, timely decisions.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version delivers powerful functionality that includes:

Search across data fields and metadata – Users simply enter a few keywords to find the most relevant information instantly from across all data sources – without requiring previous knowledge about what data exists or where to find it.
Intuitive exploration of data and charts – The software complements results with contextually relevant details. The experience is comparable to Internet-style search and browsing an online store. Users don't need data model or data knowledge.
Automated relevancy and chart generation – SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version presents the most relevant search results first and automatically generates the chart that best represents the information.
High performance and scalability – The combined software and hardware solution delivers the high performance and scalability you need to get immediate response and answers as you browse through very large data sets – up to billions of data records.
As a result, you can ensure all your business users have easy access to all the information they need to make confident decisions based on up-to-date, reliable information.

For more information visit SAP.com

How SAP helps

2009-06-01T12:46:00.000+01:00

The challenges facing your business are staggering. The economy is volatile; competition is high; and your customers are demanding more for less. You need a partner who can help bring visibility across your entire organization. One who can help you optimize operations through improved decision making and effective use of resources. A partner who can help you improve operational agility, allowing you to respond quickly to changing business conditions. A partner who can help put your business on the road to becoming a clear enterprise.

See why the Best-Run Businesses run SAP.

Through the portfolio of SAP services and solutions, as well as a wealth of extended value from the SAP customer-focused ecosystem and partners, organizations of any size or industry type can get on the path to becoming a clear enterprise. From our solutions for small and midsize companies to the SAP Business Suite and the SAP BusinessObjects portfolios, we can help bridge the gap between strategy and execution, helping you optimize cash flow, uncover inefficiencies, create credible sustainability, manage risk, automate compliance processes, improve customer loyalty, and retain valuable talent. Want proof? See how SAP can work for you at sap.com

SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI Helps Plan for Success in a Tough Economy

2009-05-25T08:20:00.000+01:00

There is an old saying that goes, "No one plans to fail; they fail to plan." It's in times like these, when the economy is on a downswing and businesses around the world are on the defense, that these words truly resonate. One of the keys to business survival in this uncertain economy is your ability to create an actionable, yet flexible plan with which you can successfully manage your business. The key to creating that plan is having the right level of business intelligence (BI).

Every company's BI needs are as unique as their paths to success. That's why SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI software is offered in three versions, each designed to meet your company where it is today and to grow with your business tomorrow. These three affordable versions can address just about any BI requirement you may have, from operational reporting to intuitive dashboards and visualization. But, in the end, they all represent an opportunity for you to plan well, make better business decisions, and quickly react to opportunities in the market to survive the most difficult of economic conditions.

SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI, Standard Package
Looking for an easy entry point into the world of BI? The standard package was made just for you. Designed to get midsize companies started with BI, this version includes all the core functionality you'll need to empower your end users with greater business insight. Offering flexible ad hoc reporting, query, analysis, and dashboards, your employees will be able to make fast, informed decisions without having to rely on IT to help them gather the necessary data. And this data can be conveniently accessed with tools your company already uses every day, including Microsoft Office and Microsoft SharePoint applications. Built on a proven, open intelligence platform, the standard package gives your staff secure, managed information access, helping ensure that users get the right information at the right time.

SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI with Data Integration
The more you trust your business intelligence, the more confidently you can make choices for your company. SAP Business Objects Edge BI, with data integration, combines the power of data integration with essential functionality, such as ad hoc reporting, query, analysis, and dashboards. The data integration version is built on the same proven, open intelligence platform as the standard package, and it is designed to introduce your organization to the potential of integrating your data through your BI solution, giving you a solid foundation upon which you can efficiently and effectively run your business.

SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI with Data Management
Taking your BI potential one step further, this version of SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI software incorporates comprehensive data management functionality to give you a more comprehensive level of control over the data in your organization. Enabling you to centralize the discovery, correction, and prevention of data issues across your organization, this option also improves the quality of the data you're using. And it helps ensure the integrity of contact data by allowing users to integrate address verification. With trusted data and timely, accurate information, your business users will be empowered to make the best possible business decisions.

Dashboards to Visualize Business Performance Today – and Tomorrow
Each of the three versions of SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI software enables the use of dashboards to provide a more comprehensive view of data across your organization. The drag-and-drop framework allows you to display reports and models in a unified dashboard view, providing you with one consolidated view of all your BI content. Plus, you can use these dashboards for predictive analysis, creating what-if scenarios and helping you visualize the impact of your decisions – before you actually make them. This increased visibility further enhances your ability to rapidly make the insightful business decisions that can help you survive this trying economic climate.

Planning in Uncertain Times Requires the Right Level of Intelligence
Business planning and proper management are always crucial to the survival of your business, but especially so in an unpredictable economy. To accurately plan and effectively manage your business, you need to get the right information to the right people at the right time. SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI software does exactly that, with the rich feature set you're looking for. Plus, you have three flexible versions to choose from to make sure you get the best fit for your specific BI needs.

SAP to Revolutionize Business Intelligence With New Solution that Delivers Insight at the Speed of Thought

2009-05-18T08:20:00.000+01:00

Traditionally, too few people have had intuitive and immediate access to the information required to make sound business decisions. Today SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) announces SAP® BusinessObjects™ Explorer, groundbreaking new software that will solve this dilemma. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer brings together search and navigation capabilities from the SAP® BusinessObjects™ portfolio with SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse Accelerator (SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator) software, enabling customers to navigate mountains of business data at the speed of thought and giving them a clear view across their organizations. Another milestone in the company’s successful acquisition and integration of Business Objects, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will deliver the most significant and largest combination of SAP and Business Objects technology to date. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® 2009, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11–14.

In this volatile economy, it is critical for business users to have the insight they need to answer “on-the-fly” questions, gain a more immediate understanding of their business and have instant access to relevant information. Using an intuitive search box as its interface, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is designed to allow people to enter key words in order to find the data they need to answer critical business questions—no special training or special skills required. Once business users retrieve the relevant information, they will be able to navigate through that data and drill down into specific areas for further investigation. As a result, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will empower any employee with the clarity and insight to act more quickly and make smarter, more effective business decisions.

“We have been beta testing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and are amazed at how intuitive the software is and how quickly it returns results,” said Katrina Coyle, global information manager, Molson Coors. “Employees have already learned things about their data and our business that they didn’t know previously. With visualizations, like the interactive ‘heat’ maps, results leap off the page. One of our business users was able to identify a brand not sold in other regions using only one click, which is the blink of an eye compared to the former lengthy process. Everyone who has worked with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer has appreciated that it is fast and user-friendly, with results that can be easily shared and put to use immediately. We see great potential for this tool to provide all of our employees with better visibility into our business.”

Bringing Business Intelligence to Everyone
Obstacles to accessing accurate and timely information can have a lasting impact on the performance and bottom line of an organization. Studies1 have shown that the majority of business users make decisions based on “gut feel” and do not have access to the data they need to do their jobs, resulting in lost productivity, less agility in the marketplace and flawed decision-making. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will solve this problem by making data available to employees who do not use traditional business intelligence (BI) tools, providing them with intuitive software that allows them to explore large amounts of data quickly.

The new software is designed to combine intuitive information search and exploration capabilities from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio with the high performance and scalability of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator software. Together, the software will empower business users to navigate massive amounts of data in seconds, by leveraging indexed data from SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator. Similar to the ease and speed of Internet search, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will allow employees to use familiar business language to find relevant information. Business users will also be able to use visualization features to select and generate charts or reports that best represents the information, which can then be shared with colleagues.

Giving business users an intuitive feel of such vast amounts of data lets them discover answers to questions they may not have been able to articulate. For example, a sales executive may get a report indicating that quarterly results were good, but he or she may want to determine areas for improvement. Now sales executives will be able to investigate growth across the regions, profitability per product line or account executives’ performance. They can quickly turn a hunch into a data-driven assessment of their business and strategies moving forward.

Helping IT Organizations to Improve Efficiency
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will also support improved efficiency for IT organizations. Previously, business users would submit requests for corporate data, such as customized reports, to the IT department. The new software will provide self-service access to information, freeing up IT time and resources to work on more strategic projects. SAP will work with its partners including IBM, HP, Dell and Fujitsu Technology Solutions to help make SAP BusinessObjects Explorer faster and easier way to deploy by combining and optimizing hardware and software solutions.

SAP partners Intel and Adobe have contributed enabling technology to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. Intel has co-engineered the in-memory processing capabilities of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator to optimize it with the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series. Adobe has provided its Adobe® Flash® Platform to enable enterprise developers to create compelling Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) for end users. To learn more about how SAP partners are supporting SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, please visit the accompanying quote sheet in the SAP Newsroom.

“No longer will critical business information be elusive—SAP BusinessObjects Explorer represents the next generation of BI in which any business user can find the data needed to contribute to his or her organization’s success,” said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager, Intelligence Platform Group and SAP NetWeaver Solution Management, SAP AG. “This new software provides a clear line of sight and enables customers to achieve transparency in every corner of their business. Moving forward, solutions like SAP BusinessObjects Explorer will help businesses develop a new generation of informed executives, who will drive companies globally toward a path of greater transparency, growth and competitiveness.”

Availability
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, accelerated version for SAP NetWeaver BW, is planned to be available during summer 2009. The solution will also be packaged and available through the Best-Run Now initiative from SAP. The package, called “Explore Your Business at the Speed of Thought,” will be available globally and is designed to meet the needs of diverse lines of business and industries.

Further Resources
For demonstrations, collateral and additional information, please visit the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Web site. To see video demonstrations and view screen shots of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, please visit the SAPPHIRE virtual newsroom. Follow SAP BusinessObjects news with social media via the newly launched blog, “Needle in a Haystack,” and the @businessobjects Twitter handle, www.twitter.com/businessobjects.

12007 BusinessWeek Research Services Base: 675 US and European business executives and managers. Economist, ‘Enterprise Knowledge Workers Study; November, 2007

SAPPHIRE® 2009 Orlando
More than 10,000 customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAPPHIRE® 2009 to discover how SAP and its thriving partner ecosystem are delivering IT solutions that help today’s best-run businesses achieve clarity in every area of their operations. SAP’s premier educational and networking event, SAPPHIRE is the one occasion where senior executives, business managers, and decision-makers can come together every year to explore how innovative business solutions foster long-term, profitable growth. SAPPHIRE 2009 is being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/sapphire. Join the conversation via Twitter at #sapphire09.

Based on the success of last year’s events, SAP and the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) are co-locating their premier events in Orlando, where the 2009 ASUG Annual Conference takes place May 11-14.

In addition to SAPPHIRE 2009, SAP is also hosting SAP® World Tour 2009, a series of local events in more than 70 cities through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. For more information, visit the SAP World Tour event page on sap.com.

SAP and SAP User Group Executive Network Announce SAP Enterprise Support Milestones

2009-05-11T08:23:00.000+01:00

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN), a global federation of 12 key SAP user groups, today announced an agreement on a defined list of key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success of SAP® Enterprise Support services. Also announced was the rollout of a joint benchmarking program that will use key performance indicators to define and measure how SAP customers derive value from SAP Enterprise Support. In this joint benchmarking effort, the key performance indicators will be measured and tracked among a representative selection of customers. As a further demonstration of its commitment to customers, SAP has modified the 2008 pricing program for SAP Enterprise Support as it applies to support contracts migrated to SAP Enterprise Support. This decision coincides with its recently announced seven-year maintenance lifecycle (see “SAP Enhances Value of SAP Customer Relationships”).

“We are convinced that SAP Enterprise Support delivers unparalleled value to all customers and, as a demonstration of our commitment, we will provide tangible reductions in their operational costs on a defined schedule,” said Léo Apotheker, co-CEO, SAP AG. “SAP is now the role model for the evolution of software support offering an industry game-changing standard for transparency, accountability and the clear measurement of value. We remain strongly committed to helping our customers both protect their investments and closely manage costs.”

A joint SAP–SUGEN task force formed in November 2008 (see “SAP and the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) Liaise to Quantify Value of New SAP Support Offering”) has established the SUGEN Key Performance Indicator Index (SUGEN KPI Index), which will measure and verify the ongoing value of SAP Enterprise Support. This effort will help customers by providing a transparent mechanism to link their support investment to the value delivered. SAP has agreed to postpone the subsequent price increase schedule until the targeted improvements measured by the SUGEN KPI Index are met. Successful delivery on KPIs is expected to demonstrate tangible cumulative cost savings for customers. This value delivery is targeted to be fully realized within the four-year time frame of the benchmarking program.

“SUGEN and SAP have formed a strong partnership based on a common goal of ensuring that current and future SAP customers fully realize the value of SAP Enterprise Support,” said Mike Stoko, SUGEN chairman. “The SUGEN organization represents a global community of customers, and it is on their behalf that we form joint task forces with SAP to work on strategic issues such as SAP Enterprise Support. SUGEN is excited about today's announcement – our collaborative efforts are resulting in the first program of its kind for the IT industry, providing transparent, measurable ways for customers to truly see how valuable SAP Enterprise Support is for their organizations.”

The SUGEN KPI Index aggregates key performance indicators from four major categories representing key customer business value-drivers, which were defined after joint discussions with customers. The four major categories for the SUGEN KPI Index are:

Business Continuity
Business Process Improvement
Protection of Investment
Total Cost of Operations

Benchmark Study Process Announced
The key performance indicators within the SUGEN KPI Index will be measured as part of a formal benchmarking program that will provide customers with a baseline against which to appraise and compare the value delivered by SAP Enterprise Support. In order to achieve consistency in the measurements over time, SUGEN and SAP will select a core representative customer group that will deploy capabilities of SAP Enterprise Support and track their results. Quality assurance on the benchmark program and its results will be validated by an independent third party. The program has the full and unanimous support of all SUGEN members and the SAP Executive Board.

“In collaboration with SAP, we achieved an important milestone by setting up this long-term benchmark program and tying the added value to further price increases,” said DSAG board member and SUGEN SAP Enterprise Support lead Andreas Oczko. “With this effort, companies will gain insight into the SAP Enterprise Support value that SAP promises its customers.”

Modifications to the 2008 SAP Enterprise Support Pricing Program
In consideration of the current economic climate and discussions with SUGEN on SAP Enterprise Support, SAP is extending by three years the four-step price increase program announced in July 2008 (see “SAP Enterprise Support Offering Rolled Out to All Customers”) for customers that were migrated to SAP Enterprise Support at that time. Originally scheduled to run until 2012, the program will now conclude in 2015, coinciding with the recently introduced 7-2 maintenance strategy. Starting in 2010, the price of SAP Enterprise Support for existing customers will continue to increase based on individual contract terms but will not be higher than a yearly fixed upper cap. This translates to an increase average of no more than 3.1 percent per year from 2010 onwards. The price of SAP Enterprise Support will be capped at 22 percent through 2015. With this adjustment, SAP demonstrates a clear commitment and responsiveness to its customers and the challenging global economic conditions they must navigate today.

Industry Analyst Comment on Announcement
“SAP’s goal to provide a rating of application support via key performance indicators is innovative and challenging,” said Peter Wesche, research director, Gartner. “The extensive benchmarking phase and mapping of key performance indicators to business value will allow customers to fully understand the benefits of a comprehensive support program.”

About SUGEN
Established in 2007, SUGEN is a federation of twelve user groups designed to facilitate open, honest dialogue between members and SAP and drive the market towards excellence, innovation, and success. By working together, SUGEN members will be able to provide consolidated strategic influence priorities and work with SAP to resolve them, provide an effective and efficient method for communication among user groups and SAP, and share best practices between user groups and SAP for the mutual benefit of all.

Current members include ASUG (North America), ASUG Brazil, ASUG Mexico, AUSAPE (Spain), DSAG (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), JSUG (Japan), SAPSA (Sweden), SAUG (Australia), SAP UK & Ireland User Group, SUG-MENA (Middle-East, North Africa), USF (France), and VNSG (Netherlands).

About SAP® Enterprise Support
SAP® Enterprise Support services support the entire lifecycle of SAP applications, including services for custom code, from implementation to day-to-day operations. By proactively identifying risks and providing faster time to resolution, it helps minimize system downtime. Customers can gain increased visibility into the IT operations of their organizations and across their businesses for more informed decision-making. Standardizing support process further identifies areas for operational efficiencies. With SAP Enterprise Support, customers have a standardized approach to managing the systems environment, which supports faster problem resolution, less configuration and testing investment and, ultimately, can deliver better returns on software investments

Next Major Event: SAPPHIRE® 2009 Orlando More than 10,000 customers, partners and industry experts are convening at SAPPHIRE® 2009 to discover how SAP and its thriving partner ecosystem are delivering IT solutions that help today’s best-run businesses achieve clarity in every area of their operations. SAP’s premier educational and networking event, SAPPHIRE is the one occasion each year where senior executives, business managers and decision-makers can come together to explore how innovative business solutions foster long-term, profitable growth. SAPPHIRE 2009 will be held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/sapphire. Join the conversation via Twitter at #sapphire09.

In addition to SAPPHIRE 2009, SAP is also hosting SAP® World Tour 2009, a series of local events in more than 70 cities through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. For more information, visit the SAP World Tour event page on sap.com.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 86,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

See also sap.com

SAP SERVICES: MAXIMIZE YOUR SUCCESS

2009-04-27T08:23:00.001+01:00

You have the right solutions for business success. SAP Services will help you to maximize your success through a combination of SAP experts, methodologies, tools, and certified partners – plus a comprehensive portfolio of service offerings. These offerings span all phases of your solution life cycle, from planning to building to running. So you can align your IT and business strategies, get your software up and running fast, and keep it operating at peak levels – ensuring that IT supports your business goals.

Learn how SAP Services can support your role and buying center:

Finance
Information technology
Operations
Sales and marketing

With more than 35 years of experience, SAP supports more than 82,000 customers worldwide, with 140,000 installations in 120 countries. SAP's unique ecosystem consists of 51,500 team members, including 13,000 consulting and education employees and 7,700 service and support staff. And with 185,000 certified partner employees, 77 trainings centers, 7 global support centers, 9 custom development centers, and genuine 24/7 support, SAP can truly help you optimize your organizational and IT performance and maximize your business and IT success.

TARGETING YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS
Learn how the Services Finder can help you locate the services you need to implement any phase of your software life cycle.

Bringing Your IT Investments to Life
The April/May/June 2008 issue of SAP Insider describes how SAP services, programs, and tools can help you maximize the return on your IT investment.

JOINING THE SAP ECOSYSTEM
Through our regional sites, SAP ecosystem professionals obtain resources and information on SAP products, services, and communities.

Want to learn more? Contact SAP for more information.

SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio

2009-04-20T08:25:00.000+01:00

The SAP Business Objects portfolio includes solutions designed to meet the unique needs of small businesses and midsize companies. These powerful solutions offer intuitive, versatile, and proven business intelligence, so you can gain the same insight into your business information and performance that large enterprises enjoy. Benefit from comprehensive features that support everthing from flexible ad hoc reporting and dashboards to data integration and performance management – packaged and priced specifically for small businesses and midsize companies.

SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI – Leverage powerful business intelligence and information management software for the midmarket – and improve your business processes, discover new opportunities, and gain a competitive advantage.
Crystal Reports solutions – Capitalize on complete report management functionality designed for small businesses:

-Crystal Reports
-Crystal Reports Server
-Crystal Reports Viewer
-Crystal Reports for Visual Studio
-Crystal Reports for Eclipse
-Crystal Reports Developer Advantage

Xcelsius – Leverage dynamic, customizable data visualization software that enables users of different skill levels to create insightful and engaging dashboards from any data source with point-and-click ease.

-Xcelsius Engage
-Xcelsius Engage Server
-Xcelsius Present
-Free trials – Download and try fully functional copies of our software for 30 days. Trials are available in multiple languages.

Creating Exponential Growth in Your Company–Especially In Times of Economic Uncertainty!

2009-04-06T08:15:00.000+01:00

Imagine standing at the end of a runway and watching airplanes take off. Envision a pilot out for a weekend flight cruising over your head in a single engine propeller-driven aircraft –perhaps a Cessna 172. The pilot flies low over your head as the plane climbs slowly to control airspeed for a weekend "neighborhood" cruise. Then a Cessna Citation corporate jet comes down the runway with a roar. It comes off the runway with high speed, wheels up, and a high rate of climb as it propels for high altitude.

Arguably in flying, the takeoff is the most important maneuver. There are two pilots in the cockpit– one watching the instruments and one flying. Inside- and outside- facing, you could call it. All instruments are working in real-time, sending valuable information back to the pilots. What is different between these two planes? Speed and rate of ascent (or rate of climb) are the critical indicators of a plane's flight trajectory. The engines and instruments have to work because no height is gained in the event of a technical failure. Or worse.

So too, as your business grows, "takeoff" is the most critical phase of a company's growth, especially as adequate height is gained and the company is finally flying smoothly. Companies that grew from a million to a billion had compounding or exponential revenue growth: I call these companies Blueprint Companies. In the Blueprint Companies that I studied, their inflection point was identified to be $50 million (USD) in revenue. And, significantly, their growth pattern had two distinct parts: the time from founding to $50 million was highly variable, while the path from $50 million to a billion had three distinct timeframes – 4, 6, and 12 years. Attaining this safe (and for companies, as my research showed, rarified) "air space' is all about effective speed, the correct rate of ascent or revenue growth rate, and using all or at least 5 of the 7 Essentials.

Continuing with the airplane analogy, if you aspire to grow your company during these truly turbulent times, what are the essentials to grow your business successfully to the next level? You have to take off and keep going with adequate fuel (being cash flow positive), and your company must navigate through, above, and around storm clouds – making sensible, focused corrections in a frighteningly changing environment.

Why a billion in revenue? Of America's 8,000 IPOs since 1980, only 5% achieved one billion in revenue. They account for half of the employment and two thirds of the market value created by all IPO companies! Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Staples, Amgen, Harley Davidson and many others are great places to work for and invest in. They grew from a million to a billion in revenue with compounding or exponential revenue growth. They utilized 7 Essentials (in fact, now 8) or management practices to achieve this consistent revenue growth. In contrast 25% of all US IPO companies went out of business since 1980. What did these management teams do that differentiated their odds of success from a million to a billion?

Whether you are a small or midsized business - at a million, $20 million, $100 million or $500 million in revenue, applying the 7 Essentials to achieve exponential growth is the secret to become a highly effective company. Of the companies that grew to a billion, I found that over 90% applied 5 or more of these 7 Essentials. Applying one will improve your growth prospects. Applying 5 or more will truly turbocharge your company's growth – even in the face of our current economic uncertainty. And these Essentials are as applicable globally as they are in the U.S.

Taking another page from the training program for pilots, there are actions that must be followed whether weather conditions are excellent or stormy. So too, these managerial actions are time-tested by America's highest growth companies during up and down market cycles. Utilize these actions to turbocharge your company's growth prospects, even now. Below are proven action steps that you can align to each of the 7 Essentials. At first glance these actions may sound quite abstract, or simply extremely hard to do. With some nimbleness, ingenuity, and effective feedback mechanisms, they're not!

Deliver "Way Better Value or Benefits" that truly differentiates your business and makes it relevant and valued in the eyes of the customer. Delivering Higher-Order Benefits is particularly important during "down" economic cycles. Customer's needs change, or the way they articulate their needs changes. Therefore, it is important that you "speak the same language" – that you are excellent listeners and try, as best as possible, to realign your business goals with their service of product requirements. This essential is aligned to your innovation investment or R&D. Here are a suite of pragmatic actions to fortify your benefits:

Redefine your customer's benefits by interviewing your best customers to understand higher-order benefits as they define them. Listen and use their rationale and language to market to other customers. Focus on what I call "experience" benefits to increase the value you are offering. We found that benefits are grouped by product/service, location, and experience. In the same way that Starbucks declares itself the "third place" (after home and work), are you offering experience benefits that better integrates your business with your customer? One simple idea is to reduce the cost of doing business by preconceiving and improving the purchase process. To identify these benefits, interview your customers and scan other companies in your industry and in similar industries for innovative ideas about exactly how to do that.
Broaden your product line through innovation investment or M&A to capture "greater share of wallet" with your customers, or to secure new customers in new markets.
Innovate fast and test. Take a small slice of your innovation investment and quickly prototype product line extensions, enhancements or new products to test with customers. Get feedback early. Make second- and third-iteration improvements fast and cheap in order to find the next growth opportunity.
During down economic cycles, achieving consistent exponential revenue growth is a truly pressing concern of management teams. It's important that panic not set in, and so there are three essentials to creating exponential revenue growth that you need to focus on in up and down economic conditions: target a growth market segment, utilize Marquee Customers to sell for you, and leverage Big Brother Alliances to break into new markets. The #1 concern for growth companies in down markets is customer demand. Here are a set of key actions that incorporate these three essentials and can improve customer demand – and simply help you find new customers:

Form a Customer Advisory Council with your best customers. Companies that grow in down as well as up markets leverage customers to guide their company's roadmap, define higher-order benefits, and sell to other customers! This Advisory Council is one of the most important actions you can take, particularly in down markets. These great customers of yours will be an invaluable extension to your management team, marketing team and salesforce. They are your biggest fans so make sure you take advantage of their innate enthusiasm.
Move into adjacent market segments or geographies to expand your available market. For example, Under Armour, a leading sportswear company about to achieve a billion, diversified into sportswear for different sports, for women and is now introducing a new line of running shoes all leveraging the company's core innovations.
Fill a critical portfolio gap for Big Brother Alliance partners. Particularly during down markets, large companies cannot innovate to fill all portfolio gaps and place bets for new emerging market segments. Smaller companies, with a unique value proposition, can fill critical gaps. Utilize your Marquee Customers for an introduction! Alternatively, you can leverage alliances to expand globally. Set up partnerships with "in country" partners to expand your available market.
A company cannot achieve sustainable revenue growth without generating profits to reinvest in the company: This is an especially important Essential to remember in uncertain economic conditions. Here again, there are three Essentials that drive profit and cash flow performance: Become the Masters of Exponential Returns by becoming cash flow positive early, Utilize a Dynamic Duo of Inside – Outside Leadership to execute the internal and external essentials and Balance the Board of Directors with Essentials Experts.

During perilous economic times, it is easy to assign an "across the board" cost cut in order to achieve or maintain positive cash flow. But leaders of exponential growth companies utilized a "systems" approach to problem solving. They think of their business as a system. (Trust me, not all company leaders do!) For example, leaders of exponential growth companies optimize their business during down market cycles. "Optimize" may mean streamlining processes, reducing headcount in selective areas, and investing in systems and IT infrastructure to optimize the business supply chain, customer management, or market intelligence system. Thinking of your business as a system is a key to determining the suite of actions to take.
Formalize and focus on Inside–Outside Leadership. Do you have a dynamic duo leading your company? Your outside executive, typically the CEO or EVP Sales and Marketing, should be travelling over 150 days a year being innovative in forging alliance relationships and creating increased customer demand, the way Joe Scarlett, "Mr. Outside" of Tractor Supply, did as that company grew to a billion. This role and the other outside facing parts of the company are especially critical to creating customer demand during down market cycles. (It's a truth for up market cycles too!)
In our research, we found that Boards of Directors dominated with Investors and Management board members tended to be associated with companies that struggled in the long term. Instead, balance your Board with customers, alliance partners, and a CEO who has led a company to a billion (or a CEO who has led a growth company larger than yours). These members will balance the urgency to be profitable in the short term with longer-term interests. Is your Board balanced? If not, this is a great time to establish a Board that will better serve you as you navigate the especially tough times nearly all companies are currently facing.
After writing Blueprint to a Billion, I determined that there is an 8th Essential: Invest in Infrastructure. As companies grow from a million to a billion in revenue, the most successful leadership teams balanced profitability and cash flow with investing in infrastructure. Specifically, investments were made in people, processes, systems, assets and IT infrastructure. During tough economic times, the decisions to invest in human capital and general infrastructure are extremely important as they will affect your ability to optimize your business and respond quickly to oscillating market conditions. As I interviewed CEOs from up-and-coming Blueprint Companies, I found five key areas they typically invest in. These investments are aligned to their business strategy and growth phase:

Ledger and Accounting: Move from spreadsheets to an "enterprise class" ledger system,
Supply Chain Optimization: Take the opportunity to "optimize" your business, i.e., utilize software and services to streamline the supply of goods and services, and gain competitive advantage,
Market Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management: Improve the front-end of your business, to better identify and manage customers,
Real-time Metrics to Manage Demand and Working Capital: This is required for businesses with low visibility to customer demand and service metrics, narrow margins, or high velocity assets, and
Speed to Market: In order to accelerate innovation to market, an end-to-end logistics and new product introduction process is required.
Depending on your company's needs to invest in various elements of infrastructure, you will need some combination of the 7 Essentials in order to make the right decision at the right time and to gain the required return on investment. Here's a simple equation I use:

Management Techniques + Invest in Infrastructure = Sustainable Growth Company

It takes the 7 Essentials plus Investing in Infrastructure to achieve consistent exponential growth! Though this may sound self-evident, it is dismaying to see how many companies can improve their performance by trying to tackle management fundamentals aligned to executing the 7 Essentials and balancing cash flow with making longer-term investments in talent, processes, systems, and IT infrastructure.

Source: SAP.com

SAP Increases Focus on Sustainable Business

2009-03-23T08:22:00.000Z

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced a long-term strategic focus on sustainability, covering both its own operations and customer solutions for more sustainable business practices. First, to help its customers with their sustainability efforts, SAP, together with TechniData AG, unveiled expanded solutions for environment, health and safety (EHS) management. In addition, to demonstrate its commitment to sustainable operations internally, SAP announced it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions down to its year-2000 levels by the year 2020. And, moving forward, SAP announced that its sustainability efforts will be led by a newly formed cross-functional sustainability organization headed by SAP’s first chief sustainability officer.

Organizations throughout the world are facing increasing local, regional and global regulation; a challenging economic situation; increased consumer awareness to social and environmental issues; resource scarcity; and highly networked business operations. These factors put brands, market share and even market cap at significant risk, but also represent new business opportunities. Sustainability is about increasing the profitability of businesses by holistically managing economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities. SAP understands that its long-term success is directly related to both appropriately addressing sustainability internally and to enabling its customers to meet the same challenges.

“SAP is in a unique, dual position when it comes to sustainability,” said Léo Apotheker, co-CEO, SAP AG. “We have a moral obligation to start with ourselves and ensure that our business operates in a transparent and accountable manner, leaves a minimal environmental footprint and reaches out to improve the social situation of others. As the leader in business software, we also deliver solutions that help other businesses achieve clarity across their operations and better manage their sustainability performance. This is why we are making a strategic, long-term commitment to operate our company in a sustainable way and to help businesses address social, environmental and governance challenges on a global scale.”

SAP® Environment, Health, and Safety Management Application Provides Customers Integrated Sustainability Capabilities
Addressing the growing need for EHS management solutions, SAP and TechniData AG, the leading providers of EHS solutions, announced an agreement to expand their existing relationship. As a result, SAP will own and sell a full line of co-created EHS applications to be offered under a single name, SAP® Environment, Health, and Safety Management (SAP EHS Management).

SAP already helps customers better manage risk and compliance for environmental, financial and supply chain concerns with its SAP® BusinessObjects™ governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions. Additionally, SAP® Business Suite software provides business process efficiency, flexibility and insight, representing a sound foundation for an organization’s sustainability endeavors.

The SAP EHS Management application helps customers ensure that EHS requirements and corporate sustainability policies are met proactively and automatically across business operations. SAP EHS Management is open to work with non-SAP solutions yet is integrated into SAP Business Suite, a next-generation software suite that helps businesses optimize their performance and reduce IT cost, helping eliminate data inaccuracies and providing companies with the ability to manage business processes across multiple departments.

SAP and TechniData have worked closely since 1995 on the research and development of solutions designed to meet EHS compliance. They continue to co-innovate solutions to help companies around the world manage landmark regulation laws, including European REACH regulations for chemical use, as well as health and safety mandates to ensure the well-being of workers.

“The SAP solutions we employ at Dow Corning allow us to provide our customers with clear, easy and rapid access to vitally important safety information about our products and how they should be handled,” said Dr. Peter Cartwright, executive director of environment, health and safety, Dow Corning. “We believe sustainability is essential to our future success as a company. It is so important to us, we’ve made it a corporate value. SAP solutions are fundamental to our ability to operate to our industry principles of Responsible Care and give our customers peace of mind.”

In addition to delivering sustainable business processes through, for example, its SAP EHS Management application, SAP is helping its customers practice “Green IT” by enabling them to reduce the energy footprint of SAP solutions in their data centers through consolidation, virtualization and other landscape optimization services.

Carbon Footprint Reduction Targets
In spite of the fact that SAP’s carbon footprint is usually smaller than that of organizations in other industries with similar revenue, the company is striving for significant reductions. After analyzing its global environmental footprint, SAP announced its commitment to a 51-percent reduction of its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its year-2007 published baseline levels of 513,000t CO2 by year 2020. This will return SAP to its approximate year-2000 emissions level of 250,000t CO2. SAP initiated its first global GHG inventory in 2008 and will report performance and progress towards the target in its annual sustainability report.

Using its own software solutions to monitor and manage its sustainability targets, SAP will achieve this reduction through significant abatement across all scopes of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international carbon accounting tool. The target will apply not only to SAP’s own direct emissions, but also to indirect emissions such as business travel, which was 42 percent of SAP’s total footprint in 2007. The company’s reduction plans are based on aggressive abatement targets across direct and indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3 as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international carbon accounting tool), allowing offsets to be applied only to major indirect emissions sources that are out of the company’s direct control. SAP will focus on abatement over offsets and will pioneer and use new technologies that accelerate the abatement of carbon. It therefore does not plan to offset direct emissions or emissions related to energy consumption.

New Sustainability Organization and Chief Sustainability Officer
SAP has formed a new cross-functional sustainability organization to drive and coordinate all aspects of its sustainability efforts. It is led by Peter Graf, SAP’s first chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions, who will report directly to SAP Executive Board member Jim Hagemann Snabe. Graf, a 13-year SAP veteran, leads a global team that oversees all sustainability-related initiatives, from the creation of solutions that enable sustainable business processes for customers to SAP’s own sustainability operations, including key social, economic and environmental programs.

SAP Co-CEO to Speak on Sustainability at CeBIT
On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, SAP co-CEO Léo Apotheker will give a keynote address at CeBIT, the world’s largest annual trade show for information and telecommunications technology. Apotheker will address sustainability and related issues in the context of information technology. More details are available on the CeBIT Web site.

For more information on sustainability at SAP, read a comprehensive fact sheet about SAP's increased focus on sustainable business.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 82,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Source and for more information: SAP.com

SAP Case Study: Sakae Sushi of Apex-Pal

2009-03-16T08:12:00.001Z

Company: Apex-Pal
Location: Singapore
Type of business: Restaurant holding company
Leader: Douglas Foo, CEO

When Douglas Foo decided to go in the restaurant business and serve healthy food, he soon recognized a void in the market. "When you think ‘hamburgers', you think McDonalds. When someone says ‘fried chicken', you think Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). But when you think sushi – no brand pops into your head." Douglas began to build that brand from day one, and if he's successful, you'll say "Sakae Sushi" without thinking!

Sakae Sushi's parent company, Apex-Pal, is listed on the Singapore stock exchange and currently has seven restaurant brands. Customers can choose whether they want to eat sushi in one of their quick food, casual, or fine dining restaurants. Apex-Pal has restaurants in 80 locations around the world, primarily in the Asia Pacific region, but they recently opened a restaurant in New York City and have plans to expand into Dubai and the Middle East.

Two of the most critical issues for Sakae Sushi are managing the movement of fish from the sea to their restaurants' customers, and assuring consistency in their customers' brand experience at each of their restaurants. SAP Business One has been critical to their growth and ability to scale and go global. The system has helped ensure consistency in the quality of the fish, when and where it is delivered, and how it is served to customers in different countries. It would be nearly impossible to manage a global business which purchases and sells food to customers around the world, who pay in different currencies with fluctuating exchange rates, without such a system.

Douglas's IT staff researched several systems and recommended SAP because of the quality of the software, and the support provided for the implementation of the system. Since Douglas is building a global company with a highly respected brand, he wanted to work with a vendor that had a highly respected brand and was already global.

Although well-designed software was important to him, working with a company that really understood the underlying business issues the software was designed to address was even more important. Douglas wanted a software system that could grow as his company grew so he wouldn't have to go through the pain of changing from one management information system to another. Given the design of SAP's graduated suite of enterprise software systems, Douglas is pleased he will never "outgrow" SAP and won't have to deal with the problems inherent in switching to a new vendor.

Douglas has had plenty of external challenges to address as his company has grown. "We weathered 9/11, the Bali bombing, SARS, bird flu, and have gone through all kinds of crises. Our team has grown much more resilient, and together, coupled with the infrastructure and systems that we are building on, we see ourselves in even better shape, three years from now." He's relying on his SAP software system to help him build his brand, deliver a consistent customer experience and serve unbelievably delicious sushi.

SAP BusinessObjects OnDemand Offerings

2009-03-09T08:18:00.000Z

SAP BusinessObjects OnDemand offerings can give you the power to deploy a business intelligence (BI) solution over the Web – without buying servers or installing software. And that can help you deliver immediate insight to your customers and partners without the need for a complex IT project.

Now you can compare your organization's data to third-party market and financial data, share reports over the Web and automate processes with enterprise-class business applications-in real time and at a lower cost.

Learn more about SAP BusinessObjects OnDemand offerings:

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand – Offload your BI and data warehousing infrastructure to a hosted platform – and start analyzing your data sooner.
crystalreports.com – Share reports over the Web instantly, easily, and securely We host your files for you, so you don't have to initiate a deployment or depend on IT.
SAP BusinessObjects Information OnDemand – Compare your organization's data to third-party market and financial data. Our prebuilt reports save you hours or days of preparation.
Business Applications OnDemand – Automate, manage, and gain insight into your organization's processes. Easily extend your on-demand applications and apply the power of business intelligence to process management.

Financial Excellence Solutions: See how Emerging Trends are Reshaping the Business Environment

2009-02-23T08:33:00.000Z

The needs of business users are changing – from where they work to how they work and what they expect from the application solutions on which they rely. Technology approaches are advancing at a rapid pace to keep up with these demands. No longer do business users need to reside in the office to work and many teams span across country and continental borders. In addition, the new generations of workers expect the same degree of personal control and ease of use that they see in the myriad of solutions available for social networking and the like.

Date of Issue:
02 Mar 2009

Language:
English

Event:
SAP Flash Newsletter Archive - Online

Track:
March 2009

Solutions:
SAP BusinessObjects

Industries:
All Industries

SAP Business Objects

2009-02-16T09:20:00.001Z

SAP® BusinessObjects™ XI Solutions Fuel Green IT Initiative, Help Emdeon Reduce Paper Use and Improve Healthcare Administrative Efficiencies

SAP AG today announced that Emdeon, a leading provider of revenue and payment cycle management solutions for the healthcare industry, uses comprehensive SAP® BusinessObjects™ XI solutions to optimize important healthcare-administration functions and reduce its carbon footprint. The business intelligence (BI) tools help Emdeon make traditionally paper-based reports available online, allowing the organization to conduct immediate self-service research, run claims processing more easily and distribute reports to customers more quickly and efficiently.

Prior to 2008, Emdeon printed and distributed as many as 800,000 paper reports a day. In 2008, Emdeon identified BI and online reporting from Business Objects as a sustainable technology that could help reduce paper reports and move online reporting to a self-service model. Today, Emdeon uses SAP BusinessObjects XI and Crystal Reports® software as a part of its Emdeon Vision for Claim Management application for paperless customer tracking and trending, and to provide customers with online access to the information they need. SAP BusinessObjects software helps Emdeon design and deliver reports to customers in an eco-friendly way.

"SAP BusinessObjects solutions have helped Emdeon kick off important green IT initiatives and become increasingly efficient from an administrative standpoint," said Gene Boerger, vice president of advanced business reporting, Emdeon. "By engaging in more sustainable initiatives - and effectively reducing paper, printing and distribution costs - we are working to lower the overall cost of healthcare for our customers. Furthermore, using BI tools has helped us gain greater insight from the information Emdeon possesses in its data warehouses. We accumulate 25 million rows of new data every day, and the SAP BusinessObjects intelligence platform helps us bring this previously static information to life."

SAP BusinessObjects Solutions Help Emdeon Optimize Data, Reporting and Claims Processing
SAP BusinessObjects XI is a part of Emdeon Vision, an innovative Web-based solution that provides one reporting platform for both internal and external constituencies. Emdeon manages more than 15,000 XML reporting requests per day and rendered a total of 1.5 million reports in 2008.

Emdeon Vision frees up time for healthcare payers and providers alike by automatically processing medical and dental claims, electronic remittances, real-time insurance eligibility requests, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-based transactions.

Further validating its progressive use of BI solutions, Emdeon was recently named a Business Objects 2008 BI Excellence Award Winner for its application of BI tools in improving business processes and sustainability efforts. The newly introduced award program honors SAP BusinessObjects customers utilizing BI to make a significant and lasting impact on their greater organizations.

"Part of our mission as a company is to transform the way the world works by employing the power of information," said Marge Breya, general manager and executive vice president, Intelligence Platform Group, SAP BusinessObjects Division. "One of the ways we do that is to provide solutions that help businesses like Emdeon better manage their sustainability initiatives. Emdeon transforms the way healthcare functions by using technology to improve organizational processes and reduce the impact on the environment, a significant achievement that easily earns a BI Excellence Award."

Read more at SAP.com

Learn about SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports

2009-02-10T08:13:00.000Z

Crystal Reports software enables you to easily design interactive reports and connect them to virtually any data source. Your users can benefit from on-report sorting and filtering – giving them the power to execute decisions instantly.

And with Crystal Reports Visual Advantage, you can gain even more functionality for compelling reports. This bundled product includes Crystal Reports and Xcelsius Engage, giving you the power to create highly formatted reports with what-if scenario models, interactive charts – and deliver them via the Web, e-mail, Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, or embedded in enterprise applications. As a result, you can leverage your reports to make better operational and strategic decisions.

With Crystal Reports, you can:

-Leverage professional reporting - priced for everyone
-Empower end users to explore reports with on-report sorting and parameters
-Minimize IT and developer effort with interactive reports
-Develop powerful data mashups
-Save valuable report design time
-Embed professional-looking reports in Java and .NET applications
-Tailor your solution by adding report management and viewing tools.

More about SAP Business and Objects Crystal Reports at SAP.com

Customers Gaining Value from SAP and HP Alliance Focused on the Midmarket

2009-02-02T19:02:00.000Z

SAP AG announced success of the SAP® Business All-in-One fast-start program with long-time strategic ally HP in providing mid-sized companies added value to their business management processes. The collaboration provides customers the SAP Business All-in-One solution on HP hardware, enabling them to gain access to leading business applications on an optimized platform. The offering has already provided operational efficiency for its customers. Through the offering, customers in manufacturing, services and wholesale distribution streamline their general and industry-specific business processes, giving them the power of transparency to better help them run their business better while also supporting growth aspirations for tomorrow. In addition, quick implementation addresses the business needs of midsized companies at a time of high competition and given today’s economic environment challenges.

The offering is part of the SAP Business All-in-One fast-start program designed for midsized companies to quickly scope, purchase and implement SAP Business All-in-One solutions. The specific collaboration with HP takes scalable software from SAP and runs it on tailored hardware from HP. As the offering is pre-tested, preconfigured and preinstalled, customers have a complete solution ready for them to use quickly and affordably. All services including implementation and maintenance are part of the offering. Provided through local SAP and HP partners, this offering is available globally.

Customers and partners have seen early benefits of the offering. Delta Elektronika, based in the Netherlands, provides power units for the majority of equipment throughout the world. They are proud of their reputation as being a reliable and solid supplier. Delta’s power units are an integral component in equipment and are often taken for granted. To meet today’s demanding equipment power needs, Delta wanted to implement a fully integrated business application with a fully aligned business flow from offer to order intake and order shipment including production. They chose the joint offering from SAP and HP because they wanted providers that shared the business values of efficiency and reliability.

“We chose HP for its brand and reputation for delivering and servicing infrastructures. SAP was selected because of their responsiveness. The main reason for our selection was the quick implementation time and reasonable price, causing no disruption to our operations,” said Ir. J. Koopman, general manager, Delta Electronika. “Having access to SAP applications on an HP server has increased the caliber of our entire operations. The server is ‘invisible’; it does what it needs to do all day and night with no problems.”

Leading Providers Collaborate to Offer Excellent Performance on a Low-Cost Basis for Midsize Customers
The joint offering from SAP and HP was announced in May 2008. It was designed specifically for the demands of midsized companies to provide them with a comprehensive, cost-effective, turnkey offering. Partners specifically have found value in the offering because of the quick implementation and the fact that the solution is preinstalled, pretested, preconfigured and comes with a clear implementation methodology which supports smooth projects. This allows them to offer the comprehensive, proven and reliable product that their customers want.

“The offering from two solid vendors is a winning combination for our customers,” said Vincent Jansen, general manager of the Dutch 2B BBIT BV a division of SAP Channel Partner 2B Interactive. “We chose to qualify for the SAP offering because our customers were demanding a complete offering that could be quickly implemented.”

The complete package includes business applications from SAP Business All-in-One and the SAP® MaxDBTM database, which is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell. The SAP solutions are preinstalled onto the HP BladeSystem c30000 enclosure and HP ProLiant server technology. The HP BladeSystem c3000 running SAP Business All-in-One integrates computing, networking, management, power and cooling, storage and data protection within a single, affordable and easy-to-manage enclosure designed specifically for midsize businesses.

“We are happy to see early success of the SAP Business All-in-One fast-start offering with HP. Working together to deliver solutions to midsized companies is very important to both SAP and HP as this ensures that our customers are getting what they need,” said Patricia Hume, senior vice president, Global SME Indirect Channel & Strategic Alliances, SAP. “The combination of SAP business applications and HP hardware creates a good foundation for our customers to build a solid IT infrastructure to address their specific business needs to remain competitive.”

“Customers want to save money while driving growth,” said Urs Renggli, director, Worldwide Small and Midmarket Business, HP. “The combination of advanced HP BladeSystem technology with SAP Business All-in-One creates a simple, affordable and reliable solution that delivers high availability and performance at low costs. Our participation in the SAP Business All-in-One fast-start program allows HP and our partners to optimize the offering to meet the need of our customers’ specific requirements.”

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Performance Management Solutions

2009-01-26T09:11:00.000Z

In today's increasingly global and competitive business environment, it's not enough to know where you want your business to go. You must plan faster and do more with potentially less budget and resources. At the same time, you must be incredibly efficient and more precise with every decision, while complying with regulatory requirements.

Being responsible for profitability, growth, shareholder value, strategy, regulatory compliance, and investor relations, executives must prioritize strategic goals, modify plans based on financial and operational changes, and empower all stakeholders to make more calculated decisions. Understanding changes to enterprise performance requires monitoring, analysis, risk assessment, timely reporting, and action based on information coming from many different parts of the business – including external partners, vendors, and customers.

Demonstrating operational success entails closing the gap between strategy and operational execution by cascading corporate goals down into department relevant metrics; ensuring accountability; enabling intuitive modeling, monitoring, and analysis; and streamlining execution of strategy-guided plans. Information needs to be available when your organization needs it to create a competitive edge and enable greater control of business operations.

Drive Performance with Financial and Operational Performance Management
To help you transform your organization into one that is performance driven, you need solutions that link together your processes and data to provide a common view of your business. SAP BusinessObjects enterprise performance management solutions can help you capitalize on the value of your corporate data, enabling your organization to become more agile and competitive by providing organizational alignment, visibility, and greater confidence.

Read more at SAP.com

SAP and Fujitsu Siemens Computers Collaborate to Deliver Rapid Business Results to the Midmarket

2009-01-19T09:00:00.000Z

SAP AG and Fujitsu Siemens Computers today announced that Fujitsu Siemens Computers is joining the SAP Business All-in-One fast-start program, putting midsize companies on the fast track to the adoption of specialized business software. Customers will receive SAP Business All-in-One solutions preinstalled on the Fujitsu Siemens Computers hardware. This combination provides midsized companies a cost-effective solution, helping them to centralize and consolidate their information technology (IT) thereby being enabled to gain operational efficiency. Global in scope, the agreement will be implemented on a country-by-country basis via qualified Fujitsu Siemens Computers partners and SAP value-added resellers throughout 2009.

The offering will include enhanced set of functionality for midsize companies in the manufacturing, wholesale and services industries. Pre-tested and pre-configured, the offering can be quickly installed and ready-to-use. For SAP and Fujitsu Siemens Computers joint customers, this means faster time to value and the ability to decrease the total cost of ownership (TCO). Customers will receive the PRIMERGY servers from Fujitsu Siemens Computers, which will be pre-installed with SAP Business All-in-One solutions and the SAP® MaxDBTM database running on the SUSE Enterprise Linux operating system from Novell. The software runs on PRIMERGY RX300 S4 racks as test and production servers. Optionally available are PRIMERGY RX100 S5 models as infrastructure servers and back-up with the FibreCAT TX08 tape device.

Joining the SAP Business-All-in-One fast-start program is the latest collaboration in a 30-year history between SAP and Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

“Although the benefits from an integrated system are clear to any midsize company, many companies have been reluctant to move from proprietary solutions managing single functions because of the perceived complexity and timescale of migration,” said Rolf Strotmann, vice president, Software and Solution Business, Fujitsu Siemens Computers. “Our joint modular approach is focused on problem-solving by removing the obstacles and allowing businesses to quickly and easily integrate and reap the rewards from an integrated system focused on the functionality they need.”

Novell’s vice president and general manager of Global Strategic Alliances, Susan Heystee comments, “With SUSE Linux Enterprise, midsize customers are able to optimize both their SAP functionality and their infrastructure with a fully integrated and validated technology stack that reduces complexity, increases manageability and lowers the total cost of ownership. It is the open platform of choice.”

“Adding Fujitsu Siemens Computers to our fast-start program will provide yet another opportunity for midsized customers to build an IT environment best suited for their business needs,” said Robert Vetter, head of Global Business Development, SAP. “Our shared customers will have access to a fully-tested, pre-configured business offering that has been designed for rapid and seamless deployment, enabling them take advantage of advanced business tools at an effective cost.”

You can read more about this collaboration at SAP's homepage.

University of St. Gallen and SAP Prove Business and Technology Value of Service-Oriented Architecture for SAP Customers

2009-01-12T08:24:00.000Z

SAP AG today announced findings of a research effort conducted with the University of St. Gallen that show IT projects based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) improve software reusability, reduce operations cost and offer substantial process efficiencies. Findings of the study will be presented to attendees at SAPPHIRE® 2008, SAP’s international customer conference, being held in Berlin, Germany, May 19-21.

As SOA is currently undergoing mass adoption and establishing itself as a de facto technology standard for implementing software architectures for increased flexibility and simplified integration, organizations are looking for more economic justification for their initial SOA projects. The study focuses on the SOA business-value proof points that organizations are using to convey the benefits of an SOA strategy to decision makers.

To enable best-practices sharing, SAP cooperated with the University of St. Gallen, which specializes in business and information management research, to interact with SAP and non-SAP customers spanning industries such as financial services, telecommunications, media and the public sector in this research.

Key findings from the study show that customers view the business case for SOA in two different ways.

The first is an IT-centric approach in which the benefits of the SOA technical infrastructure and organization are the driving factors behind implementation. This approach values the IT savings that SOA can bring through its “reuse of services,” or the efficiency gains experienced through reduced software-development time and cost.

“Our study shows that service orientation significantly improves the reusability of software functionality,” said Prof. Dr. Robert Winter, Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen. “In mature organizations, we found an average reuse rate of four, which leads to considerable IT consolidation and cost-saving potential. However, strict governance is absolutely vital.”

Certain companies, especially those who are SAP customers, do not stop here. The second approach uses the IT-centric method as one component in a broader, more comprehensive foray into evaluating SOA. Burda Digital Systems, for example, approaches SOA from an enterprise standpoint, or as an open architecture for adaptive business solutions. This architecture elevates the design, composition and management of Web services to address business requirements.

“SOA is a powerful concept that allows us to increase our productivity dramatically,” said Gerhard Thomas, CEO, Burda Digital Systems. “We achieve 10 to 20 percent savings in operations cost and 20 to 30 percent shorter project durations across our IT landscape. Sometimes it’s even more. However, the major benefit of SOA unfolds on the business-process side. We achieve increased process efficiency of between 10 to 30 percent, and also benefit from improved process quality due to consistent data and role-specific process design. This is only possible if you closely align your IT with the business and design services along process needs. SAP’s concept of built-in business semantics into enterprise services is exactly the way to guarantee this.”

Public Sector Organizations Benefit From SOA
With a business process platform following SAP’s business-driven SOA approach (enterprise SOA), the University of Hagen and the City of Hagen complied with new challenges faster and more effectively, while also responding to constituent demands at a quicker rate. The customers designed and built an online portal for citizen and constituent services, called “Rathaus 21” and equipped with more than 50 different predefined service offerings. The portal significantly improves constituent and cross-agencies processes. The blueprints of reusable process scenarios such as shopping carts and e-payment functions are now also offered to other cities and agencies, all to be implemented at higher speeds and efficiency rates when compared to traditional development approaches.

“Ensuring compliance with legal regulations, such as the new European Union service directive, is critical for public administration,” said Prof. Dr. Gunter Schlageter, Institute for Cooperative Systems, University of Hagen. “At the same time, we also need to provide new or enhanced citizen and constituent services. Enterprise SOA allows us to drive flexibility and efficiency into our processes. We are now able to provide improved public services and achieve higher efficiency at the same time. The resident registration process is a very good example: we increased our internal-process efficiency by 16 percent, as citizens can now use a new self-service interface and benefit from a reduced process-execution time – from eight days to 60 seconds. For us, enterprise SOA is not only a technological concept – it has strategic relevance for our business.”

“SAP embarked on this study with the University of St. Gallen to hear directly from customers how enterprise SOA is helping them swiftly adapt to rapidly changing market needs,” said Patrick Frerichs, consulting director for SAP. “We view this study as an installment in the qualitative research and feedback that SAP is constantly collecting from its customers. This study shows many SOA projects start without an explicit business case, but the need for proving value increases rapidly down the road of SOA adoption. This is incredibly useful for us, for we are able to take this feedback and work closely with current and prospective customers on how to maximize SOA.”

This research comes on the heels of newly announced SAP business process management capabilities (see May 6, 2008 press release, titled “SAP Ushers In New Era for Business Process Management”), which will further increase the ability to deliver insight, flexibility and efficiency based on a comprehensive SOA, and delivered with the service-enabled business suite, SAP NetWeaver® technology platform and vibrant ecosystem of SAP services and partner-delivered applications.

SAPPHIRE® 2008 Orlando and SAPPHIRE® 2008 Berlin
More than 15,000 customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAPPHIRE 2008 to discover how SAP and its thriving partner ecosystem are delivering IT solutions that create value beyond the four walls of the enterprise, to create “business beyond boundaries.” SAP’s premier educational and networking event, SAPPHIRE is the one occasion where senior executives, business managers, and decision-makers can come together every year to explore how innovative business solutions foster long-term, profitable growth. SAPPHIRE® 2008 was held in Orlando, Florida, May 4-7, and is being held in Berlin, Germany, May 19-21, 2008. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/sapphire.

Note to Editors:
Webcasts, announcements, media roundtables, keynote presentations and podcasts from SAPPHIRE 2008 will be available in the events' virtual newsroom at http://www.sapsapphire.com/emea2008/newsroom/index.htm. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this newly launched site, you also can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. No registration is required. To preview and request broadcast-standard video digitally or by tape, log on to www.thenewsmarket.com/sap, where registration and video is free to the media. To request video materials not available on these sites, or for general questions, please contact saptv@sap.com.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47,800 customers (excludes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit sap.com)

SAP: Standard Software Provider of Choice for Wholesale Distributors

2008-12-15T07:56:00.001Z

Increasing Adoption of the SAP® for Wholesale Distribution Solution Portfolio Fuels Growth of Customer Base

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced strong global momentum for its SAP® for Wholesale Distribution solutions, with a rapidly growing customer base and the endorsements of leading industry companies from around the globe, including McKesson Corp., Powell Electronics Inc., Reyher, Saladino’s Inc., Tallard Technologies Inc., Univeg and Voigt AG. The SAP for Wholesale Distribution solution portfolio has attracted more than 3,700 wholesalers, making SAP the standard software provider of choice for wholesale distributors. The solutions help large, midsize and small distributors automate and optimize business processes, reduce supply chain costs, increase cash-flow and facilitate collaboration with suppliers, customers and partners.

SAP understands the complex challenges of wholesale distribution. Low profit margins, rising logistical costs and intensified competition are driving companies to seek better visibility and technical advantage with state-of-the-art IT solutions. To address these challenges and maximize return on investment, the enterprise software packages are tailored to the specialized needs of the different segments within the wholesale distribution industry. The solution sets are based on an in-depth knowledge of the processes that drive the healthcare, food and industrial segments, and feature applications such as purchase optimization, catch-weight, track & trace, chargeback and rebate management, and multi-channel sales order processing.

“Wholesale distributors need to grow profitably while perfectly delivering on customer demands,” said Joseph Kress, vice president, Business Technology Solutions, McKesson Corp. “We were utilizing SAP’s financial software, so it was a natural progression to go with SAP for the other components. The SAP solution enables us to efficiently manage massive amounts of business data today, while providing us with the visibility to create the right product and value-added service mix for tomorrow. The implementation was flawless, which is impressive given that, at the time, it was the largest capital investment McKesson has ever made outside an acquisition.”

“SAP has provided a great solution for Border States. It was the right choice in 1998 and continues to be the right choice for BSE today,” said Tammy Miller, CEO, Border States Electric. “I know that we would not have achieved this level of success as rapidly as we have without the SAP solution. We wanted an enterprise resource planning solution that would meet all our business needs and that would be a solid platform for growth. SAP has provided that solution by increasing profitability, reducing transaction costs and improving overall asset performance.”

SAP for Wholesale Distribution solutions provide a platform for companies to easily and quickly implement and transform their business models to meet changing market demands. The solutions allow optimization of key business requirements while enabling change, integration and collaboration, resulting in maximum value delivery to joint customers.

“By selecting software from the SAP and SAP partners for wholesale distribution, we were able to get business solutions based on experience gleaned from several installations for midsize technical wholesalers,” said Peter Bielert, vice president, Logistics and Process Management, Reyher. “The SAP NetWeaver technology platform and service-oriented architecture support our efforts to implement solutions and automate processes that link us to our 10,000 customers and our 700 suppliers. In addition, the fixed cost and time release update approach provided us with payback on our company’s investment in the new SAP ERP Central Component quickly and virtually risk free.”

Jebsen & Jessen, a leading consumer electronics product distributor based in Thailand, found its service center overwhelmed with a large volume of service requests that stretched the existing warranty-handling process to its limits. Using SAP NetWeaver® and the enabling service-oriented architecture, the wholesaler innovated and streamlined its product warranty servicing process to better serve its dealers and end customers.

“With SAP, we were able to significantly increase the service capacity without adding any headcount, and the real-time warranty status information helped gain higher customer satisfaction,” said Gopal Varutharaju, IT director, Jebsen & Jessen Group of Companies South East Asia. “We have been using SAP software for nine years now, and it has always provided us with a reliable IT platform for our ever-changing business needs.”

SAP’s strong ecosystem of partners enables customers to quickly find and deploy the wholesale solutions to accelerate innovation, improve return on investment and grow.

“As an SAP partner, we are focused on helping distributors meet their goals by offering an additional layer of configuration and flexibility with our solution extensions,” said Sanjay Shah, founder, president and CEO, Vistex, Inc. “Wholesale distributors can use the SAP Incentive Administration and SAP Paybacks and Chargebacks by Vistex applications to administer contracts and claims, reduce disputes, optimize rebates and achieve significant savings in administrative labor costs. These applications help solve the unique challenges wholesale distributors face, and help streamline collaborative business processes between the distributors and the manufacturers.”

“We are seeing strong cross-industry demand from wholesale distributors for better control and visibility into the myriad of business processes they manage,” said Verlin Youd, senior vice president, Global Trading Industries, SAP. “SAP for Wholesale Distribution offers companies a solution that provides business-level context and industry specific functionality to give customer the insight, efficiency and cost control needed in today’s market.”

Current customers for the SAP for Wholesale Distribution solution portfolio span the globe and include Actebis, Border States Electric, The Charmer Sunbelt Group, DITAN Distribution, Fabory, Jebsen & Jessen, McKesson, Powell Electronics, Reyher, Saladino’s, Summit Electric Supply, Tallard Technologies, Univeg and Voigt AG.

About SAP® for Wholesale Distribution
SAP® for Wholesale Distribution is a set of state-of-the-art software solutions for midsize and large wholesale distribution businesses worldwide. With SAP for Wholesale Distribution, companies can improve their operational excellence and profitability while supporting innovative business models and customer services. The solutions include SAP core enterprise software combined with industry-specific applications that support fundamental business requirements, helping organizations solve real-time business issues and adapt to an ever-changing business and IT environment. SAP for Wholesale Distribution is powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform, an extensive integration and application platform that lays the foundation for innovative, cross-functional business processes.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 76,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Copyright © 2008 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

Note to editors:
To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you also can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. No registration is required.

source: sap.com

SAP BUSINESS ONE SERVICES

2008-12-08T15:59:00.000Z

Services To Help You See Return On Investment

Meeting your business goals is your first priority, and it's imperative that you're able to focus internal resources on those efforts. With financing, education, and support from SAP and our qualified partners, you can do just that.

SAP and our partners help you purchase, deploy, and maintain your business management solution. SAP Financing offers affordable, predictable financing assistance. E-learning from SAP can help train your employees on the system quickly and efficiently. And ongoing support from SAP and our partners offers reliable, knowledgeable assistance – now and in the future.

A Solution You Can Afford

Business management software is a significant investment; SAP offers financing to help you see return on that investment sooner.

SAP Financing provides comprehensive coverage that can be acquired in either an all–inclusive manner or exactly as you require. Financing can cover all aspects of the solution that contribute to total cost of ownership of this information technology decision – even internal project costs and the first year of maintenance.

SAP Financing offers competitive rates, predictable payments, and terms of up to seven years. With the pay-as-you-earn option, you can enjoy benefits before making the initial investment by deferring your first payment up to 12 months from the start of the project.

Read more about SAP Financing

SMALL BUSINESS SOFTWARE RESOURCE KIT

2008-12-01T08:50:00.000Z

If you're thinking about implementing a new software system and want to make sure everything goes smoothly, first get our small business software resource kit. Just download the kit to learn how to increase profits, satisfy customers, prepare and educate your employees, and get business-wide buy-in to ensure a successful outcome.

The resource kit contains information to help you:

Select business management software
Assess whether business management software is right for you
Determine how business management software can help solve day-to-day work challenges
Understand what the return on a business management software investment really means
Select the right business management software
Implement business management software
Understand the common timelines for a business management software implementation
Know what to expect during a software implementation – and what to expect to spend
Enable successful software adoption
Plus you'll learn the top 5 reasons why software implementation projects succeed.

Over 11,000 small businesses and midsize companies use the SAP Business One application to help them respond quickly to changing market conditions. Find out what business management software can mean to your company.

Download your free small business software resource kit at SAP.com

SAP Enhances Value of SAP Customer Relationships

2008-11-16T16:53:00.001Z

Industry’s Longest Maintenance Offering Extends and Protects SAP Investment

SAP AG today announced a series of initiatives focused on enhancing value in the relationship between SAP and its customers. Among the latest innovations SAP is delivering to meet customers' evolving needs are new maintenance strategy, new and revised features of SAP® Enterprise Support, and a special program to bring SAP's latest technology platform to all customers. Nimbly adjusting to market changes, protecting the bottom line in uncertain economies, collaborating with trading partners and innovating rapidly are critical for a company's long-term success. The ability to optimize IT solutions - for maximum efficiencies, minimized down-times and rapid innovation - is a pivotal element in enabling this success. Working closely to address market and user group feedback and input, SAP developed these latest initiatives to provide its customers of all shapes and sizes with better access to tools and solutions that will enable them to become best-run.

Revised Maintenance Strategy Allows Customers More Time for Extended Value
Effective immediately, SAP is extending its maintenance offering to provide a total of nine years of support, delivering maintenance for SAP's latest offerings through 2017. Continuing to provide a strong, predictable support structure for its industry leading solutions, SAP is extending its 5-1-2 strategy to seven years, with an additional option for two years of extended maintenance, starting with SAP® ERP 6.0 and any new core applications from the SAP® Business Suite introduced by SAP going forward. This 7-2 offering, the longest in the industry, provides customers more time to deploy and realize return on investment via SAP enhancement packages. Now, with a total of nine years of support, customers can more effectively manage their IT investment costs, protect their investment and maximize the opportunity for adoption of application innovations that support their business goals.

User Groups Contribute to New Elements of SAP Enterprise Support to Optimize Innovation for Customers
Working with user groups for customer input and feedback, SAP is continuing to update and enhance SAP Enterprise Support to provide additional value for customers. The adjustments to SAP Enterprise Support further enable customers to protect their IT investment, take advantage of timely delivery of innovations and enhancements, and benefit from the full value of their IT landscape. Now, as part of SAP Enterprise Support, customers are provided up to five days remote advice per year by software architects to assist in evaluating the innovation capabilities of the latest SAP enhancement package and how it may be deployed for business process requirements. This added support will help customers speed time to value for their investments.

SAP has also provided additional clarification and concrete deliverables for areas of SAP Enterprise Support around SAP® Solution Manager, enterprise edition, and mission critical support services, including:

* Custom Code Support: For custom code built with an SAP development workbench, SAP provides mission-critical support root-cause analysis for priority "very high" and "high" messages. SAP will offer up to two checks per solution per year to help avoid conflicts between planned custom code/modifications and SAP enhancement packages, based on required minimum documentation.
* Testing Efficiency Improvement: SAP will deliver pre-configured test cases with the SAP Solution Manager, as part of solution configuration templates, to help customers optimize test activities for SAP and non-SAP systems by assisting customers in determining the full scope of testing required.
* Enterprise Support Report: SAP will deliver one SAP Enterprise Support report per year on-demand, providing recommendations to maximize the value received from SAP Enterprise Support.
* Guidelines for Configuration and Operations: For future SAP products and solutions, SAP will provide guidelines and pre-defined content for configuration, as well as best practices for system administration and end-to-end solution operations.

"These enhancements to SAP Enterprise Support bring to the front some hidden gems that are under-hyped by SAP," said Bruce Richardson, chief research officer, AMR Research. "Outlining specifics for value engineering, enhancement packages and solution manager will demonstrate clear opportunities for customers to derive value from their IT investment."

Demonstrating a continued commitment to collaborating with customers on the future of its product and support strategies, SAP and its SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) worked together to form a task force to aggregate customer feedback and drive SAP adoption and awareness. (See Nov. 6, 2008 announcement, titled "SAP and the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) Liaise to Quantify Value of New SAP Support Offering.")

"SAP has demonstrated a strong commitment to work with the twelve user group members of SUGEN to assure value is delivered not only with SAP Enterprise Support, but with all SAP products and services," said Mike Stoko, chairman, SUGEN. "Based on customer feedback, SAP is collaborating with SUGEN to ensure customers can better optimize their IT landscapes and demonstrate reduced TCO using the additional tools and solutions available through SAP Enterprise Support."

SAP's strategy of delivering innovations to customers via enhancement packages results in continued innovation without disruption. Delivered in smaller, more frequent and easily consumed increments, enhancements to SAP's portfolio of software solutions bring customers the most relevant, up-to-date and innovative software enhancements, making large-scale upgrades obsolete. With SAP Enterprise Support, IT organizations will have additional support in delivering maximum value to the business with timely, efficient and streamlined consumption of enhancement packages.

Paving the Way for Customers to SOA Platform
Knowing that some SAP midmarket customers want to experience the benefits resulting from its latest generation solutions, SAP will study how to make it easier for customers to make the transition. SAP said it was collaborating with its user groups and partners to evaluate how SAP® R/3®-centric customers can best migrate to the company's enhancement package architecture based on SAP ERP 6.0 and enabled by SAP Enterprise Support. SAP will help these customers reach a fast, secure and efficient path to SAP ERP 6.0 by leveraging its experiences and market-proven know how in solution integration, as already packaged as SAP® Best Practices in its SAP® Business All-in-One solutions. This will allow all SAP customers to easily move to the most innovative technology platform from SAP and ultimately leverage SAP Enterprise Support to experience and benefit from the full value of their IT landscape.

"SAP is committed to providing its customers a total value proposal as the preferred provider for end-to-end business solutions," said Gerhard Oswald, member of the Executive Board, SAP AG. "Customer benefit is driven by SAP's products and product-related services, which provide continuous innovation without disruption, protection of investment, built-in solution operations and mission critical support. SAP Enterprise Support is the long-term, value realization focused partnership agreement between SAP and its customers. These latest initiatives announced today not only provide direct access to SAP to accelerate innovation, but provide the safeguards for business continuity and reduced cost of operations with a longer return on investment."

About SAP® Enterprise Support
SAP Enterprise Support is SAP's new holistic support offering for SAP customers and joins SAP® MaxAttentionTM and SAP® Safeguarding in the company's array of support offerings. For more information please visit http://www.sap.com/services.

About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 76,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." (For more information, visit www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

source: SAP.com

The Future Is Here -- SAP Customer Relationship Management Webcast

2008-11-10T09:29:00.001Z

If your organization has a current CRM initiative or is considering an upgrade to its SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, then this SAP Webcast series is for you.

Rick Moore and Lisa Dunnette from Intervoice Solutions for Convergys will discuss their upgrade to the latest release of SAP CRM. They'll speak about how they are using it to provide their sales force with management solutions via a new user interface that improves user adoption; to drive incremental ROI; and to make better decisions in real time.

You'll hear how the best-run businesses like Convergys (formerly known as Intervoice) have upgraded to SAP CRM 2007 and learn how they are using it to:

Provide their sales force with account, activity, and opportunity management in a new user interface that improves user adoption Leverage SAP CRM for sales forecasting and planning to drive incremental ROI Use analytics to make better decisions in real time

Speakers
Jeff Eberhart, Director, CRM Customer Value Network, SAP Americas
Rick Moore, Senior Manager, IT Business Solutions, Intervoice
Lisa Dunnette, IT Business Analyst, Intervoice Solutions for Convergys

Watch the Webcast here

SAP Executives Praise the Efficiency, Insight and Flexibility of Combined SAP and Business Objects Portfolio

2008-10-27T08:50:00.000Z

Before audiences totaling record numbers of developers, partners and customers, Léo Apotheker, co-CEO of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), and John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects, an SAP company, and member of the SAP Executive Board, spoke at SAP® TechEd 2008 about harnessing the power of the collective knowledge and resources of the SAP ecosystem to become catalysts for transforming the way businesses work. At keynote sessions in Berlin and Las Vegas respectively, Apotheker and Schwarz emphasized that in today’s economic climate, businesses need both the value and results that SAP’s powerful portfolio delivers.

The keynote presentations, hosted by Zia Yusuf, executive vice president of the Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, were made at SAP TechEd 2008, SAP’s largest ecosystem education event, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sept. 9–12, and Berlin, Germany, Oct. 14–16, 2008.

SAP Co-CEO Léo Apotheker Showcases IT as Enabler of Strategic Agility
Speaking October 14 in Berlin to a diverse audience of more than 4,500 attendees, SAP co-CEO Léo Apotheker highlighted the business necessity of an IT infrastructure that offers great flexibility, efficiency and insight. In an increasingly connected and “flatter” world, with boundaries shifting or disappearing and connectivity among people—across continents, cultures and industries—thriving, companies must adapt their business practices and processes to achieve strategic agility.

Apotheker described the SAP® Business Suite family of business applications as the “backbone of the entire environment,” a reliable, scalable, secure and globalized business process platform that drives both efficiency across the connected business network and the innovation to meet new expectations.

Moving a step deeper for the technical audience, Apotheker praised the value of SAP’s enhancement packages and their ease-of-use, made possible with the switch framework of the SAP Business Suite. The switch framework puts customers in control of the functionalities they want to use, providing flexibility and negating the need for complete upgrades.

“Enhancement packages enable customers to continuously consume innovations without disruption to ongoing business operations,” said Apotheker. “Companies want the continuous stream of innovation at their own speed and without risk. SAP is delivering on that with its enhancement packages that completely move companies away from traditional ‘all-or-nothing’ upgrades. Our customers praise SAP enhancement packages as simpler to implement than a support package.”

Additionally, Apotheker highlighted the momentum among companies continuing to embrace the flexibility of service-oriented architecture (SOA) to accelerate innovation, standardize business processes and drive competitive differentiation. Companies such as Vinzenz Gruppe are utilizing SAP Business Suite applications, together with the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform, to take advantage of an SOA strategy and optimize business performance. With the SOA-based flexibility of SAP NetWeaver, users are able to empower and connect people, manage and deliver information, and integrate and adapt processes, enabling collaboration in the business network across technical boundaries.

Apotheker cited the example of the SAP® ERP Human Capital Management solution (SAP ERP HCM) as one of many instances where SAP is providing streamlined, end-to-end processes for use by companies in all industries. While it includes components that SAP has delivered historically, SAP ERP HCM brings together SOA, the SAP NetWeaver technology platform as the integration vehicle, and packaged services to provide a single solution able to connect to other parts of the enterprise inside and outside of the organization that meets the end-to-end requirements of human resource executives.

Apotheker demonstrated how the SAP NetWeaver® Business Process Management (SAP NetWeaver BPM) component further strengthens the SAP NetWeaver technology platform and provides the business process flexibility needed to enable customers to turn strategic business insight into real-world execution. Describing SAP NetWeaver BPM as “the foundational element to connect business and IT,” Apotheker praised the component for allowing users to design, execute and monitor business processes across the enterprise. In addition, SAP NetWeaver BPM users can interact with peers through the SAP Business Process Expert community to foster collaboration with a group that currently totals more than 425,000 members.

Highlighting the importance of the unique SAP ecosystem, Apotheker addressed the launch of the SAP® EcoHub site to underscore the continuous expansion of the SAP ecosystem in driving collaboration and co-innovation. The site provides SAP customers an online marketplace that enables them to discover, evaluate and purchase partner solutions complementary to their SAP installations. SAP EcoHub connects and engages the community with full transparency through the use of user feedback and ratings and demos, and delivers breakthrough value to SAP customers. (See Oct. 14, 2008 press release, titled “SAP Launches SAP® EcoHub, a Community-Powered Solution Marketplace.”)

Apotheker also stressed the importance of insight to accompany SAP’s efficient and flexible processes. Citing customer need for insight as one of many reasons for the success for the combined SAP and Business Objects portfolio, Apotheker echoed the message that John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects and SAP Executive Board member, delivered last month at TechEd 2008 Las Vegas.

Business Objects CEO John Schwarz Heralds the Benefits of Closed-Loop Strategy
At the first SAP TechEd event to include Business Objects, John Schwarz spoke in September in Las Vegas to an audience of more than 6,000 attendees from 49 countries, providing insight into business processes that support solid decision-making and align operations and strategy. Schwarz stated that the combination of Business Objects’ expertise in providing customers with broader insight into their data, aligned strategy and optimized decision-making, with SAP—long known as the leader in business process efficiency and flexibility—is the ideal match for customers around the globe. Business Objects and SAP solutions enable businesses to meet the challenge of closing the gap between strategy and execution for optimized business performance, critical today more than ever.

Schwarz discussed three key trends that are affecting organizations’ ability to optimize performance. They include the changing nature of information, the changing nature of how people work and the changing nature of how businesses connect. In combination with SAP, Business Objects provides solutions that leverage these trends to provide broader insight, aligned strategy and improved execution—regardless of the underlying transactional systems.

“The value of Business Objects inside the SAP world is primarily to do three things,” Schwarz explained. “First, provide access to unified information. Second, connect people to information, which fosters collaborative decisions—critical since it is rare that one person or one company has all the information needed to make an informed decision. And finally, allow business network optimization, which means vendors, customers, suppliers, partners and more are connected and sharing information in a meaningful way to determine the best solution.”

Business Objects’ four product lines—information management, business intelligence, enterprise performance management, and governance, risk and compliance—enable these critical actions as well as empower everyone from the business user to the C-level suite to gain the necessary insight to drive strategic agility by setting clear and actionable direction for the entire business network. Business Objects has an ongoing commitment to interoperability with any database, application data source or IT system, and support for the heterogeneous computing environments that companies are increasingly encountering as they engage in business network transformation.

Additionally, Schwarz praised Business Objects’ portfolio of solutions for its diversity and growth. With availability announced from the event in Las Vegas, BusinessObjects™ Metadata Management XI 3.0 software is one such example of how Business Objects is continually providing new and innovative offerings to its customers (see Sept. 9, 2008 press release, titled “Business Objects Launches New Version of Metadata Management Solution.”) Metadata Management XI 3.0 enables organizations to support data governance by providing a central view of metadata assets and their relationships, and includes the industry’s first “metapedia,” an encyclopedia that translates metadata into business definitions, allowing for easier navigation and data discovery by business users. The software improves users’ capabilities to understand and manage metadata. With the help of this offering from Business Objects, users gain the insight necessary to successfully implement a data governance strategy.

Furthermore, announced October 14 in Berlin, collaboration between SAP and Cisco is building upon the growth of offerings that empower business users with the freedom to access trustworthy data and utilize it to improve business effectiveness, while ensuring that controls are in place to maintain compliance (see Oct. 14, 2008 press release, titled “SAP and Cisco Deliver Data Privacy Application.”) The Data Privacy composite application from SAP and Cisco brings together Cisco intelligent network services with SAP® solutions for Governance, Risk and Compliance (SAP solutions for GRC) to help organizations proactively enforce data privacy across the business network. SAP solutions for GRC are part of Business Objects, and, combined with the Business Objects enterprise performance management and business intelligence solutions, deliver a comprehensive portfolio for business performance optimization.

Next Major Events: The SAP TechEd 2008 Conference Series Continues
In its 12th year, the SAP TechEd 2008 event season continues next month with conferences in China and India. Vishal Sikka, chief technology officer of SAP AG, will speak at SAP TechEd 2008 Shanghai, being held Nov. 5–6, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, member of the SAP Executive Board leading the Business Solutions & Technology organization, will present at SAP TechEd 2008 Bangalore, being held Nov. 12–14.

For more information on the executive keynote from SAP TechEd 2008 Las Vegas, please visit www.sapteched.com/usa/news. For more information on the executive keynote from SAP TechEd 2008 Berlin, please visit www.sapteched.com/emea/news. To see video of highlights from SAP TechEd 2008 and other SAP events, please visit www.sap-tv.com/channel.php?c=3&l=1.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 75,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Copyright © 2008 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

Note to editors:
Webcasts, announcements, media roundtables, keynote presentations and podcasts from SAP TechEd 2008 will be available in the event’s virtual newsroom at www.sapteched.com/emea/news/. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this newly launched site, you also can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV. No registration is required. To preview and request broadcast-standard video digitally or by tape, log on to www.thenewsmarket.com/sap, where registration and video is free to the media.

source: sap.com

Learn How to Improve Operational Efficiency for Profitable Growth

2008-10-20T07:51:00.000+01:00

The business cycle is materializing faster than ever. Globalization, industry consolidation, and mounting IT complexity are just a few of the motivating forces commanding a permanent shift away from linear business growth to a more dynamic, multidimensional system of change – so businesses do more with less. To keep pace, today's businesses demand a novel way of thinking, transforming and solving problems to achieve breakthrough results for their company, and their customers.

SAP's ecosystem offers the most comprehensive and consistent industry approach to enable customers, partners and individuals to accelerate innovation, improve ROI, and grow beyond their own enterprise limitations. With finite resources, businesses must swiftly address complex challenges that test their capacities under pressure. Working within SAP's ecosystem, customers can lower costs; increase time to market and overall productivity; maintain and protect their competitive edge; and position their business to compete well into the future by supporting a shared goal to innovate efficiently.

A Customer-Focused Ecosystem
Customers increasingly recognize the need to build relationships in a network, access multidimensional expertise and partner to find better business solutions. SAP orchestrates a diverse ecosystem relationships, resources, and initiatives to enable our customers to gain success. A new level of collaboration extends beyond traditional business that achieves accelerated innovation, communication, and more comprehensive solutions.

The SAP Ecosystem: Connecting Customers, Partners, and Individuals
In the SAP ecosystem, customers expect – and do – find qualified expertise, insights, answers and connections that are right for their business. Working within the ecosystem is fast and effective – whether engaging a new partner or co-innovating using complementary technology, customers can access broader knowledge quickly to make more informed decisions. A regional partner may expand globally. A venture capitalist may identify an investment opportunity with an emerging ISV. A large enterprise short on a specific IT skill set may access a developer community to create a new solution. The SAP ecosystem is a novel approach to smarter business management that drives measurable results – and benefits the ecosystem and all customers it serves.

To foster an ideal environment for ongoing innovation and value creation, SAP has developed a comprehensive approach with three pillars of the SAP Ecosystem:

* Industry-focused excellence – Helps our customers quickly find and deploy solutions appropriate for their own industry and business needs – from among more than 2000 partner solutions certified for SAP NetWeaver and through various SDN industry forums. In addition, more than 100 customers and partners are working together in more than a dozen industry value networks to develop solutions to the most pressing industry needs.

* Community-powered results – Links you quickly to people, organizations, and resources you need, when you need them. With access to more than one million members of SAP communities, you can achieve results faster by making meaningful connections to people with similar roles, who perform similar tasks and address similar challenges.

* Orchestrated co-innovation – Bring together diverse relationships, resources, and communities to help develop the next generation of effective solutions in concert with SAP development efforts. Customers may have unique or emerging innovation needs not met by existing solutions. Fostering collaboration around these needs ensures ongoing innovation and value for everyone.

Becoming a SAP Partner

2008-10-13T07:53:00.002+01:00

SAP PartnerEdge Program.
SAP & Channel Partners Meeting SME Needs.
The award-winning SAP PartnerEdge Program is designed to empower SAP channel partners to successfully sell, build and deliver solutions to meet needs of the expanding small and midsize enterprise (SME).

With your expertize, there is practically no limit to the number of small businesses and midsize companies that can take advantage of SAP Business One and SAP Business All-in-One solutions.

SAP Extended Business Program.
Join Forces. Extend Success.
Become an Extended Business Program Member and join forces with an authorized SAP channel partner in some capacity to promote, implement, or develop SAP solutions for small businesses and midsize companies.

To unlock the maximum value from your relationship with an SAP channel partner, SAP will provide direct access to SAP tools, resources, and training to stay up-to-date with SAP software and technology.

SAP Referral Program.
Easy On You. Big On Rewards.
This program is designed to make it easy for you to earn big on business opportunities you share. It's simple. Submit leads, track their status - and ultimately, earn big returns on those leads that SAP converts to wins.

Whether your an existing partner or not, if you know customers or prospects in the SME market who would benefit from the world's leading business software, pass the lead to us - and we'll work to make it a win for you, your customers, and SAP.

for more information visit SAP

7 Best Practices You Can Put in Place Now to Make Your Future Upgrade a Breeze

2008-10-06T14:57:00.000+01:00

When the IT team for Pacific Coast Building Products approached its technical upgrade to SAP ERP 6.0, it did so with great caution.

The company, which manufactures and distributes products for the construction industry and runs its own contracting division, did not take the upgrade lightly. “Two of us had experience with upgrades in the past and were skeptical, like most people are,” says CIO Mike O’Dell. “We were thinking that this upgrade was going to be difficult.”

And yet, after the team tested the technical upgrade on a development system, they found that it wasn’t so difficult after all. “It was nothing,” O’Dell says. “It was like installing a support pack.” The end results speak for themselves: The project took only 76 days from start to finish, and the team managed to complete the go-live over a weekend.

While the technical upgrade process to SAP ERP 6.0 has been greatly streamlined by support from SAP, what gave Pacific Coast the greatest chance for success was that it had many best practices in place before undertaking the upgrade.

What follows are seven of the most important practices that you can put in place now to make your future upgrade successful.

1. Hire Knowledgeable People
“We hire good people and keep them, and we don’t rely on consultants,” says O’Dell. The company has a philosophy of investing in the education and training of its employees.

“Why pay for knowledge, have a consultant learn something, and then take it out the door?” O’Dell asks. “We have the in-house knowledge to do this. We did it in that timeframe — fewer than 90 days — without any consultants and, you know, to be honest, it’s not that hard.”

Before coming to Pacific Coast as a project manager, O’Dell was the IT director at a chemical company, and his initiatives there only reinforced his belief that focused teamwork is necessary for success. The IT team at Pacific Coast is made up of 47 individuals in a variety of roles, and O’Dell not only leverages his own SAP and technology experience but also relies heavily on the expertise of his team members. The Pacific Coast IT team provides technical know-how in areas such as SAP configuration/development, Basis, infrastructure architecture, and operations. The team is also well-versed in business and communication services including project management, process redesign, training, and in-depth support. Two of his managers who illustrate this balance between technology and business are Eric Vota, manager of development/Web, and Ann Foley, manager of project management, training, and operations.

The team’s balance of technology and business skills —combined with its hands-on knowledge of how the SAP system was configured and past upgrade experience — paved the way for a smooth upgrade project. The team members’ familiarity with how the system was set up and used on a day-to-day basis informed their planning decisions, as well as how they actually executed the upgrade (e.g., knowing what to test and where to focus, as well as identifying potential “gotchas” experienced in prior support pack implementations). “A significant portion of the team was on board when the company first implemented SAP technology back in 2000,” O’Dell says. If your team members don’t have previous experience with SAP upgrades, he recommends hiring consultants to fill in any gaps in knowledge or experience.

2. Avoid Modifying the Core SAP Code
While businesses can configure SAP technology in many different ways to fit their needs, O’Dell advises against customizing the core SAP code. “Instead, let’s find a way to make it work using SAP standard delivered functionality,” O’Dell suggests. “And if we have to modify it, let’s modify it using SAP-blessed methods, such as Z programs,” he adds. When Pacific Coast began planning its upgrade, it identified almost 2,000 Z programs currently in use.

According to O’Dell, Pacific Coast tends to follow the SAP-sanctioned way. “I know there are other companies that customize the dickens out of their core,” he says. “And then when they go to upgrade, things don’t work.”

Many times throughout his career, outside resources have tried to convince O’Dell that the answer to a problem is writing a program. “I’d tell them, ‘No, SAP should be able to do that. Go back and figure out how.’” Inevitably, they would come back later and admit that they found a way to do it with SAP solutions. “You can provide the business with what they want without writing code probably 85% of the time,” O’Dell says.

That being said, the Pacific Coast IT team does not shy away from seeking new functionality to take advantage of a business opportunity. “We were able to add a lot of bells and whistles for our customers, but we didn’t do it by modifying the SAP core,” says Ann Foley. “Instead, we’ve used Web applications to make faster processes for the users, but we’re still using standard SAP functionality behind the scenes.”

According to O’Dell, if you must write code to modify programs, the key is to choose the modifications wisely. “We’ve got some really slick implementations of things we’ve done with SAP solutions,” he says. “But we made sure we didn’t paint ourselves into a corner where we couldn’t upgrade.”

3. Maintain Discipline
Pacific Coast’s IT team maintains a disciplined environment throughout its infrastructure and systems. “You must maintain discipline around change and transport management, discipline around how you write code, even discipline about tidying up after yourself and keeping a nice, clean, maintainable system,” says O’Dell. “For example, nobody ever — ever — configures in production. This way, there aren’t any surprises because you have a well-managed landscape.”

While Pacific Coast focuses on discipline and structure, Foley says it’s still a very fast-paced environment. “We’re not a very traditional shop that says ‘Process is king, and it must come before functionality.’ We crank things out quickly at the same time.” The team is able to focus on maintaining discipline but still maintain a steady and heavy workflow. “We have 50 projects going a year,” she says, “so we still produce a lot.”

4. One for All — and All for the Upgrade
“When you start working on an upgrade, then your entire IT department focuses on the upgrade,” explains O’Dell. That means the business must put a temporary freeze on enhancements or other requests for services. This level of focus across the department also required disciplined teamwork to complete the upgrade.

O’Dell’s team had to pull together and act collectively to complete the many pieces of the upgrade project. The teamwork required is obvious as O’Dell describes the process: “We put a governance model in place and had to get it approved, and then we spent some time planning the upgrade. We planned out the test environment, built it, and duplicated our test systems. We practiced the upgrade three times prior to the test environment and then did it three more times in the test environment,” he says. Meanwhile, the team had to bring a project manager who had never done this kind of upgrade before up to speed.

The entire business must cooperate as a united team in order to accomplish an upgrade such as this, and the way to get that cooperation is to closely link IT with the business (see sidebar).

Truly Making IT Part of the Business
When talking about how the Pacific Coast IT team operates during projects, CIO Mike O’Dell says, “We’re not your grandpa’s IT department. We fancy ourselves as being part of the business, not a separate group. I have people in the field who help out as part of the project.”

He adds that rather than buy into the IT/business alignment mentality, they prefer the IT/business assimilation mindset. “All of us come from a business background, so our mentality is that we’re part of the business,” says O’Dell.

It is not unusual for Pacific Coast to blur the lines of IT and business. For example, Eric Vota went out into the field to get an up-close look at how a new solution would work for employees. “Eric went and worked at a wall plant, where we put in a job costing solution,” says O’Dell. “He worked there for a while, so he knows how they work. They, in turn, got to know him and know that he’s looking out for them.” He adds, with a laugh, “but they wouldn’t let him swing a hammer.”

Vota says that while he didn’t actually get to build any walls at the plant, he did stay there for more than a month. “You see what is going on, and you talk to people in order to understand their business processes,” Vota says. “You walk the floor and try to figure out ways to make that whole process better through technology.”

5. Stick to Best Practices
“SAP has some best practices with respect to implementations that make upgrades a lot easier if you follow them,” says O’Dell. “An example would be not excessively customizing the SAP code, which we didn’t. We followed a lot of best practices as we went through this implementation.”

“You really need to pay attention to the best practices around SAP implementations,” says Vota. At the first sign of trouble, he recommends turning to SAP for the answer. “When we ran into issues, we used the normal SAP Online Support System and traded several messages. And I have to say, it worked out pretty well.”

Foley recommends sticking to a couple key best practices: First, develop in your development and test environments before moving into production. Second, consider a technical-only upgrade, with plans to add features later on.

Based on feedback she heard during SAP upgrade presentations, Foley thinks that people who are planning to do more than technical-only upgrades are in for a surprise. “They’re basically trying to bite off more than they can chew. They’re saying, ‘Look at all these enhancement packages. Let’s implement these 18 features and do this,’ and that’s just not realistic,” she says. “It’s better to get the upgraded system, become familiar with it, then take advantage of the built-in SAP features to do better development, and roll out those other changes gradually.”

A best practice that Pacific Coast strongly adheres to is to test. During the upgrade project, they performed several practice runs with the whole team where they documented every single detail — mostly getting timing, processes, and procedures down pat. “Then we turned it over for a first round of testing, unit testing, integration testing, remediation testing, and regression testing,” says O’Dell. “And then we tested in our development system and our test system, in the actual landscape, and then we did it in production.” O’Dell adds that all the members of his team also bring their own set of best practices. “Their own professionalism, coupled with SAP’s best practices, is a powerful combination.”

6. Do Your Homework
“Admittedly,” says Vota, “it can be difficult to find all the information that you want or need to do an upgrade, but it is out there somewhere. You have to do your research. If you want to do this right, you have to have a good technical understanding of what’s going on in your system. If you just think you’re going to run the upgrade and everything will go smoothly, you will fail.”

Vota points to a new feature in SAP ERP 6.0: the enhancement framework, which is a recent concept that aims to unify all of the possible ways to modify or enhance SAP products. Despite their research, his team members only learned of it just before the upgrade went live. Had they known, they could have eliminated almost all of their current changes to the core SAP code (core modifications) and several Z programs. “We would have ended up with a more pristine system at the end,” says Vota.

In the months before launching the upgrade, Vota and the rest of the team researched all the information available on the Web and attended all the upgrade tracks at SAP-sponsored events. As the date got closer, the team reviewed the information available at the SAP Upgrade Information Center in the SAP Service Marketplace (service.sap.com/upgrade).

7. Check with Your Vendors
Vota recommends that if you have ancillary systems integrated with your ERP system, check with your vendors to see if they support the APIs contained within SAP ERP 6.0. “Many companies use third-party applications to extend SAP technology,” he says. “It’s vital to ensure that these applications support the SAP ERP 6.0 environment. I’ve run into that problem a few times.”

In Pacific Coast’s case, this challenge was limited to the SAP Employee Self-Service (SAP ESS) module of SAP ERP HCM. To solve the problem, the team built up a portal environment, got the appropriate business packages for SAP ESS, and installed and configured them. In addition to the technical configuration, the team also had to retrain their users on the new SAP ESS system. “And we only had this one component that we had to deal with,” says Vota. “If other companies have this problem with multiple SAP add-ons, the time and effort could be large.”

Negotiating with vendors and building a third-party landscape can be time consuming, so if you have a third-party application that’s incompatible with SAP ERP 6.0, Vota recommends that you allot yourself plenty of time to find a new vendor or application to ensure that it doesn’t jeopardize the upgrade. His solution? Make a detailed list that catalogs any applications that communicate with the data in your SAP systems. Then, thoroughly research the items on this list to make sure that application integration still works after the upgrade.

A Unique Upgrade
Admittedly, Pacific Coast has a couple of unique factors that may give it a slight advantage over other SAP customers. For one, the Pacific Coast upgrade did not require a Unicode conversion. Pacific Coast’s corporate headquarters and its divisions are located in the western United States. “We’re not focused on multiple languages,” says Vota. “That helped us just in terms of technical time.”

Another advantage is institutional. Pacific Coast is a privately held company. The executive team expects an ROI just like any company, but at the same time, it isn’t fretting about releasing its next earnings report. The Pacific Coast IT team believes that the savings the company will generate from the system in the first year will equal the total cost of the project. Even then, O’Dell admits that it was easier to seek and get approval for the project than it would have been in a publicly traded company.

Foley says that even though Pacific Coast may have a couple unique advantages, every business can benefit from its experience. “I wouldn’t want people to think that because they don’t match our situation exactly, it would be totally different for them,” she says.

“Others would gain by looking at some of the best practices we implemented for this upgrade — like having a focused team, having a really clear plan, doing those practice sessions, and building up knowledge ahead of time. There were some key factors about what we did that anybody could be doing.”

From: SAP Neatweaver Magazine

HSBC Banks on SAP for Corporate Integration

2008-09-22T10:00:00.001+01:00

SAP AG and The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation today announced that the HSBC Group (HSBC) will create a leading edge bank-client integration solution using the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform to streamline and automate the bank’s communications for the delivery of banking services to its corporate banking clients. The complexity of bulk payments creates security and operational risk issues for both banks and corporations. With SAP, HSBC will standardize corporate-to-bank integrations to greatly reduce the complexity and time needed to associate workflows between its clients. The announcement was made at Sibos, the world’s premier financial services event, being held in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 15-18.

Powered by SAP NetWeaver, HSBC’s new bank-client integration solution will enable corporate clients to link into HSBC’s worldwide banking network via a single entry point, simplifying communications for the bank’s corporate services such as account payables, account receivables and reconciliations. HSBC’s customers will gain easier access to their banking information. Additionally, the solution will provide better support for compliance initiatives, creates seamless integration of financial supply chains and drive efficient working capital management.

“SAP is a leading Enterprise Resource Planning solution provider, and with many of our clients worldwide already running on SAP, they were the natural choice for our business needs,” said Marcus Treacher, head of Electronic Banking and E-Commerce, Global Transaction Banking, HSBC Bank plc. “By combining HSBC’s banking services with enterprise resource planning automation in new, highly integrated ways, customers can look forward to a faster, richer and seamless banking experience with us, worldwide.”

SAP NetWeaver simplifies HSBC’s delivery of bank services by communicating transactions using the ISO 20022 XML format. Each type of banking service offered typically requires one service gateway; in many cases, each gateway is a standalone application requiring individual resource overhead. Where interfaces exist for services, the integration is often far from seamless as files are manually exported, encrypted and uploaded in proprietary formats. This complex infrastructure is resource-intensive on both support and maintenance and inherently possesses security and operational risks.

SAP NetWeaver enables corporate connectivity by providing a standard interface between the corporate client’s office enterprise resource planning system and the bank’s back office. SAP NetWeaver® Process Integration integrates the bank’s back office systems for service delivery. As well as handling tasks such as extraction, workflow, reconciliation and simultaneous connections from different customers at the corporate site, SAP provides a shared operational process and unifies multiple service gateways between the corporate client and the bank. This creates a more robust and real-time workflow, which results in a multitude of advantages for the corporate client, including faster on-boarding and better control over liquidity. HSBC will also gain better support for compliance initiatives with automated transaction tracking providing a traceable audit trail.

“This marks the start of a relationship with HSBC that will build quickly on the success of the project,” says Murray Sargant, senior vice president, Banking, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “We are proud to work with HSBC to lead an innovative program that we can take globally through the HSBC network.”

Sibos 2008, Vienna, Austria, September 15–18
Join SAP at booth c106 at Sibos 2008, the world’s premier financial services event, to discover how banks can broaden their coverage of corporate clients’ financial supply chains by leveraging straight-through processing and corporate-to-bank connectivity. Learn first hand how banks can transform payment processes (leveraging service-oriented architecture and SEPA) to align them with payments strategies.

The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from more than 9,500 offices in 85 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$2,547 billion at 30 June 2008, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’.

About HSBC Global Transaction Banking
HSBC provides transaction banking services to corporations and financial institutions across the world. HSBC Global Transaction Banking (HSBC GTB) provides products, services and solutions to the clients of HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets and Commercial Banking businesses. HSBC GTB comprises Payments and Cash Management, Trade and Supply Chain, HSBC Securities Services and Wholesale distribution of Banknotes.

About SAP for Banking
The SAP® for Banking solution portfolio provides banking-specific (transactional banking, CRM, risk management) and banking-relevant (financial accounting, human resources management, procurement) services and solutions created on a single SOA-enabled business process platform. With more than 680 customers in 73 countries worldwide, SAP for Banking provides an integrated set of tools and automated processes to manage every aspect of the front- and back-office banking environment—from high-volume transactional banking processes and customer relationship management to financial accounting, cost controlling and profitability and risk analysis. Based on the open architecture of the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform, SAP for Banking helps companies expertly manage transactions and relationships across the institution to quickly identify and exploit market opportunities and easily tailor new products to the specific needs of individual customers. Additional information is available at www.sap.com/banking.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software (*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 75,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Copyright © 2008 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Business Objects Launches New Version of Metadata Management Solution

2008-09-15T10:45:00.001+01:00

LAS VEGAS - September 09, 2008 - Business Objects, an SAP (NYSE: SAP) company, today announced the availability of Business Objects Metadata Management XI 3.0, software that enables organizations to support data governance by providing a central view of metadata assets and their relationships. By bringing all metadata from disparate tools and sources into one unified repository, customers gain the transparency necessary to successfully govern their enterprise data. Metadata Management XI 3.0 includes the industry's first "metapedia" - an encyclopedia that translates metadata into business definitions, allowing for easier navigation and data discovery by business users. The announcement was made at SAP® TechEd 2008, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sept. 8-12.

Metadata provides information about data from across the enterprise, enabling IT professionals to better understand the business content, origin and context of any corporate, operational or technical data. Providing customers with improved capabilities to understand and manage metadata is a necessary first step for any successful data-driven initiative including business intelligence (BI), data migration or data quality. Only with this insight into metadata can companies successfully implement a data governance strategy, which will help ensure compliance by delivering trusted, well-understood information to business users. With Metadata Management XI 3.0, customers can now bring metadata together in one place regardless of whether it comes from Business Objects products or other vendors' BI, data integration or data modeling tools.

Included in Metadata Management XI 3.0 is the industry's first "metapedia" - a business metadata encyclopedia for richer metadata discovery. Users are able to create and populate metapedias with a business glossary of terms that describe their business data, and organize these terms hierarchically by subject areas or business units. These users can then develop a standard vocabulary of words, phrases and business concepts, so that metadata is associated with particular terms. With this capability, customers can now proactively address compliance mandates and bridge the gap between business and IT users.

"The new metapedia functionality in the latest version of Metadata Management will support our data governance programs because we will be able to name a term and enter a detailed description with synonyms against it," said William Robinette, manager, Business Intelligence Systems, Advance Auto Parts.

Fully integrated with BusinessObjects XI 3.0, the industry's first unified BI platform, Metadata Management XI 3.0 provides a single point of administration across a broad spectrum of deployment scenarios, taking advantage of the platform's security services and scalable platform architecture. For example, Metadata Management XI 3.0 works seamlessly with the BI platform to verify and authorize user actions, which ensures only authorized users can access sensitive business data within Metadata Management XI 3.0. Tighter integration with the platform also provides businesses with a simplified user interface to view metadata and better understand data lineage and context.

"Our customers are constantly facing the challenge of managing information from various data sources, technologies and systems," said Marge Breya, general manager and executive vice president, Business Intelligence Platform, Business Objects, an SAP company. "They are looking to gain access to unified, reliable and trusted information via an intuitive user experience. With today's announcement, we are helping organizations to bridge the information divide between the 'technically capable' and the 'professionally informed' so that everyone can have the decision-quality information they need to do their jobs."

Metadata Management XI 3.0 customers are provided expanded platform support beyond Microsoft Windows and Apache Tomcat to include: UNIX operating systems (Linux, Solaris and IBM AIX), as well as other application servers, such as IBM WebSphere, Oracle BEA WebLogic and Oracle Application Server.

read more

Managing Global Industrial Manufacturing Operations for Efficiency and Growth

2008-09-10T21:34:00.002+01:00

Find out how top companies are sustaining quality, achieving asset efficiency, and communicating effectively within global operations. Learn about the tools companies used to build relationships with overseas suppliers and customers. View this Webcast, where you'll hear case studies and see data from an extensive survey of IndustryWeek readers on globalization trends.
Watch the Webcast

IndustryWeek senior editor Jill Jusko will interview Linda Chan, senior director for equipment maker Veeco Instruments. You'll also hear a presentation from Tonya Vinas, editor of the Global Expansion Outlook research report.

By viewing this Webcast you'll learn:

* The most common objectives behind globalization strategies and how these align with corporate strategies.
* Where companies are expanding today and where they will expand tomorrow.
* What tools companies use to build relationships with overseas customers and suppliers.
* How companies have benefited from globalized operations.
* What types of functions companies are locating overseas.
* Strategies of leading companies for sustaining quality, achieving asset efficiency, and communicating effectively within global manufacturing operations.

Speakers

* Jill Jusko, Senior Editor, IndustryWeek
* Tonya Vinas, Project Manager, IW Custom Research/SAP Globalization Survey, SAP
* Linda Chan, Senior IT Director, Veeco Instruments
* Dave Parrish, Director of IM&C Solutions, SAP

Wacht the webcast here

SAP Business All-in-One Customer Success

2008-09-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

Queensland based Ferra Engineering is the leading manufacturer of light metal components for the telecommunications, electronic and high-end automotive industries. About 12 months ago the company realised that, if its strong growth rate was to be sustained, a major upgrade of its financial, planning and production software systems would be required -- Ferra chose SAP Business All-in-One to meet its requirements. Read the Customer Story.