SAP Delivers Next-generation ERP to Customers

SAP AG today announced that the latest version of mySAP ERP, SAPs flagship product and next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, has shipped to customers worldwide a full month ahead of schedule.

As the worlds premier ERP solution, designed to take full advantage of the industrys renowned, standards-based SAP NetWeaver platform, mySAP ERP brings new functionality, flexibility and innovation to customers such as Saudi Aramco, HDI Hannover Versicherung (insurance), SEB Immobilien-Investment (real estate) and Colgate-Palmolive. In making the announcement, SAP unveiled plans for a global tour, meeting with customers in nearly 100 cities to talk about the benefits of service-oriented ERP solutions and SAP NetWeaver. The announcement was made at the CeBIT 2005 trade fair, being held in Hanover, Germany, March 10-16.

mySAP ERP is the worlds leading ERP solution, featuring industry-leading business analytics, financials, human capital management, operations and corporate services functionality. With mySAP ERP, SAP has evolved from automating end-to-end processes within an organization to extending processes beyond the enterprise to the entire ecosystem of customers, suppliers and partners, providing companies with one solution to increase efficiency and manage the innovation and growth of their organization.

SAP successfully completed the software release program one month early, an indication of the solutions stability, speed of implementation and market demand, as SAP attracted a high number of ramp-up program participants. SAP Ramp-Up gives a selected number of customers first access to the newest SAP solutions.

ERP is no longer just about squeezing more efficiency out of a business, said Jim Hagemann Snabe, senior vice president, SAP AG. To survive in the 21st century, businesses must also be able to rapidly react to change. mySAP ERP is the ERP solution that gives companies the flexibility to adapt business processes to new market conditions while simultaneously maximizing productivity. Customers who have upgraded to mySAP ERP have given us incredibly positive feedback and we are proud that, as the number one ERP vendor, we are implementing a faster and easier transition to the next-generation ERP solution in a way that is evolutionary, not revolutionary, to customers existing systems. This is unprecedented in the enterprise software industry.

Growing Customer Adoption
SAP is the undisputed worldwide market leader in ERP software and continued to make significant market share gains in ERP categories such as human capital management and financials, according to 2004 reports from analyst firms Gartner and IDC. In addition, market adoption of mySAP ERP continues to grow. Since the third quarter of 2004, more than 1,000 mySAP ERP contracts have been signed, 70 percent of which with midmarket customers -- companies with annual revenues of less than $1 billion -- demonstrating broad acceptance of the next-generation solution across companies of all sizes. Ramp-up participants are testifying to the benefits of mySAP ERP.

"As a truly global company doing business in more than 200 countries, we need the most advanced enterprise resource planning software to manage our business operations and maximize the value of our diverse work force, said Ed Toben, chief information officer, Colgate-Palmolive. With new human capital management features such as compensation management, e-learning and self-services, our first mySAP ERP implementation will improve our global HR system to better align employee skills, activities and incentives with our business objectives while setting the foundation for implementing the service-oriented infrastructure of mySAP ERP across our enterprise software system."

With 160 employees, HDI Austria may be smaller than what people think of as a typical SAP customer, but mySAP ERP fits our needs perfectly, said Dieter Bankosegger, head of finance, HDI Hannover Versicherung AG, Austria. mySAP ERP provides the tools we need to comply with corporate governance requirements such as local GAAP, US-GAAP and new International Accounting Standards regulations, and that was a large factor in our decision. We have successfully implemented the next-generation general ledger of mySAP ERP to improve and simplify our financial and management accounting and are benefiting from the flexibility it provides for analyzing data and easily accessing views of various company divisions or segments, online and in real time.

Next-generation ERP
mySAP ERP helps customers take a services-oriented approach to software architecture. mySAP ERP has achieved this step by fully embracing the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. SAP NetWeaver lays the foundation for new cross-functional business processes, giving businesses the flexibility to sense and respond to market changes and continuously align their operations with evolving market demand. SAP NetWeaver is the enabler of Enterprise Services Architecture -- a blueprint for services-based business processeswhich combines software applications and the underlying software infrastructure and enables customers to expose and fully leverage Web services for maximum flexibility. With mySAP ERP, SAP successfully passes the first milestone on its Enterprise Services Architecture road map, making mySAP ERP the front-runner in the industry for service-enablement of enterprise software applications.

mySAP ERP is already delivering enterprise service-enabled processes such as invoices in electronic bill presentment and payment; recruiting and enterprise learning; shop floor integration; process collaboration via cFolders; radio frequency identification (RFID) in inventory and warehouse management; document exchange in self-service procurement and requisition; collaborative project management; and supplier collaboration in the area of procurement.

Businesses face new challenges every day ranging from regulatory and compliance issues to outsourcing considerations and are looking forward to the promise of flexible, adaptable service-oriented software to enable them to quickly adopt their business processes to changing market requirements, said Barry Wilderman, senior vice president, Technology Research Services, META Group, Inc. Fortunately, the promises of a services-enabled future are starting to be realized today with new, flexible ERP systems that are changing the way businesses manage their internal systems as well as how they work with suppliers, customers and partners.

Single Solution for Innovation and Growth
mySAP ERP also delivers many new features to help companies improve efficiency and free up resources to invest in innovation and growth. New and enhanced user roles and self-services make the solution easier to use, increasing user productivity and solution adoption. New role templates provide appropriate applications, information and services to specific user groups and range from job-specific ones, such as plant manager, to general roles, such as employee or manager.

mySAP ERP also features comprehensive analysis, forecasting and reporting tools that support all standard ERP processes such as human capital management, financial operations and corporate services. These enhanced analytical tools are embedded in all processes, adding real-time data analysis capabilities to ERPs traditional back-office role. This gives employees and executives the appropriate insight into company activities for effective decision-making at all levels of the organization. Analytics from all business processes can be fed into and retrieved from the business information warehouse in mySAP ERP. Users thus gain easier access to internal and external information, enhanced cause and effect analysis tools and streamlined reporting tools that support compliance with new regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley.