SAP: Midsize Enterprises Raise the Bar with SAP Solutions

Delivering on its commitment to small and midsize enterprise and laying the foundation for continued industry leadership, SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today announced that midsize enterprises are selecting business management solutions from SAP and its partners in increasing numbers to drive their strategies for growth. The increasing adoption is further proof that SAP is the provider of choice among midsize enterprises seeking fast return on investment, industry best-practice technology, implementation expertise and rapid, predictable deployments. With the increasing market uptake, small and midsize enterprises—which already account for approximately two-thirds of SAP’s overall customer base*—are emerging as the fastest growing market segment for SAP in the United States.

Solutions developed by SAP and its partners are being favored over competitor solutions by midsize enterprises on a daily basis. Under SAP’s hybrid sales model, midsize customers have access to solutions sold and delivered directly from SAP or through SAP’s growing network of value added resellers and implementation partners. In the fiscal quarter completed on June 30, 2006, the following midsize enterprises selected solutions from SAP and its partners (listed in parentheses) in evaluations against Oracle and other competitors: American Cement Company, LLC (Systech Integrators); Au Bon Pain (GCS); California Portland Cement (Systech Integrators); Century Casinos (IDS Scheer); CheckFree (CGEY); Curbell (Answerthink); Furukawa Electric North America/ OFS Fitel LLC; Jay Foods (iTelligence); Navarre (Deloitte); NN, Inc. (Hitachi Consulting); NuSkin; Nuvelo (Answerthink); Oneida, Ltd.; Organogenesis (Answerthink).

“After evaluating the options from several other vendors, none could equal SAP in clarity of vision; proven ability to deliver vertical expertise; predictable, scalable value over time and overall leadership in business management,” said Gary Rietz, VP and CIO, Ubiquity Brands, the parent company of Jays Foods, L.L.C. Today, Jays manufactures and distributes a full line of quality snacks, including its signature Jays Potato Chips, O-KE-DOKE popcorns, Krunchers! Potato Chips and a line of Hot Stuff snacks. “SAP will provide us with the ability to create common business processes and centralized business practices across our three businesses—Jays Foods, Select Snacks and Lincoln Snacks—to better serve our customers, manage our inventory and reduce supply chain costs.”

Solutions Sized for the Midmarket
According to recent research by the Economist Intelligence Unit, more than half of midsize enterprises surveyed indicated that achieving competitive advantage hinges on the use of information technology (IT), while 68 percent see IT as a determining factor in their ability to grow, and 72 percent cite IT as critical to maintaining operational flexibility as they grow and expand into new markets.1 With industry packaged solutions from SAP and its partners, midsize enterprises can deploy the IT functions they require, with a defined scope, fixed bid and fixed timeline. Leveraging preconfigured industry packages and a phased approach, SAP midsize enterprise customers average four months for ERP implementations and fewer for most qualified mySAP™ All-in-One partner solutions.

“With preconfigured industry best practices and experience built right into the solutions, the implementation of our system significantly strengthened our management tools,” said John Hengesh, COO, Purcell Systems, a privately held maker of telecommunication equipment systems based in Spokane, Washington. “The implementation expertise from Systech and SAP enabled us to achieve a successful international subsidiary and domestic headquarters installation in 20 weeks from the supplier selection.” Purcell AB went live in May 2006 on the Systech CLEAR Vision for High Tech solution. The U.S. operation went live in early August with 75 employees leveraging the solution’s financials, materials management, product life cycle management, Solidworks interface and training capabilities. “From the initial sales cycle through the deployment, our engagement has been characterized by an ease of doing business and a win-win partnership with the clear commitment to our success,” Hengesh said. “I am very confident we will exceed our expectations for the return on investment with this mission-critical system.”

Dedicated Midsize Enterprise Focus
To provide midsize companies with the focus and commitment necessary to serve their unique resource and industry requirements, SAP Americas established a dedicated organization aligning its direct sales force, its value added resellers and implementation partner teams. This organization gives midsize enterprises access to industry expertise at a micro-vertical level and solution delivery in the mode they prefer from their vendor relationships.

“We were familiar with SAP’s reputation for serving the industry’s biggest players, but we have seen a commitment from SAP and Answerthink to our business with solutions, support and complete set of resources to help a company of our size succeed,” said Richard Shaw, Vice President – Finance, Organogenesis Inc., a world-leading tissue regeneration company based in Canton, Massachusetts. “It’s clear that SAP and Answerthink are focused on delivering business solutions that meet the needs of midsize companies.”

“The conversation with midsize companies has changed since we launched a focused effort with a dedicated organization to serve their needs,” said Rodney Seligmann, senior vice president and COO, Territory Sales Organization, SAP Americas. “Companies that might not have thought of SAP in the past now clearly recognize that SAP can offer unequaled domain expertise, fast implementation and lower overall cost of ownership for companies of their size. Together with our partners, we are establishing the midsize enterprise space as the fastest-growing segment of our business and changing the game in industry solutions for midsize enterprises.”

1“Thinking Big: Midsize Companies and the Challenges of Growth,” the Economist Intelligence Unit, Feb. 2006.
(http://graphics.eiu.com/files/ad_pdfs/eiu_Global%20WP_Midsize%20companies.pdf )
* Among Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. listed companies with employee number information. Small and midsize companies are defined as those having between 1 and 2,500 employees, and include customers of mySAP™ All-in-One and SAP® Business One solutions sold through resellers.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 34,600 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” Additional information at http://www.sap.com>)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.