Sydney, Australia — SYDNEY, Australia — Feb. 1, 2006 — SAP today announced the appointment of Frank van Druten as business development manager – Retail, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Frank will drive SAP’s strategy, sales, channel and marketing initiatives in the retail industry, which has been identified as a global business priority for SAP in 2007.
As business development manager, Frank will be responsible for new product introductions and channel enablement. He will focus on large and midsize retail companies across Australia and New Zealand. SAP works with numerous channel partners that specialise in the retail sector. Key technology opportunities include retail ERP, workforce management, consumer-centric merchandising, point of sale (POS) solutions, supply chain, fraud management solutions and RFID.
“This senior appointment reflects an increased focus for SAP on the retail sector,” said Alan Hyde, CEO and managing director, SAP Australia and New Zealand. “Mid-size enterprises in retail seek greater sophistication in the way that they manage their products, partners and customers. We have recently strengthened our offering with the acquisition of Triversity and can offer an extensive ecosystem of partners to provide specialist retail industry expertise and insight.”
Frank is an experienced IT professional with 30 years in senior account, sales and channel management positions with NCR, Nixdorf and Unisys. He has specialised in retail for more than 20 years and joins SAP from NCR where he held the position of Retail Account Director for ANZ.
SAP enjoyed a significant presence at the recent National Retail Federation Conference in New York (15 – 17 January, 2007), where it announced a new customer win with the international fashion and lifestyle retailer, ESPRIT, and existing POS customers including, The Body Shop, Kenneth Cole and Virgin Entertainment. Australian retailers running SAP include Officeworks, Franklins, General Pants, Playcorp, National Foods and Super Cheap Auto.
