SAP APJ Fuels Continued Expansion in the Region by Adding more than 3,300 People
Auckland, New Zealand — SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) outperformed the business software market across the region in 2007.
SAP APJ finished the year strongly with outstanding fourth quarter software revenue sales growth of 44 percent in constant currencies, compared with the previous corresponding period, to €.18 billion.
On a full year basis, SAP APJ remained SAP AG’s fastest growing region with software revenue rising 32 percent year-on-year in constant currencies to €.482 billion.
Total revenues for SAP APJ grew 20 percent year-on-year in constant currencies to €1.275 billion.
“2007 was a terrific year for SAP Asia Pacific Japan, with revenue growth in India, Greater China, Japan and South East Asia providing key impetus for the region,” said Geraldine McBride, President and CEO, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “We are continuing to invest in this region, hiring more than 3,300 new people in 2007 to help take our exciting array of products and services to market.”
“Our customers in this region remain motivated to grow their businesses and need to derive real value from the systems they implement. SAP directly addresses those needs by offering best-value products, developed and implemented by our talented global team,” added McBride.
“In 2007, we expanded operations into new markets in the region and are on track to grow consistently over the next two years,” McBride continued.
For the full year of 2007, SAP APJ’s software and software related service revenue3 grew 24 percent in constant currencies to €.959 billion, while Q4 software and software related service revenues grew 32 percent in constant currencies to €.304 billion.
SAP continued to gain share in the fourth quarter of 2007, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of market share gains. Based on software and software related service revenues on a rolling four quarter basis, SAP’s worldwide share of Core Enterprise Applications vendors4, which account for approximately $36.7 billion in software and software related service revenues as defined by the Company based on industry analyst research, increased to 28.5 percent for the four quarter period ended December 31, 2007. This compares with 27.0 percent for the four quarter period ended September 30, 2007 and 24.5 percent for the four quarter period ended December 31, 2006. For SAP, this represents a year-over-year share gain of 4.0 percentage points in market share.
SAP Continues to Invest in Asia Pacific Japan Customer Growth
SAP continues to invest in maintaining its leadership position in the fast growing Asia Pacific Japan region, adding 3,384 full time employees in 2007, bringing the regional total to more than 9,500 full-time equivalent employees. SAP APJ is widely regarded as an employer of choice across the region.
In Q4, SAP also established its first sales operations in Cambodia working with an SAP Business All-in-One partner in Phnom Penh. This follows SAP APJ’s expansion into Vietnam in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh earlier in 2007.
SAP India, the fastest growing country for SAP globally, continued to expand operations in 2007 with the acquisition of YASU Technologies and the SAP Executive Board’s continued commitment to invest US$1 billion in the country by 2010.
Strong Growth in SAP SME Customer Base
“SAP Asia Pacific Japan also remains the leader in SAP’s fastest growing customer segment: SME,” continued McBride. “SME delivered a strong performance each quarter in 2007 and grew at more than ten new names per working day. SME customers now make up nearly 70 percent of SAP’s customer base in the region.”
Success for SME in Asia Pacific and Japan will continue to be driven by a strong partner ecosystem and an innovative solution portfolio. In 2008 SAP will continue to roll-out its latest innovation for the lower midmarket, SAP® Business ByDesign™, a software-as-a-service solution specifically designed for SMEs. Successfully launched in 2007 in China and recently in Singapore, SAP Business ByDesign will add to the SME momentum in Australia and India in 2008.
SAP Caters to Business User Needs
SAP NetWeaver® and Business User revenue is growing rapidly in the Asia Pacific Japan region. In 2007, 171 SAP solutions for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) customers, nearly 20 SAP solutions for corporate performance management (CPM) customers and 30 SAP NetWeaver® Master Data Management (SAP MDM) customers were added, contributing to that accelerated growth. More and more customers are also migrating to SAP ERP 6.0 on SAP NetWeaver with the total now at nearly 1,300 in the Asia Pacific and Japan region.
With the successful acquisition of Business Objects in early 2008, SAP launched nine joint product packages, available now, that will be sold by both organisations’ global sales teams. The solutions will expand SAP’s lead in the market of software for business users into leadership in the emerging market for business performance optimisation. These packages were chosen to address the most common challenges facing business users, which include gaining better business insight, improving company performance and ensuring compliance with corporate governance policies. These packages will allow companies to license, install and manage solutions from SAP and Business Objects in a single IT investment transaction.
