Growing Number of Companies Turn to SAP to Optimize Business Performance and Manage Governance, Risk and Compliance
Walldorf, Germany — SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced success in its efforts to help customers add value to their IT investments by moving from other vendors’ applications to more comprehensive enterprise performance management (EPM) and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions from SAP. These solutions work together to further enhance business performance and help companies build a reputation for reliable, compliant and sustainable operations. SAP reported that over the past several months more than 100 customers worldwide purchased SAP® solutions for enterprise performance management with the intention to replace Hyperion solutions from Oracle. Among those customers are: Ballast Nedam N.V., Foundation Coal, KPN Telecom B.V., Rezidor SAS, Sandvik AB, Skandia Informasjonsteknologi AS and TPG Headoffice BV.
Unlike solutions from other vendors, which provide only partial insight and require ongoing customer investments in integration, SAP offers customers a comprehensive set of EPM and GRC solutions that empower organizations to address critical issues facing today’s office of the CFO. The portfolio of SAP solutions for enterprise performance management unifies the full range of financial and operational processes in a single stack, arming finance professionals with capabilities such as strategy, profitability, cost and planning management. In addition, customers are turning to SAP because the company offers EPM solutions that are unified with SAP solutions for GRC. These applications help customers to build stakeholder confidence through improved executive oversight, risk detection and monitoring, and more effective controls over key business processes. The combination of EPM and GRC solutions allows SAP customers to improve financial performance while better managing risk and ensuring corporate accountability.
Responding to customer demand to work with fewer vendors and provide finance professionals with a complete, unified view of their business, SAP has invested in and expanded its EPM product portfolio, for example, by adding new capabilities resulting from the acquisition of OutlookSoft. Furthermore, the acquisition of Business Objects by SAP means customers will further benefit from the leading business intelligence platform and EPM solutions – which ensure all EPM activities are based on a single, accurate version of the truth – from a single vendor.
“The SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application helped The Rezidor Hotel Group to cope with the ever increasing need for timely and more detailed financial oversight,” said Alain Wouters, manager, Group Accounting, The Rezidor Hotel Group. “Events such as our recent IPO and new financial demands, such as customer sustainability reporting for improved accountability to our clients, have added to the workload and could not have been supported with previous software. With SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, we can take a more unified approach to performance management.”
SAP customers also benefit from industry-leading innovation in SAP solutions for enterprise performance management, including unrivaled usability and features to enhance user productivity. For example, SAP® Business Planning and Consolidation allows for easy interchange with Microsoft Office and the Web, offering customers an easy-to-use interface that benefits business users regardless of technical skills. In addition, the application allows finance departments to independently maintain their enterprise performance management solutions – decreasing their reliance on IT staff for customization and upkeep. Because SAP solutions for enterprise performance management deliver such user-friendly features, customers can deploy them more broadly and increase the value of their IT investment.
“Existing solutions for performance management were built with the finance department of the 1990s in mind – with a patchwork of products, on old architectures, a rear-view approach to budgeting, and no links to the actual business processes,” said Sanjay Poonen, senior vice president and general manager of Enterprise Performance Management, Business Objects, an SAP company. “With continued investment and innovation in SAP solutions for enterprise performance management, we can offer modern CFOs a more compelling value proposition, especially when customers pair EPM solutions with our GRC offerings. We have seen a strong, positive response by customers, as demonstrated by the strong success SAP had during the second half of 2007. Customers value a more complete EPM and GRC solution offering, and, most importantly, a trusted solution provider. These are the attributes that account for SAP’s strong momentum in this market.”
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