SAP Benchmarking Program, developed together with customers, also under way in Japan

Tokyo — SAP Japan Co., Ltd. announced today that, from June 2006, it will start to provide the SAP Benchmarking Program in Japan. Through this means, SAP Japan will help its customers, as well as businesses that are considering the installation of SAP products, to increase their corporate value. Specifically, SAP Japan will systematically suggest the introduction of systems and practices appropriate to each business, after comparing the business with superior companies in and outside its industry and with best practices, and clarifying which areas need improvement among business processes such as accounting, personnel, and procurement.

The SAP Benchmarking Program classifies each area of business as a strategic, specialized, or operational process, and compares it to average values for all companies in the Program and for superior companies. In addition, by utilizing the Program in ongoing fashion before and after an IT project gets underway, businesses can measure the effects of their own projects. The results of such analysis are provided free of charge to Program customers as individual reports. The SAP Benchmarking Program was co-developed by the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) and SAP. It has been implemented since 2004, earning high ratings from all the companies participating. In Japan, through support from the Japan SAP Users’ Group (JSUG), the SAP Benchmarking Program has been brought to a high degree of completeness through a pilot program since this March. This has now led to provision of the Program as a service. As a result, the Program offers an unparalleled level of benchmarking against superior companies in Japan and the US. By providing the Program free of charge, SAP Japan is helping businesses solve their problems by clarifying the possibility of improving business processes, as well as monitoring the status of improvements in ongoing fashion and analyzing the results.

Features of the SAP Japan Benchmarking Program

Implementation: Businesses respond using a survey sheet sent by Value Engineering Headquarters (“VE HQ”).

Areas of business: Initial subjects covered are personnel, accounting & finance, and purchasing. From now on, SAP Japan plans to expand the scope of the Program further.

Analysis format: The above areas of business are classified into strategic, specialized, and operational processes. Manpower, costs, organizational & IT systems, and best practices are analyzed on the basis of quantitative data and qualitative surveys. The program identifies processes that could be improved and calculates how much potential there is for improvement through comparison with other companies. Because evaluation of the results of process improvement and IT installation is ongoing, businesses can receive the service as many times as they wish.
Through this means, participating businesses can, for example, ascertain whether there is a gap between themselves and superior companies, as well as their position within the industry, regarding number of employees per member of their personnel division, based on comparison with the industry average and with superior companies. They can also consider ways to improve their personnel situation. In order to eliminate any gap ascertained to exist, the service also extends to calculation of cost reductions and ROI if IT applications are installed.

Report format: Individual report for each business (approx. 30-50 pages)

Time required: report is submitted 1-2 weeks after response to survey sheet

Cost: No charge

Program URL: http://www.sap.com/japan/solutions/jsugbenchmarking/

By implementing this Program, SAP Japan is reinforcing its support for business process improvement by current customers and powerfully promoting the detection and solution of problems by new customers. Currently, about 30 companies are participating in the pilot program in Japan. At SAP America, about 400 companies are participating already.

SAP Japan plans to increase the staff of its VE headquarters to 15-20 people by the end of this year, and extend the areas of business covered by the Program to include IT costs (TCO) and supply chain management (SCM). The company aims to provide Benchmarking Reports to 60-100 companies this year.