Reiterates Strategic Business Focus for FY05 at its Flagship Annual Event – SAP Summit 05
Singapore — SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the world’s leading provider of business software solutions, today reiterated its vision to drive “IT powered business innovation” and its strategic business focus for FY05 at its flagship annual event ‘SAP Summit 05’ in Singapore.
SAP Singapore is seeing market momentum across all key segments – large enterprises, mid-market and SMBs. The growth was specifically driven by impressive market demand from the manufacturing, public sector, engineering and retail industries. Customers who have deployed SAP solutions include leading companies such as SembCorp Logistics, Fujitec and STATS ChipPac. SAP Singapore has had much success targeting the midmarket and SMB segments, gaining new midmarket and SMB customers such as Daikin Air-conditioning, D.E. Electronics and Regency Steel Asia.
“Our business success in 2005 is evidence of our increasing role as a trusted advisor to Singapore businesses looking for innovative ways to adapt their business models and drive growth,” said Eric MacDonald, Managing Director, SAP Singapore and Malaysia. “SAP Summit 05 is an opportunity for customers to leverage SAP’s 33 years of unparalleled experience in business solutions. It is a celebration of our success in Singapore and a platform for us to share new initiatives that will enable IT powered business innovation.”
Significant initiatives announced by SAP Singapore included the extension of the Safe Passage Program for SMBs, the launch of more than 100 Industry-specific Analytic Applications and the introduction of the Partner Advisory Board and the IndustrySpeak initiative in Singapore. SAP also demonstrated the first product jointly developed with Microsoft, “Mendocino”, for the first time in Singapore.
The SAP Summit 2005 consisted of keynote sessions, industry & solution focused workshops and solutions showcase by SAP and its partners – such as Fujitsu, HP and IBM. The event featured keynotes on “IT-powered Business Innovation”, “Enterprise Services Architecture” and “Shared Services”. It also comprised more than 10 industry-focused and technology workshops, 15 solution presentations by technical experts and more than 40 solution demo pods by SAP and partners, including SMB solutions. More than 800 customers and partners attended SAP Summit 05.
Extends Safe Passage Program to SMBs in Singapore
SAP Singapore announced the next wave of its Safe Passage program of SAP® applications and support in a special program, including conversion credit, designed specifically for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) running PeopleSoft and JD Edwards solutions. The new program unites SAP and its network of channel partners for mySAP™ All-in-One solutions to serve SMBs who are facing the uncertainties from the end of life of their solutions and the extended delays in new innovation due to the Oracle acquisition.
Demonstrates First Joint Product with Microsoft
SAP today demonstrated the first jointly developed product with Microsoft Corp. for the first time in Singapore. The product, “Mendocino”, will link SAP process functionality directly to Microsoft® Office applications. Users of this product will enjoy the familiarity of Microsoft Office as they access SAP’s best-practice business processes and information.
“The creation of this powerful new joint product builds on SAP’s 15-year strategic relationship with Microsoft,” said Simon Dale, Vice President, SAP NetWeaver, SAP Asia Pacific. “Together we are working to improve and simplify the knowledge worker experience by extending SAP business processes through Microsoft Office.”
Launch of SAP’s Partner Advisory Board in Singapore
SAP announced the launch of its Partner Advisory Board in Singapore. The Partner Advisory Board (PAB) is a forum that acknowledges the value addition that SAP’s System Implementation (SI) Partners deliver to customers. Known as the PAB, its charter is to facilitate strong and open communication between SAP and its SI Partners. This close collaboration ensures customers of trained and certified consultants armed with the latest SAP product knowledge. This, in turn, helps customers reduce implementation risk and time to benefit as well as improve the total cost of ownership (TCO).
IndustrySpeak Initiative
SAP Singapore has also been championing its global IndustrySpeak initiative to work with industry standards groups including RosettaNet (for the High Technology industry) and Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX – for the Chemicals industry ) to enable collaborative business processes and scenarios for B2B transactions in the market. SAP Singapore was a part of an Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore initiative in June 2005 to launch the CIDX in Singapore.
IndustrySpeak is the B2B enablement plan for SAP’s Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA). It is based on industry standards and it integrates services and processes based on business rules, thereby enabling business-to-business collaboration. SAP’s engagement with IDA of Singapore and various industry standards groups here underscores the company’s commitment to enable a truly adaptive supply chain network using industry standards.
Launches More than 100 Industry-Specific Analytic Applications
SAP also announced the introduction of more than 100 industry-specific Analytic Applications that empower users with innovative new ways to drive core processes and business decisions based on actionable business insight. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver™ platform, SAP® Analytics are a new breed of model-driven composite applications that change the analytic application playing field across more than 25 industries. With its model-driven, code-free and services-enabled design environment, SAP Analytics will allow business users and analysts to easily deploy, configure and combine analytic applications to customize SAP Analytics to support evolving business requirements as business and industry needs change.
Customer Business Transformation
SAP Singapore is in a stronger position than ever before to continue to win new customers. Regency Steel Asia (RSA), a Singapore-based steel distribution company, spoke at the press briefing about the benefits they have realized from SAP’s best-in-class solutions.
Faced with new competitors, shrinking margins and cost pressures, Regency Steel Asia realized that the way ahead is to reinforce its IT infrastructure to transform a traditional business model into one that focuses on improving customer loyalty and offering value-added services. “The competition is intense. mySAP ERP has enabled us to reinvent the way we do procurement, logistics and strategic operational processes,” says Kelvine Chong, executive director & chief operating officer, Regency Steel Asia.
