Workforce Numbers in Newest SAP Labs Location Exceed Expectations
Budapest, Hungary — SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today officially inaugurated its tenth research and development center in Budapest, Hungary. Located in Graphisoft Park, SAP Labs Hungary is encharged with the primary mission of developing new features and functionality for mySAP™ Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM) and will also offer localization and language consulting services from SAP’s Globalization Services group.
With operations in Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan and the United States, SAP Labs integrate ideas and leading-edge technologies to develop solutions that address the business process needs of customers, specific industries and geographic regions, keeping SAP and its customers at the forefront of business innovation. As the newest location in the SAP Labs network, the facility in Hungary initially projected a staff of approximately 50 local software developers by mid-year and a workforce of 300 by the end of 2006. Given the wealth of local expertise in business solutions and technologies as well as a sound infrastructure, SAP Labs Hungary has already exceeded projections with a total of 100 software developers employed as of July 2005.
“The new SAP facility confirms Hungary’s growing importance in global IT,” said Ferenc Gyurcsany, prime minister of Hungary. “The Hungarian government is committed to supporting investors whose presence in Hungary ensures long-term foreign capital investment and expands the career opportunities of qualified local professionals.”
“The Graphisoft Park in Obuda and the SAP R&D center form a stronghold of knowledge and creativity,” said Gábor Demszky, mayor of Budapest. “Ensuring and developing these values will accelerate the growth of Hungary and Budapest and boost their competitiveness in Europe. These kinds of knowledge centers strive to utilize Hungarian intellectual capital to its full potential. Today thus marks the breakout point for the future of Hungary and Budapest.”
Innovation for Tomorrow’s Adaptive Business Networks
SAP Labs Hungary will be a key driver in expanding the capabilities of mySAP SCM applications to power tomorrow’s adaptive business networks for SAP customers, business partners and their customers. mySAP SCM enables adaptive supply chain networks by providing companies with planning and execution capabilities for managing enterprise operations as well as coordination and collaboration technology to extend those operations beyond corporate boundaries. As a result, companies can achieve measurable and sustainable improvements through cost reductions, service-level increases and productivity gains – ultimately leading to stronger profit margins.
Expertise for Global Business Solutions
In addition to its paramount mission of driving SCM innovation, SAP Labs Hungary will also host SAP’s Globalization Services group, which addresses all aspects of implementing global business solutions, including solutions spanning multiple languages and time zones, encoding systems such as Unicode, global system architectures, country-specific versions and translation of SAP applications and industry solutions. Globalization Services supports customers in formulating a coherent approach to global business, determining whether a global strategy is technically feasible and ensuring that globalization strategies meet business goals. The Globalization Services team within SAP Labs Hungary will focus on the emerging markets in Eastern Europe, with special attention to Russia.
“One of the primary goals of the SAP Labs network is to leverage the local expertise and knowledge from each geographic location,” said Henning Kagermann, CEO, SAP. “Each SAP Labs location has a different focus and set of responsibilities for product development, depending on the strengths of that particular region. With the newest SAP Labs location in Hungary, we aim to diversify our skill set even further and empower the local workforce to contribute to the most innovative research being conducted at SAP.”
