SAP

SAP SE (/ˌɛs.eɪˈpi/) is a German multinational software corporation based in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, that develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.[2][3] The company is especially known for its ERP software.[4][5] SAP is the largest non-American software company by revenue as well as the world's third-largest publicly-traded software company.[6]

SAP SE

Headquarters in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg
Type	Public (Societas Europaea)
Traded as	FWB: SAP NYSE: SAP DAX Component
ISIN	DE0007164600
Industry	Enterprise software
Founded	Weinheim, Germany (1972)
Founder	Dietmar Hopp Hans-Werner Hector Hasso Plattner Klaus Tschira Claus Wellenreuther
Headquarters	Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16, Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg , Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Hasso Plattner (Chairman) Christian Klein (CEO)
Products	See list of SAP products
Revenue	€27.553 billion (2019)[1]
Operating income	€4.495 billion (2019)[1]
Net income	€3.387 billion (2019)[1]
Total assets	€60.229 billion (2019)[1]
Total equity	€30.839 billion (2019)[1]
Number of employees	100,330 (2019)[1]
Website	www.sap.com

Historical references include Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing,[2] SAP AG and SAP SE.

Company Overview

Founded in 1972 as a private partnership named Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung (lit. 'System Analysis and Software Development'; SAP GbR), which in 1981 fully became Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (SAP GmbH) after a five-year transition period beginning in 1976.[2]^:1972–1980 In 2005 it further restructured itself as SAP AG. Since 7 July 2014, its corporate structure is that of a pan-European societas Europaea (SE);[7][8] as such, its former German corporate identity is now a subsidiary, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG.[7]

SAP is headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with regional offices in 180 countries.[9][3] The company has over 425,000 customers in over 180 countries[10] and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[11] A 2001 article said it was "the third-biggest software company in the world."[12]

History

Formation

When Xerox exited the computer hardware manufacturing industry in 1971,[13] it asked IBM to migrate its business systems to IBM technology. As part of IBM's compensation for the migration, IBM was given the rights to the Scientific Data Systems (SDS)/SAPE software, reportedly for a contract credit of $80,000.

Five IBM engineers from the AI department[14][15] (Dietmar Hopp, Klaus Tschira, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, and Claus Wellenreuther, all from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg) were working on an enterprise-wide system based on this software, only to be told that it would no longer be necessary. Rather than abandoning the project, they decided to leave IBM Tech and start another company.[4][16]

In June 1972, they founded the SAP Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development" / "SAPD") company, as a private partnership under the German Civil Code.[17]

Their first client was the German branch of Imperial Chemical Industries in Östringen,[18] where they developed mainframe programs for payroll and accounting. Instead of storing the data on punch cards mechanically, as IBM did, they stored it locally in the Electronic System while using a common Logical database for all activities of Organization. Therefore, they called their software a real-time system, since there was no need to process the punch cards overnight (for this reason their flagship product carried an R in its name until the late 1990s). This first version was also a standalone software that could be offered to other interested parties.[19]

Enterprise Resource Planning

In 1973, the first commercial product was launched. SAP completes its first financial accounting system - RF. This system serves as the cornerstone in the ongoing development of other software modules of the system that will eventually bear the name SAP R/1.[17]

This offered a common system for multiple tasks. This permitted the use of a centralized data storage, improving the maintenance of data. From a technical point of view, therefore, a database was necessary.[20]

In 1976, SAP GmbH Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung ("Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing") was founded as a sales and support subsidiary. Five years later, the private partnership was dissolved and its rights were passed on to SAP GmbH.[17]

The headquarters moved the following year to Walldorf, Germany. Three years later, in 1979, SAP launched SAP R/2, expanding the capabilities of the system to other areas, such as material management and production planning. In 1981, SAP brought a re-designed product to market. However, SAP R/2 did not improve until the period between 1985 and 1990. SAP released the new SAP R/3 in 1992. SAP developed and released several versions of R/3 through 1995. By the mid-1990s, SAP followed the trend from mainframe computing to client–server architectures. The development of SAP's internet strategy with mySAP.com redesigned the concept of business processes (integration via Internet).[16] As a result, R/3 was replaced with the introduction of SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 5.0 in 2004.[21] Architectural changes were also made to support an enterprise service architecture to transition customers to a services-oriented architecture. The latest version, SAP ERP 6.0, was released in 2006. SAP ERP 6.0 has since then been updated through SAP enhancement packs, the most recent: SAP enhancement package 8 for SAP ERP 6.0 in 2016.[22]

Corporate restructuring

In August 1988, SAP GmbH became SAP AG, and public trading started on 4 November 1988. Shares were listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges.[16] In 1995, SAP was included in the German stock index DAX and, on 22 September 2003, SAP was included in the STOXX Europe 50.[23]

SAP AG era

The company's official name became SAP AG (a public limited company) after the 2005 annual general meeting.

On 21 May 2014, SAP AG announced during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on the same day, 99% of the shareholder votes approved the conversion of legal form to a European stock corporation (Societas Europaea, SE) and at the same time, elected the first Supervisory Board of SAP SE. The conversion of the company's legal form would take place upon entry in the commercial register, expected to be in July 2014.[24] [25]

SAP SE era

On 7 July 2014, SAP announced it had changed its legal form to a European Company (Societas Europaea, SE). As a result, its German subsidiary was renamed to SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG.[7][26] the conversion cost the company approximately €4 million.[27]

Focus on cloud

Since 2012, SAP has acquired several companies that sell cloud-based products, with several multibillion-dollar acquisitions seen by analysts as an attempt to challenge competitor Oracle.[28] In 2014 SAP bought Concur Technologies, a provider of cloud-based travel and expense management software, for $8.3 billion, SAP's most expensive purchase to that date.[29] Analysts' reactions to the purchase were mixed, with Thomas Becker of Commerzbank questioning whether Concur was the right choice for SAP, while Credit Suisse called the acquisition an "aggressive" move.[30]

In 2014, IBM and SAP began a partnership to sell cloud-based services.[31] Likewise, in 2015, SAP also partnered with HPE to provide secure hybrid cloud-based services running the SAP platform.[32] Both HPE and IBM provide infrastructure services to SAP, and SAP runs its SAP HANA cloud solution on top. SAP has announced additional partnerships with Microsoft in order to give customers tools for data visualization, as well as improved mobile applications.[33]

SAP exceeded its revenue projections due to the expansion in its cloud business and the success of SAP HANA. The growth can also be partially attributed to the acquisitions of Concur and Fieldglass.[34]

The company announced plans in 2016 to invest heavily into technology relating to Internet of Things (IoT) as part of a strategy to capitalize on the growth in that market. For that purpose, €2 billion is planned for investment in relevant sectors by the end of 2020.[35] SAP will also launch a new product line called SAP IoT, which "will combine large amounts of data from things connected to the Internet with machine learning and SAP's real-time database S/4 HANA."[35]

On 29 January 2019, SAP announced plans to cut approximately 4,000 positions at the company in a strategic plan to shift to more modern cloud-based technologies such as blockchain, quantum computing, machine learning, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.[36]

Finances

For the fiscal year 2017, SAP reported earnings of €4 billion, with an annual revenue of €23.5 billion, an increase of 6.3% over the previous fiscal cycle.[37] SAP's shares traded at over US$105 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at US$128 billion in December 2018. This makes SAP the most valuable company in Germany.[38]

Year	Revenue in bn. EUR€	Net income in bn. EUR€	Total Assets in bn. EUR€	Employees
2013	16.815	3.326	27.094	66,572
2014	17.560	3.280	38.507	74,406
2015	20.793	3.064	41.390	76,986
2016	22.062	3.646	44.277	84,183
2017	23.461	4.018	42.497	88,543
2018	24.708	4.088	51.502	96.498
2019[39]	27.553	3.370	60.215	100,330

Acquisitions

Acquisitions (1991–now):[40]

Acquisition number	Acquired company	Acquisition date	Specialty	Country of origin	Acquisition costs
72	Signavio	(Announced January 2021)	Collaborative Business Process Design, Management and Analysis	Germany	$1b est.
71	Emarsys	Oct 2020 [41]	Omnichannel marketing	Austria
70	Qualtrics	Nov 2018[42][43]	Collect, Manage, act on Experience data	USA	$8.0b
69	Contextor	Nov 2018[44]	Robotics Process Automation	France
68	Coresystems	Jun 2018[45]	platform for field service management	Switzerland
67	CallidusCloud	Jan 2018[46]	Sales Performance Management Tool	USA	$2.4 b
66	Recast.ai	Jan 2018[47]	Conversational User Experience Technology	France
65	Gigya	Sep 2017[48]	Customer Identity Management	Israel	$350m
64	Abakus	Dec 2016[49]	Marketing attribution	USA
63	Plat.One	Oct 2016[50][51]	IoT	USA
62	Altiscale	Aug 2016	big data and Hadoop Hosting	USA	$125m+
61	Fedem Technology	Jun 2016	IoT	Norway
60	MeLLmo Inc. (Roambi)	Feb 2016	Mobile Business Intelligence	USA
59	Concur Technologies	Sep 2014[52]	Travel and Expense Management	USA	$8.3b
58	SeeWhy	May 2014	Behavioural target marketing	USA	$1.1b
57	Fieldglass	Mar 2014	Contingent labour and services	USA
56	KXEN	Oct 2013	Predictive analytics	France
55	hybris	May 2013	E-Commerce Solutions	Switzerland	$1.5b
54	Camilion	Mar 2013	Insurance solutions	Canada
53	SmartOps	Feb 2013	Inventory optimization	USA
52	Ticket-Web	Feb 2013[53]	Ticket systems and special CRM solutions for sports and entertainment	Germany
51	Ariba	Oct 2012	Supplier network	USA	$4.3b
50	Syclo	Jun 2012	Mobile asset management	USA
49	datango	Jan 2012	Electronic performance support technologies	Germany
48	SuccessFactors	Dec 2011	Human Capital Management (see SuccessFactors acquisitions on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuccessFactors#Acquisitions)	USA	$3.4b
47	Right Hemisphere	Sep 2011	3D visualization	USA
46	Crossgate	Sep 2011	B2B eCommerce	Germany
45	Secude	Mar 2011	Security software (Not the whole company, only some assets were acquired)	Germany
44	Cundus	Dec 2010	Disclosure Management	Germany
43	Sybase	May 2010	Database, middleware, mobile software	USA	$5.8b
42	TechniData	May 2010	Environmental, Health and Safety	Germany
41	SAF	Sep 2009	Inventory Management	Switzerland	$91m
40	Highdeal	May 2009	High-volume billing	France
39	Visiprise	Jul 2008	Manufacturing Execution	USA
38	Saicon INC	Oct 2014	US Recruitment	India
37	BusinessObjects	Oct 2007	Business Intelligence	France	$6.78b
36	Yasu Technologies Pvt. Ltd.	Oct 2007	Business Rules Management Software	India
35	Wicom Communications	May 2007	Internet Communication software	Finland
34	MaXware	May 2007	Identity software	Norway
33	Outlooksoft	May 2007[54]	Planning & consolidation	USA
32	Pilot Software	Feb 2007	Strategy Management software	USA	~$200m
31	Factory Logic	Dec 2006	Lean scheduling and supply synchronisation	USA
30	Praxis Software Solutions	Jul 2006	Web-based CRM and eCommerce	USA
29	Frictionless Commerce	May 2006	SRM software	USA
28	Virsa Systems	Apr 2006	Compliance solutions	USA
27	SAP Systems Integration	Dec 2005	Consulting services	Germany
26	Callixa	Nov 2005	Enterprise Integration Information software	USA
25	Khimetrics	Nov 2005	retail software	USA
24	Triversity	Sep 2005	POS software	Canada
23	Lighthammer	Jun 2005[55]	Manufacturing Intelligence and Collaborative Manufacturing	USA
22	DCS Quantum	Feb 2005	Automotive Dealer Management	United Kingdom
21	TomorrowNow	Jan 2005	Grey market support	USA
20	ilytix	Jan 2005	SAP BusinessOne Business Intelligence	Norway
19	A2i	Jul 2004[56]	Master Data Management	USA
18	SPM Technologies	Dec 2003[57]	IT architecture consulting	Germany
17	DCW Software	Jul 2003	OS/400 Applications	Germany
16	Guimachine	Dec 2002	NetWeaver Visual Composer toolkit	USA
15	IMHC	May 2001	Integrated managed health care from IDS	USA
14	Expression	May 2002	real-time file sharing	?
13	Topmanage	Feb 2002	SAP BusinessOne Suite	Israel
12	Paynet International AG	Dec 2001	Invoice Processing	Germany
11	COPA GmbH	Nov 2001	Beverage industry consulting	Germany
10	Infinite Data Structures	May 2001	Trade Management / CRM	USA
9	Toptier	Mar 2001	Enterprise Information Portal and Integration Infrastructure	USA	~$400m
8	Prescient Consulting	Feb 2000	Consulting services	USA
7	In-Q-My Technologies GmbH	2000	J2EE Server	Bulgaria
6	Campbell Software	1999[58]	Workforce Management	USA
5	AMC Development	1998	Call Center telephony integration software	USA
4	OFEK-Tech	1998	Warehousing and distribution centre software	Israel
3	Kiefer & Veittinger	1997	Sales force Applications	Germany
2	Dacos	1996	Retail solution	Germany
1	Steeb	1991	Software and Consulting Services	Germany

Business and markets

SAP CEO meeting with Azerbaijan's leader Ilham Aliyev

As of 2016, SAP is the world's third-largest software and programming company.[59] The corporation operates in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America.[60]

SAP focuses on 25 industries and six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services and public services.[61] It offers integrated product sets for large enterprises,[62] mid-sized companies and small businesses.[63]

Enterprise service-oriented architecture

Service-oriented architecture has been incorporated into the SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system and other products defined within the SAP Enterprise Services Architecture (Enterprise SOA).

Enterprise SOA

SAP Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture (or Enterprise SOA) is SAP SE's service-oriented architecture implementation.[64] Enterprise SOA is enabled by the SAP NetWeaver platform and builds on the benefits of Web services. SAP has positioned Enterprise SOA to deliver the benefits offered by service-oriented architecture, including enabling both flexibility and business efficiency. SAP markets Enterprise SOA (service-oriented architecture) as a cost-effective way of adding new applications to existing infrastructure.[65] SAP Solutions that currently use Enterprise SOA are mySAP CRM, mySAP ERP, and mySAP SRM.

Partnerships

SAP partners include Global Services Partners with cross-industry multinational consulting capabilities,[66] Global Software Partners providing integrated products that complement SAP Business Suite solutions,[67] and Global Technology Partners providing user companies with a wide range of products to support SAP technology, including vendors of hardware, database, storage systems, networks, and mobile computing technology.[68]

Extensions partners are companies which provide functionality that complements SAP product capabilities. Their products are certified, sold, and supported by SAP. These partner companies include Adobe, CA Technologies, GK Software,[69] Tricentis,[70] Hewlett-Packard, IDS Scheer, Mendix,[71] OpenText,[72] Knoa Software, and BackOffice Associates.[73]

SAP has also partnered with Apple to work on the mobile experience for SAP enterprise customers. As part of the partnership, a new SAP HANA Cloud Platform SDK would be delivered exclusively for iOS. As a result, developers can build applications based on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform for the iPhone and iPad devices. The partnership was announced in May 2016.[74]

In 2019, SAP announced a three-year partnership "Embrace" with Microsoft that should allow its clients to move their business process into the cloud. SAP teams up on cloud sales with Microsoft

In 2020 SAP announced that together with Wipro it will co-develop and market "solutions for the retail and fashion industry."[75]

SAP PartnerEdge

SAP products for small businesses and midsize companies are delivered through its global partner network. The SAP PartnerEdge programme, SAP's partner programme, offers a set of business enablement resources and program benefits to help partners including value-added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) be profitable and successful in implementing, selling, marketing, developing and delivering SAP products to a broad range of customers.[76]

SAP for Retailing

SAP for Retailing is a comprehensive set of offerings for various retail processes including demand management/forecasting and supply chain at a high level, and specific areas such as contracting, purchasing, goods receipts, invoice verification, accounts payable, pricing, billing, Point-of-Sale and business analytics.

"SAP for Retail" is the title of a book about the software.[77]

Communities

SAP Community Network (SCN) is a community of SAP customers, partners, employees, and influencers – typically in roles such as: developers, consultants, integrators, and business analysts – who gain and share knowledge about ABAP, Java, .NET, SOA, and other technologies, plus analytics and dashboards, business process best practices, cloud, mobile, big data, and a range of other topics via blogs, discussion forums, downloads and code samples, training materials, and a technical library.[78]

Organization

SAP uses a two-tier structure of boards, with an executive board and a supervisory board.[79][80] In October 2019, Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein were appointed as co-CEOs of SAP.[81] In April 2020, it was announced that Jennifer Morgan will leave SAP and Christian Klein will continue to operate as the sole CEO, citing that the current environment of the Coronavirus recession requires "companies to take swift, determined action which is best supported by a very clear leadership structure".[82]

Headquarters is responsible for overall management as well as core engineering activities related to product development. Worldwide customer support is not provided by the field organizations but by a unified organization called Active Global Support (AGS).[83]

SAP Labs

SAP Labs are R&D locations that develop and improve SAP core products. SAP Labs are strategically located in high-tech clusters around the globe.[12]

Locations of SAP Labs

Country	Main location(s)
Germany	Walldorf/Rot, Markdorf, Berlin
United States	Silicon Valley
India	Bangalore
China	Shanghai
Brazil	São Leopoldo
Bulgaria	Sofia
Canada	Vancouver, Montreal, Waterloo
South Korea	Seoul
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City
Israel	Ra'anana
Russia	Moscow
France	Paris, Sophia Antipolis
Ireland	Dublin
Hungary	Budapest
Slovakia	Bratislava
Czech Republic	Brno
Poland	Gliwice

The four most prominent labs of SAP SE are located in Germany, Japan, Israel and the US. Labs Walldorf was founded in 1972 and became SAP's primary location. At the beginning, the focus of SAP's expansion was entering highly developed IT markets; in 1993 Palo Alto became a part of SAP Labs. Aiming to acquire talented employees, SAP opened another lab in Bangalore in 2003.[12]

Among the latest SAP Labs are labs in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. All three labs have been established in 2016. The lab in India as of 2016 is SAP's largest outside Germany.

In order to manage SAP Labs, SAP Labs Network (SLN) was created. SLN is a global unit that manages regional Labs and shares best business practices. It coordinates and distributes development projects among individual SAP Labs locations, accelerates product delivery, gives SAP full access to talent, and drives SAP corporate strategy regarding innovation and business growth.[84]

SAP User Groups

SAP User Groups are independent, nonprofit organizations of SAP customers and SAP partners. They serve as communications channel for their members towards SAP and for SAP towards the markets. The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG)[85] is the company's largest user group, with 100,000 individuals at 3,800 companies. ASUG members are professionals who work in more than 17 industries. Many are technical and business process experts in the SAP ecosystem; they have varied levels of experience, and come from small businesses to global corporations, as well as universities. In 2007, the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) was established.

SAP provoked controversy and frustration among its users in 2008 by raising the cost of its maintenance contracts. The issue was the subject of intense discussion among user groups.[86]

SAP Cloud Platform

SAP Cloud Platform is SAP's platform-as-a-service (PaaS)[87] that is used to deliver in-memory capabilities and microservices for building and extending, mobile-enabled cloud applications. The infrastructure is offered through a global network of SAP managed data centers. SAP Cloud Platform is an open platform-as-a-service, which includes the in-memory SAP HANA database management system, connects to both on premises and cloud-based systems running SAP or other third-party software and relies on open standards, like Java, JavaScript, Node.js and Cloud Foundry for integration options.

SAP Cloud Platform is promoted to build and extend business applications with rapid innovation cycles. SAP and Apple Inc. partnered to develop mobile applications on iOS using cloud-based software development kits (SDKs) for the SAP Cloud Platform. SAP founding development partners[88] for their Cloud Platform include Accenture, Celonis, EnterpriseAlumni, and Walmart.

SAP Cloud Platform is based on open source technology, developed and supported in partnership with SUSE. The company is also in partnership with Cloud Foundry for a beta offering of SAP Cloud Platform that enables customers to test out and give feedback for the functionalities coming with Cloud Foundry.

SAP S/4HANA

In 2015, the company launched S/4HANA, the newest generation of the SAP Business Suite. It was written natively for the SAP HANA platform. It offers cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployment options to customers, with its benefits including a smaller data footprint, higher throughput, faster analytics and faster access to data. It also allows existing SAP Business Suite customers to upgrade to this product from SAP Business Suite.[89]

In 2016, SAP introduced SAP HANA, Express Edition which is meant to run on personal computers or on cloud computing platforms for students and other small-scale developers.[90]

SAP Enterprise Learning

"The SAP Enterprise Learning solution is part of SAP ERP HCM" is a quote from a 2009-published book about the subject.[91] The acronym ERP refers to Enterprise Resource Management; HCM refers to Human Capital Management.[92]

There are other books on SAP ERP HCM including:

• Mastering HR Management with SAP ERP HCM[93]
• Talent Management with SAP ERP HCM[94]

SAP Enterprise Learning is a learning management system, for large and medium-sized enterprises, from SAP, and it contains a virtual learning room feature powered by Adobe Connect.[95] A sample can be experienced in the SAP Learning on Demand Portal. SAP uses this for delivering online training[96] as a Learning on Demand offering; some of this content is freely available[97] as e-books or simulations. The company has a book on this subject, available since June 2009.[98]

SAP Store

SAP launched the SAP store in March 2015 as its principal e-commerce property to allow customers to buy its products directly on the Web rather than through traditional sales channels. Customers can purchase free trials or starter editions and can pay by credit card or PayPal.

SAP App Center

Launched in 2016, the SAP App Center is an online application marketplace for third-party applications that integrate with and extend SAP products. While some applications are available for free, others[99][100] involve a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Applications available range from integrations with content management software to mobile approval management and payment platforms. As of July 2018, it features over 1,500 applications. Major vendors and service providers, such as Accenture,[101] are part of it.

Conferences

SAP has two annual conferences:

• SAPPHIRE is SAP's customer-facing event, where it generally announces major product changes and strategic direction. It is typically held in the spring in North America.[102][103]
• SAP TechEd is the company's more technical conference, aimed at SAP's ecosystem of consultants and software development partners.[104][105] SAP TechEd has been held annually since 1995.

Competitive landscape

SAP competitors are primarily in the enterprise resource planning software industry. In this field, Oracle Corporation is SAP's major competitor. SAP also competes in the customer relationship management, marketing & sales software, manufacturing, warehousing & industrial software, and supply chain management & logistics software sectors.[106]

Oracle Corporation filed a lawsuit against SAP for malpractice and unfair competition in the California courts in 2007. SAP lost the case in 2010 and was ordered to pay $1.3 billion, which was cited as the largest copyright infringement judgment in history.[107] The verdict was overturned in 2011,[108] and the lawsuit was finally settled in 2014 for $356.7 million.[109]

The resulting pressure saw SAP and SUGEN (SAP User Group Executive Network) agree to a major benchmarking exercise to prove the value of the new support pricing policy to customers. In December 2009, SAP delayed its Enterprise Support price rises until agreement had been reached on the benchmarks and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).[110]

In January 2010, SAP reversed its direction on Enterprise Support and reintroduced its standard support package for customers. The move to reinstate standard support – at 18 percent of annual license fees, "will enable all customers to choose the option that best meets their requirements", the company said.[111]

In August 2013, SAP acquired German software company Hybris for eCommerce capabilities.[112][113]

Philanthropic efforts

SAP has donated several millions of dollars to a variety of global health causes including the Product Red campaign and the Global Fund.[114][115] In addition, SAP has distributed free software in South Africa as part of an effort towards developing future markets there.[116] The company also encourages employees to volunteer through social sabbaticals, sending teams of people to different countries to aid non-profits. SAP employees have volunteered in China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.[117]

Sponsorships

The SAP Arena opened in Mannheim in 2005, and is the home of the Adler Mannheim ice hockey team and Rhein-Neckar Löwen handball team. Since 2013, the company is name sponsor of the SAP Center at San Jose, California. The team also sponsors the Formula One racing team McLaren, the Formula E team Mercedes Benz EQ, German football team TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, NFL teams the New York Giants and New York Jets, the City Football Group, and eSports squad Team Liquid. It was the title sponsor of the Formula One United States Grand Prix from 2000 to 2002.

SAP ambassadors include German tennis player Angelique Kerber, German eventing rider Ingrid Klimke, and South African golfers Ernie Els, Gary Player and Branden Grace.

Autism hiring

SAP also engages in outreach activities within its company. In 2013, the company launched an initiative to hire employees with autism and Asperger syndrome, citing their undervalued ability to contribute to its workforce. SAP aims to compose 1% of its workforce with individuals with autism by the year 2020.[118]

Bribery and corruption

East African allegations

In February 2019, SAP was accused of ‘improper conduct’ linked to state contracts in Kenya and Tanzania. An anonymous whistle-blower claims, through a firm of attorneys, that SAP used Twenty Third Century Systems (TTCS) to bribe officials at the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to win a US$6.6 million enterprise resource planning software tender that involved the provision of software licenses and services.[119]

South African allegations

In July 2017, allegations were made that SAP had been involved in business transactions with the controversial and politically influential Gupta family in South Africa. SAP was accused of paying CAD House, a Gupta-controlled company, R100 million in order to secure a Transnet deal. SAP denied the allegations, claiming that the money was paid as "an extension of the sales force", despite CAD House having no prior SAP experience.[120][121]

The Guptas' dealings with SAP were revealed in a widely publicized e-mail leak.[122][123]

As a consequence of the allegations, SAP launched an investigation that led to four of its South African managers being placed on administrative leave along with the seizure of their mobile phones and computers.[124] Claas Kuehnemann was named as acting managing director for Africa while the investigation continued.[125]

On 26 October 2017, SAP announced that it had voluntarily reported itself to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a possible violation of US law, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), related to the South African bribery allegations. SAP's own investigation, conducted by law firm Baker McKenzie, revealed that SAP had paid $7.7 million in commissions to third-parties linked to the Gupta family while securing contracts worth $48 million with Transnet and Eskom.[126][127][128]

Panamanian bribery

Since May 2015, the company has dealt with a series of high-profile bribery investigations,[129][120][119] including one that led to them paying $3.9 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges over a former executive's scheme to bribe Panama government officials in order to win lucrative technology contracts.[129][130]

See also

• List of ERP software packages
• List of SAP products
• SAP implementation

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