The New Nation - Internet Edition

In 1972 five former IMB employees launched a company called Systems Applications and Products (SAP) in Data Processing in Mannheim, Germany. Their vision was to develop standard application software for real-time business processing. One year later, the first financial accounting software was complete, forming the basis for the continuous development of other software components. From that small company, SAP has today, evolved into the world's leading provider of business software delivering products and services that help accelerate business innovation for their customers.

The SAP Summit is the largest software exposition event in India. Every year SAP hosts the event to see how SAP is delivering solutions to customers and partners. Officials of SAP speak directly to customers who are using SAP technology in real-world applications and they try to evaluate services to gain insight into how SAP is responding to the rising needs for business-model innovations.

In this three day business forum starting from June 4-6 at Mumbai, the selected theme for SAP Summit 2008 was "Open technologies and business networks that can help Indian companies create business beyond boundaries". Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are included in SAP's Indian sub continental operation. 175 exclusive and informative sessions covering a diverse range of subjects across verticals, solutions and segments and a large exhibition/demo arena were a part of the SAP summit '08. Over 3000 delegates were present from, automotive, consumer products, banking, insurance, telecom and media, utilities, pharma, retail, professional services, government, chemical, engineering, construction and operations, industrial machinery, components, etc.

SAP is working with some of the leading information companies in the world like IBM, Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu, Sun, Microsoft, etc. They are also working with some of the giants in India, for example, MRF tyres, Nitesh Estates, Mahindra, Reliance Communications, etc.

Today, in developing nations, more and more small and medium businesses are using SAP solutions to power their enterprise. At present out of 47000 customers, 37000 customers are small and medium business.

"Our growing customer numbers clearly show that we have the right strategy of supporting small businesses and midsize companies in their quest for success and growth," says Ranjan Das, President and CEO SAP Indian Subcontinent. "I am confident that as we continue to foster this growth with our focus on the small and midsized sector, we will remain the trusted partner of choice for them. "