SAP Executives Share Vision and Outline Plans for the Coming Decade

May 19, 2006

Kagermann, Apotheker and Agassi Detail SAP’s Services and Solutions Focused on Simplicity, Continuity and Openness as Key Differentiators that Allow for Faster Transformation, Reduced Complexity and Greater Value

ORLANDO, Fla. - In front of 15,000 customers and partners at the combined conferences for SAP customers and the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG)—SAPPHIRE® ’06 and the 2006 ASUG Annual Conference—executive board members at SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) described how the company will transform the business landscape during the next decade by addressing the growing data and information needs of both knowledge and information workers. SAP CEO Henning Kagermann and executive board members Léo Apotheker and Shai Agassi addressed how SAP and its ecosystem are assisting customers worldwide: helping them innovate around their core business processes and helping them prepare for business model innovation while at the same time assisting them in building upon their existing software investments. By differentiating themselves at the core, companies can provide a unique value proposition to the marketplace and thus grow their business no matter what industry they are in or what size company they operate.

Henning Kagermann
In Kagermann’s SAPPHIRE address, he focused on the new role of IT in supporting growth, a departure from the formerly prevalent view of IT as a driver of cost efficiency. Moving forward, IT will be the enabler of accelerated business innovation and operational excellence. Kagermann believes enterprise software must address three key business requirements: the need to automate processes for speed and flexibility; the need to enable collaboration by integrating automated processes beyond the firewall with those of customers, partners and suppliers; and the need to harness and “amplify” the value of the knowledge worker.

“In a new era where IT is critical to executing on a growth agenda, companies have to know their IT vendor has a clear road map with specific milestones and deliverables,” said Henning Kagermann, CEO, SAP. “Enterprise software vendors must provide an evolutionary path to new technology adoption, not ‘rip and replace.’ And most importantly, customers look not just for a vendor but for a strategic partner that delivers on its promises to meet their business transformation goals on time. SAP is the only business software vendor currently able to provide and deliver now on an evolutionary strategy for its customers.”

Léo Apotheker
Léo Apotheker demonstrated in his keynote why companies need to embrace enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) now. The globalization of markets, the consolidation and specialization of companies within and across industries and the rise of business model innovation are forcing companies to adapt their business models in a fast and flexible fashion. SAP’s market-leading mySAP™ Business Suite applications such as mySAP™ ERP bring customers to the era of enterprise SOA, providing the efficiency of an integrated architecture while at the same time allowing companies to evolve and extend their solutions flexibly.

“Enterprise SOA is a reality and companies can no longer afford to wait on the sidelines,” said Léo Apotheker, president, Customer Solutions and Operations and member of the SAP Executive Board. “This is a matter of being a best-run business versus an ‘also-ran’ business.” mySAP ERP 2005 is the first business suite application ever based on enterprise services. It delivers ‘out of the box’ industry applications and the flexibility to extend with industry-specific functionality at the pace of the customer.”

Shai Agassi
Shai Agassi, president of the Product and Technology Group and member of the SAP Executive Board, discussed a number of topics in his keynote, specifically highlighting the move toward IT being embedded in business today. In order for businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors, Agassi said that companies need to harness IT as the ultimate competitive weapon. In his keynote, Agassi explained how SAP is delivering simplified business processes and demonstrated on stage a new alternative graphic user interface (GUI) for SAP software that will extend core business functionality to an even broader range of end users. SAP is reducing complexity by facilitating the integration of hundreds of enterprise services, which are the building blocks that will make up the foundation of customers’ application landscapes moving forward. Agassi also explained that one of the critical tasks that customers need to address is around assuring business compliance. He outlined SAP’s announcement of a new compliance business unit and its subsequent solutions, which are meeting the increasing number of compliance needs of global customers in all verticals. (See May 17, 2006 press release, titled “SAP Launches Governance, Risk and Compliance Management Business Unit to Lead New, Emerging Market” at http://www.sap.com/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=6247.) SAP is supplying the solutions that can help CEOs, CFOs and chief risk officers with one of their most important challenges: managing governance, risk and compliance.

“SAP is dramatically simplifying the ability of customers and partners to develop and deploy a new breed of innovations that will help keep them a step ahead of the competition,” said Agassi. “With the release of the latest version of mySAP ERP, we have also brought simplification to the user experience and to the workflows embedded in business processes. In addition, SAP gave customers increased flexibility in deployment options around its CRM offering by announcing the company will migrate its entire CRM offering to a hybrid model by 2007. The real benefits of enterprise SOA are no longer the promises of the future but are available today—only from SAP.”

(For more information on the new version of mySAP ERP, see May 17, 2006 press release, titled “SAP Delivers Next Evolution of Flagship ERP; Provides Users with More Choice and Enhanced Usability” at http://www.sap.com/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=6251; For more information on CRM offerings from SAP, see May 17, 2006 press release, titled “CRM Without Compromise: With Move to Hybrid Model, SAP Offers Customers More Deployment Options and More Flexibility for Growth Without Disruption” at http://www.sap.com/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=6250.)

Kagermann, Apotheker and Agassi will continue to discuss strategic business topics when they address an expected audience of thousands at SAPPHIRE ’06 Paris, being held May 30 - June 1, 2006. For more information, visit www.sapsapphire.com/emea2006

Agassi’s keynote at SAPPHIRE ’06 Orlando is the fourth in a series of speeches that he has given on the future of the enterprise software industry. Agassi has also keynoted at SAP’s ES Summit in San Francisco, California on April 18, 2006, the Software 2006 event in Santa Clara, California on April 5, 2006 and the International CeBIT Summit in Hanover, Germany on March 8, 2006. To read more about Agassi’s remarks at these three events, please see the corresponding press releases at:

http://www.sap.com/usa/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=6117

http://www.sap.com/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=6092

http://www.sap.com/company/press/Press.epx?PressID=5954

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 33,200 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

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