February 2008
SAP Asia Pacific Japan re****ts 44 per cent growth in sales revenue in
previous quarter
Zafar Anjum
Updated: 06 Feb 2008
SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) has announced that it hired 3,384 full-
time employees last year as the software company experienced strong
business growth in the region.
The new hires, in addition to the consultants and part-time staff,
brought the company's regional total to more than 9,500 full-time
equivalent employees. SAP APJ is part of SAP, a global provider of
business software.
SAP APJ re****ted 44 per cent growth in sales revenue in its fourth
quarter, compared with the previous corresponding period, to EURO 180
million (S$374 million). Total revenues for SAP APJ grew 20 per cent
year-on-year in constant currencies to EURO 1.275 billion.
"2007 was a terrific year for SAP Asia Pacific Japan, with revenue
growth in India, Greater China, Japan and South East Asia providing
key impetus for the region," said Geraldine McBride, president and
chief executive officer, SAP APJ.
In the fourth quarter, SAP established its first sales operations in
Cambodia. This followed SAP APJ's expansion into Vietnam in Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh earlier in 2007.
SAP India, the fastest growing country for SAP globally, continued to
expand operations in 2007 with the acquisition of YASU Technologies
and the SAP Executive Board's continued commitment to invest US$1
billion (S$1.41 billion) in the country by 2010.
SAP has also re****ted strong growth in its small and medium enterprise
(SME) customer base. "SME delivered a strong performance each quarter
in 2007 and grew at more than 10 new names per working day. SME
customers now make up nearly 70 per cent of SAP's customer base in the
region," said McBride.
The software company also announced that it would roll out this year
its latest innovation, SAP Business ByDesign, a software-as-a-service
solution specifically designed for SMEs. It was launched in 2007 in
China and recently in Singa****e. SAP Business ByDesign will help the
growth of SMEs in Australia and India in 2008, the company claimed.
The company also said revenue from its software SAP NetWeaver and
Business User have been growing rapidly in the Asia Pacific Japan
region. More customers are migrating to SAP ERP 6.0 on SAP NetWeaver
with the total now nearing 1,300 in the Asia Pacific and Japan region,
it said.
Moving forward, SAP said that after acquiring Business Objects in
January, it has more products to offer to the market. It launched nine
joint product packages, which are available now, to be sold by both
organisations' global sales teams.
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