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SAP EMEA Customers Use SOA to Thrive in Changing Markets
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Companies Including Bezeq, Dolnoslaski Operator Systemu Dystrybucyjnego and Vinzenz Gruppe Employ SAP(R) Solutions to Establish New Business Processes Across System and Organizational Boundaries
BERLIN, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today
announced that companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are
continuing to embrace service-oriented architecture (SOA) and apply the latest
technology advancements delivered through the SAP NetWeaver(R) technology
platform to accelerate innovation, standardize business processes and drive
competitive differentiation. SAP business solutions built upon the SAP
NetWeaver technology platform are helping organizations to better manage their
most critical business processes by establishing IT landscapes that are less
complex, more flexible and better suited to respond and adapt to changing
markets. Taking advantage of an SOA strategy with SAP enables organizations to
optimize business operations in a multitude of ways that range from providing
users with access to real-time data, increasing responsiveness to customers
and collaborating better with partners, to rapidly addressing new regulatory
requirements or even reducing carbon footprints through the elimination of
paper processes. The announcement was made at SAP(R) TechEd 2008, being held
in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 14-16.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH009LOGO-a)
Newly released research has helped document how companies leverage SAP
solutions to tackle reducing the cost of IT while increasing business process
efficiencies, helping them better weather the increasing challenges in today's
economic climate and be better prepared for tackling strategic initiatives and
meeting future business requirements. In a joint research effort conducted by
SAP and the University of St. Gallen (see May 19, 2008 press release, titled
"University of St. Gallen and SAP Prove Business and Technology Value of
Service-Oriented Architecture for SAP Customers"), SAP and non-SAP customers
were evaluated and findings show that companies running SAP are better
equipped to show how SOA helps generate true business value with quantifiable
benefit statements.
These newly released findings support the bolstered momentum SAP has seen
for its solutions that enable SOA, with more than 42,500 productive SAP
NetWeaver systems and more than 10,000 SAP(R) ERP 6.0 installations running
around the world. In addition, to date there have been more than 2,800
enterprise services and 1,000 SOA roadmaps delivered by SAP globally, helping
customers establish and follow strategic blueprints.
The following three success stories illustrate this and how SAP customers
in EMEA are using SAP technology to maximize their SOA investments.
Dolnoslaski Operator Systemu Dystrybucyjnego Fuels Poland's Utilities
Market With Information and Collaboration
Facing a deregulated gas and energy market, Poland's Dolnoslaski Operator
Systemu Dystrybucyjnego (DOSD) needed a way to better manage and separate the
critical organizational processes of gas sales and distribution. By doing so,
DOSD aimed to provide higher-quality services to the gas-selling companies it
works with, and to improve cooperation among its partners and gas network-
engineering companies -- all while adhering to the network-restructuring
process that was already underway by its parent company, Polskie Gornictwo
Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA (PGNiG SA). Through setting up an open, flexible and
standardized platform across its entire organization, DOSD sought to redefine
its own business model and establish a more streamlined approach for serving
and managing its broad customer base by automating core company backend
processes like gas connections, network investments and third-party
engineering services.
Using the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, DOSD automated these
important processes for full integration with other organizations -- including
multiple systems that historically lacked integration with DOSD -- while
remaining in line with its business and IT strategies. As a result, more than
1,300 DOSD users now have access to integrated and up-to-date customer, sales
and corporate information that was previously unavailable. Additionally, user
productivity has increased, customer-service times have diminished, processes
that were once paper-based are now paperless, and DOSD has better process
visibility and traceability throughout its entire network.
"SOA is at the crux of our IT strategy and SAP is the strategic partner
that makes it possible for us to bring this framework to DOSD seamlessly,"
said Andrzej Krzeminski, SAP implementation coordinator, Dolnoslaski Operator
Systemu Dystrybucyjnego. "SAP NetWeaver has helped us reap the rewards of SOA.
To date, we have successfully automated our processes end-to-end, across all
DOSD offices and plants, and have realized a higher ROI on our IT investments
in the process."
Vinzenz Gruppe Adapts to National Health Care System Changes in Austria
Today, Austrian health care providers like Vinzenz Gruppe are preparing
for forthcoming changes to national health care policies, known as
Elektronische Gesundheitsakte (ELGA), that require providers to retain
electronic copies of health records, prescriptions, referrals, medication
history and other related patient data. Viewing these changes as an
opportunity to re-evaluate its IT strategy, Vinzenz Gruppe decided to lay the
foundation for SOA across its organization to meet the new mandates and
improve cross-institutional collaboration among key groups, such as external
physicians, business partners, patients and the more than 4,500 internal
Vinzenz Gruppe users.
Using SAP's flagship enterprise resource planning application, SAP(R) ERP,
along with key components of the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, Vinzenz
Gruppe was able to extend to its users personalized, real-time and secure
access to services offered on the shared Vinzenz Gruppe collaboration portal;
eliminate errors and security risks by automating patient processes and
switching from physical to digital records; reduce administrative overhead
associated with manual processes; and comply with the latest ELGA regulations.
It was also able to achieve all of this without compromising mission-critical
clinical operations -- a necessity for the industry and the sensitive data
being handled.
"With SOA powered by SAP, we can provide secure access to important
medical documents -- anytime, anywhere -- to all of our stakeholders, and
ensure that we are meeting the latest specifications set by the government,"
said Dr. Christian Gierlinger, head of IT, Vinzenz Gruppe
Krankenhausbeteiligungs- und Management GmbH. "This enables our health care
organization to improve the quality and contain the costs of our services,
while modernizing our IT landscape in the process. The SAP NetWeaver
technology platform is so flexible and fast that we knew it was capable of
handling and adapting to accommodate all of our future SOA initiatives."
Bezeq Empowers Telecommunications Technicians and Developers in Israel
In the highly competitive, highly regulated telecommunications industry,
Bezeq had to take into account both retaining its leading market share and
upholding its new customer-facing vision when deciding to revamp its
legacy-based business model. Bezeq found that its field teams and application
developers lacked the mobility and resources necessary to optimize their
efficiency, and, as a result, decided to architect an IT environment that
would enable real-time monitoring and enhancement of all field procedures.
SAP helped Bezeq make these initiatives successful ones. Having already
used SAP ERP in its warehouses, Bezeq turned to SAP once again, this time
selecting the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, which enabled the
telecommunications service provider to apply SOA across its organization. By
doing so, Bezeq was able to eliminate the constraints of location by equipping
its field technicians with mobile devices and communications systems and its
application developers with a reusable set of Web services that can function
throughout heterogeneous IT applications and logistics processes.
"As the largest telecommunications service provider in Israel, we needed a
way to maintain our brand and serve our customers while making important
changes to our existing IT environment," said Yaki Zano, head of software
development, Bezeq. "SAP enabled us to do to just that. SAP NetWeaver helped
us to optimize the use of our field technicians by saving them huge amounts of
valuable time, and it also made programming that much easier for our software
developers. We now have the tools in place to assure that our technicians and
programmers have the proper resources to make the most of their time --
wherever they are working from."
"In 2008 we have seen an extraordinary pace of adoption for SAP NetWeaver,
and there are many compelling showcases of how our technology platform is
helping customers around the world conduct business more efficiently," said
Herve Couturier, head of Development for SAP NetWeaver, SAP AG, and executive
vice president, Product Group, Business Objects. "As the industry's most
prominent open technology platform, SAP NetWeaver is the perfect way for
organizations to start using SOA in order to orchestrate new business
processes across system and company boundaries. In an age where the rules are
constantly changing, SAP NetWeaver and SOA help our global network of
customers create flexible IT landscapes and business networks that respond
rapidly to shifting business requirements."
Starter Kit for SOA from SAP
SAP is launching the second version of its starter kit for SOA, which
includes several additional examples of successful SOA customer and partner
projects. The starter kit for SOA is a customer-oriented kit that provides
step-by-step guidance for initial SOA projects. For more information on the
starter kit for SOA, please visit:
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/enterprisesoa-starterkit.
SAP(R) TechEd 2008 in Las Vegas, Berlin, Shanghai and Bangalore
More than 16,000 SAP customers, partners and technical experts are
convening at SAP(R) TechEd 2008 to learn how to transform existing business
processes and IT landscapes and take advantage of the power and flexibility of
service-oriented architecture. Celebrating its 12th anniversary, SAP's largest
ecosystem education event of the year offers more than 1,000 hours of lecture-
driven and hands-on sessions. SAP TechEd 2008 was held in Las Vegas on
September 8-12, and is being held in Berlin on October 14-16, Shanghai on
November 5-6 and Bangalore on November 12-14. For more information, please
visit http://www.sapteched.com.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering
applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than
25 industries to become best-run businesses. With approximately 75,000
customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in
over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the
Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." (For more
information, visit http://www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource
planning and related applications.
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts
are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project,"
"predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP
are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All
forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors
that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in
SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"),
including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Copyright (C) 2008 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP
products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are
trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other
countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned
are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this
document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications
may vary.
For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)
For more information, press only:
Shabana Khan, +1 (415) 623-9217, shabana.khan@sap.com, PDT
Hilmar Schepp, +49 160-889-6531, hilmar.schepp@sap.com, CET
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, EDT;
press@sap.com
Uwe Schaad, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (415) 591-4004, uwe.schaad@bm.com, PDT
To speak with press contacts on site during SAP TechEd 2008 Berlin (from
October 14 to 16), please dial the SAP press room at +49 (6227) 7-74069.
SOURCE SAP AG
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