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SAP Facilitates Business Network Transformation to Help Businesses Compete and Thrive in a Changing Global Economy
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
ERP Market Leader Announces Investment in Business Network Enabler Crossgate
BERLIN, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In recognition of the growing
importance of business networks as a growth accelerator across industries, SAP
AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced that it has made an investment in Crossgate AG,
a leading provider of hosted business-to-business integration services. The
investment underscores market demand for out-of-the-box business network
enablement as companies transform their business networks into sources of
competitive advantages through increased collaboration and seamless direct
interaction with partners. 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)
The importance of IT solutions that enable partner collaboration is
supported by a recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study sponsored by
SAP, "The collaboration advantage -- customer-focused partnerships in a global
market." Many companies are embracing collaboration both to reduce costs and
to enhance revenue growth. Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents agreed
that the adoption of new technologies has benefited their most important
business relationships. Services such as those jointly provided by Crossgate
and SAP can be key components in facilitating interaction and data sharing
between business partners.
"In a world where business networks are emerging as a new unit of industry
competition, the gating item has been business network-enabling systems," said
Geoffrey Moore, author of "Crossing the Chasm" and managing director at TCG
Advisors. "This latest announcement of a partnership between SAP's worldwide
enterprise capabilities and Crossgate's existing network of enablement hubs
goes a long way to fill that need, allowing business network transformation to
become a growth accelerator instead of a roadblock. Crossgate is providing a
service extension that facilitates operational excellence regardless of
process, global region or trading-partner capability."
In addition to the investment, SAP and Crossgate are expanding their joint
service-oriented architecture (SOA) development. Currently, more than 40,000
companies exchange documents and data via the Crossgate Business-Ready
Network, which includes services powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform.
"As a global company with 28 manufacturing operations in 13 countries and
more than 100 business partners across the world, we needed to derive maximum
value from our extensive business network to remain competitive," said
Christian Fischer, CIO Europe and Asia, Nemak. "By eliminating legacy B2B
systems and repositioning staff focusing on SAP core functionality, we have
been able to migrate various in-house electronic data interchange converters
to Crossgate's B2B 360 degree Services, improving our overall auditing
capability and ability to interface with our global business network. As a
result, we can now utilize a Business-Ready Network that is both faster and
more agile, allowing us to provide greater value to our partners, customers
and suppliers."
Crossgate's growing customer base spans 10 vertical industries and
includes such leading companies as Brown-Forman, Continental, Mahle,
Neckermann and Olivetti.
"In today's changing global economy, most companies are already actively
participating in an expanding business network," said Stefan Tittel, CEO,
Crossgate AG. "With complementary service extensions, SAP and Crossgate bring
a unique value proposition to market. We have the potential to change the face
of business networks and deliver a high level of efficiency to customers and
their trading partners that require simplicity in ERP systems integration and
supply-and-demand collaboration."
"SAP's investment complements our existing business process outsourcing
agreement and funds continued innovation in business network-based services
for SAP users in all market segments," said Jim Hagemann Snabe, member, SAP
Executive Board. "We are providing companies with solutions that are key
enablers for business network transformation, allowing them to increase their
flexibility to capitalize on market changes and opportunities. Through our
partners, we are accelerating innovation and improving return on investment
for our customers."
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 Business Process Outsourcing
The SAP Business Process Outsourcing (SAP BPO) organization supports BPO
providers in setting up services that generate sustainable business benefits
by reducing costs, lowering risks and improving process quality. SAP BPO
provides enabling solutions and services -- tightly aligned with BPO
objectives -- so that BPO providers powered by SAP can deliver industry-
leading services that meet our joint customers' strategic BPO goals.
Additional information is available at http://www.sap.com/services/bpo.
About Crossgate
Crossgate offers the world's first Business-Ready Network, guaranteeing
100% integration of business partners, clients and suppliers. A single
connection to the Network means electronic data exchange with any business
partner regardless of their technical capability. In addition, Crossgate's
B2B-360 degree Services, Powered by SAP, provide clients direct access to all
integrated business partners in the B2B transaction network via their SAP
systems. With its legally compliant eInvoicing Services, Crossgate also
provides an innovative and 100% secure solution to cover the entire process of
incoming and outgoing invoices, including signatures, EU compliance
monitoring, and secure long-term archiving. More than 40,000 business
partners, representing over 10 industries, currently exchange documents and
data via the Business-Ready Network. For more information, visit
http://www.crossgate.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:
Hilmar Schepp, SAP, +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
Katja Schroeder, Burson-Marsteller, + 1 (212) 614-4981,
katja.schroeder@bm.com, EDT
Michael Rust, Burson-Marsteller, +49 69 238-0923, michael.rust@bm.com,
CET
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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