Thanks Rick,
The CC had a couple of names mentioned. SAP was new for me. A new news item popped up tonight. If this is the SAP that was named at the CC, I can see a the fit with IDX... Have to get the search engines warmed up Rick ;-)
SAP's next lap
The Germany-based software giant will launch three new initiatives here and
wants to gross a billion euros from the region this year, says Asia-Pacific
chief Les Hayman.
Andrew Wee , Business Times
29 Jan 2001
GERMANY-based software giant SAP AG plans to launch three
new initiatives in Singapore this year and substantially boost
its Internet and e-biz offerings. It will base the regional HQ of
three new companies -- on enabling e-marketplaces, on
providing e-biz solutions, and on e-learning -- here, and grow
beyond selling ERM (enterprise resource management)
software.
The company, which has its headquarters in Walldorf, grossed
6.27 billion euros (S$10.12 billion) for its financial year ended
Dec 2000, and is bullish about its prospects in the Asia-Pacific
region. "Our goal for this year is to gross over a billion euros,"
SAP's Asia-Pacific president and CEO, Les Hayman, told BizIT.
"Last year we grew revenues from this region to 769 million
euros, up 52 per cent over 1999."
The company has more than 2,500 people in the Asia-Pac
region now -- including 300 in Singapore. "When you're a big oil
tanker, you need to launch some speedboats," Mr Hayman said.
"These are three speedboats that we're launching this year --
SAPMarkets Asia Pacific Solutions Pte Ltd, an e-business
enabling company, and SAP Learning Solutions Pte Ltd."
"We are doing some development work here in HR and
healthcare systems," Mr Hayman said. "The trouble with
setting up a software development centre here is not a cost
issue, but a talent one. If we create a development centre here
and want 200 to 300 people, it's very hard to source that here."
SAPMarkets Inc, the US-based subsidiary of SAP AG, will open
its Asia-Pac office here next month. SAPMarkets is a tie-up
between SAP and Nasdaq-listed CommerceOne to provide
e-marketplaces, e-procurement and collaborative business
solutions. The solutions combine CommerceOne's
e-marketplace infrastructure with SAP and SAPMarket's
e-procurement and supply chain technology. "We've had a
number of successes in the region and SAPMarkets was
created to address the market, working on the strategic
alliance we have with CommerceOne," he said.
SAPMarkets Asia Pacific Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary
of SAPMarkets Inc, will be launched here next month with a
staff of 12 initially; it could grow to 150 people in the region
by this year-end. "SAPMarkets will have people in Singapore,
Australia and Japan," Mr Hayman said. "We will work with
CommerceOne customers such as SingTel to deliver
e-marketplaces."
SAP is in talks with regional telcos to help deliver e-commerce
solutions. SAPMarkets will focus on mega-exchanges such as
Covisint -- an Internet exchange for the automobile industry
that General Motors, Ford Motor, and DaimlerChrysler have
set up. "It is a complex exchange involving multiple companies,
crosses geographic boundaries, and involves very powerful
technology," he said. "In the Asia-Pacific, we may see about six
mega-exchanges and about 20 regional exchanges. We're
talking to a number of governments in the region about setting
up citizens' portal-type exchanges. The big ones in Singapore
could be construction, governments, high-tech and
manufacturing."
SAP Asia Pacific will launch an e-business services spinoff next
month. This yet-to-be-named firm will start off with 20 staff
here. "Lots of people are talking about e-business, but few
understand what it really is," he said.
"At the core of it is the e-supply chain, which includes CRM
(customer relationship management) systems at the front,
integrated to all the back-end systems. That's a very complex
process and requires a different set of solution skills than just
doing an ERP implementation. We've created this organisation
to help companies do complex e-biz implementation within
their organisations."
Mr Hayman is upbeat about the subsidiary's prospects.
"Because of the massive amount of prospective activity, I
would expect them to have 100 people in the region by this
year-end," he said. "The initiative would involve an investment
of about $30 million, based on a headcount of 100. The
company will initially focus on Singapore and Malaysia, and
later expand into Asean and the rest of Asia."
Another new initiative: expanding its training services to
include end-users through a joint venture between SAP Asia
Pacific and Nasdaq-listed RWD Technologies Inc. Called SAP
Learning Solutions, it will have 20 employees, growing to 100
by this year-end. "This joint venture is the first time SAP has
tied up with a third party to provide training services," Mr
Hayman said. "Our focus has been the power user, the
organisation's R/3 project implementation team. You can't do
that anymore because companies need to have all their
employees have access to technology to compete in the
marketplace. We're working on web-based training systems,
where a large number of people can log on and do training in
half-hour chunks."
SAP Learning Solutions will train "tens of thousands of
Asia-Pacific users this year," said SAP managing director for
Singapore, Bob Armstrong. The company, which set up its
Singapore office this month, will launch its Japan and
Australia offices next month; South Korea, Malaysia and India
will come up later.
it.asia1.com.sg
Another SAP story. Tells a little about its markets.
it.asia1.com.sg
If this is not the SAP that was mentioned during the CC, then apologies for the OT.
steve
ps, Thanks for transfering the post Stockman! Had a another thought about it. It would get expensive if IDX had to print a full page of resellers with each story... what with over 50 countries and over 250 (my lowball estimate) resellers... |
