SAP Demonstrates Web-Collaboration, Analysis and Reporting Capabilities Of SAP BW at Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Event

Business Wire, Oct 19, 1999

WALLDORF, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1999--

A Record 1,400 Participants From 36 Countries Attended

Sold-Out Event;

SAP BW Extends mySAP.com(TM) Internet Business Strategy Through

Web-Reporting Features

SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the leading provider of inter-enterprise software solutions, today announced that it hosted 1,400 attendees from 36 countries at the Business Information Warehouse Conference recently at the Convention Center in Basel, Switzerland.

The conference highlighted the tremendous market acceptance of its SAP(TM) Business Information Warehouse(TM) (SAP BW(TM)) solution, and its Web-collaboration, analysis and reporting capabilities with Release 2.0. Within one year after general availability, SAP has more than 900 installations. In addition, at the conference 44 SAP partner organizations demonstrated their SAP BW-related products and services, answered questions and participated in discussions with companies of all sizes and industries.

Many customers reported on their success with SAP BW, including Algroup lawson mardon GmbH; ARAG Allgemeine Rechtschutz-Versicherungs-AG; Barclays Bank; Bertelsmann MediaSystems; Carl Freudenberg KG; Commerzbank AG; Deutsche Telekom AG; Distillers Corp.; F. Hofmann-La Roche AG; Hoechst Marion Roussel GmbH; Mobil Oil; Robert Bosch GmbH; Schweizer Armee; Xerox Ltd.; and Yodobashi Camera.

Hasso Plattner, co-chairman and CEO of SAP AG, was on hand to deliver the opening speech. Plattner stressed the importance of SAP BW within the collaborative mySAP.com(TM) Internet strategy. SAP BW provides the business intelligence solution across the entire enterprise for all business scenarios delivered within mySAP.com, enabling companies to better manage their e-business performance.

To achieve optimal value in the Internet economy, companies have moved from intra-company integration to virtual integration. This requires end-to-end process integration: intra-enterprise (front-end and back-end), inter-enterprise (collaboration between multiple company systems), and across industries and communities. SAP is delivering on the vision of virtual integration with mySAP.com. SAP BW is an integral part of mySAP.com that enables decision-makers at all levels -- across any functional group -- to get interpreted information that will help them answer business questions and react quickly to market dynamics.

Klaus Kreplin, vice president of SAP BW at SAP AG, described the way business intelligence solutions are being integrated into the new mySAP.com Internet business strategy. Users access SAP BW and its fully Web-enabled reporting and analysis solutions through the mySAP.com Workplace, a true business portal comprising personalized business information in context with role-specific business transactions and external Internet links. Kreplin also discussed the specific features that distinguish SAP BW from conventional data warehousing solutions. These features include role-based analysis models, a personalized deployment approach, and design improvements provided by the EnjoySAP(TM) initiative launched last year to improve the usability of SAP software. Customers benefit from dramatically reduced data warehouse implementation times and significantly lower risks when using the proven end-to-end solution.

According to Dr. Wolfgang Martin, vice president for META Group's Application Delivery Strategies, "companies such as SAP that can provide best-practice data warehouse solutions will help enable rapid and simple implementation. The role-based nature of these solutions offers new and innovative forms of information delivery."

Award-Winning Customer Success

Eastman Kodak recently received the Data Warehousing Institute's Best Practice Award for its use of SAP BW. According to Eric Hunt, ERP Global Data Warehouse project manager at Eastman Kodak, "The same information is available to top management from all perspectives, without approval procedures being required first. This is up-to-date information that accurately reflects the processes currently taking place within the company. It enables us to better understand our business processes and to articulate them more clearly. It also gives us a solid foundation for better analysis of our business goals and for making decisions concerning them."

Availability

Release 2.0 of SAP BW is scheduled for first customer shipment at the end of November 1999.

About SAP

As the market leader of inter-enterprise software solutions, SAP is leveraging its strength in industry-focused business software and the world's largest enterprise software customer base to deliver mySAP.com. mySAP.com provides an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions on demand. This enables companies of all sizes and industries to fully engage their employees, customers and partners to capitalize upon the new Internet economy.

mySAP.com allows people to harness the power of the Internet to work smarter, better and faster by optimizing supply chains, managing strategic relationships, reducing time to market, sharing virtual information, and increasing productivity and shareholder value.