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/...)
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/....
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.
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.
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/....
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.
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.
