Oracle Customers Select SAP Solutions for Enterprise Performance Management

It's been a crazy few months at SAP with the BOBJ acquisition but the dust is starting to settle. I'm glad to see my employer come out swinging since we don't do it often even when we have great reason to. In this case, it's pretty clear with over 100 Oracle Hyperion customers choosing SAP for their Performance Management needs in the last few months that the Hyperion acquisition isn't working out the way Oracle had hoped in their attempt to "surround" SAP. Apparently things are so bad on this front that our friends in Redwood Shores have had to slash their price list by a huge percentage to remain competitive. This is definitely a case where the best things in life are not free. Today's press release follows:

Oracle Customers Select SAP Solutions for Enterprise Performance Management

Growing Number of Companies Turn to SAP to Optimize Business Performance and Manage Governance, Risk and Compliance

WALLDORF, Germany - February 26, 2008 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced success in its efforts to help customers add value to their IT investments by moving from other vendors’ applications to more comprehensive enterprise performance management (EPM) and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions from SAP. These solutions work together to further enhance business performance and help companies build a reputation for reliable, compliant and sustainable operations. SAP reported that over the past several months more than 100 customers worldwide purchased SAP® solutions for enterprise performance management with the intention to replace Hyperion solutions from Oracle. Among those customers are: Ballast Nedam N.V., Foundation Coal, KPN Telecom B.V., Rezidor SAS, Sandvik AB, Skandia Informasjonsteknologi AS and TPG Headoffice BV. SAP also reported that it expanded market presence by selling SAP® solutions for GRC into new accounts including Chevron.

Unlike solutions from other vendors, which provide only partial insight and require ongoing customer investments in integration, SAP offers customers a comprehensive set of EPM and GRC solutions that empower organizations to address critical issues facing today’s office of the CFO. The portfolio of SAP solutions for enterprise performance management unifies the full range of financial and operational processes in a single stack, arming finance professionals with capabilities such as strategy, profitability, cost and planning management. In addition, customers are turning to SAP because the company offers EPM solutions that are unified with SAP solutions for GRC. These applications help customers to build stakeholder confidence through improved executive oversight, risk detection and monitoring, and more effective controls over key business processes. The combination of EPM and GRC solutions allows SAP customers to improve financial performance while better managing risk and ensuring corporate accountability.

Responding to customer demand to work with fewer vendors and provide finance professionals with a complete, unified view of their business, SAP has invested in and expanded its EPM product portfolio, for example, by adding new capabilities resulting from the acquisition of OutlookSoft. Furthermore, the acquisition of Business Objects by SAP means customers will further benefit from the leading business intelligence platform and EPM solutions – which ensure all EPM activities are based on a single, accurate version of the truth – from a single vendor.

“The SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application helped The Rezidor Hotel Group to cope with the ever increasing need for timely and more detailed financial oversight,” said Alain Wouters, manager, Group Accounting, The Rezidor Hotel Group. “Events such as our recent IPO and new financial demands, such as customer sustainability reporting for improved accountability to our clients, have added to the workload and could not have been supported with previous software. With SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, we can take a more unified approach to performance management.”

SAP customers also benefit from industry-leading innovation in SAP solutions for enterprise performance management, including unrivaled usability and features to enhance user productivity. For example, SAP® Business Planning and Consolidation allows for easy interchange with Microsoft Office and the Web, offering customers an easy-to-use interface that benefits business users regardless of technical skills. In addition, the application allows finance departments to independently maintain their enterprise performance management solutions – decreasing their reliance on IT staff for customization and upkeep. Because SAP solutions for enterprise performance management deliver such user-friendly features, customers can deploy them more broadly and increase the value of their IT investment.

“Existing solutions for performance management were built with the finance department of the 1990s in mind – with a patchwork of products, on old architectures, a rear-view approach to budgeting, and no links to the actual business processes,” said Sanjay Poonen, senior vice president and general manager of Enterprise Performance Management, Business Objects, an SAP company. “With continued investment and innovation in SAP solutions for enterprise performance management, we can offer modern CFOs a more compelling value proposition, especially when customers pair EPM solutions with our GRC offerings. We have seen a strong, positive response by customers, as demonstrated by the strong success SAP had during the second half of 2007. Customers value a more complete EPM and GRC solution offering, and, most importantly, a trusted solution provider. These are the attributes that account for SAP’s strong momentum in this market.”

About Business Objects

As an independent business unit within SAP, Business Objects transforms the way the world works by connecting people, information and businesses. Together with one of the industry’s strongest and most diverse partner networks, the company delivers business performance optimization to customers worldwide across all major industries, including financial services, retail, consumer-packaged goods, healthcare and public sector. With open, heterogeneous applications in the areas of governance, risk and compliance; enterprise performance management; and business intelligence; and through global consulting and education services, Business Objects enables organizations of all sizes around the globe to close the loop between business strategy and execution.

About SAP

SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 46,100 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com>)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

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 © 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.

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