Bangalore: Pose the question 'What is the right mantra for a company's success?' to SAP chairman and CEO Henning Kagermann, and he will reply: "It's right strategy."

The head of the $7-billion German business software company (www.sap.com), Kagermann, who was in India on a day's visit last month, is "confident and bullish" about the growing business opportunities for SAP all over the world, including Asia Pacific.

His visit to Asia Pacific in June 2003, ostensibly a few weeks before the announcement of his company's second quarter results, bears testimony to his statement. Kagermann is the first SAP CEO to visit India in the 31-year history of the company, and he appears to be "happy" over the performance of SAP India and its SAP Labs (research and development centres).

Henning Kagermann Chairman and CEO Joined SAP: 1982 Appointed to executive board: 1991 Current executive board term expires: 2007 Maiden visit to India: 30 June 2003 Special responsibilities: Overall responsibility for SAP's strategy and business development; consulting; customer development; industry solutions; strategic development projects Other board memberships: Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Supervisory Board, DaimlerChrysler Services (debis) AG, Berlin, Germany; Supervisory Board, Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG, Munich, Germany

"SAP is growing. The company's business landscape has not changed
even after Oracle's plans to buy out PeopleSoft," says Kagermann. "India is one key area for us for sales and marketing, and R&D." About SAP's growth plans, he says: "We intend to double the workforce in India to 2,000 in next three years, and plans to move more of
our business process outsourcing operations here."

SAP witnesses growing business opportunities not just in India, but across the entire Asia Pacific region. The company's revenue for Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) in Q2 this year grew 9 per cent. This is despite SARS, which severely affected several industries in the region.

SAP markets in Singapore, China and Taiwan saw a license revenue growth in Q2 over the same period last year, which was followed by SAP Australia and New Zealand, Korea and Indonesia. The license revenue growth was 33 per cent higher than the same quarter last year.

"In a tough market environment, SAP's accelerated regional growth reflects our strong delivery and unwavering customer focus. We've seen an upward trend for increased Asia Pacific customer retention and acquisition," says Hans-Peter Klaey, president and CEO, SAP Asia Pacific.

"Our customer strategy focuses on execution excellence with a major contribution to business fundamentals. SAP is helping businesses in the region develop and implement IT strategies for sustainable return on investment and growth through innovation despite scarce resources," adds Klaey, who is based out of Singapore.

SAP India mission
For more than six years, SAP India has been delivering solutions to hundreds of successful companies. Today, SAP India is one of the fastest-growing SAP subsidiaries with more than 200 customers using mySAP.com solutions.

Established in 1996, SAP India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SAP AG. SAP is a recognised leader in providing collaborative e-business solutions for all types of industries, for every market, around the world.

SAP India is a part of SAP Asia Pacific and is responsible for the sales of SAP solutions, implementation, post-implementation support, and training and certification of customers and partners. SAP India's mission is to enable companies to access the global market by offering them a wide rage of Web-enabled solutions. Its customer list is also growing in India.

In the second quarter of this fiscal, the company added Mangalore Chemicals, BHEL, ABB India, Sundaram Fastners and Hero Cycles to its client portfolio.

SAP India research
Founded in 1998 as a strategic development centre for SAP, SAP Labs India is one of the fastest-growing SAP subsidiaries. It is an integral part of SAP's global development network, engaged in collaborative software engineering that facilitates the delivery of innovative e-business solutions.

SAP Labs India is closely involved with the mySAP Technology initiative that integrates applications and Web-services from different vendors to create a single, reliable, open and scalable Web infrastructure. It extends both the benefit and value of technology far beyond the enterprise.

The Lab - one among six such labs - has 600 employees in India. It researches, designs, and delivers leading-edge software solutions that enhance and extend mySAP Business Suite.

SAP Labs represents a dynamic community within SAP's global R&D organisation, sharing insights and promoting creativity on a worldwide basis. With operations in Bulgaria, France, India, Israel, Japan, and North America, SAP Labs integrates ideas and leading-edge technologies that address the needs of specific industries and geographic regions, and keep SAP and its customers at the forefront of e-business success.

SAP's business momentum
SAP added 85 new customers in the second quarter across all key industry sectors in the region. In the second quarter, there were significant customer wins across industries from steel (China Iron and Steel Group, China), to banking (China Minsheng Banking Corporation, China), to retail (PT Mitra Adiperkasa, Indonesia), and to the public sector (Australian Taxation Office, Australia; National Healthcare Group, Singapore).

Klaey elaborates on SAP's business momentum in the region: "This is an acknowledgement of SAP's deep domain expertise and specialised industry solutions. Our growth in the region was also driven by the strong execution of SAP's SMB strategy over the first half. This strategy, focused on local solution development to meet specific SMB needs in vertical sectors, is already paying off with 30 per cent of the total second quarter customer wins in the SMB space."

SAP's key SMB customer wins in the region include Hualong Electronics (High Tech, China), Firestone (Jewellery/Precious Metals, India) and Bureau of the Crown (Property, Thailand).

Future growth in the region
SAP is on track to reach its goal in 2003 to grow 1.5 times faster than the next competitor in the region and improve profit margins in Asia Pacific. Over the next three years, SAP sees Greater China driving IT spending, contributing up to 43 per cent of Asia Pacific total revenues, excluding Japan. Korea and India will contribute the same share as ASEAN.

So, what makes India a prime location for SAP? Its R&D centre contributes to the development of 16 of the company's 23 industry solutions, which support various industries worldwide.