What were the highlights of SAP Indias performance during 2007?
SAP India has been the fastest growing geography, and for the first time
stands at #1. We have doubled our license revenues. Further, we more than
doubled the total number of customers, tripled the growth in the SME sector, and
made dramatic improvements in customer satisfaction. All our businesses have
been triggered full scale on all parameters.
In January 2007, our total number of customers stood at 1,350, whereas now we
stand at the 3,000 mark. Also to be considered is the fact that our total number
of customers far exceeds the combined total of all our competitors.
What are your key highlights from the large and small & medium
enterprises perspective?
In large enterprises, the biggest license deal has been in India. These
enterprises have been buying solutions for expansion, thus, creating a need for
efficiency to keep pace with the growth. In order to do this in a scalable
manner, they need business processes enabled by software based on open
standards. Another driver of our business has been compliance. A large number
of SMEs are automating their business processes for the first time, creating a
demand for companies that have expertise. Among SMEs, we have grown by 235%.
What are your plans for the year 2008?
In our present agenda, retail and the Indian public sector are top
priorities. Indias retail sector being hugely unorganized, leaves it with a
huge scope for growth and opportunity. Further, our next focus will be on the
engineering and construction operations segment.
What are your new product initiatives?
We will soon launch SAP Business by Design in India for small companies, and
start customer engagements with the revival of SAP User Group. The increased
effort in this direction is because we believe that we have reached a critical
mass in India, and that the only pawn holding us back from growing dramatically
is the lack of implementation of qualified people.
We need around 60,000 new SAP consultants globally to meet our demands; and
given Indias spectacular brainpower and culture of IT excellence, around 30,000
of these should be from India. This is why the partner ecosystem is very
important. No single company will be able to meet all the software needs of our
customers; hence, we need the help of ISVs as well.
Sudesh Prasad
Sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in