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On the heels of preliminary 2005 fourth-quarter results that have SAP AG sailing into 2006 on increased software revenues, the company has merged its North American and Latin American business units to increase sales and market share.
SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, announced Wednesday that it had combined the two businesses to create one new unit, SAP Americas.
“Our North American business is one of the growth engines for SAP and for the entire business software industry,” Leo Apotheker, president of SAPs Customer Solutions & Operations organization, said in a statement.
“Combining these regions enables us to maximize our resources and replicate best practices to deliver exceptional value to customers on both continents, while accelerating our growth,” he said.
Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP America Inc., will lead the new group. SAP Americas will include the United States, Canada, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
SAP has more than 5,000 customers in the Americas, according to the company.
In addition to focusing more on geographic regions, SAP is also increasing its presence in the midmarket with a boatload of new partner offerings. The ERP (enterprise resource planning) software developer also announced on Wednesday 39 new MySAP All-in-One partner solutions offered by partners in more than 15 countries.
All-in-One is SAPs ERP package for the midmarket.
The applications were developed by partners spanning the globe, including Australia, China, Hungary, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The applications include best practices for managing industry-specific business processes. In this respect, the partners range in industry expertise, from biotechnology and transportation services to aviation and retail.
During the past year, SAP released more than 100 All-in-One applications, and nearly six times that number of All-in-One partner solutions, officials said.
The announcements this week came on the heels of SAPs better-than-expected preliminary 2005 fourth-quarter earnings report. On Jan. 10, SAP forecast an 18 percent increase in software sales for the year—4 to 6 percent more than the companys previously published forecast of a 12 to 14 percent increase.
SAP—one of the few companies to break out software segment revenues—will drill into its earnings details on Jan. 25, when it reports full fourth-quarter earnings and provides guidance for this year.