SAP Announces Sales Force Automation Product

SAP AG of Walldorf, Germany announced its
Sales Force Automation solution at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover this week.

At the same time, SAP reports that it has increased its investment in the
European sales force automation company Kiefer & Veittinger Gmbh (K&V),
from 50 percent to
80 percent. The latest product was developed by SAP with K&V support.

“Enterprises are recognizing that putting easy-to-use, fully integrated
information tools in the hands of the sales force will lead to shorter
sales cycles, increased
productivity, greater revenue and improved customer satisfaction,” said
Prof. Hasso Plattner, co-chairman and CEO of SAP AG.

“SAP is developing a best-in-class Sales Force Automation solution that can
leverage
the strengths of R/3 and other products such as the SAP Business Information
Warehouse and the SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer. The solution can be
tailored to meet the specific business requirements of individual
industries and markets.”

The SAP Sales Force Automation solution ties in with what the vendor says
are its core competencies, including multilanguage, multicurrency, and
multi-industry capabilities. It supports the strategy of extending the
supply chain to be demand-driven and thus more responsive to customer needs.

With an easy-to-learn Windows-standard user interface, the SAP Sales Force
Automation solution is scalable for small to large user bases. Although it
can be a standalone business product, it is part of the SAP supply chain
optimization, planning, and execution (SCOPE) strategy that provides SAP
customers with supply chain services.

The SAP Sales Force Automation solution is expected to ship in the fourth
quarter of 1998.