# SAP

> SAP is the German enterprise-software company that runs the back office of the global economy. Founded in 1972 by five ex-IBM engineers, it builds the systems large organizations use to manage finance, supply chains, procurement, manufacturing, and human resources. Its flagship S/4HANA suite and cloud portfolio power the operations of most of the world's biggest firms; the company says a large share of global commerce touches an SAP system somewhere in its journey. Now led by CEO Christian Klein, SAP is pushing a cloud-and-AI strategy anchored by its Joule assistant and a vision it calls the Autonomous Enterprise.

- **Founded:** 1972
- **Headquarters:** Walldorf, Germany
- **Founders:** Hasso Plattner (Co-founder, longtime Chairman), Dietmar Hopp (Co-founder, former CEO), Klaus Tschira (Co-founder), Claus Wellenreuther (Co-founder), Hans-Werner Hector (Co-founder)
- **Team size:** Approximately 111,000 employees (111,397 at December 31, 2025).
- **Products:** SAP S/4HANA, SAP HANA, RISE with SAP / GROW with SAP, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), Joule
- **Notable:** Grew from five founders in 1972 into one of the largest software companies in the world and Europe's most valuable technology company., Pioneered standardized, real-time business software with the R/2 and R/3 systems, defining the ERP category., Shipped SAP HANA in 2011, popularizing in-memory computing for enterprise workloads.

## Products & services

- **SAP S/4HANA** — Flagship next-generation ERP suite for finance, supply chain, manufacturing and operations, running on the in-memory HANA database.
- **SAP HANA** — In-memory database and platform that processes transactions and analytics on the same data, collapsing reports that once took days into seconds.
- **RISE with SAP / GROW with SAP** — Bundled offerings that move existing and new customers to S/4HANA Cloud with tools, services, and AI assistants to ease the migration.
- **SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)** — Development, integration, data, and AI platform used to extend and connect SAP and third-party systems.
- **Joule** — SAP's generative-AI copilot and agentic assistant embedded across finance, HR, procurement, supply chain and customer experience.
- **SAP SuccessFactors** — Cloud human-capital management suite for HR, payroll, and talent, acquired in 2011.
- **SAP Ariba** — Cloud procurement and supplier-network platform, acquired in 2012.
- **SAP Concur** — Travel and expense management software, acquired in 2014.
- **SAP Business One** — ERP built for small and midsize companies.
- **SAP Datasphere / Business Data Cloud** — Data-fabric and analytics layer unifying enterprise data for AI and reporting.

## Achievements

- Grew from five founders in 1972 into one of the largest software companies in the world and Europe's most valuable technology company.
- Pioneered standardized, real-time business software with the R/2 and R/3 systems, defining the ERP category.
- Shipped SAP HANA in 2011, popularizing in-memory computing for enterprise workloads.
- Built a cloud business generating over €21 billion in annual revenue.
- Assembled a business-application empire through acquisitions including BusinessObjects, Sybase, SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur and Qualtrics.
- Reached roughly €23 billion in current cloud backlog by Q2 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Q2 2026 results: total revenue €9.88B (+11%), cloud revenue up ~22%, current cloud backlog near €23B (+26%).
- **2026-05** — At SAP Sapphire, SAP unveiled its 'Autonomous Enterprise' vision and expanded the Joule Assistants portfolio across RISE and GROW.
- **2026-04** — SAP Business AI Q1 2026 release added embedded AI across finance, procurement, supply chain, HR and CX.
- **2026-07** — Joule positioned as an intent-driven engagement layer connecting data, workflows and AI agents across SAP and third-party systems.

## Links

- Website: https://www.sap.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sap
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SAP
- GitHub: https://github.com/SAP
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SAP
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sap/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAP

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sap
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-08