SAP Executive Management Validates Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Vision with Members of America's SAP Users' Group.

Shai Agassi Addresses ASUG Northern California Chapter Meeting

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG), the world's largest customer-run community of SAP professionals, announced that Shai Agassi, President of SAP's Product and Technology Group and member of the Executive Board, presented the keynote address at today's meeting of the ASUG Northern California Chapter in Palo Alto, California.

In addition to discussing SAP's vision and delivery on Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture, Mr. Agassi also shared SAP's focus on simplicity of consumption for its customers. He then spoke about the power of SAP's growing ecosystem of developers, partners, and business process experts leveraging enterprise SOA to transform IT into a strategic asset in today's new business environment.

"The ASUG organization continues to provide valuable input through frank discussions between all levels of SAP and our customer base. I appreciate the opportunity to learn from them where the market is headed, and how SAP can evolve to keep pace with rapidly evolving customer needs," said Agassi. "Meetings like this amplify the collective voice of our customers and are a great way for SAP to obtain feedback and validate that our enterprise service oriented architecture (SOA) strategy is on target to deliver maximum value."

Rod Masney, ASUG President, also addressed today's meeting. "We are committed to ensuring our members ' needs are met by the SAP product portfolio," said Masney. "ASUG and SAP share a mutually supportive relationship, and we value the many opportunities we have to provide input on the long-term strategic direction of the company."

In addition to addressing the ASUG membership at various ASUG and SAP events throughout the year, SAP's leadership meets several times a year with the ASUG Board of Directors to align the strategic initiatives of both organizations in order to create value for ASUG members and SAP customers, as well as to ensure that the voice of the customer is heard at the highest levels within SAP. In addition to meeting with Agassi and the Product Technology team in Palo Alto, the ASUG Board meets annually with SAP AG CEO Henning Kagermann in Walldorf, Germany and with SAP Americas' CEO, Bill McDermott in Americas' headquarters in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

About ASUG

The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG[R]) is an independent, volunteer-run organization that facilitates knowledge transfer among the community of SAP customers by providing user-driven educational opportunities, professional networking and a forum that provides insight and influence to SAP. ASUG maintains a unique position within the SAP community through its: combination of highly-focused education tools; access to subject matter experts and SAP executives; ability to influence SAP products and services; and personal networking opportunities with SAP customers. As a result, members from any sized organization continuously solve their SAP-related business problems more efficiently and cost-effectively, realizing a significant return from their membership. (Additional information at http://www.asug.com)