Why do big companies use SAP?

SAP: The Golden Standard of ERP Solutions

SAP is one of the most widely used Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools globally. Its market domination comes from several key factors, including scalability to suit businesses of all sizes and the flexibility to remain effective across many different industries.

What is SAP?

SAP is a software platform in the ERP space that enables organisations to optimise business activities. It works by creating a standardised system within a company that every department can access and edit. Having a central repository for vital data allows everyone to work from common information and adhere to the same business processes.

What are the different SAP solutions available?

SAP is comprised of modules which focus on specific business functions (i.e. sales, marketing, finance, supply chain, HR, and so on). Some examples of SAP modules include: 

• Enterprise Resource Planning
• CRM for Sales and Marketing
• Sales and Distribution
• Financial Management
• Human Resources
• Asset Management
• Product Lifecycle Management
• Supply Chain Management.

A business may have just one SAP module or many.

Why is SAP so popular?

The market has known about SAP for a long time now. In fact, the software was first launched in 1972 with the intent being to provide businesses with the ability to interact with a common corporate database across a range of applications in real-time.

Since then, the software has evolved significantly and saturated the market to such a point that experts predict around 77% of all global transactions come in contact with SAP software. Today, the software has several iterations to best serve companies of all shapes and sizes. In general:

• Small firms use SAP Business One
• Medium-sized firms use SAP Business ByDesign
• Large enterprises use SAP HANA.

Why do big companies need SAP?

SAP provides industry-specific solutions that cover almost all niches. The solution also offers a module approach to which aspects of the software a company might need and unrivaled scalability.

Effective in all industries

It doesn’t matter if an enterprise operates in manufacturing, healthcare, education, retail, security, pharmaceuticals, banking, and so on. SAP has a solution tailored to that industry. 

Adopting the right modules

Businesses looking to adopt and integrate SAP are able to pick modules that specifically fit. This means that only the required software is purchased and used.

Scaling to any level

SAP can scale from small businesses in one location to global enterprises. The requirements and complexity of a business will increase as the size of the business expands. SAP is more than capable of streamlining business processes at all levels and help companies collect data.

Standardizing enterprise solutions

Standardisation across data and the systems that house it is a critical factor for large enterprises to consider. Through it, businesses can operate with a more integrated approach. It is common for larger businesses to have a number of different systems in place across the various departments. The danger of this is that everything becomes disparate and unreliable. Platforms such as SAP look to centralise critical business information so everyone works from the same data.

Which companies use SAP?

SAP is utilised by a truly impressive number of businesses, including some of the largest names in the world. The below businesses highlight how SAP can be effective across almost every industry:

• The Coca-Cola Company
• DHL
• Ford Motor Company
• Airbus
• The Dow Chemical Company
• eBay
• Samsung Electronics
• AirBnB
• ConAgra
• BASF North America
• Audi AG
• Burger King
• Citrix.