50 years of SAP – PROMOS congratulates the innovative software provider on its golden anniversary

Perhaps you have already heard that 77 percent of all transactional income in the whole world comes into contact with an SAP^® system. That’s an impressive figure. Similarly, 50 years is an impressive anniversary that says a lot about the software giant’s ascent and reach. We’re taking the occasion to look back and investigate what is behind SAP. How did this success story come about? After all, our own history would probably look rather different without SAP, which forms the basis for many of our innovative applications for the real estate sector.

Our solution library PROMOS.GT, for example, has for nearly 20 years provided the ideal template to use SAP for the efficient management of residential properties, commercial properties and municipal buildings, as well as for maintenance, facility management and construction. The toolbox contains way over a hundred solutions, which have been enhanced one after the other in recent years for the future in SAP S/4HANA^®. We’re therefore quite familiar with SAP. So what exactly do the three letters stand for and how did it all start?

SAP – more than just a software provider

SAP is a pioneering enterprise that five friends and former IBM employees established with the legal form of a company. It may have started small, but it was destined to become great, as today more than 230 million people around the globe use SAP cloud solutions. You could say that SAP’s standard software for companies has revolutionised the software and corporate landscape not only in Germany, but worldwide.

The company’s original name was Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung (system analysis program development). This may be a good summary of the company’s range of tasks, but it sounds a bit awkward. The corporation now goes by SAP, the name under which it markets a large number of well-known solutions including SAP NetWeaver^®, SAP^® BusinessObjects™ and SAP Fiori^®. If this is old news to you, then maybe our brief summary of the company’s history will provide a useful fact or two for the next pub quiz.

The history of SAP

SAP was established in 1972 by Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp, Klaus Tschira, Claus Wellenreuther and Hans-Werner Hector. They envisioned a comprehensive software solution that would facilitate business processes and store all company data in one central place.
In 1975, SAP collaborated with major firms such as Knoll and Linde to develop accounting programs as well as programs for materials management and invoice verification.
In 1979, SAP began developing the second generation of its software: “SAP R/2”. The software laid the foundations for ERP software and set international standards. In 1980, the first office building was filled with 80 employees.
The third generation of the company’s revolutionary software – “SAP R/3” – was developed in 1987. It enabled SAP to enter the international market and became a pioneering software solution for globalised business and economic processes.
In 1999, the company announced the mySAP.com Internet strategy: a portal and virtual marketplace for services and products. In 2009, SAP placed a further emphasis on cloud, mobile and database technology. The company acquired several competitors and well-known names from these industries, as well as SuccessFactors, Fieldglass, BusinessObjects and Ariba.
In 2011, SAP HANA was introduced and used by the first companies worldwide. This is an in-memory database that records and evaluates data within seconds. The new generation of the SAP software – “SAP S/4HANA” – was presented in 2015, based entirely on the new database. “Rise with SAP” supports companies in the digital transformation and covers several areas and software solutions. The core element of the full-service offer is the SAP Business Technology Platform, which comprises the clouds, licences for server-based computer programs and hybrid IT landscapes.

PROMOS congratulates the company on its 50th anniversary

SAP is a name that any company manager, company founder, software architect, IT expert or developer cannot avoid. The software provider has now become the undisputed market leader and reports having 440,000 customers in 180 different countries. While the head office remains in Walldorf, the company is listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and New York. SAP users generate 87 percent of all global commerce. Thanks to the innovative strength and vision of its founders, SAP has helped an incredible number of companies to implement the digital transformation, cut costs and make their processes more efficient. We'd therefore like to thank the software giant for its work and express our sincere congratulations on their 50th anniversary!

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