SAP was founded in 1972 as Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung or System Analysis and Program Development. The acronym was later changed to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung - Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing.
By 1976, SAP GmbH was established, with headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, abbreviated (GmbH), is German for “company with limited liability. In 1988, the organization was restructured as a public company. SAP AG became the company's official name in 2005. (AG) is short for Aktiengesellschaft, German for “public limited company.”
SAP is the world's largest business software company and the third biggest independent software provider by revenue. It operates in four geographic regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa); America (United States and Canada); LAC (Latin America and Caribbean); and APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan), which represents Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, India, Greater China, and other Southeast Asian countries.
In addition, SAP operates a network of 115 subsidiaries, and has R&D (Research & Development) facilities around the globe in Germany, India, US, Canada, France, Brazil, Turkey, China, Hungary, Israel, Ireland and Bulgaria.
SAP focuses on six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services, and public services. It offers integrated product sets for large enterprises and midsize companies and small businesses.
SOURCE: Funding Universe and Wikipedia. SAP Video, 2013.
