What Is SAP? How Does It Help An Organization?

Rob
March 4 2017

An organized and effective thought process goes a long way in helping any business organization realize benefits such as:

  • More intelligent go to market strategies
  • A faster route to more effective decision-making
  • The ability to streamline costs
  • Harness the power of business intelligence to foster business growth and
  • The ability to stay ahead of the competition.

In order to realize such benefits, an organization can turn to something known as SAP.

What is SAP?

The letters or abbreviation SAP stands for “System Application Program”. Quite a few people also state that it stands for “Systems Applications and Products”.

This is software that is produced by the company of the same name. SAP AG is a multinational company that is based in Germany. The name of the company, Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung, or SAP, is pretty well-known when it comes to enterprise software.

SAP, the software, can help run an entire business organization. Even though this is enterprise level software, there are plenty of companies turning to it to manage the day-to-day operations. These day-to-day operations can include areas such as:

  • Resource planning,
  • Payment processes,
  • Database management,
  • Customer relationship management and so on.

Considering that every business organization needs to handle all the above and more aspects on an everyday basis, it does make sense to trust a software such as SAP. More often than not, SAP gets associated with financial management.

What all can SAP do for a business organization?

Depending on the application of this software, a business organization can enjoy far reaching and in-depth benefits that will enhance and streamline operations in areas such as:

  • Product Lifecycle Management or PLM,
  • Supply Chain Management or SCM,
  • Customer Relationship Management or CRM,
  • Financials and Controlling,
  • Logistics,
  • Quality Management or QM,
  • Human Resources or HR,
  • Supplier Relationship Management or SRM and
  • Materials Management or MM to name a few.

 

There are plenty of training modules available with various certified training providers that can help a business organization learn and implement SAP in specific areas as well. However, quite a few business organizations have enjoyed far-reaching benefits by going in for SAP on a comprehensive basis.
The different evolutions of SAP

SAP software has seen a lot of development and progress over the years. Today, business organizations can access training in SAP modules online as well. One of the most recent developments that has taken place in this enterprise resource planning software is the introduction of SAP HANA which deals with in-memory databases and better business analytics.

There is also a specific set of products that has come into the market and which are aimed at SMEs or small and medium-sized enterprises. Considering that there is a huge market when it comes to business applications for the small and medium-sized businesses, it does make sense for SAP software to be available to them also.
The usefulness of SAP

Business organizations need to constantly innovate and streamline operations in all the areas that have been listed above. This helps them gain better insight into customer behavior, a better handle on market dynamics and enjoy cost benefits as well. With SAP software, business organizations can indeed enjoy all these benefits.