SAP today is the global leader in business applications and analytics software, a market leader in digital commerce, and the world’s largest enterprise cloud company with over 186 million cloud users.
For 47 years, SAP has helped businesses run better through world-class software solutions that solve complex problems to help invent, commercialize, and mainstream the products and services of the global economy. SAP's story is one of a steady rise from a small, five-man operation headquartered in southwest Germany's Rhine-Neckar region to one of the world's largest independent software providers and an employer of more than 96,000 people in over 130 countries.
SAP was founded in 1972 and is today the market leader in enterprise application software. Founded as “SAP Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung” in Mannheim, Germany, the SAP R (later called R/1) system also launched in 1972. Moving to Walldorf in 1977, SAP gained its first two international customers in Austria. SAP R/2 launched in 1979 and the early 1980s saw the company grow to a customer base of 250 European companies.
Now 47 years and more than 425,000 customers stronger, more than ever, SAP is fueled by the pioneering spirit that inspired its founders to continually transform the IT industry.