What Companies are Using

SAP?
When a business invests in enterprise resource planning software (ERP), it is investing
for the long haul.
That’s because even though cloud ERP has made it easy to switch platforms, actually
moving to a new ERP solution still is time-consuming and costly. ERP sits at the center of
a business, so changing solutions requires adjusting business processes and migrating
everything from data to employees over to the new system. With ERP software sitting at
the center of your organization, you can’t just pick another product and be on your way.
So, investing in an ERP solution is also investing in a long-term partnership with the
vendor that makes the software. While the specifics of a given ERP solution are
important, so is knowing and trusting the vendor you will be relying on for years to
come.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the largest and most pervasive ERP vendor on the
market today, SAP. No matter your industry or company size, SAP probably will be on
your ERP solution shortlist.
Where does your company fit on the Pyramid of ERP Solutions?
SAP: ERP Leader Since the Industry’s Beginning
It is estimated that roughly 77 percent of all global transactions come in contact with
SAP software. There’s a reason for this: SAP not only helped invent the ERP space,
starting with an integrated accounting solution in 1973 and leading the industry as it
grew into what it is today. It also is the largest ERP vendor and the 12th largest
technology company in the world, used by more than 404,000 businesses across 180
different countries.
Most large businesses use SAP or its closest competitor, Oracle, and SMBs also rely on
SAP software; 80 percent of SAP’s customer base is made up of small to medium-sized
businesses (SMBs), a surprising number given the company’s reputation for powering
some of the world’s largest multinationals.
SAP certainly serves big business. But over the years, the company has developed
distinct product lines that serve each segment of the market. There’s SAP Business One
for smaller firms, SAP Business ByDesign for growing medium-sized businesses, and the
company’s flagship SAP HANA for larger enterprise customers.
Much of the underlying technology is the same, but each SAP product line is full-
featured and built from the ground up for its intended market. A multinational has
different needs than a 10-employee business, and vice versa. So, SAP has built
appropriate solutions for each.

Small Firms that Use SAP Business One

SAP Business One is the company’s complete ERP solution

for small to medium-sized businesses, and it handles everything from accounting and
financials to operations, sales and customer service.
More than 60,000 businesses use SAP Business One, with most having between 10 and
200 employees and between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue. Subsidiaries
of larger organizations also use the solution frequently. Industries that lean heavily on
SAP Business One include manufacturers, technical fields and business services. SAP
Business One also is used frequently by retail, energy and waste management,
healthcare, construction, transportation and telecommunications firms.
Mini Melts, Inc. a Connecticut-based, world leader in cryogenic pelletization. MiniMelts
provides the leading machines bringing cryogenic ice cream to tens of millions of
satisfied customers in more than 40 countries. They have truly revolutionized the world
of gourmet frozen desserts.
Plascore Inc., a Michigan-based OEM manufacturer of metal and plastic honeycomb
cores for the automotive, electronic and pharmaceutical industries with annual revenue
of roughly $26 million, uses SAP Business One for managing it manufacturing
operations in real-time and handling supplier and customer relationships.
For David Leadbetter Golf, a Florida-based golf coaching and product company with
annual revenue of roughly $6.2 million, the biggest use for SAP Business One is getting
real-time insight into what its instructors and 31 employees are doing for better overall
utilization. The company also uses Business One for more precise inventory control.
On the larger end of the SMB spectrum, California-based jewelry company, QALO, which
grew from $29.4 million in revenue in 2017 to more than $100 million by the end of
2018, uses SAP Business One for coordinating with its more than 500 retail partners. It
centralizes all its daily operations using the system, as well as automating its more than
1,500 daily orders.

Medium-Sized Firms that Use SAP Business ByDesign

SAP Business ByDesign is SAP’s mid-market solution for

fast-growing businesses. It is an entirely cloud-based ERP system, unlike SAP Business
One that is available both on-premise and in the cloud. SAP Business ByDesign also
includes more than 255 integrations out of the box, and it scales better for businesses
that are rapidly moving from SMB to larger enterprise.
That’s not to say that small businesses don’t also use SAP Business ByDesign. While the
largest group of users are businesses with between 50-200 employees and between $25
million and $250 million in annual revenue, businesses with between $1 million and $10
million in annual revenue and 10-49 employees are almost equally
represented. Manufacturing, Life Science, Distribution, Technical and Business Services
are the top industries that use SAP Business ByDesign, but healthcare, energy,
education, telecommunications, finance and retail also heavily use it.
One example is Skullcandy, a Utah-based audio electronics maker for the snow and
skateboard market with annual revenue of roughly $266.3 million. The company uses
SAP Business ByDesign for managing inventory and sharing data with big box retailers,
handling compliance issues around being both publicly and privately funded, and for
scaling operations fast without system disruptions.
Another example is Rothy's, a maker of 3D-knit, sustainable shoes. In just three years,
the startup has gone from an idea and a small stall in San Francisco’s Ferry Building to
pulling in $140 million in annual revenue. They believe that beautiful, sustainable style is
the way of the future.
A much smaller firm that also relies on SAP Business ByDesign is CeloNova BioSciences,
a Texas-based medical devices firm that manufactures cardiology and endovascular
products and has annual revenue of roughly $3 million. The firm uses SAP Business
ByDesign to manage its complex supply chain, meet stringent FDA regulatory
requirements, and simplify both operations and financial management.
For Virginia-based Aurora Flight Sciences, a developer of autonomous systems for
aviation with annual revenue of more than $100 million, SAP Business ByDesign helps
the company manage government contracts and costing, work with multiple currencies
and suppliers around the world, and track operations in a fast-changing environment.

Large Enterprises that Use SAP HANA

Then there is SAP HANA, the flagship ERP offering from SAP that powers some of the
world’s largest companies. SAP HANA is used on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid
option for companies that want to mix cloud and on-premise systems.
Companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more are the biggest users of SAP
HANA, although companies of all sizes use the solution, including thousands of firms
with annual revenue of less than $50 million. But larger enterprises comprise the bulk of
SAP HANA customers, firms with more than 1,000 employees.
The list of businesses that use SAP HANA is long and distinguished.
The British multinational oil and gas company, BP, based in London and with annual
revenue or roughly $222.8 billion, runs its vast drilling, refining and distribution network
using SAP HANA for everything from managing logistics to tracking oil and gas futures.
For Coca-Cola, headquartered in Atlanta and with annual revenue of roughly 35.41
billion, SAP HANA enables the company to manage manufacturing, sales and
distribution across much of the world, in addition to overseeing employees and its vast
supplier network in real-time.
Then there is 3M, the multinational manufacturer from Minneapolis with annual revenue
of roughly $31.66 billion. The company uses SAP HANA to oversee the manufacture and
distribution of more 55,000 different products across 65 different countries.
Other well known firms that use SAP HANA include ConAgra, BASF North America, Audi
AG, Burger King and Citrix, among many others.
These are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of companies that power their
businesses with SAP enterprise resource planning software.
Firms that choose SAP for their ERP backbone are going with a vendor that helped
invent the ERP space, and one that still leads the industry. They also are in good
company.