ORLANDO, Fla., May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Sybase, Inc., an SAP company and industry leader in enterprise and mobile software, today announced a series of new mobile apps built on Sybase® Unwired Platform aimed at mobilizing business processes and business information across key industries including manufacturing, consumer products, utilities, high tech, oil and gas, and retail. These new mobile apps join the Sybase® Mobile Sales application for SAP CRM and the Sybase® Mobile Workflow application for SAP Business Suite released in 2010. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011.

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"Over the past 18 months, SAP has been releasing technologies enabling the rapid creation and deployment of mobile apps through our platform and development tools," said Dr. Raj Nathan, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sybase. "Today, we are announcing several packaged mobile apps that will drastically reduce the costs and time needed for organizations to implement a mobility strategy. Enterprise mobility is a phenomenon that transcends all borders in the workplace and SAP is out in front of this trend as it revolutionizes the mobile space by making mobile the new desktop."

"We see a paradigm shift in business today with companies delivering real-time business applications that take maximum advantage of the explosive growth in mobile-empowered workers," said Jack Gold, president of J.Gold Associates, LLC. "The new mobile apps, such as those announced today by SAP and Sybase, have the power to accelerate business by enabling mobile workers to make more informed decisions regardless of location, and enhance engagement levels with customers and partners. The resultant significant increase in worker productivity will create a quick ROI and maximize the company bottom-line results."

According to a survey of IT decision-makers by Forrester Research, in 2010 over 60 percent of companies will make mobile applications a priority over the next 12 months.(1) Around 75 percent of organizations deploy mobile applications to increase worker productivity, and overall improved customer satisfaction is an important driver of mobilizing applications for 42 percent of firms.(1)

The following new mobile apps are designed to drive short-term, bottom-line results for businesses and employees across key industries.

Achieving Field Service Excellence

As field service engineers are required to make more informed, timely decisions, the new SAP® Field Service mobile app is designed to enhance customer satisfaction by bringing the right data resources, knowledge and information to the point of issue resolution. Built on Sybase Unwired Platform, the field service app will provide full online and offline access to assignments, service orders and service confirmation. With out-of-the-box functionality for mobilizing and customizing the SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, field service engineers will be provided with valuable mobile app features that provide:

• Instant field assignment alerts on mobile devices to notify representatives of new assignments
• Enhanced service order management provides representatives instant access to a single view that includes the information required to complete an order
• Map visits with integration to mapping service, enabling field technicians to clearly view a day's assignments
• Service order debriefs that enable technicians to create service order confirmations and enter time, material and expenses incurred to complete the order

Gaining Retail Customer Experience Advantage On Device

With the new SAP® Retail Execution mobile app, not only will consumer product companies be able to provide their sales representatives with the data required to help maximize productivity, but the companies will be able to facilitate return on brand and promotion investments by increasing promotional compliance and monitoring success of new products. Built on Sybase Unwired Platform, the retail execution app is planned for full integration with native device functionality while providing online and offline access to accounts, contacts, visits, surveys and products. Planned mobile app features include:

• Retail visit management to execute visits, reschedule them as needed and provide access to history of previous visits, notes and attachments -- all on a mobile device
• Ability to complete surveys and audits to perform critical merchandizing activities such as promotion compliance and planogram checks
• Customer (account) management through customer lists, contact information and detailed history of previous interactions
• Product management through detailed product lists with identification data and categories

Increase Asset Utilization and Minimize Downtime

Field technicians rely on up-to-date information to perform their jobs efficiently. The new SAP® EAM Work Order mobile app is planned to help empower companies to gather, assess and share the relevant information from the moment it is needed or identified. Built on Sybase Unwired Platform, the work order app is intended to address the requirements for plant maintenance operations staff for enterprise asset management. Planned highlights of the mobile application features include:

• Work orders with access to view and update relevant information regarding tasks, operations, planned time and material
• Technical object management to give access to view and update critical information about functional location and equipments to increase asset uptime
• Inventory information to help field workers track and manage the parts without any delay or overhead
• Business partner information available to the technician to get an enhanced view of customer history and critical contact information

Maximizing Employee Productivity

New employee productivity mobile apps are in development with the goal to enable employees to remain highly productive -- whether traveling or in the office -- through one-click access to key capabilities for completing routine activities, such as travel and expense capture, approving HR-based requests, entering sales orders and approving or rejecting purchase orders. With the new employee productivity mobile apps, the plan is for users to be able to act on workflows and access from their mobile devices critical business information stored in the SAP® ERP Human Capital Management and SAP® ERP Financials solutions and SAP® Supplier Relationship Management and SAP CRM applications, among others. These simple mobile apps, built on Sybase Unwired Platform, are being designed with consumer-grade usability and for employee use with minimal training.

The following apps and anticipated capabilities are planned for general availability in the next few months:

• Human Resources
  • SAP® Employee Lookup mobile app: search and view employee profiles
  • SAP® Leave Request mobile app: create, modify, delete requests; view vacation days available
  • SAP® Time Capture mobile app: create, modify, delete time entries; view missing time entries
  • SAP® HR Approvals mobile app: notification of work items; view calendar; approve/reject requests
• Procurement
  • SAP® Cart Approval mobile app: view, approve or reject shopping carts; view approver details
  • SAP® SRM Supplier Search mobile app: search for and view lists of supplier details; contact suppliers
  • SAP® Quality Issue mobile app: create quality reports; add photos and scan equipment
• Finance
  • SAP® Travel Receipt Capture mobile app: create travel expense entries; capture receipt photos; record voice notes
  • SAP® Travel Report mobile app: view credit card charges, create travel expense reports
  • SAP® Travel Expense Approval mobile app: receive expense approval notifications; review report details; approve or reject workflows
  • SAP® Payment Approvals mobile app: push urgent tasks to the treasurer; protect from financial loss
• Sales
  • SAP® Sales Order Notification mobile app: receive notifications on sales orders; search and view orders
  • SAP® Material Availability mobile app: search materials; view details, availability and pricing for customers
  • SAP® Customer and Contacts mobile app: access customer and contact information; display on map; view recent orders
  • SAP® Customer Financial Fact Sheet mobile app: search for customers and show customer details
  • SAP® Order Status mobile app: from credit check to invoicing

For a closer look at the mobile apps, visit the Mobility newsroom: "Screenshots: SAP and Sybase Boost Mobile Worker Productivity."

Today, SAP and Sybase also continue to deliver on their commitment to make mobile the new desktop with the release of the next-generation Sybase Unwired Platform 2.0 and the unveiling of an enhanced version of their software development kit (SDK), which is planned to be available in the next few months (see "SAP and Sybase Step Closer to Reaching 1 Billion People With Release of Next-Generation Sybase Unwired Platform").

For announcements, blog posts, videos and other coverage during the event, visit the SAPPHIRE NOW newsroom. Follow SAP and Sybase on Twitter at @sapmobile and @MobileWork.

(1) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Insights for CIOs: Make Mobility Standard Business Practice, September 3, 2010.

(1) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Insights for CIOs: Make Mobility Standard Business Practice

SAPPHIRE® NOW

With SAPPHIRE® NOW, SAP offers its customers, partners and prospects even more opportunities to engage in dialogue with peers, participants and thought leaders around the globe. Being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011, this enhanced, real-time event connects attendees on site with global participants through state-of-the-art broadcast studios and an online experience that incorporates the latest social media and community functionality. Whether onsite or online, participants can gain insight as to how SAP is delivering on its product strategy and helping organizations around the world to run better. For more information, visit www.sapphirenow.com. Follow SAPPHIRE NOW on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW and visit the event newsroom at www.sapphirenow.news-sap.com.

About Sybase

Sybase, an SAP company, is an industry leader in delivering enterprise and mobile software to manage, analyze and mobilize information. We are recognized globally as a performance leader, proven in the most data-intensive industries and across all major systems, networks and devices. Our information management, analytics and enterprise mobility solutions have powered the world's most mission-critical systems in financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing and government. For more information, visit http://www.sybase.com. Read Sybase blogs: http://blogs.sybase.com.

About SAP

As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device -- SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 170,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Sybase) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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