March 10, 2014

Accenture and SAP to Launch New Business Solutions Group to Accelerate Time to Value for Client- and Industry-Specific Cloud-Based Solutions

NEW YORK and WALLDORF, Germany; March 10, 2014 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the creation of a new business group focused on rapidly accelerating the time it takes to jointly develop and deliver new industry-specific solutions based on cloud and other digital technologies. The Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group brings together the companies’ respective co-innovation, joint solution development and go-to-market teams in an effort to focus on significantly increasing time to value for clients globally.

The Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group helps facilitate a combination of Accenture’s intellectual property and industry expertise with innovative solutions that are powered by the SAP HANA® Cloud Platform to more rapidly enable customers to harness the benefits of digital technologies including cloud, analytics and enterprise mobility. The goal is to significantly expedite the joint-solution development process to help allow the two companies to quickly bring breakthrough solutions to market across a range of industry sectors, with an initial focus on retail and consumer goods, automotive, energy and utilities.

Accenture and SAP are structuring the new Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group to simplify the process of purchasing SAP solutions and Accenture services for clients. For example, a goal is for new industry solutions to be available through a single-contract business services model and on an “as-a-service” basis. The new arrangement represents an evolution of the work the two companies have conducted together through the Accenture Innovation Centers for SAP Solutions and further outlines the go-to-market framework first introduced in 2013.

“We expect that this will be a game-changer that can go far beyond the traditional boundaries of how enterprise-grade software and platform companies and technology services companies collaborate, innovate and deliver solutions to the market today,” said Marty Cole, group chief executive of Technology, Accenture. “By joining together our industry-leading assets and capabilities under this new business group, Accenture and SAP will be positioned to deliver unprecedented value to clients through more rapid access to integrated industry-specific SAP solutions.”

“Clients are looking for ways to better maximize their existing investments in SAP technology and bridge to new technologies such as SAP HANA and SAP’s as-a-Service offerings,” said Rob Enslin, president, Global Customer Operations and member, Global Managing Board, SAP AG. “They want solutions to be simpler and more relevant to their specific business challenges. Through the Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group, we will be able to work closer than ever with Accenture to accelerate the development and delivery of industry solutions that our customers are demanding.”

The Accenture and SAP Business Solutions Group will be based in San Jose, California, and the joint team will include some of the world’s leading solution development talent, supported by a dedicated team of sales, marketing, finance, legal and commercial professionals. Experts from both Accenture and SAP will collaborate to identify business needs, develop solutions, execute go-to-market strategies and help implement new solutions for clients.

The first industry solutions developed under this new commercial framework include the Marketing Performance Solution by Accenture and SAP, a marketing analytics solution that provides relevant customer data across enterprise operations, and the Upstream Production Operations by Accenture and SAP, which features a set of solutions, services and training for oil and gas companies’ production operations.

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 281,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.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 253,500 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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Contacts:

Jason Loesche
SAP
+ 484 437 0015
j.loesche@sap.com

Peter Y. Soh, Accenture
+ 703 947 2571
peter.y.soh@accenture.com