EMI Music Drives Business Performance in the Digital Age With SAP

EMI Music Drives Business Performance in the Digital Age With SAP

mySAP(TM) ERP Helps World's Second-Largest Record Company Evolve Worldwide Financial and Sales Processes With Changing Media Marketplace

LONDON, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) today announced that EMI Music, part of the EMI Group, a global media and entertainment leader whose artists include Coldplay, Norah Jones and Robbie Williams, is deploying mySAP(TM) ERP across its worldwide operations. The SAP rollout underpins the company's efforts to evolve successfully with the changing customer and market demands of the digital age by better analyzing regional and global business performance and responding more quickly with new products and business models.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgibin/prnh/20050310/SFTH009LOGO-a )

With the aim of harmonizing financial and sales processes, increasing transparency and improving efficiency of global reporting, SAP's enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is replacing various legacy systems for accounting, purchasing, sales order capture and financial reporting. With the first phase of the global rollout successfully completed in the UK and Ireland in 2004, mySAP ERP is currently being rolled out in Japan and will be extended globally over the next three to five years.

"The entertainment industry is changing dramatically and we aim to evolve accordingly to take advantage of the opportunities arising from new sales and distribution channels," said Andrew Hickey, Chief Technology Officer, EMI Music. "After re-evaluating our global sales and financial processes and identifying potential areas of benefit, we found SAP's ERP suite to be best-suited to help us adapt with these business changes. With SAP we will have a single, integrated solution to help track, analyze and manage worldwide business performance and make faster, more-informed decisions based on real-time financial and market insight."

EMI Music is successfully transforming its business to meet the changing needs of its customers and the growing prevalence of the digital marketplace via Internet, cell phones and portable media players. With the increasing complexity of a customer base served by ever more regional and global retailers, the company required faster information analysis as well as greater flexibility to seize opportunities with new product types and business models.

By streamlining sales, accounting and purchasing processes, EMI will be able to manage business performance across the globe more effectively. Working on a single platform, EMI employees around the world will gain enhanced visibility across regional and global sales and improved analytical capabilities to proactively manage business performance, profit and growth.

"The media and entertainment industry's complexity of sales channels, short-lived trends and changing business models are revealing the functional limits of legacy IT systems," said Nils Herzberg, senior vice president, Product and Technology Group, SAP, "EMI has recognized the need for and value of mySAP ERP, the next-generation ERP solution that enables greater visibility into global business performance and faster, well-informed response to customer demands."

About EMI Music

EMI is the world's largest independent music company, operating directly in 50 countries. Its EMI Music division represents more than 1,000 artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin.

About mySAP(TM) ERP

With more than 20,000 organizations worldwide running their enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes with SAP(R) solutions, SAP is the undisputed worldwide market leader in ERP software. mySAP(TM) ERP is SAP's next-generation ERP solution and the successor to SAP(R) R/3(R). mySAP ERP features industry-leading business analytics, financials, human capital management, operations and corporate services functionality. Powered by SAP NetWeaver(TM), the strategic platform for custom-built and packaged applications, mySAP ERP addresses the critical business software requirements of midsize and large organizations, whatever their industry or global reach. (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/erp /)

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions*. Today, more than 29,800 customers in over 120 countries run more than 100,600 installations of SAP(R) software-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP(TM) Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, public sector and financial services. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/ /)

(*) SAP defines business software solutions as comprising enterprise resource planning and related software solutions such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

NOTE: Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Lisa Melhuish, SAP, +44 (0) 20 8917 6015, lisa.melhuish@sap.co.uk, GMT

Carolyn Dealey, Burson-Marsteller for SAP, +44 (0) 20 7300 6422, carolyn_dealey@uk.bm.com, GMT

SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, CET; +1 (610) 661-3200, EST; press@sap.com

Iris Eidling, SAP, +49 6227 7-65797, iris.eidling@sap.com, CET

Siobhan Lyons, Burson-Marsteller for SAP, +1 (202) 530-4721, siobhan_lyons@was.bm.com, EST

Dylan Jones, EMI, +44 (0) 20 7795 7335, jonesd@emigroup.com, GMT

Adam Grossberg, EMI, +1 (212) 786 8855, adam.grossberg@emimusic.com, EST

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AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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Source: SAP

CONTACT: Lisa Melhuish, +44 -0-20-8917-6015, or lisa.melhuish@sap.co.uk,
or Iris Eidling, +49-6227-7-65797, or iris.eidling@sap.com, or SAP Press
Office, +49-6227-7-46315, or +1-610-661-3200, or press@sap.com, all of SAP; or
Carolyn Dealey, +44-0-20-7300-6422, or carolyn_dealey@uk.bm.com, or Siobhan
Lyons, +1-202-530-4721, or siobhan_lyons@was.bm.com, both of Burson-Marsteller
for SAP; or Dylan Jones, +44-0-20-7795-7335, or jonesd@emigroup.com, Adam
Grossberg, +1-212-786-8855, or adam.grossberg@emimusic.com, both of EMI

Web site: http://www.sap.com/

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