German software giant SAP to offer more services in Chinese market

German software and cloud giant SAP SE is scrambling to offer more localized services in China as part of its broader efforts to step up investment in the country, the fastest growing market for the company.

SAP announced a new commerce cloud has landed in China, enriching its cloud portfolio and to help local enterprises speed up their digital transformation.

The move came after SAP spent nearly $70 billion in the past 10 years to transform itself from a traditional software company into a competitive cloud service provider.

"To win in business today you have to provide a remarkable experience for your customers and evolving to the cloud is essential to doing that," SAP China President Mark Gibbs said.

"With the largest global footprint and more than 100 solution offerings ... We continue to step up our commitment in China by broadening our cloud portfolio to bring greater value to our Chinese customers," he said.

SAP said the new commerce cloud in China is designed to support local innovation and cater to the "China speed" by leveraging the latest container technology and micro-services architecture.

This came after SAP announced in January its "China Accelerators", a series of strategic initiatives that are part of a new five-year plan to bolster business growth in the country.

The company said it will pour more resources to expand its presence in the market for small and medium-sized enterprises, grow the local talent force and infrastructure, and nurture the next-generation ecosystem in China.

The technology giant delivered its biggest-ever year in the country in 2018, with SAP CEO Bill McDermott calling China "the jewel in the crown" for the company and saying it is doubling down on its presence here.

McDermott forecast that China is highly likely to emerge as the largest market for SAP by 2025, he said in an earlier interview with China Daily.

It also deepened its partnership with Chinese internet heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in cloud services, and it has more than 15,000 enterprise customers in China as of today.

Charlie Dai, analyst at market research company Forrester Research Inc, said there is a growing demand among Chinese enterprises to improve operational efficiency and streamline business processes and increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions to boost market growth.

Alibaba is the biggest public service provider in China. The ties will boost SAP's local presence, Dai said.

Last week, SAP announced a partnership with Tsinghua University to make available a course on digital transformation strategies for its School of Economics and Management at the university. The project is designed to develop talents in digital transformation.