Howrey Selects SAP® Software and Sun Microsystems to Manage Quality and Profitability of Professional Services
SAP Committed to Meeting the Requirements of Law Firms through an Integrated Legal Solution
WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 08, 2004 - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), today announced that Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP, a U.S.-based Global 100 law firm, specializing in intellectual property, global litigation and anti-trust law, has selected SAP for Professional Services to help improve client relationships and increase profitability by standardizing its global operations on a single, integrated technology platform. With SAP for Professional Services and Sun Fire Systems, Howrey will be able to improve strategic and operational processes, expand the number of markets it serves and increase the breadth of services it offers.
Before turning to SAP, Howrey Simon identified a need to better measure and manage business-critical metrics and ensure optimal use of resources. After testing two best-of-breed solutions that created a siloed, disconnected technology ecosystem and proved insufficient for meeting the company's needs, Howrey consulted with Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), a longstanding SAP partner, who recommended SAP. By consolidating legacy systems and standardizing on SAP for Professional Services, Howrey will be able to eliminate redundant processes and work, will have greater enterprise visibility into their business processes, perform better business analysis and assessment, and will be able to reduce the amount of time attorneys spend on mundane and clerical activities so they can focus on effectively billing their time and building client relationships.
"After consulting with Sun, it became clear that SAP was the best software solution provider to offer the technology infrastructure we needed to help achieve our business objectives," said Bob Ruyak, managing partner and CEO, Howrey. "We are confident that SAP's renowned integration capabilities will deliver the enterprise visibility and business-critical information required to increase attorney productivity and efficiently leverage valuable resources in order to effectively grow our business."
The first phase of Howrey's implementation will include SAP® solutions for financial accounting; management accounting; client and order management; engagement management, including time and expense management and invoice management; and business analytics.
Sun provided architecture design, project management and implementation assistance to consolidate the data center and create a secure IT environment. "Our joint success at Howrey shows that Sun and SAP bring a powerful combination of people and technology together that complement and reinforce each party's strengths," said Stephen Borcich, vice president, Market and Industry Markets at Sun. "Utilizing Sun Solaris and Sun Java Enterprise System and SAP's applications and business expertise, Howrey staff will benefit from an integrated technology platform and access to information and applications they need anytime, from any location."
SAP Solutions for the Legal Field
Law firms around the world are encountering intensified government scrutiny and working to comply with new regulations that require increased risk assessment and reporting processes. SAP for Professional Services is designed to help meet the requirements of the legal industry by providing an integrated solution portfolio that enables legal services organizations to maximize revenues, increase margins and improve productivity of operations across all clients, offices, matters and resources. SAP has worked closely with law firms over the past three years to design this solution set and will work with Howrey to further hone the technological capabilities needed to meet the business needs of leading law firms today.
"Today, law firms are under increased pressure to update and integrate their IT-landscape to remain competitive," said Carsten Linz, Head of IBU Service Providers, SAP. "We've worked with experts within the legal industry to provide integrated software solutions that are adaptable to changing market conditions. Thereby, SAP is in a unique position to enable law firms to expand their client base and manage growth in national and international markets."
Howrey Simon has 1,200 users globally with 11 offices in countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.
About SAP for Professional Services
SAP for Professional Services is designed to help professional services firms effectively meet the industry challenges of increased global competition, pricing pressures from a new "buyers market," longer bidding cycles and increasing customer demand for substantial cost savings. Serving 1,471 customers worldwide, the portfolio
provides integrated solutions to manage all core business processes, including strategy and planning, new business development, services delivery, engagement management and analysis. (Additional information at
http://www.sap.com/solutions/industry/professionalservices/)
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions*. Today, more than 24,450 customers in over 120 countries run more than 84,000 installations of SAP® software -- from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize businesses to enterprise-scale suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver™ platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP™ 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 consisting of enterprise resource planning and related software solutions such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product lifecycle management and supplier relationship management.
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 (the "SEC"), including the SAP Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2002 filed with the SEC on March 218, 2003. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Copyright © 2004 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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 serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, Sun StorEdge, and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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:
Jason Loesche, +1 (610) 661-8541, j.loesche@sap.com, EST
Uwe Schaad, Burson-Marsteller, +49 (69) 2380931, uwe_schaad@de.bm.com, CET
Siobhan Lyons, Burson-Marsteller, +1 (202) 550-8737, siobhan_lyons@was.bm.com, EST
