Speaking to TimesOnline, almost one full a year after the launch of SAP's local office, Managing Director of the Indian Subcontinent, Peter Gartenberg, says that Sri Lanka is a very fast growth market for the company. He also added that, today, there were currently over 50 key clients locally.
In Colombo for the local leg of the ongoing international client event, SAP Forum 2012, Mr. Gartenberg also stated that, while the company had initially only gone after clients in discrete manufacturing industry, there was already growth in many other industries such as Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), telecommunications and services. He further noted that it was SAP's intention to approach many more clients in its second year, including tapping 24 different domestic industries.
Commenting on the area of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Mr. Gartenberg noted that, in India, 70% of SAP's client portfolio were SMEs, or as SAP preferred to refer to this segment, emerging businesses. And this was where SAP had a massive market share advantage. Further, in Sri Lanka, the client portfolio was a good mix between large business and SMEs. He also added that this was important as oftentimes the greatest innovation came from smaller businesses.
