SAP and Neusoft come together

A momentous occasion in China has happened, and high glitterati were there to attend the announcement of a large deal, indeed. SAP CEO Henning Kagermann and Neusoft Chairman / CEO Dr. Liu Jiren held a ceremony to announce a wide-sweeping agreement in Sino-German business relations, conducted as part of the official activities surrounding German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to China.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to China, her first since becoming Germany’s head of government in November 2005, underscores the deepening trade and commerce relations between Germany and China. SAP AG, cashing in on a long history in China, has announced the signing of relationship and investment several agreements with one of China’s leading IT services and training companies, the Neusoft Group.

SAP concluded a master relationship agreement with Neusoft that will expand cooperation between the two organizations, with SAP also taking a minority equity stake in the Neusoft Group. The far-reaching agreements seek to deepen the relationship between the two companies, to further extend SAP training and solution offerings into China, and to establish Neusoft as a significant SAP training and development center in China. The agreements represent the latest in a determined effort to extend SAP operations in China. Jiren said that, “As Chinese small and medium-sized businesses become more aggressive users of ERP technology, we see opportunities for expanded training and solution offerings in several industries.”

Over the next two years, Neusoft will more than triple its staff dedicated to SAP software and training and draw upon its deep university ties and nine dedicated training centers to train and certify a growing number of SAP customers, partners and independent consultants. SAP already boasts a historically strong presence in China. The company established a research laboratory in China in 1997 and upgraded to a world-class SAP Labs facility in 2003.

Founded in 1991, the Shenyang, China-based Neusoft boasts over 8,000 employees and forty offices across the country, with others in the United States and Japan, and industrial development bases in Shenyang, Dalian, Chengdu and Nanhai. Neusoft’s big plunge into the international sphere came just two years ago, when, in a major move, the joint venture by Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and China Neusoft Group was officially launched. Philips got about fifty-one percent of that capital share and Neusoft Digital Medical Company held forty-nine. The joint venture represented the first breakthrough for Neusoft in China. That deal involved Philips and Neusoft developing and manufacturing computed tomography, MR, ultrasound and X-ray equipment.

Even back then, Neusoft saw the great potential in its homeland: With a deal made with the West, “…we will not only be able to build up the competitiveness of Neusoft in domestic medical systems market, but also enhance our capabilities in the process of expanding global market,” said a representative. Today, Neusoft is one of the leading software and solution companies in China and owns the very first listed software company in China. Neusoft total assets topped RMB 3.8 billion in 2005 and the company has seven research centers and three training centers under its auspices.