The German software giant SAP, which stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing is making news lately. It makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Its products include SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) applications, SAP Business Objects software, Sybase mobile products (purchased in 2010) and SAP HANA (in-memory computing appliance). It also expects to enter into cloud computing through its pending acquisition of SuccessFactors, a human resources software outfit.

SAP was an “organic” growth company until 2007 when it acquired Business Objects which specializes in helping companies reap more benefits from existing data. The success of this acquisition and Oracle becoming the leader surpassing SAP as the leader in business software, pave the way for SAP to make dozens of acquisitions instead of relying on organic growth.

SAP had a best quarter earnings of 1.08 euros ($1.43) for the fourth quarter 2011 in 40 years according to its CEO Sanjay Poonen. Software license revenue which is the company’s main source of income rose 16% to 1.74 billion euros. This is a remarkable achievement for the software giant given the dire economic conditions worldwide. It will continue to make slow but steady growth under the current economic conditions.