SAP seeks to double Ariba customers by 2015

German software company SAP AG SAP sees huge business potential from its takeover of U.S. information services provider Ariba Inc. (ARBA) and seeks to double the number of Ariba's 730,000 customers by 2015, the company told the Wall Street Journal in an interview Monday.

"With 730,000 trading partners out there and SAP's reach--I think we can double the number by 2015," said Co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott.

At the end of last week, U.S. authorities approved the Ariba takeover, which should help SAP reach its goal of increasing cloud business revenue to 2 billion euros ($2.57 billion) and the number of SAP users to 1 billion by 2015, Mr. McDermott said. Cloud technology allows users to store data on the internet rather than on hardware equipment and are attractive for companies, because they are cheaper and simpler to maintain.

The combined total revenue of all 200,000 SAP customers and 730,000 Ariba customers is around $8 trillion, Mr. McDermott said. Approximately $350 billion in trade is conducted each year using the Ariba platform, a volume which Mr. McDermott hopes to increase using SAP and Ariba's integrated customer network.

Ariba customers include companies such as UPS, British Airways and Clariant, which use Ariba's trading platform.

Corrections & Amplifications

This story was corrected Oct. 2, 2012, at 1054 GMT because the original misstated the combined total revenue in the fourth paragraph, which should be $8 trillion, not EUR8 trillion. Additional information regarding cloud computing has also been added in the third paragraph.

 ("SAP Seeks to Double Ariba Customers By 2015 With Purchase -CEO" which ran at 1405 GMT on Oct. 1 misstated the combined total revenue in the fourth paragraph, which should be $8 trillion, not EUR8 trillion. Additional information regarding cloud computing has also been added in the third paragraph. The correct version follows.)

German software company SAP AG sees huge business potential from its takeover of U.S. information services provider Ariba Inc. (ARBA) and seeks to double the number of Ariba's 730,000 customers by 2015, the company told the Wall Street Journal in an interview Monday.

"With 730,000 trading partners out there and SAP's reach--I think we can double the number by 2015," said Co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott.

At the end of last week, U.S. authorities approved the Ariba takeover, which should help SAP reach its goal of increasing cloud business revenue to 2 billion euros ($2.57 billion) and the number of SAP users to 1 billion by 2015, Mr. McDermott said. Cloud technology allows users to store data on the internet rather than on hardware equipment and are attractive for companies, because they are cheaper and simpler to maintain.

The combined total revenue of all 200,000 SAP customers and 730,000 Ariba customers is around $8 trillion, Mr. McDermott said. Approximately $350 billion in trade is conducted each year using the Ariba platform, a volume which Mr. McDermott hopes to increase using SAP and Ariba's integrated customer network.

Ariba customers include companies such as UPS, British Airways and Clariant, which use Ariba's trading platform.

• Wall Street Journal