According to its 2016 corporate fact sheet, SAP serves more than 335,000 customers in 190 countries, of which 80% are small- and-medium sized businesses (SMB). The latter fact is a more recent departure from the company's previous focus on large organizations.
According to SAP, 75% of all global business transactions come in contact with an SAP system. The company offers on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment models, with cloud computing options being the focus for the company's future. On the Forbes 2016 list of "The World's Biggest Public Companies," SAP was ranked the third-largest software and programming company, behind Microsoft (1) and Oracle (2).
SAP's ERP system enables companies to run their business processes, be they accounting, sales, production, human resources or payment, in an integrated environment. The integration ensures that information flows from one SAP component to another without the need for redundant data entry, and it helps enforce financial, process and legal controls. SAP's ERP system also facilitates effective utilization of resources (the R in ERP), be it machines, production capacities, manpower or other assets of an enterprise (the E in ERP) through detailed planning (the P in ERP) of resources.