MURRAY HILL, N.J.-Dun & Bradstreet Corp. announced Feb. 8 an agreement with German
software maker SAP AG to provide enterprise resource planning software, which unites into one accessible system the
disjointed data of a company’s varied computer programs.
SAP AG, the largest software company in Europe, is
known for its ERP software, which taps information from a company’s various business operations, like manufacturing,
marketing, payroll and customer service.
An ERP system then employs decision-making software to recommend
actions, thereby acting like a corporate thinking machine.
One example of this mechanism in action is its ability to
permit different units within a single company to recognize they are procuring goods or services from various
subsidiaries or divisions of another individual company.
This knowledge could empower the buyer to negotiate
volume discounts on its purchases.
Dun & Bradstreet’s expertise is providing “creditworthiness”
information about companies. It collects data on more than 50 million public and privately held companies in 200
countries.
Dun & Bradstreet’s customers are companies that use its information to identify and evaluate potential
suppliers and buyers.
Under the new agreement, Dun & Bradstreet’s data would become accessible through SAP’s
ERP system in a strategy designed to position D&B as a leading independent provider of business information used in
electronic commerce.
