The German software giant SAP has said more than once that Latin America is one of the key regions for the company’s growth. Yesterday, SAP went a step further when it broke ground on the SAP Labs Latin America expansion. The company said it will invest U.S.$25 million (R$50 million) to build an additional sustainable building that has the capacity to accommodate 500 people (check out the photos on our Facebook album).
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The expansion comes three years after the inauguration of the first phase, which was completed in 2009 with an investment of nearly U.S$18.5 million. SAP expects to open the new building in August 2013. “Brazil shows economic growth despite the global crisis. In addition, it will host the FIFA World Cup and has a large population,” said Stefan Wagner, managing director at SAP Labs Latin America.
Wagner explained there is no forecast for the return on investment. “This is a lab, focused on developing and localizing solutions to the market,” he said. “But, of course, when we do that, it influences revenues, but we do not measure ROI specifically for labs.”
Located adjacent to the first office at the Technology Center of Unisinos in São Leopoldo, Brazil, SAP Labs Latin America is part of the SAP Labs network, made up of 15 locations around the world. It focuses on serving the region with the localization of solutions; product support across Latin and North America; training and support for partners in Latin America; and development of specific solutions for SAP customers in the region.
In his speech, Wagner highlighted SAP Labs’ strategic importance for the company since it customizes and develops products for the local market, citing examples of solutions developed for financial institutions and agribusiness.
SAP has 12,000 customers in Latin America, of which 4,000 are Brazilian enterprises.
In Brazil, several municipal governments offer tax breaks to encourage companies to locate their headquarters or part of their operations in their cities, but Luis Cesar Verdi, managing director at SAP Brazil, said the company did not receive any incentive from the government (such as tax breaks) to build or expand its labs in São Leopoldo.
However, Rodolfo Cardenuto, SAP’s president for Latin America, did emphasize during his speech that he supported the new government plan, dubbed Brasil Maior (read the government document). “I appreciate the focus the federal government has had on the technology sector as well as the recent new tax cuts and other stimulus measures, such as the payroll tax exemption and incentives for the workforce improvements,” he said.
SAP Labs currently has 443 employees, and the company plans to expand to 800 direct employees by 2015, excluding interns and freelancers. In the labs, the average age of employees is 27. Only 21% are women.
