Infosys Technologies has signed up to the SAP Global Service Partner Program in order to strengthen its capabilities to deliver enhanced value to customers. This development will take the relationship shared by Infosys and SAP AG to a new level as they work together to help companies realise information technology (IT) and business results from their investments in SAP applications.

Through this newly expanded relationship, customers will benefit from bolstered implementation services, enhanced solution delivery and increased global reach. Progressive companies such as ABB Group, one of the world's leading engineering companies, have already realised the benefits of the existing partnership.

"Infosys' SAP implementation approach is highly specialised and in lockstep with industry best practices," says Mauro Romano, internal controlling officer at ABB. "Compliance is assured during every phase of the implementation or upgrade, providing enterprises with ample opportunity to review or realign internal controls to enable better business practices. The end result of this collaborative approach is a reduced year-over-year compliance cost and improved control mechanisms."

Kodak, a leading global imaging innovator, has also benefited from the partnership. The company selected Infosys to help implement its SAP-enabled transformation globally. "Infosys' solution and delivery capabilities in the Greater Asia region not only improved the time to market and predictability, but reduced the cost of implementation," says Imran Khan, chief information officer, Consumer Digital Imaging Group and Graphic Communication Group, Kodak.

Infosys' SAP practice has been growing at nearly 70 percent annually over the past five years and is a key contributor to the expansion of the SAP ecosystem. "Today's partnership expansion underscores our commitment to SAP applications and our vision of enabling businesses to win in a 'flat world'. Through this partnership, we can provide our customers with access to some of the finest expertise in the world. We'll help service their implementations of SAP applications, leading to faster ROI," says S D Shibulal, chief operating officer and member of the board, Infosys Technologies.

"Having a strong ecosystem is critical to SAP's success and something that has been instrumental in helping SAP extend its global reach," says Zia Yusuf, executive vice president, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, SAP. "To become an SAP global services partner, a company must not only demonstrate repeated implementation success, but, more importantly, be committed to SAP's vision of enabling enterprise SOA for our global customers. We have found this in Infosys, and look forward to working on future customer collaborations with them."