BERLIN, March 9 (Reuters) – Business software company SAP SAPG.DE said on Monday it was cancelling or postponing all major client events this month due to the coronavirus epidemic, but still planned to go ahead with its U.S. user conference SAPPHIRE NOW in mid-May.
“The health and wellbeing of our staff, customers and partners have the highest priority for SAP,” the German firm said in a statement.
The suspension of marketing events comes as new co-CEOs Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein seek to accelerate a pivot to cloud-based services offering revenue streams that are more predictable than those under SAP’s old model of selling software licences.
SAP, Europe’s most valuable technology company, said it was scratching an event in Orlando for U.S. users of its Concur travel and expenses product, and in Las Vegas for customers of its Ariba supply-chain solutions.
All SAP NOW promotional events that had been scheduled this month in Mexico, Colombia, Switzerland, Guatemala, Sweden, Argentina, Ecuador, Norway and Uruguay are being called off. One in Germany is being postponed to September.
Events from April on – including its banner U.S. user get together SAPPHIRE NOW, from May 12-14 in Orlando, Fla., are still on, SAP said in a statement. Last year’s event attracted 30,000 visitors.
SAP, which employs just over 100,000 staff, has reported a single coronavirus case in one of its German offices. The company’s shares hit a one-year low amid a broader market sell-off on Monday and last traded 6% lower.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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