We also froze the salaries for the year 2009

Yesterday, at the general meeting of shareholders of the first integrated software SAP business management world editor, Léo Apotheker was appointed sole CEO of the German group. His alter ego, Henning Kagermann, part as planned to retire may 31. On this occasion, Léo Apotheker gives the "Echos" his first interview as a unique "OEB" from June 1. Francophile () and entered in SAP more than twenty years ago, he explains the challenges that SAP will have to meet.

After two years as "co - CEO" alongside Henning Kagermann, you have designated yesterday unique pattern of SAP from June 1. Has this double-headed transition been effective

It was a smart decision to ensure a smooth transition at the head of the company. This governance, which has already occurred twice in our history from 1997 to 2003, is representative of excellence in teamwork in SAP. Henning and myself have long worked together, and I would like to thank him for our collaboration in all these years.

The fall of 33 in the first quarter of 2009 of your main source of income the sale of software licenses you are concerned about it

It is clear that, in the current economic context, customers seek to control their spending. Nevertheless, our revenues "licensing maintenance" were virtually stable. In addition, our recurrent revenue reached 55 of the total turnover in the first quarter. Our clients trust SAP as a strategic partner in the long term. Support maintenance of software, Editor's note becomes a crucial way to withdraw the maximum value from their it investments and reduce costs for businesses. This is why we launched a new model of support, SAP Enterprise Support.

SAP sells since 2007 Business ByDesign, a solution for SMEs in rental of software via the Internet. Why wait you to generalize it to large companies

Business ByDesign is based on a revolutionary, namely approach: an application suite complete and available to the application. SAP is the only editor to propose such a solution to midsize businesses today. We have introduced the latest version last week. We will continue this year our approach in six countries, including the France. For large enterprises, we already offer solutions "on demand", including procurement, still followed by activity ("business intelligence") or customer relationship. In the future, we can provide them with hybrid solutions, both located in the client and "on demand".

He said that SAP would buy Californian computer company Informatica. With 2.2 billion of cash, what is your acquisition strategy

The success of the acquisition of Business Objects last year has demonstrated our ability to develop internally but also through acquisitions. We will continue to follow the market closely. I am not speaking on a particular option, but we will act when the time comes if a good opportunity presented itself. For example, we announced the acquisition of the French company Highdeal, leader of solutions for billing in real-time for telecoms.

At the beginning of the year, SAP announced 3,000 deletions of posts to achieve 48.500 collaborators late 2009...

Our workforce reduction program advances in line with our forecasts. Our annual wage costs will be reduced from 300 to 350 million euros in 2010, compared to 2008. We have been able to react very quickly when the crisis arose last October, and we have made the demonstration of our ability to well manage our operational costs. We also froze the salaries for the year 2009. Finally, we have a "business model" agile and flexible.