SAP AG and LinkedIn have joined forces to deliver more business networking value to members of both LinkedIn and SAP Community Network online communities. Business professionals and technical experts who are members of the online networking sites can now benefit by prominently highlighting sought-after SAP skills and experience in their profiles and by interacting with clients looking to meet the ongoing demand for SAP professionals. The SAP Community Bio application on LinkedIn is the first of many offerings to come from the relationship announced in October 2008, when SAP Ventures, a division of SAP AG, invested in LinkedIn Corporation.

According to recent studies by the Foote Partners, LLC, a management consultancy and independent IT research firm, professionals with SAP skills continue to be highly sought-after in the IT field and the current recession has had minimal impact on the need for these resources. Locating qualified professionals with SAP product and implementation expertise can be a challenge for many SAP customers, consultants and partner organizations. Tapping LinkedIn as the world's largest professional social network, with a membership of over 49 million professionals in more than 170 industries and 200 countries, and SAP Community Network communities, with over 1.7 million members globally, companies can easily locate professionals with the required SAP skills. IT decision-makers have always been a large and highly active group on LinkedIn and many are also members of SAP Community Network with valuable SAP product and implementation experience. SAP Community Bio on LinkedIn will provide an easy way for these decision-makers to quickly locate and qualify SAP experts, developers and service providers worldwide.

"The ability to find and leverage the right business connections is an invaluable asset in today's global economy," said Ellen Levy, Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy, LinkedIn. "As the world's largest professional network, LinkedIn helps people market their skills around the world so they can find new business opportunities and partners. Our collaboration with SAP will create a faster connection between SAP experts and their target customers."

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