Press Release
Merck Signs Enterprise Licensing Agreement with Topaz Bridge for New Application Topaz Bridge Introduces Softwware that Enables Enterprises to Get More Out of Their Investment in SAP
BELLEVUE, WA - January 26, 2009 - Today Topaz Bridge Corporation announced an enterprise-wide license agreement to deploy Topaz Bridge's new software product, Topaz Bridge S2™, to all Merck employees across 84 countries in 10 languages. As part of this license agreement, Topaz Bridge will provide worldwide support to Merck for the next five years.
Also today, Topaz Bridge introduced Topaz Bridge S2, a self-service product that will enable Merck and other large organizations to easily interact with SAP® processes and information. Topaz Bridge S2 is a native Microsoft Office® SharePoint® Server application that makes it easy for employees to access SAP software through SharePoint's modern and intuitive interface, substantially reducing training and support costs.
Merck to Deploy Worldwide Employee Portal
With Topaz Bridge S2, Merck will deploy a portal so employees can easily update personal information, employment and career information controlled by SAP software. With this capability, Merck will be able to derive more value from their investments in SAP while remaining compliant with globally defined business processes. Often, large companies have resorted to building out expensive support operations and call centers to assist employees with tasks that they can now accomplish with the Topaz Bridge S2 application.
"Topaz Bridge is helping Merck with an ambitious organizational transformation that will enable us to change our service model, more effectively support all of our employees and reduce our costs," said Chris Scalet, Executive Vice President, Global Services and CIO at Merck. "Because Topaz Bridge S2 works inside Microsoft SharePoint to access SAP information, we're using it to make our shared human resource services a natural extension of what our employees do every day as easy as buying a book online or paying their bills through an online banking service."
Topaz Bridge S2 Combines the Best of Microsoft SharePoint and SAP Software
Topaz Bridge S2 delivers the best of both Microsoft SharePoint Server and SAP software, allowing large corporations to take advantage of the native usability and collaboration features of Microsoft SharePoint Server, while maintaining the compliance and data integrity of their SAP systems. Topaz Bridge S2 also allows corporate business units, departments or individuals to quickly and easily customize the application to create competitive advantage for their varied businesses in locales around the world.
"90 percent of the Fortune 500 depend on SAP's bulletproof business processes," said Noam Topaz, CEO of Topaz Bridge. "Our software extends the SAP platform so employees can manage their own information, saving hundreds of dollars per employee annually. By building on Microsoft SharePoint, which our customers already own and their employees use every day, we make global, company-wide self service a reality and increase the value large organizations derive from IT investments."
Topaz Bridge S2 runs natively as a Microsoft Office SharePoint application, taking advantage of Microsoft InfoPath forms services, Microsoft SharePoint's Business Data Catalog features, and Microsoft SharePoint's Global Deployment features, without requiring purchase or configuration of additional server hardware or software.