1. SAP was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees in Germany to develop standardized enterprise software that integrated all business processes. 2. SAP released its first software, R/1, a financial accounting system, followed by R/2 in the late 1970s. R/3 was launched in 1992 as a client-server version. 3. SAP has continued evolving its software and released new versions like mySAP ERP in 2003 to address changes in marketing and industry.