Every year, SAP holds Sapphire – its global event bringing together clients, partners and executives – in two stages: Orlando, then a single European city. For several years now, that city has been Madrid. In May 2026, the European edition drew some 9,000 participants from 43 countries to IFEMA, the capital’s exhibition centre.
The choice is not incidental. It reflects Spain’s weight in SAP’s commercial geography and the central role Madrid plays in its continental expansion. Christian Klein, CEO of the group, put it plainly at the opening: “Here, we are sold out. In Orlando too. That is not so simple for a European software company.”
A long-established ecosystem
SAP employs 1,400 people in Spain. Its partner network generates 13,500 certified consultants across the country. The number of clients exceeds 10,000 – from major industrial and banking groups to public administrations. The Madrid headquarters is not a commercial subsidiary: it is an International Support Centre covering Southern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and part of North Africa. Carlos Lacerda, Managing Director of SAP Southern Europe, runs the entire zone from Madrid. Barcelona has a secondary office. Strategic functions are in Madrid.
Back to Azca
In October 2024, SAP inaugurated its new offices at Plaza Ruíz Picasso 11, in the Azca business district. A homecoming of sorts: it was in the Torre Picasso, just a few metres away, that the group had set up its first Spanish teams in the late 1980s, before relocating to a more peripheral address on Calle Torrelaguna. The new headquarters occupies a single open-plan floor, WELL and Breeam certified. Félix Monedero, Managing Director of SAP España: “Our employees were asking us to come back to the city centre. We wanted spaces that support new ways of working.”
1987–2026: An uninterrupted presence
SAP established itself in Spain in 1987. Madrid was the first address. In 2004, the City of Madrid itself became a client: municipal finance, tax revenues, human resources. In May 2026, at Sapphire, the two parties announced the next step: migration to the private cloud, consolidation of the entire municipal IT system under S/4HANA.