In enterprise resource planning (ERP), Gartner has SAP in the top market share spot in all four segments: to wit, financial management, human capital management (HCM), manufacturing operations, and enterprise asset management. Asset management was not previously a segment led by SAP, but 21.4 percent year-over-year growth in that arena shook up the standings.

SAP is also in first place in supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM).

The numbers don't come as a big surprise, as SAP has been at the head of enterprise applications for quite a while. They do raise the question of sustainability. SAP has a much better position in applications than it does, for instance, in middleware, and it doesn't have the database play enjoyed by Oracle and IBM. So an erosion in the applications market would entail a heightened risk for SAP given the focus of its business.

That said, give full credit to SAP's strategy and execution. The company was a blip on the CRM radar just a few years ago, and had to struggle to win SCM business against a host of pure-plays. Achieving dominance in these segments while holding on to the ERP lead is a significant achievement.