Final answer:
SAP was established in 1972 by five former IBM employees who aimed to create a real-time data processing system. It has since become a leading enterprise software provider globally.
Step-by-step explanation:
SAP was formed in 1972. The original members came from the multinational software corporation IBM. The founders, Dietmar Hopp, Hasso Plattner, Claus Wellenreuther, Klaus Tschira, and Hans-Werner Hector, worked on a project together at IBM but left to pursue the development of a real-time data processing system. This led to the establishment of SAP, which stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing (Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung in German). SAP has since grown to become one of the world's leading providers of enterprise software and services, helping companies of all sizes and industries run their operations more efficiently.