While difficult to accurately quantify, SAP’s role as software provider creates significant indirect economic impact. The combination of the introduction of the internet and enterprise software applications fueled a period of rapid advancements in corporate IT from the mid-1990s to present. For example, investment in corporate IT surged from about $3,500 per worker in 1994 to about $8,000 per worker by 2005, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. At the same time, annual productivity growth in U.S. companies roughly doubled, after holding steady at about 1.4% for nearly 20 years. Enterprise software, SAP’s primary focus for research and development, plays a role in sustaining these productivity and economic gains.