Daimler has signed a global deal to standardise all automotive supply chain and financial processes on SAP software.

The company is already a user of the system, but under the new contract plans to extend its reach from 65,000 to 100,000 users around the world.

The move is part of a global IT harmonisation project at the manufacturer as it moves to a service-oriented architecture strategy.

"This agreement is important to the success of our IT harmonisation strategy and frees us to concentrate on core business," said Daimler chief information officer Michael Gorriz.

The deal also covers software maintenance, development, consulting and what SAP called "maximum attention" support.