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SAP needs a strategy

SAP CEO Christian Klein has done a great thing: the pre-programmed crash has been prevented. But where do we go from here? No one at SAP knows.
Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine
September 15, 2023
The-Last-Satire
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This text has been automatically translated from German to English.

Christian Klein has brought his SAP into a safe haven. The share price is satisfactory and existing customers are appeased. Employees are not overly demotivated and some partners are surprisingly optimistic. What is missing is a plan for how to proceed.

SAP CEO Christian Klein seems deeply relaxed. He is traveling by train to the World Economic Summit in Davos. All is well and everything is under control. Even during the stage appearances at Sapphire in Orlando and Barcelona, existing customers and partners saw a good-humored and confident Christian Klein.

This year's SAP Annual General Meeting passed off without escalation: Professor Plattner received very broad support from shareholders for himself, his Supervisory Board and Executive Board team, and his proposals.

SAP CEO Christian Klein does not need visions of the ERP future, he is trying to save his SAP from collapse - that is commendable, but not strategic! The effort of Christian Klein and his colleagues on the board can be summarized: We guarantee support for S/4 Hana until 2040; no other IT provider makes a similarly far-reaching commitment.

Conversely, S/4 support until 2040 means: Christian Klein has no idea how things will continue. There is no vision for an S/4 successor. The ERP strategy is based solely on Hana and S/4. Embarrassing for Christian Klein is the fact that his existing customers, the community and the SAP user association DSAG are already much further along. A DSAG discussion showed the potential of the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and the resulting Embedded Abap, also called Steampunk, SAP's own programming language. Some experts are certain that BTP and Steampunk must be the SAP basis for a successor to S/4 Hana.

Everything will be better in 2024, when Punit Renjen takes over from Professor Hasso Plattner as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. At the same time, many supervisory board mandates expire in 2024, giving Punit Renjen the chance to put together a new, innovative team. The new Supervisory Board Chairman would be well advised to do as Jim Hagemann Snabe did at Siemens. Former SAP co-CEO Snabe has his supervisory board members evaluated once a year by an external HR consulting agency. At Siemens, supervisory board positions are not awarded on the basis of friendly relations, but exclusively according to a strict performance catalog.

The alternative supervisory board culture of a Jim Hagemann Snabe is perhaps one reason why he never thought of rejoining Professor Hasso Plattner after leaving the SAP Executive Board. After all, Plattner's vote is still the only one valid on the SAP Supervisory Board until 2024. 

For a successful SAP future, Punit Renjen needs an agile, innovative Supervisory Board. He needs people who fulfill their supervisory duties with competence, constructive criticism, and a sharp mind, while at the same time using experience and vision to convey the right advice to a retreaded Executive Board in an open and transparent manner.


In 2010, SAP had a CEO dual leadership with Bill McDermott (l.) and Jim Hagemann Snabe. Even then, Professor Hasso Plattner was checking for strategy.
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Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine

Peter M. Färbinger, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief E3 Magazine DE, US and ES (e3mag.com), B4Bmedia.net AG, Freilassing (DE), E-Mail: pmf@b4bmedia.net and Tel. +49(0)8654/77130-21


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Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

This gives the Competence Center strategic importance for existing SAP customers. Regardless of the S/4 Hana operating model, topics such as Automation, Monitoring, Security, Application Lifecycle Management and Data Management the basis for S/4 operations.

For the second time, E3 magazine is organizing a summit for the SAP community in Salzburg to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of S/4 Hana groundwork.

Venue

More information will follow shortly.

Event date

Wednesday, May 21, and
Thursday, May 22, 2025

Early Bird Ticket

Available until Friday, January 24, 2025
EUR 390 excl. VAT

Regular ticket

EUR 590 excl. VAT

Venue

Hotel Hilton Heidelberg
Kurfürstenanlage 1
D-69115 Heidelberg

Event date

Wednesday, March 5, and
Thursday, March 6, 2025

Tickets

Regular ticket
EUR 590 excl. VAT
Early Bird Ticket

Available until December 20, 2024

EUR 390 excl. VAT
The event is organized by the E3 magazine of the publishing house B4Bmedia.net AG. The presentations will be accompanied by an exhibition of selected SAP partners. The ticket price includes attendance at all presentations of the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2025, a visit to the exhibition area, participation in the evening event and catering during the official program. The lecture program and the list of exhibitors and sponsors (SAP partners) will be published on this website in due course.