Reset for SAP CEO Christian Klein

It is astonishing how much hope SAP CEO Christian Klein places in IT technologies such as AI and the cloud. Apparently, no one has explained to him that these are merely tools, merely a means to an end. Manager Magazin’s entire cover story mentions only AI and the cloud.

SAP's success has never been based on the latest technology trends. SAP always made use of the tools on offer: from SQL databases to client/server computing and virtualization. However, these IT tools were never an end in themselves. On the contrary, they were a means to an end, which was and still is ERP software. The goal is global and agile organizational and operational structures that enable SAP customers to be successful entrepreneurs.

Christian Klein, on the other hand, is not trying to achieve business and organizational continuity, but rather bring about a reset. This hope is similar to power shocking a PC. If a computer does not work as a user expects, they reboot it, hoping that a reset will fix all the problems.

However, a reset rarely solves the problem. The restart wastes valuable time that could otherwise be used for error analysis. Of course, there are situations where a reset is the only solution, but things are not quite that bad yet for SAP. The latest survey by the DSAG (German-speaking SAP User Group) shows that SAP customers are very critical of the global ERP market leader and are far from satisfied, but are not looking for alternatives.

SAP has a critical and constructive community where the revolutionary character of a reset is not justified. Christian Klein's radicalism can perhaps be explained by a lack of vision and strategy. Those who cannot develop their own ideas tend to chase after perceived or real megatrends. That SAP lacks independence, is a critique I hear from within the SAP community, but hardly ever see printed in other media. Is quality journalism dead? Not if you look at the SAP articles in Manager Magazin, Wirtschaftswoche, and Handelsblatt.

Here is a story that confirms quality journalism is still alive: an incredibly dedicated journalist from the German magazine Der Spiegel published a report on his visit to the legendary watch fair in Geneva. There a watch influencer asked him why he covered products and companies if he wasn't paid for it. "We can't be bought," was his clear and reassuring answer.

Conversely, not all writing on products and companies needs to be bought. This clear distinction between quality journalism and the influencer trade seems necessary. 

A cover story about Christian Klein's reset thus falls under quality journalism. It was not bought, of course, but was not an insult to majesty either. The tightrope walk between the two extremes is not easy. In the spirit of quality journalism, E3 expresses its view that a reset for SAP does not seem necessary. Klein still has a lot to learn.