Salzburg Festival – Carmen

SAP CEO Christian Klein is currently trying to explain a lot of things. Much remains unsaid and vague. The SAP CEO’s hints leave plenty of room for speculation. This represents a fundamental failure in communication, public relations, and marketing at SAP. SAP is likely on the right track under the leadership of Christian Klein, Dominik Asam, and Thomas Saueressig, but for members of the SAP community, the path forward is not clear. Where is SAP headed?

I was disappointed by the set design for *Carmen* at the Salzburg Festival: It was dark, very dimly lit, and featured many elements whose meaning was not apparent to outsiders. Musically, the premiere was good, though not perfect. Conductor Teodor Currentzis led the performance brilliantly. Asmik Grigorian, as Carmen, seemed very nervous at the premiere and, as a result, wasn’t quite at her best vocally.

The set design and the extras were incomprehensible to me and difficult to interpret. Two weeks later, on the stage of *Carmen*, together with the set designer and the technical director of the Salzburg Festival, a completely new vision emerged: The visual style was inspired by Francisco de Goya (1746–1828). He is a prominent Spanish painter and printmaker who is considered a pioneer of modernism. His apocalyptic paintings serve as the inspiration for the battle of the sexes on the stage of *Carmen*. I now recognized many details on stage and was made aware of their significance. Together with the set designer of *Carmen*, it was a very enlightening moment, and I left the Festspielhaus with new insights.

I currently feel that this insight is lacking at SAP. I see a great deal of effort on the part of SAP CEO Christian Klein and his fellow Executive Board members. I am confident that SAP is moving in the right direction. However, the current situation is far from clear: much is merely hinted at, promised, and announced. Very little is fully articulated, thought through, or explained. The situation at SAP is unclear, making it nearly impossible to say whether SAP is on the right track or has strayed from its ERP course. The stock price, which has been moving sideways for weeks and refuses to break above 200 euros on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is a good indication of this.

The community is watching and observing SAP, but many existing customers don’t see a strategy or vision. There’s no “instruction manual” explaining why Christian Klein is taking these steps. Those who don’t attend SAP events but instead get their information from independent media, partners, or user groups are missing out on a lot of insights. So it seems the problem isn’t a lack of information, but a lack of communication. Christian Klein seems to know what he’s doing, but his staff isn’t communicating these insights. Nothing enlightening is getting out! This vow of silence from SAP’s press office and marketing department poses a challenge for the entire community: How are these good and proper actions ultimately to be evaluated if the explanatory “package insert” is missing? (pmf)