Is SAP losing its claim to leadership?

And this market was "fountain of youth" and source of money for many other IT companies as well as consultants. SAP created R/2, R/3 and the SAP Business Suite (ERP/ECC 6.0) and every partner in the SAP community knew what to do.

This created a homogeneous, comprehensive business ecosystem for SAP's existing customers. SAP was innovative and led the way. The partners complemented and supported this ERP path.

The break in this successful roadmap was not Hana or S/4, but the fact that SAP tried to compensate for what was missed with expensive acquisitions.

Suddenly, SAP found itself in a market environment without a unique selling proposition. Cloud computing is a good idea, but other IT companies were faster and more consistent.

In CRM, logistics, artificial intelligence, middleware, IoT and cloud computing, SAP has good answers and valid products but no claim to leadership.

It is a mental and organizational challenge to be successful in a market in which you yourself do not have a unique selling proposition. SAP has never learned to interact with competitors on an equal footing.

A current study from the Swiss SAP market shows a frightening picture: SAP sales is overtaxed in the current situation!

Cloud computing is a megatrend, but SAP CEO Bill McDermott changes his mind as quickly as the Hana database works. One day it is the company's own public cloud, then a hybrid scenario with the Hana Enterprise Cloud or the SAP Cloud Platform, or the cloud of one of the hyperscalers (SAP's "Embrace" project).

These many possibilities from the mouth of Bill McDermott are interesting and exciting, but offer no guidance to the existing SAP customer.

SAP no longer has any claim to leadership on the basis of its own trading, expertise and product range - and that is damaging the entire SAP community. It is high time for SAP to consolidate and return to its old strengths.

The SAP community functioned perfectly when there was a "primus inter pares." Bill McDermott has eliminated this important and justified claim to leadership.