A New SAP Executive Board Member

SAP needs new leadership and good stories

SAP CFO Dominik Asam was right to complain: his preliminary figures for the 2025 financial year appear solid. It could be better in some areas, but due to the global political situation, SAP seems to have got off lightly this time. "I did not expect such a dramatic effect on the share price,“ said SAP Executive Board member Dominik Asam in an interview with Handelsblatt. In his 15 years as CFO—previously at Infineon and Airbus—he has never experienced this. (‎ Source: Handelsblatt)

A share price is of course influenced by many contradictory parameters. If someone knew the exact reasons in each case, they would probably be the richest person in the world. However, it is also a fact that, in addition to good balance sheet figures, a loyal customer base, and a great deal of business knowledge, SAP has no cloud and AI storytelling. SAP Executive Board members Christian Klein and Thomas Saueressig do not embody an empathetic cloud vision and AI strategy.

Partnerships in the AI sector with almost every company in the tech scene are not a roadmap or a vision. In Davos at the World Economic Forum, Christian Klein and Thomas Saueressig also tried to say something sensible about AI and the cloud, but the statements were weak and superficial. Thomas Saueressig talked about the need for a sovereign cloud, but this could be difficult to achieve.

Christian Klein tried his hand at artificial intelligence and told a trade magazine that keyboards will probably become superfluous in a few years, because by then ERP will be controlled by voice commands. The magazine t3n reported: The classic keyboard has hardly changed since its invention. Thanks to AI, however, it could soon undergo a fundamental transformation and be replaced by spoken language, at least according to SAP CEO Christian Klein. (Source: t3n)

AI vs. a stock market story

Handelsblatt wrote: "However, the fact that shareholders are currently so critical of the software sector is not solely due to artificial intelligence. Many companies' stock market history has been characterized by contradictions. (‎ Source: Handelsblatt) Shareholders, investors, and financial analysts also want a compelling story about the company. The media and information age demands transparency, entertainment, and storytelling.

SAP is failing to present an exciting vision for the future of ERP. Although a conversion to S/4 Hana appears necessary, the narrative is missing. There is no framework for further ERP development, and AI should also be seen as a threat, as analyzed by Handelsblatt. This week, Adobe, Salesforce, and SAP shares lost significant value, as did Atlassian, Hubspot, and ServiceNow. According to Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank's head of macroeconomic research, there has been a "clear change" in the markets. The euphoria surrounding artificial intelligence has been replaced by a "growing concern" about disruption to existing business models. (‎ Source: Handelsblatt)

AI vs. ERP

SAP has entered into many partnerships with companies from the tech scene in the field of AI, but has not yet explained whether there is a need for it. AI can support ERP and make it more productive, but AI could also replace ERP. AI agents could take over the tasks of many ERP users, which would radically endanger an SAP license model. Maintenance, services, and software updates could become obsolete if AI agents independently and proactively organize the maintenance of ERP software. In the future, new functions and add-ons could no longer be provided by SAP and SAP partners, but rather be programmed by AI agents.

AI offers endless possibilities in many directions. SAP CEO Christian Klein has not yet revealed the direction SAP wishes to move towards. His succinct and very general statement that AI should support ERP users and help them in their day-to-day work is not enough. The German economy magazine WirtschaftsWoche wrote: Software companies also came under fire. The share prices of Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Adobe fell by just under three to almost eight percent. "Software companies were actually seen as the winners of the AI boom," said Lars Skovgaard, strategist at Danske Bank. "But suddenly there is concern as to whether the investments will be recouped at all, and whether they will be overtaken by new developments." (Source: WirtschaftsWoche)

The SAP Executive Board has fallen out of time and with the wrong Executive Board, the SAP share price is plummeting. Why? SAP CEO Christian Klein is following an old and traditional role model: no pain, no gain! But we live in a media and communication age: storytelling and "good work deserves visibility" are just as important here. To create an SAP exit strategy, hard-working CEO Christian Klein would have to replace the entire SAP communications and marketing department because SAP currently has no story.

Conclusion—Christian Klein and Luka Mucic

Ex-SAP CFO Luka Mucic once had to leave the ERP company de facto overnight because co-founder and "SAP patriarch" Professor Hasso Plattner was not satisfied with the development of the share price. Plattner has also lost a good deal of money this week. His personal finances have not been threatened by the fall in the SAP share price on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, however, Professor Plattner is pursuing extremely ambitious projects worldwide, particularly in Potsdam (Germany), which are largely funded by the dividend and the SAP share price.

If SAP CEO Christian Klein and CFO Dominik Asam do not raise the share price well above 200 EUR by the SAP Annual General Meeting in May, SAP will most likely have a new leader by the end of 2026. Even if Professor Plattner is no longer a member of the Supervisory Board, his influence on the ERP company remains enormous. Many active SAP Supervisory Board members are personally beholden to Hasso Plattner; ultimately, the Supervisory Board is only an extension of the shareholders. This means Professor Plattner holds a strong influence over the Supervisory Board, and Christian Klein's days could be numbered.