Author: Peter M. Färbinger, E3-Magazin

Given SAP's comprehensive range of ERP and cloud products, it seems surprising that many members of the SAP community criticize the slow pace of digitalization. There is a transformation backlog, perhaps because there is a lack of orientation.

The fundamental technology underlying SAP is still the R/3 Abap tables. However, SAP has long since stopped providing instruction in the field of ERP technology. Additionally, the company displays only a limited willingness to address SAP customers’ concerns and wishes.

From the outset, SAP has encouraged its customers to adopt new technologies and products. Despite the current immaturity of many technologies and products, the pressure to act is increasing.

While this edition of E3 was being sent to the printers, SAP CEO Christian Klein and CFO Dominik Asam presented the latest quarterly figures. As a result, the SAP share price in Frankfurt am Main rose to an all-time high of 222 euros.

Because SAP has watered down the business and organizational components of its offering, but has only achieved limited success against overpowering competitors with databases, cloud, and AI, the focus has shifted to maintaining the share price, which is a success story only in the short term.

SAP customers from the R/3 era suspect an end-of-life for their beloved CCC. However, anyone who has signed a RISE contract is now aware that a CCoE is of greater significance than ever. What is the next step?

In the cloud, SAP customers require appropriate tools to orchestrate their ERP applications. SAP's Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) could be an effective solution for this. However, it is still an unfinished product.

For 50 years, SAP sold an open ERP system based on Oracle, IBM DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server databases. With the dual stack (Abap and Java) of the SAP NetWeaver platform, the global market leader expanded even more.

SAP's more than fifty-year history is full of changes at the top of the Executive Board and so-called dual leadership. Professor Hasso Plattner has always been responsible for the dual solution. This time, however, following the departure of long-term Supervisory Board Chairman Plattner, the new SAP dual leadership emerged evolutionarily, almost by itself and in maximum harmony.

SAP R/3 was a black box. Modern ERP systems follow more of a "best of breed" approach. Cloud computing and AI are giving rise to powerful composable enterprise architectures. Finance and HCM specialist Workday shows how it's done.

CIOs, CTOs and, above all, Chief Technology Officers encounter many challenges in their roles at SAP. The turnover is high, and the rewards are few. What is the root cause of this issue?

The DSAG Annual Congress 2024 highlighted the necessity for an efficient SAP Basis team during and after an SAP RISE project. During a RISE conversion, numerous tasks are transferred to SAP, necessitating the presence of a controlling Basis team to oversee the process.