E3 Category: Editor-in-Chief Blog

Abap modifications were both a savior and a blocker of innovation. Abap was able to turn R/3 and ECC 6.0 into individual successes and also prevent the next release change. Light and shadow lie close together in the Z namespace.

SAP is stuck in the past. The world leader in ERP still believes in the paradigm of applications and data, which means it believes in the classic release change. But AI will produce applications for every occasion and around the clock. Data is the true added value.

Siemens has shown that it is possible to do good business with software, which means there is a future in implementing innovations in algorithms. SAP should ask itself whether AI and the cloud or business software will be what drives digitalization.

SAP has definitely lost its way. It started with its foray into databases. Hana is only a satisfactory success because of SAP's market dominance—a monopoly. Will cloud and AI suffer a similar fate at SAP?

In no other German supervisory board is the balance of power as opaque and secretive as at SAP. Although he was only elected for two years, Pekka "the Puppet" Ala-Pietilä has now given SAP Executive Board members Julia White and Scott Russell the boot. Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes?

Standardization increases contribution margin. Individualization costs resources. CEO Christian Klein and CFO Dominik Asam are turning SAP into a cash cow, as evidenced by all the money SAP stands to make with mass layoffs and public cloud.

AI development is expensive, which gives most US start-ups with their powerful venture capitalists an advantage. A lack of capital could be replaced by partnership-based innovation and communities—both of which Aleph Alpha lacks.

SAP is trying to make S/4 Hana a sufficiently good ERP product with attractive product combinations and license prices. In the meantime, S/4 has really grown up, but has not yet arrived in the cloud.

Everyone was perfectly surprised when SAP CEO Christian Klein announced the RISE program three years ago in a virtual living room with an artificial fireplace. No one understood what it means. RISE meanders between marketing and general business.

SAP CEO Christian Klein uses his knowledge and flair to pick the right topics for a strong stock market story. SAP's share price is at an all-time high, but there is little left for SAP customers.

The SAP community is heading for a disaster in the making because hardly any experts know the true status of their S/4 implementation. SAP's numbers only reflect sales. How many S/4 systems are actually productive?

Most IT users are looking for business, organizational and technical solutions, with their aim being to optimize end-to-end processes. Digital transformation is based on strategy and concepts, not tools.