E3 Category: The opinion of the SAP community

A year ago, every time AI was mentioned in an announcement, the share price automatically skyrocketed. New AI experts were added to professional networks every hour and thousands of AI posts were shared.

The cloud promises more security and stability for SAP systems. But unfortunately, this is only half the truth. Existing customers need more and automated monitoring to deliver on the promise, in the cloud as well as on-premises.

The cloud blurs the differences between applications from different providers. Functions are developed, replicated, and provided more quickly. Switching to the cloud is difficult, but offers enormous opportunities.

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?

Kubernetes is increasingly being used in SAP applications. The increased flexibility promises cost savings and new use cases, such as integrating applications into the SAP Integration Suite.

SAP CEO Klein and CFO Asam are performing exceptionally well, as evidenced by the company's share price performance. However, outside of the financial implications, there is a sense of unease, uncertainty, and apprehension within the SAP community.

Is SAP innovative? We don't know. The ERP company is notably reticent with regard to innovations, research, and development. Opinions differ as to why this is the case.

I have adapted this article’s title from the German business magazine Manager Magazin because SAP is experiencing similar success and achievements to Germany. However, there is also room for valuable and sustainable improvement.

The SAP community of existing customers, partners and IT providers is emancipating itself and is getting better and better at achieving its goals without SAP. The question of the relevance of SAP itself resonates in the triad of the DSAG Annual Congress 2024 in Leipzig.

Summer. Sun. Barbecue season. A successful party usually includes beer, preferably fresh from the barrel. Austria's largest brewery company, Brau Union Österreich, offers its customers the opportunity to pick up the hoppy refreshment directly from more than forty locations.

The Chinese Cultural Revolution resulted in both significant achievements and the irreparable loss of numerous resources. SAP’s work culture is now undergoing a similar period of reform.

Artificial intelligence will be at the heart of future transformations in the retail sector. The necessary optimization of master data quality still poses challenges for established ERP systems such as SAP for Retail.

SAP is continuing its massive restructuring: the successor to SAP Business Suite, S/4 Hana, has long since arrived. The end of mainstream support is also fast approaching, making a migration an inevitable next step. Furthermore, SAP is repositioning itself in the market with a focus on cloud solutions.

Professor Hasso Plattner is regarded as the inventor of the SAP Hana database, which can accelerate an ERP system if all the prerequisites are met.

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How can users differentiate themselves with standard business software? This raises the question of the cluster risk of the SAP S/4 Hana IT stack.

We have a long-standing relationship with a number of leading software providers, including SAP, Microsoft, Siemens, IBM, Oracle, and many others. Each of these companies has a proven track record in IT and has been instrumental in helping us manage our organization effectively.

In a digital IT landscape, existing SAP customers need a robust and reliable ERP infrastructure. The best compliment from customers is when they don't realize that their SAP environment is running on Suse.

Optimal SAP processes depend on cost-efficient and secure system operation. SAP Basis teams are responsible for this. Automation software is the benefit provider.

Every target group, every value community, every community has specific language patterns and vocabulary. What applies to the SAP community naturally also exists in executive communication at C-level for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, etc.

Risk regulations help to manage complex authorizations and maintain compliance. How you can also prevent cyberattacks and save costs with the right strategy.

The Salzburg Festival is over, and Don Giovanni was an overwhelming success. While Don Giovanni dated 1,003 women in Spain, Christian Klein has around 10,000 developers worldwide.

An open secret to which many management teams have so far paid little attention: the lack of control of interfaces in IT system landscapes. It was hardly surprising that interface management was neglected when SAP landscapes were still self-contained IT systems. However, this situation has changed fundamentally.

Defensive IT security with monitoring of the entire risk situation often fails due to a lack of expertise in taking a holistic approach. In the face of rapidly increasing complexity, a flood of buzzwords and supposedly universal solutions, this often turns into flying blind, with companies neglecting the most basic security measures.

It's frightening how little SAP boss Klein knows about us customers. Since the sales reps now limit themselves to only delivering the latest price list instead of offering more extended consultations with customers, the SAP spirit of old has disappeared.

Eagle-eyed readers of E3 Magazine may have noticed that we have been recycling the art of our late cartoonist Robert Platzgummer for some time now. Why did we do this?

In 1968, when the year 2001 was still in the distant future, Stanley Kubrick made "A Space Odyssey". The film was a revolution and a sensation in many ways, and SAP learned from it.

CEO Christian Klein does his best to run SAP, but is that enough? Professor Hasso Plattner is no longer available to provide shock factor. Plattner is the risk and Klein is the sustainability, and risk and sustainability go hand in hand. What will become of SAP without one of the two elements?

SAP launched the Business Technology Platform, or BTP for short, a good three years ago. Usability and support are now almost flawless - not least thanks to the new system openness. A recap from the field.

Anyone using ChatGPT is putting their data at risk. But to keep pace with technological change, AI cannot be ignored. So how do you combine internal data security with AI? The answer is open source.

SAP Edge Integration Cell is a flexible hybrid integration runtime that is available as an optional extension to the SAP Integration Suite. This API management executes integration scenarios within a private infrastructure.

A new AI study shows that 98 percent of business leaders believe AI will transform their industry within the next three years. According to the survey results, 24 percent have already deployed AI tools.

SAP is doing well, judging by its share price: up 40 percent in a year. In contrast, Oracle was up almost 20 percent in mid-June, and Salesforce was up 13 percent after a dip at the end of May.

Turning those affected into co-creators of the digital transformation in Germany's companies: this is the completely new concept developed to cure specialists and managers of their fear of digital change.

The departure of Professor Hasso Plattner as Chairman of the Supervisory Board marks the end of an era. SAP loses the thorn in its side. Who will now shake SAP awake?

Professor Hasso Plattner will forever be the leading figure at SAP and in the SAP community, whether he is Chairman of the Executive Board, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, or retired. It is hard to imagine the SAP universe without Plattner.

Cybercrime reports have been ringing alarm bells.Tthreast to ERP systems have also been intensifying. According to a study, the number of cyberattacks on SAP landscapes will reach an all-time high by 2023.

A successful SAP Business Technology Platform partner summit took place in Heidelberg, Germany. The efforts to establish an open system alongside the frozen core are commendable. My proposal is that the BTP become public domain.

A challenge for any organization, especially those moving SAP workloads to the cloud, is to protect data at every stage: at rest, in transit and, perhaps most importantly, during processing.

AI promises to radically simplify and improve processes. However, in complex processes such as detailed planning, integrating AI into existing software is not enough. New types of software and workflows are required.

The Hana database consolidates SAP's unique selling point. However, experts call this vendor lock-in. In the short term, SAP looks like a winner, but in the long run, SAP itself could end up in lock-in.

SAP Executive Board member Thomas Saueressig is co-author of a book on the Business Technology Platform. The graphic below is offered as supplementary material.

Regular readers of my column know that I am the co-head of an SAP regulars' club that now has 27 CIOs as members. The mood in the group is always good, although we are waiting for Christian Klein to reset.

CCC managers are under pressure to act due to the S/4 Cloud strategy when it comes to SAP Basis. For decades, SAP Customer Competence Centers (CCC) have taken place only within individual companies, and have not been open to others.

Christian Klein was the subject of a cover story in Manager Magazin, a German business magazine, which portrayed an innovative CEO who would rather look at the stock price and chase IT megatrends than look after his own customers.

More and more users are opting for complete or suite solutions for SAP Basis automation software. Vendors of such software, which provide various applications as part of a complete package, are turning the wheel of development.

S/4, the successor to SAP Business Suite 7, is and will remain an on-prem system. SAP CEO Christian Klein is unlikely to achieve his cloud goals this way, which says nothing about the quality of S/4 Hana itself.

When switching from an ECC contract to an SAP Rise contract, the metric for SAP users changes. Existing SAP customers face the challenge of estimating the number of Full Use Equivalent, FUE, before signing the new Rise contract.

The NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act are responses to the increasing number of cyberattacks. Here it is helpful to rely on the BSI-certified Suse Linux platform for SAP.

In May 2024, Professor Hasso Plattner will step down as Chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board. A successor was elected last year with 99 percent of shareholder votes.

Companies are facing various challenges and key issues in the digital transformation. The integration of AI and machine learning in particular is increasingly becoming an unavoidable trend.

Many are familiar with the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. The first time I tried to read the English original in 1989, I failed. However, after a lecture by AI pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber, I purchased the German edition and devoured it from cover to cover.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for SAP customers to obtain relevant information about the capabilities of the ERP software they are using. The SAP list of prices and conditions seems to be the only remaining source of information.

The fact that S/4 Hana, as a completely new technology in the SAP universe, will have a fundamental impact on the current state of organizations has been known since its introduction in 2015. Since then, the topic has been an invisible elephant in the room for many companies.

What is SAP's value proposition? There are few studies on this, but SAP is most probably not a technology company like Microsoft, Apple, Meta, or Google, or a bookseller like Amazon.

I had lunch with our senior lawyer in the cafeteria the other day and we ended up staying until 5 in the afternoon. It wasn’t the food that made me feel ill, but rather his concerns about the use of generative AI in light of the GDPR.

Even in the dawning age of AI, programming is still a popular activity. From RAP (RESTful Application Programming), to CAP (Cloud Application Programming), there should be something for every SAP customer out there. But it won't come cheap.

There was a good deal of buzz about AI at the DSAG Technology Days Conference in Hamburg. While DSAG Chief Technology Officer Sebastian Westphal and SAP Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller philosophized animatedly about open construction sites, possible solutions and missing roadmaps, the audience waited for concrete answers. They waited in vain.

Customers act in more complex ways than before, as there are far more communication channels available. As a result, there are many interactions in which customers disclose their data to companies.

SAP is an innovative company. It is constantly researching new technologies and the next generation of business software. Sometimes, however, the innovations are almost too far ahead of the reality of everyday customer life.

It was a dramatic time at SAP headquarters in Walldorf as many Supervisory Board members, Executive Board members and executives fought to keep their jobs. SAP Supervisory Board member and former Chairman-designate Punit Renjen was a danger that had to be averted.

SAP loves dual leadership. What one can't manage, the other can. Cloud computing, however, is a regional conflict; things are different in the U.S.!

Usage-based versus authorization-based user license allocation: since the introduction of the SAP user license types "SAP S/4 Hana Enterprise Management for Professional/Functional/Productivity Use", there has been uncertainty in the SAP community as to the foundation on which user licensing and, accordingly, measuring should be carried out.

The rising number of cyberattacks is significantly increasing the demand for resources. In order to optimize these and expand the talent pool, companies need to find intelligent methods during the current talent shortage.

SAP is a shell of its former self. It has everything other IT vendors lack: content and knowledge. However, hyperscalers have the technology.

The SAP Supervisory Board is a construction site

What is cloud computing? A comment I made to the effect that SAP BRIM (Billing and Revenue Management) is a highly complex and successful SAP application, but is only available in its entirety as an on-prem solution, prompted a Microsoft employee to object. Who is right in this case?

E3 Magazine has selected the most exciting companies to feature in our SAP Startup Spotlight series. In today's article, we present LiveEO, a technology company that offers SAP system-integrated satellite-based monitoring solutions.

Trust is a great asset that is more easily gambled away than won. This makes it all the more pleasing that German managers and financial professionals' confidence in their companies' financial figures has increased in recent years.

Are managers truly familiar with the topic of business process digital transformation? This trend has been an important topic in many companies for several years, but development is not quite over yet.

Introduce new SAP technologies quickly and successfully with the help of intelligent change management. AI, big data, and automation have enormously enriched the functions of SAP solutions such as BTP and will continue to do so.

For SAP, there are very good reasons why the public cloud should be the future operating model. Users and the SAP community should have more autonomy to pursue their own interests.

Life is ever changing, and for whatever reason, the day may come when it is time to leave the cloud. SAP does not have a policy for this. Customers, however, should. They should have a cloud exit strategy plan in place.

E3 magazine has selected the most exciting companies to feature in our SAP Start-up Spotlight series. In today's article, we present Woocar, a SaaS platform that aims to reduce traffic accidents by more than 90 percent and is connected to the SAP Logistics Business Network.

SAP CEO Christian Klein's motto is "cloud only". With this, he is provoking controversy because the world cannot be divided into black and white.

Baby boomers are now retiring. Almost 70 percent of them want to retire from working life by the age of 64 at the latest, with the desire for more leisure time playing a major role. Many of them are even prepared to accept a reduction in their pension.

Current cyber threats such as ransomware jeopardize entire operations by encrypting data and systems. This can lead to a super-GAU if companies are reliant on real-time analysis.

What's going on with SAP? The mood in the community and among SAP customers is persistently bad, however the share price is going through the roof. It is reasonable to assume that shareholders and financial analysts know something that we in the SAP community do not. Here is one possible answer.

AI and ML are all the rage in the SAP world. However, developing, deploying, and managing AI and ML models poses a number of challenges and requires specific frameworks.

Since SAP presented S/4 in New York in 2015, around 20 percent of SAP customers have completed the conversion to the new ERP generation. Most of them have made an investment within the seven- or eight-figure range.

Christian Klein's keynote speech at the 2023 DSAG Annual Congress in Bremen, Germany, had it all. The SAP CEO announced that key innovations will only be available in the SAP cloud in future.

Rarely before has the community been so surprised by SAP: the share price is reaching all-time highs, innovation is at rock bottom, and customers are angry and unsettled.

In uncertain times, it is important to know who or what you can rely on. This makes it all the more pleasing that German managers and financial professionals have increased their confidence in their companies' financial figures in recent years.

What’s right is wrong. Sooner or later, SAP CEO Christian Klein will be right with his "cloud-only" postulate.

Are you in the process of converting to S/4 Hana? Then you are probably familiar with the licensing difficulties that accompany such a change. Software Asset Management (SAM) can help lead the project to success.

E3mag.com has received a surprisingly large number of articles about SAP licenses this past month. We have been observing this growing need for discussion for several months. Licenses are becoming a key factor for S/4 conversion.

Only about a third of the DSAG (German-speaking SAP User Group) members trust SAP's strategy. SAP CEO Christian Klein's visions are correct, but the way they are presented and communicated misses the mark with the SAP community.

E3 magazine has selected the most exciting companies to feature in our SAP start-up spotlight series. In today's episode, we present Velou, an SAP.iO Rising Stars startup that improves the shopping experience in online retail.

As many readers will already be aware, securing the SAP gateway is crucial for the security of SAP systems. But what can happen if the gateway is configured incorrectly or insecurely?

Is automating IT processes a technical challenge? Yes, but not only a challenge. The key to success and seamless implementation is a well-structured plan that involves all employees—not just those in IT.

In the current competition for skilled workers and market share, artificial intelligence can be a great support. In order for the technology to unfold its potential, it should be used in conjunction with automation.

There is still a lot of potential for digital process support. The company Deutz in Cologne, Germany, uses a mobile and lean application to drastically simplify and speed up processes.

E3 magazine has selected the most exciting companies to feature in our SAP Startup Spotlight series. In today's issue, we present Solena, a biotechnology company that uses information about the soil microbiome to promote efficient and sustainable food production.

With Professor Hasso Plattner’s departure from the SAP Supervisory Board next year, the company will soon commence an evaluation of the actual function and duties of a Supervisory Board Chairman.

It is common knowledge that SAP is not satisfied with the success rate of migrating customers to S/4. Many members of the SAP community tend to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to migrating to S/4 Hana.

SAP's collecting mania knows no bounds. SAP believes that it will automatically understand other companies’ intellectual property just by owning them.

The transformation to a business partner has been a goal of CFOs for years, but it is only the effects of the multi-crisis and the topics of digitalization and sustainability that are putting CFOs more at the center of corporate management.

I read more and more often - even from former companions - that cloud computing makes a software asset management (SAM) tool unnecessary. But how can a cloud function without management?

Oona Horx Strathern's new book was published in September. It has the cheerful title “Kindness Economy” and is a counter-project to egoism and capitalism. Rather than criticize, it presents humanistic options.

In October, with an outlook to 2024, the question is: can SAP still be trusted? What was once an innovator for standard business software has now become hesitant, lagging behind.

Exclusive interview with Workday Group Vice President DACH Christopher Knörr.

SAP's strategy is cloud computing. Almost all IT providers are taking refuge in the cloud. Why not SAP, too? But SAP has no vision of where it’s going.

Open source and GitHub/GitLab are closely linked. Three years ago, GitHub created a monetization option for open source developers and companies with the sponsorship button.

What are the benefits of open source? SAP modernizations and migrations are complex; taking a different approach based on open-source principles can help you avoid several problems and stumbling blocks from the start.

Skepticism about the S/4 cloud? An annual survey to determine the state of S/4 migration and business opportunities has produced fundamental findings this year. A lot has happened in terms of awareness of SAP offerings.

The connection of heterogeneous machines and the semantic processing of data are essential prerequisites for the successful operation of both ERP and MES solutions such as SAP Digital Manufacturing.

Seven years of S/4 Hana - actually a reason to celebrate. But not for customers who have not yet taken the long and expensive step there. 

My annual house note from Salzburg from the Festival is this time inspired by the outstanding violinist and recording artist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and her album "What's Next Vivaldi?" in a quality far beyond any CD.

Christian Klein has not only made a mess of SAP's AI development, but is currently being overtaken left and right by his own existing customers when it comes to AI. An old pattern continues.

SAP CEO Christian Klein has done a great thing: the pre-programmed crash has been prevented. But where do we go from here? No one at SAP knows.

E3 Magazine has selected the most exciting companies to feature in our SAP Startup Spotlight series. In today's episode, we feature Sedna, a company that provides a platform for the maritime and supply chain industries.

There is pressure to act, which SAP CEO Christian Klein obviously does not feel. He spends his days doing petty repair work. He works dedicatedly and forgets the purpose and vision of SAP.

Cancellation of SAP on-prem licenses converts them into cloud subscriptions, but this means that the existing SAP customer loses all autonomy over its own ERP system.

E3 Magazine has selected the most exciting startups to feature in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series. In today's installment, we feature goFlux, which offers a freight trading platform and related products.

SAP HCM Payroll, quo vadis? Many HCM user companies are faced with the challenge: What to do with SAP Payroll? How can investments made be carried over into the future? Is H4/S4 the only right way?

The silo security of a traditional SAP environment is reaching its limits in an era of increasing interconnection between SAP and non-SAP systems. Does this lead to sacrifices for the security of a process landscape?

SAP's in-house trade fair Sapphire repeatedly prompts SAP CEOs to verbal feats and bold statements. Anyone who suspects anything untrue here is a Pinocchio.

Cyberattacks on SAP systems and operational technology (OT) can have devastating consequences for companies: from delays in operations to the shutdown of all processes. The following tricks help to ward off hackers.

End-to-end business processes remind me of my early days with SAP R/3. A lot of things didn't work then, but when they did, they were consistent, evaluated, and definitely E2E. SAP CEO Klein talks a lot about integration.

"Rock-solid engineering. Bold creativity." That's how SAP advertises Fioneer on its own homepage, but will customers now have to pay for Fioneer's expensive deal between SAP and third parties? There's a lot of anger.

E3 magazine has selected the most exciting companies to showcase in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series. In today's installment, we'll be looking at Soley, a product mining solution provider available on the SAP store.

If the SAP images from the Sapphire in Orlando are to be believed, Christian Klein has decided to be the greatest rather than the fastest.

For a long time, SAP user companies were reluctant to migrate to SAP S/4 Hana. Now there is movement on the issue.

SAP users are caught between the conflicting priorities of migration and innovation. Migration projects with lift-and-shift procedures often dominate at first, and innovation falls by the wayside. But there is a better way.

Are you about to decide which path to use to migrate to S/4 Hana? Contract Conversion, Product Conversion or Rise with SAP? Take a look at the PKL Q2/2023.

A new ERP architecture is emerging, driven by SAP technology but less to SAP's own liking. CEO Christian Klein has already taken note of the first setbacks and lowered the revenue expectation for cloud computing.

The good news: The productive SAP systems survived all the auditors' checks and drove the penetration testers to despair. And then: An attacker hijacked the highly secure system.

Anyone looking for dates for TechEd in Europe or the USA this year can search for a long time. One only finds the dates for the realization in Bangalore, India, on November 2 and 3, 2023. The dates in Europe and America have been cancelled without replacement.

SAP CEO Christian Klein has achieved a great feat: the pre-programmed crash was prevented. SAP has turned the corner, has not landed in the ditch and is now in calm waters. But where will the company go from here? No one at SAP knows.

Nowhere does a prediction seem to be as difficult as in IT - especially when it concerns the ERP future. The current example of ChatGPT has shown how quickly supposedly safe parameters have to be re-evaluated.

There are currently many construction sites in the SAP realm. Misguided personnel and product policies have created numerous legacy issues. SAP CEO Christian Klein is working to rectify the situation.

There is pressure to act, which SAP CEO Christian Klein obviously does not feel. He spends his days doing small-scale repair work. Working with commitment and forgetting the big picture - Klein is left without a strategy.

The DSAG Technology Days have shown it again: Uncertainty still exists on the user side with regard to the necessary modernization. Time is pressing; after all, the deadline of 2027 has been confirmed once again.

Let me first go on record as saying that I believe most CFOs are great characters. They are responsible and precise in their attention to detail. They are also, for the most part, much friendlier and more outgoing than many might think.

Even if S/4 is not a tragedy like Shakespeare's Hamlet, the question for the existing SAP customer is whether he can live with the S/4 provisions in the PKL. If not, then this must be included in the contract negotiation.

Valid financial figures and realistic forecasts are a top priority for companies. If you want to meet this demand, you have to establish end-to-end processes and ensure that everything meshes when it comes to automation.

Above all, B2B2C means serving different target groups according to their needs. One-size-fits-all customer portals are not very helpful for a good customer experience. SAP Composable Storefront opens new doors for SAP customers.

For SAP, customer satisfaction is a very important part of the business model. After all, the very first SAP system was developed on the customer's hardware. Since then, many ideas from users have found their way into SAP's ERP.

Officially, Christian Klein still believes in "cloud first" and hopes for "cloud only". Thousands of SAP's existing customers and his own experts know better: Cloud computing remains out of reach for ERP in the medium term.

Shifting up a gear: If you run your own software development within your organization, you can no longer avoid DevOps. The advantages are manifold. Especially when it comes to accelerating processes.

New projects show how artificial intelligence can be used to create added value. But can the creative use of AI to create texts and images also be transferred to the context of business software and processes?

Orchestrate with open source. Everything is going digital. Everything is being automated. But who keeps track? Which software do we trust to control the flow of all digital processes?

The change of personnel in the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Chairman of the Supervisory Board has obviously prompted SAP CEO Christian Klein to clean out and tidy up.

Since the German Cash Register Security Ordinance (KassenSichV) came into force, it has caused anxious moments and triggered lively activity - not only, but especially - in the retail sector. No wonder, since the regulations are extremely complex.

According to Statista, 84 percent of companies in Germany now use cloud computing. At the same time, voices are being raised questioning the switch to the cloud.

SAP has taken a wrong turn: Instead of consolidating menus, screen masks and processes, a ChatGPT-like voice input is to be put over the disastrous UI. Why does SAP always start solving problems from the wrong side?

A recent publication by Manager Magazin lists the favorite employers of young engineers in Germany. SAP comes in a distant 39th place. What's going on there?

The end of SAP as the community knows it. The supervisory board, the executive board, and the IT community would have the chance to save SAP. But false consideration and convenience are preventing the retread.

That I implement innovations in the company is not a question. It's more a question of the timing of the implementation. The pressure on SAP teams to implement the requirements of the business units as quickly as possible is enormous.

The transition to the ISO 20022 global standard is a daunting challenge for financial institutions and businesses alike. ISO 20022 is a global standard for the transmission of data that is currently being established by banks and financial institutions around the world.

SAP CEO Christian Klein said he wants to consolidate SAP. The ERP world market leader should concentrate on the essentials - someone has tried that before him.

Serving both business and private customers is the core of any B2B2C strategy. This means that channels must be used, business models developed, and markets tapped. A hybrid sales model is indispensable here.

It is not our software contracts that are meant, but the termination of our own employees. In terms of labor law, it is probably possible. Organizationally, CEO Christian Klein is completely overwhelmed.

The security precautions that IT organizations have taken are not sufficient at the back and front. The measures taken so far simply do not lead to sufficient resilience

In the past, there were different approaches to using self-service in reporting. These solutions were subsequently implemented in the existing product.

Hardly imaginable: restrained joy about a new get-together with the SAP community. The very successful CCC/CCoE Forum will be continued this year in Salzburg. It is an important basic event that can form the basis for a successful S/4 conversion.

Professor Hasso Plattner has appointed a successor as SAP Supervisory Board chairman. Punit Renjen was CEO of Deloitte until the end of last year and is to be elected to the SAP Supervisory Board this year.

Using innovative technologies, insights are derived from data in real time. To fulfill his new role, the CFO needs better data understanding and data access.

More and more public authorities and companies are taking the plunge into the cloud. However, successful and sustainable digitization with the help of cloud computing cannot work without a cloud strategy including GRC management.

CRM applications make contact with customers transparent throughout, while marketing is a complementary tool for sales. Yet the fact is that both disciplines must form the CRM world together.

What could Professor Hasso Plattner wish for in his last year in office? The community should wish him good health and itself the preservation of his visions.

Cloud computing has permanently changed the IT landscape. Not only in the offerings of the major public cloud providers, but also in the principles of how IT infrastructure is thought about and implemented - including at SAP.

The sustainability of supply chains is becoming increasingly important. At the beginning of this year, the "Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains", or Supply Chain Act (LkSG), came into force in Germany.

In the new year, there are to be three Sapphires as face-to-face events: Orlando, Barcelona and São Paulo. That's good, but we need answers from existing SAP customers now, not in May and June 2023. The stakes are high.

Many companies have already started to automate their office processes using new technologies such as Robotic Process Automation, low-code in the Microsoft Power Platform or in SAP. They have had positive experiences with this in individual departments. However, many companies have not yet succeeded in systematically transferring the selectively available know-how to all areas in order to exploit all...

SAP, like the Catholic Church, is clearly in favor of Aristotle's geocentric worldview, while the rest of the world is probably more inclined to the heliocentric worldview, also called the Copernican worldview.

All is not well with SAP. While a renowned Swiss existing customer praises SAP CRM, Christian Klein is cutting CRM staff and selling Qualtrics. Will that be enough for the next few years?

SAP CEO Klein gave a very remarkable interview to a colleague from Handelsblatt in Davos at the World Economic Summit. He argued convincingly for face-to-face meetings and face-to-face events.

The S/4 code is to be split and Business ByDesign outsourced. A proof of SAP's lack of imagination. Why doesn't Business ByDesign become open source and S/4 finally become hybrid?

A Chief Financial Officer today wears a variety of hats - and not all of them have to do with pure numbers. Companies still have to plan and weigh the benefits against the risks for all transactions.

SAP organized a partner event in Hamburg in the fall of 2022 with the slogan: We. Needed more than ever. What does the company want to tell us with this?

Instead of focusing on its core competence, SAP wants to forcefully become a cloud applications company. Everyone in the community knows that this plan will fail, because SAP's strengths lie elsewhere.

An S/4 project at the customer's is only successful if the expectations of management and users are met. Therefore, the numerous SAP facts should be critically scrutinized right at the beginning of a project.

Testing is an essential component across the entire ALM. But only those who integrate continuous testing into the DevOps pipeline can deliver updates quickly enough - how do companies best achieve test automation?

Open source stands for innovation and is an integral part of the SAP world. Almost every player in the SAP ecosystem, be it a partner, an independent software vendor or an add-on manufacturer, is therefore taking up the open source theme.

Business Case Rise with SAP, right? With Rise, SAP offers an all-round worry-free solution in the cloud based on a (naturally) positive customer-specific business case calculation.

SAP is a powerful system for workflows and structured data. External content management systems can increase effectiveness by providing solutions for unstructured content and enabling integration with S/4.

Whether in production, logistics or administration. Artificial intelligence can increase efficiency everywhere. Many companies are still missing out on these opportunities. Yet SAP users have numerous AI applications ready to go.

To deal with digital business models, tax authorities around the world are calling for greater transparency through disclosure and seamless sharing of taxpayer information between tax authorities.

SAP doesn't hear the voices - the music - from the community and all the seats for the journey into the future are taken. SAP is left behind.

Defending against cyberattacks on SAP systems means more than just protecting the ERP system alone. The threat potential of networked companies and hybrid SAP landscapes requires a holistic approach.

In all ERP transformation projects, the focus is on the business processes, whether there are changes or not. With S/4, this is necessary at least because of the new SAP technologies or the possibility of simplifications.

Open source has become the standard in many companies. The triumphant advance not only represents a technological change, but is also associated with a cultural change.

Software must be put through its paces before it is put into operation. The quality of the tests is crucial, because those who carry out good tests find errors early on, thus reducing development costs and improving software performance.

There is enough work to go around, but employees don't like to deal with repetitive tasks. Intelligent process automation can take over this work and prevent employees from leaving the company due to boredom.

My expectation is that SAP will demonstrate a transparent, medium-term and consistent corporate policy. What do I get? Unctuous words, devout listening, and a cozying up to our DSAG association.

Industry 4.0 is changing our everyday working lives in many areas. By definition, this so-called digital revolution is accompanied by a massive change in the role of the human resource in the work process.

An extension of the digital supply chain via SAP BTP helps companies to map special industry use cases - in this way, flexible new paths can be taken through the cloud.

The ERP world market leader has sunk low. SAP has risen up and lost its way in the cloud. The group is being overtaken left and right by competitors. Personnel and structural problems are rampant.

For many years, companies have known that there is no way around digitization. The world of work is turning faster and faster. In companies, the requirements and the complexity of business processes are increasing.

The value of a message can be measured by the relevance and credibility of the source. If S/4 is not an option, then Hana is also of little relevance. If cloud computing is set, then statements from hardware manufacturers are less credible.

What if, what if, bicycle chain. If SAP had recognized earlier that the community is hybrid and heterogeneous, Christian Klein wouldn't have to talk about hybrid, first and only. His career is based on SAP only.

The year 2023 will be successful, but only for those who make an effort, remain agile and hybrid. Radical concepts have had their day. "Only" and "First" belong to the past. The future remains hybrid because we will still experience a generational and paradigm shift until 2030.

This headline is euphemistic - thus a euphemistic and obfuscating statement, because SAP is in fact immoderate and rude.

No company can afford to ignore the advantages of open source software anymore: Independence and flexibility are simply too lucrative. And innovative technologies such as AI and edge computing are also based on OSS.

A new risk category is establishing itself. Many companies are increasingly required to report on the sustainability of their operating business and financial assets. What does this mean for your SAP system landscape?

Phishing attacks are among the greatest threats to IT security. A targeted reduction of the vulnerabilities that cybercriminals use to gain access to their victim's system is called for.

S/4 migration projects have different starting points and objectives. Experience shows that many common denominators are implemented accordingly in project management, but some work packages are underestimated.

SAP's cloud strategy continues, "cloud revenues have now become SAP's largest revenue stream," Christian Klein said recently.

At a crystallization point, the further course of the roadmap is decided. Will the project freeze and break up, or will it become fluid, agile and successful? Christian Klein has recklessly led his SAP to such a point.

50 years of SAP - actually a reason to celebrate. Not so for SAP user companies: Problems with licenses and contracts are clouding the mood, demanding a lot of attention and money - and tying up capacities.

A few weeks ago, the DSAG Annual Congress 2022 took place in Leipzig with a premiere: The keynote address on the opening day was not given by SAP CEO Christian Klein, but by board member Thomas Saueressig.

SAP is in a bad way. It is a mental crisis because those responsible have left the path of virtue. Why experiment in the cloud when a business unique selling proposition exists?

A clear cloud-only trend has been evident in SAP's strategy for some time. The SaaS application Data Warehouse Cloud (DWC) plays a central role in this - so the future of analytics with SAP is predetermined.

50 years of SAP have naturally brought many ups and downs. Until two years ago, things were always looking up. But the crucial mistakes came earlier.

Open source is shaping the future, also in the SAP world. This change also affects long-standing SAP partners. They have to ask themselves how they can best get on the open source path in order to participate in the same way.

With the switch to S/4 Hana, many companies are facing complex migration projects. Beforehand, however, they should be clear about how they want to operate their SAP systems in the future.

SAP is part of the indispensable basic IT equipment for many companies because it is absolutely essential for smooth business operations and trouble-free production. But why don't companies protect their SAP systems properly?

SAP wants to introduce an annual price increase for cloud products. But any partner selling a go-to-market solution must also pay a revenue share, regardless of whether SAP enabled the transaction.

SAP's success story is based on system integration, but this has been neglected in recent years as a result of massive company acquisitions. However, the added value of the S/4 transformation only comes from integration.

The E in EHS stands for environment and colloquially for green. Anyone who delves deeper into this topic will notice that it is a system of its own that must be taken into account.

The digitization of processes and the exchange of data with customers, partners and authorities have long been part of everyday life. In the SAP environment in particular, a wide range of scenarios are used to integrate solutions into existing technologies and secure them against cybercrime.

The motto of this year's DSAG Congress is "in search of success", which is a paradox, because success cannot be found like a misplaced software license, but only worked out.

Companies around the world are required to make the right decisions quickly. The challenge here is to receive prepared data from the ERP system at any time.

Whereas it used to be "SAP or non-SAP", I am now hearing "SAP and non-SAP" more and more often. That's good news for us existing customers. For SAP, it could become a problem. The ERP world market leader is not prepared for cooperation.

There's a difference between being diligent and doing the right thing. SAP CEO Christian Klein appears hardworking. But he does nothing for existing customers, the share price, or the community.

I asked SAP if I could stop by the local Sapphire in Munich and got a negative response. Apparently SAP is no longer interested in talking to the press. Sapphire - on Invitation-only!

The classic importance of project management for the S/4 transformation is currently misjudged. Sensitive factors, such as the framework conditions and communication, are given too little consideration.

Manager Magazine author Christina Kyriasoglou wrote an illuminating analysis of SAP on page 46 of the magazine's July issue, in which she quotes a whistleblower: "No one dares tell Christian the truth anymore." This refers to SAP CEO Christian Klein.

Pledge allegiance to SAP or seek alternatives? This question is being discussed more and more frequently among executives. It is not about Abap, SolMan or Hana, but about a new ERP beyond S/4. SAP has not yet understood this discussion.

SAP Solution Manager has been around since about 2004, a world long gone without cloud or S/4. Then the end of maintenance was announced for 2027 and the shock was deep. Was that it for SolMan then?

What was it again: What information had the customer provided on his order? And when were the screws to be delivered for production?

Naturally, S/4 is moving. SAP's existing customers are condemned to still make this ERP version change - no matter what the cost.

The market for skilled workers has run dry. Digital workforce management can help companies to deploy scarce personnel resources more effectively while meeting the requirements of younger generations.

There is a growing shortage of personnel for the digitization of the economy. Anyone who then discourages the urgently needed young talent with manual processes and outdated software is giving themselves a leg up.

An open communication culture, an understanding of technology, and a low-threshold offering for whistleblowers or complainants play a crucial role in the success of a compliance management system.

The catastrophe is inevitable. For two years now, the SAP community has been able to observe SAP's decline. At the center are Professor Hasso Plattner and CEO Christian Klein.

Manager Magazin author Christina Kyriasoglou has written a very readable analysis about SAP in the current issue of the magazine on page 46, in which she quotes a whistleblower as saying: "No one dares to tell Christian the truth anymore." This refers to SAP CEO Christian Klein, who, like his foster father, is increasingly prone to choleric outbursts.

Time and again, SAP developers look askance at technologies that exist in the non-SAP sector. But that doesn't have to be the case: Thanks to modern platforms and open source, they have a wide range of tools at their disposal.

Retail is in a state of flux, and in addition to technology-driven trends, the focus is currently shifting to sustainability in all areas. Retailers must react and make their businesses more sustainable.

By its very nature, a public cloud would be a one-time lottery win for SAP and many other providers. The positive scaling effects are gigantic, but individuality, innovation, agility and resilience fall by the wayside.

The integration of AI technologies makes companies more successful. Here’s why.

SAP Solution Manager has been around since about 2004, a world long gone without cloud or S/4. Then the end of maintenance was announced for 2027 and the shock was deep. Was that it for SolMan then?

The history of order management systems in SAP is long. There were early approaches in SAP Retail, then after the acquisition of Hybris it was to be located there. Later it was SAP CAR (SAP Customer Active Repository), and currently S/4 is supposed to fix it.

Most SAP customers have implemented numerous in-house developments to optimize their business. With the S/4 transformation, however, many customers are facing major challenges.

Really, SAP is trying, but the ERP is becoming more and more of a pain for existing customers. Naturally, a specialist can be found for every task in the global SAP community.

Cloud first - this is now the strategy in many companies. There is certainly a lot to be said for it. From a licensing perspective, however, many risks arise, especially with SAP software, and these must be evaluated.

A hybrid IT landscape is not a panacea for smooth operation. There are plenty of pitfalls. The greatest challenge of hybrid systems that combine cloud and on-premises structures is their complexity. The interoperability of individual functions, new interfaces and data formats must be ensured.

For Christian Klein and his fellow SAP board members, including colleague Julia White, it's been an exciting Sapphire full of successes - but only because they don't know the past.

SAP Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller stood on stage at DSAG Technology Days 2022 and said something very remarkable: that there had probably been a communication deficit at SAP in the past. More than other lapses and failures, the speechlessness contributed to a negative assessment.

The shortage of skilled workers continues. Every company is trying to hold its own in the war of talents. Can talent scouts in HR departments use AI algorithms to optimize their search so that they find the best candidates more quickly?

Order management systems love complexity. Complexity means effort and optimization. The trend towards online shopping and multichannel increases the need for OMS. The focus on sustainability will further strengthen this course.

In the USA, the economy is struggling with a new phenomenon: almost four million employees have quit their jobs. This is the highest number ever and 24 percent higher than before the pandemic. What does this mean for our market?

The community needs Rise and Hana as well as S/4 PS. The added value for an S/4 conversion is low and Rise with SAP is rejected by the majority according to DSAG.

Companies are faced with a decision regarding an ERP transformation. Existing customers are overwhelmingly in favor of the new SAP technology for a variety of reasons; for new customers, the decision-making process is more multi-layered.

So it can be when DevOps approaches accelerate time-to-production from months to days. Addressing this in the context of the S/4 project is seen by successful SAP customers as a natural part of the transformation.

SAP CEO Christian Klein is making an honest effort. He has eliminated many construction sites. He has reorganized and established a new management style. But comprehensive success and a clear strategy are still missing. Professor Hasso Plattner is growing impatient.

SAP licensing options and costs change regularly. It's no wonder that those responsible lose track of the situation and incur additional costs. Currently, Rise, DAAP and licensing by entitlement are hotly debated.

Globalization and digitization are driving the networking of business processes across many levels. The success or failure of business models depends on factors that are increasingly beyond our ability to influence and control.

It would be intelligent to work together, wouldn't it? The word "community" is often used, and one sometimes hears the term "community of values" as well. At the end of the day, however, many players cook their own soup - including the user association DSAG.

From DSAG's point of view, SAP will not push the S/4 release change for existing customers on its own. SAP needs help from the user association if S/4 is still to be a success.

According to SAP, there are currently more than 10,000 productive S/4 systems. The proportion of R/3-to-S/4 migrations thus already provides sufficient empirical data on some key issues that are underestimated or given too little attention.

For our central site, I have a final S/4 roadmap and budget. During the presentation and naming of the total sum, my CFO remained surprisingly calm. His question unsettled me: What will we get for it?

For the finance departments of corporate groups, many conversions to S/4 Hana do not bring the desired results. The only solution that can help is one that companies should consider even before the migration.

IoT, AI or machine learning: it has never been easier to obtain applications, ready-made services and the latest technologies quickly and flexibly from the cloud. But what is the right cloud strategy and how can secure data migration be achieved?

As a result of the Corona crisis, open source software and IT system landscapes based on it have also gained in importance, among other things. The reasons here are the rapid availability without lengthy license procurements.

Those who act in either-or categories have lost. Black-and-white thinking is out of place. Cloud first was good marketing. Now SAP says: Cloud only. Can that work?

For dissonance to become harmony, trust must develop between development and operations teams. This requires support from management as well as a firm foundation.

Today, SAP Basis is more than just a pure outsourcing construct. Digitization and innovation roadmaps require SAP Basis to contribute its share of automation and ideas, while customers are setting entirely new standards in the non-SAP world through their experience in terms of customer experience and holistic support. Comprehensive and constantly updated services are in demand.

SAP's color theory finds a continuation. On the current cover is "Power of Orange" and Gregor Stöckler, member of the SNP management, writes on page 14 about the other field variants and naturally ends his text with: Power of Blue.

CFO Luka Mucic is leaving SAP next year. The Executive Board member and CFO has negotiated his resignation with the Supervisory Board in order to reposition himself professionally. Numerous supervisory board positions await.

The SAP headquarters in Walldorf is similar to the Gallic village from the comic book series Asterix. SAP is strong and independent to the point of being a hermitage.

In the age of digitalization, the spread of home offices and new work, priorities are often set in other areas, even though the invoice processing process is essential for companies and offers enormous potential for optimization.

The global transformation of the IT industry to the cloud has also reached SAP customers. In retrospect, interestingly enough, S/4 Hana also came onto the market at almost the same time.

SolMan is getting its time in the spotlight: SAP has positioned it as the central integration engine of the Business Transformation Suite (BTS). But what exactly is BTS all about?

Artificial intelligence is supposed to support people in their professional lives and relieve them of work. The consequences of this are in the hands of humans, not AI.

SAP and the entire SAP community have been successfully using more and more open source for many years. The use of hundreds or thousands of different components by SAP customers will be the rule, not the exception, in 2022.

If you want to keep costs under control during an S/4 Hana switch, it is absolutely crucial whether you succumb to the lure of a contract conversion or switch with your entire license portfolio.

SAP systems are business-critical. Data volumes are growing steadily, and threats and compliance requirements are increasing, making optimal backup, fast recovery, and efficient data management increasingly important.

SAP has made a risky bet with Hana. Tying S/4 tightly to the Hana database platform means that ERP performance is forever tied to SAP's skill and Hana's performance.

Bringing diverse sales channels and sales models under one roof harbors potential for technological and operational conflict. Digital systems must mesh smoothly. How can this be achieved?

At the end of last year, the E-3 editorial team began a research project: Can the S/4 conversion succeed with the existing resources? There were two answers: Yes, because SAP provides good tools. No, because consultants are missing and the concepts are not designed for complex data structures.

There will be no integration in the form of an SAP "back to standard" function. The R/3 times with one database and many app servers are over. The three-tier client/server model is dead.

A spontaneous discussion arose about the contemporary nature of Hana and S/4. This is very exciting because it covers many dimensions, including the future of SAP.

Speed and security are more crucial than ever in a highly competitive environment. SAP users also face the challenge of implementing innovations and new business processes quickly.

Fast, cost-effective entry into digital manufacturing and complete traceability are business-critical for medium-sized manufacturers. A lean MES with UX design that users can configure themselves makes this possible.

What role will open source play in the future? Successful and healthy open source projects are about more than just code. A strong community is an engine that can drive bolder innovation.

Successful companies are sometimes successful because they act early on a trend or even create it. Or they come late, but make better decisions than the early movers, on whose experience they can build.

S/4 Hana and Cloud: It's not a question of location, but of architecture - and culture. This changes everything and makes DevOps a must. However, its triumphal march does not begin as a grassroots movement.

IoT, AI or machine learning: it has never been easier to obtain applications, ready-made services and the latest technologies quickly and flexibly from the cloud. But what is the right cloud strategy and how can secure data migration be achieved?

At the beginning of the new year, a discussion arose virally about the relevance of S/4 and how contemporary this ERP software from SAP still was - not so much in 2022 as at the end of the conversion in about five years.

SAP S/4 Hana is entering its darned seventh year this year. In the IT industry, such time spans are technological "generations". Many customers are wondering how much time SAP still needs to successfully complete the S/4 Hana strategy.

Almost nine out of ten companies (88 percent) that already use an ERP solution from SAP will migrate to S/4 Hana within the next three years. This is the result of a study conducted by Camelot and the analyst firm Techconsult among 200 German companies.

At the beginning of the year, E-3 Magazine asked to what extent Hana and S/4 are still up to date. This is not a blasphemy of SAP's ERP doctrine, but a pragmatic view of the S/4 conversion.

The year started well for Christian Klein. Manager Magazin January 2022 shows a picture of Klein with the title "Codeword Attack. A short time later, the correction came online: "The defensive battle of the SAP CEO.

You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. The presumption of innocence applies. The fact is that the SAP Executive Board has always been committed to the interests of existing customers - above all Gerd Oswald.

Open Core sounds like a good idea: open source technologies enriched with individual proprietary features. But the model gives pause for thought, because the interests of the vendors may differ from those of the community.

What do most people associate with SAP? Software is probably the most common answer, perhaps also accounting or ERP. In the age of cloud computing, another word should come to mind: learning.

Once SAP SolMan is in use, "Make a wish" begins - but possibly even before that. From a consultant's perspective, you then hear questions like, "Can Solution Manager...?" How do we deal with that?

Despite some negative reports about the pace of S/4 Hana adoption, the latest DSAG survey confirms its strategic importance for SAP users: 81 percent are already working with S/4 or planning to implement it.

The mirror became a mirror. In a report, an attempt is made to blame SAP for the misuse of software. In the process, statements are made that are false. Poorly researched and incorrectly combined.

For around half of SAP customers, it is still open which system architecture should be used for the transformation. Decision-making can be facilitated by prioritizing and weighting the parameters involved.

Business applications such as document management systems (DMS), ERP, customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and human capital management (HCM) form the basis of many enterprise business processes today.

Spiegel reported on the dark side of SAP in issue 46/2021 on page 62. The authors suspect the theft of intellectual property and accuse the ERP world market leader of unfair competition.

The legendary Focus co-founder and editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort coined: Facts, facts, facts and think of the readers. For SAP CEO Christian Klein, it's facts, facts, facts, and thinking of the community.

Pulling the ERP cart out of the mud again has always required good SAP roadmaps and the initiative of existing customers.

For many SAP users, the switch to Hana is accompanied by a move to Linux. The operating system, which recently turned 30, opens up a huge ecosystem of open source solutions.

I have created a new cloud term. After public, private and hybrid cloud, there is now a home cloud in my SAP universe. It is supposed to be the best of on-prem and the functions of the hyperscalers and SAP BTP.

The use of open source supports DevOps teams in agile software development. But in the drive to produce code faster and faster, protecting confidential and privileged credentials often falls by the wayside.

Like a cockpit, SAP Focused Build offers all planning and control tools specifically for large, agile projects. From takeoff to safe landing, they flank all processes. But what does an SAP project have to do with a flight?