Dual system

Only the highest superlatives, most powerful words and maximum enthusiasm seemed appropriate to McDermott for the overwhelming wave of success on which he believes SAP is currently riding.

In the opinion of SAP's CEO, things couldn't be going better, but on closer inspection, SAP is struggling on all fronts. The Hana and S/4 transformation doesn't want to gain momentum.

There are early adopters, but the broad mass of existing SAP customers are still observing from the background. "And action!" is therefore the theme of the upcoming DSAG annual congress in anticipatory obedience.

SAP has a "dual problem": Technically, Hana needs to be improved again and again, while in business terms it lacks S/4 added value. Bill McDermott has already addressed both issues in his Q2 financial statement presentation.

He praised the collaboration with Intel, which designed Persistent Memory for Hana, and he mentioned Infosys as an innovative partner to bring value to the S/4 landscape.

Whether the new, complex storage structure of a Persistent Memory is necessary for Hana or can even fuel the Hana euphoria will be seen by the end of the year.

S/4, on the other hand, has so far only been able to inspire CFOs, because "Simple Finance" works as the name conveys, and in real time - it doesn't get any better than that! The rest is silence: In other areas such as CRM, SCM or industry applications, no S/4 added value has yet become visible for SAP's existing customers.

The necessary ERP revolution is probably also too big for SAP. At the beginning of this year, a closer partnership was established with the hyperscalers. According to Bill McDermott, a more intensive partnership with the 200,000-strong Infosys company is now planned.

If the dual approach succeeds, with a technical Intel revolution and a business-oriented, industry retread in partnership with Infosys, then SAP could be in a much stronger position this fall. Here's to success!