Strong SAP Foundation

Plattner laid the foundation

SAP's success is based on the simultaneity of technology and business management. It was the brilliant idea of the five SAP founders to take a holistic approach to solving organizational problems. Both the concept of a central database instance and the claim to solve the essential business parameters led to SAP’s visible success.

This tradition of a classic polymath has long been the driving force behind SAP's development. Even when the SAP founders handed over the operational business to the next generation, the founding spirit lived on: Professor Henning Kagermann was a polymath worthy of the name and the first SAP CEO after the founding generation.

Strong foundations, weak future

If the SAP community looks at the current SAP share price, there is no reason to worry! However, the members of SAP's Executive Board and Supervisory Board are far from being hypothetical polymaths and holistic visionaries like Hasso Plattner. There are many specialists on the boards, but no one has a vision of what an S/5 or S/6 might look like.

An S/5 or S/6 would be based on ECC 6.0, Hana, and S/4, components created by Professor Plattner. The strong foundation of the SAP co-founder is the success of the current SAP Executive Board. This leaves SAP CEO Christian Klein with little more than a maintenance and service promise for S/4 Hana until 2040 - but that is not a vision, just service maintenance.

The future of SAP's business and organizational cosmos is bleak. SAP has missed the AI revolution and overlooked innovative ideas like IoT and Blockchain. SAP is trying to stay relevant with acquisitions such as Signavio (process mining) and LeanIX (architecture management), but according to a recent survey by the German-speaking SAP user group (DSAG), this has only been partially successful.

Exit strategy: Business Technology Platform

There is one parameter at SAP that could once again secure the top spot on the podium for the global ERP market leader: SAP BTP is evolving into an independent framework alongside S/4 Hana that customers and partners can and should use to design a future ERP system.

In the absence of its own expertise and vision, SAP is relinquishing control and motivating customers and partners to realize their own ERP ideas on the SAP Business Technology Platform. This is a smart move, given its own incompetence and lack of courage. Of course, handing over sovereignty in the form of the BTP to partners and customers comes with risks as well.

BTP land of milk and honey

SAP BTP is a wonderful ecosystem and framework. Partners see an autonomous business idea coming their way, and existing customers get a proven ABAP modification tool: Steampunk! An SAP Partner Summit on BTP with over 500 attendees clearly demonstrated the SAP community's interest in autonomy and innovation. BTP could be the first step in liberating SAP.

The SAP Business Technology Platform is a promise of freedom and independence. BTP is equipped with numerous open source components that guarantee further autonomy. BTP expert Christian Knell was one of the many visitors to the SAP Partner BTP Summit in Heidelberg, and together with other SAP experts he will present the SAP Competence Center Summit 2024 in Salzburg on June 5.

The BTP discourse for SAP customers begins in Salzburg and will be one of the key topics on the E3 platform. Together with selected SAP partners, E3 magazine will continue educating our readers on the SAP Business Technology Platform, because a land of milk and honey cannot develop on its own.