Gipfelstürmer

The past SAP customer events were dominated by the database product Hana. An all-surpassing speed was supposed to solve almost every problem. Hana became synonymous with competence, agility and resilience. Even though Hana was very fast, it still remained a simple SQL database for a powerful ERP - first SAP Business Suite 7 with SoH, Suite on Hana, and later S/4 Hana, SAP's new ERP system that runs exclusively only on the in-memory computing database.

Hana is very fast in theory and sometimes in practice. However, it does not solve many problems because the vast majority of SAP's existing customers need good ERP algorithms and roadmaps to reach the summit instead of constantly driving in circles like Formula 1 and rounding the mountain again and again with a new speed record, see illustration. Now SAP CEO Christian Klein was seen on the Sapphire stage in front of a summit photo and he promised the guests of honor present a summit victory. With Rise with SAP, SAP's marketing already used an image on the way to the summit.

Obviously, Christian Klein and his CEO predecessors are striving for higher things; in the illustration, you can see ex-CEO Vishal Sikka as well as ex-CEO Bill McDermott. The metaphor may work at first glance, but SAP's existing customers should ask themselves what SAP is trying to express with this image of the summit - once at the top, the only way to go is down!

Christian Klein has got a lot wrong in the current discourse on digital transformation: He believes that the aim is to achieve one-off goals - as quickly as possible with Hana and S/4. Real life is about a continuum; life is a long, calm flow. It's the algorithms and data structures that need to be mastered. The data chaos has to be conquered, see illustration, and again and again, because digital transformation will be an eternal challenge.

Christian Klein should be neither the fastest nor the biggest, but a reliable partner for the community and his existing customers. He has just proved the opposite once again: He has had the 9000-euro S/4 flat rate removed from the PKL Q2/2023 (price and conditions list). Now his existing customers can no longer choose between Product and Contract Conversion when they order their final S/4 license. The Product Conversion can only be applied if the S/4 flat rate is owned.

It is not the fastest who will be successful, but the most circumspect and far-sighted, because SAP is becoming trickier and more imaginative every year. A successful S/4 conversion is first and foremost a thoughtful avoidance of all SAP's stumbling blocks, and that applies to going uphill and downhill.