The helmsman leaves the cloud

There is no problem on the Executive Board, said SAP CEO Bill McDermott in an interview for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) following the departure of Executive Board members Bernd Leukert and Rob Enslin, adding almost defiantly: "SAP is stronger than ever before."

While the departure of Bernd Leukert from the SAP Executive Board was as surprising as it was silent, the departure of Cloud Business Director Rob Enslin caused much more background noise - even financial analysts took a negative view of this personnel decision.

It is doubtful whether McDermott will get his self-chosen "share price" figure well above EUR 100 by the time of the Annual General Meeting. Bernd Leukert did not have time to change his LinkedIn profile until mid-April. It also stated that he was the SAP Executive Board member responsible for Digital Business Services with a turnover of 3.4 billion euros in the Service division and 11 billion euros in the Maintenance division.

His former board colleague Enslin was quicker. A few days after his departure, he shared his views on LinkedIn and has been working at Google since the end of April.

Goerke, Leukert and Enslin

Rob Enslin apologizes on LinkedIn that there is no scandal here. He has to disappoint anyone who suspects a big story behind his departure. There is absolutely nothing to hide.

There is no story behind the story. SAP is the greatest company in the world, but he, Rob Enslin, also has other plans: Google seems to be the better company in the current situation. If that's not a story?

The SAP press release reads as follows:

"I am very grateful to Hasso Plattner, Bill McDermott and all my SAP colleagues for allowing me to be part of such an extraordinary company. New goals lie ahead of me, but what remains is my deepest respect for this company and its customers."

Someone is trying to keep the ball as low as possible after a scandal.

The scandal and its impact on existing SAP customers: Cloud-first impresario McDermott will not be going it alone following the departures of President SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) Björn Goerke at the end of last year and now Cloud Business Board Member Rob Enslin.

With the inexperienced Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller, McDermott will not manage to integrate and consolidate the customer experience and cloud-first strategy. The C/4 project is on the verge of failure! Who will now harmonize, orchestrate, consolidate and integrate Hybris, Callidus and Qualtrics?

Some financial analysts have already reacted to the departure of Rob Enslin and downgraded SAP shares from "buy" to "hold". Existing SAP customers will follow suit, as it is now clear that without the three knowledge carriers Goerke, Leukert and Enslin, almost all SAP projects, including C/4, will be delayed by years.

Which of course won't stop Bill McDermott from organizing a C/4 fake news show at Sapphire 2019 in Orlando - including Google?

Cloud Business Group

Robert Enslin, who has been with SAP since 1992, is leaving the company for Google after a long and successful career. He has been a member of the SAP Executive Board as President of the Sales Organization since 2014.

As an industry-wide respected leader and through his global perspective on economic and business trends, he enjoys an excellent reputation among clients and industry analysts alike.

During his two years as President of the Cloud Business Group, he significantly expanded SAP's cloud portfolio. However, it is still not known whether the recently completed acquisition of Qualtrics, the market leader in experience management, was also approved by him or whether it was just Bill McDermott's heart's desire.

However, it seems very unusual, if not strange, that a successful manager like Rob Enslin should leave the company at precisely the time of what could have been his greatest success. If Rob Enslin had really managed to successfully position C/4 as a symbiosis of Hybris, Callidus and Qualtrics against Salesforce, he would certainly have become the next CEO of SAP.

Now Luka Mucic can once again count himself in with a chance of succeeding Bill McDermott very soon and Enslin is making a career at Google.

McDermott, Morgan and Fox-Martin

Both Enslin and McDermott are trying to play down the change in personnel: Jennifer Morgan succeeds Rob Enslin as President Cloud Business Group. Adaire Fox-Martin will be solely responsible for SAP Sales as President Global Customer Operations.

The changes to the SAP Executive Board will take effect immediately. Executive Board members Morgan and Fox-Martin have successfully headed the SAP sales organization together since 2017.

Both are very successful internationally and have received numerous awards, including the title of "Most Powerful Women" from Fortune Magazine. Morgan will continue to manage her division from the USA, while Fox-Martin will remain based at the company headquarters in Germany.

In an official SAP press release, Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, commented in detail on the departure of his fellow Executive Board member: "First of all, I would like to congratulate Rob Enslin on his exceptional SAP career.

Even in his new role, he will always be an advocate for SAP, and for me personally he will remain a friend. In their extended roles on the Executive Board, Jennifer Morgan and Adaire Fox-Martin will actively support us in the further development of SAP.

Our market-leading ERP portfolio and fast-growing cloud applications make SAP special in the enterprise software space. This change is the next step in simplifying the business.

SAP will make operational processes more efficient, bring new solutions to market faster, improve product quality, respond even more precisely to customer requirements and at the same time significantly improve margins. Best Run SAP' is a motto, maxim and strategy to run the company in a more disciplined and focused way. I am very optimistic about SAP's ability to consistently deliver value for customers, employees and investors."

Was Bill McDermott just waiting for Enslin to "finally" leave the company so that he could then position SAP leanly, quickly and successfully? Bernd Freytag from the FAZ can't help but ask McDermott:

"Don't make fake news out of the exit? No dispute over direction, no integration problem with the acquired companies?"

Bill McDermott:

"No. Our Supervisory Board Chairman Hasso Plattner and I are completely on the same page. When two board members who have worked together for SAP for fifty years plan something new after a long time, it's completely normal.

With Jürgen Müller and Christian Klein, we have outstanding young people on the Executive Board. SAP is stronger than ever before. Don't make fake news out of their departure."

The fact is that Bill McDermott has not mentioned Bernd Leukert by name once since he left the company. There is no statement from McDermott in the press release on Leukert's departure and Leukert had no plans outside SAP.

Together with Michael Kleinemeier, he very successfully presented the plans of the SAP service organization at the beginning of this year. Kleinemeier spoke about the successes achieved and prepared for his retirement at the end of this year.

At the internal SAP event, Leukert spoke with motivation and success about future projects and plans. Even if Leukert did not only have friends at SAP as Chief Technology Officer, as Chief Service Officer and thus as successor to Gerd Oswald and Michael Kleinemeier, he was undisputed - except apparently with Bill McDermott.

The departure of Rob Enslin therefore has nothing in common with the dismissal of Bernd Leukert. The integration of the numerous SAP clouds, which Leukert largely failed at, has not yet been completed on the business side either.

One could also interpret his departure to Google as a flight from responsibility. Or does Enslin know something that is still hidden from the SAP community?

In a "Cloud" discussion, an SAP board member emphasized to E-3 Magazine that the SuccessFactors integration is still being worked on - it was then no longer necessary to discuss Callidus and Qualtrics any further.

Professor Hasso Plattner said of Enslin's departure:

"We are very grateful to Robert Enslin for the decisive contribution he has made to the development of SAP. The Supervisory Board has full confidence in Jennifer Morgan and Adaire Fox-Martin, who will now take on greater responsibilities within the Executive Board."

It is not getting any easier for existing customers, partners and, above all, Bill McDermott: the integration of SAP Clouds and the development of C/4 are now weighing on three board members, two of whom are non-technicians: Jennifer Morgan, Christian Klein and Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller.

Jennifer Morgan in a press statement:

"It is an honor to work with the fantastic team at Cloud Business Group. I firmly believe that SAP's best days are yet to come."

Sounds a lot like McDermott, who wants to increase SAP's market capitalization to up to 300 billion euros by 2023. Now, at the start of a global economic slowdown, SAP's market capitalization stands at 122 billion. Robert Enslin will continue his successful career at Google Cloud Platform and may soon be followed by Björn Goerke .