SAP's new triumvirate

Once again, an SAP Executive Board member came to a disruptive end. This time it was Bill McDermott. On October 11, there was a new SAP dual leadership team: Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein.

Ex-CEO McDermott had already been thinking about his own future for some time. He drove SAP stormily and enthusiastically into the cloud computing age. His actions in recent years appear to be entrepreneurial fireworks with ever new superlatives - both linguistically and financially.

Consolidation" seems to be the order of the day in the coming years - a tough task that does not fit Bill McDermott's character at all. Cleaning up after the party is not his idea of a CEO's job.

Plattner closes the bag: Bill McDermott's contract would have been up for renewal next year. McDermott hinted to Hasso Plattner that he might not be available for another five years. But McDermott had not reckoned with the landlord!

Professor Plattner does not look back and weigh things up. Plattner has his eye on the future and decides quickly and consistently: Bill had to go! If you're not for SAP, you're against SAP, right?

It is now a good tradition at SAP that CEO successors are chosen very quickly from within the company's own ranks. Christian Klein therefore made the trip to the USA and a few days later, on Thursday evening, October 1o, he was the new SAP dual CEO together with Jennifer Morgan from the USA.

A dinner with Hasso Plattner and Bill McDermott sealed the disruptive transition - even if Plattner tried to make the event appear to have been prepared well in advance in an SAP press release. McDermott, who was taken by surprise, is allowed to remain on the SAP Executive Board as a "consultant" until the end of the year.

Observers might come to the conclusion that history is repeating itself and that perhaps there is such a thing as justice after all: On a Thursday this year, former Chief Technology Officer Bernd Leukert marched into his office knowing nothing, and by the evening he had been relieved of his position on the Executive Board by the long hand of Bill McDermott from the USA.

Leukert's predecessor Vishal Sikka lost his job as Chief Technology Officer similarly quickly - but Hasso Plattner himself was the catalyst on that occasion: on Friday there was a rift between Plattner and Sikka, on Monday morning Leukert was presented as the new Chief Technology Officer and immediately ordered to Palo Alto, USA, to clean up after Vishal Sikka.

The current balance sheet figures are brilliant, but SAP is in a crisis of purpose. Existing customers are dissatisfied and have lost confidence in SAP, as the DSAG summer survey revealed, and no one wants to recommend SAP to others, as the Customer Net Promoter Score from the SAP Annual Report 2018 shows.

The eight-billion-euro acquisition of Qualtrics is successful, but technically cannot be integrated into the SAP universe. Hana is not only directed against database competitors such as Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, but also against SAP's own company Sybase - which is causing lasting uncertainty for existing customers and partners.

And it is already clear that the 2025 deadline will not be achievable for many existing customers - even if they want it and are struggling. SAP doesn't need dual leadership, it needs a triumvirate!

Only together - Jennifer Morgan, Christian Klein and Luka Mucic - will they be able to pull the cart out of the mud. On November 12 of this year in New York City at the SAP Capital Markets Day, the three "musketeers" will be able to demonstrate their skills, their team spirit and their willingness to work together.

The SAP office in NYC will be presenting itself to financial analysts and journalists for a day. There, the SAP triumvirate will have to prove for the first time in the post-McDermott era what the ERP world market leader will still be worth in the future.

The balance sheet figures for the third quarter are almost sensational - SAP is obviously in a better position than ever before. A new CEO, who could have been called Luka Mucic, is not enough to succeed an outstanding Bill McDermott - SAP obviously needs a dual leadership to fill the huge vacuum left by McDermott. That is only half the truth!

Former CEO Bill McDermott did not understand any better and trimmed the ERP group to cloud computing without any ifs or buts. On the one hand, a disproportionate amount was invested, see Qualtrics, on the other hand, the corporate culture was ruined, see the 4,400 employees made redundant:

The sales department was put under pressure and deserving developers were made redundant. The result is a proud set of balance sheet figures for the third quarter and many unresolved problems behind the scenes.