Weclapp versus SAP

I was very unsure for a long time, then at the end of last year I talked to a few SAP executives from Christian Klein's circle because the young SAP CEO gave me an interesting food for thought: Klein wants his SAP to return to the tried-and-true sinecures of the ERP world market leader. And he wants to push the recognized competence and USP far beyond the boundaries of the SAP community. On the one hand, Klein wants to take his cue from the SAP founders and their vision; on the other hand, he will take advantage of the new IT achievements such as cloud, open source, AI/ML, blockchain, etc., none of which existed when SAP was born.

The classic SAP ERP model is well known: consistent data storage and integration as well as interleaving of all functions, also to avoid any redundancy. Due to the numerous cloud acquisitions, this unique competitive advantage was lost. Interfaces and redundant data storage became necessary so that the functional modules (on-prem and cloud-based) could work together. What worked partially and surprisingly well was then ultimately not much better than the cloud offerings from IBM, Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft.

Now the three SAP musketeers, Christian Klein, Thomas Saueressig and Jürgen Müller, have set themselves the goal of capturing and consolidating the conglomerate of good apps. But SAP's existing on-prem and cloud offerings are not to be turned into a new R/3 that perfectly integrates all functions and keeps data consistent, but was ultimately a black box - if you disregard the Z namespace with its numerous Abap modifications.

The new SAP is supposed to be integrated, multifunctional and open. Whether all goals can be achieved according to the old R/3 model with a central "database" is, of course, to be expected with reservations. Even in R/3 times, APO required its own (hidden) database, so that the stringent, three-tier client/server model was already softened here.

The new SAP world is to be based on standards such as O-Data and make ample use of open source products. At the same time, this construct is supposed to have the convenience of R/3 with the openness of Web applications - in other words, maximum integration and data consistency coupled with maximum openness. The plan could work.

Christian Klein and his two colleagues on the board, Müller and Saueressig, sell their idea as SAP integration that reaches far beyond the classic ERP boundaries - that's sensible, but also dangerous. To convey openness and innovation, Klein has to tread on very thin ice. My friends in Walldorf have confirmed it to me! This innovative integration idea not only helps SAP, its existing customers and partners, but of course also the competition, which is offered a lucrative gateway here.

SAP competitors are becoming more numerous in this open, digital and innovative market environment, as could also be read on Manager Magazin's website at the beginning of the year: "And Marburg-based Weclapp is competing with SAP: Founder Ertan Özdil went to market with his cloud-based ERP software in 2013; recently, he says, a southern German automotive group signed up to put a large department on the more agile system. ,Employees didn't want to work with SAP,' Özdil said. The entrepreneur plans to go public in 2021."

Integration includes openness with open source, because the self-inflicted integration machine "SAP Data Hub" is currently disappearing into oblivion. However, open source is not only a great opportunity and necessity for SAP, but also a comfortable playing field for competitors.

This is where the second challenge for Christian Klein arises: SAP's integration, consolidation and transformation to Hana and S/4 must not be more expensive for us existing customers than a complete system change. If the S/4 conversion is synonymous with a new ERP implementation, then I do another ERP tender, license an alternative ERP system and hand over the customizing to my successor.