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Innovation backlog at SAP

SAP is no longer innovative. SAP is solid and predictable. SAP is working its way up the cloud computing ladder. SAP is looking for answers to the most important customer questions. With SAP, the existing customer can tackle the release upgrade to Hana and S/4 - and then?
Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine
July 7, 2022
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This text has been automatically translated from German to English.

Currently, more existing SAP customers are satisfied again than was the case in the past. But existing customers are unsettled because SAP does not offer any perspectives, innovations or visions. SAP had the idea of its own IT service management (ITSM) and invented SolMan. It took time for this tool to become a universal problem solver in the on-prem area - but there was a vision, a roadmap and ultimately a convincing solution. Currently, the SAP community needs a similar answer for cloud computing, but SAP only offers an enhanced monitoring program. For SAP Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) there is a roadmap, but no vision.

SAP has potential, but is currently recklessly squandering it on ServiceNow. SAP had CRM potential, but carelessly squandered it on Salesforce. SAP had IoT and Industry 4.0 potential, but the Leonardo program was carelessly and imprudently neglected and abandoned. Likewise, the SAP community wonders: what happened to AI, ML, blockchain, RPA? The innovation backlog could be the end of SAP in a few years. Financial analysts already see SAP in a difficult position, see also share price. In a few years, the majority of SAP's existing customers will probably be on S/4 and Hana, but they won't have a future with that either.

Naturally, there will also be some AI, blockchain and RPA at SAP, but SAP's existing customers will have to look to other IT companies for the innovations needed for digital transformation. Even now, some SAP partners are more innovative than SAP itself. If this trend becomes a wildfire, SAP will be relegated to the back of the pack and will only be an ERP service provider.

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Peter M. Färbinger, E3 Magazine

Peter M. Färbinger, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief E3 Magazine DE, US and ES (e3mag.com), B4Bmedia.net AG, Freilassing (DE), E-Mail: pmf@b4bmedia.net and Tel. +49(0)8654/77130-21


2 comments

  • Christian BraukmĂĽller

    Hallo Peter,
    bei einem Aspekt widerspricht sich dieser Artikel der Aussage in dem Artikel vom 15.Juni:
    „Auch SAP meint es mit seinen Bestandskunden gut, aber diese brauchen kein Feuerwerk an Innovationen, sondern eine ERP-Roadmap, um das Datenchaos zu bewältigen und S/4 mit der Legacy-IT zu harmonisieren.“ (Zitat 15.Juni)

    Brauchen sie nun Innovationen – oder nicht? Bekommen sie diese geboten – oder nicht?

    In Summe sind die Aussagen sicher korrekt und in Einklang zu bringen .. beides sind valide Anforderungen „der Kunden“ und ein wenig bekommen sie sie auch geboten. Sowohl die Innovationen, als auch die Roadmap. Meist nicht klar und zu oft mit Wegweisern in verschiedene Richtungen.

    Aber aufgeteilt in zwei Artikel ohne Verbindung finde ich es in den jeweiligen Aussagen zu eindimensional dargestellt und es wird der Komplexität der Situation nicht gerecht.
    VG
    Christian

    • A
      E3 Magazin

      Ja, richtig erkannt die Situation ist komplex, weil die SAP-Community aus unterschiedlichen Richtungen bewertet wird: Naturgemäß brauchen die SAP-Bestandskunden umfassende IT-Innovationen, um die digitale Transformation zu bewältigen. Aber brauchen und erwarten die Anwender diese notwendigen Informationen von SAP oder von SAP-Partnern wie Microsoft, IBM oder Google. Aktueller Status: nachdem SAP das Programm Leonardo aufgegeben hat, organisieren sich die Anwender die innovativen Funktionen bei den SAP-Partnern. Von SAP wird nur noch die solide Weiterentwicklung einer ERP-Roadmap und ERP-Strategie erwartet, aber selbst diese Aufgabe scheint momentan SAP-Chef Christian Klein zu überfordern.

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Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

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