E-3 Rubrik: Editorial

Rarely before has the community been so surprised by SAP: the share price is reaching all-time highs, innovation is at rock bottom, and customers are angry and unsettled.

With Professor Hasso Plattner’s departure from the SAP Supervisory Board next year, the company will soon commence an evaluation of the actual function and duties of a Supervisory Board Chairman.

In October, with an outlook to 2024, the question is: can SAP still be trusted? What was once an innovator for standard business software has now become hesitant, lagging behind.

Christian Klein has not only made a mess of SAP's AI development, but is currently being overtaken left and right by his own existing customers when it comes to AI. An old pattern continues.

SAP CEO Christian Klein has achieved a great feat: the pre-programmed crash was prevented. SAP has turned the corner, has not landed in the ditch and is now in calm waters. But where will the company go from here? No one at SAP knows.

Officially, Christian Klein still believes in "cloud first" and hopes for "cloud only". Thousands of SAP's existing customers and his own experts know better: Cloud computing remains out of reach for ERP in the medium term.

The end of SAP as the community knows it. The supervisory board, the executive board, and the IT community would have the chance to save SAP. But false consideration and convenience are preventing the retread.

Professor Hasso Plattner has appointed a successor as SAP Supervisory Board chairman. Punit Renjen was CEO of Deloitte until the end of last year and is to be elected to the SAP Supervisory Board this year.

All is not well with SAP. While a renowned Swiss existing customer praises SAP CRM, Christian Klein is cutting CRM staff and selling Qualtrics. Will that be enough for the next few years?

The S/4 code is to be split and Business ByDesign outsourced. A proof of SAP's lack of imagination. Why doesn't Business ByDesign become open source and S/4 finally become hybrid?

The ERP world market leader has sunk low. SAP has risen up and lost its way in the cloud. The group is being overtaken left and right by competitors. Personnel and structural problems are rampant.

What if, what if, bicycle chain. If SAP had recognized earlier that the community is hybrid and heterogeneous, Christian Klein wouldn't have to talk about hybrid, first and only. His career is based on SAP only.