Thomas OtterOver the last 24 hours or so I have been busy with SAP’s management changes, lots of press, SAP and client calls and discussion with Gartner colleagues. Expect a formal Gartner position and client guidance to come out shortly.
In the meantime, I’ll give you my personal take.
I listened to Hasso Platter’s conference call, while sitting in the Frankfurt airport. I’m on the way to a presentation on SAP roadmaps for clients in Manchester (my slides now need some adjustment).
Hasso Plattner made it clear that it was his decision to change the CEO and he took some of the blame for the customer and employee dissatisfaction issues that have dogged SAP over the last couple of years. He even managed to go the offensive, positioning the new technologies his labs are working on. In a sense it was vintage Hasso. He spoke with passion, clarity and determination.
Today’s announcement highlights the vital role Hasso Platter still plays at SAP. SAP has been unable to find a successor to fill his boots. We will need to wait and see if the return to the two CEO model will work as it did with SAP’s founders. It is a tougher challenge this time around.
SAP succession plans were shook up several years ago when Shai Aggasi left SAP, and it has yet to really recover them.
SAP’s problems are as much internal as external. SAP’s workforce need a big hairy engineering goals and the room to innovate and take risk. The field want to sell innovation, not maintenance. SAP needs to cut away the layers of bureaudisney that have stifled innovation moving from lab to customer. Growing margin doesn’t excite software developers or customers. SAP management seemed to forget that. It took Hasso to remind them.
SAP’s challenges are bigger than simply replacing the CEO. It needs to recover its geist. Today was the first step, but Hasso alone can’t restore SAP to its past growth. The new co-CEO’s, Jim and Bill, have much to do. This is complicated.
7 responses so far ↓
1 uberVU - social comments February 8, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gartner_inc: #Gartner analyst Thomas Otter on his blog about Hasso Plattner and #SAP: http://bit.ly/akz1vm...
2 Tweets that mention On Hasso and SAP. -- Topsy.com February 8, 2010 at 6:28 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gartner, Dennis Howlett, Anne K Petterøe, Susan Moore, Andrew Spender and others. Andrew Spender said: RT @Gartner_inc: #Gartner analyst Thomas Otter on his blog about Hasso Plattner and #SAP: http://bit.ly/akz1vm [...]
3 Dennis Howlett February 9, 2010 at 12:57 am
Is it a case of “SAP has been unable to find a successor to fill his boots” or that he doesn’t want to have his boots filled?
4 Simon Griffiths February 9, 2010 at 4:22 am
Reluctance to have boots filled by someone else – I saw that in the last few years of JDE with Ed McVaney. Shows a sign of maturity that Gates could walk away. But I wonder how Ellison will handle it?
5 SAP: an unexpected shock February 9, 2010 at 5:23 am
[...] ability to remain as an independent business and its ability to once again come to market with, as my friend and Gartner analyst Thomas Otter puts it: ‘big hairy engineering.’There is no doubt that SAP must now put its foot on the [...]
6 Will History Repeat Itself? February 9, 2010 at 4:42 pm
[...] of the myriad of questions facing the new SAP leadership team (see Thomas Otter’s take here). What do you think? Share and [...]
7 Thomas February 12, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Good points all. Hasso looms large.