News Analysis: SAP's CEO Léo Apotheker Resigns

February 7, 2010


Apotheker's Contract Not Renewed.  SAP Puts Snabe and McDermott In Co-Ceo Roles.
gl_apotheker_clr1


Rumors began circulating early this weekend that Léo Apotehker's contract would not be renewed.  The highest level sources had confirmed this early in the morning and the afternoon press release provided confirmation of the details.  A few key facts:

  • SAP moves back to Co-CEO management structure. Bill McDermott, head of field organization and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development become Co-CEO's. Point of View
    (POV):     For undisclosed reasons, Leo's contract was not renewed. Both Bill and Jim have extensive experience at SAP and have been hard at work revitalizing the organization from both the sales and product sides.  Many observers may be surprised not to see former Business Objects CEO John Schwarz in the running.

  • Executive Board elevates role of products and technology. Vishal Sikka, chief technology officer (CTO) now appointed to the SAP Executive Board.
    POV:     Vishal has the trust and ear of Hasso Plattner and Jim Snabe.  The net result may be more unified road maps, better prioritization of R&D assets, and less issues with product development.

The Bottom Line - Timing Is Everything, But SAP's Inflection Point Is Good News For Customers

Though a seasoned executive with over 20 years with SAP, Leo was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He was responsible for doing a bang up job in sales when Henning Kagermann (i.e. the former CEO) was around.   In fact, he made Henning look good despite the difficulties in launching mySAP ERP 2007, SAP ByD, and a host of other failed projects.  Unfortunately, he entered a down market while in charge of a sinking ship.  Low morale among the Walldorf engineering team, the issue with Enterprise Support and maintenance, and uncontrollable poor quarterly performance proved to be factors beyond his control.  Customers over the past 2 to 3 years began to wonder how to tap SAP's innovation.  A clear need emerged for having more technologists at the helm.
Putting McDermott as Co-CEO makes sense.  He is an excellent sales guys but the issues is not sales.  It's products.  Snabe and Vishal will need strong product vision to right SAP and point it in a forward direction.   Engineering and products need more attention to bring out trapped innovation at SAP.
Your POV
Are you an SAP customer?   How do you feel about the transition?  Would you like to learn more about:

  • Building a next gen SAP roadmap?
  • Improving your SAP apps strategy?
  • Augmenting SAP with SaaS?
  • Putting third party maintenance and optimization to work?

Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Related Links And Resources
Here's a list of related reports.
20100114 News Analysis: SAP Revives Two-Tier Maintenance Options
20091211 Event Report: 2009 SAP Influencer Summit - SAP Must Put Strategy To Execution In Order To Prove Clarity Of Vision
20091125 Speaker Notes: Keynote - SAP UK & Ireland User Group Conference 2009
Here’s a list of related links of news during Léo's tenure.  They will be added on an ongoing basis and updated as appropriate.

Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.

Cupertino Ray Wang Ray R Wang Business Objects England Ireland Manchester Manchester Central (GMEX/MICC) R "Ray" Wang; SAP UK and Ireland Users Group user event user group events user groups Apps Strategy Cambridge Enterprise apps strategy Hyatt Regency Cambridge Massachusetts Sapience speaking engagement ADP Advanced Systems Integration AFS Technologies AMR Research BAE Systems Bersin & Associates Blue Martini Borland Software Business 2.0 Callidus Software Capgemini Catapult Thinking Cognizant Cognizant Technology Solutions Collins Computing Deloitte Dianomi Edutrek International Emedia Epicor Epicor Software Eurofighter Greylock Partners GXS hcl HCL America HCL Axon HP Enterprise Services i2 i2 Technologies IFS Informa Telecoms and Media Infoseek.com Infosys Infosys Technologies Ltd. InnoVentry JD Edwards JDA Software Jefferson Wells International Jim Bozzini Leighanne Levensaler Mahindra Satyam Microsoft Dynamics Mike Stankey OptionEase Oracle Patni Patni Computer Systems People Whispers Peoplebase PeopleSoft Phil Fehrst PolyServe Remedy Software rimini street Sage Group sage software Siebel SmartForce SumTotal Systems Synaptris SystemLink Enterprise Solutions The Funding Partnership Tim Fortier Time Inc. Interactive Tony Kender Ultimate Software Vigor Wednesday's Whispers WorkDay 3rd party maintenance best practices bill of rights Contract Negotiations contract strategy enterprise applications enterprise apps Enterprise Business Apps Enterprise Business Apps Vendors Enterprise Software Enterprise Software Licensee Bill of Rights ERP IT Strategy license credits to new products license fees license policy license returns maintenance fees software contract reviews software licensing software licesing and pricing software ownership costs software pricing sourcing Third Party Maintenance total account value Tuesday's Tip vendor management Vendor Selection business requirements business solutions CDC Software channel programs channels cloud computing Exact Software financing options Infor Lawson market strategy Microsoft Microsoft Business Solutions Microsoft Office NetSuite QAD SaaS smb SME social enterprise apps Software Ecosystems software trends software vendors Syspro vendor financing vendor strategy VM Ware Web 2.0 CUE Herbert B. Gonzalez Convention Center Lawson Global Users Group Lawson Software San Antonio Texas user conference vendor events Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center sterling commerce Sterling Commerce Customer Connection Atlanta Georgia Georgia World Congress Microsoft Dynamics Convergence las vegas Nevada The Palazzo Tibco Tucon AX Decisions 2009 Industry Event Microsoft Dynamics AX virtual event bill of collaborative research customer bill of rights license parking procurement Software as a Service software ownership lifecycle Thursday Thursday's Thanks data import eBau Friday's Feature information quality master data management MDM Pursima SaaS offensive #oow09 California Charles Phillips event report Exadata Moscone Center Oracle mix Oracle Open World Oracle Partner Network partner ecosystems partnerships san francisco Trip Report Oracle Fusion Apps Oracle Fusion Middleware People Sun Microsystems Altimeter Group crm; Enterprise 2.0 Research Report (Source: D&B ) customer relationship management (CRM) deployment options future of business IBM Launch News Analysis order to cash Uncategorized usability user experience users Ariba boomi business process business process management business process optimization canonical data models cast iron systems CIO commoditized business process Concur data governance data integration design phase hybrid deployments informatica Jive Jive Software line of business long term apps strategy middleware platforms Open Air peanut butter and jelly Pervasive Software saas integration SalesForce.com SnapLogic SOA SocialText Talend Xactly BAM BPM business activity monitoring Epicor 9 Epicor Everywhere HR human capital management Microsoft.NET Product Review Progress Software role-based design Search ue ui user interaction ux business process transformation cdi customer data integration Customer Hubs data stewardship Trends eCommerce product road maps Blackboard Deltek Manhattan Associates Quarterly Financial Tracker revenues RightNow SII Software Insider Software Insider Index Taleo business execs Business Suite 7 customer advisory boards enhancement requests role of user groups SAP Business Suite 7 SAP Enterprise Support SAP User Group UK & Ireland 2009 Accenture Alphablox and Garrison Andersen Consulting Apple AT Kearney Aurigin Systems Bates Advertising Booz Allen & Hamilton CA Cadbury Schweppes CCL Group Charlie Isaacs Chuck Gillespie Clear Stake Computer Associates David Stanley DEC Digital Equipment Corporation DNA Stream Dr Pepper Eric Christiansen eWeek Forrester Research Gartner GE Healthcare Graybow Communication Group Hewitt Associates IBM Global Services IDG Enterprise Infor Global Solutions GmbH Initiate initiate systems Intuit Intuit Quick Books Invest.change ITT Gilfillan Jeff Comport John Tae Park Joseph Loveless Justin Floyd Marcel LeBrun McAfee Michael Hickins Michelle Blackmer Mongoose Cricket netbooks Orange Business Services Paul Primus Knowledge Solutions Radian6 Ridgely Evers Rifkind Robert Humphrey Robert Schriesheim Rockwell International Saba Sanjay Poonen SCORE Siemens Snapple Sriram Venkat Stefan Schulz Stephen Harvey Symantec Thomas Wailgum Thomson Legal & Regulatory Toshiba America Medical Systems TRW Unimax Vecta VERITAS Weiss WGSN Wharton Wipro Ziff Davis Enterprise innovation Speaker Notes benchmark performance customer service DSAG It's the relationship It's the relationship stupid! lessons learned Maintenance Hike spend management SUGEN 2010 archiving best of breed CastIron disruptive disruptive technologies EMC enterprise architecture EscrowTech Google Google Apps Engine hybrid IBM Blue Cloud IBM Optim InnovaSafe integration Iron Mountain market trends Microsoft Azure NCC Group OpSource PaaS pervasive platform as a service RainStor SaaS Bill of Rights SaaS escrow SaaS strategies software bill of rights software escrow storage Zoho business drivers business value entry points kpis outcome focused Boston Boston Park Plaza compliance software cost reduction CTO custom development Delivered Innovation economic recession ecosystems Jim Hagemann Snabe John Wookey Microsoft Sharepoint Microsoft Silverlight Peter Graf SAP Business By Design SAP Influencer Summit SAP OnDemand Large Enterprise Acresso Software Alexis Karlin Alterian Anders Trolle-Schultz Andrew Kisslo Application Partners Arrowsight Axentis Basware Berling Capital Bill Geist Bob Suh Bruce Richardson Cambridge Technology Partners CCL Group PLC cognos Crayon CSC Index Denmark Endeavor Information Systems Eurocloud Eventbrite Experian Feisnstein Kean Healthcare Flexera Fornebu Consulting A/S General Electric Glenn Gruber Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce GV Rao Headstrong Hotelzon Technologies and Development iGate Global Solutions Illinois Department of Veteran's Affairs Inc. International Aid Jari Tavi Jessie Paul Joanne McCool John Taschek Joseph Stanhope Kyocera Electronics LLC Lonely Planet Loyalty Agent Ltd. Marina Kosmatos MarketerNet Michael Corkery Michael O'Kelly Mitch Wagner Neolane Ness Technologies Norsoft Norwest Venture Partners Offbeat Guides Ogilvy & Mather Oracle Applied WebCenter Solutions Pansophic Systems Parlex Corporation Pascal Sero PaulWriter Perot Systems Power Paper Primavera Systems PS Village Red Cloud Bank Reichhold Roger Bottum Scientific Atlanta Sony Pictures Entertainment SSA Global Stephen DePooter Sutter Hill Ventures Symphony Services System Software Associates Tagged Tamara Mendelsohn Ternary Software Whitman-Hart Whittman-Hart World Bank Zia Yusuf application development architecture Business Models change enteprise architecture information management infrastructure macro conditions next gen cio pace of technology adoption project management security skill shifts user strategy workplace dynamics business impact business process improvement business strategy collaboration iterative management strategy organizational strategy organizational trends pace of change static success technology adoption viability 3PM Adobe ALM application extension and usability application life cycle management customer experience management disaster recovery DR ERP-Link GuiXT HA Hayes Technology high availability Hyperformix IntelliCorp license management Microsoft integration optimization rwang0 SAP Duet secondary market shelfware SusenSoftware Synactive The SAP Optimization List Tidal Software upgrades used software UsedSoft virtualization VMWare West Trax Winshuttle Cerner Cloverleaf Epic Software Epic Systems HCIT health information exchanges healthcare Healthvision HIE MEDITECH mergers and acquisitions Siemens Healthcare collaboration software content management IBM Lotus IBS Software orlando Adobe Air benchmarking HTML 5 implementation information broker Information On Demand Information Week Monday's Musings prediction rapid implementation scalability strategy subscription pricing trending upgrade Alan Webber analyst relations analyst strategy choose define design thinking enterprise strategy government government innovation growth ideate implement industry analyst influencer relations learn Lora Cecere Personal Log prototype public sector research supply chain acquisitions BlueStack database mergers middleware Oracle-Sun partners RedStack servers sun virtual machines AddressDoctor Applimation Cloud data quality DI DQ hp Identity Systems Itemfield Ivan Chong Similarity Systems Siperian Social CRM Ascential Systems Bill Conroy CrossAccess Datactics dbMotion DWL EII ibm software group Kalido LAS Lombardi PIM product information management Raytheon SoftwareInsider SRD Trigo Unicorn Venetica Visionware bill mcdermott CEO Co-CEO Hasso Plattner Léo Apotheker Software vishal sika