SAP’s Dystopia

What CEO Bill McDermott is currently creating at SAP is the direct opposite of positive, euphoric utopia. It’s a dystopia for customers and employees and it seals SAP’s fate – with severe consequences.

On the surface, everything seems fine, perfect even. SAP’s treasurer, CFO Luka Mucic, even had enough coins to spare to buy little Bill a new toy to play with: Qualtrics.

Underneath the surface

However, this is just play pretend. Behind the scenes, there’s chaos, fights, and layoffs.

Customers and partners should think twice about using new cloud offers like SuccessFactors, Ariba, Hybris, Fieldglass, Concur, Callidus, and Qualtrics. Well, new is a relative term – SuccessFactors has been around for a long time. However, an integration – think E2E processes – with SAP’s core has yet to happen.

“We know that, we know about its deficiencies, and we are working to change them”, admitted a SAP executive board member in a private discussion with E-3 Magazine.

All acquired cloud solutions are still not integrated into SAP’s core, and that’s the biggest challenge the company faces right now. One of the youngest executive board members, SAP’s new CTO, is tasked with tackling it almost on his own while other members only care about sales, profit, and revenue.

SAP’s very own dystopia

However, most customers are not even aware of this dystopia, simply because Hana and S/4 are still their top priority. It’s hard to think past 2025 with SAP’s imaginary deadline looming in the back of customers’ heads.

The one executive board member that E-3 Magazine talked to will not be able to save SAP on their own. Even Hasso Plattner is not able or willing to see what’s happening at the company he helped create. In the meantime, Bill McDermott is sedating his critics with his high hopes for SAP’s stock price.

As things are currently standing, SAP is doomed. Their existing team will not be able to turn the sinking ship around. Maybe Bill McDermott should start looking for a successor himself.