Last week we were greeted by the surprising news that SAP Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe will be stepping down from his post, leaving Bill McDermott in sole charge from May 2014.Both the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal speculated on how this change in SAPs management structure will impact on the company as a whole. At the same time, the analyst community had its say.
From the perspective of the User Group, whilst its a shame to see Jim leaving the role of Co-CEO, we are pleased hell be moving onto the supervisory board as hes been a great customer advocate and has had a huge passion for making sure SAP delivers the best possible products to us. He is from the same mould as Henning Kagermann when it comes to his focus on the product and the customer. Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe have done a good job and initiated an era of better communication with customers. During their joint tenure, Jim has been seen as the product guy and Bill as the sales guy, so it will be interesting to see if further changes are made to ensure there continues to be the same level of focus on product and customer value. Clearly there are always challenges, such as those we have raised around licensing. However with Jims knowledge, expertise and experience retained on the supervisory board and Bill at the top, we hope SAP will continue to deliver value to its customers and prosper.
Well be looking forward to welcoming Jim to our 25th Anniversary User Conference in November. Get in touch if you are interested in attending or exhibiting!
