Sap

The Economist has an interesting article about SAP. It’s pretty much in agreement with my previous post on the subject. These are interesting times for SAP. I like that Mr. Klein is being realistic about what it will take to get this done. It’s going to be very painful to the SAP bottom line but has to be done if they are going to survive as a software power. I don’t think the real threat is other “legacy” companies like Oracle and Microsoft, but rather the rapid expansion and capabilities of companies like Workday and Salesforce.

This is a very realistic take on SAP strengths. As an “operating system” for business, it’s really strong. There is quite a lot of depth in the ERP applications and, despite warts, they just work for many, many businesses. However, the SAP cloud offerings represent a risky move for many customers. They have years of experience and operations based on their existing SAP ERP. In some cases, this is supported with extensive customization.