SAP announces new leadership team

SAP announced that Bill McDermott has decided not to renew his contract and is stepping down from his position as chief executive officer. In activating the company’s long-term succession plan, SAP Executive Board Members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-chief executive officers, effective immediately, with the approval of the Supervisory Board of SAP SE. McDermott will remain in an advisory capacity until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition Read the full announcement on www.sap.com.

“SAP would not be what it is today without Bill McDermott,” said Professor Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP SE. “Bill made invaluable contributions to this company and he was a main driver of SAP’s transition to the cloud, which will fuel our growth for many years to come. We thank him for everything he has done for SAP.

“Every CEO dreams of being able to transition a company to its next generation from a position of significant strength,” said McDermott. “When you look at where we were and where we are, I simply could not be prouder of what this company has achieved over the past decade. I am thankful for the opportunity to lead one of the world’s finest companies. Now is the moment for everyone to begin an exciting new chapter, and I am confident that Jennifer and Christian will do an outstanding job. I look forward to supporting them as they finish 2019 and lay the foundation for 2020 and beyond. To every customer, partner, shareholder and colleague who invested their trust in SAP, I can only relay my heartfelt gratitude and enduring respect.”

With the formal endorsement of the Supervisory Board, the company activates its leadership succession plan, designed to preserve continuity and empower its next-generation leaders in advance of the formal kickoff to calendar year 2020.

“As they have already demonstrated, Jennifer and Christian complement each other perfectly and will be strong co-CEOs, a leadership model that is time-tested at SAP with multiple prior instances of success.” Plattner added.

Morgan and Klein bring decades of experience in the enterprise applications software industry. Both serve on the Executive Board. Morgan, who joined SAP in 2004, most recently served as president of the Cloud Business Group, overseeing Qualtrics, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Customer Experience and SAP Concur. She was named an Executive Board member in 2017.

"We are sad to see Bill go. He was a fantastic leader but it also is great to know who is taking the helm at SAP. Jennifer is a fantastic leader and will lead the organization with Chris in the right direction and keep building upon what Bill has built as a base over the last 10 years," added Christopher M. Carter, CEO of Approyo.

Read the full announcement at www.SAP.com 

Top Keynote Speakers at the 2019 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference

Keynotes in the General Session Theater are the headline addresses where SAP and ASUG executives and their guests offer inspiration, their vision of the future, and unveil exciting new announcements and breakthrough innovations. Here are our top keynote speakers announced for the 2019 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference.

Tuesday, May 7 9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

Bill McDermott - Chief Executive Officer

Bill McDermott is the chief executive officer of SAP, the world’s business software market leader. He leads the company’s more than 96,000 employees and 2+ million-person ecosystem in executing SAP’s vision to help the world run better and improve peoples’ lives.

Since becoming CEO in 2010, Bill’s innovation-led strategy for SAP has resulted in expansive increases in customers, total revenue, market value, and profitable growth. One of the most popular leaders in business, Bill’s approval rating from SAP employees on the “Glassdoor” website hovers around 99%. As the only American in history to lead Europe’s most valuable technology company, Bill advises world leaders and policymakers on issues including youth unemployment, digital government, and international trade policy. He is a member of the European Roundtable of Industrialists and the U.S. Business Council.

Tuesday, May 7 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m. 

Bear Grylls - Outdoor Adventurist, Author, and TV Host

Bear Grylls has become known around the world as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure.

His journey to this acclaim started in the U.K. on the Isle of Wight, where his late father taught him to climb and sail. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Bear went on to spend three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces, serving with 21 Special Air Servce (SAS). It was here that he perfected many of the skills that his fans all over the world enjoy watching him pit against Mother Nature.

Despite a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa, where he broke his back in three places, and after enduring months in military rehabilitation, Bear succeeded in becoming one of the youngest ever climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Bear went on to star in Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated “Man vs. Wild” and “Born Survivor” TV series, which has become one of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching an estimated 1.2 billion viewers. 

Off screen, Bear has lead record-breaking expeditions, from Antarctica to the Arctic, which in turn have raised over $2.5 million for children around the world.
In recognition for his expertise and service, Bear was appointed as the youngest ever Chief Scout to over half a million brilliant scouts in the U.K., was awarded an honorary commission as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and as a Colonel in the notoriously tough Royal Marines Commando.

Wednesday, May 8 9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

Hasso Plattner - Chairman of the Supervisory Board SAP SE

Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Hasso Plattner is one of the founders of SAP and has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board since May 2003. In this role and as Chief Software Advisor he concentrates on defining the medium and long-term technology strategy of SAP. He also heads the Technology Committee of the SAP Supervisory Board. In 1972 Hasso Plattner and four colleagues left IBM in order to found SAP (Systems, Applications, Products). When SAP went public in 1988 Hasso was appointed Vice Chairman of the Executive Board. From 1997 to May 2003 he was Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of SAP. In May 2003 he was elected to the SAP Supervisory Board and took over the chairmanship from co-founder Dietmar Hopp. Hasso received his Master‘s Degree in Communications Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. In 1990 the University of Saarbruecken awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 1994 he was granted an honorary full professorship. In 1998 he founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for IT Systems Engineering at the University of Potsdam with the largest single private contribution to a university ever made in Germany. He is a professor at the HPI for enterprise software systems.

Thursday, May 9 9:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

Sandra Bullock - Actress, Producer, and Philanthropist

Sandra Bullock is one of Hollywood’s most sought after leading ladies and has received universal acclaim for her work. Over the course of her career Bullock’s films have grossed over $5.3 billion worldwide and over $2.6 billion domestically. This past December, she starred in Netflix's post-apocalyptic thriller “Bird Box,” directed by Susanne Bier. The film instantly broke the record for the most-views for a film on Netflix to date with 45 million-plus streams in its first week. Earlier last year, she led an all-star cast of women including Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina in the heist comedy “Ocean’s 8.” The film, which was produced by Steven Soderbergh had the best opening weekend in franchise history.

In addition to her Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards, Bullock has received numerous awards and nominations for her acting, including four MTV Movie Awards, nine Teen Choice Awards, ten People’s Choice Awards, and three Critics’ Choice Awards. Bullock is also the only person to be named “Entertainer of the Year” twice by Entertainment Weekly, having gained the honor in 2009 and 2013.

Bullock has donated millions of dollars to support the work of the American Red Cross, including donations in response to the 2018 California wildfires, Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis in 2004. In addition to the Red Cross, she donated to the California Humane Society to help the animals that were affected by the California wildfires. Bullock has continuously lent her support to New Orleans’ Warren Easton Charter School, the oldest public high school in the state of Louisiana following the devastation and damaged caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In recognition of her on-going charitable efforts she was presented with the first ever People’s Choice Award for Favorite Humanitarian in 2013.

These are just a few of the great speakers planned for the 2019 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference. View the complete list at

SAP Announces SAP C/4HANA

Major news from the first morning at the 2018 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW Conference. SAP CEO Bill McDermott announced a new suite of applications, SAP C/4HANA, to help businesses serve and retain customers. SAP also announced the SAP HANA Data Management Suite, the industry’s first comprehensive data management solution that enables companies to turn data sprawl into business value.

Here is the full announcement from SAP.com:

SAP C/4HANA is an integrated offering designed to modernize the sales-only focus of legacy CRM solutions. Following the completed acquisitions of market leaders Hybris, Gigya and CallidusCloud, SAP now ties together solutions to support all front-office functions, such as consumer data protection, marketing, commerce, sales and customer service.

“SAP was the last to accept the status quo of CRM and is now the first to change it,” McDermott said. “The legacy CRM systems are all about sales; SAP C/4HANA is all about the consumer. We recognize that every part of a business needs to be focused on a single view of the consumer. When you connect all SAP applications together in an intelligent cloud suite, the demand chain directly fuels the behaviors of the supply chain.”

Building on the company’s reputation as an end-to-end business solutions provider, the new SAP C/4HANA suite will offer full integration with SAP’s business applications portfolio, led by its market-leading ERP suite, SAP S/4HANA. The combination of assets features new machine learning capabilities from SAP Leonardo, a set of intelligent technologies the company introduced last year, as well as the new SAP HANA Data Management Suite, which enables companies to gain visibility and control of their highly distributed data. The company’s overall strategy, focused on helping businesses run as intelligent enterprises, highlights the demand for a balanced approach to automation in the workplace.

More About SAP C/4HANA
The SAP C/4HANA portfolio includes SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Customer Data Cloud (including the acquired Gigya solutions) and SAP Sales Cloud (including the acquired CallidusCloud solutions). Additionally, SAP Sales Cloud unites the SAP Hybris Revenue Cloud solution and SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer (comprised of SAP Hybris Sales Cloud and SAP Hybris Service Cloud solutions).

These cloud solutions — formerly on the market under the SAP Hybris brand name — as well as SAP’s commerce and customer engagement organization are now consolidated under the SAP Customer Experience business unit to support a consistent brand experience.

Read the full post on www.approyo.com