July 27th, 2007
Glastnost at SAP
For many years, SAP was a poster child for the “not invented here” syndrome. Sure, the company has always been developer-focused, but arrogance in any form is unpleasant. Recently, I’ve heard stories about a new openness at SAP, so I read this post from fellow Enterprise Irregular, Thomas Otter, with real interest:
SAP’s collaboration with Adobe is a great proof point for how things have changed here over the last decade or so. 10 years ago if we had seen the need for a better forms handling tool we would have taken a bunch of physics graduates and a dark room, and two years later they would have emerged blinking into the daylight with a new tool. Instead, we’ve realised that Adobe know really stuff about forms and building lightweight applications, so it makes a whole lot more sense to work with them, rather than reinvent stuff ourselves.
Thomas works for SAP, but he’s a straight shooter and critical of the company when they deserve it. Therefore, these comments are a serious indicator of positive new attitudes at SAP.
Michael Krigsman is CEO of Asuret, Inc., a software and consulting company dedicated to reducing software implementation failures. Click here to discuss this post with him on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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