April 30th, 2008
CNBC: SAP America's president should offer media training
During an interview on CNBC, SAP’s CEO Bill McDermott, said customers buy his software to accomplish three goals:
- Making money
- Cost reductions
- Maintaining compliance
In a moment of what some might consider to be irrational exuberance, McDermott described SAP as the only software company able to offer these things to customers. I suspect some SAP competitors might take issue with his comment.
One interviewer jokingly asked McDermott whether he offered media training, since he turned all the negatives into positive comments. Fellow Enterprise Irregular, Charlie Wood, was also impressed. His post includes the full clip.
On a more serious note, SAP announced that Business byDesign, their software as a service (SaaS) offering, would be delayed 12-18 months. Larry Dignan and Dennis Howlett covered that story.
Business by Design represents a strategic shift for SAP in the years to come, so I think the delay is only a temporary setback. As Vishal Sikka, SAP’s chief technology officer, told me:
“[Business byDesign represents] a profound shift we are trying initially in the mid-market; we are being cautious, we are being conservative, we can afford to, and we are going to get this right.”
See also: Exclusive interview / podcast with Vishal Sikka, SAP’s chief technology officer
SAP has been touting the product to its ecosystem, and partners building their business around this new initiative will be disappointed with the delay.
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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