Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
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In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob Evans details the power shift taking place at SAP, as founder and chairman Hasso Plattner steps down, fully welcoming Christian Klein as the single driving force behind the company.
Highlights
00:40 — Hasso Plattner, the founder and leader of SAP for over half a century, intends to relinquish his role as chairman a year from now. The company is looking for a new supervisory board chairman to fill his role. It goes without saying — it would be an impossible job to replace Plattner, says Bob.
01:23 — As the “Plattner era comes to an end,” we are witnessing the true arrival of the “Klein era” as the unquestioned leader taking SAP through the next half of a century.
01:36 — For more than 50 years, Plattner has been an iconic founder, leader, visionary, and owner. He served as chairman for more than 20 years — from 2003 until he officially steps down in 2024. There is no question that Klein has been the CEO of SAP for the last three years, but Plattner is a “larger than life type of force there,” notes Bob. For the last several years, he has also carried the title of Chief Software Advisor.
02:50 — Christian Klein has had an extremely successful three-year run as CEO, coming into the role just as the pandemic was unleashing its first wave of disruption across the global economy. Klein has demonstrated over the last several years that he has SAP in a very solid place with the cloud. The company is now one of the fastest-growing major cloud providers in the world. 40% of SAP’s revenue comes from the cloud.
03:35 — “The final brainchild of Hasso Plattner is HANA,” the database that ultimately became the core for SAP’s S/4 HANA Cloud ERP Suite. In Q4, this technology was up 101% in revenue. Klein has demonstrated that he is able to “take Plattner’s baby and move it into the whole cloud era.”
04:16 — Bob discusses this in more detail in a full-length Cloud Wars News article coming later today. There is a link in the article to a “truly one-of-a-kind” Youtube video called “Hasso on Hasso” which was done about 12 years ago.
04:55 — We are not yet saying goodbye to Hasso Plattner, but recognizing the way that Christian Klein has earned the right to be the single driving force for what SAP is about, notes Bob.
