SAP decides one head is better than two in a crisis, parts ways with co-CEO Jennifer Morgan

SAP has reversed its plan to have two joint CEOs, so one of them will go: Jennifer Morgan will step down as co-CEO of SAP after just six months, leaving Christian Klein in charge. The ERP giant has sold the decision as a response to the coroanvirus pandemic. "More than ever, the current environment requires companies to take …

[SecretSonOfHG]

Does this tell something about SAP cloud?

I mean, it must have been a very close race of two train wrecks: both SAP cloud and S4/HANA are full of inflated claims and very, very short of actual successful implementations. Morgan was leading cloud business, so it may be very well the worst of the two.

At least S4/HANA taps into the core of the SAP business, which is trapping its customers into a gigantic incomprehensible platform that it theory does everything but in practice requires loads of consultancy and money to actually barely do anything at all, including myriad of satellite systems with spaghetti interfacing to support what is plainly impossible or extremely difficult to do on SAP., Which makes S4/HANA it the less likely to be the worse of the two. If you believe that my description of a SAP system is an exaggeration, please check any SAP install that has been runnig at least two years and come back with your "best practices", please.

Ah, the smells of downvotes early in the morning... please, spare yourself the "but SAP works if your change your business process to follow its ways instead of forcing SAP to adapt to your business processes" mantra. The notion of "best practices" is absurd outside legal compliance stuff because the very "best practices" for a business are those that make it thrive and survive, not something dictated by a bunch of consultants that learned how a business worked two decades ago. It was back then when people realized that there is not a single business on the planet that can comfortably adapt to SAP's idea of how a business should run. All of them need some level of customization on the SAP side to at least tolerate it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Does this tell something about SAP cloud?

No downvote from me. SAP is shit. End of.

[Lars]

Re: Does this tell something about SAP cloud?

There is also a slight possibility that two persons held strongly conflicting opinions and one had to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Does this tell something about SAP cloud?

Well I've been involved in two successful S4/HANA migrations. I believe there have been more.

It's true that many implementations have become a mess, often by people tacking bits on in odd ways. I've worked at several sites where this has made the whole thing a nightmare.

I don't think SAP have helped themselves over the years but to be fair I've worked with billing systems which have had the same problems, healthcare systems etc.

[SecretSonOfHG]

Re: Does this tell something about SAP cloud?

Glad to hear that there are al least two places where S4/HANA is actually working. But saying it anonymously does not exactly inspire confidence as a data source.

OTOH, not that my nickname provides any means of backing up my opinions either.

[davenewman]

It is simpler than that

They got rid of the woman because they want a jerk in charge. The point of having co-CEOs is to stop fools rushing in to quickly.

In a crisis, which is the bigger risk - getting it wrong or doing it slowly?

[Nunyabiznes]

Re: It is simpler than that

I read somewhere (can't remember now) that any decision is better than indecision. Even a mistake is easier to recover from than doing nothing. In my life this has proven out.

And I have to say that being a jerk is gender neutral.

[The Man Who Fell To Earth]

Re: It is simpler than that

Almost certainly she was the one let go simply because she's a woman.

[Evil Auditor]

Re: It is simpler than that

That was my first thought as well. ...requires companies to take swift, determined action which is best supported by a male CEO. Here, fixed that for you, SAP.

As much as I disagree with this, time and again I encounter this exact same bias against women/for men.

[Nunyabiznes]

Re: It is simpler than that

But if they can pay her less to do the same (poor) job, then it is in the stockholders' best interest to have a woman in charge, especially with the kind of money we are talking about with CEO salaries.

See icon ->

[rcxb]

Re: It is simpler than that

You'd prefer to have a nice female CEO in charge, eh?

How about:

Meg Whitman

Ginni Rometty

Elizabeth Holmes

Carly Fiorina

Marissa Mayer

Heather Bresch

Just a few off the top of my head, mind you.