Product engineering head Thomas Saueressig will take on a new role to maximize potential for customers in the cloud, but that’s cold comfort for on-premises users. Credit: IDG-Owned SAP is reshuffling its executive board to place even more emphasis on serving its cloud customers. Executive board member Thomas Saueressig, previously responsible for product engineering, will soon take on a new role as head of customer services and delivery, focused on maximizing potential for customers in the cloud, said Hasso Plattner, chairman of the company’s board of directors. To prioritize innovation adoption in the cloud will annoy some of SAP’s most faithful customers. Many of them are increasingly unable to adopt SAP’s innovations because they’re simply not made available to them. That’s because, as SAP CEO Christian Klein told financial analysts in July 2023, only customers running its flagship S/4HANA ERP platform through the cloud-based subscription offering, Rise with SAP, will receive the company’s latest AI and carbon-accounting innovations. Those running SAP’s older ERP software, ECC, or S/4HANA on premises or in hosted environments are out of luck — and that’s no small number. Last year, a UK & Ireland SAP User Group (UKISUG) survey found that only 21% of its members running S/4HANA were using the private- or public-cloud edition. The proportion was similar among members of DSAG, the German-speaking SAP User Group. The user groups have criticized SAP’s cloud-only innovation policy, saying those paying to use the software in other environments deserve a fair return, too, and that the company should pay more attention to those running its software on premises. No change in direction From April 1, Saueressig’s replacement as head of SAP’s product engineering organization will be Muhammad Alam. In a statement announcing the two appointments, Plattner gave no indication he wanted Alam to change the cloud-first direction set by Saueressig. “He’s well-suited to continue driving the success of our product engineering teams,” he said of Alam. Alam has only been with SAP since January 2022, when he was hired as chief product officer for Intelligent Spend, the company’s procurement, travel, and expense management tools, and for Business Network, its portfolio of products for managing relationships with trading partners. Prior to that, Alam spent 17 years at Microsoft, first as an enterprise strategy consultant and later as a product leader for its ERP and CRM suite, Dynamics, working on its transformation into the software-as-a-service offering, Dynamics 365. Support for adoption Ritu Bhargava, president and chief product officer for SAP Industries & CX, says developing new features that customers want is one thing, but ensuring they’re adopted is another, and Saueressig’s new role will help with that. “His focus is going to help us take the products and be that bridge between customer success and customer service, to really expand on the footprint of what we already have, with not just our customer base, but also our adoption base.” Cloud accounted for 45% of SAP’s revenue in Q3 of 2023, up from 40% a year earlier. The company will announce its Q4 and full-year results on January 24. Related content news Google spurs US to ease immigration rules for tech talent Citing a US talent shortage, the tech giant has urged the Department of Labor to expand Schedule A occupations to include AI, software engineering, and cybersecurity roles. By Sascha Brodsky May 01, 2024 4 mins H-1B Visas Hiring Technology Industry brandpost Sponsored by Cisco Reduce your network complexity with AI Jumpstart your AI-enabled network transformation now to achieve multiple benefits. By Matt Landry May 01, 2024 5 mins Networking brandpost Sponsored by SAP Internet startup launches while embracing adoption Internet provider Brightspeed had to replicate information from its SAP solutions to AI-ready, data analytics platform Google BigQuery. SAP’s adoption strategy helped empower the company to become an intelligent enterprise. By Keith Elliot Greenberg, SAP Contributor May 01, 2024 4 mins Digital Transformation feature Expectations vs. reality: A real-world check on generative AI Now with the benefit of hindsight, organizations are more aware of moving cautiously to ensure gen AI delivers rather than disappoints. By Mary Branscombe May 01, 2024 11 mins Microsoft Generative AI Development Tools PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe