Help The World Run Better? Count Me In

As of August 1st 2021 I am the Head of Product Strategy for SAP S/4HANA and Chief Evangelist Cloud ERP.

That made me smile when I wrote it.

It still doesn’t quite seem real.

There are many reasons given as to why people change companies. Most of those reasons focus on problems at the employee’s former company. That certainly wasn’t the case for me. I was very fortunate to spend five incredible years at Gartner, working with some of the best and brightest colleagues and clients. Many are now good friends. I had the honour to present at multiple Gartner Symposia including being part of the keynote for the EMEA 2020 Symposium. I provided strategic advice to the world’s leading technology companies, often struggling to maintain my cool when surrounded by legends of the industry whom I greatly respect and admire. (Talking ice hockey to Hasso Plattner is still a high point of my career.)

So why would I move to SAP?

The job title alone should partly answer that question. Head of Product Strategy for the market share leader in ERP and the third largest software company in the world. Not too shabby as we say in the UK. Chief Evangelist Cloud ERP means I get to talk about ERP. A lot. To lots of people. I love presenting to audiences on ERP. I am passionate about ERP and in particular about dispelling?the myth that ERP is boring, old fashioned back-office stuff. In fact, to paraphrase Shrek “it’s getting him to shut up that’s the trick.”

So yes, I’m passionate about ERP. All ERP. I have the utmost respect for our competitors many of whom I know very well. But to me SAP is something a wee bit more special and here is why:

• SAP has been the leader in ERP for almost half a century. I can’t think of many other companies in any industry, with any product that can say that.
• SAP knows that cloud isn’t just about infrastructure, platforms and software. It is about mind-set and culture and partnerships and adaptability and passion. No-one goes into a store and says “shopkeeper, i would like to buy your product because you run your ERP solution in the cloud.” It is what you do with those business processes and outcomes that is important. Cloud ERP is so much more than running on somebody else’s servers.
• SAP continues to reinvent itself. I’m a failed rock star. (lots of ambition but lacking on talent). So I use music analogies a lot. SAP, to me, is akin to David Bowie or Tom Waits – constantly adapting, constantly evolving, but always legendary.
• SAP has the coolest customers. Look at LiveKindly or Allbirds as examples. Not what most people would consider to be typical SAP ERP customers. And that is one of the myths I also hope to dispel – there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ SAP ERP customer.
• SAP has great employees. Now I probably know about 100 or so people within SAP which is about 0.1% of the employee base. But those 100 are pretty darn nice.
• SAP cares about its employees. It is a recognised leader for inclusion and diversity and a champion of mental wellbeing at work. These things are very important to me and I believe to the workforce at large.
• SAP has great leadership. I’m not just saying this to ingratiate myself with my new bosses, but I’ve been fortunate to have worked with most of the board members in the past and I have always been impressed with their honesty, integrity and commitment to their customers and employees.
• SAP has been a leader in sustainability for over a decade and S/4HANA is at the forefront of helpings organisations focus on shifting away from Take-Make-Waste and towards the circular economy.

I could continue but hopefully you get the point. My main reason for joining SAP can be summed up by one sentence:

SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives

How awesome is it to be able say “and I’m a part of it”?