Thursday, April 05, 2007
Special report: SAP technology chief jumps ship - 03 Apr 2007
Special report: SAP technology chief jumps ship - 03 Apr 2007: "Gartner’s Daniel Sholler reckons there will be fall-out from Agassi’s departure. “For more than six years, Shai Agassi has been SAP's technology visionary and internal change agent,” he says. “We believe SAP will become more focused on delivering a portfolio of products, rather than a single product with a focused strategy. NetWeaver will remain the technology foundation of these multiple products and SAP will continue to support and enhance its flagship MySAP product.
“But customers must now consider that MySAP is not the only product and that it will be increasingly flanked by new offerings — including application suites — focused on different markets. SAP has stated it intends to announce the first of these major product initiatives during 2007. We believe that differences of opinion about this strategy shift, coupled with issues about the succession of the CEO, were the reasons for Agassi's departure.
“Agassi’s role as change agent was likely almost over, given that the company's strategy has become somewhat fixed. These recent adjustments move SAP in a more conservative direction. Whether Agassi would have done a good job of stewarding this strategy can't be known. The role of public visionary will pass to a new executive; it's not yet clear who that will be.”
For SAP there must be the fear that Agassi will decide to join a rival firm. “The most damaging possibility for SAP would be that Agassi could be tempted back into the software world to lead a competitor,” notes Ovum’s David Bradshaw. “When asked if there was a non-compete clause in Agassi's contract, Plattner seemed to imply there wasn't. Instead he said that Agassi has ruled this out completely."
“But customers must now consider that MySAP is not the only product and that it will be increasingly flanked by new offerings — including application suites — focused on different markets. SAP has stated it intends to announce the first of these major product initiatives during 2007. We believe that differences of opinion about this strategy shift, coupled with issues about the succession of the CEO, were the reasons for Agassi's departure.
“Agassi’s role as change agent was likely almost over, given that the company's strategy has become somewhat fixed. These recent adjustments move SAP in a more conservative direction. Whether Agassi would have done a good job of stewarding this strategy can't be known. The role of public visionary will pass to a new executive; it's not yet clear who that will be.”
For SAP there must be the fear that Agassi will decide to join a rival firm. “The most damaging possibility for SAP would be that Agassi could be tempted back into the software world to lead a competitor,” notes Ovum’s David Bradshaw. “When asked if there was a non-compete clause in Agassi's contract, Plattner seemed to imply there wasn't. Instead he said that Agassi has ruled this out completely."
