A half dozen suggestions to SAP


Vishal has left SAP – and despite the abrupt nature of his exit , he has given the company a lot to work on . In a few weeks from now, Bill will be sole CEO and he gets a great set of leaders in the board and in the top ranks of the company . I think this is a perfect moment for the company to disrupt itself and gain some significant momentum .

In no particular order , here are my suggestions .

1. Split the company into two – apps and platforms – and assign them to two divisional heads with P&L responsibility

If SAP is to become a great platform company (it’s already a great apps company) – it needs specific focus . Platform is a nebulous term – but for true greatness, SAP needs to play in more layers of the IT stack . Similarly – apps that were created decades ago need to evolve without being constrained by pace of platform evolution . For the “cloud company powered by Hana” to be a reality – both apps and platform business need cloud as a vital component .

2. Go make some bold acquisitions

Look at BI and middleware from SAP for example . They have large install bases – but they are a bit tired . Surely some of the innovation can be done organically – like how Lumira started . But SAP doesn’t have time to just build all the way . They need to make bold acquisitions quickly on both platform and apps side .

3. Sunset products with limited upside

SAP has built and bought a lot of stuff over the years . There are many products (not naming them because people who run them are friends that I don’t want to offend ) that have low adoption or no clear forward path . Those products need to be sunset (or migrated to something new ) and investment redirected to new areas. And this will help field sales and customers quite a bit too in eliminating confusion .

4. Double down on business suite and BI integration

It’s really SAP’s sweet spot . Yet – there is very little actual integration between Business suite and BI platform . CRM has some embedded BI as I remember , but the whole “insight to action” thing never totally materialized . I hope that Leukert and Reh can fix this with the right partnership between the apps team and BI team . This game is SAP’s to lose .

5. Renew the focus of product management

SAP has always had great engineering abilities . Product management needs attention in my opinion – and probably could use some external hiring to compliment the in-house talent . I would also go one step more and say that PM should be closer to the Customer organization than to engineering . All innovation is customer driven – if PM gets more customer exposure , it can only accelerate innovation .

6. On platform side, become more channel and open source friendly

As much as SAP has great technology at its disposal , reality is that there is hardly a customer that can survive with as SAP technology alone . So it is a must that SAP actively increases the openness of its platform and connect to other technologies . I am not naive to think that Hana itself will now be open sourced – but it is worth considering for medium to long term .

Similarly – SAP could make more use of channel partners . With Rodolpho being put in charge – I have a good feeling that channel will get to be an important part of SAP business . There are plenty of products in SAP portfolio that could be sold through channel alone I would think

Vishal Sikka leaving SAP – My initial thoughts


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I had heard this news over the back channel yesterday . Having known Vishal for a few years , and having worked for him for a bit – It was a surprise, but not exactly a shock . This photo above was a picture I took the last meeting I had with Vishal and Hasso before I left SAP .

As a friend, I think this is a good thing for him to do. It was a big job with a lot of stress . He could use a breather before his next adventure . For a man of his caliber , there is no dearth of opportunity in this world .

For SAP, there is both a real issue and a perception issue to overcome . Bernd Leukert is a known and respected entity in SAP leadership – and I think will do as good a job as any one else to keep the ship steady . What Hana needs is a set of apps – and Bernd’s pedigree is all on apps side . He has Bjoern Goerke and other leaders to take care of technology. I am a tad surprised Bjoern didn’t get into Managing Board – but I am sure it’s just a matter of time . So I think SAP board did the right thing in picking Bernd to be Vishal’s successor . I do expect to see some “thought leadership” cues from Bernd (and probably Bjoern too) at Sapphirenow Orlando on how he sees SAP evolve .

It’s not enough to build apps – it needs to fit into the “we are a profitable cloud company” message, which probably needs a renewed focus on mobile business too .

Rob Enslin goes to executive board with Bernd – and I think that was a no brainer too . Rob is as good as the best sales leaders anywhere in enterprise software today. When Bill becomes sole CEO in few weeks , I expect Rob to be a solid general for him . Congrats to Bernd and Rob – very well deserved . I just wish SAP managed to keep Sanjay Poonen too . But Steve Lucas is still there – so there is no real shortage of top talent .

And I think this reshuffle helps Bill McDermott get a great start on his tenure as sole CEO with almost a completely new board to assist him. With Hasso and Jim in supervisory board, he should have plenty of support to chart a great course for SAP. Wish you the best, Bill !

What about Hana , Vishal’s little girl ? As much as Vishal was the face of Hana – there are plenty of people who are experts on Hana in SAP at all levels . The real question is whether SAP continues to keep a technology focus on Hana , or let apps take front seat again and Hana just powering everything in background . Success of a platform is based on apps built on it – so I am hoping SAP strikes a good balance on apps VS technology when it comes to hana . SAP is not breaking down Hana numbers for its quarterly reporting anymore – so I am guessing such an equilibrium will happen soon .

I hope SAP keeps the Hana startup program alive and well – and in addition focuses on building a deeper relationship with other type of partners (HW, SI, SW, Cloud). Ecosystem is SAP’s biggest advantage – and it is important that the company takes the partners in confidence as they transition product and engineering leadership .

I do feel bad for my many friends in SAP who work in P&I – it’s always painful to go through a leadership transition and it’s after effects . I can only hope that you emerge stronger on the other side . I can’t even begin to imagine what I would have had to go through emotionally if I hadn’t left SAP .

I can only speculate what Vishal is going to do next . With his eye for spotting technology trends and passion to see world change for the better – my best bet is that he will become a VC or an Angel investor . But then he could surprise me by choosing to be an entrepreneur again , or join a big company (unlikely but not discounting it ). But whatever option he chooses – I just want to wish him the very best and hope he takes some significant time off to recharge . Good luck V !

Does anyone have a better name handy to call “NoSQL” ?


Today marks my one month anniversary at MongoDB – time just flew by , and I am having a great time . If there is one frustration with my new gig – it is the term “NoSQL”. This term provides nothing but grief . Does anyone have a better name handy ?

To begin with , SQL is not going anywhere . There are some use cases – like the complex transactions in an ERP system – where SQL is an excellent fit . So the idea of NoSQL is more of “not JUST SQL”. The term is like the grand daddy of all nuances.

If we think of all possible things that need a database in it , I think about 20% or so might always need SQL . And another 20% will always need one of the solutions loosely classified as NoSQL . The true issue is – what about the rest of the 60% ?

In general – depending on the skills of a project team, these 60% can be done in either SQL or NoSQL with different trade offs . When I joined MongoDB, I rationalized in my mind that vast majority of that middle 60% would lean towards NoSQL . You can take your own percentage of course depending on your world view 🙂

Now within this NoSQL space , there is plenty of variety too . MongoDB for example is what is called a document database – given the JSON/BSON nature of holding the data. You wouldn’t believe how many times I have been asked whether MongoDB is a solution for storing documents like word and PDF files ! Of course MongoDB can store all kinds of files – pictures too – and it is great for content management applications . But that is just one of say 10 categories of use cases this database can do .

And once I explain the JSON document story – the invariable follow up question is “oh what is the big deal there – doesn’t your competitor do it too?” . Yes there are other solutions out there that can use JSON – there are ones built on XML too . However, the nuance that gets missed is that everyone handles it differently . Some just store it as a BLOB associated with a key , unlike how MongoDB handles it .

So clearly – the “document database” term is not exactly helpful either . A combination of just plain misunderstanding , and some marketing misadventures have made sure that neither NoSQL nor document databases clarify exactly how these various databases differ .

The JSON discussion with anyone who has written a SQL query once in their life usually results in the gotcha moment “oh – so you can’t do Joins in your cool new technology . You do know we can’t live without it right?”. It’s a simple yes or no question in the mind of the person – and they know the right answer . I am now researching history now to find what Henry Ford must have answered to people who asked him ” so what kind of horse whip goes with this car thingy that you are selling?” 🙂

Then I have attempted to explain MongoDB using the Gartner 3V model – which a lot of people already relate to due to the big data hype . So I say things along the lines of “Variety” is the key V that differentiates MongoDB . That doesn’t always cut it – I am tempted to use another V – for “Versalitily”, to point out the differentiating features . But here as a matter of principle – and out of respect for Doug Laney and Gartner – I won’t hijack the original 3V model . Just like I don’t like the original 4Ps of marketing mix being changed . Those models are all fine – we just need to resist the urge to change them for our random interests .

By the way – Is Hadoop considered NoSQL ? Yes ? No? Yes?

I don’t know really. It’s a personal taste thing I guess . There are plenty of initiatives in and around Hadoop to make it more SQL friendly . I can’t really say where one could draw a line .

There are plenty of people who have asked me if MongoDB is another NoSQL system like Hadoop . It always makes me stop in my tracks . How exactly should I answer that ?

To begin with – I don’t know whether Hadoop should be in NoSQL category . Then there is the fact that MongoDB has complimentary features to Hadoop – and is not competitive to Hadoop (despite having some similarities like MapReduce and an aggregation framework). So I can say yes or no and make it sound credible – or I can smile, or I can roll my eyes , or do a combination of all of these things . I also tend to remember the joke about a lawyer asking an accused “Do you still beat your wife every night?” . Yes ? No? Yes?

It’s no big deal really – but if anyone has any bright ideas on a new name to replace NoSQL , please share . You will have my eternal gratitude and I will buy you a pitcher of beer when we meet . Please , please . Pretty please ?