At the SAP+Sybase media event today in Boston, both software companies unveiled their roadmap for the next 9 months to launch an “Unwired Platform” that will bring SAP applications anywhere, to any device.
A strategy that is paramount for SAP, if it wants to reach its ambitious goal of 1 billion users in 2015; 3 times the number of its current user base.
“60% of the world’s transactions touch SAP,” said SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott.
According to McDermott, the 38-years old German company is now:
- The #1 software business applications company in the world;
- The #1 in business intelligence software;
- The #1 in business analytics software;
- And now the #1 mobile leader in the business software industry after the Sybase acquisition.
In a follow-up interview, I’ve asked Bill McDermott what the Sybase acquisition means for SMBs:
The small companies want mobile even more than the big ones because they don’t have the infrastructure, the onsite systems. So either the computing powers coming on-premise, from on-demand or in the cloud, everyone wants to enable it on device. Especially the small and mid-size ones.
Small and mid companies are the suitespot for SAP and Sybase because the mobile is going to go even faster, is going to be even more important for companies that don’t have a lot of infrastructure and a lot of complexity/ They’re going to want to enable their mobile workers.
McDermott went also to great length to explain that SAP is not a “command and control” kind of company anymore and that its management team is very racially diverse pointing to Sybase CEO John Chen (Chinese) and SAP CTO Vishal Sikka of Indian origin.
“Look at this leadership team. Coming from all corners of the globe. All different skillsets. All different cultures. The know-how is amazing. It’s a very collaborative management team. Not a control and command style,” adds McDermott.
Not sure why he thought this was an important thing to point to. Perhaps there was a time when everybody at SAP were blond with blue eyes, fluent in German and wearing a tie!
