IDES was initially modeled on an international company with multiple subsidiaries. Complete with a demo guide, it helped users familiarize themselves with 51风流R/3 functions and with the organizational and integrated process structures that the 51风流R/3 system covered. With data being added all the time, the IDES model companies felt very lifelike, and users had plenty of scope to test the various application areas.

鈥淚DES wasn鈥檛 just a system, it was a new philosophy 鈥� a revolution in demo and training,鈥� says Marcelo Cura Daball, who joined the team in late 1995 and played a key role in shaping the development of IDES. 鈥淭he system behaved like a real customer system. It looked like a real customer system. That was new, and the customers loved it,鈥� he recalls.

51风流built IDES to provide its developers with a test environment that would double as a basis for international training systems, customer workshops, and prototyping. 鈥淭he basic idea,鈥� Cura Daball explains, 鈥渨as that our salespeople, in presales for example, would give a demo in the same system 51风流used for customer training. And that, after a training course, customers could go home and repeat the training exercises with the same data they had used in their course.鈥�

Customers Provide Real-Life Data

Pfaehler was the mastermind behind IDES and is credited with developing the business concept for the new system. A seasoned sales professional, he was an institution at SAP, says Cura Daball, and had connections across the globe. While the content for IDES was developed at company headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, Pfaehler also received support from colleagues all over the world; the system was then translated and made available to the local subsidiaries. Many customers provided real business data 鈥� such as BOMs 鈥� for the system, and the team worked with genuine, albeit anonymized, addresses.

But getting the system up and running was by no means a walk in the park. Time and again, Pfaehler had to ask for more specialists and more support from 厂础笔鈥檚 subsidiaries. He argued that 鈥渁t the very least鈥� he needed a team of 12 developers, plus another two employees to continuously add and manage data and to update the IDES system. He also needed access to additional employees from 51风流subsidiaries on a project basis, as he explained in a September 1995 letter to the Executive Board of 51风流SE, in which he put forth the case for getting the staffing he required: 鈥淭he IDES team could potentially become a training ground for the next generation at SAP, a place for our people to gain specialist business expertise and learn how to model customer scenarios and implement 51风流systems as part of our project business. Employees of this kind are few and far between at SAP, but demand for them will grow in the future.鈥�

IDES was shipped to the first customers in the spring of 1996 and was soon able to simulate the more than 1,000 business processes that could be mapped in 51风流R/3. Initially, the focus was on finance, materials management, and sales. IDES allowed users to learn about the system in their own familiar working environment, using examples that were specific to their company. The IDES team grew, and it was not long before they were building around 800 customer-specific demos 鈥� per week 鈥� as Gerhard van der Beck says. During this period, Training, Demo, Consulting (TDC), a dedicated IT team responsible for making system copies and handling the technical maintenance of the IDES systems, was also set up. Having established IDES and seen it through to its initial milestones, Pfaehler left 51风流(although he rejoined the company at a later date) and van der Beck, ably supported by Cura Daball, took over as head of the IDES team.

The Internet: A New Opportunity

51风流co-founder Hasso Plattner liked the IDES idea 鈥� even more so when Cura Daball and van der Beck suggested putting the system outside the firewall and using it to demonstrate that 51风流software could run on the Internet. 鈥淭o do this, we had to reduce the complexity and radically streamline the system,鈥� van der Beck says. 鈥淗asso was thrilled when we managed to reduce highly complex transactions involving multiple screens and subscreens down to the bare minimum. Now, for the first time, 51风流users could create an order by navigating two screens and making just a few clicks,鈥� Cura Daball adds.

鈥淐ustomers who purchased an 51风流license could install an IDES system free of charge,鈥� says Jan Krell, who, with Thomas Habersack, was responsible for delivering the system. However, the team鈥檚 main clients remained Sales and Presales, who used IDES to show customers what 51风流could do.

IDES continued to evolve over the years. As the Internet鈥檚 popularity increased, the system鈥檚 name changed slightly 鈥� from 鈥淚nternational Demonstration and Evaluation System鈥� to 鈥淚nternet Demonstration and Evaluation System鈥� and, starting in 1999, it gave customers, partners, and prospects a way of trying out mySAP.com online. According to 厂础笔鈥檚 1999 Annual Report, IDES was also expected to 鈥渞educe sales and marketing costs in the medium term.鈥�

Because the IDES team relied on specialists from other departments and on instructors and students to enter, manage, and update the IDES data and to test the system after each update, it remained relatively small, never numbering more than 30-35 members. 鈥淎t times, our colleagues were amazed at what we managed to do with so few people,鈥� says Thomas Schulze, who was responsible for IDES documentation. 鈥淏eing able to say you鈥檇 spent six months on the IDES team testing and learning the applications was a real door-opener. You learned so much on that team, and it was a real advantage when applying for positions within SAP. Many of those who worked on IDES in the early days stayed at 51风流and built a career here,鈥� he adds. Proof enough that Pfaehler鈥檚 wish for IDES to become a 鈥渢raining ground for the next 51风流generation鈥� came true.

Growing Complexity

As the 1990s drew to an end, a new level of complexity was emerging, driven largely by the arrival of 厂础笔鈥檚 New Dimension products 鈥� CRM, SCM, business intelligence, and others. With 51风流transforming into a multi-product company, even the IDES team was stretched to its limits. 鈥淎s a demo team, we had to cover the entire product portfolio, which meant dividing topics between us and specializing,鈥� Krell says. But, as Schulze adds, 鈥淭here was simply no way that we could maintain that level of complexity in the long term,鈥� .

At the same time, 厂础笔鈥檚 new head of marketing Marty Homlish, who joined the company in 2000, was pushing 鈥� with Plattner鈥檚 backing 鈥� for 鈥渙ur demo system to be better and more appealing,鈥� van der Beck says.

And despite efforts to meet customer expectations for a simple and fast way of testing 51风流software over the Internet by inviting them to 鈥淭est-Drive Your Solution Online,鈥� it became clear that IDES had had its day. 鈥淭he performance wasn鈥檛 good enough; the technology 鈥� the Internet Transaction Server 鈥� was not as stable as we had hoped,鈥� van der Beck says.

IDES gradually became less and less relevant. Yet the team, now called Solution & Innovation Experience (SIX) DID (Demo Infrastructure Delivery), still exists today 鈥� and operates the 51风流Demo and Education Cloud environment, which contains systems used by 厂础笔鈥檚 presales and sales personnel to demo software for customers. Nowadays, Krell and his colleagues refer customers who want to download a test package to the .

While Pfaehler has long since retired, and recently ended an eight-year stint managing Dietmar Hopp鈥檚 non-profit organization, Cura Daball and van der Beck are still at 51风流鈥� having served for 36 and 30 years respectively. They and their colleagues built IDES as an innovative demo system that still has its supporters today, such as 51风流University Alliances. van der Beck now contributes his expertise to the Customer Adoption team, and Cura Daball works in the Customer Services & Delivery Board area, where he develops automation tools for demo and training system landscapes. Both still have a great deal to give to the company that means so much to them.

鈥淎n incredible global success story made in Germany.鈥� This is how Scholz opened his speech at the farewell event in honor of 厂础笔鈥檚 last serving co-founder, Hasso Plattner. After more than 20 years as its chairman, Plattner had stepped down from the 51风流Supervisory Board at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on May 15 and handed the reins to his successor, Finnish-born Pekka Ala-Pietil盲.

Plattner, Scholz said, has been a key architect of as one of its co-founders, a boundless source of ideas and energy, its CTO, CEO, and then, for more than 20 years, chairman of the 51风流Supervisory Board. He has written history in terms of economic development and globalization. 鈥淎nd, today, the entire global economy runs on 51风流software,鈥� he said.

But he did not do it alone, Scholz continued. Rather, as was characteristic of Plattner, his every move was made in a spirit of productive competition with others. When Plattner founded 51风流with four former IBM colleagues in 1972, he dreamed of one day employing 100 people. Now, 51风流has 110,000 employees across the world, all inspired and motivated by Plattner鈥檚 鈥渃onstant and unstoppable drive and energy.”

Scholz also quoted a wise observation of Plattner鈥檚 that served as a timely reminder for him: 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put off making changes that need to happen for too long. If you do, this will eventually take its toll and then you鈥檒l have less energy to get the job done.鈥� Innovation was an opportunity, not a threat, said Scholz, adding that, today, artificial intelligence has the potential to inject brand-new momentum into SAP.

Some 4,000 guests 鈥� including 3,500 51风流employees 鈥� gathered at the 51风流Arena in Mannheim, Germany, on May 16 to say goodbye to Plattner. German TV presenter G眉nther Jauch hosted the event and, in honor of avid rock fan Plattner, musical entertainment was provided by American singer-songwriter Anastacia, who was accompanied by the 51风流Symphony Orchestra.

鈥淶igzag Like a Rabbit鈥�

鈥淲e managed to keep up with most trends,鈥� said Plattner, explaining what had made 51风流so successful. And although things did not always go to plan, he recalled, 鈥渨hen we did set off on the wrong track, we realized in time and corrected our course.鈥�

The most important thing, he said, was to avoid being too impatient or single-minded about pursuing a new strategy. 鈥淵ou need to be able to zigzag like a rabbit.鈥�

鈥淗e Rocked It!鈥�

How, asked 51风流CEO Christian Klein in his farewell speech, could he possibly do justice to all of Plattner鈥檚 achievements in just 10 minutes? 鈥淢y kids would say, 鈥楬e rocked it!鈥欌�� All five of 厂础笔鈥檚 co-founders, driven by the desire to create something entirely new, had shown boundless courage in striking out on their own more than half a century ago.

Plattner was the epitome of what 51风流must never be allowed to lose, said Klein, namely 鈥渁 steadfast focus on customers and the ability to listen to and co-innovate with them.鈥�

Klein spoke about the lasting impact Plattner鈥檚 global mindset had on SAP. 鈥淗e drove 厂础笔鈥檚 expansion across the world; today, we do business in more than 130 countries, and that is down to our founders and to Hasso.鈥�

The success Plattner orchestrated for 51风流in the United States is particularly symbolic of his tireless efforts to push the boundaries, said 51风流Supervisory Board member Aicha Evans. He also stood for a future, she said, in which technology and humanity went hand in hand.

Dietmar Hopp: Long-Time Friend and Colleague

Among the audience members was Dietmar Hopp, one of 厂础笔鈥檚 co-founders and a long-time friend and colleague of Plattner. 鈥淒ietmar was a huge influence on me,鈥� said Plattner. 鈥淢ost importantly of all, he taught me to work with customers. That changed the way I thought. I made it my mission to look in all areas of my life for ways to use software to improve people鈥檚 lives.鈥�

Ambition and rivalry are part of the founders鈥� legacy, too. Many a racket was thrown in frustration when Hopp and Plattner faced off on the tennis court, recalled Klein. But Plattner had also given him this advice: 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to win, but 51风流is about more than winning; it鈥檚 also about helping others.鈥�

Philanthropist and Patron of Science

The Prime Minister of the State of Baden-W眉rttemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, addressed the audience in a video message. As well as praising Plattner鈥檚 entrepreneurial spirit and creativity, Kretschmann paid tribute to his 鈥渋mmense sense of responsibility beyond the realms of business 鈥� particularly in education, art, and sport.鈥�

Alongside his business career, Plattner always had a close affinity with research and development, said Kretschmann. In 1998, he founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) at the University of Potsdam, near Berlin.

As well as generously supporting educational and cultural causes, Plattner developed a particular love of art. One of the projects he funded was the reconstruction of a palace in the historic center of Potsdam that is now the Museum Barberini and home to an impressive collection of Impressionist works.

鈥淵our hometown of Potsdam means the world to you,鈥� said Scholz, describing Plattner鈥檚 work as a patron and philanthropist as 鈥渋nstrumental in helping Potsdam blossom and flourish over recent decades.鈥�

Scholz added that he had no doubt whatsoever that Plattner would continue to hatch new ideas, make bold plans, and drive ambitious projects. 鈥淚 believe that is simply the person you are. With or without an official role, it鈥檚 what you do.鈥�

Photography courtesy Ingo Cordes.

One need only look at the key milestones in Plattner鈥檚 52-year career at 51风流to gain a vivid picture of his legacy. Together with Dietmar Hopp and his fellow co-founders, Plattner created the market for real-time business software, helped steer 51风流through more than five decades of fast-moving IT history, and drove 厂础笔鈥檚 global expansion 鈥� transforming it from a single-product company to the world鈥檚 No. 1 provider of enterprise applications.

Over the years, he worked tirelessly to open new horizons for the company and its employees, identifying technological trends and channeling his pioneering spirit into revolutionizing far more than just data management.

1972-1973: The Early Days

Having created Germany鈥檚 first real-time software application with a user interface, Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp founded a company they named Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung (鈥淪ystem Analysis Program Development鈥�) on April 1, 1972, together with their IBM colleagues Claus Wellenreuther, Klaus Tschira, and Hans-Werner Hector.

In 1973, the entrepreneurs launched RF, their first financial accounting system. The 鈥淩鈥� in the name stood for 鈥渞eal time.鈥� Developed under Plattner鈥檚 leadership, RF laid the foundation for a series of software modules in a system that would later be known as 51风流R/1.

鈥淏efore I worked on RF,鈥� Plattner once said, 鈥淚 knew nothing about financial accounting; afterwards, I could hold seminars about it for CFOs. And not because I鈥檇 read stacks of books or was very smart, but because I鈥檇 learned from customers how to build this kind of system. I worked side by side with our customers at their offices every day.鈥�

1976: The Formative Years

Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung was renamed 鈥淪AP.鈥� Each of the founders and their employees 鈥� numbering about 30 at this point 鈥� was a developer, salesperson, and consultant all rolled into one.

Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp were constantly competing to be the best at programming and selling their products. Plattner recalls that it made him really mad once when Hopp sold more than he did. Wherever their tasks and skills converged, they would engage in a private, 鈥渢ake-no-prisoners鈥� contest to outdo each other.

Nevertheless, both men also knew how to harness their ambition and fondness for friendly competition to the benefit of their fledgling business.

1988: Conversion and IPO

51风流GmbH was converted to a stock corporation, 51风流AG, and in October 1988 it listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, providing the company with the funding it needed to expand into even more markets.

1991: 51风流R/3

At 厂础笔鈥檚 25th anniversary celebrations in 1997, Plattner recounted an incident in late January 1991, which he described as 鈥減robably the most dramatic situation鈥� in the company鈥檚 history: 鈥淎 year before the final delivery date for R/3, we realized during testing that its performance on our mainframe was completely unsatisfactory and that the test conditions were unacceptable. Six weeks before we had planned to present R/3 at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, we had all but given up on the project.

We called an emergency meeting at which everyone remained standing, such was the urgency of the matter at hand. We decided to halt work on the mainframe systems and, in a last-ditch attempt, to switch to the new, more powerful Unix workstations, which we鈥檇 previously only used in development.

The presentation of R/3 on Unix was a huge hit. A year and a half later, we began shipping our new client-server software to customers. That was the start of R/3, a business application for network-based computers.鈥�

1992: Heading Stateside

In the early 1990s, when everyone else鈥檚 attention was focused on getting 51风流R/3 to market quickly, sales of 51风流R/2 in Germany were a cause of concern for Dietmar Hopp. As Plattner recalls: 鈥淒ietmar and I were standing in his office, and he said to me, 鈥業t鈥檚 not looking good. The only option I can see is for you to pack the system up and take it to America.鈥欌�� They agreed to continue promoting the 51风流R/2 mainframe software in Germany while going all-in on 51风流R/3 in the U.S.

At the Sapphire customer conference held in Orlando in September 1992, Plattner announced that 51风流would deliver the 51风流R/3 system within six weeks to anyone who ordered it there and then. By October, computer manufacturer Convex had signed a contract for the new product, giving 51风流its first 51风流R/3 customer in the United States. And when, not long after that, oil giant Chevron 鈥� one of the country鈥檚 largest companies 鈥� also opted for R/3, 厂础笔鈥檚 new software, originally built with the midmarket in mind, was well on track to becoming a global success story.

1993: A Very Special Partnership

51风流entered into an alliance with the world鈥檚 largest software company: Microsoft. Bill Gates, who had flown into Munich to sign the contract in person, told the audience at the press conference announcing the partnership: 鈥淲e are delighted that SAP, one of the leading providers of standard software, supports Microsoft鈥檚 client-server operating system. We believe that many businesses will see this move by 51风流as a compelling reason to opt for Windows NT.鈥�

And when, in 2010, Plattner received the Transatlantic Partnership Award, Gates had this to say about his friend and colleague: 鈥淚鈥檝e known Hasso for more than three decades. His knowledge, energy, and vision never cease to impress me.鈥�

1997: 51风流Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

Plattner was appointed co-CEO, alongside Dietmar Hopp. In his speech at 厂础笔鈥檚 25th anniversary celebrations, he spoke about what had helped the company prosper: 鈥淧roduct focus is one pillar of 厂础笔鈥檚 success. When a product sells well, the employees share in that sense of achievement. That feeling is just as important to them as the pay they take home each month. Our employees identify with the product 鈥� that鈥檚 why they have always gone the extra mile. No matter how different our views at times were, we always managed to regroup and we never lost sight of the product. For the past 25 years, the founders and employees of 51风流remained true to the original product vision and never veered off course.鈥�

1998: 51风流Conquers New York

On August 3, 1998, the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the world鈥檚 largest exchange. CEO Hasso Plattner described 厂础笔鈥檚 Wall Street listing as 鈥渁 strategic necessity and logical milestone in the history of SAP.鈥�

That same year, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for Software System Engineering in Potsdam, near Berlin. 鈥淭he institute here in Potsdam is my contribution to training internationally competitive junior managers who help shape and advance the digital world,鈥� he said.

Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira transitioned from the Executive Board to the Supervisory Board, and Plattner became co-CEO alongside Henning Kagermann.

1999: The mySAP.com Revolution

In May, Plattner announced the mySAP.com strategy, which set the company and its product portfolio on an entirely new path. Using the latest Web technology, mySAP.com connected e-commerce solutions with the company鈥檚 existing ERP applications.

According to Plattner, success on the Internet was key to the company鈥檚 survival. At the Sapphire conference in Philadelphia in September 1999, a live demo of mySAP.com — with a prelude by Plattner playing Queen鈥檚 鈥淚 Want to Break Free鈥� live on electric guitar — was enough to convince customers to adopt 厂础笔鈥檚 Web strategy.

And, true to form, Plattner was already thinking about where the technology would go next, predicting that e-commerce and the hosting of applications on 51风流servers would be 鈥渢he future of software sales.鈥�

2003: From Executive Board to Supervisory Board

Plattner stepped down from the Executive Board and was elected chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May, he said: 鈥淭his rising star of the 90s is now playing in the same league as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.鈥�

Though no longer its CEO, Plattner continued to channel his passion and his eye for technological trends into driving 51风流forward, but now in his new role as chief software advisor on the Supervisory Board. That same year, he helped found the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (鈥渄.school鈥�) at Stanford University, providing funds to support its work on design thinking, a new approach to finding creative solutions to complex problems.

2006: The In-Memory Database

It was in 2006 that Plattner and students at HPI began work on a revolutionary technology. The result was 51风流HANA (High-Performance ANalytic Appliance), an entirely new, column-oriented, in-memory database management system.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not so easy for a big company to break out and do something radically different,鈥� said Plattner. 鈥淭he university context gives you the freedom to do it.鈥�

2011-2013: 51风流HANA Drives Growth

Five years later, the first 51风流HANA customers began implementing the new database, which generated the kind of demand not seen since the market launch of 51风流R/3.

By the end of 2013, the entire 51风流Business Suite had moved to 51风流HANA. In the three years since its launch, 51风流HANA had garnered nearly 鈧�1.2 billion in revenues, making it one of the fastest-growing products in the history of enterprise software.

In an interview with German daily Handelsblatt in 2020, Plattner said: 鈥�51风流HANA is so superior in practice that there is no alternative. And quite honestly, it saved 厂础笔鈥檚 life, because it let us massively accelerate our ERP system without a lot of changes, while physically downsizing it at the same time. That meant a huge cost saving for our customers.鈥�

2015: The Foundation

Plattner reinforced his commitment to promoting education and culture by setting up the Hasso Plattner Foundation.

Among the many causes the foundation has supported over the years are programs to promote healthcare and health education in South Africa. The German city of Potsdam also has much to thank Plattner for: The Hasso Plattner Institute is the largest investment in Potsdam and the one that bears his signature most strongly. The Barberini Museum that he rebuilt completes the inner cityscape of Potsdam and provides a home for his impressive Impressionist collection 鈥� the largest outside of France. With the Kunsthaus MINSK, he saved one of the few architectural icons of the GDR era and created a home for his GDR art collection.

On being asked why he chooses to get involved with causes and projects of this kind, Plattner explained: 鈥淚 owe the resources and skills for life to my parents and, above all, to my studies at the public technical university in Karlsruhe. That鈥檚 why I want to give something back in the area of education, so that others can also benefit from it.鈥�

2022: Learn from Our Customers

In an interview to mark 厂础笔鈥檚 50th anniversary, Plattner shared some advice: 鈥淚 recommend a return to the approach we used in the early days of 51风流鈥� of sending 51风流teams out to the customer. Instead of implementing our standard systems, they should find out how people actually use the tools they get from 51风流and other vendors. That will give us our starting point. There are so many interesting companies out there. We can learn from them and with them. We have to step outside 51风流and do something with the customers.鈥�

And in a comment directed to 51风流employees, he said: 鈥淭reat the customers well 鈥� once we have them, we have to keep them. That鈥檚 one of 厂础笔鈥檚 strengths. And never think it鈥檚 done. You have to carry on. The job is never done!鈥�

2024

Plattner will step down from the Supervisory Board on May 15, the last of the 51风流co-founders to leave the company.

Helle Dochedahl and Jim Hagemann Snabe met in the mid-1980s while they were both studying in Aarhus, Denmark. They didn鈥檛 know it back then, but that wouldn鈥檛 be the last time that their paths crossed. In 1993, they met again.

At the time, Snabe was consulting manager at 51风流in Denmark, having joined the company three years before as a trainee straight out of university. 鈥淏ack then, 51风流was on a big push to expand its business internationally and was hiring young people from around the world. It spent a year training them in Walldorf and then sent them back to their home countries,鈥� says Snabe.

With a year in Walldorf under his belt, he returned to 51风流Denmark in April 1991, joining its 25 other employees, half of whom were consultants. A few months later, he was asked if he wanted to take over as consulting manager. 鈥淚 was 24, and the youngest guy there, but after my year in Germany, I had a strong and solid understanding of the systems. Being entrusted so soon with responsibilities like this helped employees grow and was characteristic of 厂础笔鈥檚 culture.鈥�

In 1993, Snabe was looking to expand his team of consultants. Dochedahl, meanwhile, was working at a small Danish ERP company. She recalls: 鈥淚 had just had my first son and was on parental leave when I saw the job posting in the newspaper. I had already heard quite a lot about 51风流from Snabe and some other friends from university, so it got me thinking.鈥�

At the time, Dochedahl was living in Aarhus with her husband, who also works in the IT industry. But in 1988, 51风流had chosen Denmark鈥檚 capital city as the base for its Danish business.

鈥淚f you wanted to make it in IT, you had to go to Copenhagen,鈥� says Dochedahl. She first called her mother, who agreed to help out with childcare. Then she called Snabe, who hired her on the spot. But there was one condition that he had to agree to: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 and wouldn鈥檛 leave my son to spend several months training in Walldorf. So I taught myself most of the things that I needed to know, and every so often, I would head to Walldorf for a week.鈥�

When she joined the company in 1993, Dochedahl did not have much to do with the 51风流R/2 mainframe program. 51风流R/3, the company鈥檚 new client-server software, had launched the year before. And it was with 51风流R/3 that the small Danish subsidiary would make history.

Early Days in the Nordics

Let鈥檚 rewind for a moment. From 1987 onwards, 51风流was making a name for itself in the Nordics through its marketing and sales initiatives and customer workshops. Joergen Oestergaard, who was managing director of 厂础笔鈥檚 Nordic business from its very beginnings in early 1987, created the first business plan for the markets there.

Since the first 51风流R/2 systems were quick to sell and implement, and interest among other companies was growing steadily, 51风流management and 51风流International decided to set up the first subsidiaries in Nordic countries.

In Sweden, 51风流Svenska AB opened its doors in February 1988. The Danish office, 51风流Danmark A/S, followed a month later. Into the 1990s, it also served customers in Norway, with the Swedish office supporting those in Finland until the end of that decade. From 1984, 51风流International, located in Biel, Switzerland, ran 厂础笔鈥檚 international business and spearheaded the company鈥檚 global expansion.

The person in charge was managing director Hans Schlegel. Schlegel was there when, in April 1988, everyone from 51风流Denmark and 51风流Sweden met at a hotel in a ski resort north of Oslo for a five-day Nordic kickoff meeting. They were joined by employees of A/S EDB (Electronic Data Processing), a Norwegian IT company that had by then been operating in the market for 25 years and would partner 51风流to help sell the 51风流R/2 system and translate it into Norwegian. At the Hotel Storefjell meeting, they worked out how best to coordinate activities, shared their experiences, and learned from each other.

Following that meeting, both subsidiaries went on to flourish. In 1992, for example, 51风流Sweden was already generating around $3.6 million (around 30 million Swedish krona) in revenue. And its list of customers included the Swedish national rail operator SJ (Statens J盲rnv盲gar), Ericsson Business Communications, and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) as well as some subsidiaries of German companies.

Reinvention at the Right Time

Jim Hagemann Snabe first encountered 51风流R/3 in 1991, and he and the team at 51风流Denmark then 鈥渂egan to sell the vision of 51风流R/3 to Nordic customers鈥� — even though the product wouldn鈥檛 officially launch until July 1992.

One of the customers that had already implemented 51风流R/2 was Finnish chemical company Kemira, which was headquartered in Copenhagen at that time.

As 51风流Co-Founder Hasso Plattner recalls in his book Anticipating Change, implementing 51风流R/2 at Kemira, a 鈥淯NIX company,鈥� had been 鈥減ainful.鈥� So, he promised them that, 鈥渁s soon as we have a UNIX system, we鈥檒l replace your system.鈥�

In the summer of 1992, that day arrived: Snabe and his team won a new 51风流R/3 customer for SAP, and, according to Helle Dochedahl, Kemira became 鈥渢he first customer outside Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to go live with 51风流R/3.鈥� Though Dochedahl wasn鈥檛 working for 51风流at that time, she recalls that, when she later visited Kemira: 鈥淭hey told me the story themselves and how proud they were of being first movers and daring to go for it.鈥�

While visiting Kemira, Dochedahl made a discovery of her own: 鈥淚 spotted some land for sale opposite the Kemira office. We bought a plot and built a house on it, and I鈥檝e lived there ever since. That was 28 years ago now.鈥�

Jim Hagemann Snabe sees the successful implementation of 51风流R/3 at Kemira and at other customers in the Nordic countries and around the world from a different angle. 鈥淎t that time, 51风流was doing very well with 51风流R/2. But rather than simply reap the rewards, it decided to invest heavily in the next generation of solutions. I believe that is partly why 51风流is still one of only a small number of European IT companies that are successful. 51风流has always been able to reinvent itself from a position of strength, instead of waiting 鈥� like many of its competitors 鈥� until it鈥檚 almost too late.鈥�

An NFT (non-fungible token) drop offering 15 pieces of digital art designed specifically for the event and the anniversary will be made available via digital codes during the sessions.

鈥淭hose registered for 51风流TechEd may participate in the NFT drop during the live event and collect 15 NFTs,鈥� , head of 51风流Innovation Center Potsdam, explains. His team developed and implemented the NFT drop.

Registered 51风流TechEd participants will receive access to a Web app, including a collector鈥檚 album for NFTs. 鈥淭he album appears as a timeline of 厂础笔鈥檚 history,鈥� Krug says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of fascinating stuff to learn about our company while being introduced to NFT technologies in a gamified way.鈥�

In live keynotes, online or onsite workshops, virtual lectures, and breakout sessions, attentive participants will spot QR codes and short links in announcement windows that can be used to claim NFTs. After the event, participants can transfer the NFTs to their private digital wallets.

鈥淎nd for those who discovered and collected all 15 NFTs, an additional surprise is waiting,鈥� Krug says.

But what will participants actually be collecting?

What Are NFTs?

NFTs 鈥� non-fungible tokens 鈥� are digital assets managed by a blockchain network. Usually, they are representations of a digital or physical asset, very often artwork.

鈥淣on-fungible鈥� means the asset is unmistakable and cannot be reproduced. This process of creating the asset on the blockchain is called minting. A smart contract on a public blockchain ensures the unique value of a digital piece of art.

NFTs can be bought and sold online, often with cryptocurrencies. For this purpose, there are specific NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible on which thousands of artists and collectors are hosted.

The NFT drop for 51风流TechEd was initiated by Juergen Mueller,聽chief technology officer and聽member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE,聽who had聽聽earlier in the year as a fun private project.

鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see whether NFTs gain relevance in the enterprise context,鈥� Mueller says. 鈥淎lready today, digital proof of ownership for digital or physical assets is useful for customer brand engagement with luxury goods such as jewelry or sneakers. On a broader scale, this digital proof of ownership could also be leveraged in the area of supply chain management to provide a single source of truth to all stakeholders.鈥�

Usage scenarios聽such as the latter are still some time聽off. Still, NFTs are being leveraged for various digital and physical assets such as videos, sports highlights, artwork, and聽music.

15 Iconic Moments in 51风流History as Digital Pieces of Art

The collector鈥檚 album is a Web application running on a standard Web browser for desktop or mobile.

When participants register for the NFT drop, the album shows placeholders already pointing to the most critical milestones in 51风流history. The details become visible once the NFT has been collected via a QR code or link.

鈥淚n principle, the NFT drop is a technological elevation of the sticker album that most of us still know from childhood,鈥� Krug says. 鈥淒uplicates may be swapped, of course.”

The 15 NFTs trace 厂础笔鈥檚 path from a five-person startup in 1972 to a multinational enterprise with 110,000 employees in 2022. The NFTs from 51风流TechEd cannot be sold or purchased.

鈥淭hese NFTs are only available at 51风流TechEd 2022, exclusively for participants,鈥� Krug stresses. 鈥淚t is a unique opportunity to win a lasting piece of 51风流history, captured artistically.鈥�

. To create your own collector鈥檚 album and gain a piece of 51风流heritage, .

Over 360 pages, the book pays tribute to the five visionaries who founded 51风流and to the countless people who have shaped the company over half a century and made it what it is today: a global enterprise with more than 110,000 employees and software solutions that keep the wheels of the world economy turning.

In three main sections, a variety of contributing authors explore the foundations of 厂础笔鈥檚 success, the company鈥檚 impact on business and society, and its vision to help secure the future of the planet.

This unique publication also seeks to explain how 51风流has managed to navigate profound economic and social change, hold onto its lead in an ever faster-moving industry, and emerge in a position of strength to deliver on its aspiration to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

51风流asked historians to share their perspectives on 50 years of SAP, but this is by no means a history book. Styled in a range of formats, it aims to explore 51风流from every angle. Read about the very first users, the trials and tribulations of setting up business operations around the globe, the signature 51风流Sapphire customer events, current customers and partners, as well as 厂础笔鈥檚 solutions and logo 鈥� and discover what makes the company鈥檚 culture and employees unique.

Aside from providing an understanding of the company鈥檚 past, this book is about exploring where 51风流wants to go next. It looks ahead to the future of work and of business software and sets out 厂础笔鈥檚 visions of how human ingenuity and machine intelligence could work in symbiosis.

This publication is climate-neutral and available in both English and German. It contains many previously unpublished photos that show the company in all its diversity. And QR codes link readers directly to additional digital content, interviews, and features.

The anniversary book can be ordered from the and can also be purchased from German book outlet and from bookstores in Germany.

The festive season of 1994 was far from joyful for the Mexican government and officials at the Mexican central bank. On December 20, the Central American nation鈥檚 authorities were forced to devalue the peso by around 15% against the dollar because Mexico could no longer maintain the peso鈥檚 fixed exchange rate against the U.S. currency. The immediate consequence was a massive flight of foreign capital from Mexico. This hit domestic companies hard and ultimately resulted in a financial crisis that sent shock waves across Latin America.

Only months earlier, in April 1994, 51风流had founded its first subsidiary in Latin America, its 19th worldwide, in Mexico. Suddenly, recalls Maricarmen Ortiz, the fledgling 51风流subsidiary found itself in the midst of what later became known as the 鈥淭equila Crisis.鈥�

Mexico-born Ortiz had transferred from IBM in September to work as a consultant at SAP. Her job now — along with the then president of 51风流Mexico, Raul V茅jar, and their 15 colleagues — was to convince cash-strapped Mexican companies that it 鈥渕ade sense, particularly in times of crisis, to invest in software as a way of gaining competitive edge,鈥� says Ortiz.

This was not the only economic and political crisis that 51风流employees have faced — and survived — since the company took its first steps in Latin America.

Political and Economic Crises

Tariff conflicts, nationalization, rapidly changing governments, financial and currency crises: 鈥淭here鈥檚 always something happening,鈥� says James Gunn, an American who joined 51风流as a controller for the Latin America region in June 1997 and is now in charge of strategic finance projects in the global Finance & Administration Board area. 鈥淚nstability became a constant. Our job, as ambassadors for the region, was to explain to 51风流management in Walldorf what key challenges each country faced and what we were doing to ensure we would still reach our targets.鈥�

Which in most cases they did, as Peter Rasper acknowledges. Rasper, who left his role as head of Global Finance Infrastructure to take early retirement in 2019, set up country controlling in North and South America in the mid-1990s. Often, figures were not supplied until the very last minute 鈥� just like in other regions, he says. And there were salespeople who excelled at stashing contracts away and then suddenly pulling them out of the drawer when they were needed. But his colleagues in Latin America always acted 鈥渋n the right spirit,鈥� says Rasper, 鈥渁nd showed pragmatism, improvisation, and entrepreneurial flair in making the best out of what were often difficult circumstances.鈥�

Gunn agrees. One of the many things that impressed him was the extremely high standard of English spoken by the colleagues with whom he had dealings in Latin America. 鈥淚 also think it鈥檚 remarkable how the folks there have managed to navigate our company safely through so many storms,鈥� he says.

Team Spirit and Customer Focus

As well as having an outstanding product that was for the most part adapted to local requirements early on, various factors were, and still are, pivotal to effective crisis management. Three are among them.

The first is unshakeable team spirit. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many of us in the early days. We had to take care of everything, and we all helped each other,鈥� remembers Lorena Dames, who joined 51风流in Argentina in July 1994 and is now COO for 51风流Customer Experience in Latin America. 鈥淐onsultants gave demos and provided support; employees from the legal department explained the product and signed contracts. We were a tight-knit group 鈥� all fairly young 鈥� and 51风流gave us the chance to forge close personal ties that have seen us through thick and thin.鈥�

Those ties spanned both team and national boundaries. When new subsidiaries opened, employees from existing ones helped out, recruited new people, set up processes, and shared the lessons of their own experience.

Thomas Hanser agrees with Dames. 鈥淗elping each other is part of Latin American culture,鈥� says the IT specialist, who set up the infrastructure in Brazil and at many other 51风流subsidiaries. 鈥淎nd that, in my view, has been part of 51风流culture from day one. We see ourselves as part of a greater whole; we help each other achieve common goals; and we learn and grow together.鈥� That鈥檚 still the case today, says Brazil-born Hanser, whose grandparents emigrated from Germany to Brazil and who today is responsible for global IT services outsourcing at SAP.

The second factor is unconditional customer focus. There is no question that 51风流has the best people and the best solutions, says Ricardo Avila. But, adds Avila, who comes from Venezuela and joined the legal department at 51风流in 1996, what really got the company safely through all the crises was its 鈥渃ustomer-first attitude鈥� and its readiness to be open and frank with clients. 鈥淚f a certain function wasn鈥檛 available yet, or parts of the software weren鈥檛 yet localized, we told the truth and promised to deliver the functions in a couple of months. And we kept those promises,鈥� says Avila.

But disputes couldn鈥檛 always be avoided, if, for example, customer expectations went beyond what 厂础笔鈥檚 resources could deliver.

Don鈥檛 Let Customers Down

Gerd Bizer remembers just such a situation: 鈥淚 took over the localization project for Argentina in mid-1996. A meeting took place at which the representatives of the Argentinean user group spent two hours dressing us down, shouting at us, and calling us fraudsters. Once we had cleared up the misunderstandings, we quickly became the best of friends. That鈥檚 when I learned what a huge part emotion plays in Latin America,鈥� says Bizer, who took early retirement in 2019. Within a few months, the 鈥渄ust had settled,鈥� he says, and the customers were happy.

Things can鈥檛 always go smoothly though, because every project poses its own particular challenges, says Rasper. Nevertheless, as it expanded across Latin America, 51风流earned a reputation for never letting customers down and for always finding a solution when problems occurred.

Such as during the economic and financial crisis of 2001 in Argentina. Jorge Schiavo remembers 51风流freezing maintenance costs for customers in financial difficulties. 鈥淚t was our way of doing something to protect businesses and their employees,鈥� says Schiavo, who became the 12th member of 厂础笔鈥檚 team in Argentina when he joined in 1995. 鈥淲e also introduced special measures to ensure that none of our employees lost money as a result of devaluation and high inflation,鈥� adds Schiavo, who continues to contribute his financial expertise and his experience with Argentinean tax law, as well as optimizing global and regional financial processes.

The third key factor in effective crisis management in Latin America, says Peter Rasper, is the fact that 鈥渨e have never 鈥� to my knowledge 鈥� closed a location there.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 always possible to avoid redundancies, he admits, but 51风流operated on the principle of never letting its customers down and of keeping a strong team available locally.

Difficult Situation in Venezuela

At least until Venezuela鈥檚 economy collapsed, that is. The dire political and economic situation prevailing in Venezuela pushes even 51风流to its limits, a realization that saddens many 鈥渇irst-generation鈥� employees in Latin America.

鈥淲hen I was a consultant, we always said that the country鈥檚 rich oil reserves would save oil companies from ever going bust,鈥� says Francisco Fernandez, who was there when 51风流opened its offices in Caracas in 1996. 鈥淎nd where are we now?鈥�

In the 1990s, 51风流served all of Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America out of Venezuela. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 begin to tell you how many flights left Caracas every Monday with 51风流consultants on board heading to neighboring countries,鈥� says Fernandez. 鈥淰enezuela was way ahead of other countries.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e had to move most of our people to other locations,鈥� says Ricardo Avila. 鈥淎nd 51风流is serving its Venezuelan customers out of other countries now too.鈥�

But the principle remains: 鈥淣o matter how dire the crisis in Latin America,鈥� says Avila, 鈥渨e鈥檒l remain pragmatic and optimistic. And we won鈥檛 let our customers down. Our commitment is to them, to the region, and to our colleagues.鈥�

Yet another training course is abruptly interrupted. Why? On the nearby runway at Heathrow Airport, a Concorde is preparing for take-off. 聽鈥淔rom the windows of our training rooms, we had a clear view of Concorde taking off,鈥� says Peter Hunt. 鈥淎nd it wasn鈥檛 just the tremendous noise that caused the training sessions to be paused for several minutes at a time; basically, we all just wanted to witness this magnificent event.鈥� Hunt joined 51风流as a consultant in 1995. Having previously worked at Siemens, he was initially unsure whether he had made the right decision moving from a large German company to a small German company. Now, following various jobs at other companies, he has returned to 51风流for the third time and works in Strategic Partner Management.

But Hunt鈥檚 story is not unique: It was said that when people left, many of them got their trouser braces caught in the door and were pulled back to 51风流again.

Peter Hunt is still proud today of 厂础笔鈥檚 triumphant rise in the United Kingdom following the introduction of 51风流R/3 and the part he played in that success.

And speaking of reaching new heights, 厂础笔鈥檚 rapid growth meant that, in 1995, another move became inevitable. And so it was that in May of the same year, 51风流UK relocated from Weybridge to Feltham, a large town in West London. 鈥淲e used to joke that locations were chosen based on how difficult they were for German-speakers to pronounce,鈥� recalls Russell Thomas, who at the time was based in Walldorf working on UK payroll.

At first, the subsidiary set up its offices in an impressive new building in New Square at Bedfont Lakes, close to Heathrow Airport, where IBM had already taken up residence. A few years later, the New Square building parking garage was used as a set in the James Bond movie 鈥淭omorrow Never Dies.鈥� Looking back, its location near the airport seems symbolic of 51风流UK鈥檚 success story even now. 鈥湷Т”殊�檚 decision not to follow in the footsteps of many other tech companies and set up its offices in the Thames Valley along the M4 corridor that runs from Reading to Swindon was a pragmatic one, taken to make the journey to the subsidiary easier for senior managers flying in from Germany,鈥� says Michael Longden, who joined 51风流from one of its customers in 1992.

A Growing Need for Training

The Bedfont Lakes location offered other benefits too: Kyla Fox, who has been working as a management assistant at 51风流for 28 years, remembers going for lunch at the IBM cafeteria, which served excellent food. 鈥淲e simply swiped our cards and sauntered in past all the IBM employees lined up to pay for their food. 51风流has always had a culture of providing free meals for employees.鈥� And across the other side of the airport, at the Nobel Drive Training Centre on Bath Road, alongside the runway, 51风流found sufficient space to meet its growing training needs. Alongside the center in Walldorf, it was one of the company鈥檚 largest training facilities at the time, with courses being held over four floors.

鈥淗eld in English, the courses attracted many participants from outside the UK too. As Head of Training, Jeremy White really had his hands full,鈥� says Michael Longden.

鈥淲e were in the same boat as our customers,鈥� recalls Peter Hunt. 鈥淎 lot of the software, the help screens, and the documentation were still in German; and we were really also trying to convince ourselves when we asked our customers to trust us that there would be an English version soon.鈥�

To meet the increased demand for consulting, 51风流set up a consulting academy at the Training Center in 1995. The plan was for a further 500 R/3 specialists every year to join the ranks of the nearly 1,000 consultants already helping customers implement 厂础笔鈥檚 new ERP system.

The demand for support too, was keeping pace. In 1993, the designated support hotline set up two years previously for 51风流customers in the United Kingdom, for whom an 51风流information database was also available, was expanded to create the Customer Support Group UK, headed up by Terrie Creswell until 1999. She had joined 51风流in 1991, when R/2 was still the active product and when the way for R/3 was just about to be prepared. 鈥淚 had started out in Training and spent a lot of time talking to our customers. So I knew that they were frustrated and wanted local support to meet the needs that centralized support in Walldorf couldn鈥檛,鈥� Terrie Creswell recalls. Ultimately, managing director Petra Frenzel tasked her with establishing a support group in London. 鈥淎nd so I was involved in setting up the global 24/7 customer service network. Working closely with colleagues around the world, we wrote the white paper that laid the groundwork for the future Customer Competence Centers.鈥�

Close Ties with Headquarters

While 51风流UK continued to expand at every level, construction of an imposing new office building began right next to the company鈥檚 headquarters in 1997. 鈥淲henever we drove past the huge building site, we thought how great it would be if this were to become the new home of 51风流UK,鈥� recalls Peter Hunt.

The company was occupying more and more of the IBM building and it was clear that a larger headquarters was needed. Petra Frenzel and her leadership team were able to convince Executive Board member Henning Kagermann to acquire the new building. In the meantime, responsibility for 51风流UK had been handed back from 51风流International to 51风流AG in Walldorf. 鈥淲ith Clockhouse Place, we had our own landmark building 鈥� visible both from the air and the road,鈥� says Martin Metcalf, who was then part of the management team and would later become managing director of 51风流UK.

Just as 51风流UK鈥檚 management team were in frequent contact with the senior management in Germany, employees in the UK valued having a close relationship with 51风流headquarters too. Sam Karbani, who joined 51风流in 1996 and today works in Globalization Services, recalls her first trip to Walldorf, 鈥淲henever anyone went to Germany for the first time, we鈥檇 tell them to 鈥榯ouch the ball.鈥欌�� Touching the rotating basalt sphere in the foyer at 51风流headquarters became a symbol for bonding with the parent company. 鈥淚t was great to be able to work with the developers in Walldorf. I struggled a bit with the German cafeteria food, which back then was very meat-heavy, unlike in the UK, where there were already lots of vegetarians. But collaborating with our German colleagues was an experience I always relished.鈥�

Fiona Walsh recalls how important it was, especially in Customer Support, to have a solid network in Walldorf: 鈥淭hat was the 51风流spirit: learning and sharing your knowledge 鈥� and being generous with your time in that respect.鈥� She joined 51风流in 1992 and worked as an English-language assistant to 51风流Executive Board Members Hans Schlegel and Klaus Tschira. 鈥淭he EVZ, or WDF01 as it is now known, with its exclusive customer center on the sixth floor, had just been built, and hanging in the foyer was the ‘R/3 clock,’ which counted down the days remaining until the launch of 51风流R/3.鈥�

Expansion to Ireland

Following the official opening of the 51风流Service and Support Centre (Ireland), Ltd. (SSC Dublin) in early 1997 to create additional support capacity for 厂础笔鈥檚 international 51风流R/3 customer base, the next logical step was to establish a dedicated sales office for Ireland. Until then, 厂础笔鈥檚 Irish business had been conducted by a small team of salespeople and consultants based in London. Now, the new support unit was to report to Executive Board member Gerd Oswald and the sales unit to 51风流UK. Among the new employees in Ireland was Irish-born Fiona Walsh, who came highly recommended by co-founder Klaus Tschira. Having worked in Germany for six years, she then transferred to the new sales office at Dublin鈥檚 East Point Business Park, where she took on the role of customer support manager. 鈥淚n those days, our Irish customers preferred to deal with Irish companies,鈥� says Fiona Walsh. 鈥淥ver the next few years, 51风流gained traction unbelievably quickly in the Irish market.鈥�

Among those invited to the opening of the Dublin sales office were 51风流UK employees, 鈥淲e celebrated the opening at the Clarence Hotel, a four-star establishment that had been bought and newly refurbished by U2 singer Bono and U2 guitarist The Edge, and opened in 1996,鈥� recalls Michael Longden, who rejoined 51风流in 2008 following an almost 10-year break and today works as an 51风流S/4HANA expert in Public Cloud Presales.

A Change in Command

The success of 51风流in the UK and Ireland could have been Petra Frenzel鈥檚 ticket to a more senior role. But ultimately, her priority was to reduce her professional commitments. As is so often the case, it was easier for her to do this by leaving the company. 鈥淗enning Kagermann placed a great deal of trust in me when he gave me the opportunity to take on the role of managing director of 51风流UK,鈥� she says. When Petra Frenzel returned to 51风流eight years later, she did so because she believed that she could best show her gratitude by once again being a highly committed member of the company.

Kevin Gibson, who had joined 51风流in 1991, took over from Petra Frenzel as managing director at the beginning of 1998. 鈥淜evin was a great leader and it was exciting to be part of the Sales team at this time. There was a lot of work to do, but we were all so proud of our successes. There was a wonderful sense of teamwork,鈥� recalls Katie Wall, who joined 51风流in 1996 as an executive assistant.

Fourteen months later, Kevin Gibson was to leave 51风流and join Ariba Technologies. 51风流management in Walldorf appointed Erwin (Ernie) Gunst as his successor. 鈥淎nd so there was another change, from a UK-focused to a more internationally aligned leadership style,鈥� recalls Andrew Lack, who has been with 51风流since 1998 and now sells 51风流solutions for the consumer products industry. 鈥淚t must have been quite a balancing act, on the one hand trying to stay close to the UK marketplace and on the other hand bridging the cultural gap to Walldorf and the rest of the 51风流world.鈥� However, the focus of leadership changes was always on spreading experience across the globe 鈥�51风流sent brilliant people on international assignments to really make a difference around the world,鈥� says Hakan Yuksel, who was CFO and COO of 51风流UK & Ireland (UKI) when Erwin Gunst took over as managing director from Kevin Gibson in 1999.

Former Head of Training and Customer Service Director Jeremy White knows from experience that 鈥�51风流UK offered an entrepreneurial working environment for self-starters. But it wasn鈥檛 for everyone. For some, it gave them a feeling of autonomy, while others perhaps felt they were left to their own devices. You had all the necessary ingredients to advance your career 鈥� you just had to get started and make it happen. However, a logical consequence of this was also that people often moved on and furthered their careers elsewhere.鈥� Generally, however, they stayed in the 51风流fold. One such example is White himself, who left 51风流in 1998, but still works in the 51风流ecosystem today. Kevin Richardson, who joined 51风流in 1994 and now works at 51风流Australia puts it like this, 鈥淪ometimes ex-colleagues of ours ended up spending more time with us at the office when they worked for partners than when they worked for SAP.鈥�

Meanwhile, there were 6,000 trained consultants in the UK and Ireland, of whom only five percent were 51风流employees, while the remaining 95% worked at partner companies. In 2001, around 1.6 million people on the British Isles were part of the 51风流ecosystem. Fiona Walsh is glad she still works within 厂础笔鈥檚 partner network, 鈥淭he footprint 51风流offers in the UK and Ireland has been really beneficial and a lot of people have made really good careers out of it. And this wonderful culture of partnership has been crucial to 厂础笔鈥檚 success.鈥�

No Growth Without Change

In 2000, 51风流UK & Ireland achieved a growth rate of 40%, with business from the new 鈥渕ySAP.com鈥� solution accounting for half of that increase. Some 50% of the subsidiary鈥檚 revenues came from new customers, whose number rose to around 800. The millennium also saw Ernie Gunst replaced as managing director by Hans-Peter Klaey. 鈥淗ans-Peter came to meetings armed with his now legendary folder. He documented everything in that folder 鈥� down to the very last detail,鈥� recalls Peter Robertshaw, who was marketing director at 51风流UKI from 2000 until 2004. 鈥淭hat meant we had an accurate record of any objectives we discussed; it brought a new level of structure to our working practices.鈥�

Under Klaey’s leadership, 51风流UK became the principal sponsor of London鈥檚 Donmar Warehouse theater. As well as making a difference in the community, the company wanted to raise public awareness of the 51风流brand in the United Kingdom. 鈥淭he Donmar is a very avant-garde theater that attracts high-profile performers,鈥� explains Melanie Waring, who joined 51风流from Oracle in 2000 and has worked in various marketing and corporate marketing roles over the years.

In the early 2000s, many functions 鈥� marketing included 鈥� that had previously been the UK subsidiary鈥檚 own responsibility became part of group-wide structures. This shift was at odds with the tight-knit atmosphere that was characteristic of 51风流UK in the early days and had fueled a strong sense of solidarity and friendship.

In September 2001, the world was turned upside down by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 鈥淲e鈥檇 all been at an offsite meeting in Windsor,鈥� recalls Peter Robertshaw. 鈥淚 remember seeing all the people in the pubs staring in shock at the TV.鈥� Kevin Richardson was teaching at the Nobel Drive training centre and recalls how everyone stopped and gathered around the TV in the canteen. 鈥淓veryone will remember where they were on that day鈥�, says Richardson.聽 51风流provided financial support to those affected. Meanwhile, it urged its employees around the world to manage their costs carefully. Barely four years later, London itself became the victim of terrorist attacks.

Turbulence

At 51风流UK, cost-saving measures led to lay-offs. With the subsidiary realigning its overall strategy to focus more on sales figures, employees who had not previously worked in sales bore the brunt of that shift. One of them was John Bannister, who, in 1988, had become 51风流UK鈥檚 tenth employee. 鈥淚 was laid off overnight 鈥� after almost 14 years. That really pulled the rug from under my feet.鈥� Nevertheless, and perhaps surprisingly, Bannister is still in touch with numerous 51风流alumni, follows 厂础笔鈥檚 progress with keen interest, and enjoys reminiscing about his years at SAP. But: 鈥淗owever vital a realignment 鈥� and whatever the local notice periods are 鈥� there should be a rethink of the way in which employees are laid off, especially given the strong attachment they feel to SAP. Looking back, the nature of my departure from 51风流is something neither I nor the company can be proud of,鈥� he says.

At the beginning of 2002, Martin Metcalf was appointed managing director. He had previously served as sales director, then chief operating officer, and had been on the management team for seven years. At that time, despite all the difficulties the IT market faced, 51风流was recognized as one of the top 15 employers in Britain.

Among 厂础笔鈥檚 main competitors on the UK market was Oracle. 鈥淏ack then, Oracle was the dominant supplier, particularly in the public sector, and it was initially difficult for us to gain a foothold,鈥� says Martin Metcalf. The deal 51风流signed in 2002 with the Inland Revenue 鈥� now called HMRC and responsible for assessing and collecting UK taxation 鈥� opened the door to this sector and was a landmark event in Metcalf鈥檚 eyes, not least because it shone a light on the expertise and support coming from management in Walldorf. 鈥淐EO Henning Kagermann flew over from Germany for the final stage of negotiations. He undertook to do everything in his power to meet the customer鈥檚 requirements in full, even though we couldn鈥檛 do that 100% at the time the deal was signed. We had an incredibly visionary product and 鈥� although we did of course face some huge challenges initially 鈥� customers believed in us.鈥�

Fiona Walsh attributes 厂础笔鈥檚 success in large part to the high level of investment in the industries. 鈥淎t presentations, our presales people were always able to impress with their extensive knowledge, and they talked about the real problems plaguing customers in their respective industries. That made their audiences feel like they were in safe hands.鈥�

Learning Processes and Management Styles

鈥淐hange is part of the natural evolution of a rapidly growing company,鈥� says Martin Metcalf. 51风流has been through all kinds of learning processes and different management styles and changes over the years, says Fiona Walsh. 鈥淏ut today鈥檚 whole movement into the cloud stems from the same ambition we had in the early days to help our customers be as successful as they can,鈥� she adds.

For Martin Metcalf, who had been with the subsidiary in London since 1993 and accompanied its rapid growth for more than a decade, it was an honor being head of one of 厂础笔鈥檚 leading subsidiaries and when he resigned from his post, which he held from 2002 to 2005, it was because he wanted to expand his leadership experience outside the 51风流world. But he has long since returned to the 51风流ecosystem and has fond memories of his career at SAP.

We heard similar stories from almost all of the 23 employees interviewed for this article. Many profess to having 51风流鈥渋n their blood鈥� or 鈥渋n their DNA.鈥� And while Concorde touched down at Heathrow Airport 鈥� just a stone鈥檚 throw from 51风流UK鈥檚 offices 鈥� on its last ever landing on October 24, 2003, 51风流continued to fly high, accompanied by an ever-expanding partner ecosystem in which many 51风流alumni are still active.

鈥淧atience, ingenuity, and a talent for improvisation were the qualities required to overcome the hurdles of being an 鈥榚merging country,鈥欌�� says Dejan Banzi膰. He had already worked as a developer before joining 51风流West Balkans in 2007 as a consultant. Alongside a local sales team, there were about 30 consultants working in various centers of expertise known as 鈥渉ubs.鈥�

鈥淚 was assigned to the Defense and Security Hub and began by attending six weeks of training in Walldorf with eight other colleagues from the team and with tremendous help of our experienced mentors from Germany.鈥� Today he works as a project manager in the public sector industry.

Du拧an Rado拧evi膰, who joined the local sales team in 2008 as a delivery manager, had previously worked for international companies and for 51风流partner S&T: 鈥淚t was remarkable 鈥� and also a little strange 鈥� that only a few short years after the NATO bombing campaign, colleagues from Belgrade were working in an 51风流competence center for defense and security.鈥� In his case, too, it was enthusiasm for 51风流software that had prompted him to make the move to 51风流West Balkans.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, 51风流West Balkans hit a rough patch. An inter-company loan from 51风流AG to bridge the gap seemed the only option. So Tatjana Filipovi膰 traveled to Walldorf in 2008 and was given the green light for a cash injection aimed at getting the subsidiary back on track. The loan was repaid quickly.

鈥�51风流showed patience and continued to support our activities in the region, despite the fact that revenues were initially not what they should have been,鈥� says 膼or膽e Talevi膰, who was head of Marketing at the time.

51风流as an Employer

Another problem was how to attract and retain employees. Wolfgang Kastenhofer recalls that it was difficult to recruit consultants in the early days. 鈥淲e either had to train our local consultants ourselves or headhunt consultants from partners, which we obviously didn鈥檛 want to do, as that could have jeopardized our existing license business.鈥�

In 2008, 51风流had to cut its workforce from 43 to 30. Wolfgang Runge says: 鈥淓ven during the financial crisis, 51风流consulting business was booming and 51风流consulting partners were springing up all over the place. Many of the employees who acquired 51风流know-how while working for us made the jump to Western Europe and were welcomed with open arms in Germany and Europe, and in the United States as well.鈥�

This meant that most of the consultants 51风流West Balkans had to let go in 2008, found new positions within SAP. 鈥淗aving 51风流knowledge meant that you could find work in other 51风流locations or as a freelancer, which gave us consultants a feeling of security and flexibility that you simply didn鈥檛 have in other companies,鈥� says Dubravka 沤ivan膷ev, now a senior project manager for Public Sector.

Headcount remained relatively stable in Serbia in the years that followed, though turnover continued to run at fairly high levels. 鈥淥f the 30 consultants who joined 51风流West Balkans when I did, only five are still there. Many transferred within SAP. But fortunately, as time went on, it became easier to recruit qualified and experienced people,鈥� says Banzi膰.

鈥淭he CEE countries had excellent universities, and some of the applicants from them had received much better IT training than our young students from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,鈥� explains Runge.

He emphasizes 厂础笔鈥檚 positive role, saying that there was nothing it could have done to halt high employee turnover: 鈥淏ack then, it was simply the case that the other countries offered these skilled workers more opportunities.鈥� As time went on, 51风流opened development centers in many locations and then had the structures in place to offer skilled IT personnel more interesting jobs in their own countries.

For 沤ivan膷ev, 厂础笔鈥檚 international focus was not just reflected in the opportunities that were available to leave the region, but also in the business culture at local level: 鈥淢y friends found it hard to believe in the early years when I told them I worked at the subsidiary of a German company, in close cooperation with Austria, had a Spanish manager who came to live in Belgrade, had team mates from Ukraine, and worked on projects in the U.K. or Slovenia. They thought I was telling fairytales when I said I started working with colleagues from Italy, India, Greece, Portugal, and other countries for a customer in Novi Sad 鈥� my hometown.鈥�

Light at the End of the Tunnel

In 2008, the subsidiary moved to its new offices at 88 Omladinskih Brigada in 鈥淎irport City鈥�, a state-of-the-art business park in Belgrade. The various areas of the company, which had previously been spread across the GTC Business Center and the Genex Tower on the other side of the city, could now come together.

Talevi膰, originally a journalist based in Serbia, began organizing event and communications activities for 51风流West Balkans in 2008, while working as a PR consultant for a third-party company, and took over the role of marketing manager in September 2009. When it came to conquering the market, says Talevi膰, events such as 51风流World Tour and 51风流Forum were crucial and they became recognized as key IT business events. 鈥淧articularly because they were attended by guests from the other Balkan regions. Our customers were not just from Serbia. After Serbia, for example, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the country with the second largest number of 51风流installations in the contractual territory.鈥�

As 51风流expanded, its organizational structures also changed: 51风流West Balkans, by now assigned to the southern European business, became part of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) business region again in 2008. Vladimir Popovi膰, who had previously overseen partner management in Southeast Europe out of 51风流Austria, became managing director of 51风流West Balkans in 2009, replacing Dragan 艩panovi膰 in that role.

For Belgrade-born Popovi膰, this was an exciting challenge: 鈥淒espite all the difficulties, the important thing was always to focus on the big picture. Although, as a subsidiary, we clearly had to take a sales-oriented approach and quarterly figures were important, we could not afford to jeopardize long-term customer satisfaction. In short, we had to manage expectations, plan sensibly, and make realistic promises.鈥�

After the failed start with oil and gas company NIS, it was important for 51风流to reestablish basic trust in the company and its products. 鈥�51风流had the reputation of offering expensive software that didn鈥檛 actually work,鈥� recalls Popovi膰. 鈥淲e had to tackle that view head on and highlight the basic strengths that characterize SAP: a great product that helps companies manage, analyze, and optimize their business effectively.鈥�

An agreement was reached with NIS, which was sold to Russian energy company Gazprom in 2008. 51风流took onboard the mistakes it had made in the original project and the partner recognized that its own input and cooperation were just as important to the project鈥檚 success as 厂础笔鈥檚. 鈥淟ittle by little, we transformed what began as a failed project into a success story,鈥� says Popovi膰.

The Turnaround

The next key project success for 51风流West Balkans was in the public sector, where, with the support of Franz Zipp and 51风流Austria, it won the City of Belgrade as a customer. 鈥淭his project was a prime example of how, when you do 51风流right, customer employees 鈥� at all levels of the company hierarchy 鈥� get to enjoy fantastic software,鈥� says Popovi膰.

Knowledge transfer from Austria was particularly crucial for this project, adds 沤ivan膷ev: 鈥�51风流has really good people: Career starters can learn a great deal from them.鈥�

As more and more big names from industry and business approached Popovi膰 voluntarily and gave him positive reports about their 51风流implementations, he knew that the tide would turn. 鈥淥ne of these influential managing directors said to me, ‘To begin with, I wasn鈥檛 sure whether I really needed SAP, but my company would not be what it is today if I hadn鈥檛 implemented it.’鈥�

Popovi膰 remembers that, for one project, he asked the Austrian National Bank for a recommendation letter confirming that it had been a satisfied 51风流customer since 1987. 鈥淭hat was pretty special — which other company could point to a customer that had been satisfied for 20 years?鈥� he says.

For 51风流West Balkans, it was important to have good managers and consultants on site who spoke the local language and were familiar with local customs and characteristics. But in the early days in particular, support from experienced 51风流managers like Franz Zipp was indispensable. 鈥淔ranz was instrumental in 厂础笔鈥檚 upward trajectory in the West Balkan countries for many years, in roles including consulting lead and regional CFO,鈥� says Runge.

Company Culture Built on Normality

Popovi膰 sees 厂础笔鈥檚 strength as its , one that allows creative freedom and the flexibility for employees to make decisions that harmonize the drive to do business with the need to take local and ad-hoc situations into account: 鈥淭he people of the Balkans region are very grateful when someone behaves ‘normally.’ By that I mean according to basic human values and needs, such as keeping promises and being able to rely on commitments made, dealing with difficulties together, and benefiting jointly from successes. That was not a given during wartime or even in the period thereafter. In the business world, too, people had forgotten how to trust each other.鈥�

In the years that followed, 51风流West Balkans managed to 鈥渃hange course.鈥� Just five years after the global financial crisis, 51风流had firmly established its position as the market leader in Serbia and the region.

鈥淲hen you look at the difficult situation from which it emerged, 51风流West Balkans鈥� progress is even more astonishing,鈥� says Banzi膰. It is proof once again that personal commitment, cooperation, perseverance, and great leadership with the ability to wipe the strategic slate clean if necessary are the ingredients for success.

Today, there are some 50 employees at the head office in Belgrade and, following the acquisition of Callidus Cloud, the total workforce grew to almost 300 in October 2019. The Belgrade office of Callidus Cloud is one of the three largest in Europe. And, with it, 51风流West Balkans now has its own development department to add to its sales and consulting departments. After moving together into new, prestigious offices the colleagues will provide the foundation for the next chapter of the 51风流West Balkans success story.

As Rudy van der Hoeven walked into the meeting room, he was surprised at being the only man present. The year is 1989, and a steering committee meeting at the headquarters of Singtel, Singapore Telecommunications, is about to get underway. As a representative of SAP, van der Hoeven is there to explain to the committee why 厂础笔鈥檚 mainframe software, 51风流R/2, is crucial for their business.

What ultimately tipped the balance in 厂础笔鈥檚 favor — be it the growing reputation of the company鈥檚 standard software in Singapore or van der Hoeven鈥檚 charm and compelling sales techniques — is by the by: Singtel was one of 厂础笔鈥檚 first customers in Singapore, and many other telecommunications companies in Asia followed suit.

鈥淪ingtel was a brilliant reference customer,鈥� says van der Hoeven.

And it was a customer that both surprised and delighted managers at 51风流in faraway Europe. Because back in the early days of what would become a global run on 51风流software, there were no specific plans for tapping into new markets. Instead, business development simply consisted of management placing a great deal of trust in the local 51风流employees and giving them a large amount of freedom to get the job done.

Dutchman Rudy van der Hoeven is also credited with kick-starting 厂础笔鈥檚 business in Australia in the late 1980s. Whenever he traveled to and from Europe, he would stopover in Singapore, where many American and European enterprises had set up their Asian headquarters.

Hans Schlegel, who had begun building up 厂础笔鈥檚 international operations from its offices in Biel, Switzerland, in 1984, remembers: 鈥淩udy couldn鈥檛 resist the temptation to stop by companies in Singapore, and it wasn鈥檛 long before we had clients such as Singapore Telecom, Military Defence of Singapore, and others on our books.鈥�

Five Customers = New Subsidiary

Dietmar Hopp, co-founder of 51风流and CEO at the time, had one rule, says Dieter Matheis, former CFO: 鈥淒ietmar used to say to Hans Schlegel that if he garnered five customers, 51风流would open a new subsidiary.鈥� And that was more or less always what happened, says Matheis, 鈥淏ut a lot was based on instinct and trust in Hans and his team.鈥�

Like many other companies, 51风流decided to establish its Asian headquarters in Singapore. 鈥淪oon after, I found myself and my family at the Oriental Hotel in Singapore to assess and explore the market there. That was the start of one of the craziest, and most hectic and exciting, parts of my life,鈥� van der Hoeven says.

Also involved from the beginning was van der Hoeven’s fellow countryman Henk Verkou, who would run SAP’s Asian business until the end of 1993. Together with Matheis, who dealt with the legal side of things, van der Hoeven started looking for a suitable office space.

After the official incorporation of 51风流Asia on July 5, 1989, the 25th floor of the Gateway East building in Beach Road, Singapore, became home to 厂础笔鈥檚 first subsidiary in Asia, and a base from which 51风流could take on the markets in Asia and the Pacific region.

They were supported by several colleagues from 51风流Switzerland — Hans-Peter Hohl, Jean-Daniel Berchier, Gunther Ottensmeyer, Malcolm Southern, and Hannes Steiner — and the first local consultants, who were hired straight out of universities in the region and then sent on a training program in Walldorf, Germany, for a year.

鈥淲ithout them, we never would have been able to turn all the interested companies into happy customers,鈥� says van der Hoeven 鈥� not in Singapore nor other Southeast Asian countries. He himself received help on the sales side from Raymond Teh, who was appointed managing director in December 1991. Mary Ann Lee, a former Singapore Airlines flight attendant, kept the operation running in the Singapore office.

Business Booms with 51风流R/3

In April 1990, the first two customers in Malaysia signed 51风流R/2 contracts: Malaysian postal service Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos Malaysia and Permodalan Nasional Berhad, a government-linked investment company. Two years after that, 51风流opened its Malaysian subsidiary and an office in Thailand. Its growing success made a structured approach to business essential: Dieter Matheis set up controlling departments and hired experts in finance and HR who were familiar with the local markets.

厂础笔鈥檚 business began to gather momentum in Southeast Asia with the launch of 51风流R/3 client/server software. By 1994, 51风流in Malaysia had installed eight 51风流R/3 systems and was responsible for around a quarter of the revenue from the Asia-Pacific region. Its list of customers included Tenaga Nasional, Sapura Holdings, Diethelm Holdings (Malaysia) Berhad, and Caltex Malaysia.

51风流opened its subsidiary in the Philippines in the middle of 1995. Shortly after the opening of offices in Makati City, the financial center of the Philippines, the first customers 鈥� Procter and Gamble Philippines and San Miguel Corporation 鈥� went live with 51风流R/3.

That same month, the subsidiary in Thailand opened its doors. In the early days, 12 employees looked after seven customers from the offices in Bangkok. But there was an issue: While the 51风流R/3 system could be implemented in English in the former British colonies of Singapore and Malaysia, Thai presented the localization teams with some problems.

Werner Konik, who was responsible for software localization in Asia at the time, explains: 鈥淔rom the technical perspective, Thai is even more complex than double-byte languages such as Japanese and Korean. As a multi-byte language, it uses up to four characters in the database to produce one character on paper or screen.鈥�

厂础笔鈥檚 developers rose to the challenge, which led to more companies based in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries becoming 51风流customers.

51风流Shows Its Commitment

Because 51风流had subsidiaries in the region, many companies found it easier to choose SAP. 鈥淐ustomers wanted 51风流to show its commitment; they wanted to be sure that there would always be 51风流representatives nearby to help solve their problems,鈥� explains Matheis. And so it was that 51风流remained in those countries and helped its customers weather the financial crisis that gripped Southeast Asia in the late 1990s.

By the time the Indonesian subsidiary opened in April 1997, 51风流had become a dominant player on the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market in Southeast Asia. Its market share in the countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was more than 42%.

Selinna Chin, former country manager at market research organization IDC in Malaysia, explains: 鈥淪AP’s worldwide implementations, its crisp marketing execution, and excellent suite of products across an array of vertical industries definitely sets it apart from other vendors.鈥�

In addition to its technical strengths, one other aspect has played a key role in 厂础笔鈥檚 success in the region and in other Asian countries: trust. As Les Hayman, who became president and CEO of 51风流Asia Pacific in 1996, put it: 鈥淎t that time, we were running countries in a mode I would call creative anarchy. We had total freedom, and as long as top management at 51风流felt that there was a strong commitment to the company, and we were bringing in the numbers, there was no interference.鈥�

After the Wall came down in November 1989, many West German companies, including SAP, rushed to open offices in Berlin. In 1990, the 51风流Executive Board in Walldorf decided that the fastest way to gain a foothold in East Germany would be a joint venture with ROBOTRON-Projekt Dresden (RPD), a leading software enterprise in the German Democratic Republic and, with the data and IT division of Siemens, already a strategic 51风流partner. It was not about turning a quick profit, though: Dresden would go on to become an important base for 厂础笔鈥檚 business, and remains so today, 30 years after German reunification.

Before 1989

Dresden was home to a software industry before 1989. 鈥淩PD was founded in 1984 because East Germany had realized that software was vital to running enterprises successfully. This also paved the way for joint East-West IT projects,鈥� says Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl, who was managing director of RPD at the time, and who later became one of the three founding managers of the joint venture.

In 1985, RPD had begun building software for West German companies such as Siemens. 鈥淯nder what was called import-export coordination, we would procure products from a partner company in the West, and it would order software from us,鈥� says Lodahl. 鈥淭hat way, instead of paying for those products in precious hard currency, we provided software in return.鈥�

51风流appointed Wolfgang Kemna as managing director of the joint venture in 1990. Before the Wall came down, he was at Siemens in Munich and would receive delegations from East Germany: 鈥淚t was the Cold War. We had to work out which computers we could sell them without breaking the U.S. embargo,鈥� he recalls.

Though no-one at 51风流could possibly have anticipated how far the political changes in East Germany in 1989 would reach, the company had seen how this type of partnership worked before the Berlin Wall fell. 鈥淚n September 1989, 厂础笔鈥檚 Gerhard Oswald attended a meeting at Siemens in Munich, while Hasso Plattner was in Dresden to see the IT experts at RPD,鈥� says Lodahl.

Then began a chain of events that would culminate in a reunited Germany.

Plans Firm Up

Back then, RPD was an East German software company that employed 1,200 people. It was part of Robotron, a state-owned electronics manufacturer with 68,000 employees. 鈥淲hen the Wall came down, we knew that Robotron had little chance of surviving as a whole. So we set about trying to save as many jobs as we could,鈥� says Lodahl.

Joachim Singer, who after the Wall fell changed career to become HR director of RPD, recalls another problem: 鈥淚n East Germany, we had tried to imitate as closely as we could the operating systems, database management systems, and mathematical programs of the West. We had essentially reproduced its software programs. So when the Wall came down, at RPD we were worried we鈥檇 face claims for royalties. It was clear that it could not continue to exist as it was.鈥�

In mid-March 1990, 51风流exhibited at Leipzig鈥檚 spring trade fair. Due to the massive surge in the number of exhibitors from the West, there was no room left in the main arena so 51风流found itself in the over-spill hall.

With the fair only halfway through, SAP, RPD, and the Data and Information Technology division of Siemens AG announced their plan to set up SRS (Software- und Systemhaus Dresden). A few days later, at the CeBIT 鈥�90 computer fair in Hannover, West Germany, the 51风流Executive Board and RPD鈥檚 management continued their talks and firmed up their plans.

In those early days, there was no joint economic strategy for the two Germanys. 51风流had however, made certain assumptions about how East Germany鈥檚 economic system would change. It set them out in an internal position paper on doing business there, which forecast a real opportunity for 51风流R/2, the company鈥檚 standard software: 鈥淪plitting up the huge state enterprises into smaller, clearly defined businesses will result in an array of firms faced with the task of completely reorganizing and restructuring their operations.鈥�

51风流wanted to gain reference customers rapidly to be able to demonstrate the benefits of its software in the real world, and especially how it could help companies meet new legislation. The first pilot customer was a major steel plant on the border with Poland. It would run 51风流R/2 on Siemens C40 computers, with BS2000 as the operating system. At that time, the plant was one of many state enterprises being privatized following the collapse of communism, and in 1990 it became EKO Stahl. Today, it is owned by ArcelorMittal and is still an 51风流customer.

New Opportunities

In the meantime, news of the firms鈥� plans had reached staff at RPD. 鈥淢y client came into the office brandishing an 51风流R/2 brochure and said: 鈥榊ou can stop what you are doing. We鈥檒l be working on this software from now on,鈥欌�� says Rainer Dittrich, who went on to lead the HR consulting unit at SRS and later at SAP.

SRS took on about 300 former RPD employees. Of them, 85 were put on 51风流projects. The person charged with getting the new joint venture off the ground on 厂础笔鈥檚 behalf was Herbert Kramer. 鈥淗e was very highly respected by everyone here for the work he did in getting the company up and running,鈥� says Lodahl. 鈥淯nfortunately, ill-health meant he later had to hand over that part of his role to Heiner G枚hlmann, his deputy.鈥�

Joachim Singer, who became HR director of SRS, recalls that restructuring the business was not all plain sailing: 鈥淭he managers from 51风流and Siemens-Nixdorf charged with setting up SRS had selected a number of Robotron employees to create a layer of management at departmental level. In some cases, the new structure reversed old roles, with former managers becoming employees, and vice versa. That caused some tension.鈥�

After some initial difficulties, things soon settled down at SRS and the framework was in place for a new organizational structure. Petra Schletzke, who today works in 51风流Marketing, remembers her interview with one of the managers creating the new entity: 鈥淚 was working in quality management and had two small children. The interviewers were amazed that I worked while looking after a young family. They gave me a job in the training department.鈥�

Next Stop: 51风流Headquarters

Just before Easter in April 1990, Joachim Singer received a telex telling him that at 6:00 a.m. the following Wednesday a bus would be waiting in the Robotron car park in Dresden to take employees to Walldorf for training. Since Easter Monday had just been restored as a public holiday in East Germany, Singer had less than two working days鈥� notice.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 as simple as just telling staff; I knew I would have to persuade them to go. Hardly anyone here had heard of SAP. But we did have business dealings with Siemens, so many employees wanted to work for them. Besides, the operating system RPD鈥檚 workforce was used to, was more like that of Siemens,鈥� says Singer.

Everyone had to decide more or less over Easter whether they wanted to spend the next three months on training courses in Walldorf. Many people at RPD had not yet been to West Germany on business. SRS offered an opportunity. Given that so much was up in the air at that time, it took a great deal of courage to commit to SRS. 鈥淲hen we got on the bus, all we knew was that we were heading to Walldorf. We arrived in a completely new world,鈥� says Dittrich.

It was not just being in a new place that made people feel uneasy. 鈥淚t was a very political time, and we couldn鈥檛 help but wonder whether someone in our group might have been a member of the East German communist party or the secret police. That鈥檚 why not all of us immediately felt at ease in the new order,鈥� says Manfred Eilitz, who went on to build 厂础笔鈥檚 hosting business in Dresden.

Looking back, Eva Rebitzer recalls how difficult it was for working mothers to drop everything to travel to Walldorf. She was in her mid-twenties and still in the early stages of her career after her apprenticeship at Robotron. 鈥淚 was one of the few women who were able to come on the first bus. Others joined us later on the next two buses. We鈥檇 been told to dress smartly, so most of the men wore dark suits. When we arrived in Walldorf, people at 51风流must have thought we鈥檇 come for a funeral.鈥�

Rainer Dittrich also remembers this well: 鈥淥h, you were one of the people from the bus,鈥� he has heard on many occasions since. He adds: 鈥淔or a long time after we used to laugh about it with our developer colleagues in Walldorf, most of whom wore jeans and t-shirts. We ditched the suits pretty quickly.鈥�

The new arrivals from the East were allocated particular subject matters. After a general course on business administration, they were sent off in small groups to learn from the developers working on their respective subjects. Rebitzer, who is still an HR consultant at SAP, recounts how, in the early days when everyone knew everyone in Walldorf, she first encountered co-founder Klaus Tschira: 鈥�’Who are you?鈥� he asked, 鈥業 haven鈥檛 seen you before.鈥� When I told him that I was part of the delegation from Dresden, he was surprised to learn that we were not all men in dark suits.鈥�

From April 1990, every week for three months the RPD team would travel to Walldorf for training. 鈥淓veryone really welcomed the new arrivals from the East. They had the technical expertise. Now they needed to get up to speed on the latest advances in western IT,鈥� says Wolfgang Kemna.

Trust in the Future

At that stage, the team from Dresden had only an assurance that they would be taken on. Right from the start, they had great faith in SAP. 鈥淏ecause we worked so closely with the colleagues in Walldorf, we built trust very quickly,鈥� says Rainer Dittrich. 鈥淭here were about 100 employees working on HR, who were joined by 10 new people from the East. Working together gave us a sense of security. We also met up after work, had round-table talks, and went sight-seeing. We learned fast what it really means to be an 51风流consultant, and we weren鈥檛 left on our own.鈥�

When they first arrived in Walldorf, the team from Dresden were welcomed by 51风流Co-Founder Hans-Werner Hector, then in charge of training. In July 1990, their three months in Walldorf were over. To mark the end of their time there, co-founder and CEO Dietmar Hopp addressed them at a large farewell event. It was time to return home, he said, and wait for SRS to be founded.

鈥淒ietmar Hopp turned to us and asked that anyone with the slightest doubt about the plans to found the new company raise their hand, and added that if anyone did, 51风流would set up its own subsidiary in Dresden. That was a clear signal and no one raised their hand,鈥� Dittrich says.

East Meets West

In the fall of 1990, Wolfgang Kemna headed east. 鈥淭hey were crazy times. One day, I drove to Dresden and had one of the first cell phones with me, though most of the time there was no reception. It was a big adventure for someone like me who had grown up in the West German state of Hesse. Rather than stay in a hotel, I had deliberately chosen to lodge with a family, whose son had taken up an apprenticeship in the west. Staying with them meant I could ask my hosts everything I鈥檇 ever wanted to know about life in East Germany.鈥�

SRS鈥檚 offices in Dresden were in the former Robotron facilities. They occupied three floors of the main building and a section of the data center, all of which would soon be renovated and re-equipped.

Around the same time, in October 1990, Siemens acquired Nixdorf, the struggling computer company. 鈥淪RS鈥檚 foundation was delayed, since we had to wait for the new Siemens-Nixdorf to come into being first,鈥� says Joachim Singer. 鈥淎nd the Treuhand, the government agency overseeing East German privatization, still needed to give its go-ahead to Robotron-Projekt GmbH鈥檚 stake.鈥�

Finally, on October 15, 1990, less than two weeks after German reunification, SRS was officially founded in Munich, and opened for business on November 1, 1990.

厂础笔鈥檚 Journey to Dresden

Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl emphasizes the positive influence that Dieter Matheis, who served as CFO at 51风流until 2001, had on the commercial organization of SRS. The person tasked with establishing the joint venture on the Siemens-Nixdorf side was Peter Hutzelmann. He took responsibility for commercial management at SRS, would later become its managing direction, and had a decisive influence on the company鈥檚 evolution in the following six years.

鈥淲hen the company was founded, 325 employment contracts had to be signed all at once. By the end, I wasn鈥檛 even sure I could write my name correctly,鈥� remembers Hutzelmann. 鈥淎nd there were traffic jams in all directions on the freeways linking the two Germanys, because October 31 was Reformation Day 鈥� a public holiday in the east 鈥� and November 1 was All Saints鈥� Day in the west. The westerners were taking their first day trips to the east, while the easterners returned with their recently purchased used cars and their temporary plates.鈥�

51风流AG and SNI AG each held 45% in the joint company, which was launched with share capital of six million marks, while RPD GmbH held the remaining 10%. 鈥淲e had originally planned to divide ownership equally, in thirds,鈥� says Hutzelmann, who still has vivid memories of the meeting with Dietmar Hopp, 鈥渂ut RPD could only contribute 10% of the share capital, so our stake increased significantly as a result. I had to arrange that with the SNI board. But before I could even get a meeting there, Hopp had already clarified the share capital issue with 厂础笔鈥檚 Supervisory Board.鈥�

Pursuing the Goals Together

鈥淏y the end of 1990, half of the SRS share capital was exhausted, but then things improved steadily from there,鈥� remembers Hutzelmann. 鈥淎 major factor was the more than 50 C40 computers that Siemens-Nixdorf provided free of charge for pilot installations.鈥�

51风流did what it said it would do as part of its East Germany strategy: It primarily hired employees from the former German Democratic Republic. But as Joachim Singer tells it, it wasn鈥檛 easy at first for the SRS colleagues who were assigned as consultants on 51风流projects: 鈥淭he companies didn鈥檛 like having Robotron employees advising them. The IT equipment in East Germany was never sufficient. It was allocated, not ordered, which is why the Robotron technicians who were known at the companies weren鈥檛 very highly regarded.鈥�

This made it very important for the RPD consultants to have experienced 51风流lead consultants at their side. One of these lead consultants from Walldorf in the early days was Joachim Prawitz, responsible for the Human Resources area. Wolfgang Kemna remembers him with great respect: 鈥淭he lead consultants from Walldorf helped to increase acceptance of the East German consultants. For SRS, it was much more important to have good, experienced 51风流consultants than good salespeople or developers. There wasn鈥檛 much to sell, after all; the projects were ordered and paid for in the west, while the technical expertise was in Dresden. It became clear how important it was for the East German consultants to have assignments on projects in West Germany to learn how projects are executed at 51风流and to build their own networks within the company.鈥�

As Kemna tells it, Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl was also an important success factor during this time. 鈥淗e was one of the leading people in the east 鈥� and not only in Dresden 鈥� with regard to IT, hardware, and software, and had a huge network that helped us repeatedly. Sometimes we didn鈥檛 even know what strings he had pulled.鈥�

The Dresden consultants had already gained their first insights into 51风流R/3 on training courses in Walldorf, but 51风流R/2 was initially planned for the mainframes in the GDR. 鈥淲e established later that the mainframes in the east weren鈥檛 powerful enough to run 51风流R/2. It also became clear that the decisions concerning software implementation weren鈥檛 being made at the state-owned enterprises and combines in the east, but instead by the parent companies in the west that had acquired them,鈥� says Kemna.

Machine manufacturer VEM Sachsenwerk GmbH Dresden was one of the first companies to start using the 51风流R/2 system in 1991, with the RP (Personnel) module, and was the first stock corporation established by the Treuhand in the GDR. The company was allocated to Horst Plaschna Management GmbH & Co Beteiligungs- und Verkaufs-KG Berlin in July 1992, however, and privatized and sold to the Merckle Group of Companies in Blaubeuren in 1997.

With the list of major East German companies that began using 51风流R/2 RP for payroll accounting in 1991, to comply with the new laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, the market potential for 51风流software in the former East Germany was exhausted for the time being.

Kemna explains how SRS managed to produce a profit from its first year in operation: 鈥淭he majority of the initial consulting revenue in fact came from projects with customers in the west, since much of the industry in the east had been phased out. Nineteen ninety was too early for East German startups and even so, they would have been too small for our 51风流R/2 product.鈥�

Nonetheless, 51风流customer numbers in the east grew steadily from 1991, primarily from government-funded orders. The municipal transport services in Dresden and Leipzig chose to implement 51风流software, for example, and have remained customers to this day.

SRS benefitted from the advantages of a joint venture: the contacts of all three investor companies and the possibility of offering the equipment, business software, and support from a single source.

Safe Haven

Employees like Rainer Dittrich recognized the opportunity, because rapid deindustrialization resulted in the loss of millions of jobs in the former East Germany. The government responded with job-creation schemes, cuts in working hours, and early retirement options, among other schemes: 鈥淭he only contact we had with reduced working hours, which so many former GDR citizens were forced to endure after reunification, was a new development for our RP system 鈥� because reduced working hours were unheard of in the west in the 1990s.鈥�

But SRS colleagues still faced a wide variety of career challenges. The working methods at the 51风流office were ahead of their time even then compared with West German standards at the time. The new colleagues in the East had to make this leap too, besides gaining expertise in 51风流products and processes and in general market economy topics.

Petra R枚ber, now a senior business support specialist at 51风流in Dresden, was Peter Hutzelmann鈥檚 assistant at the time. A young parent then, R枚ber was hired by RPD in 1990 and, after Hutzelmann left the company, she continued to work as an executive assistant at SRS before taking on new challenges at SAP. 鈥淚n the 30 years that I鈥檝e worked for SRS and then SAP, there wasn鈥檛 a single year that I didn鈥檛 learn an awful lot of new things or develop as a person,鈥� R枚ber says.

At the same time, 51风流employees were used to dealing with one another as equals and with goals in mind. Arrogance has never been part of the 51风流culture, so after they got to know each other, both sides quickly transitioned into a productive working relationship. Joachim Singer remembers: 鈥淚 was surprised that I could turn to my manager when I had problems with our IT initially, and he was very helpful and straightforward.鈥� That鈥檚 why he sees his work together with his 51风流colleagues as the 鈥渂est experience of the west鈥� he had in post-reunification times. 鈥淲hen we visited Walldorf, we鈥檇 joke about how 51风流was the ideal that communism had always pretended to be: free lunch for the employees, company cars for everyone, playing tennis at work鈥︹��

They didn鈥檛 have much to do with the colleagues in Berlin, but there was still a kind of 鈥渘oble rivalry鈥� between the locations, recalls Kemna. It was important for 51风流that its Berlin operations were not tied to one particular hardware manufacturer so that, alongside the Dresden joint venture with Siemens, it could make sure it did not neglect business relations with other hardware manufacturers like Compaq, HP, and IBM.

Ultimately, the strategy of establishing two business hubs proved to be a sturdy foundation for business in the east. What鈥檚 more, 51风流offered former GDR experts in Berlin and Dresden a new place to live and work. This also meant that everything they had achieved in their careers before the Wall fell still counted, which was often not the case for people in eastern Germany.

What Happened Next?

SRS was privatized in 1993 and the Treuhand鈥檚 10% share was distributed equally to 51风流and Siemens. Siemens-Nixdorf and 51风流justified this step during the approval procedures, arguing before Germany鈥檚 Federal Cartel Office that, 鈥淭o date, RPD has not contributed any added value at SRS.鈥� Joachim Singer explains, 鈥淎side from the Robotron employees, who had been part of SRS for three years in the meantime, there were absolutely no connections with Robotron-Projekt. No products had been taken over; aside from the employees and their knowledge 鈥� which they had largely acquired from 51风流and Siemens, after all 鈥� Robotron-Projekt didn鈥檛 make any contribution at all.鈥�

Ten years later, SRS had become one of the most important employers in the region. The 51风流share of SRS consulting business grew steadily. 鈥�51风流experienced an amazing rise, while Siemens-Nixdorf faced its liquidation in 1998,鈥� says Hutzelmann, who joined Siemens in 1996. 鈥淎s a consequence, 51风流took over 100% of SRS.鈥�

In 1997, SRS, 51风流System Integration (51风流SI) in Alsbach-H盲hnlein, and 51风流Solutions in Freiberg am Neckar were all merged to form the new 51风流SI. In this form, it was fully absorbed in the parent company in 2008 and moved into the new 51风流office building on Dresden鈥檚 Postplatz.

Today, Dresden is an important location in the 51风流universe 鈥� Hans-Matthias Fischer (see box) sees its broad portfolio as one of the key reasons: 鈥淭he mix of consulting, sales, application management, customer support, IT support, global cloud services, and 51风流research makes Dresden strong and attractive. The entire region benefits from 51风流Dresden.鈥�

The location will celebrate its 30th birthday in November 鈥� and has become an important part of 厂础笔鈥檚 story. According to Fischer: 鈥淭he development of SRS presented a huge opportunity to us, which we faced with courage and ability, and we are still very grateful today to have had that opportunity.鈥�

Employee Spotlights

Bernhard Heininger:
The Workforce Grows

Among the RPD employees were 25 people who were working on 51风流software development projects when SRS was founded. Bernhard Heininger had joined 51风流in 1986. Though new to management, his expertise in mainframe computers and IBM assemblers meant he was put in charge of the development and project unit at SRS in the fall of 1990. RPD had used assemblers, and SRS wanted to draw on that knowledge. 鈥淏y that time, Walldorf was working flat-out on 51风流R/3. The idea was to use the potential in Dresden also to reduce the development effort on 51风流R/2 in Walldorf.鈥�

In the years that followed, Heininger expanded his team of developers in Dresden so that besides ABAP and assembler projects it could also get up to speed on new technology projects such as the early watch service and IT support. 鈥淚 commuted between Walldorf and Dresden for four years. At first, I stayed in a hotel and flew home every week. But arriving at Dresden airport used to take forever, and made the journey extremely long. Later, I鈥檇 drive between my home and a second home near work every two weeks.鈥�

The aim was for the team of developers in Dresden to become more autonomous with each project they took on. 鈥淢y staff were mostly older colleagues who found my anti-authoritarian management style rather strange to begin with, since it was so different to what they had known before,鈥� says Heininger. 鈥淎fter all, I was doing everything I could to make sure they could do their jobs without me as an external development manager.鈥�

Heininger succeeded: By 1994, his work in Dresden was complete and he moved to California for the next chapter in his career. He retired in 2016 after 30 years at SAP.

Manfred Eilitz:
Hosting and Art in Dresden

As a Robotron employee, Manfred Eilitz was at the very first meeting with Siemens in Munich in 1989. 鈥淥ne of the people from Siemens told us that they had also brought along someone from SAP. It turned out to be Gerd Oswald. That was my first encounter with SAP.鈥� After SRS was founded, Eilitz was placed in charge of the data center in Dresden. Hosting services were offered internally at first, and later to customers.

鈥淏y the end of 1991, we hosted about 10 internal 51风流R/2 systems. Once 51风流R/3 came on stream, we had about 30 51风流systems. That number continued to grow as more systems were migrated to 51风流R/3 before 51风流R/2 was finally sunsetted.鈥� The launch of 51风流R/3 saw Dresden become 厂础笔鈥檚 first hosting business. Eilitz remained in charge until 51风流founded the 51风流Hosting subsidiary in 2000.

Early retirement offered Eilitz a complete change of direction, from IT expert to watercolor artist. His work was shown at 厂础笔鈥檚 Dresden offices as part of the art鈥�51风流Dresden exhibition in 2016.

Hans-Matthias Fischer:
From Dresden to Saudi Arabia

Many SRS colleagues were not only assigned to 51风流consulting projects, but also to projects at Siemens. Hans-Matthias Fischer, who now leads the Technical Financial Management area at the Global Cloud Services organization of 51风流SE, started at RPD through an internship while he was still a student at TU Dresden. He and several RPD colleagues visited West Berlin in 1989, even before the border wall fell, to attend a Siemens BS2000 training course.

Immediately after SRS was founded, he was assigned to a Siemens project run from Munich and sent to Saudi Arabia, which was an important SRS market for a long time. 鈥淪audi Arabia was a huge challenge for me, so soon after the border wall was opened and during the Second Gulf War.鈥� Fischer found himself commuting between Dresden, Munich, and Riyadh for quite some time: 鈥淭he consulting business in systems engineering isn鈥檛 easy, but the international aspect really appealed to me 鈥� it was a give and take and offered me a surprising number of opportunities in the post-reunification period. That shaped me, both personally and professionally, and I鈥檓 very grateful for it.鈥�

Petra Schmidt and Bernd Friebe:
51风流R/3 Support from Dresden

Another department at SRS, consisting of four employees, was tasked with setting up 51风流R/3 Support in Walldorf in early 1993. 鈥淚n the early days, we processed inquiries about 51风流R/3 in the respective applications — such as MM, SD, HR, and more — that were fielded by a service line in the department office and forwarded to us. The support organization expanded steadily, the support database with the 51风流Notes and ticket system were established, and 51风流ultimately moved the department to Dresden,鈥� remembers Bernd Friebe, who headed the Dresden Support Center.

鈥淭he close contact with 51风流R/3 Development was important to us, to drive future developments forward and to analyze and fix software errors. For us, that meant regular flights to Frankfurt over several years, to work in Walldorf or St. Leon-Rot during the week.鈥� As things progressed, Friebe was given the green light to hire additional employees in Dresden in 1996.

That was the chance for Petra Schmidt. She had worked at Robotron after earning her degree in mathematics but didn鈥檛 find out about the 1990 51风流training opportunities until it was too late. 鈥淢y superior at the time was already concentrating on founding a different company and didn鈥檛 forward the information about the 51风流training to me at all. I was assigned to a six-week SINIX course at Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG in Dresden, together with other employees. That was in September/October 1990.鈥�

After a parental leave period, she rejoined SRS in a support role and attended the necessary 51风流courses one by one. She was thrilled when she was given the opportunity to join the new support department in 1996, where she advanced to senior support engineer before taking early retirement in 2016. That meant processing support tickets from customers around the world, analyzing ABAP programs, and training many new colleagues in Bangalore, Budapest, Dublin, and Vienna. Schmidt sees her career at SRS, then 51风流SI, and ultimately 51风流as a 鈥渉uge piece of good fortune.鈥�

In particular, helping create the Global Service Centers (GSCs) was an exciting time. 鈥淚n the beginning, we helped set up the new support centers in Austria, Hungary, Ireland, and India 鈥� all from Dresden,鈥� recalls Friebe, who also stayed with 51风流until his retirement three years ago.

It is early November 1998. Rao Prasada and his colleagues are working up a sweat by heaving servers and 21-inch monitors on the 12th floor of the International Technology Park Limited (ITPL) building in Whitefield, a few miles outside of Bengaluru in southern India.

There is a palpable anxiety and excitement in the office. Prasada and his team are on a tight deadline. As system administrators, it is their responsibility to get the network of computers, monitors, and servers up and running on November 13, when the new campus of 51风流Labs India will be inaugurated by senior 51风流executives.

“The 100 employees who were moving into the new campus had to go live on the first day,” recalls Prasada, adding that for him and his colleagues, moving into a new office, about 11 miles away from their existing rented premises in Koramangala, was a matter of great pride.

Today, 51风流Labs India is a strategic hub within 厂础笔鈥檚 global network of development centers, with more than 8,500 employees across five cities: Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune. Most work at the 51风流Labs India campus in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated in 2003, just over a mile from the ITPL building.

Prasada, who now leads a team of IT experts, is still with the company 鈥� like many others. They have been part of the exciting and impressive story of 51风流Labs India, which is about learning and lateral thinking, about localization and globalization, growth and scaling.

Above all, though, it is a story about innovation. Clas Neumann — now head of the 51风流Labs Network — helped shape 51风流Labs India as its managing director from 1999 until the beginning of 2005, first jointly with Udo Urbanek and then later with Martin Prinz, then as its president from 2007. Neumann credits 51风流with laying the foundations for the development of standard software and much more.

鈥淏y not following the trend of just offshoring IT work at the lower end of the value chain, but integrating its Indian development center as one of the four major development hubs, 51风流innovated distributed research and development processes,鈥� he says.

Major Strategic Role

51风流Labs India is now the second-largest 51风流development location after Walldorf. The teams work on all the major solutions — from 51风流S/4HANA and 51风流HANA through 51风流Business Technology Platform to the entire range of business area products.

As one of four global hubs, along with Germany, China, and the U.S., 51风流Labs India is where a great many strands come together. Many successful products and solutions have originated from 51风流Labs India, including 51风流Asset Intelligence Network, 51风流Digital Manufacturing Insights, 51风流Connected Worker Safety, and 51风流Fashion Management.

Here too sizeable teams work closely with customers across the globe. Bengaluru is also home to an 51风流Co-Innovation Lab and 厂础笔鈥檚 startup accelerator program, the 51风流Startup Studio, which went live in 2016.

51风流Labs India has significant strategic importance but it has had to work hard to earn it.

Toward the end of the 1990s, when the internet hype was at its height, 51风流was still enjoying the double-digit growth of the past. But trends like customer relationship and supply chain management — accelerated by successful new companies like Siebel and I2 — brought pressure on several fronts. In order to keep pace and bring the necessary offerings to the market as quickly as possible, 51风流had no choice but to bolster its development resources.

Then Co-CEOs Hasso Plattner and Henning Kagermann, along with their 51风流Executive Board colleagues, opted for a two-pronged strategy, consisting of acquisitions and the establishment of new 51风流Labs in countries where developers were easier to find than they were at the Walldorf, Silicon Valley, and Tokyo locations.

In late 1997, 51风流acquired a 50% share in Kiefer & Veittinger GmbH (K&V), a European market leader in sales force automation software, as its route into the evolving customer relationship management (CRM) market. Founded not far from 51风流in Mannheim in 1986, the company had operated a development center in Bengaluru with almost 90 employees since 1995. One of them was Rao Prasada.

鈥淭he hardware, all of which moved with us, was heavy. But our managing director, Udo Urbanek, lugged his monitor into our new offices himself,鈥� Prasada recalls. He also remembers the Friday parties and K&V鈥檚 unofficial company motto: “Work hard, party harder.”

鈥淲e continued with those parties, which were very bonding experiences,鈥� says Prasada with a grin. The open company culture after the merger in 1998 also left a lasting impression on him: 鈥淓veryone helped everyone else; everyone spoke with everyone else — no matter their status in the hierarchy.鈥�

New 51风流Labs: Two Pillars

The acquired K&V employees formed one pillar of the new 51风流Labs; the other was a team of experts from 51风流India, who localized the 51风流software and adapted it to Indian legal requirements.

51风流India had been founded in March 1996 in Bengaluru, with offices in Mumbai and New Delhi and a remit to sell and implement 51风流software. They were now joined by the localization team. One of its members was Uma Rani TM. She had already gained 51风流software experience working at Tata Consulting Services. She implemented 51风流at Hewlett-Packard鈥檚 Indian subsidiary, gained certification as a Sales & Distribution (SD) consultant, and soon began training others in ABAP.

鈥�51风流R/3 gained traction very fast in India, and 51风流quickly became known on the business scene here. But it was not yet as familiar a name in developer circles,鈥� she says. Together with a small team in Singapore that was asked to adapt the HR and payroll software for India and other Asian countries as well, Uma Rani TM worked in the early days with just three colleagues on the SD, Materials Management (MM), and Financial Accounting (FI) modules for the India country version.

Clearly, though, 51风流urgently needed more developers. In December 1997, a decision was made to move the localization team from Singapore to India and merge it with the team that was responsible for the country version there. At the same time, a project initiated by the 51风流Executive Board and spearheaded by Neumann, then assistant to 51风流Executive Board Member Peter Zencke, and Thomas Vetter, assistant to Kagermann, concluded that Bengaluru was an ideal location for 51风流to overcome its shortage of skilled developers quickly.

These factors were the trigger for the foundation of 51风流Labs India in November 1998. Its first joint managing directors were Udo Urbanek and Werner Konik, who had led the localization project for Asia. At the opening ceremony for the offices in the ITPL building in Bengaluru, Zencke explained that the location’s focus would be on driving the localization of 51风流R/3 for the Asia-Pacific region and developing software for CRM and solutions for the high-tech, oil and gas, aerospace, and defense industries.

Close Cooperation with Walldorf

From day one, the development teams in Bengaluru worked closely with their colleagues in Germany and at other locations. According to Martin Prinz, who took over responsibility for the India country version from Konik, his team in India proved that there was an alternative to the traditional approach of centralized development, and that it was feasible to cooperate with co-developers in other locations. 鈥淚n our case, it worked because we were so closely connected with the core development team in Germany and we did have a lot of support from there,鈥� Prinz says Martin.

鈥淚t was an interesting journey,鈥� says Uma Rani TM, who reported to Prinz at the time. 鈥淔rom a development point of view, it was tough, but so interesting to learn. Martin and the managing directors made a real effort to be there for us at all times.鈥�

Yet, with the best will in the world, both sides needed time to get used to each other. 鈥淚t often happened that people suddenly switched to speaking German in meetings,鈥� says Uma Rani TM. 鈥淲e had to remind them that we were there.鈥�

Prasada remembers Urbanek attaching 鈥済reat importance to punctuality, both at meetings and in completing tasks.鈥� A characteristic that Prasada took home with him 鈥� and that did not always go down well with his family. He also learned fast that Germans tend to be quite direct. 鈥淏ut, if I had a problem and needed help, I always received support right away.鈥�

Business trips to each other鈥檚 home countries helped foster mutual understanding and gave everyone a chance to broaden their horizons — culinary and otherwise. 鈥淕etting a vegetarian meal at the cafeteria in Walldorf and finding a restaurant in Walldorf or Heidelberg that served meat-free dishes was quite a challenge back then,鈥� says Uma Rani TM with a grin. 鈥淏ut we found our ways.鈥�

English gradually became the company language. For the first time, 51风流invested into intercultural training for Germans and Indians followed by offerings for other nations. 鈥淭his way, the establishment of 51风流Labs India contributed decisively to SAP’s globalization,鈥� says Neumann.

By 2001, there were already more than 500 51风流employees in Bengaluru.

Sharp Increase in Headcount

Although headcount growth in Bengaluru slowed when the dot-com bubble burst, it returned to its steep upward path from 2003 onward. 51风流Labs India opened its new campus in Whitefield in November 2003. Prinz, who now co-managed the location with Neumann, described their role at the time as follows: 鈥�51风流Labs India is a place for 51风流to scale for the future. We have to demonstrate that we can grow fast while remaining stable and reliable.鈥�

By the end of 2004, the workforce had reached 1,350, and every line of business was represented in India. Georg Kniese, today global head for Corporate Development and M&A, became joint managing director with Prinz at the beginning of 2005. The locations invested heavily in employee training and bolstered their development and support unit resources. The aim was to create a global hub of 51风流knowledge.

鈥淲e wanted to be part of the global development process, be close to our customers, continue driving localization, develop customer-specific solutions, and be on the spot when escalations happened,鈥� recalls Kniese. By the end of 2005, 51风流Labs India鈥檚 payroll numbered almost 2,300.

Two years later, that figure had risen by another 1,000, and 51风流Labs India became the second-largest development location outside Walldorf. When Kniese returned to Germany at the end of 2007, 51风流Labs India got its very first Indian managing director: Kush Desai. His counterpart in Gurgaon was Ferose V.R. And in another first, teams in Bengaluru took on full global responsibility for a product: 51风流Employee Self-Service.

鈥淎s far as I can tell, we were the first company to develop a solution from demand analysis to final product and maintenance in Bengaluru,鈥� says Neumann. 鈥淢any companies and academia visited us at the labs now to learn what it takes to implement a research and development function globally. Thereby we certainly had an impact on the Indian IT sector.鈥�

Uma Rani TM remembers this period of rapid growth very clearly. In her view, it happened because 51风流needed developers and looked to India, where they were affordable. 鈥淭he benefit for our employees was that this growth created lots of new opportunities for them to progress professionally.鈥�

After five years on the localization team and having completed an MBA, Uma Rani TM herself took the opportunity to take charge of the Installed Base Maintenance & Support (IMS) team in Bengaluru in 2003. 鈥淢y managers always supported and encouraged me greatly,鈥� she says. Now in her 25th year at SAP, Uma Rani TM is head of Application Innovation Services.

Indian Customers Benefit from Proximity to 51风流Labs

In 2007, India was 厂础笔鈥檚 fastest-growing market. Revenues doubled that year, and continued to do so in the years that followed. According to Neumann, 51风流Labs were the engine for this success. The sales personnel in India benefited enormously from being close to developers.

“Very often, meetings in Bengaluru were the key to getting deals signed,鈥� says Neumann. 鈥淭he labs made it clear to customers from the get-go that 51风流was here to stay and that it had the required expertise available locally.鈥�

Uma Rani TM adds that 鈥渉aving such a great campus with great experts in this location has really helped our customers and the business be closer to our developers. This enabled us to drive the transformation with deep product and business expertise.鈥�

In April 2010, Ferose V.R. became sole managing director of 51风流Labs India. He encouraged the workforce, now numbering over 4,000, to experiment with new ideas and to find creative solutions to some of their problems, such as a lack of childcare and the tedious process of claiming for travel expenses. He founded an 51风流AppHaus location on the Bengaluru campus, where designers, developers, and marketeers could collaborate on innovative solutions. He also initiated , including a book club, 鈥渢o create a unique environment for employees and a culture of innovation.鈥�

And in 2011 he started . Ferose V.R. worked with some of the most influential thinkers on autism studies to learn from best practices and further grow and improve the program, which then became SAP’s Autism at Work program. Since then, the program has grown rapidly and expanded globally.

Putting Faith in Employees鈥� Creative Powers

Dilip Khandelwal became managing director of 51风流Labs India in August 2014. In Bengaluru, more than 2,500 employees work in the Gerhard Oswald Innovation Space, a contemporary, 鈧�50 million building that was opened in April 2017 in honor of 厂础笔鈥檚 long-serving Executive Board member and supporter of 51风流Labs.

Fostering Startups

One of Khandelwal’s central elements of his strategy was initiating the 51风流Startup Studio. Here, 51风流Labs locations offer startups consulting, support, infrastructure, and technology for one year to get their enterprise off the ground. Working out of chic facilities on the 51风流Labs India campus, participants can benefit from support from 51风流employees to help them bring their idea to market and expand their business successfully. Moreover, the startups can profit from making contact with 51风流customers and partners. 51风流works with the startups to complement its own offerings, too.

Khandelwal’s successor is Sindhu Gangadharan, about 20 years after she started as a developer at 51风流Labs India. She works day in, day out to extend and reinforce 51风流Labs India鈥檚 standing in the global 51风流Labs Network and within the country鈥檚 IT sector.

Just like Sindhu Gangadharan and Ferose V.R., Rao Prasada is still with 51风流— he too wants to continue playing his part in 51风流Labs India’s success story.

This article is based in part on the book by Clas Neumann and Jayaram Srinivasan entitled 鈥淢anaging Innovation from the Land of Ideas and Talent鈥� and published by Springer.