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many of those customizations are now part of the standard SAP offering. They are increasing cost, complexity, and debt, which keeps customers anchored to old environments. The clean core con- cept is a financial imperative. We must help customers realize that unwinding this debt is the only way to free up the resources needed for actual innovation. SAPinsider: You mentioned SAP Busi- ness Data Cloud. How does SAP’s data strategy fit with the broader data ecosystem that includes players like Databricks or Snowflake? Robinson: The reality is that players like Databricks, Snowflake and Palantir are incredible innovators. It’s not enough for SAP to simply say we have a partnership; we need deep interoperability. We have a unified operating estate to give customers access to the very best technologies while taking cost and com- plexity out of their enterprise. We are seeing customers who are now focused on AI and the realization of private mod- els. These insights weren’t possible in 2022 because their on-premise estates were too fragmented. Today also, we aren’t trying to be eve- rything. We are the core data foundation. By opening that foundation up to these partners, we allow customers to leverage their data wherever it sits, without the friction of traditional integration. Looping Into The Future SAPinsider: You seem to thrive on the feedback loop with customers. How does that shape your daily leader- ship? Robinson: I’ve learned everything I know in the last five years through cus- tomer engagements and most impor- tantly, through the most challenging customers. An easy customer meeting is nice, but it’s the challenging ones that create the most impact. These meetings push us.
“An easy customer meeting is nice, but it’s the challenging ones that create the most impact.”
Robinson: I want to move the needle by acknowledging that our customer base isn’t a monolith. We have customers at very different stages, and success looks different for each. I see three distinct phases. First, there are customers in the consolidation phase: those who need to clean up their data estates and get to a unified base- line. Second is modernization, where they move that consolidated estate to the cloud. And third is the innovation phase, where they are modernized enough to consume new technologies like AI con- tinuously. My goal is to see a measurable, grow- ing population of enterprises in each of those stages. We are seeing early adop- ters who went with RISE with SAP in 2021 now embracing SAP Business Data Cloud and unifying their data estates. They are getting faster time-to-value because they are already running the Suite as a service. Now, their priority is data and AI. Simultaneously, we have a tranche of customers who have consolidated but still need to move to the latest core. And, of course, we have those just start- ing. I want to see measurable growth and achievement in every single one of those cohorts.
They challenge us to prove that clean core is more than a slogan as these cus- tomers demand the tooling and method- ologies to make it real. It was these early, skeptical customers who wanted us to succeed but weren’t afraid to point out the flaws, that forced us to prioritize the right changes in how we design, deliver, and commercialize our solutions. That validation is our fuel. It confirms we are on the right track. It also reminds us that we can never be sat- isfied with where we are today. SAPinsider: Looking ahead, what specific outcomes do you want to see by the end of your first year as President of SAP North America and Americas Customer Success Func- tions?
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