Assignment task:
Your team has been engaged by SAP to advise on the company's strategic re-planning that succeeds what was done in 2014 as described in the case.
Answer the following questions, as part of this effort:
1) Using "now" as your baseline - February, 2023 - objectively, critically, and comprehensively evaluate the decisions that SAP made between 2010 and 2014, as described in the case reading: acquisitions, their HANA strategy, market strategy, product portfolio, and especially their overall cloud strategy. What did they do right? Why? What did they miss? Why? Support your positions as extensively and comprehensively as possible including extensive reference to the specifics in the case reading.
2) Where do they go from here - February, 2023 - for the next 5-7 years, specifically with S4/HANA, in light of this recent decision to extend the life of Business Suite 7...and in light of the apparent skills shortage to help companies migrate to S4/HANA?
But also, in a larger sense, what about their "heading for the cloud" strategy?
Should they build out SAP cloud services? What about partnering with AWS, Azure, Google, and others? Should they be concerned about a possible "backlash" against cloud solutions and costs (ref: what we discussed in class) and continue to offer data center options as well? What about other SAP products and offerings: their business intelligence capabilities? Midmarket strategy? Consulting and professional services, both their own and through partners...can that help migration specifically, or their overall company strategy in general...and if so, how? IMPORTANT: Your response for this portion of your submission must be more than just a narrative: you must use charts, graphs, timelines, etc. to "tell a solid story and make the strongest case possible." Avoid generalized "statements of goodness" along the lines of "SAP should build out their cloud services and also build partnerships..." - you need to justify, explore costs, potential drawbacks, their ability to support dual paths, etc.