In the 86th episode of Burning Platform, we host repeat guests, Peter Maier and Tilman Goettke of SAP. We discuss reaction to the book, Business as Unusual that Peter co-authored and both Tilman and I helped research and curate - link to the Amazon page via the badge on left.
Peter and Tilman discuss feedback about the book as they have handed out bunch of copies at book signings, podcasts and customer events. Tilman says he is glad the book recognized only a few business executives have time or patience to read books from cover to cover. So the opening chapter has short, two page overviews of each of the 8 mega trends. The book also has "thought experiments" to engage readers. For example, what if a maker of coffee machines wants to evolve beyond selling machines to also offer coffee by the cup? What impact does that for financial streams and for sales and customer engagement? Pretty much everything changes when you try to change your business model and adopt the hot trend of "servitization".
The book offers similar opportunities to think about countless vertical applications for their companies which have emerged as a result of COVID, digital transformations, the Ukraine crisis and the climate change urgency. Most of these are applications that we couldn't have imagined in 2019.
We also discuss new addressable markets in fast-growing emerging economies around the world. We cover the excitement and hype around Generative AI and low-code tools.
It is nice to have Peter provide commentary in his new role around strategic customer engagements in the office of the CEO. He says amidst all this choice, customers expect very clear guidance from SAP and consistency from its massively expanded ecosystem (in the book, we included perspectives from strategy firms, Industry 4.0 robotics firms, SAP.iO Foundry startups and many others – see details in this post). He hears from customers their highest priority is their customers and their top line. He lists other customer expectations around sustainability, standardization, efficiency (especially in asset intensive sectors), vendor consolidation and related governance.
Both say the pace of change has definitely accelerated. Peter points to the phenomenal pace of adoption of ChatGPT. He adds “all the more reason to get up early”. Tilman adds we need to acknowledge “what was science fiction yesterday is today's everyday business reality and the constraining factor is business agility”.
It truly is a thrill to have a strategic discussion with these two industry veterans at a vendor with so much industry and global depth. Enjoy this half an hour. So much change – so many new opportunities!!
I will also have a chance to share a session with Peter about the themes from the book at Sapphire in Orlando in a couple of weeks. Details to follow.
