SAP Seeks to Regain Customer Trust
In a conference call, cofounder Hasso Plattner admitted, "We have lost, here and there, the trust."
Following the recent resignation of SAP CEO LC)o Apotheker, the company named Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe as co-CEOs. "Hasso Plattner, a company cofounder, former CEO, and still chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board, further detailed the management shift during a conference call," writes destinationCRM.com’s Lauren McKay.
"Although the putative goal of Plattner’s conference call… was to clarify the changes in SAP leadership, China Martens, a senior analyst with The 451 Group, says that the subtext involved SAP making a major public acknowledgment of recent mistakes and missteps," McKay writes. "One topic that kept recurring throughout Plattner’s call was that of customer trust. ‘We have lost, here and there, the trust,’ Plattner admitted, noting moments later that ‘trust is a complicated thing.’ To all end users, he pleaded: ‘Please trust SAP — we have not forgotten you.’"
"Plattner’s acknowledgements went further: ‘Unfortunately, SAP made some legal and political mistakes, especially here in Germany,’ he said. ‘We made a mistake and we have to change course here. We have to regain the trust from customers who were more than upset,’" McKay adds. "Moving forward with innovation, he argued, is an important factor in regaining that trust. ‘We cannot say we will push back innovation for a year or two,’ he noted. ‘This would kill the company.’"
Click on the following to read the destinationCRM.com article: After CEO Ouster, Plattner’s Plea: "Please Trust SAP. We Have Not Forgotten You."