- SAP wants to be the on-demand market leader
- CRM is the first battleground
- Few people use software
- The hybrid model of on-premise and on-demand works for SAP
John Wookey is a man who likes a challenge - that's evident from his choice of jobs. After joining Oracle back in 1995, he was involved in the development of much of that firm's applications strategy, including its CRM offerings, before being handed what many in the industry regarded as the poison chalice of Fusion. Fusion was Oracle's push to create a next generation suite of applications that would evolve the current Oracle, as well as mop up the functionality of the ever-growing collection of software firms acquired by the database giant, including Siebel and PeopleSoft. It was a massive undertaking which led Wookey to comment at one point: "My head is on the chopping block if this doesn't work."
In the end, he wasn't chopped but chose to walk. He left Oracle amid a flurry of speculation that he and CEO Larry Ellison no longer saw eye-to-eye on the direction for Fusion (the truth or otherwise of this remains unconfirmed by both parties, although it would hardly be the first time Ellison had staged an intervention in Oracle's day-to-day work). Wookey's departure from Oracle was shocking enough, but what happened next managed to top that as he committed what must be the ultimate defection in the applications business – he crossed the lines and signed up with Oracle's arch-enemy SAP.
Since last year, he's been spearheading the German market leader's software as a service (SaaS) strategy, a task that many might assume is almost as challenging as Fusion given SAP's seemingly on-off attitude to SaaS, especially at the enterprise level. But Wookey this week was upbeat about SAP's commitment to the new delivery model, even though rivals, analysts and even SAP's own CEO have variously pointed out that SaaS risks cannibalising the firm's established revenue model.