As its chairman admits to "mistakes"... what next for SAP?

What brought CEO Leo Apotheker's reign to such a sudden halt and what is SAP going to do to rectify the "mistakes" it admits it has made? Stuart Lauchlan investigates.

Whither SAP? The shock departure this week of CEO Leo Apotheker brought to a public head the internal conflicts over the direction of the applications software giant which has made some significant miscalculations in recent years. 'We got things wrong' was the message that came from SAP chairman and co-founder Hasso Plattner after Apotheker's contract was not renewed by the SAP board. 'But we're going to put them right.'

So what brought Apotheker's reign to such a sudden halt? He'd only been sole CEO of the firm since last year when his predecessor Henning Kagermann stepped down. But it's been a turbulent time for the firm.

Apotheker's actions seem to have alienated customers – as exemplified by the fractious row over maintenance and support charges which resulted in SAP climbing down in the face of a customer rebellion – while demoralising employees as the CEO who presided over the first major layoffs – 3,700 people - in the company's history as net income fell 4% to €1.79 billion, while revenue from software and software-related services slipped 3% to €8.2 billion.

More...