SAP Podcast with Vishal Sikka, Chief Architect

The first of a series of SAP-related podcasts was released last week on PodTech.net.

• EnterpriseTalk with Vishal Sikka, SAP’s Chief Software Architect

Fellow Irregular Jeff Nolan, who was present at the recording, explains the motivation behind this, and upcoming podcasts:

The reason why I did these podcasts with PodTech (and more are coming) is to bring some attention to the executives we have who are not on our Executive Board. You get enough quotes and soundbites from Shai and Leo, how about hearing from people like Vishal and Richard Campione, Nimish Mehta, Dennis Moore, Jim McMurray, Bob Stutz, Doug Merritt and so on. People like Vishal have tremendous influence within SAP but often don’t have the industry profile that executives in other companies enjoy. Part of it is no doubt the insular nature of our culture, but the larger culprit is the impression that media and industry commentators have that anything worth watching at SAP is happening in Germany. Not the case.

Jeff's point is well made. Speaking for the investment community, we often have the tendency to dumb down the power of an organization to its public figureheads (e.g., CEO and CFO) in conjunction with data points we get on a quarterly basis. But, ultimately what drives these companies, particularly those with worldwide scale, is the collective efforts of so many people.

Having spent time with some of these executives at Sapphire, including Dennis Moore and Jim McMurray in particular, I can certainly attest to Jeff's point that much of what makes SAP great isn't happening in Waldorf.

Give the podcast a listen, but also remember that this same lesson can be applied to any successful company. I hope that PodTech will continue to roll out a ton of these podcasts across a variety of technology companies. It's always nice to have a different lens into what makes a company tick.

Note: At the time of this writing I, and/or funds I maintain discretionary control over, maintained long equity positions in SAP and ORCL.

sap vishal vishal sikka podtech.net podtech podcast jeff nolan investing software woodrow