Earlier this year, Bill McDermott appeared on CNBC, discussing the plans for SAP’s future in China. Describing China as the “Jewel in the Crown for SAP,” McDermott said that China has been considered SAP’s “second home” for decades.

He addressed growing concerns over trade relations between the USA and China but remains optimistic. According to McDermott, SAP continues to invest in China whilst China continues to invest in the German software company.

Last year, Freya Purnell of InsideSAP reported on AliBaba extending their partnership with SAP. This year, McDermott discussed recent SAP developments in China, notably the growing partnership with the AliBaba group:

“I was there last year. We formed a very strategic partnership with several firms, among them the AliBaba Group, partnering with with Jack Ma and Daniel Zhang and the Ali Cloud. When you think about the infrastructure as a service of Ali Cloud, with SAP’s business software leadership, you have a business model that generates incredible growth for both companies but also serves customers beautifully.”

Mcdermott remains optimistic in an uncertain world. On how US – China relations will play out, he believes that business sense will prevail. When the top economies in the world would benefit from a deal, he is optimistic that a deal is on the horizon.

“What we do is we manage a portfolio of businesses geographically and through our industry domain expertise. When you go to market in 193 countries, you’re going to have dislocations. In an uncertain world, steady leadership always prevails.”

The inteview was posted on youtube by CNBC as China’s economic growth slows but remains above 5{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. Despite this, SAP continues to keep it’s sights on China for the future.

The post Future in China as SAP’s Fastest Growing Market appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP Community was originally established as a social network for SAP developers and users, providing a forum for knowledge between customers, partners, SAP consultants, and the vendor itself. But in recent times, users had complained of being inundated with marketing messages and a poor user experience.

In the post, McDermott identified the issues that had led to the criticisms, including that a series of changes had been made the platform that “frustrated our community and eroded some of the participation”, and that the company had “let the impression linger that SAP was using our community simply as another channel to promote our corporate messages”.

“We drifted from what made SAP Community such a critical success in its early days – a place for users of SAP to come together, post content and share experiences,” McDermott wrote.

Citing these changes as “honest mistakes made with good intentions”, McDermott said a major gesture was required to indicate the company’s seriousness about returning the network to its community roots.

SAP’s chief technology officer, Bjorn Goerke, will be charged with leading the team behind SAP Community, supported by head of developer relations Thomas Grassl.

McDermott also highlighted that the SAP Mentors will be supported under the new mode.

“SAP was, is and will always be a community-driven company. Bjorn is the right leader to carry this mantle forward. He has my full support,” said McDermott.

The post McDermott responds to criticism of SAP Community, makes management shift appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.