German software giant SAP ushered 2022 with the appointment of key executive roles in APJ, EMEA South, and South Korea to lead the company’s cloud growth, promising business outlook, and customer success.

SAP APJ’s New Partner Ecosystem Success Lead

Former Head of Business Development of the Asia Pacific and Japan and SAP veteran Utkarsh Maheshwari is now the region’s new Senior Vice President and Head of Partner Ecosystem Success. Based in Singapore, Maheshwari is taking charge of growing the SAP software enterprise’s partner ecosystem in APJ, engaging 2,000 SAP partners from all market units and business lines. In his 17 years in the tech industry– 14 of which with SAP– holding various leadership positions, he was able to share his expertise and passion in the digital economy across different key business areas including product development and marketing, field transformation, and human resources.

“In this role, I will be leading co-innovation with SAP partners across APJ to nurture an expert community of developers, investors, and ambassadors of digital transformation, and to help build the ecosystem of the future,” Maheshwari commented.

SAP APJ Chief Operating Officer Cathy Ward explained the critical role of the new Partner Ecosystem Success chief as the tech giant continues to grow globally in line with the accelerating customers’ digital transformation. She stressed:

“To respond to the increasing demand across the region, we need to more closely align and harness the power of our partner business to mutually deliver digital innovation that drives customer success.”

SAP EMEA South’s New Regional Chief

Emmanuel Raptopoulos, another long-serving SAP leader, has been appointed as regional President of EMEA South (Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) to lead 5,000 employees across 75 countries and 24 offices. He is steering the momentum of EMEA South’s cloud transformation as the new chief of a region that has a huge market contribution in SAP.

“EMEA South’s next decade will be driven by cloud growth, anchored by our purpose, people and partnerships and I am honored to take on this new role,” he said. “The region represents a dynamic market for SAP as agile organisations are transforming their businesses into Intelligent and Sustainable Enterprises via the cloud. I look forward to partnering with our great customers across this diverse region to innovate and thereby meaningfully contribute to their long-term success.”

Raptopoulos is directly reporting to SAP Executive Board member and Customer Success lead Scott Russell and is preceded by Claudio Muruzabal, who was recently promoted to President of SAP’s newly established global Cloud Success Services organisation.

Expressing encouraging words on Raptopoulos and Muruzabal’s new roles, Russell said:

“With Claudio Muruzabal as President of our global Cloud Success Services organisation, we are centering and optimising our talent around helping our customers maximise value in the cloud with SAP – at every single touchpoint in their lasting relationship with us. With the appointment of Emmanuel Raptopoulos as President of EMEA South, we are ensuring a seamless transition in the region for our customers, our partners, and our people. In addition to his deep and varied experience, he has a proven passion for the success of our customers and a strong track record of delivering it.”

SAP MEE’s New Lead

Industry expert and former Managing Director of SAP Germany Alex Klaeger has been appointed President of the Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE) region to lead the market units of Germany; Switzerland; Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Austria; and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) effective 1st of February. He had previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Head of Cloud business for the MEE region and had served on the SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG management team for six years.

Klaeger was preceded by Hartmut Thomsen and will be directly reporting Russell. Welcoming the new MEE chief, Russell commented:

“The appointment of Alex Klaeger, who brings exceptionally deep regional expertise, ensures a seamless experience and continuity of value for our customers across the MEE region as they continue to transition to the cloud.”

SAP Korea’s First Female CEO

Former SAP Korea Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vice President Shin Eun-young was promoted to CEO and President effective 6th January 2022.(InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) Since joining the company in 2008 as CFO, Shin has been a significant contributor to SAP Korea’s continuous business growth and transformation into a cloud company. Aside from being the first female chief of the software multinational’s unit in Korea, she is also the leader of SAP’s Business Women’s Network program advocating young talent and women’s career development.

Shin succeeded Lee Seong-yeo, who is now the SAP Korea Senior President guiding the management to help local organisations accelerate their journey to becoming intelligent enterprises.

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The recent meeting attended by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Steve Tzikakis, SAP President EMEA South and Steve Tzikakis, SAP President EMEA South accompanied by his esteemed SAP team focused on SAP and DEWA’s partnership towards innovation, digital transformation, Internet of Things (IoT), big data analysis, and cloud computing in UAE. HE Al Tayer emphasised the importance of sharing best practices and global experiences between the two organisations upon welcoming the SAP delegation. 

HE Al Tayer underscored DEWA’s projects and initiatives geared towards shaping the future for the next generations per the UAE Centennial 2071 plan, a five-decade, long-term, full-vision government plan after 2021 launched by the Cabinet to make UAE the best country in the world by 2071; the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence; and the Dubai 10X initiative that aims to place Dubai 10 years ahead of its contemporary global cities, transforming it into a city of the future. The 10X initiative was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Given this, DEWA is committed to being part of the country’s digital transformation and recognising Dubai’s role as a global digital platform.

During the meeting, the SAP delegation has expressed the company’s interest to participate in DEWA’s future projects and initiatives highlighting its services and solution.

Digital DEWA’s Four Pillars

As DEWA’s digital arm, Digital DEWA focuses on four pillars that would deliver a new utility experience not only for Dubai but for the whole world. 

The first pillar, The Dubai Solar Pillar aims to power a 75{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} renewable grid in Dubai by 2050 through developing, enhancing and deploying advanced solar technology. This initiative launches Dubai at the forefront of solar energy with a 24-hr solar-powered utility providing electricity and water.

With energy storage as the core of the second pillar, Digital DEWA will deploy renewable energy grid that utilises innovative energy storage technologies, which is aligned with Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050. Advance machine learning will be utilised to integrate clean energy and energy storage and at the same time ensure maximum efficiency and reliability of operations.

The third pillar focuses on expanding Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions that will deploy machine learning to augment customer experiences, support employee services and productivity enhancement, and optimise core grid operations. The AI branded “Rammas” will make Dubai the 1st city to provide water and electricity services based on AI. The Rammas AI project has three sub-initiatives namely AI for customers, AI for employees and AI-powered systems.

Providing cutting edge digital services is the focus of the fourth pillar. DEWA launched its digital platform and data hub MORO that specialises in information storage services, cloud computing, and IT for both the public and private sectors in the UAE and the region. Aside from improving UAE’s digital capabilities to develop smart cities, provide state-of-the-art and innovative digital solutions, MORO is also designed to be a successful model for Dubai and the world. 

In May 2017, DEWA’s data hub subsidiary, Data Hub Integrated Solutions LLC (MORO) and SAP have signed an MOU to develop and deliver innovative application solutions and services based on SAP platforms for cloud services, storage, and management of data for large- and small-sized companies, digital solutions in the public and private sectors in the UAE and the region.

DEWA’s on-premise SAP landscape migration to MORO was ensued to fulfill innovation, cost efficiency, scalability, speed, and resiliency. MORO was established following the National Innovation Strategy, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world. To date, the migration is one of the world’s largest migrations for SAP HEC in the utility sector and one of the largest data migrations across all industries at the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) level.

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