SAP: Inside the Secret Software Power [Hardcover]

Gerd Meissner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2000

In this riveting tell-all book, an international technology reporter takes an in-depth and penetrating look at SAP's founders, employees, customers, critics, competitors, and strategies. He profiles the company's meteoric rise in a real-life tale of power and intrigue that critics have called "as thrilling as a crime novel . . . the success story of a kamikaze team with lots of juicy insights."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

German company SAP, the global leader in business-enterprise software, is one of those omnipresent computer-age giants about which the public knows very little. Certainly its name, an acronym for Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing, isn't much help. Neither are the strong-arm spin-control tactics undertaken to keep it that way by the multibillion-dollar firm. It was launched in 1972, three years before Microsoft, and now ranks second in the software industry behind that Billy-come-lately in Redmond. SAP's long-standing veil of anonymity was first nudged aside in 1997, however, with the German publication of technology reporter Gerd Meissner's Inside the Secret Software Power. Now available in English, it offers a still-unparalleled appraisal of a company that came out of nowhere to dominate the market for behind-the-scenes software packages that manage financials, materials, and logistics for multinational companies like DuPont, Deutsche Telekom, Coca-Cola, and even Microsoft. Meissner traces SAP's development, along with the media relationships that defined much of its first three decades, to show where the company has come from and where it might be going. SAP howled in protest when the book was first released but has since taken a noticeably more proactive PR approach (which include TV commercials for its MySAP.com entry in the Internet wars). --Howard Rothman

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (March 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071347852
• ISBN-13: 978-0071347853
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where's the Beef?, May 23, 2000

By 

Harry Forbes (Wrentham, Ma, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SAP: Inside the Secret Software Power (Hardcover)

Certainly in the decade of the 1990s there was no development in the software industry as surprising as the phenomenal growth of SAP. Who in 1990 predicted the enormous success of SAP's flagship ERP product, R/3, and the billions of dollars that would be spent deploying R/3 throughout the Fortune 1000? Or the shortage of and frantic competition for SAP consultants and the huge premiums they could draw in the market? While Microsoft also enjoyed huge successes in the 1990s, the Redmondians occupied a well-established position in the IT world at the start of the decade. In 1990, SAP occupied a market niche. All the conventional wisdom of the time suggested that they would be lucky to hold even that.

Instead, new ERP systems (excuse me, ENTERPRISE systems) became a "must have" initiative for almost all large companies. R/2 evolved to R/3, which cemented its position as the undisputed market leader in the class. This in spite of being a devilishly complex product even by German standards, created by a non-American software company that was reputedly shy of publicity, thin-skinned, arrogant, and vindictive. R/3 was received its entre and initial sponsorship in the USA not by SAP itself, but by consulting firms Anderson Consulting, the (then) Big Six accounting firms, CSC, Cap Gemini, and others. The results have been mixed. In extreme cases, companies have sunk hundreds of millions both in deploying SAP and in the process re-engineering associated with its deployment. Even the "expected" ratio of software to implementation expense is 7:1 or 10:1. This suggests the reality that R/3 is more an application framework than a shrink-wrapped solution, as CEOs and CIOs quickly discovered. Nevertheless both the huge investment and the high-level executive sponsorship have made SAP a fixture in much of the corporate world today.

There is surely a facinating story to be told of SAP's capture of this market position. What exactly did the consultants see in R/3 that was missing elsewhere? How did they sell the huge implementation costs? How did SAP sell them on R/3, and on themselves? How did they cross the large cultural barriers? How did this compare with the competiton? Unfortunately, you will not find any such history in Meissner's book. This utterly dreadful volume reads like a translated German press release...if you can imagine a press release that is 200-pages long! Perhaps that is unfair to press releases, which have some clear content and direction, which this book sorely lacks. What you will learn is that six IBM "drop-outs" created an integrated transaction-oriented mainframe business software package during the 1970s, using mainframe computer time borrowed from their first customer. They enhanced and extended the product, launching a client/server version in 1992. Their sales strategy was to sell strictly to CEOs, and the doors to the executive office were opened for them by their implementation partners. Their expansion in the USA was driven by the feisty Klaus Beiser. You will also learn that the SAP culture is characterized by a flat organizational structure, open exchanges of information (strictly within SAP, it is understood by all), flexibility in work hours, and lifelong learning. Typical valley start-up stuff. You won't learn anything else from Meissner. The book has less depth than most any other discussion of SAP (a formidable achievement, that).

Perhaps a few examples will suffice. One Chapter is entitled "Washing Dirty Linen in Public - The Resignation of Cofounder Hans-Werner Hector". Just trips off the tongue, doesn't it? The book includes references to URLs which no longer exist, includes a few graphs and charts imported directly from Microsoft Excel, and numerous recycled sidebars, surprising in their location, but not their content. Just in case you wanted to know, it also includes the addresses and phone number of every SAP office worldwide(talk about filler!), although the order in which they are sorted is unfathomable (details, details!). The chapter on the SAP-Microsoft relationship ends:

"At the Sapphire user conference in August 1996 in Philadelphia, where the business framework architecture was presented for the first time, Hasso Plattner and Bill Gates showed how R/3 can be used with Microsoft software on the Internet. In the evening, the conference participants met at a party on the bank of the Delaware River. For this party SAP engaged pop star Stevie Wonder, and the people from SAP and Microsoft had a grand time joining in on the line "We've got to reach higher" as the customers listened with great pleasure."

Not a pleasure to read. This book certainly deserves at least a "B-" grade in any course in English as a second language, but it is hard to swallow a full volume of such drivel when so poorly written.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great background of an important company -- and a good read!, July 3, 2000

By 

G. Stephen Johnson (Fishers, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SAP: Inside the Secret Software Power (Hardcover)

Meissner presents an interesting and balanced history of SAP. While this book will teach you little about the R/3 software, it will provide great insight into the people and culture that created and support R/3.

The history of the 5 co-founders and the interplay of the 5 throughout the initial stages of the company and the development of R/2 and R/3 are fascinating.

Meissner provides insight into the ever-changing relationships of SAP with the press and the industry analysts. He also explains the role of major, influential customers in the ongoing development of SAP's products.

My only disappointment with the book was the relatively little information about SAP developments since late 1996, early 1997 when the book was originally written.

Otherwise, a smart investment for anyone involved with SAP R/3, contemplating an SAP implementation, and for anyone who simply likes a good story.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SAP and the German software scene, June 19, 2000

By 

Jim Heldman (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SAP: Inside the Secret Software Power (Hardcover)

This is a terrific book. As an American who has worked for US high technology firms in the UK, Germany and here in California, I can say that this book gives a wonderful insight into Germany's most successful software firm. It also helps one to understand how things are done in Germany and what we can expect from other German startups. Gerd is, in my estimation, the best-informed German writer covering the American high technology business.

Jim Heldman Berkeley, CA