As one of the largest enterprise software companies in the world, everyone in technology knows the SAP brand. The company has approximately $25 billion[1] in revenue and 96,000 employees.
Also: SAP ups its information management game [2]
Although tech conversations usually center on products and customer use cases, I am also interested in how large, complex organizations manage people and culture. Culture is the thread that makes business and product innovation[3] possible, so it's a crucial topic to examine and understand.
Along with every other long-established enterprise software company, SAP is undertaking a generational shift in technology from on-premise to cloud. The implications include changes that go far beyond[4] platform and technology. Shifting to the cloud involves new business models, different revenue sources, and a fundamental re-thinking of customer relationships. In short, mindset and culture[5] are fundamentally important to success in today's world.
The stories that marketing shares create awareness externally among customers, partners, press, investors, media, and other stakeholders. However, marketing messages and storytelling also shape[6] the mindset and culture inside an organization. Marketing does possess that profound level of impact.
Because these issues are so important, I invited SAP's most senior marketing leader to take part in the CXOTalk series of conversations with the world's top innovators. Nick Tzitzon[7], the company's executive vice president for marketing and communications, was my guest on episode 309[8] of CXOTalk.
The discussion centered on culture and managing a diverse organization to create the right mindset for innovation. The challenge of being customer-centric is also among the key topics we discussed. Nick presents the issue in simple terms: "I think