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I would be interested to know if they are actually using SAP. These companies are so much better at software development and they are swimming in so much money

I would be interested to know if they are actually using SAP. These companies are so much better at software development and they are swimming in so much money that they could even implement something by themselves.

mrich 7y ago
Why would they? It's none of their core business and SAP already has everything covered. Think of all the legal/financial stuff. The UI is not that important in that field, your domain expert in that area knows how to navigate stuff.
- zxienin 7y ago
  I won't wave that question off completely. It wasn't Amazon's core competency to offer IaaS/PaaS, before they did. GCP and AWS are closely playing in SAP's enterprise customer base. There is huge addressable market there. They've innovated better than SAP in technology space, on parts other than business software. If they can succeed developing their own ERP, better than SAP, they could even redeploy the development teams from being cost center to profit center. If I am SAP, I see them as strategic long term risk.
- golergka 7y ago
  Event Microsoft does it (https://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2012/11/why-does-microsoft-hq-use-sap-instead-of-microsoft-dynamics-erp/ https://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2012/11/why-does-microsoft-h...), despite the fact that they have their own ERP product (Dynamics).
- ptruesdell 7y ago
  Established ERP systems take so long to configure that sometimes, it makes more sense to write your own in-house. Tesla did just that. And in only 4 months.
kthejoker2 7y ago
Google, Apple, and Microsoft do, Amazon does not, based on some moderate Googling for job postings, staff on LinkedIn, and conference attendees.
- solarkraft 7y ago
  That's impressive. Of course Apple distributes hardware, so it makes the most sense to me. Microsoft, I suppose, had to distribute Windows boxes at some point, so it makes some sense to me. But I definitely wonder at which point Google started seeing a need for SAP. As soon as they started selling gadgets? Before then, to generally manage finances?
  - namdnay 7y ago
    Finance, HR, Office Equipment, Travel Expenses etc...
namdnay 7y ago
> These companies are so much better at software development That's like saying "why doesn't Tiger Woods win Wimbledon? He's so much better at sport than anyone else". There are lots of different types of software development, and lots of different types of software engineers. Corporate IT projects don't succeed or fail on algorithmics - it's a completely different job, where 90% of the difficulty is managing people and politics

mrich 7y ago

Why would they? It's none of their core business and SAP already has everything covered. Think of all the legal/financial stuff. The UI is not that important in that field, your domain expert in that area knows how to navigate stuff.

zxienin 7y ago
I won't wave that question off completely. It wasn't Amazon's core competency to offer IaaS/PaaS, before they did. GCP and AWS are closely playing in SAP's enterprise customer base. There is huge addressable market there. They've innovated better than SAP in technology space, on parts other than business software. If they can succeed developing their own ERP, better than SAP, they could even redeploy the development teams from being cost center to profit center. If I am SAP, I see them as strategic long term risk.
golergka 7y ago
Event Microsoft does it (https://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2012/11/why-does-microsoft-hq-use-sap-instead-of-microsoft-dynamics-erp/ https://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2012/11/why-does-microsoft-h...), despite the fact that they have their own ERP product (Dynamics).
ptruesdell 7y ago
Established ERP systems take so long to configure that sometimes, it makes more sense to write your own in-house. Tesla did just that. And in only 4 months.

kthejoker2 7y ago

Google, Apple, and Microsoft do, Amazon does not, based on some moderate Googling for job postings, staff on LinkedIn, and conference attendees.

solarkraft 7y ago
That's impressive. Of course Apple distributes hardware, so it makes the most sense to me. Microsoft, I suppose, had to distribute Windows boxes at some point, so it makes some sense to me. But I definitely wonder at which point Google started seeing a need for SAP. As soon as they started selling gadgets? Before then, to generally manage finances?
- namdnay 7y ago
  Finance, HR, Office Equipment, Travel Expenses etc...

namdnay 7y ago

> These companies are so much better at software development That's like saying "why doesn't Tiger Woods win Wimbledon? He's so much better at sport than anyone else". There are lots of different types of software development, and lots of different types of software engineers. Corporate IT projects don't succeed or fail on algorithmics - it's a completely different job, where 90% of the difficulty is managing people and politics