SAP’s Success Factors Lie in the Workforce

The big news out of SAP on the workforce front in 2013 is the combination of its traditional HR-related software suite with the Successfactors portfolio under the SAP Cloud business. This goes along with a new marketing focus across the SAP Cloud on business results as well as a recommitment to its service provider ecosystems. While some may see the updates as expected organizational announcements, routine product progression, and Wall Street appeasement to create more recurring subscription revenue, HfS sees key elements of importance that resonate with many of the research themes we are pursuing in business operations and workforce optimization. This Point of View includes the details of SAP “People” Cloud adoption and development to date, the trends that bode well for extended adoption of the ERP platform regardless of software delivery model in today’s shared services/global business services arenas, and competitive impacts in the marketplace.