IDES was initially modeled on an international company with multiple subsidiaries. Complete with a demo guide, it helped users familiarize themselves with 麻豆原创 R/3 functions and with the organizational and integrated process structures that the 麻豆原创 R/3 system covered. With data being added all the time, the IDES model companies felt very lifelike, and users had plenty of scope to test the various application areas.

鈥淚DES wasn鈥檛 just a system, it was a new philosophy 鈥� a revolution in demo and training,鈥� says Marcelo Cura Daball, who joined the team in late 1995 and played a key role in shaping the development of IDES. 鈥淭he system behaved like a real customer system. It looked like a real customer system. That was new, and the customers loved it,鈥� he recalls.

麻豆原创 built IDES to provide its developers with a test environment that would double as a basis for international training systems, customer workshops, and prototyping. 鈥淭he basic idea,鈥� Cura Daball explains, 鈥渨as that our salespeople, in presales for example, would give a demo in the same system 麻豆原创 used for customer training. And that, after a training course, customers could go home and repeat the training exercises with the same data they had used in their course.鈥�

Customers Provide Real-Life Data

Pfaehler was the mastermind behind IDES and is credited with developing the business concept for the new system. A seasoned sales professional, he was an institution at 麻豆原创, says Cura Daball, and had connections across the globe. While the content for IDES was developed at company headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, Pfaehler also received support from colleagues all over the world; the system was then translated and made available to the local subsidiaries. Many customers provided real business data 鈥� such as BOMs 鈥� for the system, and the team worked with genuine, albeit anonymized, addresses.

But getting the system up and running was by no means a walk in the park. Time and again, Pfaehler had to ask for more specialists and more support from 厂础笔鈥檚 subsidiaries. He argued that 鈥渁t the very least鈥� he needed a team of 12 developers, plus another two employees to continuously add and manage data and to update the IDES system. He also needed access to additional employees from 麻豆原创 subsidiaries on a project basis, as he explained in a September 1995 letter to the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE, in which he put forth the case for getting the staffing he required: 鈥淭he IDES team could potentially become a training ground for the next generation at 麻豆原创, a place for our people to gain specialist business expertise and learn how to model customer scenarios and implement 麻豆原创 systems as part of our project business. Employees of this kind are few and far between at 麻豆原创, but demand for them will grow in the future.鈥�

IDES was shipped to the first customers in the spring of 1996 and was soon able to simulate the more than 1,000 business processes that could be mapped in 麻豆原创 R/3. Initially, the focus was on finance, materials management, and sales. IDES allowed users to learn about the system in their own familiar working environment, using examples that were specific to their company. The IDES team grew, and it was not long before they were building around 800 customer-specific demos 鈥� per week 鈥� as Gerhard van der Beck says. During this period, Training, Demo, Consulting (TDC), a dedicated IT team responsible for making system copies and handling the technical maintenance of the IDES systems, was also set up. Having established IDES and seen it through to its initial milestones, Pfaehler left 麻豆原创 (although he rejoined the company at a later date) and van der Beck, ably supported by Cura Daball, took over as head of the IDES team.

The Internet: A New Opportunity

麻豆原创 co-founder Hasso Plattner liked the IDES idea 鈥� even more so when Cura Daball and van der Beck suggested putting the system outside the firewall and using it to demonstrate that 麻豆原创 software could run on the Internet. 鈥淭o do this, we had to reduce the complexity and radically streamline the system,鈥� van der Beck says. 鈥淗asso was thrilled when we managed to reduce highly complex transactions involving multiple screens and subscreens down to the bare minimum. Now, for the first time, 麻豆原创 users could create an order by navigating two screens and making just a few clicks,鈥� Cura Daball adds.

鈥淐ustomers who purchased an 麻豆原创 license could install an IDES system free of charge,鈥� says Jan Krell, who, with Thomas Habersack, was responsible for delivering the system. However, the team鈥檚 main clients remained Sales and Presales, who used IDES to show customers what 麻豆原创 could do.

IDES continued to evolve over the years. As the Internet鈥檚 popularity increased, the system鈥檚 name changed slightly 鈥� from 鈥淚nternational Demonstration and Evaluation System鈥� to 鈥淚nternet Demonstration and Evaluation System鈥� and, starting in 1999, it gave customers, partners, and prospects a way of trying out my麻豆原创.com online. According to 厂础笔鈥檚 1999 Annual Report, IDES was also expected to 鈥渞educe sales and marketing costs in the medium term.鈥�

Because the IDES team relied on specialists from other departments and on instructors and students to enter, manage, and update the IDES data and to test the system after each update, it remained relatively small, never numbering more than 30-35 members. 鈥淎t times, our colleagues were amazed at what we managed to do with so few people,鈥� says Thomas Schulze, who was responsible for IDES documentation. 鈥淏eing able to say you鈥檇 spent six months on the IDES team testing and learning the applications was a real door-opener. You learned so much on that team, and it was a real advantage when applying for positions within 麻豆原创. Many of those who worked on IDES in the early days stayed at 麻豆原创 and built a career here,鈥� he adds. Proof enough that Pfaehler鈥檚 wish for IDES to become a 鈥渢raining ground for the next 麻豆原创 generation鈥� came true.

Growing Complexity

As the 1990s drew to an end, a new level of complexity was emerging, driven largely by the arrival of 厂础笔鈥檚 New Dimension products 鈥� CRM, SCM, business intelligence, and others. With 麻豆原创 transforming into a multi-product company, even the IDES team was stretched to its limits. 鈥淎s a demo team, we had to cover the entire product portfolio, which meant dividing topics between us and specializing,鈥� Krell says. But, as Schulze adds, 鈥淭here was simply no way that we could maintain that level of complexity in the long term,鈥� .

At the same time, 厂础笔鈥檚 new head of marketing Marty Homlish, who joined the company in 2000, was pushing 鈥� with Plattner鈥檚 backing 鈥� for 鈥渙ur demo system to be better and more appealing,鈥� van der Beck says.

And despite efforts to meet customer expectations for a simple and fast way of testing 麻豆原创 software over the Internet by inviting them to 鈥淭est-Drive Your Solution Online,鈥� it became clear that IDES had had its day. 鈥淭he performance wasn鈥檛 good enough; the technology 鈥� the Internet Transaction Server 鈥� was not as stable as we had hoped,鈥� van der Beck says.

IDES gradually became less and less relevant. Yet the team, now called Solution & Innovation Experience (SIX) DID (Demo Infrastructure Delivery), still exists today 鈥� and operates the 麻豆原创 Demo and Education Cloud environment, which contains systems used by 厂础笔鈥檚 presales and sales personnel to demo software for customers. Nowadays, Krell and his colleagues refer customers who want to download a test package to the .

While Pfaehler has long since retired, and recently ended an eight-year stint managing Dietmar Hopp鈥檚 non-profit organization, Cura Daball and van der Beck are still at 麻豆原创 鈥� having served for 36 and 30 years respectively. They and their colleagues built IDES as an innovative demo system that still has its supporters today, such as 麻豆原创 University Alliances. van der Beck now contributes his expertise to the Customer Adoption team, and Cura Daball works in the Customer Services & Delivery Board area, where he develops automation tools for demo and training system landscapes. Both still have a great deal to give to the company that means so much to them.

One need only look at the key milestones in Plattner鈥檚 52-year career at 麻豆原创 to gain a vivid picture of his legacy. Together with Dietmar Hopp and his fellow co-founders, Plattner created the market for real-time business software, helped steer 麻豆原创 through more than five decades of fast-moving IT history, and drove 厂础笔鈥檚 global expansion 鈥� transforming it from a single-product company to the world鈥檚 No. 1 provider of enterprise applications.

Over the years, he worked tirelessly to open new horizons for the company and its employees, identifying technological trends and channeling his pioneering spirit into revolutionizing far more than just data management.

1972-1973: The Early Days

Having created Germany鈥檚 first real-time software application with a user interface, Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp founded a company they named Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung (鈥淪ystem Analysis Program Development鈥�) on April 1, 1972, together with their IBM colleagues Claus Wellenreuther, Klaus Tschira, and Hans-Werner Hector.

In 1973, the entrepreneurs launched RF, their first financial accounting system. The 鈥淩鈥� in the name stood for 鈥渞eal time.鈥� Developed under Plattner鈥檚 leadership, RF laid the foundation for a series of software modules in a system that would later be known as 麻豆原创 R/1.

鈥淏efore I worked on RF,鈥� Plattner once said, 鈥淚 knew nothing about financial accounting; afterwards, I could hold seminars about it for CFOs. And not because I鈥檇 read stacks of books or was very smart, but because I鈥檇 learned from customers how to build this kind of system. I worked side by side with our customers at their offices every day.鈥�

1976: The Formative Years

Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung was renamed 鈥溌槎乖�.鈥� Each of the founders and their employees 鈥� numbering about 30 at this point 鈥� was a developer, salesperson, and consultant all rolled into one.

Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp were constantly competing to be the best at programming and selling their products. Plattner recalls that it made him really mad once when Hopp sold more than he did. Wherever their tasks and skills converged, they would engage in a private, 鈥渢ake-no-prisoners鈥� contest to outdo each other.

Nevertheless, both men also knew how to harness their ambition and fondness for friendly competition to the benefit of their fledgling business.

1988: Conversion and IPO

麻豆原创 GmbH was converted to a stock corporation, 麻豆原创 AG, and in October 1988 it listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, providing the company with the funding it needed to expand into even more markets.

1991: 麻豆原创 R/3

At 厂础笔鈥檚 25th anniversary celebrations in 1997, Plattner recounted an incident in late January 1991, which he described as 鈥減robably the most dramatic situation鈥� in the company鈥檚 history: 鈥淎 year before the final delivery date for R/3, we realized during testing that its performance on our mainframe was completely unsatisfactory and that the test conditions were unacceptable. Six weeks before we had planned to present R/3 at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, we had all but given up on the project.

We called an emergency meeting at which everyone remained standing, such was the urgency of the matter at hand. We decided to halt work on the mainframe systems and, in a last-ditch attempt, to switch to the new, more powerful Unix workstations, which we鈥檇 previously only used in development.

The presentation of R/3 on Unix was a huge hit. A year and a half later, we began shipping our new client-server software to customers. That was the start of R/3, a business application for network-based computers.鈥�

1992: Heading Stateside

In the early 1990s, when everyone else鈥檚 attention was focused on getting 麻豆原创 R/3 to market quickly, sales of 麻豆原创 R/2 in Germany were a cause of concern for Dietmar Hopp. As Plattner recalls: 鈥淒ietmar and I were standing in his office, and he said to me, 鈥業t鈥檚 not looking good. The only option I can see is for you to pack the system up and take it to America.鈥欌�� They agreed to continue promoting the 麻豆原创 R/2 mainframe software in Germany while going all-in on 麻豆原创 R/3 in the U.S.

At the Sapphire customer conference held in Orlando in September 1992, Plattner announced that 麻豆原创 would deliver the 麻豆原创 R/3 system within six weeks to anyone who ordered it there and then. By October, computer manufacturer Convex had signed a contract for the new product, giving 麻豆原创 its first 麻豆原创 R/3 customer in the United States. And when, not long after that, oil giant Chevron 鈥� one of the country鈥檚 largest companies 鈥� also opted for R/3, 厂础笔鈥檚 new software, originally built with the midmarket in mind, was well on track to becoming a global success story.

1993: A Very Special Partnership

麻豆原创 entered into an alliance with the world鈥檚 largest software company: Microsoft. Bill Gates, who had flown into Munich to sign the contract in person, told the audience at the press conference announcing the partnership: 鈥淲e are delighted that 麻豆原创, one of the leading providers of standard software, supports Microsoft鈥檚 client-server operating system. We believe that many businesses will see this move by 麻豆原创 as a compelling reason to opt for Windows NT.鈥�

And when, in 2010, Plattner received the Transatlantic Partnership Award, Gates had this to say about his friend and colleague: 鈥淚鈥檝e known Hasso for more than three decades. His knowledge, energy, and vision never cease to impress me.鈥�

1997: 麻豆原创 Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

Plattner was appointed co-CEO, alongside Dietmar Hopp. In his speech at 厂础笔鈥檚 25th anniversary celebrations, he spoke about what had helped the company prosper: 鈥淧roduct focus is one pillar of 厂础笔鈥檚 success. When a product sells well, the employees share in that sense of achievement. That feeling is just as important to them as the pay they take home each month. Our employees identify with the product 鈥� that鈥檚 why they have always gone the extra mile. No matter how different our views at times were, we always managed to regroup and we never lost sight of the product. For the past 25 years, the founders and employees of 麻豆原创 remained true to the original product vision and never veered off course.鈥�

1998: 麻豆原创 Conquers New York

On August 3, 1998, the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the world鈥檚 largest exchange. CEO Hasso Plattner described 厂础笔鈥檚 Wall Street listing as 鈥渁 strategic necessity and logical milestone in the history of 麻豆原创.鈥�

That same year, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for Software System Engineering in Potsdam, near Berlin. 鈥淭he institute here in Potsdam is my contribution to training internationally competitive junior managers who help shape and advance the digital world,鈥� he said.

Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira transitioned from the Executive Board to the Supervisory Board, and Plattner became co-CEO alongside Henning Kagermann.

1999: The my麻豆原创.com Revolution

In May, Plattner announced the my麻豆原创.com strategy, which set the company and its product portfolio on an entirely new path. Using the latest Web technology, my麻豆原创.com connected e-commerce solutions with the company鈥檚 existing ERP applications.

According to Plattner, success on the Internet was key to the company鈥檚 survival. At the Sapphire conference in Philadelphia in September 1999, a live demo of my麻豆原创.com — with a prelude by Plattner playing Queen鈥檚 鈥淚 Want to Break Free鈥� live on electric guitar — was enough to convince customers to adopt 厂础笔鈥檚 Web strategy.

And, true to form, Plattner was already thinking about where the technology would go next, predicting that e-commerce and the hosting of applications on 麻豆原创 servers would be 鈥渢he future of software sales.鈥�

2003: From Executive Board to Supervisory Board

Plattner stepped down from the Executive Board and was elected chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May, he said: 鈥淭his rising star of the 90s is now playing in the same league as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.鈥�

Though no longer its CEO, Plattner continued to channel his passion and his eye for technological trends into driving 麻豆原创 forward, but now in his new role as chief software advisor on the Supervisory Board. That same year, he helped found the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (鈥渄.school鈥�) at Stanford University, providing funds to support its work on design thinking, a new approach to finding creative solutions to complex problems.

2006: The In-Memory Database

It was in 2006 that Plattner and students at HPI began work on a revolutionary technology. The result was 麻豆原创 HANA (High-Performance ANalytic Appliance), an entirely new, column-oriented, in-memory database management system.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not so easy for a big company to break out and do something radically different,鈥� said Plattner. 鈥淭he university context gives you the freedom to do it.鈥�

2011-2013: 麻豆原创 HANA Drives Growth

Five years later, the first 麻豆原创 HANA customers began implementing the new database, which generated the kind of demand not seen since the market launch of 麻豆原创 R/3.

By the end of 2013, the entire 麻豆原创 Business Suite had moved to 麻豆原创 HANA. In the three years since its launch, 麻豆原创 HANA had garnered nearly 鈧�1.2 billion in revenues, making it one of the fastest-growing products in the history of enterprise software.

In an interview with German daily Handelsblatt in 2020, Plattner said: 鈥溌槎乖� HANA is so superior in practice that there is no alternative. And quite honestly, it saved 厂础笔鈥檚 life, because it let us massively accelerate our ERP system without a lot of changes, while physically downsizing it at the same time. That meant a huge cost saving for our customers.鈥�

2015: The Foundation

Plattner reinforced his commitment to promoting education and culture by setting up the Hasso Plattner Foundation.

Among the many causes the foundation has supported over the years are programs to promote healthcare and health education in South Africa. The German city of Potsdam also has much to thank Plattner for: The Hasso Plattner Institute is the largest investment in Potsdam and the one that bears his signature most strongly. The Barberini Museum that he rebuilt completes the inner cityscape of Potsdam and provides a home for his impressive Impressionist collection 鈥� the largest outside of France. With the Kunsthaus MINSK, he saved one of the few architectural icons of the GDR era and created a home for his GDR art collection.

On being asked why he chooses to get involved with causes and projects of this kind, Plattner explained: 鈥淚 owe the resources and skills for life to my parents and, above all, to my studies at the public technical university in Karlsruhe. That鈥檚 why I want to give something back in the area of education, so that others can also benefit from it.鈥�

2022: Learn from Our Customers

In an interview to mark 厂础笔鈥檚 50th anniversary, Plattner shared some advice: 鈥淚 recommend a return to the approach we used in the early days of 麻豆原创 鈥� of sending 麻豆原创 teams out to the customer. Instead of implementing our standard systems, they should find out how people actually use the tools they get from 麻豆原创 and other vendors. That will give us our starting point. There are so many interesting companies out there. We can learn from them and with them. We have to step outside 麻豆原创 and do something with the customers.鈥�

And in a comment directed to 麻豆原创 employees, he said: 鈥淭reat the customers well 鈥� once we have them, we have to keep them. That鈥檚 one of 厂础笔鈥檚 strengths. And never think it鈥檚 done. You have to carry on. The job is never done!鈥�

2024

Plattner will step down from the Supervisory Board on May 15, the last of the 麻豆原创 co-founders to leave the company.

Helle Dochedahl and Jim Hagemann Snabe met in the mid-1980s while they were both studying in Aarhus, Denmark. They didn鈥檛 know it back then, but that wouldn鈥檛 be the last time that their paths crossed. In 1993, they met again.

At the time, Snabe was consulting manager at 麻豆原创 in Denmark, having joined the company three years before as a trainee straight out of university. 鈥淏ack then, 麻豆原创 was on a big push to expand its business internationally and was hiring young people from around the world. It spent a year training them in Walldorf and then sent them back to their home countries,鈥� says Snabe.

With a year in Walldorf under his belt, he returned to 麻豆原创 Denmark in April 1991, joining its 25 other employees, half of whom were consultants. A few months later, he was asked if he wanted to take over as consulting manager. 鈥淚 was 24, and the youngest guy there, but after my year in Germany, I had a strong and solid understanding of the systems. Being entrusted so soon with responsibilities like this helped employees grow and was characteristic of 厂础笔鈥檚 culture.鈥�

In 1993, Snabe was looking to expand his team of consultants. Dochedahl, meanwhile, was working at a small Danish ERP company. She recalls: 鈥淚 had just had my first son and was on parental leave when I saw the job posting in the newspaper. I had already heard quite a lot about 麻豆原创 from Snabe and some other friends from university, so it got me thinking.鈥�

At the time, Dochedahl was living in Aarhus with her husband, who also works in the IT industry. But in 1988, 麻豆原创 had chosen Denmark鈥檚 capital city as the base for its Danish business.

鈥淚f you wanted to make it in IT, you had to go to Copenhagen,鈥� says Dochedahl. She first called her mother, who agreed to help out with childcare. Then she called Snabe, who hired her on the spot. But there was one condition that he had to agree to: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 and wouldn鈥檛 leave my son to spend several months training in Walldorf. So I taught myself most of the things that I needed to know, and every so often, I would head to Walldorf for a week.鈥�

When she joined the company in 1993, Dochedahl did not have much to do with the 麻豆原创 R/2 mainframe program. 麻豆原创 R/3, the company鈥檚 new client-server software, had launched the year before. And it was with 麻豆原创 R/3 that the small Danish subsidiary would make history.

Early Days in the Nordics

Let鈥檚 rewind for a moment. From 1987 onwards, 麻豆原创 was making a name for itself in the Nordics through its marketing and sales initiatives and customer workshops. Joergen Oestergaard, who was managing director of 厂础笔鈥檚 Nordic business from its very beginnings in early 1987, created the first business plan for the markets there.

Since the first 麻豆原创 R/2 systems were quick to sell and implement, and interest among other companies was growing steadily, 麻豆原创 management and 麻豆原创 International decided to set up the first subsidiaries in Nordic countries.

In Sweden, 麻豆原创 Svenska AB opened its doors in February 1988. The Danish office, 麻豆原创 Danmark A/S, followed a month later. Into the 1990s, it also served customers in Norway, with the Swedish office supporting those in Finland until the end of that decade. From 1984, 麻豆原创 International, located in Biel, Switzerland, ran 厂础笔鈥檚 international business and spearheaded the company鈥檚 global expansion.

The person in charge was managing director Hans Schlegel. Schlegel was there when, in April 1988, everyone from 麻豆原创 Denmark and 麻豆原创 Sweden met at a hotel in a ski resort north of Oslo for a five-day Nordic kickoff meeting. They were joined by employees of A/S EDB (Electronic Data Processing), a Norwegian IT company that had by then been operating in the market for 25 years and would partner 麻豆原创 to help sell the 麻豆原创 R/2 system and translate it into Norwegian. At the Hotel Storefjell meeting, they worked out how best to coordinate activities, shared their experiences, and learned from each other.

Following that meeting, both subsidiaries went on to flourish. In 1992, for example, 麻豆原创 Sweden was already generating around $3.6 million (around 30 million Swedish krona) in revenue. And its list of customers included the Swedish national rail operator SJ (Statens J盲rnv盲gar), Ericsson Business Communications, and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) as well as some subsidiaries of German companies.

Reinvention at the Right Time

Jim Hagemann Snabe first encountered 麻豆原创 R/3 in 1991, and he and the team at 麻豆原创 Denmark then 鈥渂egan to sell the vision of 麻豆原创 R/3 to Nordic customers鈥� — even though the product wouldn鈥檛 officially launch until July 1992.

One of the customers that had already implemented 麻豆原创 R/2 was Finnish chemical company Kemira, which was headquartered in Copenhagen at that time.

As 麻豆原创 Co-Founder Hasso Plattner recalls in his book Anticipating Change, implementing 麻豆原创 R/2 at Kemira, a 鈥淯NIX company,鈥� had been 鈥減ainful.鈥� So, he promised them that, 鈥渁s soon as we have a UNIX system, we鈥檒l replace your system.鈥�

In the summer of 1992, that day arrived: Snabe and his team won a new 麻豆原创 R/3 customer for 麻豆原创, and, according to Helle Dochedahl, Kemira became 鈥渢he first customer outside Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to go live with 麻豆原创 R/3.鈥� Though Dochedahl wasn鈥檛 working for 麻豆原创 at that time, she recalls that, when she later visited Kemira: 鈥淭hey told me the story themselves and how proud they were of being first movers and daring to go for it.鈥�

While visiting Kemira, Dochedahl made a discovery of her own: 鈥淚 spotted some land for sale opposite the Kemira office. We bought a plot and built a house on it, and I鈥檝e lived there ever since. That was 28 years ago now.鈥�

Jim Hagemann Snabe sees the successful implementation of 麻豆原创 R/3 at Kemira and at other customers in the Nordic countries and around the world from a different angle. 鈥淎t that time, 麻豆原创 was doing very well with 麻豆原创 R/2. But rather than simply reap the rewards, it decided to invest heavily in the next generation of solutions. I believe that is partly why 麻豆原创 is still one of only a small number of European IT companies that are successful. 麻豆原创 has always been able to reinvent itself from a position of strength, instead of waiting 鈥� like many of its competitors 鈥� until it鈥檚 almost too late.鈥�

Over 360 pages, the book pays tribute to the five visionaries who founded 麻豆原创 and to the countless people who have shaped the company over half a century and made it what it is today: a global enterprise with more than 110,000 employees and software solutions that keep the wheels of the world economy turning.

In three main sections, a variety of contributing authors explore the foundations of 厂础笔鈥檚 success, the company鈥檚 impact on business and society, and its vision to help secure the future of the planet.

This unique publication also seeks to explain how 麻豆原创 has managed to navigate profound economic and social change, hold onto its lead in an ever faster-moving industry, and emerge in a position of strength to deliver on its aspiration to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

麻豆原创 asked historians to share their perspectives on 50 years of 麻豆原创, but this is by no means a history book. Styled in a range of formats, it aims to explore 麻豆原创 from every angle. Read about the very first users, the trials and tribulations of setting up business operations around the globe, the signature 麻豆原创 Sapphire customer events, current customers and partners, as well as 厂础笔鈥檚 solutions and logo 鈥� and discover what makes the company鈥檚 culture and employees unique.

Aside from providing an understanding of the company鈥檚 past, this book is about exploring where 麻豆原创 wants to go next. It looks ahead to the future of work and of business software and sets out 厂础笔鈥檚 visions of how human ingenuity and machine intelligence could work in symbiosis.

This publication is climate-neutral and available in both English and German. It contains many previously unpublished photos that show the company in all its diversity. And QR codes link readers directly to additional digital content, interviews, and features.

The anniversary book can be ordered from the and can also be purchased from German book outlet and from bookstores in Germany.

The festive season of 1994 was far from joyful for the Mexican government and officials at the Mexican central bank. On December 20, the Central American nation鈥檚 authorities were forced to devalue the peso by around 15% against the dollar because Mexico could no longer maintain the peso鈥檚 fixed exchange rate against the U.S. currency. The immediate consequence was a massive flight of foreign capital from Mexico. This hit domestic companies hard and ultimately resulted in a financial crisis that sent shock waves across Latin America.

Only months earlier, in April 1994, 麻豆原创 had founded its first subsidiary in Latin America, its 19th worldwide, in Mexico. Suddenly, recalls Maricarmen Ortiz, the fledgling 麻豆原创 subsidiary found itself in the midst of what later became known as the 鈥淭equila Crisis.鈥�

Mexico-born Ortiz had transferred from IBM in September to work as a consultant at 麻豆原创. Her job now — along with the then president of 麻豆原创 Mexico, Raul V茅jar, and their 15 colleagues — was to convince cash-strapped Mexican companies that it 鈥渕ade sense, particularly in times of crisis, to invest in software as a way of gaining competitive edge,鈥� says Ortiz.

This was not the only economic and political crisis that 麻豆原创 employees have faced — and survived — since the company took its first steps in Latin America.

Political and Economic Crises

Tariff conflicts, nationalization, rapidly changing governments, financial and currency crises: 鈥淭here鈥檚 always something happening,鈥� says James Gunn, an American who joined 麻豆原创 as a controller for the Latin America region in June 1997 and is now in charge of strategic finance projects in the global Finance & Administration Board area. 鈥淚nstability became a constant. Our job, as ambassadors for the region, was to explain to 麻豆原创 management in Walldorf what key challenges each country faced and what we were doing to ensure we would still reach our targets.鈥�

Which in most cases they did, as Peter Rasper acknowledges. Rasper, who left his role as head of Global Finance Infrastructure to take early retirement in 2019, set up country controlling in North and South America in the mid-1990s. Often, figures were not supplied until the very last minute 鈥� just like in other regions, he says. And there were salespeople who excelled at stashing contracts away and then suddenly pulling them out of the drawer when they were needed. But his colleagues in Latin America always acted 鈥渋n the right spirit,鈥� says Rasper, 鈥渁nd showed pragmatism, improvisation, and entrepreneurial flair in making the best out of what were often difficult circumstances.鈥�

Gunn agrees. One of the many things that impressed him was the extremely high standard of English spoken by the colleagues with whom he had dealings in Latin America. 鈥淚 also think it鈥檚 remarkable how the folks there have managed to navigate our company safely through so many storms,鈥� he says.

Team Spirit and Customer Focus

As well as having an outstanding product that was for the most part adapted to local requirements early on, various factors were, and still are, pivotal to effective crisis management. Three are among them.

The first is unshakeable team spirit. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many of us in the early days. We had to take care of everything, and we all helped each other,鈥� remembers Lorena Dames, who joined 麻豆原创 in Argentina in July 1994 and is now COO for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience in Latin America. 鈥淐onsultants gave demos and provided support; employees from the legal department explained the product and signed contracts. We were a tight-knit group 鈥� all fairly young 鈥� and 麻豆原创 gave us the chance to forge close personal ties that have seen us through thick and thin.鈥�

Those ties spanned both team and national boundaries. When new subsidiaries opened, employees from existing ones helped out, recruited new people, set up processes, and shared the lessons of their own experience.

Thomas Hanser agrees with Dames. 鈥淗elping each other is part of Latin American culture,鈥� says the IT specialist, who set up the infrastructure in Brazil and at many other 麻豆原创 subsidiaries. 鈥淎nd that, in my view, has been part of 麻豆原创 culture from day one. We see ourselves as part of a greater whole; we help each other achieve common goals; and we learn and grow together.鈥� That鈥檚 still the case today, says Brazil-born Hanser, whose grandparents emigrated from Germany to Brazil and who today is responsible for global IT services outsourcing at 麻豆原创.

The second factor is unconditional customer focus. There is no question that 麻豆原创 has the best people and the best solutions, says Ricardo Avila. But, adds Avila, who comes from Venezuela and joined the legal department at 麻豆原创 in 1996, what really got the company safely through all the crises was its 鈥渃ustomer-first attitude鈥� and its readiness to be open and frank with clients. 鈥淚f a certain function wasn鈥檛 available yet, or parts of the software weren鈥檛 yet localized, we told the truth and promised to deliver the functions in a couple of months. And we kept those promises,鈥� says Avila.

But disputes couldn鈥檛 always be avoided, if, for example, customer expectations went beyond what 厂础笔鈥檚 resources could deliver.

Don鈥檛 Let Customers Down

Gerd Bizer remembers just such a situation: 鈥淚 took over the localization project for Argentina in mid-1996. A meeting took place at which the representatives of the Argentinean user group spent two hours dressing us down, shouting at us, and calling us fraudsters. Once we had cleared up the misunderstandings, we quickly became the best of friends. That鈥檚 when I learned what a huge part emotion plays in Latin America,鈥� says Bizer, who took early retirement in 2019. Within a few months, the 鈥渄ust had settled,鈥� he says, and the customers were happy.

Things can鈥檛 always go smoothly though, because every project poses its own particular challenges, says Rasper. Nevertheless, as it expanded across Latin America, 麻豆原创 earned a reputation for never letting customers down and for always finding a solution when problems occurred.

Such as during the economic and financial crisis of 2001 in Argentina. Jorge Schiavo remembers 麻豆原创 freezing maintenance costs for customers in financial difficulties. 鈥淚t was our way of doing something to protect businesses and their employees,鈥� says Schiavo, who became the 12th member of 厂础笔鈥檚 team in Argentina when he joined in 1995. 鈥淲e also introduced special measures to ensure that none of our employees lost money as a result of devaluation and high inflation,鈥� adds Schiavo, who continues to contribute his financial expertise and his experience with Argentinean tax law, as well as optimizing global and regional financial processes.

The third key factor in effective crisis management in Latin America, says Peter Rasper, is the fact that 鈥渨e have never 鈥� to my knowledge 鈥� closed a location there.鈥� It wasn鈥檛 always possible to avoid redundancies, he admits, but 麻豆原创 operated on the principle of never letting its customers down and of keeping a strong team available locally.

Difficult Situation in Venezuela

At least until Venezuela鈥檚 economy collapsed, that is. The dire political and economic situation prevailing in Venezuela pushes even 麻豆原创 to its limits, a realization that saddens many 鈥渇irst-generation鈥� employees in Latin America.

鈥淲hen I was a consultant, we always said that the country鈥檚 rich oil reserves would save oil companies from ever going bust,鈥� says Francisco Fernandez, who was there when 麻豆原创 opened its offices in Caracas in 1996. 鈥淎nd where are we now?鈥�

In the 1990s, 麻豆原创 served all of Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America out of Venezuela. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 begin to tell you how many flights left Caracas every Monday with 麻豆原创 consultants on board heading to neighboring countries,鈥� says Fernandez. 鈥淰enezuela was way ahead of other countries.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e had to move most of our people to other locations,鈥� says Ricardo Avila. 鈥淎nd 麻豆原创 is serving its Venezuelan customers out of other countries now too.鈥�

But the principle remains: 鈥淣o matter how dire the crisis in Latin America,鈥� says Avila, 鈥渨e鈥檒l remain pragmatic and optimistic. And we won鈥檛 let our customers down. Our commitment is to them, to the region, and to our colleagues.鈥�

As Rudy van der Hoeven walked into the meeting room, he was surprised at being the only man present. The year is 1989, and a steering committee meeting at the headquarters of Singtel, Singapore Telecommunications, is about to get underway. As a representative of 麻豆原创, van der Hoeven is there to explain to the committee why 厂础笔鈥檚 mainframe software, 麻豆原创 R/2, is crucial for their business.

What ultimately tipped the balance in 厂础笔鈥檚 favor — be it the growing reputation of the company鈥檚 standard software in Singapore or van der Hoeven鈥檚 charm and compelling sales techniques — is by the by: Singtel was one of 厂础笔鈥檚 first customers in Singapore, and many other telecommunications companies in Asia followed suit.

鈥淪ingtel was a brilliant reference customer,鈥� says van der Hoeven.

And it was a customer that both surprised and delighted managers at 麻豆原创 in faraway Europe. Because back in the early days of what would become a global run on 麻豆原创 software, there were no specific plans for tapping into new markets. Instead, business development simply consisted of management placing a great deal of trust in the local 麻豆原创 employees and giving them a large amount of freedom to get the job done.

Dutchman Rudy van der Hoeven is also credited with kick-starting 厂础笔鈥檚 business in Australia in the late 1980s. Whenever he traveled to and from Europe, he would stopover in Singapore, where many American and European enterprises had set up their Asian headquarters.

Hans Schlegel, who had begun building up 厂础笔鈥檚 international operations from its offices in Biel, Switzerland, in 1984, remembers: 鈥淩udy couldn鈥檛 resist the temptation to stop by companies in Singapore, and it wasn鈥檛 long before we had clients such as Singapore Telecom, Military Defence of Singapore, and others on our books.鈥�

Five Customers = New Subsidiary

Dietmar Hopp, co-founder of 麻豆原创 and CEO at the time, had one rule, says Dieter Matheis, former CFO: 鈥淒ietmar used to say to Hans Schlegel that if he garnered five customers, 麻豆原创 would open a new subsidiary.鈥� And that was more or less always what happened, says Matheis, 鈥淏ut a lot was based on instinct and trust in Hans and his team.鈥�

Like many other companies, 麻豆原创 decided to establish its Asian headquarters in Singapore. 鈥淪oon after, I found myself and my family at the Oriental Hotel in Singapore to assess and explore the market there. That was the start of one of the craziest, and most hectic and exciting, parts of my life,鈥� van der Hoeven says.

Also involved from the beginning was van der Hoeven’s fellow countryman Henk Verkou, who would run 麻豆原创’s Asian business until the end of 1993. Together with Matheis, who dealt with the legal side of things, van der Hoeven started looking for a suitable office space.

After the official incorporation of 麻豆原创 Asia on July 5, 1989, the 25th floor of the Gateway East building in Beach Road, Singapore, became home to 厂础笔鈥檚 first subsidiary in Asia, and a base from which 麻豆原创 could take on the markets in Asia and the Pacific region.

They were supported by several colleagues from 麻豆原创 Switzerland — Hans-Peter Hohl, Jean-Daniel Berchier, Gunther Ottensmeyer, Malcolm Southern, and Hannes Steiner — and the first local consultants, who were hired straight out of universities in the region and then sent on a training program in Walldorf, Germany, for a year.

鈥淲ithout them, we never would have been able to turn all the interested companies into happy customers,鈥� says van der Hoeven 鈥� not in Singapore nor other Southeast Asian countries. He himself received help on the sales side from Raymond Teh, who was appointed managing director in December 1991. Mary Ann Lee, a former Singapore Airlines flight attendant, kept the operation running in the Singapore office.

Business Booms with 麻豆原创 R/3

In April 1990, the first two customers in Malaysia signed 麻豆原创 R/2 contracts: Malaysian postal service Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos Malaysia and Permodalan Nasional Berhad, a government-linked investment company. Two years after that, 麻豆原创 opened its Malaysian subsidiary and an office in Thailand. Its growing success made a structured approach to business essential: Dieter Matheis set up controlling departments and hired experts in finance and HR who were familiar with the local markets.

厂础笔鈥檚 business began to gather momentum in Southeast Asia with the launch of 麻豆原创 R/3 client/server software. By 1994, 麻豆原创 in Malaysia had installed eight 麻豆原创 R/3 systems and was responsible for around a quarter of the revenue from the Asia-Pacific region. Its list of customers included Tenaga Nasional, Sapura Holdings, Diethelm Holdings (Malaysia) Berhad, and Caltex Malaysia.

麻豆原创 opened its subsidiary in the Philippines in the middle of 1995. Shortly after the opening of offices in Makati City, the financial center of the Philippines, the first customers 鈥� Procter and Gamble Philippines and San Miguel Corporation 鈥� went live with 麻豆原创 R/3.

That same month, the subsidiary in Thailand opened its doors. In the early days, 12 employees looked after seven customers from the offices in Bangkok. But there was an issue: While the 麻豆原创 R/3 system could be implemented in English in the former British colonies of Singapore and Malaysia, Thai presented the localization teams with some problems.

Werner Konik, who was responsible for software localization in Asia at the time, explains: 鈥淔rom the technical perspective, Thai is even more complex than double-byte languages such as Japanese and Korean. As a multi-byte language, it uses up to four characters in the database to produce one character on paper or screen.鈥�

厂础笔鈥檚 developers rose to the challenge, which led to more companies based in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries becoming 麻豆原创 customers.

麻豆原创 Shows Its Commitment

Because 麻豆原创 had subsidiaries in the region, many companies found it easier to choose 麻豆原创. 鈥淐ustomers wanted 麻豆原创 to show its commitment; they wanted to be sure that there would always be 麻豆原创 representatives nearby to help solve their problems,鈥� explains Matheis. And so it was that 麻豆原创 remained in those countries and helped its customers weather the financial crisis that gripped Southeast Asia in the late 1990s.

By the time the Indonesian subsidiary opened in April 1997, 麻豆原创 had become a dominant player on the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market in Southeast Asia. Its market share in the countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was more than 42%.

Selinna Chin, former country manager at market research organization IDC in Malaysia, explains: 鈥溌槎乖�’s worldwide implementations, its crisp marketing execution, and excellent suite of products across an array of vertical industries definitely sets it apart from other vendors.鈥�

In addition to its technical strengths, one other aspect has played a key role in 厂础笔鈥檚 success in the region and in other Asian countries: trust. As Les Hayman, who became president and CEO of 麻豆原创 Asia Pacific in 1996, put it: 鈥淎t that time, we were running countries in a mode I would call creative anarchy. We had total freedom, and as long as top management at 麻豆原创 felt that there was a strong commitment to the company, and we were bringing in the numbers, there was no interference.鈥�

It is early November 1998. Rao Prasada and his colleagues are working up a sweat by heaving servers and 21-inch monitors on the 12th floor of the International Technology Park Limited (ITPL) building in Whitefield, a few miles outside of Bengaluru in southern India.

There is a palpable anxiety and excitement in the office. Prasada and his team are on a tight deadline. As system administrators, it is their responsibility to get the network of computers, monitors, and servers up and running on November 13, when the new campus of 麻豆原创 Labs India will be inaugurated by senior 麻豆原创 executives.

“The 100 employees who were moving into the new campus had to go live on the first day,” recalls Prasada, adding that for him and his colleagues, moving into a new office, about 11 miles away from their existing rented premises in Koramangala, was a matter of great pride.

Today, 麻豆原创 Labs India is a strategic hub within 厂础笔鈥檚 global network of development centers, with more than 8,500 employees across five cities: Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune. Most work at the 麻豆原创 Labs India campus in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated in 2003, just over a mile from the ITPL building.

Prasada, who now leads a team of IT experts, is still with the company 鈥� like many others. They have been part of the exciting and impressive story of 麻豆原创 Labs India, which is about learning and lateral thinking, about localization and globalization, growth and scaling.

Above all, though, it is a story about innovation. Clas Neumann — now head of the 麻豆原创 Labs Network — helped shape 麻豆原创 Labs India as its managing director from 1999 until the beginning of 2005, first jointly with Udo Urbanek and then later with Martin Prinz, then as its president from 2007. Neumann credits 麻豆原创 with laying the foundations for the development of standard software and much more.

鈥淏y not following the trend of just offshoring IT work at the lower end of the value chain, but integrating its Indian development center as one of the four major development hubs, 麻豆原创 innovated distributed research and development processes,鈥� he says.

Major Strategic Role

麻豆原创 Labs India is now the second-largest 麻豆原创 development location after Walldorf. The teams work on all the major solutions — from 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and 麻豆原创 HANA through 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform to the entire range of business area products.

As one of four global hubs, along with Germany, China, and the U.S., 麻豆原创 Labs India is where a great many strands come together. Many successful products and solutions have originated from 麻豆原创 Labs India, including 麻豆原创 Asset Intelligence Network, 麻豆原创 Digital Manufacturing Insights, 麻豆原创 Connected Worker Safety, and 麻豆原创 Fashion Management.

Here too sizeable teams work closely with customers across the globe. Bengaluru is also home to an 麻豆原创 Co-Innovation Lab and 厂础笔鈥檚 startup accelerator program, the 麻豆原创 Startup Studio, which went live in 2016.

麻豆原创 Labs India has significant strategic importance but it has had to work hard to earn it.

Toward the end of the 1990s, when the internet hype was at its height, 麻豆原创 was still enjoying the double-digit growth of the past. But trends like customer relationship and supply chain management — accelerated by successful new companies like Siebel and I2 — brought pressure on several fronts. In order to keep pace and bring the necessary offerings to the market as quickly as possible, 麻豆原创 had no choice but to bolster its development resources.

Then Co-CEOs Hasso Plattner and Henning Kagermann, along with their 麻豆原创 Executive Board colleagues, opted for a two-pronged strategy, consisting of acquisitions and the establishment of new 麻豆原创 Labs in countries where developers were easier to find than they were at the Walldorf, Silicon Valley, and Tokyo locations.

In late 1997, 麻豆原创 acquired a 50% share in Kiefer & Veittinger GmbH (K&V), a European market leader in sales force automation software, as its route into the evolving customer relationship management (CRM) market. Founded not far from 麻豆原创 in Mannheim in 1986, the company had operated a development center in Bengaluru with almost 90 employees since 1995. One of them was Rao Prasada.

鈥淭he hardware, all of which moved with us, was heavy. But our managing director, Udo Urbanek, lugged his monitor into our new offices himself,鈥� Prasada recalls. He also remembers the Friday parties and K&V鈥檚 unofficial company motto: “Work hard, party harder.”

鈥淲e continued with those parties, which were very bonding experiences,鈥� says Prasada with a grin. The open company culture after the merger in 1998 also left a lasting impression on him: 鈥淓veryone helped everyone else; everyone spoke with everyone else — no matter their status in the hierarchy.鈥�

New 麻豆原创 Labs: Two Pillars

The acquired K&V employees formed one pillar of the new 麻豆原创 Labs; the other was a team of experts from 麻豆原创 India, who localized the 麻豆原创 software and adapted it to Indian legal requirements.

麻豆原创 India had been founded in March 1996 in Bengaluru, with offices in Mumbai and New Delhi and a remit to sell and implement 麻豆原创 software. They were now joined by the localization team. One of its members was Uma Rani TM. She had already gained 麻豆原创 software experience working at Tata Consulting Services. She implemented 麻豆原创 at Hewlett-Packard鈥檚 Indian subsidiary, gained certification as a Sales & Distribution (SD) consultant, and soon began training others in ABAP.

鈥溌槎乖� R/3 gained traction very fast in India, and 麻豆原创 quickly became known on the business scene here. But it was not yet as familiar a name in developer circles,鈥� she says. Together with a small team in Singapore that was asked to adapt the HR and payroll software for India and other Asian countries as well, Uma Rani TM worked in the early days with just three colleagues on the SD, Materials Management (MM), and Financial Accounting (FI) modules for the India country version.

Clearly, though, 麻豆原创 urgently needed more developers. In December 1997, a decision was made to move the localization team from Singapore to India and merge it with the team that was responsible for the country version there. At the same time, a project initiated by the 麻豆原创 Executive Board and spearheaded by Neumann, then assistant to 麻豆原创 Executive Board Member Peter Zencke, and Thomas Vetter, assistant to Kagermann, concluded that Bengaluru was an ideal location for 麻豆原创 to overcome its shortage of skilled developers quickly.

These factors were the trigger for the foundation of 麻豆原创 Labs India in November 1998. Its first joint managing directors were Udo Urbanek and Werner Konik, who had led the localization project for Asia. At the opening ceremony for the offices in the ITPL building in Bengaluru, Zencke explained that the location’s focus would be on driving the localization of 麻豆原创 R/3 for the Asia-Pacific region and developing software for CRM and solutions for the high-tech, oil and gas, aerospace, and defense industries.

Close Cooperation with Walldorf

From day one, the development teams in Bengaluru worked closely with their colleagues in Germany and at other locations. According to Martin Prinz, who took over responsibility for the India country version from Konik, his team in India proved that there was an alternative to the traditional approach of centralized development, and that it was feasible to cooperate with co-developers in other locations. 鈥淚n our case, it worked because we were so closely connected with the core development team in Germany and we did have a lot of support from there,鈥� Prinz says Martin.

鈥淚t was an interesting journey,鈥� says Uma Rani TM, who reported to Prinz at the time. 鈥淔rom a development point of view, it was tough, but so interesting to learn. Martin and the managing directors made a real effort to be there for us at all times.鈥�

Yet, with the best will in the world, both sides needed time to get used to each other. 鈥淚t often happened that people suddenly switched to speaking German in meetings,鈥� says Uma Rani TM. 鈥淲e had to remind them that we were there.鈥�

Prasada remembers Urbanek attaching 鈥済reat importance to punctuality, both at meetings and in completing tasks.鈥� A characteristic that Prasada took home with him 鈥� and that did not always go down well with his family. He also learned fast that Germans tend to be quite direct. 鈥淏ut, if I had a problem and needed help, I always received support right away.鈥�

Business trips to each other鈥檚 home countries helped foster mutual understanding and gave everyone a chance to broaden their horizons — culinary and otherwise. 鈥淕etting a vegetarian meal at the cafeteria in Walldorf and finding a restaurant in Walldorf or Heidelberg that served meat-free dishes was quite a challenge back then,鈥� says Uma Rani TM with a grin. 鈥淏ut we found our ways.鈥�

English gradually became the company language. For the first time, 麻豆原创 invested into intercultural training for Germans and Indians followed by offerings for other nations. 鈥淭his way, the establishment of 麻豆原创 Labs India contributed decisively to 麻豆原创’s globalization,鈥� says Neumann.

By 2001, there were already more than 500 麻豆原创 employees in Bengaluru.

Sharp Increase in Headcount

Although headcount growth in Bengaluru slowed when the dot-com bubble burst, it returned to its steep upward path from 2003 onward. 麻豆原创 Labs India opened its new campus in Whitefield in November 2003. Prinz, who now co-managed the location with Neumann, described their role at the time as follows: 鈥溌槎乖� Labs India is a place for 麻豆原创 to scale for the future. We have to demonstrate that we can grow fast while remaining stable and reliable.鈥�

By the end of 2004, the workforce had reached 1,350, and every line of business was represented in India. Georg Kniese, today global head for Corporate Development and M&A, became joint managing director with Prinz at the beginning of 2005. The locations invested heavily in employee training and bolstered their development and support unit resources. The aim was to create a global hub of 麻豆原创 knowledge.

鈥淲e wanted to be part of the global development process, be close to our customers, continue driving localization, develop customer-specific solutions, and be on the spot when escalations happened,鈥� recalls Kniese. By the end of 2005, 麻豆原创 Labs India鈥檚 payroll numbered almost 2,300.

Two years later, that figure had risen by another 1,000, and 麻豆原创 Labs India became the second-largest development location outside Walldorf. When Kniese returned to Germany at the end of 2007, 麻豆原创 Labs India got its very first Indian managing director: Kush Desai. His counterpart in Gurgaon was Ferose V.R. And in another first, teams in Bengaluru took on full global responsibility for a product: 麻豆原创 Employee Self-Service.

鈥淎s far as I can tell, we were the first company to develop a solution from demand analysis to final product and maintenance in Bengaluru,鈥� says Neumann. 鈥淢any companies and academia visited us at the labs now to learn what it takes to implement a research and development function globally. Thereby we certainly had an impact on the Indian IT sector.鈥�

Uma Rani TM remembers this period of rapid growth very clearly. In her view, it happened because 麻豆原创 needed developers and looked to India, where they were affordable. 鈥淭he benefit for our employees was that this growth created lots of new opportunities for them to progress professionally.鈥�

After five years on the localization team and having completed an MBA, Uma Rani TM herself took the opportunity to take charge of the Installed Base Maintenance & Support (IMS) team in Bengaluru in 2003. 鈥淢y managers always supported and encouraged me greatly,鈥� she says. Now in her 25th year at 麻豆原创, Uma Rani TM is head of Application Innovation Services.

Indian Customers Benefit from Proximity to 麻豆原创 Labs

In 2007, India was 厂础笔鈥檚 fastest-growing market. Revenues doubled that year, and continued to do so in the years that followed. According to Neumann, 麻豆原创 Labs were the engine for this success. The sales personnel in India benefited enormously from being close to developers.

“Very often, meetings in Bengaluru were the key to getting deals signed,鈥� says Neumann. 鈥淭he labs made it clear to customers from the get-go that 麻豆原创 was here to stay and that it had the required expertise available locally.鈥�

Uma Rani TM adds that 鈥渉aving such a great campus with great experts in this location has really helped our customers and the business be closer to our developers. This enabled us to drive the transformation with deep product and business expertise.鈥�

In April 2010, Ferose V.R. became sole managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs India. He encouraged the workforce, now numbering over 4,000, to experiment with new ideas and to find creative solutions to some of their problems, such as a lack of childcare and the tedious process of claiming for travel expenses. He founded an 麻豆原创 AppHaus location on the Bengaluru campus, where designers, developers, and marketeers could collaborate on innovative solutions. He also initiated , including a book club, 鈥渢o create a unique environment for employees and a culture of innovation.鈥�

And in 2011 he started . Ferose V.R. worked with some of the most influential thinkers on autism studies to learn from best practices and further grow and improve the program, which then became 麻豆原创’s Autism at Work program. Since then, the program has grown rapidly and expanded globally.

Putting Faith in Employees鈥� Creative Powers

Dilip Khandelwal became managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs India in August 2014. In Bengaluru, more than 2,500 employees work in the Gerhard Oswald Innovation Space, a contemporary, 鈧�50 million building that was opened in April 2017 in honor of 厂础笔鈥檚 long-serving Executive Board member and supporter of 麻豆原创 Labs.

Fostering Startups

One of Khandelwal’s central elements of his strategy was initiating the 麻豆原创 Startup Studio. Here, 麻豆原创 Labs locations offer startups consulting, support, infrastructure, and technology for one year to get their enterprise off the ground. Working out of chic facilities on the 麻豆原创 Labs India campus, participants can benefit from support from 麻豆原创 employees to help them bring their idea to market and expand their business successfully. Moreover, the startups can profit from making contact with 麻豆原创 customers and partners. 麻豆原创 works with the startups to complement its own offerings, too.

Khandelwal’s successor is Sindhu Gangadharan, about 20 years after she started as a developer at 麻豆原创 Labs India. She works day in, day out to extend and reinforce 麻豆原创 Labs India鈥檚 standing in the global 麻豆原创 Labs Network and within the country鈥檚 IT sector.

Just like Sindhu Gangadharan and Ferose V.R., Rao Prasada is still with 麻豆原创 — he too wants to continue playing his part in 麻豆原创 Labs India’s success story.

This article is based in part on the book by Clas Neumann and Jayaram Srinivasan entitled 鈥淢anaging Innovation from the Land of Ideas and Talent鈥� and published by Springer.

It鈥檚 May 11, 1998: Hundreds of blue balloons float skyward, the band strikes up a German schlager classic from the 1960s, many a colleague blinks back a tear or two. 麻豆原创 employees are bidding farewell to Dietmar Hopp and his fellow 麻豆原创 Co-Founder Klaus Tschira as they transfer from the Executive Board to the Supervisory Board.

鈥淚t was an emotional day,鈥� Hopp later says. Hasso Plattner pays a humorous tribute, joking that it was fortunate Hopp had always been able to tell the difference between gross and net, as he had spared his fellow co-founders many a sleepless night worrying about the fledgling company鈥檚 finances. Hopp, he adds, knew how to make the 鈥渂ig points鈥� 鈥� he imbued the company with an unshakeable team spirit and he placed enormous trust in employees, encouraging them to take responsibility.

When Hopp stepped down from the Supervisory Board in 2005, Plattner was again full of praise: 鈥淒ietmar Hopp was the driving force in 厂础笔鈥檚 journey 鈥� as a co-founder, Executive Board member, and Supervisory Board member. His expertise and his ability to motivate 麻豆原创 employees were the hallmarks of his success at the helm of the company.鈥�

Fifteen years on, Dietmar Hopp is now celebrating his 80th birthday. Once again, he will have no choice but to listen to the choruses of praise and expressions of thanks that will flood in from 麻豆原创 and beyond.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

It won鈥檛 just be 麻豆原创 and its more than 100,000 employees congratulating the man who always had colleagues鈥� and customers鈥� best interests at heart, who shaped 麻豆原创 and made its success possible in the first place. The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region will also wish to honor one of its foremost philanthropists: Hopp鈥檚 place in history is already secure, thanks to his generous donations to causes devoted to the welfare of children, young people, and the elderly as well as to medicine, education, climate protection, and sport.

Respect for a 鈥淭rue Leader鈥�

Ask any 麻豆原创 employee past or present about Dietmar Hopp and they鈥檒l overwhelming speak of their enormous respect for him: respect for a man whose vision, courage, eye for the possible, and 聽skill in inspiring employees and placing trust in them formed the bedrock of his reputation as a gifted manager. 鈥淗e was a leader 鈥� simple as that,鈥� says one former colleague.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 much too kind,鈥� will probably be Hopp鈥檚 modest reply, pointing once again to a 鈥渢eam success.鈥� But it鈥檚 no coincidence that those who worked with him still accord pride of place in their memories to the man affectionately known as Vadder Hopp (Papa Hopp). And no one would dispute that in the early days it was Dietmar Hopp who led the way in establishing the behaviors and attitudes 鈥� the culture 鈥� that still characterize 麻豆原创 today, despite all the changes that have taken place since.

It was not by reading guidebooks for managers that he found his moral compass and became a responsible and compassionate business leader who never lost touch with reality. These virtues formed out of his experiences as a child and young adult, and out of the values his parents instilled in him.

Dietmar Hopp was born in Heidelberg in 1940, the youngest of four children. His family lived in nearby Hoffenheim, in the rural Kraichgau region. His father was a teacher, his mother a housewife. Deprivation and 鈥渄oing without鈥� were a familiar theme for the family. And even when World War II ended, leaving the family 鈥� visibly at least 鈥� unscathed, there was not much to go around. The young Dietmar earned a little cash by collecting scrap iron. He did well at school, exceling in science subjects.

Soccer also played an important role in his life. At 17, Hopp was called up to play for TSG Hoffenheim’s first team. The rewards were not financial; the young striker received a can of liver sausage from a local farmer for every goal he scored.

A Desire for Prosperity

Hopp developed an appetite for success and financial independence at an early age. He gave private tuition in math and after graduating from high school in 1960 sold garage doors to people eagerly building their own homes as Germany鈥檚 economic miracle continued. Having rejected a teaching career as 鈥渘ot offering sufficient financial appeal,鈥� he elected to study electrical engineering, specializing in telecommunications technology, at the then University of Karlsruhe, Germany. 鈥淚 really was driven by the desire to earn money, so I went where I thought the demand for people was greatest and where the best opportunities were,鈥� he 聽says.

Hopp graduated as an engineer in 1965 and applied to work for IBM because he knew they 鈥減aid the most.鈥� After completing 18 months of basic training at the U.S. computer market leader, he began his career as a system consultant at the company鈥檚 Mannheim office in 1966.

On his visits to customer sites, Hopp observed that companies were frequently struggling with similar difficulties. In 1971, he was tasked with modernizing the order processing and shipping control systems at the nylon fiber plant of UK chemicals group ICI in nearby 脰stringen. With him was his assistant, Hasso Plattner. Over the course of nine months, they developed a system that 鈥減rocessed entries in real time,鈥� says Hopp. And, over that period, both Hopp and Plattner became convinced that the future of enterprise data processing lay in standard programs that integrate business processes.

To make their vision a reality, they decided to go it alone, founding Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung (later 麻豆原创) with their IBM peers Claus Wellenreuther, Klaus Tschira, and Hans-Werner Hector on April 1, 1972. It was the start of an international success story whose early chapters were largely written by Dietmar Hopp.

Programmer, Salesman, Captain

Hopp and his colleagues programmed the 鈥淩 System鈥� and its successor, 鈥淩/2鈥� for an initial group of customers that included ICI, Knoll, and Schott. As a Dialog programming specialist, Hopp also became the newly founded company鈥檚 top salesman. For him, a potential customer鈥檚 鈥渘o鈥� was merely the precursor to a 鈥測es.鈥�

From the outset, Hopp took on the role of team captain, ensuring that his players worked together as a unit and stuck to the same game plan. Later, Plattner would often refer to 鈥淗opp鈥檚 great ability to run the place like he was managing a soccer club.鈥�

Hopp believed employees could only grow and produce innovative ideas if you trusted them and allowed them to make mistakes. He placed immense value on establishing a company culture characterized by openness, a readiness to help, a sense of responsibility, a strong desire to learn, and the determination never to let customers down. He despised arrogance, selfishness, and hierarchical thinking. 鈥淲e never consciously defined a culture; we let our actions do the talking,鈥� he said when leaving the Executive Board in 1998.

When 麻豆原创 went public in 1988, Hopp became CEO of 麻豆原创 AG. He was responsible for development and sales, consulting at national and international level, management, public relations, and press work.

From 1997, he shared the role of CEO with Hasso Plattner, stepping down from the Executive Board in 1998 to join the 麻豆原创 Supervisory Board as its chairperson, an office he held until 2003, before finally stepping down from the Supervisory Board in 2005.

Investor and Philanthropist

Since withdrawing from operational business at 麻豆原创, Hopp has, among his many activities, been active as an investor, notably in the biotech industry. Never a particularly keen traveler, he is also conscious of the debt he owes to his home region, the birthplace of 麻豆原创.

鈥淭his community and its people empowered me to achieve what I did, and I want to give something back,鈥� he says. He is not interested in status symbols. It is his firm belief that while 鈥渙wnership comes with certain obligations, wealth comes with even more.鈥�

In 1995, he established the Dietmar-Hopp-Stiftung, now one of Europe’s largest private charitable foundations and a staunch supporter of sporting, medical, social, and educational causes focused mainly in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. To date, the foundation has donated around 鈧�800 million. 鈥淚 get a great sense of satisfaction from working with the foundation,鈥� says Hopp. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing feeling to be able to help.鈥�

Encouraging and supporting young people has always been a cause close to his heart. In 2001, he founded Anpfiff ins Leben, an organization that aims to offer children and young people participating in sports at all levels better opportunities at school, in their vocational training, and in their working lives.

Hopp was and still is a passionate athlete; a keen soccer and tennis player in the past, he now uses a treadmill to keep fit. And golf still provides an outlet for his competitive energy. He founded the St. Leon-Rot Golf Club in 1997.

Hopp also supports his local soccer team, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Since he began investing in the club in 1990, it has risen all the way from a district league to the Bundesliga.

Dietmar Hopp has not held an official position at 麻豆原创 for 15 years. But he knows exactly what鈥檚 happening there. With more than 100,000 employees, 麻豆原创 bears little resemblance to the company he left in 2005.

Much has changed, but anyone who has been involved with the company over the years and at various locations senses that the unifying spirit its co-founder inspired lives on: teamwork and innovation, openness and respect, trust, a willingness to take responsibility and to do everything possible to help customers and colleagues when they need advice and support.

You might say it鈥檚 the 鈥淒ietmar Hopp spirit.鈥�