SAP’s eventful week got even more interesting Thursday when the world’s largest business applications vendor named its new COO and bid adieu to former Business Objects CEO and supervisory board member John Schwarz. Datamation examines the new-look SAP management team and what it might mean for the company’s highly scrutinized cloud-computing strategy.
The reshuffling of SAP’s management suite continued Thursday when the German software giant named Gerhard Oswald as its new chief operating officer, replacing Erwin Gunst who resigned due to health issues.
Oswald, a nearly 30-year SAP veteran, was previously responsible for the company’s global service and support group and has served as an executive board member since 1996.
Also, SAP (NYSE: SAP) announced that John Schwarz, who served as CEO of Business Objects before it was acquired by SAP in 2007 for $6.7 billion, tendered his resignation from the company’s supervisory board, effective immediately.
The announcement comes less than a week after CEO Leo Apotheker resigned from the top post and was replaced by new co-CEOs Bill McDermott, formerly the company’s head of field organization, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, formerly SAP’s head of product development.
“The new composition of the SAP Executive Board and management changes will support the leadership structure of the co-CEOs announced earlier in the week,” co-founder and supervisory board chairman Hasso Plattner said in statement.
“We regret that John Schwarz has decided to leave the company,” he added. “He has been instrumental in achieving the successful integration of Business Objects into SAP in record time and helping to build out SAP’s market leadership in business intelligence.”
