In planning my agenda for SAPPHIRE NOW, it occurred to me that Bon Jovi is the perfect choice for the celebration event. Why? Both SAP and Bon Jovi are decades-old global brands with millions of customers. And, both have had to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Let’s examine the details.
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SAP
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Bon Jovi
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History
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Founded in 1972 by five entrepreneurs, formerly of IBM.
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Founded in 1984 by five musicians from New Jersey.
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Early success
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Sold accounting software (eventually R/1) and reached 40 reference customers within three years.
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Second album went gold. Third album, Slippery When Wet (1986) sold more than 12 million copies.
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Global presence
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Offices in 130 countries.
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Played in 53 countries.
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Market share
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#1 or #2 in most markets served.
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Consistent #1 albums and Top Ten hits over three decades
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Customer count
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253,500 customers.
Many customers have purchased more than one solution from SAP.
This includes millions of business users that rely on SAP to make their businesses (and lives) run better.
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Sold over 130 million albums. Performed more than 2,900 concerts for over 37.5 million fans. This number certainly includes counting customers more than once.
(Disclosure: I have 20 Bon Jovi albums on my iPod.)
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Customer demographics
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Serves 25 distinct industries. Expanded beyond core IT customer base into several major lines of business. Introduced new, intuitive products to appeal to millennials.
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Retained traditional fans from the late 1980s who grew up with the band. Cultivated a new generation of fans in the early 2000s. Cross genre collaborations expanded market. Now appealing to the children of the original fans.
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Agility
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Successfully migrated from mainframe to client-server to Web. Now delivering Cloud solutions and leading the industry towards in-memory computing.
Constantly reinventing technology to remain relevant.
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Started in “hair metal”, transitioned to mainstream rock. Has produced rock anthems, ballads, pop hits, and even a country hit and numerous collaborations with new bands.
Constantly reinventing sound to remain relevant.
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The parallels go beyond the “organization.” Let’s look at the leadership. Both SAP’s Bill McDermott and Jon Bon Jovi share several characteristics.
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Bill McDermott
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Jon Bon Jovi
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Humble roots
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Started career running a deli
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Son of two U.S. Marines
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Strong work ethic (a bit of an understatement in both cases)
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Yes
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Yes
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Vision
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Transition SAP to be the cloud company powered by SAP HANA
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Remain relevant to the American and global music scene
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Passion for what they do
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Watch the keynote
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Watch the concert
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Leadership development
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Rotates executives and actively cultivates young leaders
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Encouraged band members to pursue solo projects to develop as artists
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Bias towards (intelligent) risk taking, both personally and professionally
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Enters new markets, acquires companies in strategic industries, does not back down from challenge
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Started band, produced solo material, movie scores, acted in movies, tries different sounds, owned arena football team
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Dedicated to giving back to the community
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Active in social causes in and around Philadelphia area, notably Children’s Aid Society, but many others
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Active in social causes in and around Philadelphia area, notably Habitat for Humanity, but many others
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Outside of work
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Family, friends, sports
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Family, friends, sports, music
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Looking at the live and online attendance of SAPPHIRE NOW, and the number of keynotes CEO Bill McDermott has delivered, I think it’s safe for him too to state “I’ve seen a million faces, and I’ve rocked them all.”
Looking forward to Wednesday night in Orlando. Hope to see you there.
Comparing Bon Jovi to SAP rings true, for better or worse. However, I could not help thinking of the following:
- Usually a few steps behind the more innovative and agile actors spearheading their domains - prefers to catch up rather than invent...
😉
Bon Jovi haven't had a major hit since 80s yet still can gather a full stadium of their old-time fans. So yeah, pretty much like SAP. 🙂