Charlie Rose interviewed SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker a couple of weeks ago.  To see the complete clip, click here.  Basically, Apotheker said business is going change a lot as we move through this economic crisis.

This is a guy who sells more business management software to businesses large and small around the world than anyone else.  So he should have a pretty good handle on major business trends. What he told Charlie Rose is really interesting and notable for print and indirect products distributors.  (At least we think so, since SAP Four51 is being installed in distributors’ businesses today.)
Here is Apotheker’s take on where businesses like yours and ours are heading :

• “I believe business is going to be fundamentally different 5 years from now.”
• “I think you will see more and more companies working in networks.  Not just because of the current crisis;there was an underlying trend happening already.  Now I believe the current crisis will accelerate it.”
• “They may be loosely coupled networks or tightly integrated networks but they will be networks.”
• “You will see more and more of these networks coming together.  They need interactivity among themselves.”
• “And in order to be in such a network, what do you need?  You need insight into your network and, of course, outside your network.  And you need business processes that go (across) the entire network because that network needs to function as one virtual entity.”
• “That is going to be a fundamental shift in the way people do business.  And it requires collaboration among human beings and it requires collaboration among businesses.  And you need to open up the network so that everyone can cooperate with everyone.”
• “That is going to require a completely different IT environment.”

80,000 businesses run SAP business software today.  In the next year or so, that number will be well over 100,000.

What you are seeing is the formation of a massive business network.  And this network, as a virtual entity, buys a lot of print, promotional items, office products and other types of indirect goods every year. Is this kind of business network interesting to you?  Do you agree with Apotheker that it will require you to operate a completely different IT environment?   How well will your business software match up with your customers’ networks in 5 years?

Let me know what you think.

Tim

tmorin@four51.com

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