SAP Creates New Channel Organization, Names New Channel Chief

The ongoing management reorganization at SAP has reached the software company's channel organization.

Late Wednesday the company said that Rodolpho Cardenuto had been named the head of a new Global Partner Operations (GPO) organization based within the office of co-CEO Bill McDermott.

In addition to being responsible for SAP's existing Ecosystems and Channels team, the new GPO organization will manage the SAP Business One application set for small businesses, the vendor's OEM business, and the company's other strategic partnerships.

Mark Ferrer, currently head of SAP Ecosystems and Channels, will continue in his role as chief operating officer of customer operations, reporting to Robert Enslin, the president of Global Customer Operations, who this week was named to SAP's Executive Board.

Kevin Gilroy, SAP senior vice president and general manager, global small and midsize enterprise segment and indirect channels, retains that role and reports to Rodolpho, according to an SAP spokesperson.

Cardenuto has been serving as president of SAP Americas since January 2013. He joined SAP in 2008 as president of Latin America and Caribbean operations. Prior to joining SAP he worked at other IT companies for 25 years, including 15 years at Hewlett-Packard in a number of sales and SME management jobs.

As head of GPO, Cardenuto will be responsible for accelerating the company's growth worldwide by building alternative routes to market through the SAP partner ecosystem, the company said in the statement announcing the changes.

"The formation of our new Global Partner Operations organization is key to driving scale and adoption of the SAP Cloud powered by SAP HANA," McDermott said in the statement. "Rodolpho will engage with a vibrant and open ecosystem of more than 11,500 companies worldwide to unlock the potential of every customer to become a best-run business. Rodolpho's appointment shows that our bedrock commitment to the spirit of partnership with the SAP ecosystem has never been stronger."

With Cardenuto's elevation, SAP said that also effective immediately Jennifer Morgan, previously president of regulated industries at SAP, is the company's new president of SAP North America. Diego Dzodan, who has held SAP management posts throughout Latin America, is now president of SAP Latin America and Caribbean. Both Morgan and Dzodan report to Eslin.

Cardenuto reports to McDermott, who will become SAP's sole CEO May 21 when co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe leaves the company, as he announced last year. The SAP spokesperson noted that the creation of the GPO elevates the company's channel organization to directly under McDermott.

This week began with the surprising news that Vishal Sikka, the head of SAP's development operations who was largely responsible for bringing the company's HANA in-memory database platform to fruition, was leaving the company for personal reasons. Earlier Wednesday came news that Shawn Price, president of SAP's global cloud operations, also was stepping down.

PUBLISHED MAY 7, 2014