Chris Salis’ Time at SAP

Chris Salis stepped foot into SAP in January 2010. Prior to that, he was in Business Objects, which was later on acquired by SAP itself. At the start, Chris was given the responsibility of global sales and was appointed as the VP and Head of Global Sales. But he always had the knack of exceeding expectations – to underpromise and deliver exceedingly well. And that’s what he did – he became a catalyst in SAP’s global sales and revenue growth.

But what was more interesting was Chris’ performance at SAP in the subsequent years. He did something unexpected, something that no one could have ever done. He reversed the revenue of SAP which was declining for 3 years straight. On top of that, he increased the SaaS growth of the company 4 times. Yes, that’s real. It might sound out of bounds, but Chris Salis and I say it again – Chris Salis was the top performer in business sales targets at SAP in 2010-11.

Seeing Chris’s outstanding performance, SAP’s administration and higher officials appointed him as the Global Vice President and General Manager for the Go-to-Market and Business Solutions Line for Procurement.

Chris kept on breaking barriers, exceeding limitations, and surprising the SAP board members with his performance. In October 2015, he decided to quit the company and started ventures of his own.

He founded Pakks.com, co-founded HeyHQ, fulfilled the role of managing partner at Catapult Consulting, and co-founded Secure Our Schools Foundation.

But there’s no doubt in the fact that Chris’s time at SAP was nothing short of a spectacular thriller.

Before joining SAP, he was in big companies such as eBay and Business Objects. I sat down with him for a cup of tea and caught up on how the transition phase was when he moved to SAP from these companies. His answer was honest and transparent and he was open about it.

He admitted that it was difficult for him to leave such big companies like Business Objects and eBay. The roles he was fulfilling there were crucial. They were big roles. But at some point, in time, he had to leave and the moment he got SAP’s call-up, he knew that the time had come.

Another reason was his futuristic vision. He always wanted to work at a company that was driven to transform the business applications landscape and SAP was that company. Plus, the reputation that SAP had. Still, to this date and time, SAP is a global powerhouse in business applications. Chris was attracted to this. Who wouldn’t? It was an opportunity of a lifetime, and he grabbed this opportunity.

Chris also touched base on the leadership team that there was in SAP back in 2010-15. It was great. No offense to the current ones (he said he’s not familiar with what they are up to) but the ones during his time were simply unmatched. They were up for innovations and driven to succeed, and their collective intelligence led SAP to newer heights.

According to Chris Salis, SAP has always fostered a positive organizational culture – a customer-first attitude. And that’s what he and his colleagues vouched for.

Chris’ goals at SAP were simple – to drive innovation and growth. For that, he focused on analyzing the current customer engagement models of SAP – how they were using them, how customers were using them, and what was the approach to improve them.

He adjusted where things lacked. He introduced new SOPs, new workflows, and new ideations, which led to more customer engagement with the company and ultimately more sales and revenue.

User experience was something that Chris Salis worked on a lot at SAP. It wasn’t a major thing back then but Chris being a forward-thinking person knew that it could be their X-factor. So, he took that under his umbrella along with other things.

Chris Salis’ time at SAP was all about driving product innovation, adding value to customers, solving problems – no matter what, and improving products so that SAP’s solutions can become value-based first.

Sources & References

https://vocal.media/interview/interview-with-sap-s-chris-salis