The leader of the SAP cloud sector, the last big departure of the restructuring

BERLIN (Reuters) – The SAP software group has announced that the head of its business cloud group has decided to leave the company, the latest in a series of important departures, because the most valuable technology company in Europe reorganize its activities.

Robert Enslin, who joined SAP in 1992 and has served on the board of directors since 2014, was predicted by some as potential successor to CEO Bill McDermott.

During his two years at the helm of the Cloud group, Enslin helped build SAP's cloud portfolio, including the $ 8 billion acquisition of Qualtrics, a specialist in online sentiment tracking.

Enslin's release follows other high-profile departures, including Bjoern Goerke, technical director and head of SAP's cloud platform business, and Bernd Leukert, director of the board who led global service and support.

Programming guru Rich Heilman – who was highly respected throughout the SAP developer ecosystem – has also left.

The departures reflect McDermott's stated ambition to turn SAP into a digital platform, but the departure of long-standing, well-regarded staff with extensive expertise may also alienate the key players. customers of the company.

SAP announced that in January, approximately 4,400 people would leave their jobs as part of the restructuring. His rival, Oracle, has also announced layoffs and some of his top talent has moved to Google.

According to SAP, board member Jennifer Morgan, who joined the company in 2004 and recently co-led SAP's global customer operations, will succeed Enslin as president of the cloud management group with imminent effect.

Adair Fox-Martin will take sole responsibility for global customer operations as president.

SAP will release its first quarter financial results as expected on April 24.