†SAP SE announced the appointment of industry veterans Eric Friedrichsen and Marc Monday as the new heads of SAP North America’s Small and Midsize Business and Channel segment, and SAP North America’s Channel Ecosystem, respectively.
The SMB market is a top priority for SAP, as growing companies represent more than 80 percent of SAP North America’s 143,000 customers. These appointments underscore the company’s commitment to the small and midsize business (SMB) segment. Together, Friedrichsen and Monday have more than 40 years of experience in the industry. Their objective is to help SAP reach its objective of tripling its channel business by 2020.
“SMB is a market where a great deal of SAP’s most exciting cloud innovation is taking place,” said Friedrichsen. “I’m proud to help the company navigate this tremendous growth area and oversee the strategic investments that will open new opportunities for our customers and partners.”
Marc Monday will report to Friedrichsen, jointly overseeing the investment SAP has made in its channel partners.
The company also announced the appointment of a new vice president for partner recruitment, Cristina Greysman, 20-year industry veteran, who will help SAP actively seek out prime partners in the SMB segment. She will work with Friedrichsen and Monday to build recurring revenue streams.
The cloud-first future at SAP relies heavily on the company’s partner channel, a symbiotic ecosystem of more than 3,000 organizations. This group unlocks new value for customers and strengthens the SAP portfolio as partners help drive local and regional industry expertise – key growth factors as SAP customers continue to embrace the cloud, Big Data and digital innovation.
“Partners are our competitive advantage,” said Friedrichsen. “SMB customers know and trust their local partners, and we value their ability to help drive digital and cloud transformation, as well as deliver rapid-deployment and support services to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction.”
Friedrichsen brings more than 25 years of experience in the software industry and ran the SMB business at Concur Technologies Inc. prior to joining SAP. Also a veteran of Concur, Monday previously led global business development for the SMB segment, where he was responsible for executing partner strategy and global partnerships to drive SMB sales.
