How SAP Plans to Markup Cloud Service Providers to High Profitability
… to deal with shifting from the upfront cash earned in on-premises deals to the ongoing subscription costs associated with cloud services.
On the earnings calls, execs argued that, as cloud has more lifetime value and more predictable future revenues, the firm was going in the right direction in the long term.
Insisting that the core business was stable anyway, CEO Bill McDermott said they should be “celebrating with champagne… that the cloud is soaring”, adding that if cloud was flat with a “rock solid core”, analysts would be “worried about the future”.
CFO Luca Mucic said the firm …