LEADING FROM THE HEART TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE

As COVID-19 vexes the world, SAP is helping its employees and customers lean into change

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In early March, SAP North America’s President DJ Paoni began what has become his biggest leadership test since joining what was then an emerging technology company in the 1990s. Global COVID-19 numbers were spiking exponentially, leaving everything from the Dow Jones Industrial Average to hand sanitizer supplies reeling in its wake. Global supply chains once praised for their efficiency and scale broke down as the pandemic left factories shuttered. As any business leader reading this knows, the crisis isn’t a time for idling. Effective change leadership requires triage. In charge of the largest region for a company that touches close to 80% of the world’s transactions, Paoni established two clear priorities early on that have since served as SAP’s ‘North Star’ and a lesson for other leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic: ensure the wellbeing of the company’s 25,000 employees in North America and the resiliency of its nearly 440,000 customers.

Steering employees through disruption

Given how quickly the virus’ impact has evolved, the global health pandemic has brought new meaning to scenario planning for Paoni. “Consider the very early days of COVID-19,” he said, “virtually little was known about the pandemic and how far it might spread. But uncertainty isn’t an excuse for inaction. We ran through scenario after scenario trying to confidently map how we could leverage our IT infrastructure and years of investment in innovation to enable SAP employees to transition to remote work virtually overnight.”