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Sales 'smasher' Simon Niesler lands role as SAP UK cloud supremo

Corporate rising star in charge as targets raised

SAP has moved the UK corporate brass in a move that could propel cloud sales, The Reg has learned.

The giant, which in January adjusted its existing 2020 full-year cloud sales target, has appointed an internal rising star to lead all UK cloud sales.

Simon Niesler has become vice president of UK cloud, a role spanning HANA Enterprise Cloud, SAP Cloud and its as-a-service offerings.

Niesler will also oversee SAP CEC – the Customer Engagement and Commerce suite – Human Capital Management (SuccessFactors), Ariba and Fieldglass.

Sources tell The Reg that Niesler "smashed his numbers" in his current role and had been asked to "turn around" SAP's UK cloud business.

SAP's man is currently vice president of core industry – a position he's only held for a year, having landed that role from leading Business Analytics.

SAP managing director Cormac Watters in a statement told The Reg that the company had a "strong and growing" cloud business in the UK.

"Simon Niesler has been a trusted member of my leadership team since 2014 and has been appointed Head of Cloud following the departure of our cloud lead to pursue other opportunities outside SAP," Watters said.

SAP does not break out financials on a country-by-country basis but in January claimed cloud subscriptions and support revenue grew 35 per cent on an IFRS basis in the quarter with double-digit software licences revenue growth in Germany and the UK.

Revenue from cloud and software for the region increased by 10 per cent, SAP said.

Overall, SAP enjoyed a 31 per cent increase in cloud and subscriptions support to €2.9bn for the year and a 7 per cent increase in cloud and software revenue to €18.4bn.

SAP made €22bn revenue for the full fiscal year, a 6 per cent increase on 2015.

SAP has now set itself a financial target for 2020 of €28-29bn revenue, with 70-75 per cent from cloud and support and the rest from "other" sources – up from an early goal of €26-28bn and 61 per cent from support and cloud subscriptions. ®

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