SAP looks to win back customers' trust

SAP must work to regain the trust of its customers and become a "happy company" again, the company's co-founder Hasso Plattner has said, in a conference call following the unexpected resignation of the software giant's chief executive.

Léo Apotheker, who became chief executive in April 2008, left after it was decided not to extend his contract as a member of the company's executive board.

Under Apotheker's stewardship SAP found it hard to win over new customers with its stuttering development of its on-demand ERP system, Business ByDesign, and unsuccessful attempts to move all customers onto a more expensive Enterprise Support package.

For more on this story, see SAP: We must regain customers' trust on silicon.com.