For André Christ, previously working for one of the world’s largest logistics companies was an eye-opening experience.
For the co-founder and general manager of SAP LeanIX, the lack of transparency he experienced across supply chain operations not only hindered that organization's ability to adapt to constantly changing circumstances, but also limited its capacity to maintain a competitive edge.
In the aftermath of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, he witnessed firsthand how difficult it was to oversee the trajectory of evolving enterprise architectures, creating blind spots that carried business consequences. While the challenge was a classic mainstay of the IT establishment, in that relevant data was not readily available for meaningful analysis, the context was new. Up to that point, the business world had never seen so many critical factors change more quickly, rendering irrelevant assumptions made just a few short months earlier.
Christ eventually concluded that available market solutions were not up to the task of meeting the dynamic demands of these changing times. And so, in 2012, he collaborated with Jörg Beyer to launch LeanIX, a cloud-native, software-as-a-service enterprise architecture management (EAM) company. At LeanIX, Christ and his team created an EAM solution that enabled businesses to make faster, data-driven decisions and improve the visibility of enterprise operations.
11 years later, in 2023, SAP acquired LeanIX for a reported €1.2 billion, combining its solution with its long-time strategic partner SAP Signavio to form the new Business Transformation Unit at SAP.
ASUG recently connected with Christ to discuss how SAP LeanIX can support customers' journeys from legacy environments to the cloud, the emerging role of AI in ensuring transparency across the enterprise technology stack, and more.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
SAP finalized the acquisition of LeanIX late last year, marking it one of the biggest acquisitions in German—and European—tech history. This was also, notably, a major deal for Bonn, Germany, which is not typically thought of as a startup hub. What led you to co-found LeanIX, and why is LeanIX a strong fit for SAP?
As a practitioner, I witnessed firsthand how incredibly difficult it is to maintain an overview of an organization's architecture, especially when aiming to improve processes or digitally transform a company. This challenge is compounded when the necessary data is not readily available. We explored the existing solutions and found that, while the enterprise architecture management space had been established many years prior, the demand for effective solutions was extremely high. We felt that the available solutions were insufficient.
Recognizing a great opportunity, we decided to start a cloud-native, software-as-a-service company. We bootstrapped the company, and by the time of its acquisition by SAP, it had grown to serve more than 1,300 customers, including roughly 20% of the Fortune 500 and over 60% of the DAX 40 in Germany, with approximately 600 people in the organization. Our focus was on delivering use cases internationally; at the time of acquisition, our largest customer base was in the United States, which likely attracted SAP’s interest.
SAP had previously acquired Signavio for process-related solutions. Digital transformation involves multiple aspects: processes, people, data, and architectural applications. At SAP, we complement SAP Signavio, and together we form the business transformation management unit. This will play a significant role in SAP’s strategy, which includes SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), applications, and business transformation management. We aim to provide SAP’s customers with the ability to transform their landscapes into modern modular cloud architectures. The company recognizes the need to standardize processes, fit them to standard, and modularize the architecture while maintaining visibility into all the systems [a customer has] built and created.
We are in the process of fully integrating our tool chain to provide customers with a comprehensive overview of how everything works together. This includes not only SAP Signavio and our solution but also SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). We aim to show how these elements fit into execution and SAP Build, where custom extensions are built on SAP BTP.
For our customers, it should feel like an integrated tool chain powered by AI. This presents a huge opportunity as our company is now part of SAP’s business transformation solution area, powering the entire transformation story.
How can this capability be supported with legacy systems versus cloud-based implementations?
This is incredibly important for understanding the legacy landscape. While we have cloud-only customers, many organizations are still preparing for this transition. Looking at our customer base, which selected LeanIX for their architecture prior to the acquisition, things have become very interesting. Consider companies like Bosch, a LeanIX customer for over seven years and one of SAP’s largest customers. Or think about customers like Mars in the US—big LeanIX customers and big SAP customers. Now, everything comes together.
For customers needing to transition their systems to the cloud, whether private or public, understanding their existing systems and connections is essential. The missing piece for SAP customers was visibility into the non-SAP landscape. With tools like SAP Solution Manager or SAP Cloud ALM, customers could see their SAP systems. However, these systems often represent only 20 to 30% of their total landscape.
Nearly 70% to 80% of the systems are non-SAP. For a customer to modernize core systems like the ERP systems or move into SAP SuccessFactors, Concur, or Ariba, they must understand what exists outside the SAP systems and how everything is connected. This is the significant capability SAP LeanIX brings to the table.
Does this help customers better integrate non-SAP systems into their environment, or is the idea to eventually move from non-SAP systems to a fully compatible SAP environment?
In SAP's strategy, which focuses on the core ERP system, the cloud applications surrounding it, and the business technology platform, customers have the flexibility to integrate various solutions. For example, they can choose SAP SuccessFactors for HR or SAP Concur for other functions. The reality is that there are also solutions outside the SAP ecosystem, so in the end, the answer is both. It’s first of all about making sure the transition works well and understanding how you make sure you integrate your systems well. It’s also about the visibility into what SAP can offer its customers.
We are currently providing our customers with a business capability model in SAP LeanIX where they can drill down to explore business capabilities in detail. For instance, in the HR domain, they can drill down to specific capabilities like payroll and identify supporting solutions such as SAP SuccessFactors. This approach enables SAP customers to understand the business capabilities available to them in their industry and to explore SAP's portfolio further.
What upcoming innovations or new features can SAP users look forward to from SAP LeanIX in the next year?
This falls into three buckets:
- Integration with the SAP ecosystem,
- Business AI, or AI for enterprise architecture, and
- Improved EA features
Integration into the SAP ecosystem enables automated discovery of SAP landscapes. Customers no longer need to document their landscapes manually; this information will be automatically available in the architecture repository. This represents a significant change from the past, where manual documentation was necessary. Now, customers receive automatic updates from SAP landscapes directly into their repository, which is a game changer.
SAP reference architectures, including those for SAP BTP, are made available within SAP LeanIX where the architects work. There is also a connection to execution in SAP Cloud ALM, allowing customers to link their architecture roadmap to SAP Cloud ALM and track the implementation of their transformation initiatives. This integration ensures a seamless tool chain for customers, supporting their transformations effectively. Many keynotes at SAP Sapphire highlighted how an improved RISE transformation is facilitated with the help of SAP and SAP LeanIX.
Additionally, while SAP powers the entire transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) acts as a powerful booster. We recently announced an AI chatbot based on SAP Joule, showcasing how Joule works for enterprise architecture. Joule serves as a co-pilot, understanding enterprise architecture and aiding in various tasks. This aligns with the Business AI vision at SAP, where we use the power of large language models but come up with specific use cases. Of course, our use case is enterprise architecture.
AI assists in writing the correct text about your applications and providing recommendations, really turbocharging the architecture work with AI.
Lastly, we are improving the overall enterprise architect experience. We are launching a new capability called Presentations. In SAP LeanIX, users can create visuals, which some analysts have likened to Google Maps for software. This feature is now extended to executives, allowing them to compile presentations within SAP LeanIX. Combined with an enhanced dashboarding experience, this enables better utilization of data within SAP LeanIX.
How does SAP LeanIX support cloud transformation initiatives, and what role does it play in helping organizations manage hybrid or multi-cloud environments?
It’s about understanding your clean core status. This is crucial, especially when transitioning to the cloud, including private cloud environments. It's important to know how many customizations have been made and to ensure that customers maintain a clean core to stay upgradable. This approach allows for a potential future move from a private cloud to a public cloud.
To facilitate this, SAP provides tooling to assess the extent of your customizations and extensions. And SAP Signavio, of course, plays a key role in streamlining and standardizing processes, helping customers avoid unnecessary customizations. SAP Signavio is about helping standardization, while SAP LeanIX offers a map to identify where standard business capabilities can be utilized versus where it makes sense to build custom extensions on SAP BTP.
SAP continues to enhance its software capabilities. When customers build an extension, there is a possibility that it will eventually become part of the standard offering. This is why there will be a lot of conversations around how process standardization and modularizing your architecture contributes to clean core characteristics. In the end, this allows customers to upgrade their systems more easily, experience less pain with modifications, and be more cost efficient. This, for me, is what it’s all about.
Startups are synonymous with Silicon Valley. What does this acquisition signify for the startup culture in Europe?
The acquisition was major news for the German market, marking one of the largest acquisitions of a privately held IT company in Germany. What’s particularly noteworthy is that the technology and expertise of a European company remain within a European organization. This is something that motivates me greatly. SAP has achieved incredible milestones over the past 52 years and now, with SAP LeanIX becoming part of that legacy, we are contributing our intellectual property, people, and knowledge to keep SAP on its transformation journey into the cloud.
This is a source of motivation not only for me but also for many employees at SAP LeanIX. Additionally, it creates opportunities for those who have been part of this journey to reinvest in other startups in Europe or even become part of those journeys. This is common in Silicon Valley and other parts of the United States, where successful founders help other companies succeed. By integrating the dynamic spirit of a fast-growing company like LeanIX into SAP, this is having a positive effect on the European ecosystem.