SAP has named Hermann Erlach Managing Director for its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region, with the appointment taking effect on October 1, 2024. Erlach will be responsible for business operations across 24 countries, including Hungary, and will lead the region from Vienna.
His main remit is to support SAP customers in accelerating digital and business transformation, with a particular emphasis on converting investments in cloud technologies and Business AI into tangible, measurable business outcomes.
Hermann Erlach joins SAP after serving as CEO of Microsoft Austria, where he led the organization through a period of accelerated technological and market change and participated in several regional leadership bodies. His international career in consulting and technology has given him leadership experience across multiple countries.
The appointment also marks a return to SAP for Erlach: between 2008 and 2015 he held various leadership roles at the company, working in sales, services, customer relations and business transformation at both country and regional levels. His more than two decades of international leadership experience covers the technology sector, management consulting, enterprise sales and organizational transformation.
Commenting on the appointment, Alex Kläger, President of SAP's Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE) region, said: “Hermann Erlach combines deep knowledge of SAP with broad international leadership experience and a strong commitment to transformation and responsible use of artificial intelligence. His customer- and people-focused leadership approach will help regional businesses translate cloud and Business AI investments into measurable business results.”
Hermann Erlach said on his appointment: “I am pleased to return to SAP at a time when companies are fundamentally rethinking how technology can create value for them. Successful transformation is not only a technological matter: it equally depends on leadership, trust and people. SAP is in a unique position to turn the opportunities in Business AI and digital innovation into measurable business results. I look forward to working with the region’s teams, customers and partners to strengthen competitiveness and create lasting value.”
Hungary remains a key regional hub
The announcement highlights that Hungary continues to be a significant and consistently performing market within SAP’s CEE region. SAP’s presence in Hungary extends beyond local sales: SAP Labs Hungary is one of the company’s largest R&D centers in Europe, the second-largest development hub on the continent after Germany, employing more than 2,000 specialists. Local teams work on business applications, cloud technologies and AI-based solutions.
SAP Hungary will focus on three priority areas in the coming period:
- modernizing the public sector;
- supporting large enterprises with complex business transformations and AI projects;
- accelerating digitalization in the mid-market segment.
Péter Hidvégi, Managing Director of SAP Hungary, emphasized: “Alongside public sector modernization, we want to continue supporting large enterprises’ complex business transformations and AI projects, while we see significant growth potential in digitalization among mid-sized companies — for this we will further expand our partner ecosystem. Achieving success will require exploiting cross-border synergies as well as local collaborations. I am confident the new regional leadership will support the Hungarian organization in this.”
Leveraging SAP’s international experience and technology capabilities, the Hungarian subsidiary offers modern digital solutions to sectors such as energy, education and the defence industry, and possesses significant expertise in horizontal public-sector processes — from budget planning and revenue management to benefits disbursement, procurement, payroll and performance management.
Hidvégi concluded: “With these priorities, Hungary will remain one of SAP’s key business and technology centres in the Central and Eastern Europe region.”
Based on SAP statements. Effective date of appointment: October 1, 2024.
