My first (and brief) time with SAP's main man at Sapphire 2010 did not disappoint. He's a rock star, after all. In an industry that can count only a handful of true rock-star CEOs, SAP’s high-tech heavyweight Hasso Plattner is mentioned in the same breadth as Ellison, Jobs and Gates. (That he’s not afraid to jump up on stage with an electric guitar doesn’t hurt either.) His raucous stories are legendary, his high-tech smarts well-documented, and his candid spirit is refreshing (except, of course, to SAP’s PR folks). His wars-of-words with Larry Ellison (on land and at sea) have injected excitement and interest in the staid world of business applications. I shared a few minutes with the chairman of SAP’s Supervisory Board at a reception at the Sapphire 2010 show in Orlando, and he did not disappoint. I had never had the opportunity to meet him before. The topics ranged from his recent interview of himself and a protracted haircut, to SAP’s recent Sybase acquisition and its in-memory database initiative, of which he is very fond. He frankly owned up to a past mistake SAP made. I liked that. He gave me the elevator pitch on Sybase and in-memory technology, complete with a very short history lesson: decades of work combined with his immense passion all condensed into a couple of minutes. Standing in his orbit for a bit, I tried not to be starstruck, since I had only heard the lore. I probably didn’t succeed, especially when he mentioned that he had read an article of mine. Hasso then gave me the impression that it was an article not favorable of SAP and that he disagreed with it. That’s fine. Attempting to go toe-to-toe with him on any technology topic was not on my Bucket List. And just when I was about to ask another question that was lined up in my mental queue—SAP’s new mobile efforts? his sailing in the Caribbean? grooming CTO Vishal Sikka?—his handlers shuttled him off to another person just like me, just looking to get a little face time with him. He politely added I could e-mail him, if I had any questions in the future. Yup, I already do. Do you Tweet? Follow me on Twitter @twailgum. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Image of Plattner from: SAP.info Related content opinion What CIOs Need to Know About HP's Acquisition of Autonomy Here's why you should be paying attention: it's a big analytics play that could help lead the way to making sense of all the unstructured data that's overwhelming enterprises of all sizes, says analyst Charles King. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 24, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Data Management opinion Enterprise BI Made Simple Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 15, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Management opinion ERP Market Shake-Up: What It Means to Your Company ERP vendors continue to merge and be acquired at a steady pace in 2011. Here are some tips on how you can protect your company's interests as the marketplace continues to shift, from analyst Albert Pang. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 03, 2011 4 mins CIO ERP Systems Enterprise Applications opinion Cut IT Costs for Older ERP Apps With Third-Party Support Some large enterprises are looking to third-party ERP support providers to reduce their maintenance and support costs by 50 percent or more rather than sticking with their existing ERP vendors. Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research explains the circu By Todd R. Weiss Aug 02, 2011 4 mins ERP Systems IT Strategy Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe