Early Life
Hasso Plattner was born in Berlin, Germany, on January 21, 1944. His family moved to Bavaria, where he spent his formative years. He earned a master's degree in communications engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in 1968.
Rise to Success
Plattner's career took off in 1972 when he, along with Dietmar Hopp, Klaus Tschira, Hans-Werner Hector, and Claus Wellenreuther, left IBM to create their own company. This led to the founding of SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing). In 1973, SAP launched its first commercial product, the RF financial accounting system. The company went public in 1988. Plattner served as co-CEO of SAP until 2003, and as Chairman of the Supervisory Board from 2003 to 2024.
Key Business Strategies
SAP's success was driven by its focus on enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The company developed various software modules, including SAP R/2 and SAP R/3. The client-server software smoothed the path to a globalized economy, turning SAP into a global player. SAP responded to the Internet and new economy by launching its mysap.com strategy in 1999. In 2011, SAP started using the in-memory database SAP HANA. The company has continued to innovate, with SAP S/4HANA taking ERP to the next level, using the power of in-memory computing.
Philanthropy
Plattner signed The Giving Pledge in February 2013. In 1998, he founded the non-profit Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI). In 2005, he set up Hasso Plattner Ventures. The Hasso Plattner Foundation supports various projects in education, art and culture, and conservation.