SAP Hires Former Microsoft Azure Exec For S/4HANA Product Management Post

Arpan Shah joins SAP after more than 20 years at Microsoft in product marketing posts for Azure and Office 365.

Former Microsoft Azure marketing executive Arpan Shah has taken a new position at software giant SAP as the company’s new senior vice president of product management for SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, the company’s flagship cloud ERP application suite.

Shah, who started in his new post today, departed Microsoft after more than 20 years at the company, including nearly six years leading product marketing for Azure infrastructure, according to his LinkedIn page.

“I’m excited to join the team and help shape how SAP’s innovations drive customer success. Like Microsoft, I think SAP has best-in-class products, a belief in a cloud mindset, and great people,” Shah wrote.

[Related: SAP Sees S/4HANA Cloud, ‘Rise With SAP’ Momentum In Q2 Results]

An SAP spokesperson confirmed Shah’s hire and said he reports to Jan Gilg, president of SAP S/4HANA.

“I am thrilled to have Arpan Shah on board now to help deepen the focus on customer, cloud ERP and lead the Product Management team at SAP S/4HANA Cloud in their ongoing journey of innovation. Welcome to the team, Arpan, and we look forward to working with you in your new role at SAP S/4HANA Cloud!” Gilg said in his own blog post.

“Over the last decade, I’ve had the opportunity to play a role in evolving various products to the cloud and worked with countless customers and partners on this journey,” Shah wrote on LinkedIn.

“And while cloud helps optimize costs, increase productivity and agility, the greater goal for many companies is to transform all aspects of their business from customer engagement to business model to supply chain. With a mindboggling 77 [percent] of the world’s transaction revenue going through an SAP system, I personally believe SAP is at the center of this business transformation.”

“I look forward to working with my new colleagues and engaging with SAP’s vibrant customer and partner community!” Shah wrote.

At Microsoft Shah led product marketing for Azure infrastructure starting in January 2012, overseeing marketing for Azure IaaS, Azure Stack, Azure ARC and other products.

Shah led core product marketing efforts for Office 365 before taking on the Azure duties. And prior to that he held various product management posts for Microsoft Project and SharePoint.

“It was my passion for technology that took me to Microsoft, but what kept me there all those years were the people, and I‘ll miss them immensely. I’ve met inspiring people, learned a lot and had so much fun,” Shah said in a farewell post on LinkedIn.