In a move that could put a strain on one of the longest-running partnerships in the enterprise software market, SAP SE snagged Microsoft veep Quentin Clark to lead its ambitious transition from selling on-premise licenses to providing cloud-based analytic services. The Redmond veteran has officially started his new position as chief technology officer on Monday, slipping into the oversized shoes of Dr. Vishal Sikka, who led the development of the HANA in-memory database that underpins the German business intelligence behemoth’s transformation.

Sikka left SAP for the top position at professional services powerhouse Infosys Ltd. earlier this year after reportedly being passed over for the role of CEO following the resignation of Jim Hagemann Snabe. Clark may not command the same reputation as Sikka among company insiders but he brings with him a no less impressive resume to the new role, having spent his entire career at one of the few software companies in the world that can boast of being larger than SAP.

Clark joined Microsoft in 1994 as a testing engineer for its Word team and ascended the organizational ladder over the years to lead various strategic projects until eventually rising to the rank of corporate vice president. From there, he took charge of developing many of the Redmond giant’s most vital data management products, including Microsoft SQL Server, Power BI and BI in Microsoft Office. Clark is also credited with playing a key part in the development of the analytics capabilities on the company’s Azure infrastructure-era-s-a-service platform, which were greatly expanded at its recent TechEd conference in Europe, as well as for having a key role in driving integration with Hadoop.

In total, Clark boasts two decades of experience in the enterprise software market under his belt, more than of half which spent leading data management projects. Taken together with his involvement in Azure, it’s not hard to see why SAP picked the executive to lead its cloud analytics transition. At the same time, the decision to tap an outsider for a role as critical as CTO can’t be expected to go down too well with insiders, especially in view of the historical significance that Sikka – for whom the position was created in 2007 – had given to the role. But that’s a trade-off that the company is apparently willing to make.

In his new capacity, Clark is reporting to Bernd Leukert, the member of the SAP Executive Board overseeing product development.