SAP announced over the weekend that co-chief executive Jim Haggemann Snabe will step down next year. He will leave Bill McDermott, his American counterpart, solely in charge of the German business intelligence firm.

Snabe is set to hand over the reins to McDermott at SAP’s annual shareholder meeting in May 2014. His resignation and subsequent transition to the company’s supervisory board will have to receive the approval of at least 25 percent of shareholders before going into effect.

“After more than 20 years with SAP, I have decided that it is time for me to begin the next phase of my career, closer to my family,” Snabe wrote in a statement released after a Sunday board meeting. “What the entire SAP team has achieved since 2010 is remarkable, and the momentum we have built is now driving the transformation of the industry. I would be honored to continue my commitment to SAP in serving as a member of the Supervisory Board, building on the partnership and friendship with Bill McDermott and the entire Global Managing Board, to further accelerate SAP’s success.”

McDermott will assume full control over the company amidst turbulent times. Cloud computing, mobility and Big Data – three of SAP’s designated growth pillars – are on a collision course, and the competition is heating up.

The  global enterprise software company hopes to maintain its leadership position with HANA, a homegrown in-memory database that Snabe called the “next generation platform for business” in an exchange with SiliconAngle founding CEO John Furrier. The executive told Furrier that HANA enables organizations to reduce TCO, apply analytics to business problems, and overcome challenges that were once considered impossible. McDermott, who also participated in the discussion, detailed how SAP customers utilize the platform to drive value across the board.

Click on the video below to hear the full discussion with Snabe and McDermott from SAP Sapphire 2013.