How culture drives SAP Labs Waterloo’s global impact

The David Johnston Research + Technology Park is a community where challenges are tackled, advancements are made and new ways of thinking are always welcomed. From experienced leaders guiding their teams to students from the University of Waterloo working and learning on co-op terms, the park is where innovation happens. In this three-part series, we’re speaking with members of the SAP team to learn what makes the SAP Labs Waterloo a fantastic place to work.

Anil Goel has seen a lot of change in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park over the years. Today, Goel is the site lead at SAP Labs Waterloo and CTO for SAP’s global database and analytics portfolio. But his career at the global enterprise resource planning software giant started as a developer nearly three decades ago.

Goel came to Waterloo from his native Delhi to pursue his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Waterloo. After graduating, Goel and his family planned to return to Delhi, but he said they had found an unexpected home in Waterloo. He joined Sybase in 1996 as a software developer, which was acquired by SAP in 2010.

“It was too nice a town to leave, so we never left. In fact, we still have the phone number that we got when we moved in,” he joked.

“It was too nice a town to leave, so we never left.”

Anil Goel, Site Lead at SAP Labs Waterloo, and CTO, SAP Global Database and Analytics

“I started as a developer, and then when you’re here this long, I’ve had the chance to work on all sorts of things and grow with the company,” he said.

SAP has six offices in Canada, with three designated SAP Labs locations. The company has more than 3,300 employees across Canada supporting its global operations. Cindy Fagen, Managing Director of SAP Labs Canada, said these offices focus on research and development and include 17 other SAP Labs locations globally.

“I am very proud to say that Canada is considered a hub location, meaning it’s one of the big six, along with Labs in Germany, India, and China. We have three Labs locations in Canada coast to coast building critical parts of our portfolio working with other Labs globally,” she said.

SAP Labs Waterloo is the smallest in number of employees of the company’s lab locations in Canada. Still, Goel said its long research and development history stretching back to 1981 gives the team a strong reputation across SAP.

“It’s all deep tech. We primarily work in two areas today, data management and Digital Manufacturing. Data management consists of data lakes, on-premise and cloud databases, and other forms of data management technologies. Digital Manufacturing is delivering software services using data from IoT and other sensors to automate processes. We end up having a big impact not only from Waterloo, but all of the combined work from our other SAP Labs locations in Vancouver and Montreal,” Goel said.

“It’s all deep tech. We end up having a big impact not only from Waterloo, but all of the combined work from our other SAP Labs locations in Vancouver and Montreal.”

Anil Goel

Beyond managing the day-to-day operations at SAP Labs Waterloo, Goel is involved with recruiting co-op students and other talented developers and engineers to the company. He said while SAP has a world-renowned reputation in enterprise software, many people familiar with the Waterloo office get the impression that we focus on database development.

“We are known for databases in Waterloo, and databases are only a small part of the SAP portfolio. I enjoy sharing with university students that we are much more than that,” Goel said.

Fagen said her favourite part of telling the SAP Labs story is sharing the global impact that can happen from Waterloo.

“We love to connect them to the impact and the purpose of their work. Over 85% of the world’s transactions are being touched by an SAP system—that’s an incredible impact that these employees are having,” Fagen added.

While the problems being solved are important, Fagen said SAP Canada’s culture keeps employees engaged and cared for as people. As a global corporation, SAP is renowned for its attractive employee benefit programs. SAP Canada builds on its global best practices to tailor its benefits package to the needs of its Canadian employees. SAP Canada promotes a healthy work-life balance with five paid personal days and unique leave options, including ten paid days of crisis and caregiver leave, six paid weeks of parental leave, and 20 weeks of 100% maternity leave top-up.

SAP Labs Waterloo also redesigned its office spaces to prioritize community and employee experience. SAP Canada also launched “Lunch on Us,” a unique program designed to cut the cost of meals from nearby lunch spots.

“We have access to top talent across the country and here in Waterloo in the R+T Park next to the University of Waterloo. That deep talent pool and the existing expertise makes for something pretty magical”

Cindy Fagen, Managing Director of SAP Labs Canada

“There’s a definite ‘vibe’ one feels when they walk into an SAP Labs Canada office. It’s important that employees have a beautiful and productive work environment when they choose to come into the office,” Fagen said, “We’re very proud that we’ve won 23 top employer awards in Canada. It’s a great way to tell potential candidates a story of the value-matched environment that they will get to be part of and the winning culture that is SAP Canada.”

The mix of impact and best-in-class culture has created a workplace where tenures are measured in decades for many employees. Goel said the office has an employee who started in 1981 when the company was called Watcom.

“40 plus years, 30 plus years, 20 plus years. The important thing is the site location grew as a family. My colleagues have seen my kids grow up. I’ve seen their kids grow up,” Goel said.

Fagen said she refers to the SAP Labs Waterloo office as “small and mighty”—a reputation recognized by SAP teams worldwide.

“We’ve proven again and again, right to the global head office, that Canada likes to go first. We like to do hard things. We deliver. We have access to top talent across the country and here in Waterloo in the R+T Park next to the University of Waterloo. That deep talent pool and the existing expertise makes for something pretty magical,” Fagen said.