Important ERP professors & chairs in the DACH region

In the German-speaking region, a whole range of chairs and professors research and teach with a clear ERP focus – from their own ERP labs (Würzburg, Potsdam) through SAP University Competence Centers (Magdeburg, TUM) to dedicated ERP degree programs (FH Kufstein) and ERP textbooks.

This list gathers important professors and chairs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with an evidenced ERP focus. It is deliberately a positive, factual curation: we state university, chair, focus and key contributions – without judgement and without a ranking. The internationally active ERP professors are on our page on international ERP professors.

Prof. Dr. Axel Winkelmann

business informatics · ERP-Lab

University of Würzburg (DE) · Chair of Business Administration and Information Systems

Has run the ERP-Lab since 2013 – according to the chair, Germany's largest ERP laboratory, with numerous systems (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, abas, weclapp, Odoo and others). Author of the Springer textbook „Betriebswirtschaftliche Anwendungssysteme: Enterprise Resource Planning“, runs a German-language ERP podcast, and serves on the „ERP-System des Jahres“ jury.

uni-wuerzburg.de (ERP-Lab) ↗

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Gronau

business informatics · processes and systems

University of Potsdam (DE) · Chair of Business Informatics, esp. Processes and Systems (LSWI)

Researches adaptable ERP systems and model-based ERP selection and directs the Center for Enterprise Research (CER) and the Industry 4.0 application center. Author of the standard work „ERP-Systeme: Architektur, Management und Funktionen“, editor of the ERP Management journal, and jury chair of „ERP-System des Jahres“.

lswi.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Petra Schubert

enterprise applications

University of Koblenz (DE) · Business Application Systems group (BAS)

Researches ERP systems, the selection and implementation of large standard software, and enterprise collaboration systems. Co-author of the Springer textbook „Betriebswirtschaftliche Anwendungssysteme: Enterprise Resource Planning“ and leader of the practice-research community IndustryConnect.

uni-koblenz.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Christian Leyh

ERP systems & business analytics

TH Mittelhessen, Gießen (DE) · Professorship for ERP Systems and Business Analytics

A professorship with an explicit ERP focus; researches ERP selection and implementation in SMEs based on critical success factors, plus digital transformation and process mining. Earned his doctorate at TU Dresden on ERP implementation in mid-sized companies.

thm.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Schütte

IS & integrated information systems

University of Duisburg-Essen (DE) · Chair of Business Informatics and Integrated Information Systems

Researches integrated information systems and retail information systems; co-author of „Handelsinformationssysteme“ and further work on ERP and retail IS. Combines reference modelling with ERP-related practice in the retail sector.

uni-due.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Klaus Turowski

IS · SAP University Competence Center

University of Magdeburg (DE) · Business Informatics group / VLBA Lab

Leads the business informatics group and the SAP University Competence Center (UCC) in Magdeburg – one of the world's largest, supplying numerous universities with SAP systems. Research on enterprise application systems (Very Large Business Applications).

ovgu.de ↗

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Jürgen Scheruhn

IS · SAP Academic Board DACH

Harz University, Wernigerode (DE) · Professorship of Business Informatics

Co-speaker of the SAP Academic Board DACH (2024–2026) and head of the „Business Information Modeling“ working group. Combines ERP teaching with SAP modelling and university curriculum development.

hs-harz.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Andreas Hufgard

IS · SAP integration

TH Aschaffenburg (DE) · Faculty of Business and Law

Author of „Business Integration mit SAP-Lösungen“ (Springer) and co-developer of tools for SAP implementation analysis. Combines ERP research with long-standing SAP practice (IBIS).

th-ab.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Susanne Strahringer

IS · information systems in industry and trade

TU Dresden (DE) · Professorship of IS, esp. Information Systems in Industry and Trade

Long-standing ERP teaching and research at TU Dresden, including on how ERP knowledge is taught and on enterprise standard systems. Contributes to key business-informatics publications.

tu-dresden.de ↗

Prof. Dr. Peter Loos

IS · DFKI IWi

Saarland University (DE) · Chair of Business Administration, esp. Business Informatics

Director of the Institute for Information Systems (IWi) at DFKI, which he took over in 2005 as successor to August-Wilhelm Scheer (ARIS). Research on business process management, ERP and enterprise information systems.

uni-saarland.de ↗

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar

IS · SAP UCC (emeritus)

TU Munich (DE) · KrcmarLab (emeritus)

From 2003 to 2023 the Academic Director of the SAP University Competence Center @ TUM, which supplies universities across Germany with SAP systems. An influential business-informatics scholar with extensive research on enterprise information systems.

tum.de ↗

Prof. (FH) Dr. Nico Deistler

ERP technologies · ERP competence center (AT)

FH Kufstein Tirol (AT) · Professorship for ERP Technologies

Professor for ERP technologies and scientific head of the ERP competence center at FH Kufstein. Co-shaper of the ERP Future conference and of ERP education in Austria.

fh-kufstein.ac.at ↗

Prof. (FH) DI Dr. Martin Adam

Master's program ERP Systems (AT)

FH Kufstein Tirol (AT) · Director of the Master's program „ERP Systems & Business Process Management“

Directs FH Kufstein's part-time Master's program „ERP-Systeme & Geschäftsprozessmanagement“ – one of the few dedicated ERP degree programs in the DACH region. A public spokesperson for FH Kufstein on ERP topics.

fh-kufstein.ac.at ↗

Prof. Dr. Christian Ploder

IS · SAP Next-Gen Lab (AT)

MCI Management Center Innsbruck (AT) · Department Management, Communication & IT

Leads the SAP Next-Gen Lab at MCI and researches ERP implementation and knowledge management. Before his academic career he worked for over ten years in international ERP implementation.

mci.edu ↗

Dr. Felix Piazolo

IS · co-founder ERP Future (AT)

University of Innsbruck (AT) · Administration Management

Co-founder and co-editor of the „ERP Future“ research conference (since 2009) and editor of several proceedings on ERP and enterprise systems in Springer's Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.

uibk.ac.at ↗

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Jung

IS · Business Engineering (CH)

University of St. Gallen (CH) · Institute of Information Systems (IWI-HSG)

Director of IWI-HSG and holder of the Chair of Business Engineering; researches digital transformation and enterprise information systems. Academic director of several Business Engineering programs.

unisg.ch ↗

Prof. Dr. Michael Röthlin

IS · data quality in ERP (CH)

Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH) · Business Information Systems

Earned his doctorate on „Management of Data Quality in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems“ and teaches business informatics at BFH with a pronounced ERP focus.

bfh.ch ↗

Prof. Dr. Bettina Schneider

IS · enterprise software/ERP (CH)

University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW (CH) · Institute for Information Systems

Researches and teaches enterprise software and ERP systems at the FHNW Institute for Information Systems and earned her doctorate on ERP systems in economic education.

fhnw.ch ↗

Häufig gestellte Fragen

How were the professors selected?

We looked for professors and chairs in the German-speaking region whose research and teaching have a recognisable, evidenced ERP focus – for example their own ERP labs, SAP University Competence Centers, ERP textbooks or ERP-selection research. The list is deliberately a positive, factual curation: we describe the chair, focus and key contributions, without rating people or putting them in a ranking. If an important chair is missing, we welcome a note via our contact form.

Why are there no assessments here as on other Compass pages?

For organisations such as podcasts or associations we label neutral vs. vendor-adjacent – for individual people we deliberately refrain from such judgements. This is about orientation on who researches and teaches ERP academically in the German-speaking region, not a ranking. We therefore state only facts: university, chair, focus and relevant works.

What is this list useful for?

It helps you make sense of the academic ERP landscape in the German-speaking region – for example when looking for research partners, expert opinions, studies or well-founded sources beyond the vendor perspective. Many of the chairs listed run ERP labs or SAP competence centers and publish vendor-independent research. The internationally active ERP professors are on a separate page.