Léo Apotheker, SAP’s chief executive, resigned on Sunday night in a management reshuffle at the world’s largest business software maker.

The company said Mr Apotheker would be replaced with Bill McDermott, head of field organisation, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development, in a joint-CEO structure.

The German group said: “The supervisory board has come to a mutual agreement with the spokesman of the management board, Léo Apotheker, not to extend his contract as an executive board member.

SAP did not provide a reason for the departure but a senior company executive said the supervisory board did not think Mr Apotheker would be the right person to repair morale at the company after an employee survey last September revealed a dramatic loss of confidence in SAP’s senior management.

He had been criticised for delays in the introduction of new business software for small and medium-sized companies.

Yvonne Genovese, head of software analysis at research firm Gartner, said "The client base has lost confidence largely because of the maintenance issue fees,", adding that SAP's patchwork of messages on cloud computing and software as a service among other issues resulted in a lack of clear, cohesive strategy.