The German business software outfit which makes expensive products which are so esoteric that only a few people in the world can tell you what they do, SAP is thinking of making some large cloud investments.

The weekly Euro am Sonntag, quoted SAP's Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt as saying that size was not a problem, but he declined to name any potential targets. SAP on Tuesday pushed back its profit target by two years as it waits for subscription revenue from cloud computing to gather pace and invests more in the business to keep up with a fast-growing market.

SAP entered cloud computing in 2012 after spending $7.7 billion on buying internet-based computing companies Ariba and SuccessFactors. However it will need to spend a lot more if it is going to reach its 2017 revenue target of 3-3.5 billion euros for the business.

Brandt will have to move fast with any wheeling and dealing. He is planning to retire in May and will need to have everything sewn up before then.