Sapphire "08 Update Part II -- including links to ...

former_member193450 · ‎05-09-2008

In this second blog covering Sapphire I wanted to provide the BPX community with a brief overview of what was going on in Orlando on day 2 and 3, and also provide you with the links to watch the replays of keynotes and presentations.

Please note that the replays have been posted on SAP's website (not on SCN) and require an sap.com account to access. Go to http://www1.sapsapphire.com/usa2008/webcastsreplays.htm .

CRM clearly was a hot topic on day 2 and 3 in Orlando - and not only in the CRM village: CRM got covered in multiple keynotes, traffic in the CRM village was huge - at times you could barley catch a glimpse of a demo because of the crowd in front of you - and CRM presentations in both the industry theaters and the CRM theater were well attended.

Both Henning Kagermann and Hasso Plattner, in their keynotes, talked about CRM and the focus on the user. In Henning Kagermann's opening keynote there was also a CRM demo as well as a demo of the new SAP CRM on Blackberry.

To watch replays of the keynotes click here.

Jujhar Singh's (SVP of CRM Product) CRM presentation, which I highlighted in my previous Sapphire blog, can be found at:

SAP Customer Relationship Management: Simple and Powerful

There were over 20 presentations about or related to CRM by customers and partners (you can find all the links below) and they all did a fantastic job.

Among the many highlights of the event were a presentation by Michael Moaz (one of the top Gartner CRM analysts) and a roundtable discussion with Paul Greenberg (president of The 56 Group, author of "CRM at the speed of light", CRM thought leader, influencer and blogger) about the "impact of Web 2.0 on customer relationship management." I will post a blog about this interesting discussion next week.

In the meantime please read Paul's blog about his Sapphire experience and his take on SAP and the CRM product "Its 2008. SAP FINALLY Gets It. They Really, Really Do..." on his website at http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2008/05/its-2008-sap-fi.html and get his unfiltered perspective.

Michael Moaz gave a very interesting presentation: In "Customer Relationship Management and Customer Service in a Global Economy" he covered CRM trends, the impact of social networks on customer interaction, and his perspective on SAP CRM. Based on Gartner research he concluded that "CRM is the top priority in 2008" for top executives as retaining and enhancing relationships with existing customers and winning new customers are the two biggest business issues according to a Gartner survey. He then discussed social networks as the biggest trend impacting CRM and closed his presentation by summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of SAP CRM concluding that with the new user interface and focus on usability in CRM 2007 SAP has "restarted the engine".

For those who are interested in any of the other presentations here's all the links:

Integrated Sales and Marketing at McCormick and Company

Kimberly-Clark's Business Transformation Using Marketing Planner and BI

Leading Transformation for Utilities Through SAP CRM

SAP Customer Relationship Management at Eastman Chemical Company

SAP Interactive Forms with Guided Procedures at Securit

Simplifying the SAP Software User Experience with Excel

The Executive Vision for SAP for Retail

Trade Promotion Management Panel Discussion

Transforming Yaskawa and Lincoln Electric with SAP CRM

Using SAP CRM for University Advancement and Fundraising

Building an Interaction Center at Varian Medical Systems Inc