Ok, we've all read the summaries of 2008, great accomplishments in the community and it is definitely time to celebrate these successes and feel good about ourselves. I firmly believe in celebrating successes, particularly the small ones, as those make up most of our lives.
But, it is also time to look forward to 2009; to ready ourselves for the New Year that can seem a little intimidating, due to the not so great forecast for the economy.
Well, I believe that community will be more important than ever. With smaller budgets and fewer resources at hand, Web 2.0 might finally get the attention it deserves, including the attention of those who have remained doubters so far. Of folks who have been wondering what the buzz is all about but not made the time to find out.
As a community, I believe that we can work through these more difficult times, as helping each other, providing peer-to-peer support and a network to find a job is now more important than ever.
As a Business Process Expert (BPX), you can share, learn and find information that is helping you do your job, right here in the SAP Community Network (SCN). You can also make a name for yourself by providing relevant content in a blog, answering questions in forums and participating in wikis. And all of this is for free! The opportunities are huge; I think we have not even scratched the surface of all that is possible with a community. It will be exciting to expand into Web 3.0 or whatever it will be called in 2009!
Personally, I am hoping that this recession will bring our community together even closer. In the bear market, it was easy to be over-confident and take things for granted. In a time of recession, I hope we will put a stronger focus on the values that really matter: helping each other, supporting each other, working together not against each other.
No man/woman is an island. None of us can be successful on our own. I believe that 2009 will be a good year; a year where the community will be able to leverage the enthusiasm, foundation and connections that we have built over the last years (in my case, year). It's not just donations to the UN Food Programme that we can generate together, we can, and have, generated an environment that is a support network, creates new innovative ideas and products (e.g. ESME) and brings people together.
I look forward to working with you in 2009. Thanks for being there in 2008 and Happy New Year 2009! Peace, Health and Happiness!
