SAPPHIRE NOW: A New Beginning

The consistent feedback from customers, partners and analysts was that SAPPHIRE^® NOW was a great event and I couldn’t agree more. Folks like Thomases Otter, and Wailgum, Ray Wang and Dan Howlett did a great job outlining the details from the show floor, so I wanted to focus on my takeaways from this year’s show.

First, SAP has probably taken one of its most courageous leaps in recent history with their “On-Premise, On-Demand and On-Device” initiative. Some have slated them as being late for the party and said the acquisition of a 2nd tier DB company makes no sense. On the contrary I think Bill, Jim, Hasso and Vishal showed that this acquisition makes a lot of sense when you also consider SAP’s existing investments in in-memory DBs, mobile and a Cloud platform + applications

Next, one point that has received less attention is how this acquisition will open up even more opportunities for SAP’s already vibrant partner ecosystem. As a long-time member of this very unique club, we have already been given the opportunity to take part in many programs (some official and some not ☺) around helping SAP innovate. The TalentOnDemand application built on SAP’s cloud platform we showcased at SapphireNow is yet another example of this.

Finally, it was great to see that SAP is back on track with a renewed focus on its customers. Bill is the right guy to lead the charge as he has consistently focused on customers while climbing the C-ladder at SAP.

Nakisa has always strived to make our customers champions and I think this was clear both in Orlando and Frankfurt seminars which are still available for you to watch via SAPPHIRE Online. It’s always an honor when our customers share their Nakisa experience with others.

Although SAPPHIRE may be over, I feel this is really a great beginning. Don’t forget to register for our upcoming webinar with Kohler on June 2nd and until next time, don’t forget to Visualize What Matters Most™