What is the SAP Influencer Summit 2010?
I’ll be attending the summit this year and doing some live blogging from the event to let you know what’s going on. If you’re reading this series of blogs then a bit of background is probably useful.
The Influencer Summit is an event that SAP runs each year to get a group of people in the room together to network and produce market messaging. It consists of SAP executives, partners and customers. These groups of people come from all over the world and represent both small and large partners and customers.
There are also industry analysts and bloggers, and some SAP Mentors have been invited to attend as well – presumably as an additional means to get market messaging out there through channels like the SAP Community Network.
How is this different to TechEd or SAPPHIRE?
Good question and since this is my first year there, I can’t answer for sure, but here's my best guess and analysis:
In essence the purpose is to measure how they are delivering to the news given at SAPPHIRE 2010 and TechEd 2010 and to play that back to the market. Why though?
One reason is shareholder messaging. By getting 100 or so people who act as market multipliers in a room together, they can produce consistent messaging to act as market presence and also to buoy Q4 sales – December is typically SAP’s biggest month for sales.
Another aspect is the feedback mechanism. By getting a small but focused group of people, SAP can use them as yardsticks for the wider community reaction to messaging, and this gives them enough time before SAPphire to both correct messaging but also product strategy and roadmaps.
In addition they are offering deep dives into different subjects, which will be run a bit like workshops. The stream that I will be attending is the technology stream where we will be deep-diving into technology strategy including NetWeaver and Mobility.
Conclusion
I will be there and listening to the messaging and doing some live blogging on the topics mentioned. I have three main areas of focus - though the event is much wider:
SAP Influencers Summit 2010 – Is onDemand ready for the mainstream?SAP Influencers Summit 2010 – Is onDemand ready for the mainstream?
SAP Influencers Summit 2010 – Will SAP deliver some real content on Enterprise Mobility?SAP Influencers Summit 2010 – Will SAP deliver some real content on Enterprise Mobility?
SAP Influencer Summit 2010: What is the NetWeaver direction, if it is core to SAP's strategy?SAP Influencer Summit 2010: What is the NetWeaver direction, if it is core to SAP's strategy?
I have 3 blogs coming - one for each of these topics, and I will cross-link them when they are up.
Addendum
Thanks Gregor for pointing out that I haven't linked back to the main site. I blame it on the jetlag.
Here's the link to the information on the SAP website:
http://www.sap.com/about/analystrelations/itir_summit_2010.epx
And a link to the virtual microsite itself:
http://virtualevents.sap.com/influencersummit
