SAP will help you RUN Transportation and Logistics better, but please also STOP, at least for a few minutes, and visit me, then get RUNNING again!

Ok, you’re at Sapphire.  All right, maybe not just yet, so please visualize you’re at Sapphire.  Good.  Now stop thinking about the Van Halen show, it is not until Wednesday night.  So what are you going to do … well, you’re going to make your way to the Transportation and Logistics area, that’s what … what’s that? … where is it? … it’s in the Run Better Campus, centered nicely within the “Optimize Supply Chain and Procurement” area … well placed among its friends.   This is a great layout for Airline, Railway, and Logistics Services professionals because you will be surrounded by the extended functions of your supply chain and will be able to see how SAP weaves together an extended, holistic solution for your industry.

You will be able to see solutions that your trading partners use, as well as, what you need, in fact, you will likely see your partners and have an opportunity to collaborate and I have just the spot … it’s my Discussion Table.  I will have the latest information on SAP’s Transportation Management solution and ready access to SAP’s solution experts to answer questions.   

Allow me to give you a breakdown … let’s call it the 3×5 breakdown … you come up with 3 key initiatives for your business and I will lay out solutions across 5 categories that will help your business run better.  Let’s say you want to improve customer satisfaction … then I would say, OK, let’s consider: 

• Business Apps
• Analytics
• Mobility
• Cloud
• DB and Technology

I will walk you through each of these categories and show you how SAP can help you to run better in each of them.  

Don’t miss CH Guenther talking about business solution apps in their Theatre Presentation and find out how they use SAP Transportation Management to improve on-time delivery.   Then make another round through the Optimize Supply Chain and Procurement area and learn about business solutions that cover Warehousing and Enterprise Asset Management, and how that all fits into the broader enterprise solutions for CRM, Sales, HR and Finance. 

When it comes to Technology, check out what Artoni is doing with B2B collaboration using SAP’s Information Interchange.  An do check out Delta Airlines in the Broadcast Center talking about how they are getting a better understanding of their customers and lowering the cost of disruptive service using SAP’s HANA.   I also recommend that you visit my colleague Greg Huntington at his Microforum on Innovating with Enterprise Mobility in Transportation and Logistics.

I know we will be in the “Sunshine-State”, but you won’t be able to escape the “Cloud”.  SAP is transforming the Cloud business in the areas of Sales/CRM, and can help you lower your TCO without sacrificing capabilities.

If you are in the Railway or Airline business, do not miss the SAP solutions for Enterprise Asset Management.  In particular we have a new MR&O solution for Rail.   This solution not only showcases SAP, but also SAP’s powerful Ecosystem of partners.  HCL AXON, an SAP Partner, are leaders in the MR&O space and will be at Sapphire and ready to help you.

On the Sunday before Sapphire we are also having our annual user group for Railways, SUGRAIL, which has a record setting attendance level this year.

Thanks for reading and please do sell hello while at Sapphire and to get more details now leverage these links to build your own Sapphire + ASUG agenda, learn about ASUG in depth seminars, or simply get a feel for SAPPHIRENOW 2012.