My Reflections – 2012 ASUG SAP Business Objects User Conference

Greetings Friends & Colleagues,

I had the chance last week to attend the 2012 SBOUC for the first time since we became part of SAP.  Last time I attended was circa ~2006 somewhere in the 6x/XIr1 frame if I recall.  Exact dates are a bit hazy but I do recall a fair bit of dialog by the support attendee’s ( BOBJ Support had a table ) in regards to Reconfiguring the ORB – an oldie but a goodie for those in the near history with all things WebI.

My Reflections:

– SAP Active Global Support Presenters: To the Posse who were in attendance and delivered – Kudos! You represented SAP Active Global Support to the finest per usual.  Tim Coffman, Toby Johnston, Aasavari Bhave, John Mrozek, and James Rapp – Brilliant work and the nods of approval from all the passionate in attendance at your presentations made me smile inside.  Those who think Support is just Break/Fix and not leading edge spend a few minutes checking out their material – you will not be disappointed! To Mrozek and Rapp you may have moved on to SAP Solution Adoption but we are your DNA – so we will keep you in the honorary family – 😆 .

– SAP Influencers: Neil Greathead, Kristen Scheffler, and Kristen Cordell – you are an awesome group of Influencers and was my pleasure to work with you! to Neil G and Kristen S: SAP Customer Experience representin and I will run through a wall with you as will the rest of SAP – your passion for our customers is motivating and you are doing great things!

– DSLayer Gents:  Co-Presenters, Authentic, and Rocking it! Great to see the traffic to your Booth and the passion which you have to make SAP and all our Products stronger.  To Eric thanks for the time on the UGeek – it was a blast!

– Passion: From the Influence Groups, Key Notes/Presentations, & Panels this Community is still bringing it.  If we hop in the time machine there was a worry that the BOBJ community would be assimilated by our SAP Borg.  I can safely say with a view from both sides there are no worries there and with Bridgette Chambers’ Leadership you are helping set the terms of our shared future.

– Influencer Summit: This requires its own tagline of course – great leadership shown from all the attendee’s and to especially the SIG Leadership.  Kudos to our Support & Maintenance Lead Jennifer Cofer for her assistance and leadership.  From an SAP end a great deal of effort and results in 2011/2012 but still some work to do! On the Support end we need to continue to drive execution and most importantly continue to market all that we have to offer from Remote Supportability to Enterprise Support Proactive Services.  On the Product end we need to bring some additional players to the table and help drive additional changes and results in the coming year.  Will wait to see the results of the Influencer Summit but expect to see some additional initiatives in that area.

– ASUG News: Great platform and some hard hitting Panels.  From the DS Layer Tweet Up, All Access Panels, and of course our Support 15 minutes of Fame some great content.  You even made me look like a model for our Get The Most Out Of Support News Panel! Well, at least my wife thought so!! Hopefully in the coming SBOUC and updates we will be able to get some additional Support representation and content into the stream.  We have lots to say and I know you want to hear from us!

– Developer Wars: AWESOME! This was one of the best shows I have attended at any conference.  Kudos to Gabe for pushing to get this on the agenda and to Jamie Oswald – The Oswald Experience was in full effect and Seacrest watch out! Always fun to see our Products in the ‘Wild’ and to tie it into Second Harvest along with some theatrics and flair from the teams was a sight to see.

In wrap an incredible event and the wheels are turning on what additional we can offer to our SAP Community in the next 12 months so we can have some great stories for you in Anaheim next year! Always more work to do but fun is fun!

Thanks,

Chris