My First Blog Post on SCN: It’s a “Twofer”

I’m a newbie to SCN. I’ve been admiring all of you active participants from afar for a couple years, wanting to come out and play with you, but feeling that perhaps, as a “Marketing” professional at SAP, I may not be as welcomed as most of you who have a more technical distinction. Let’s just say that I was (and still am…) feeling just a wee bit inTIMIDated by the whole thing. I must admit, I had some pre-conceived notion that if I didn’t know what acronyms such as ABAP, ETL, HCM, MDM, HANA, etc. stand for (which btw I DO surprisingly know, but that’s another story…), that maybe I wouldn’t be smart enough to join your party. But then, I finally decided to take the plunge today, in large part thanks to Thorsten Franz and his recent blog post, The Most Balanced Piece I Could Write About the Stupidity of Ageism, which was shared with me via my LinkedIn network. I found myself engrossed in the topic and the subsequent comments, and thought, “Hey! I can relate to this, big time! Maybe the SCN folks might just be interested in what I have to say after all! 🙂 . Check out Thorsten’s post if you haven’t already. A very interesting piece expressed with emotion and authenticity — clearly striking a cord with many readers.

Before I begin my post (after all, there IS a reason I wanted to start writing here…), let me explain what a “Twofer” is for those of you who may not be native-English speakers, and/or others who may not know the slang term. A “Twofer” is short for “Two for One” or “2 for 1”. In other words, I am using my first blog post to accomplish two things:

1. To introduce myself, and talk a bit about what I do at SAP, and why I love my job

2. To share with you a couple of newly-created assets that help tell the story of SAP and “A Better Run World”

About Me…

I’ve been with SAP for a little over 5 years — technically, as part of the Business Objects acquisition in 2007 (my first day at Business Objects was October 8, 2007 — the day we were acquired by SAP. Quite an interesting start date to say the least!). I live in Los Angeles, CA — born and raised, although I have traveled quite a bit too (although have not been to Asia or Africa yet…). Nevertheless, I like to think of myself as the “global” type: open minded, culturally sensitive, embracing diversity, having an insatiable love of learning. Like many Southern Californians, I am bilingual…not in Spanish though, but in French. Learned it in public school, studied it through college, and wound up working/living in Tahiti and France after that (note: my last name is pronounced “Berri-yay”). Some interesting personal stories are embedded in that last sentence. Anyway…I have worked in the high-tech industry for almost 18 years, spanning several roles across Marketing and Communications. I am proud to be a “Marketer”, so you won’t be hearing any apologies from me as I mingle with you all. 🙂

My Role at SAP

Today, I work in the Portfolio Marketing group at SAP, which is a fairly small group focused on content development, corporate messaging, and thought leadership pertaining to SAP’s vision and mission. It’s an awesome group comprised of really smart and passionate people. If you were to ask me, “Julie, what do you market for SAP?”, I would say, “I market SAP.” Yep, folks, that’s what I do. It’s that simple (ahhh, how I wish it really were that simple!). I don’t market specific products, solutions, technologies, services, etc. Rather, my team and I focus on the big picture of SAP’s purpose — articulating concrete examples of how SAP helps the world run better, and telling inspiring stories about how SAP helps to improve people’s lives. We make all of our content and stories accessible to all SAP employees (and of course externally too, as appropriate).

Why I Love My Job

Every day, I wake up feeling challenged to think (and act) strategically, creatively, deeply, and emotionally. I am forced to find ways of “simplifying the complex”, and “humanizing the SAP brand” — both of which are Marketing “pillars” that we SAP marketers are being measured on. BTW, “simplifying the complex” is really really hard. But then again, that’s why it’s fun! I feel like I have the best job at the company as I’m chartered with making our high-level messaging more inspiring and approachable and simple to all of mankind. Yep, that’s my audience. People. All people. Mere mortals. Our families. Our friends. Acquaintances. Strangers. Potential customers. People who have never heard of SAP, or even if they have, maybe they don’t understand what we do or why they should care. And yes, of course, our customers and partners…who are people too. Very important people, I might add. And they could probably benefit from some inspiration and simplicity too. 

So…Where’s The Beef?

For those of you in the US who remember the “Wendy’s” commercial from the ’80’s, here’s the beef! The main thing I wanted to share with you is a new version of the SAP story which we recently completed and posted externally for the entire world to see and enjoy. You can find it in two media formats. We hope you find these things as beautiful as we do, and that they bring a smile to your faces. In fact, we’d love it if you share these with friends, family, and colleagues. See if they help you tell the “SAP story” in simple human terms.

• Prezi version: Click bottom right button on the Prezi screen to view in full screen mode, and then advance using your front and back arrows. Click “Esc” to get out of full-screen mode, and then you can navigate the Prezi in whatever order you want by clicking on each of the images that’s highlighted on the front page, and then using the front and back arrows to move through that section. Also works great on the iPad. Just download the Prezi viewer app (it’s free), and you may need to create an account, but that’s free too, with no obligation.
• Video version on YouTube: An auto-running video of the same content accompanied by music.
• SAP Corporate Profile site: Visit this site for even more content around the SAP Story.

“Why The Hummingbird Image?”, you might ask?…

I’ll save that for my next blog post.