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Quick link to SAPPHIRE NOW: On Demand for Retail

By most measures, this year's SAPPHIRE NOW raised the bar across many fronts (see Mark Yolton’s Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 highlights).  I had high hopes and was certainly looking forward to SAPPHIRE NOW and it exceeded my expectations on all levels.

In addition to the featured keynotes by Bill, Jim, Hasso and Vishal, we also had many, many wonderful sessions in retail.  If you were in attendance then you joined about 20,000 others, while another 80,000 joined virtually.  Or maybe you were one of the nearly 1,000 people that participated in the Food for Orphan community event (see video). It’s no wonder that some were asking when did SAP get to be so cool?  Clearly those planning next year’s SAPPHIRE NOW will have to up their game as they aim to do even better.


If you’re limited in time yet want to get good insight into where we are and where we’re headed in SAP Retail then it’s best to hear from folks at SAP, our customers, and retail experts.  So here’s my Top Five List on the SAPPHIRE NOW Replay Hit Parade. Let’s count them down:


5.  One to One Marketing with Herve Pluche.  In this video interview, Herve Pluche shares his passion about the expanding opportunities in retail and other consumer-facing industries to deliver personalized, relevant, and timely offers at time of decision using SAP Precision Marketing.  It brings together the power of big data, analytics, cloud and mobile to redefine consumer experience and the value of interactive digital marketing.


4.  Transforming the Retail Experience through Innovation.   I had the opportunity to share my perspective on the amazing opportunities ahead for retail companies and how SAP is helping retailers be successful in these highly dynamic times. I enjoyed the live interview format and how well Rich DeMuro covered the key retail issues on the minds of retail decision-makers. 


3.  Adapt and Win with an Omnichannel Supply Chain  - moderated by Paula Rosenblum.  In this panel, SAP Mentor and Retail Systems Research Managing Partner Paula Rosenblum does an incredible job of getting to the core issues and implications facing retailers and consumer products companies in an omnichannel world.  Panel included: OfficeMax, Kraft Foods, and Sports Basement. 


2.  Deliver a Better Shopping Experience.  From the Retail and Consumer Products Forum, this keynote was an especially rewarding experience as I shared the stage with two leading companies and SAP customers: Kingfisher and McCormick, as well as with my SAP colleague EJ Kenney.   Listen and watch how best run organizations use buyer behavior to drive product development, inventory management, and personalized shopping experiences.  There’s a lively discussion about the Millennial generation and a new app – My Runway. You can also access the presentation here.


1. Every Theater Keynote touched on use cases in retail or consumer-facing industries:

a.   Bill McDermott’s panel with the NBA, Under Armour, and the San Francisco 49ers addressed the new era of consumer experience

b.   Jim Snabe brought out real-world examples of how innovation and natural selection – where in business it’s deliberate and not random- are changing the rules of the game

c.   Hasso Platner and Vishal Sikka stretched our business horizons with breakthrough technology applied to retail using the predictive power of POS data in basket analysis and promotion planning use cases, as well as what it means to model the eBay World.


You can find these and more at SAPPHIRE NOW: On Demand for Retail

I also invite you to check out these blogs covering Retail at SAPPHIRE NOW:


What was your Retail highlight at SAPPHIRE NOW 2013?