It’s about who’s on the bus… thoughts from SAP TechEd in Amsterdam
I spent last week in the beautiful city of Amsterdam for the SAP TechEd 2013 conference. The conference was a fantastic experience with many great hilights. But one thing consistently came to the front of my mind throughout the week – the people.
A friend recently told me that “it’s not about where the bus is going, but rather who’s on the bus” that counts. I have been thinking who’s on our bus from two perspectives. Both our own Mobile Secure team at SAP and our customers.
I consider myself incredibly lucky to work with a fantastic team of people who bring you the SAP Mobile Secure portfolio (which includes SAP Afaria, SAP Mobile Documents, and SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana). Our product managers, engineering leads, alliance managers, presales team, marketing team and partners are some of the smartest people in the mobile security industry.
This brings me to our customers… the bus has room for more than those I named above; it has room for you too.
I have had the pleasure of running the SAP Mobile Secure Customer Advisory Board for the past several years, and our meeting in Amsterdam was one of the best meetings yet. We’re at an exciting time in this market, where mobile is really taking off and security is a top priority. Our customers are working closely with us to help drive our products forward.
While I talk about having the right people on the bus, this absolutely has to include our customers. Collecting feedback and having honest conversations about where our products are headed is one of the best ways to navigate that bus in the right direction. Our customers continue to impress me with their insight and vision for how mobile will transform this businesses over the coming years.
I don’t often name people in my blogs, but I’d like to publically thank Martijn Tielen, Martin Hedberg, Britt Womelsdorf, Holger Gauss, Joe Owen and Senthil Krishnapillai for being part of the fantastic Amsterdam team. The rest of our team working around the world includes Matt Carrier, Mark Wright, Marcus Coulter, James Naftel, Bryan Whitmarsh, Adam Stein and countless others. (Sidenote: you should read their blogs and follow them twitter!)
I look forward to going to work every day and riding on the bus with the best in the business. If you haven’t worked with the Mobile Security team yet, I encourage you to reach out and connect with us. Follow me on Twitter @miljagillespie for updates from our team on a regular basis.
Hi Milja, I didn't know you were in AMS. I would have come & said hi if I did. Great write up.
Thanks Tim. Sorry we missed each other! Next time for sure.
Hi Milja, thanks for sharing your Teched expreince and i liked your word "it's not about where the bus is going, but rather who's on the bus" totally true.
Regards
Tahir
Thanks Tahir. Appreciate the feedback.
nice Experience Milja.
Great entry Milja. I especially like the picture of those two handsome follicly challenged gentlemen.
But no mention of the infinite foosball table???
Our team was so busy most of them didn't even make it over to the second exhibit hall - no foosball this year 😉