Blog Excerpt
How to promote SAP Communitie and SAP Mentors at SAP local offices, like SAP BELUX.
A SAP Mentor testimony from belgian SAP Mentor @mgillet who promoted SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors initiative through SAP local office at SAP BELUX.
Disclaimer :
The views and opinions expressed here are mine and might not necessarily reflect SAP AG's views.
Where it all began ...
Long before I was appointed SAP Mentors in March 2009, I was already singing the praises of the Communities throughout many channels.
If you still wonder or just don't know what a SAP Communities are or what a SAP Mentor is, perhaps have a look at SAP Mentors or just get onboarded into SAP Communities.
Throughout this blog post I wanted to share with you how, in my humble opinion, how we could use the local SAP offices to promote the SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors initiative locally. I have started doing the needful for my beautiful country : Belgium and by extension, Luxemburg (also known as BELUX).
As my fellow Belgian mate Jean-Claude VanDamme (JVCD biography) once said, you have to be #aware which means that information is the key word in today's world.
Picture hereunder illustrates JVCD supporting SAP Mentor @mgillet (Flight FB407 on March 3rd, 2009 at Brussels's Airport). Although JVCD was jetlagged and seemed tired, he was keen to take the pose and have his cheerful attitude ! Be aware or be square !
Being a SAPMentor does opens some doors, especially at events like TechED, SAPPHIRE and SAP Inside Track. But once you returned from the promised community land, in your own country and although it might sounds silly at first; I found out that most of SAP Belux was lacking awaress in the field of SAP Communities and even 'worse' did not know about SAP Mentors !
It seems that most local SAP, although some individuals might be aware, are not familiar with the term SAP Communities and even less with SAP Mentors … so I have to chime in !
Having training skills in my skills set, I was keen to educate and share the good news with SAP BELUX, doing the needful as usual. We moved the action into two steps : Internal and external.
First move : Communicate internally !
Having several contacts withing SAP Belux, I was amazed people who didn't know the existe of SAP Mentors and were also either not fully aware of SAP Communities added values for customers or even worse, neglecting the SAP Communities.
I asked myself 'Is everyone aware at SAP Belux that SAP Communities and SAP Mentors exist' ? How to catch their attention ?
After some talks with internal staff, their internal weekly newsletter quickly came to their mind and we tought of an answer.
The answer : SAP Belux is publishing an internal weekly newsletter called ‘TAM TAM’. We managed to add a few words regarding the SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors initiative.
The figure hereunder illustrates an excerpt, provided with permission, from SAP Belux internal Newsletter as published on June 15th, 2010. short note (TAM TAM = make it brief !) is introducing the SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors in a nutshell.
For readers that are keen to know more, pointers have been provided to the SDN and SAP Mentors Homepages.
Second move : Communicate externally
Now that hopefully most local SAP Belux colleagues have been duly briefed about SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors, why don’t we also add these news to the local SAP BELUX Website so that all users connecting to the website get the nice welcome page with the SAP Mentors taken at SAP TechEd in Phoenix (2009) ?
Even better, let's add a SAP Mentor introduction in a nutshell and a pointer to SAP Mentors dedicated website.
I had the chance to have the Marketing Intelligence / Head Coordinator BeLux on my side as she was enthusiastic with the whole idea. It first started with a trainee that gathered the required information with me then Marketing Intelligence / Head Coordinator BeLux Manager took over and within a few days, all the new content was online !
Cherry on the pie, as 'Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae ' (Julius Caesar referred to the Belgians as "the bravest of all the Gauls"), Belgium as Three official languages : French, Dutch and German. These pages were thus provided in French, Dutch and working business language English; try it out !
The figure hereunder illustrates the welcome page on SAP Belux Website, just follow thumbnail, located on the right hand side of SAP Belux Welcome Web Page, of Mentor #66 : Tony de Thomasis, who is now even more notorious and famous in Belgium 😉
You don't know yet Tony de Thomasis ? Follow this Netweaver technician on twitter !
The picture hereunder illustrates Tony de Thomasis.
Once you are navigating from the SAP Belux website, use the Ecosystems and Partners > SAP Community Network > SAP Mentor Initiative as illustrated with the figure hereunder.
These pages are provided in French, Dutch and working business language English; try it out !
Belgian users accessing SAP Belux website have now access in English, French and Dutch to the information and/or reminder that SAP Communities do exist as well a SAP Mentors initiative. They can seek and browse through more information, shall they be keen to discover more...
Wrap up
As you have seen, once you are acquainted with the right people, it takes a few days to get the content right and approved then a few reviews before goind live with the information given.
I'm very pleased SAP Belux was keen to engage in communicating the good word regarding SAP Communities and the SAP Mentors. Even if already done, I would like to acknowledge these fine individuals commitment to make it happen. Also, I trust this is a first within SAP worldwide ? Time and comments will tell. Nevertheless, it is a know fact that Belgium is always leading ! #w00t to SAP Belux !
Thank you for reading me until the end.
See you online,
All the best,
Martin
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