Welcoming 2014 With Expectation of More Successful IT Innovations!!

[Former Member]

This was fantastic year for me, not because of any materialistic reason. It’s because I got to work on various technology innovations and amazing products in 2013.

Non-copyright Image from creative-pictures.

Early in my career, I concentrated on my core product skill and deeply training myself on one particular product. But the stream application life cycle management and product solution manager broadened my narrow perspective. I trained on ITIL and project management features, including budgets.

I had always hoped to get involved with subjects I knew nothing about. And I completely fulfilled that desire in 2013.

SAP HANA also got a better look and feel this year, and I launched my own HANA box in AWS. A  full day of training with Amazon helped me to understand their services and allay fear of security risks in AWS. Now I can play with my HANA box with little modelling stuffs.

I’d participated in Data Geek Challenge 1.0, but it was Data Geek 2.0 in 2013 that gave me opportunity to explore the Kepler space research data with SAP Lumira, getting the direct contact from NASA. Though I did not win the challenge, the blog itself was the big reward for me -- and it is the perfect beginning of my continuing analysis.

In 2013, I better understood big data thanks to brighttalk, which delivers lots of webcasts to understand the real worth of big data. I also used sentiment analysis on my own day-to-day activities for time management. It worked well. :smile:

Thanks to OpenUI5 I know what SAPUI5 is, as well as what it is doing in mobile industry. And my core skill product solution manager also became more stable with the latest SP patches delivered in 2013.

Lots of out-of-the-box visions launched in 2013. Personalized medicine and wearable technology are two that are especially quenching my thirst for knowledge.

So we bid farewell of 2013 with hearts full of thanks for all product innovations that make our work/lives smarter.

Welcome to our Interesting 2014!

During a short discussion with Vijay Vijayasankar at SAP TechEd, I asked what makes organizations like SAP develop innovative products. Is it IT technology, competitors or business requirements?

Any of them could be the starting point, Vijayasankar said. But after getting into the practice, the question becomes a chicken-and-egg scenario.

IT innovations are openly acceptable, allowed to drive the business and add value all the way -- which made me to think of 2014. I have dozens of expectations for the new year, but here are a few of them:

More HANA migrations in 2014: Bernd Leukert talked about this at SAP Teched, and SAP released the number of current HANA customers -- and it predicts even more. If that is the case, consultants and key users should plan to upgrade their knowledge to the level of technology expansion. OpenSAP and OpenHPI provide good training, but does that work for everyone? SAP standard trainings are still very expensive and time bounded.  This is the open question from my side: Will 2014 fill everyone needs of upgrade their knowledge of the latest innovations from SAP? The constant focus on webcasts and other online enrolments could help, but it is in the hands of individual. Ravi Sankar Venna’s blog discusses how to transform yourself from a fresher to an expert SAP Consultant.

The year of developers: I thought about this immediately after the SAP TechEd 2013 Bangalore keynote. I deeply sense that 2014 will be the year of developers. RDL and OpenUI5 are good signs for this. SAP wants everyone to code back. I tried my first “hello world” program in OpenUI5, get revised my college days javascript knowledge. It was very cool and inspires me to develop my own app.

SAP moving towards the Internet of Things: This emerges from an SAP Demo on augmented reality on the SAP TehcEd show floor. We can expect more on these areas from SAP, especially with wearable technology, like Google glass.

Project Ganges brings SAP to every house: SAP Ganges is a project that helps automate the business process of small retailer shops in India. The biggest B2C trend in India is in retail shops. If SAP helps them to automate their process and educates them well about this product, every house in India could come to know the SAP brand.

SAP becomes an expert in traveling both application and platform tracks: SAP had a good start in 2013 for PAAS/SAAS, when SAP TechEd openly announced that SAP is both a platform and apps company. SAP’s various acquisitions, such as KXEN, and partnerships, such as SAS, are clear indications of its analytics vision. Now we are all very keen to get the SAP users (all ends users, customers and partners) responses in 2014.

HANA is grownup, playing well with cloud/mobile/HADOOP. So what’s next in technology innovation? SAP may already have an answer, which we can expect to hear at SAPPHIRE NOW 2014.

We could add more questions in each key user’s perspective, but I expect positive answers for all the questions above.

Well Begun is half done

SAP has the wonderful road map for all its products. It has done well from a technology perspective in 2013. The future holds more technology updates and added value for customers. This is a positive sign.

I wish you the best for 2014, and may all our expectations come true! Happy New Year! :smile: