Inspiration and excitement filled Day 2 at SAPPHIRENOW Orlando as nearly 20,000 SAP customers and partners were on hand to hear and see the promise of SAP’s technology, vision and strategy.
The SAPPHIRENOW experience means a lot to SAP partners, both large and small, as it provides them with a platform to extend current customer relationships and
expand new opportunities with prospects. The SAP PartnerEdge partner program provides robust training and authorization for partners companies to sell, build and service SAP solutions and to co-innovate and add their own special value.
“SAPPHIRENOW is a great business conference platform for partners of all sizes because this event motivates and helps our partners run and grow like never before,” said Hernan Marino, Senior Vice President, Marketing, SAP Ecosystem & Channels. “It’s not only a great venue for our large partners such as Capgemini, Deloitte and Accenture, it’s also a strong venue for building opportunities for our smaller partners,” he added.
“SAPPHIRENOW provides a way for even our smaller partners to build their pipeline and associate their talents, solutions and products with SAP’s powerful brand,” said Marino adding that more than 240 partner exhibitors lined the conference show floor.
Size Doesn't Matter
Size doesn’t matter for small partners. They find that they, too, can play big, and find big opportunities on the show floor. “For us, SAPPHIRENOW is about building pipeline by providing the customer with a solution that they need,” said Dan Murphy, CEO and President of DASSIAN (BOOTH #1629), an SAP software partner since 2002 and has been an exhibitor at SAPPHIRENOW since 2005. (See Murphy talk about SAPPHIRENOW in video: http://bit.ly/10H5vS1)
Dassian, located in Arizona, has an annual run rate of $7 million, and its flagship product, GOVCON Enterprise Solution, is targeted at government contractors. Murphy said that his company had developed government compliance software add-on for SAP Business All-in-One, and recently became a reselling partner focused on selling SAP Business All-in-One.
Other partners such as SAVVIS (Booth# 1732) agreed. “This is a premier event and for SAVVIS, this is our first SAPPHIRENOW and we will be here for years to come,” said Tom Halle, Senior Director of Global Alliances at SAVVIS. (See Halle video on his views on SAPPHIRENOW::http://bit.ly/17wwd7t)
Alignment Matters
SAVVIS, based in San Diego, recently became an SAP partner hosting SAP HANA. Halle said that SAP HANA will be a “growth engine” for SAVVIS and that being at SAPPHIRENOW is not just about exposure, but alignment.
“Being an SAP Partner for us is now very important, and having customers and prospects know that we are aligned around SAP HANA helps us expand our opportunities,” said Halle.
SAPPHIRENOW Delivers Personal Touch
For David Den Boer, CEO at Column5 Consulting (Booth #1246), an SAP gold partner based in Arizona, SAPPHIRENOW is a “showcase” event for his company that has a $25 million annual run rate. Column5’s focus is on enterprise performance management (EPM) and the company sees SAPPHIRENOW as a way to grow and more importantly have a personal touch with prospects See Den Boer talk about his SAPPHIRENOW experience:http://bit.ly/10H5YDN)
“There are many customers out there that don’t know about how EPM can help them, and being at SAPPHIRENOW provides us with a great exposure to providing prospects with demos, information and that face-to-face contact that makes an event like this so important for us,” he said.
While the three day event does go fast, partners say it has both immediate and lasting value. “This is a great event for partners like us,” Murphy said. “SAPPHIRENOW bring us customers to our booth that we would never have met before.”
