Sapphire 2009 put SAP in a tricky spot. On the heels of the general release of Business Suite 7 (BS7), arguably the most visionary software release SAP has ever issued, customers wanted answers. They came to ASUG/Sapphire 2009 in search of immediate benefits they could bring back to their projects. The general availability of BS7 didn't qualify as such for most who attended.

That's why we heard a lot more about "Best-Run Now" during the Sapphire keynotes than we heard about "Value Scenarios," which are, by comparison, a more forward-thinking concept, involving a sophisticated use of the SAP Business Suite. Value Scenarios were widely discussed on the blogosphere after the Business Suite 7.0 announcement in New York City in February of 2009 (an event I attended). The most common reaction to these so-called "Value Scenarios" was confusion or buzzword withdrawal.

"Reactions to ASUG-Sapphire 2009, The Pros and Cons of Co-Location, and SAP Security Trends"
Podcast Interview Date: June 11, 2009
Podcast: Listen Now!

Sometimes in the glitz of Sapphire announcements, the ASUG part of ASUG/Sapphire gets less attention. To learn more about why the ASUG part of the conference matters - not only to SAP users, but to industry analysts - I invited Gretchen Lindquist, SAP Mentor and stalwart ASUG volunteer, to share her views on ASUG/Sapphire 2009 and the pros and cons of co-location. I also had the opportunity to ask Gretchen about trends in SAP Security from the vantage point of her work as chair of the SAP Security Interest Group (SIG) for ASUG.

Since Total Cost of Ownership (TOC) is such an important talking point for both SAP and its customers, I was very interested to hear Gretchen's take on how security and authorizations often form a "hidden" expense in ERP TCO that needs to be reckoned with during implementations and assessments of new products like SAP Business Objects.

In the first installment of his "Sapphire in Review" podcast series, Jon Reed of JonERP.com welcomes special guest Michael Krigsman, President of Asuret and popular ZDNet blogger and Tweeter. Michael's focus is evaluating the keys to IT project success and failure, so during this twenty-eight minute podcast, Jon gets Michael's take on how project failure applies to ERP vendors and SAP specifically. Jon also gets the skinny on Michael's investigations of Business ByDesign at Sapphire, and why he sees SAP's focus on UI improvements and BI enhancements as important to ERP project success. In closing, Michael shares an inside view on what it's like to be part of SAP's Blogger Relations Program, mixing it up with SAP executives.

"Reactions to Sapphire 2009, Twittering Live Events, and the Impact of SAP BPX Skills"
Podcast Interview Date: May 14, 2009
Podcast: Listen Now!

In the second of two live Sapphire podcast recordings, Jon Reed of JonERP.com interviews fellow SAP Mentor Dick Hirsch to get his impressions of Sapphire 2009. Listen in as two self-described "BPX geeks" discuss the themes of Sapphire from a BPX perspective. Jon gets Dick's reactions to the Sapphire keynotes, and also gets his view on how Twitter is changing the experience of live events, both for virtual attendees and the actual participants. Dick also offers tips for how SAP professionals can move their skills into a BPX direction.

"Reactions to Sapphire 2009, SAP BPM, and the Pros and Cons of Solution Manager"
Podcast Interview Date: May 14, 2009
Podcast: Listen Now!

In the first of two live Sapphire podcast recordings Jon will issue this week, Jon Reed of JonERP.com sits down with Ajay Vonkarey of Alpha Sirius to discuss his views on Sapphire, his impressions of the SAP market, and in particular, his views on Solution Manager - a topic you could not get away from at Sapphire where Ajay has deep expertise. In this 24 minute podcast, taped in a classroom as Sapphire closes out, Jon asks Ajay for his views on the pros and cons of Solution Manager from a customer perspective, how Solution Manager fits into BPM, and how SAP skills needs are evolving in the era of BPM and "end to end process" management.

"SAP Job Market: Building a Future in an SAP Career"
Podcast Interview Date: May 5, 2009
SearchSAP "Building an SAP Career" Podcast

Jon Reed notes: Recently I appeared in a podcast on SearchSAP.com on the future of SAP careers. This podcast, conducted by Courtney Bjorlin, News Editor of SearchSAP.com, featured my comments as well as those of David Foote of Foote Partners. This podcast was actually the second in a two part series. The first part, on the SAP job market in 2009, featured David Foote's latest findings on SAP skills demand. In the second podcast, David and I riff on the future of SAP skills and what lies around the corner. I enjoy doing podcasts with David because his research is grounded in extensive customer surveys. Our views on the market largely coincide, but it's interesting to see how the views I get from inside the SAP Mentor community working with SAP thought leaders contrasts to David's research.

Vendor Webcast Replay: "SAP Helpdesk in the Cloud"
Presented by cumulusIQ
Webcast Date: April 30, 2009

Recently I participated in a webcast on "SAP Helpdesk in the Cloud" with JonERP partner cumulusIQ. You can now view the webcast replay on the cumulusIQ web site.

I was the fourth speaker in this forty-five minute webcast. The goal of the webcast was to provide a practical view into how "cloud trends" are can provide a new level of value to SAP customers. The theme of my portion of the webcast was to tie together the themes of the three other presenters. I wanted to get across the contradiction SAP customers are facing: they realize that investing in training and help desk support is essential to ERP implementation success, but budgets are tigher than ever before. The "helpdesk in the cloud" has to potential to reduce this tension by offering affordable, role-based training. On this webcast highlights page, I'll share some of the info I relayed in the webcast with JonERP.com readers.

"How to Leverage Web 2.0 and Social Networks for Success in ERP Consulting" - Featuring Jon Reed of JonERP.com
Webcast Replay (Recorded April 29, 2009)

I'm pleased to share this webcast replay that I appeared on in conjunction with our hosts ERP-Consulting.com and MBO Partners. 

You can now view the full video replay of the webinar. (starts 30 seconds in)

You can also download audio and/or the presentation slides:

ERP Jobs and Networking Audio File (right click to download, mp3 file, 14 megs)
ERP Jobs and Networking PowerPoint (right click to download, PPT file, 2 megs)

This webcast was inspired by the understanding that the ERP consulting market has never been more competitive. Today's economy has raised the stakes, creating fewer ERP job openings. At the same time, the skills needed to implement ERP are evolving. The edge in today's market will go to the consultants that have the right skills acquisition strategy AND the right network. But how you build that network is also changing. Social media creates new opportunities for networking but brings with it new challenges in terms of where to invest your time and how to make sense of the many different web sites that you can utilize, from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to newcomers like FriendFeed. (Jon has also done blog entries, complete with screencast videos, on how to get the most out of Twitter or getting a return on your time on LinkedIn if you're an SAP professional.

In this interactive webcast, we took a look at both the skills and networking aspects of ERP consulting success, with an emphasis on the networking side. The webcast audience is intended for all ERP consultants, but I included some SAP specific examples as well. If you have any questions we didn't address in the webcast please let me know.

Content update: at the end of the webcast, we got an excellent question about YouTube and one other question not covered in the webcast.

Webinar Replay: "Assessing the SAP BusinessObjects Services Market," Hosted by PAC
Presenters: Peter Russo, PAC's SAP Services Research Program Lead, and Jon Reed, President, JonERP.com and PAC Fellow

Webinar Recording Date: April 23rd, 2009

View (or Download) Webinar Slides in PDF Format

Listen to (or Download) the mp3 Audio File of the Webinar

For the JonERP.com visitors who were unable to attend the PAC webinar on SAP Business Objects market opportunities, or who want to download the slide deck, the slides and the audio for the webinar are now available. As a PAC Fellow, I worked with PAC to compile the data and analysis we presented in this webinar. Our goal for this research was to take a fair-minded look at the real market opportunities for SAP Business Objects in 2009 and what skills and products will have the greatest emphasis. The concerns SAP customers have raised about SAP Business Objects that impact spending decisions were also addressed.