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

Podcast: Listen Now!
Vendor Podcast - EcoHub and the Challenges of Online Marketing: An SAP Community Podcast with Eric Bushman of Paymetric
Hosted by Jon Reed of JonERP.com
Podcast Interview Date: April 14, 2009
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EcoHub presents a new opportunity for third party vendors to interact with the SAP Community Network (SCN) and to be visibly evaluated by SCN members. But how does EcoHub fit into the other SAP communities? And how should EcoHub vendors balance their online marketing with authentic community participation? To get the bottom of these questions, Jon Reed of JonERP.com speaks to Eric Bushman, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at Paymetric.

"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. 

Jon Reed: Welcome to this special SAP EcoHub Community podcast. I'm your host, Jon Reed, of JonERP.com. Joining me today is Eric Bushman, Vice President of Solutions Engineering at Paymetric, an SAP Partner with a presence on EcoHub. We're here to talk with Eric about the benefits of EcoHub to SCN members, how EcoHub ratings can provide a better way to evaluate SAP third-party products and how Paymetric has figured out that balancing act between online marketing and community participation that most of us must navigate.

Business Suite 7 - What SAP Customers Need to Know: Lessons Learned from the Business Suite Event Announcement in New York City
by Jon Reed
Unabridged Edition, Never Before Released

On February 4, 2009, I was amongst the members of the media invited to New York City to cover SAP's official announcement of the release of Business Suite 7 (BS7). Dubbed the largest application release in SAP's history, the BS7 announcement received its fair share of criticism in subsequent coverage. The controversies surrounding that day were interesting, but to SAP customers, that was nowhere near as important as this simple question: "How can BS7 help us?" In this article, I'll do my best to answer that.

On March 20 of 2009, I spoke with Vijay Vijayasankar, Senior Managing Consultant at IBM and fellow SAP Mentor, and conducted one of the most important podcasts I have done since I started doing them almost two years ago. On my mind during the taping: my theory that SAP consulting is not just being impacted by the economy and will come roaring back later. I believe the changes in SAP consulting that are underway now are permanent in nature, and have implications for all SAP professionals. There was no one better to ask about these shifts than Vijay, who has broad market experience and has seen many of the changes I am talking about. Disclaimer: please keep in mind that the opinions Vijay expresses during this podcast are entirely his, and do not represent the view of his employer, IBM.

Before you listen to the podcast, I want to note that Vijay and I do not intend to make light of the layoffs and shifts in employment globally that most systems integrators (and software vendors) have undertaken. Nor are all these shifts necessarily bad for everyone who is impacted. However, we both believe that the reality of "global labor arbitrage" require a fresh look at what it takes to succeed in SAP and a pro-active approach to SAP skills development. During this forty minute podcast, we go into both the state of the market and some of the skills approaches that Vijay recommends. If you want to learn more about Vijay's takes on SAP, I highly recommend his popular SCN blog. (Recently Vijay was honored as a Top Contributor on SCN for 2008).

Podcast: Listen Now!
Vendor Podcast - A Look Inside the SAP BusinessObjects Community: A BOC Community Podcast with Kuhan Milroy of SAP
Hosted by Jon Reed of JonERP.com
Podcast Interview Date: March 26, 2009
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In this BusinessObjects Community podcast, Jon Reed of JonERP.com interviews Kuhan Milroy, Director of the SAP BusinessObjects Community. Jon asks Kuhan about the impressive growth of the BusinessObjects Community (BOC) and about the community features that are driving so much participation. Kuhan also shares the details of the Polestar OnDemand contest taking place at InnoCentive, with a $20,000 prize for the winner (deadline April 7, 2009). For those partners who are seeking increased visibility for their third party BI products, Kuhan also talks about the connections between BOC and EcoHub.

This webcast, hosted by ASUG, Americas' SAP Users' Group, was coordinated by Kent Sanders of CSC, who is the volunteer chair of the ASUG SOA SIG. (You can check out the upcoming ASUG Orlando 2009 community sessions, including the SOA SIG session, here.)

Click here to view or download the WebEx version of the webcast.
(.wrf file, 11.3 megs, right click to download)
(If it doesn't play after opening, you may need to download the WebEx presentation player to view the webcast)

SOA may be considered "dead" in the eyes of buzzword watchers, but the views of this distinguished panel of customers, consulting partners, and SAP SOA leaders on this webcast brought out a more complex and useful view. Listen to the webcast, and find out why SOA is becoming more transparent in the service of true business needs. For more details on the webcast and those who helped to make it happen, read on.

In this special SAP community podcast, Jon Reed of JonERP.com speaks with an expert team assembled by SAP's Ecosystem Workforce Group to assess the SAP skills trends that are relevant in today's economy. Joining Jon on the call are: Peter Russo, leader of PAC's SAP Services Research Practice, and Rob Fiddaman and Deepak Jaiswal of K2 Partnering Solutions. Rob is K2's North American Partner and Deepak, who called in from India to participate in our global call, is the CEO of K2.

The purpose of this podcast was to identify the hiring needs of SAP customers during a time of unprecedented economic challenges. As the rules of the economy change, the skills sets needed from SAP consultants have also evolved. But one thing hasn't changed: consultant quality remains a critical part of ERP project success, and SAP has set consultant quality as a top priority for 2009. So how do we define "quality" when it comes to today's SAP consultant? And how has the skills profile of top SAP consultants changed in the era of process-driven ERP, business intelligence, and Business Suite 7? Join us for this 26 minute podcast as we focus on the reality of SAP skills demand, with views from the front lines of SAP consulting.

Podcast Interview Date:
February 27, 2009
"Transparency can be a Bitch"
Podcast Focus: SAP Job Skills, SAP Certification and the Role of the SAP Mentor
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Did you know that Jon was once a Lotus Notes recruiter before he got his break in SAP? Do you want to hear more about the SAP Certification webcast the SAP Mentors recently attended and what they liked (and didn't like)? Why does Jon Reed think that "transparency can be a bitch?" And, most importantly, what one book would he add to his Kindle?

On Friday, February 27, 2009, Jon joined the Enterprise Geeks for an uncensored look at the state of SAP skills today and the latest on the great SAP certification debate. Jon thinks that hosts Ed Herrmann, Thomas Jung, and their fellow collaborators have created one of the most compelling podcast series ever launched in the SAP community. Check out the episode Jon appeared in and judge for yourself.

SAP Skills in the Downturn:
The Latest Foote Partners Skills Pay Findings
February 25, 2009
by Jon Reed of JonERP.com

I recently heard from David Foote of Foote Partners, who has just issued a quarterly IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index report. The data covers the fourth quarter of 2008. David also let me know that anyone who purchases the new Pay Index (or any other Foote Partners Product) also gets a free copy of their 2009 IT Skills Trends Report. David has taken part in a couple of JonERP.com SAP skills podcasts as well, in collaboration with SearchSAP.com.

As readers of JonERP.com know, I am regularly assessing the hottest skills in the SAP market based on my own discussions with SAP insiders. David's firm, however, approaches this data from a much more systematic angle, gathering information from literally hundreds of SAP customers each time they issue a report. I find that Foote Partners' SAP skills data usually jives with my own perceptions, but there are also many useful clarifications in their reports.