The Business Objects Community helped us extend our services. We were just an SAP company with very little knowledge of Business Objects, but by using the Business Objects Community, we were able to find answers to integrating Business Warehouse with Business Objects. We found most of the solutions in the Business Objects Community, and were able to improve our skillsets. By improving our skillsets, we are now able to offer our services in the US and then leverage that information to offer our services in Latin America.

This is one of the advantages of using the Business Objects Community and how the two areas of Business Objects and Business Warehouse came together. The Business Objects Community really helped bridge the gap between the two technologies.

Reed: I did an expert network session at TechEd on using social networks in career growth and I wanted to think about this from the individual's vantage point. Sometimes I hear that people would love to do more, but they really don't have time to get on these forums. But what I'm very interested in is how, as you participate and help other people in the community, you are also building a form of recognition for yourself.

Craig Cmehil of SAP has talked about that as the path to recognition in the community. Has the time that you've put into helping other people also brought you new clients and new business opportunities?

Guerrero: Yes, because once you become a member and then a contributor of the Business Objects Community, two things happen. One is your consultants will improve their skillsets in Business Objects and SAP as well as the company, and having your consultants contributing and participating makes the company look good. If the company looks good, the market will perceive you as the expert in Business Objects.

That has helped us extend our services to Latin America because of the perception that we are the leaders in Business Objects. In fact, I am in Columbia right now. I just met with a client this morning who wants to implement Business Objects. We promote our services by saying we have some success stories and we also are members of the Business Objects Community; that helped us gain these opportunities because they see you as the experts in these areas.

Reed: Do you have any final words of advice for our listeners on getting the most out of the community?

Guerrero: For those who are new to the area, it is a wealth of knowledge and my recommendation is to use it. Like I always say, why waste time trying to solve problems on your own when you can just tap right into the Business Objects Community? You can have all the answers to your problems, and it will expose you to other members. Eventually, as you start contributing, you will be known in the community as an expert in those areas.

Reed: Freddy, I think what you're talking about is almost a new way of becoming an expert, not so much through individual book study, though that may still be a part of it, but through community interaction.

Guerrero: Exactly, because that's even more valuable than training. With training, you go there and you come out of training with a macro view of what the tools can do. But going to training and spending a lot of money doesn't really show you how to fix problems when you're running into issues. The Business Objects Community gives you exactly that - it gives you value beyond training and significantly improves your skillsets in both areas, Business Objects and SAP/BW.

Reed: I appreciate you taking the time to share that with us today. We are all trying to understand how to make these social networks work for us and be active contributors in a way that helps us do our jobs better. Thanks for blazing the way and sharing some of your stories from PGS with us today.

Before we sign off, I'd like to make sure our listeners know how to access the Business Objects Community. The direct URL is boc.sap.com. If you're already a member of BPX or SDN, you can access the BOC through the main horizontal menu. If you're not yet registered with SAP's online communities, you can register for the SAP Business Objects Community and SDN and SAP/BPX at the same time.

Thanks to our listeners for joining us today for this SAP Business Objects Community podcast. This is Jon Reed of JonERP.com signing off. We'll see you online soon at boc.sap.com.