June, 2011

Will Smart from Royal Free NHS Trust has been speaking to both ComputerworldUK and Computer Weekly ahead of the User Conference regarding the Trust’s BusinessObjects implementation.

ComputerworldUK – NHS trust picks BusinessObjects to drive self-service analytics

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/applications/3408857/nhs-trust-picks-businessobcjets-drive-self-service-analytics/

Computer Weekly – Royal Free Hospital uses SAP BusinessObjects dashboards to fathom data

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240170986/Royal-Free-Hospital-uses-SAP-BusinessObjects-dashboards-to-fathom-data

To find out more about Will’s session at the conference, click here

As we fast approach this year’s User Group conference, the IT media has been awash with SAP news (not to mention on the hot topic of licensing).  So what have been the key announcements that may be shaping the agenda?

SAP has announced its intention to build a brand for itself in the enterprise mobility space, in much the same way that Apple  has in the consumer space. SAP has also been active in the areas of cloud and big data. The company has recently announced plans to unveil its HANA Cloud, based on in-memory technology. SAP NetWeaver Cloud Service and SAP HANA One Platform are the first applications to become available on Amazon Web Services, and can be deployed for production use with small data sets in minutes, opening a door to starter projects from customers, ISVs and startups.

New packages that integrate Hadoop software with SAP’s analytics and database technologies have also been recently launched. These will allow users to employ a data warehousing solution for real-time analysis on large data sets from a number of different sources.

At the conference we’ll look to understand more about how SAP’s investments in mobile, cloud and big data will impact on and benefit users in the future.  So make sure to check out the conference programme to ensure you don’t miss the latest updates from SAP and the opportunity to hear from and network with your industry peers.

We announced earlier in the year that Ray Wang from Constellation Research would again be one of our conference keynote speakers.  We can now reveal that Ray’s session will be entitled ‘The future of software and your SAP investment’, further details of which can be found below.

“Mobile enterprise, social business, cloud computing, advanced analytics, and unified communications are converging. Armed with the art of the possible, innovators are seeking to apply disruptive consumer technologies to enterprise class uses — call it the consumerisation of IT in the enterprise. The likely results include new methods of furthering relationships, crafting longer term engagement, and creating transformational business models. It’s part of a shift from transactional systems to engagement systems. These transactional systems have been around since the 1950s. You know them as ERP, finance and accounting systems, or even payroll. These systems are designed for massive computational scale; users find them rigid and techie. Meanwhile, we’ve moved to new engagement systems such as Facebook and Twitter in the consumer world. The rich usability and intuitive design reflect how users want to work – and now users are coming to expect the same paradigms and designs in their enterprise world. Find out what the big shift means for your enterprise and how SAP users can make the shift from transactions to engagement.”

It promises to be another insightful session with one of the User Conference’s most popular speakers!

We are now less than 100 days away until the start of this year’s User Group conference.

We are again delighted to be welcoming back Ray Wang from Constellation Research as a keynote speaker. In addition to being a great advocate for the User Group, Ray has proved to be one of our most popular speakers over the years, so we are delighted that he will be returning to Manchester.

We have now also released details of this year’s conference streams aimed at providing delegates with a comprehensive guide to all areas of SAP.  Furthermore, we have also started putting together the full programme for this year’s event which promises to be our best ever.

For the first time we will also offering delegates a free 80 minute MBA, which would usually cost £250.  This talk is designed to give delegates access to the latest business thinking and insight, providing them with a great opportunity to boost their knowledge and think about future developments at their organisations.  We are really excited by the session and we think it is great addition to the programme.

We will be announcing new speakers over the coming weeks so make sure to regularly check out the conference website and follow us on Twitter on @SAPUserConf

Last week, the User Group revealed the findings of its latest membership survey.  One of the key findings was that BusinessObjects users felt that that SAP’s technical support needed to improve and at the same time they wanted to be able to better influence SAP.

Now that UK SAP BusinessObjects users are part of our User Group we recognise that we have an important role in ensuring that they are able to effectively interact and influence SAP. As such we have been working closely with SAP’s Customer Experience team to make sure this happens.

Yet again at this year’s conference, delegates will be able to find out the latest BusinessObjects developments. So please visit the conference site regularly for the latest updates.