Welcome to your February News

Chairman's Note

Earlier this month SAP announced some significant changes to the roadmap for SAP Business Suite, with maintenance being extended beyond the previous deadline of 2025 to 2027 (and potential by a further two years by paying a fee). As a User Group, we had expressed our concern about the 2025 date. Many of our members were struggling to justify their projects and the partner community were going to find it difficult to resource a significant number of projects over the next five years.

We have therefore welcomed this news of the extension to maintenance and the clarity around the roadmap for SAP S/4HANA. However, it does not mean we at UKISUG will be taking our foot off the accelerator in relation to supporting your S/4 planning and deployment. We are currently working with SAP on a series of webinars and events later this year to help support your business case plus plan a timely and successful migration.

Last week we ran our first SAP Business One Academy covering basic finance. This was a new venture for us and I would like to thank everyone involved with developing the course material and delivering the day. Once we have all the feedback from the participants and presenters we will look at how we develop this new value add initiative for our B1 members in the future.

The end of January saw our executive roundtable with Brian Duffy, President SAP EMEA North, where we, along with other User Groups in the EMEA North Region, discussed strategic topics affecting SAP's customers. Brian also shared with us SAP's key strategic direction for 2020, under the headlines of LEAD. IGNITE, THRIVE.

Bringing a busy January to a close, we had our second workshop on 'Building Trust' with SAP and a number of executives from our member community. Like the first workshop in October, the day was engaging and thought provoking, bringing further ideas in how we can all drive improvement in the relationship between customers and SAP. We are now analysing the outputs from both of these workshops and will be communicating with you more on this in the coming months.

Paul Cooper

Chairman
UK & Ireland SAP User Group

UKISUG Connect 2019 Delegates - we thank you!

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Influence SAPs Product Development!

If you want to influence SAP’s product development, be involved in shaping the products from SAP that matter to you, then get involved today!

The new CEI projects are now live until 13th March and can be viewed here

The Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI) is a structured, SAP-driven approach to involve customer's end-to-end in the software planning and development process. As members of UKISUG you are invited regularly to join various development projects from SAP and provide feedback to the development organisation from early stages of the process. Further information on all Influence Programs can be found here

Book Now

Book your 2020 delegate pass now and take advantage of our winter early bird rate

Your SAP S/4HANA and Digital Access Support

Following on from UKISUG Chairman Paul Cooper's keynote at the annual conference, we have worked together with SAP to provide members with the below SAP S/4HANA and Digital Access resources and documentation...

1) SAP S/4HANA Movement eBook

2) SAP Digital Access eBook

3) Mapping Your Journey to SAP S/4HANA - A Practical Guide for Senior IT Leadership

4) SAP S/4HANA Movement - Implementation as the First Step to Building the Future

Could you host one of this year's SIGs?

We are planning our 2020 events calendar and would like to know if you can host a SIG for us this year?

Hosting provides many benefits to you and your organisation and we will help get everything you need organised. In return for hosting you will receive one free conference pass to UKISUG Connect 2020. If you are interested please contact [email protected].

Do you have a story to share?

It is really important to us that we include customer experiences in the SIGs. Please get involved and let us know if you are interested. You will be invited to attend a free speaker training workshop in the summer and you will also receive a free pass to our annual conference Connect 2020 as a thank you.

"I find that there is always at least one User Group member with an experience or an interest in new technology that resonates with the work going on in my company. The benefit of sharing is always two-way." - Michael Lochrin, Open Hydro

How can your business become the intelligent enterprise for the experience economy? InnovationX are dedicating one unique day to finding out.

We live in a world where incredible technology is everywhere and experiences are valued above all else. The future of business is about forming ground-breaking connections, exceeding expectations, and driving positive change. It’s about making sense of data everywhere, because the more we know, the better our decisions become.

Life-changing experiences happen when you bring intelligence, innovation and heartfelt purpose together.

Our 2020 Photography Competition is now open for entries! This year, we have decided to theme our calendar around seasons. From quick mobile snaps of your Christmassy festivities, to perfectly timed portraits in the Summer heat – the only limit is your imagination!

We are looking for 12 winning entries to display in our UKISUG 2021 Calendar. All 12 winners will receive a print of their entry and each season will have 1 winning entry that will receive a £250 gift voucher.

There will then be an overall winner, who receives an extra £250 voucher.

In addition, the top 4 winners will receive a complimentary all-inclusive UKISUG Connect 2020 pass!

Finding Your Perfect Partner

Have you had a look at your new Affiliate Portal yet?

If you are trying to find a partner for your next SAP project you can now filter through 130 vendors in the SAP marketplace with just a few clicks whilst viewing their star rating and feedback given by your fellow User Group members! You’ll also have all the information you’ll need about that Affiliate to help in your decision including key contacts, news, documentation and case studies.

Is one of your partners a User Group Affiliate? Feel free to leave them a review to help your fellow members in their search.

We hope you find the portal useful and if there’s any suggestions you’d like to make to improve the service, feel free to get in touch.