The core of the ASUG Executive Exchange program is to provide opportunities for technology leaders to learn from each other and to collectively help us all get the most value from our SAP technology investments. In building the agenda for our upcoming Summer Summit in Seattle (lots more on this later), we’ve worked hard to bring in the voices and stories focused on what our members say are top of mind. But, there is always a little voice in the back of my mind asking, “have you gotten it right?” Well, I had three calls this week that have put that thought to rest.
The first call was with a new Executive Exchange member I’ll call “Bill.” Bill is the CIO of a chemical company that is working through its SAP S/4HANA journey. They are dealing with the “typical” challenges we all face— from supporting innovation to delivering business value throughout the adoption journey. As Bill and I talked, I realized that our conversation was surprisingly similar to the conversations I’ve been having with Patrick Dineen. Patrick is the Global Lead for Finance Transformation at NBC Universal and is facing the same challenges in his role.
The second call was with a new EE member I’ll call “Joe.” Joe is the VP of IT and ERP for a professional services company. They are also on an S/4HANA journey but have very different challenges than those Bill and I discussed. One challenge is defining their data and analytics strategy. Do they adopt the SAP Datasphere model, or go with some other framework? Again, this made me think of another series of conversations I had with Stefan Kneis and Vikas Lodha from SAP about SAP’s BTP strategy and how this can impact customers’ data and analytics plans.
The third call was with an SAP Industry Advisor I’ll call “Sam.” Sam and I discussed the challenges he is seeing in customer S/4HANA adoption and the conversation kept coming back to the reluctance of organizations to change, and how important organizational change management (OCM) is to the success of any technology adoption project, regardless of the technology provider. Once again, my thoughts went to conversations I’ve been having with Karan Froom, an OCM expert with the Clorox company, about how technology leaders can positively manage and lead change within their IT organizations and the business at large.
What’s the point of all this? While “Bill” and “Joe” are real people, they could be any one of you. Their challenges are simply variations on an overall theme I constantly hear from Executive Exchange members as they progress through their own S/4HANA journeys. “Sam” could be any number of leaders from SAP or partners and his observations ring true across our community as well.
What role do Patrick, Vikas, Stefan, and Karan play in all of this? As it turns out, the conversations I’ve been having with these four individuals is because they are each speakers at the upcoming ASUG Executive Exchange Summer Summit. They will be leading discussions that will address the challenges that Bill and Joe, and each of you, might be currently dealing with or anticipating in the future.
The Summer Summit promises to be a fantastic opportunity for Executive Exchange members to really dig into the details on challenges they are facing, whether they’re related to S/4HANA adoption, understanding the role BTP can and should play in your organization’s roadmap, or leading effective OCM. These are real issues, and we’ll be talking about real solutions that are working for customers and how you can learn from the experiences of your peers.
We have “fun” events planned too—so expect to have a good time in Seattle with opportunities to develop and reinforce friendships within the Executive Exchange community. I want to close by going back to my opening sentence— the core of the ASUG Executive Exchange program is to provide opportunities for technology leaders to learn from and share with each other, and to help us all get the most value from our SAP technology investments. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. As an Executive Exchange member there is no registration fee to attend, but seats are limited. You can learn more about the Summit and request to attend here.
I hope to see you in Seattle and to learn from your experiences as well!