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The ASUG Executive Exchange program provides engagement opportunities for Executive Exchange Members throughout each year, but the highlight for me is the ASUG Executive Exchange Summit. The summit gives Executive Exchange Members the opportunity to spend two and a half days together to share solutions and best practices that address the biggest challenges we face as technology leaders for companies running SAP technology solutions.
I’m taking advantage of a long return flight to capture some of the key learnings and experiences that made the ASUG Executive Exchange Summit in Seattle this week so meaningful for attendees.
Understanding the Microsoft/SAP Relationship
Moving to the cloud is a big part of almost every SAP customer’s transformation journey. Because of this, it’s critical to understand how the hyperscalers and SAP are collaborating to provide meaningful solutions to SAP customers. Geoff Scott, CEO and Chief Community Champion at ASUG, and Silvio Bessa, Global Leader SAP Business Unit at Microsoft, started by holding an open discussion on how Microsoft and SAP are working together to ensure a seamless experience for SAP customers deploying on Azure. Having Silvio explain where and how Microsoft is 100% aligned with SAP’s cloud strategy for SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP served as a critical and reassuring message for attendees.
Silvio also shared insights on the work Microsoft and SAP still have to do, particularly around analytics and data. According to recent ASUG Member research on SAP S/4HANA, 51% of our members have chosen Azure as their cloud provider of choice, so getting a chance to hear from Silvio and ask questions was a powerful way to kick off the summit.
Change Management Is Still Key
One of the common themes from the customer-led sessions at the summit was the importance of effective change management in transformation success. Regardless of the scale or scope of a transformation effort, good (or bad) change management significantly impacts everyone on the team. This foundation contributed to a tremendously interactive half-day change management workshop the afternoon of day one, led by Karan Froom and Robert Malench from Blues Star Partners. A lot of ground was covered during this workshop, and regardless of their level of OCM maturity, attendees took away valuable learning and ideas on how to improve their change management efforts in the future.
SAP BTP – Improving but Still Room for Improvement
Day two started with a deep dive into SAP’s strategy for BTP and AI and an understanding of the importance of a “clean core” in transformation. Stefan Kneiss and Vikas Lodha did a great job of leading the discussion, and Harish Manohar from Jabil shared how their adoption of clean core principles has brought them significant improvements in technology adoption and efficiency. While these were great stories to hear and share, perhaps even more valuable was that many of those in the audience were able to share challenges they are experiencing with deploying and running BTP solutions in their organizations. Kudos to Stefan and Vikas for actively listening and responding to what became a powerful feedback session. ASUG will be working with SAP to bring the Executive Exchange community follow-up information on the key points raised during this session.
The Customer Story Is Still King
No ASUG event, especially an Executive Exchange event, would be complete without customer stories. I want to extend a special thank you to Tom Countryman (Davey Tree Company), Harish Manohar (Jabil), and Pat Dineen (NBC Universal) for sharing their stories and challenges with the group and leading some powerful discussions on what works, what doesn’t, and how we can all learn from each other.
All of their stories were great, but I want to share more about the NBC Universal (NBCU) session in particular. NBCU is on the front end of a massive transformation project that Pat is leading, and he not only shared how they are positioning themselves for success (including a major focus on change management, by the way) but also shared with the group where he and the NBCU team are still trying to define their path forward. It was amazing to see the community come together and engage in a collaborative session on how other companies are tackling the same challenges that NBCU is facing around everything from scope management to ensuring that the transformation delivers real business value and not just different technology.
All This and It Was Fun Too!
Don’t get me wrong—we had two full days of fantastic learning. Throughout the event, attendees shared with me how grateful they were for being able to participate in the experience and how they viewed their time in Seattle as the best conference they had attended this year and, in some cases, the best ever.
That said, we also had three great evening activities that brought the community together and allowed us to build relationships and network in a more casual way. Face it—you really get to see a different side of someone if you are both hammering on red-hot steel at a forge or doing vegetable prep for a group meal.
Thanks to everyone that made this year’s summit such a success. This experience does not work without ASUG Executive Exchange Members who are willing to “get in the mix” and share their ideas and perspectives. That was really what made this event so meaningful for everyone who attended.
Be sure you’re following ASUG Executive Exchange, and I look forward to seeing you at our next Summit!