As another year draws to a close, I find myself incredibly excited about the future. Our industry is in the midst of great change—both in terms of the businesses we run and the technology solutions we leverage to facilitate their operations.
As all of us explore new ways to deliver excellent results for our customers and adopt new, sustainable methods of powering their lives, I truly believe that the pace of technological advancement is primed to help us evolve, for the better.
In the SAP space, 2024 brought significant developments in cloud computing and generative AI solutions. With legacy employees retiring in increasing numbers each year, there exists an amazing opportunity for us to recruit a new generation of tech-savvy employees to the utilities industry.
And as we work to solve complex and interconnected challenges, transforming traditional power generation and moving toward a cleaner energy supply chain, what better time to bring in new perspectives and push the limits of what we believed possible?
Personally, I’m excited to continue my work with the ASUG and SAP communities, developing content that will help our community contend with such challenges, that will empower our leaders to think and plan differently for the future. After yet another great edition of SAP for Utilities, Presented by ASUG this fall, I am already working closely with the ASUG team and utilities peers to ensure another can’t-miss conference in 2025.
In the near term, however, I encourage everyone in the community to consider attending several upcoming events. Join us Feb. 24-27 at SAP’s global headquarters in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, for Next Generation SAP Enterprise Architect Forum - Mindsets, Skills and Tools, a destination event for the enterprise-architect community. Additionally, the SAP for Utilities community has two customer story sessions planned in the beginning of 2025. On Jan. 16, Hydro Tasmania will discuss its transition from SAP S/4HANA 1809 to 2022 (join us here at 3 p.m. CT). DTE Energy is set to present on its SAP Emarsys utilities solution. Stay tuned for more details.
At the end of the day, we are critical all our communities. As we move into a new year, I encourage everyone in this community to take inventory of their current progress and think about how we can embrace new technology to continue providing for our customers. I’m looking forward to connecting and collaborating with you all in 2025.