Attending the SAP for Utilities conference, held in Miami last month, was—as ever—a true highlight of the year for this long-time member of our utilities community.
Since returning, I’ve been reflecting on all the excellent opportunities this event provided to connect with so many friends and peers in our industry. And after working with the ASUG team to develop an in-depth agenda covering the topics most vital to our ecosystem, it was especially rewarding to see the event become a reality.
While it wasn’t possible for me to attend all the sessions on offer, I heard from many others in our community about their enthusiasm for the wealth of learning and networking opportunities available. Also at the conference, ASUG honored several of our peers driving innovation in their respective areas through the SAP Utility Excellence Awards. These organizations—Duke Energy, NiSource, Sempra Infrastructure, Southwest Gas, American Water, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, and Eversource Energy—are all pushing our industry forward, finding new, creative ways to tackle utilities-specific hurdles. My congratulations to them all.
Connecting with one another was top of the agenda at this year’s conference, and I personally experienced many moments of collaboration on the ground. Even at the Enterprise Architecture Community Power Up meeting on day one, I counted 35 different utilities; every one of those attendees left with a distribution list of their peers working on 10 different SAP topics.
I participated in an excellent panel discussion on SAP CX 1.0 and 2.0 with Gibs Saint Paul, Director of Customer Modernization at Salt River Project; Nada Kovacevic, Director of Enterprise Solutions and Analytics at BC Hydro; Tony Foreman, Solutions Manager at Loudoun Water; Anthony Sabatini, Customer Experience Specialist for Utilities at SAP; and Lisa Willson, Retail Billing and Systems Team Leader at Nebraska Public Power District. Our discussion resulted in the creation of three different year-round groups focused on these solutions and topics.
SAP for Utilities also offered attendees a sneak peek at the SAP solution roadmap for utilities-specific solutions, including via a session hosted by Daniela Haldy-Sellmann, Global VP and Head of Energy & Utilities at SAP, and Stefan Engelhardt, Vice President, Industry Business Unit for Utilities at SAP. Previewing the potential of generative AI for utilities, they discussed all the business value to be delivered—which goes along with all the changes afoot as we shift from our classic SAP ECC and CRM solutions to RISE with SAP, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and SAP CX. The move to cloud-based systems is underway; for utilities, not always on the leading edge of generational change, it is not easy. What does make me feel better is that our strategic partners are leading the way, and we have a great opportunity to share the risk and reap the benefit from future outcomes.
I look forward to participating in this event again next year. For those of you unable to attend, here are a few pieces of ASUG content that you should read (and listen to):
- At SAP for Utilities, Knowledge Sharing and Energy Transition Take Center Stage
- SAP Renewable Energy and Utilities Leader: Energy Transition Will Require Process Optimization and Data Interoperability in the Cloud
- How SAP Can Enable Utilities to Embrace the Energy Transition’s ‘Widespread Reality’
- ASUG Talks Live: At SAP for Utilities, Embracing the "Confluence" of AI, Cloud, and Clean Energy
Thank you everyone who attended and helped make SAP for Utilities such a memorable experience. I’ll see you all next year!
Marc Rosson is an Enterprise Architect at Snohomish PUD.