Register today to attend this fall's SAP for Utilities, Presented by ASUG conference (Sept. 8-10, at Colorado Convention Center).
In a conversation with ASUG last fall, Marc Rosson, Enterprise Architect at Snohomish PUD (and a driving force behind this newsletter), spoke openly and candidly about priorities and challenges faced by North American utility companies.
“We’re seeing shifts, including the adoption of generative AI and RISE with SAP,” he said. “We’re also seeing a need for our employees to be more technology-savvy to support this new technology. As more experienced long-term employees retire, and we bring in more technology-savvy—but not necessarily utility-specific—employees, there will be more demands on all of us.”
This sentiment shared by Rosson continues to resonate in the ASUG ecosystem. Over half (58%) of utility respondents to the 2025 ASUG Pulse of the SAP Customer Research project indicated that SAP S/4HANA expertise is one of the most important skill areas for their organization. Other popular selections included integrations and APIs (42%), cybersecurity (41%), data science and analytics (41%), and business process management (39%).
While planning this year's edition of SAP for Utilities, Presented by ASUG, my colleagues and I have kept these trends and skills front and center. As always, we are focused on building a line-up for informative sessions addressing the current needs of the SAP utilities community. With the event coming up in September, we have made incredible progress building out a robust agenda that targets the specific needs of this community.
As usual, we have a variety of in-depth, informative sessions featuring insights from SAP and utility companies, including Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, Loudon Water, Southwest Gas, UGI Utilities, Snohomish PUD, Fairfax Water, and San Diego Gas & Electric. I’m also personally excited about the line-up of different learning sessions we have planned. Join us for one of two Pre-Conference Workshops—focused on enterprise architects and the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). These sessions will touch on best practices and skill-building specific to utilities.
We are also introducing an interactive Deep Dive Learning Lab that focuses on SAP products and strategies, hosting Community Meet-Ups and Lunch & Learn Topic Tables where attendees can go deep into specific topics and solutions. Finally, we are introducing ASUG Power Peer Groups, which are moderated discussions featuring industry experts discussing specific business challenges.
As utilities seek to embrace new technologies—including SAP S/4HANA and cloud environments—to meet the new, evolving demands of their customers, these sessions can help enterprises along with their journeys.
We are still accepting speaker applications. If you want to share your story at the conference, send your proposal here!