I've mentioned a few times recently that I'll be attending SAP Sapphire in Orlando as part of a "blogging contingent." But, as this is the first of its kind that I know of, you've probably been wondering what in the bloody hell is a blogging contingent?
Well, in the simplest terms, it's a chance for a group of enterprise IT-focused bloggers to converge on SAP's biggest annual event and liveblog about what we're seeing and hearing. SAP is picking up the tab and providing us with work space, full access to the conference and most notably, access to one-on-ones with SAP executives and partners in areas of interest. All that's asked of us in return is diligent and thoughtful blogging and a promise of fairness (i.e., if we're going to criticize something, give the party in question the chance to respond).
This is the brain-child of Jeff Nolan, long-time blogger and head of SAP's Apollo Group. I'm honored that Jeff has included in this process. As a fan of social media (that's why I started this blog in the first place), this is a watershed opportunity to prove the value of blogging from an enterprise perspective. The list of bloggers attending is, by design, a diverse group of people who look at SAP and the enterprise software market through very different lenses:
- Jason Busch
- Zoli Erdos
- Ismael Ghalimi
- Ross Mayfield
- Vinnie Mirchandani
- Jeff Nolan
- Prashanth Rai
- Ramana Rao
- Niel Robertson
- Charlie Wood
- Jason Wood
I'm sure a lot of people have asked, "why us?" Rather than answer that question myself (since I had nothing to do with the selection process), Jeff took the time to answer that question on his blog today:
When it came to a list of blogger names it was easy, I rattled off a list of 13 people I know at some level, have a keen insight into enterprise software, are disruptive of the status quo, and lastly, are diverse in their backgrounds and current roles. Of the original invites there were a couple of schedule conflicts (JavaOne is this week, as is the Gartner Symposium) so I had to put on my thinking cap to add a couple of substitutes (and in retrospect they should have been on the original list).
There’s always a lot of talk about “A-list” bloggers and we certainly have some of that in our bloggers row, but without exception each individual we invited to SAPPHIRE is someone I know and respect, not just someone who gets a lot of traffic. This is a great opportunity for each of the bloggers to expand their audience as well given that there will be attention focused on what we are doing with them, in particular I am keen on driving some media attention and from the early feelers I put out it doesn’t appear that will be a challenge at all. I didn’t realize this at the time this was conceived, but we’re really pushing an envelope with this initiative as it relates to “traditional” software mindset.
I'm looking forward to this process tremendously, as I believe a successful foray could lead to more corporate support for blogging, wikis and other social networking technologies. Regular readers of my blog can probably guess the areas I plan to focus on; but for the uninitiated they include (in alphabetical order):
- BPP (SAP's SOA-driven process platform)
- Duet (the joint initiative between SAP and Microsoft, formerly called Mendocino)
- Open source and its impact on the traditional enterprise software model
- SAP Ventures and its role within the broader SAP ecosystem
- Social networking within the SAP ecosystem (evidence of internal and external successes)
- The Apollo Group and the competitive landscape
- The role of OnDemand (SaaS) within larger organizations (i.e., do Fortune 500 companies want SaaS?)
- The wants and needs of SAP customers (i.e., what are they paying for...what are their priorities)
- TomorrowNow and how SAP balances that against its own maintenance contracts and practice
- Trends in business intelligence (embedded functionality versus partnering)
- Trends in supply-chain management (re-gaining importance)
- Vertical-market focus
Stay tuned...liveblogging commences upon my arrival tomorrow evening.
Related:
- Official SAPPHIRE Blogger Wiki (provided by SocialText)
- Preparing for Sapphire (Vinnie Mirchandani)
- The SAP Blogger Invasion (Niel Robertson)
- Questions for SAP Execs? (Charlie Wood)
Note: At the time of this writing I, and/or funds I maintain discretionary control over, maintained long equity positions in ORCL, MSFT and SAP but did not maintain a short position in any companies mentioned.
SAP software sapphire06 sapphire enterprise 2.0 blogging socialtext jeff nolan wikis woodrow
Comments