SAP hosted a series of analyst briefings in the SAP Palo Alto office the Week of February 3-7. These analysts meetings are among efforts in a continuing series of steps to focus more acute marketing and business development on the combined Public Services and Healthcare industries for 2014; the Higher Education and Research, and Defense and Security industries round out the combined SAP Strategic Industries cluster.
Analysts were flown in from around the world to share their perspectives on industry trends, SAP strengths, and the go-to-market strategies for SAP solutions. One of the more surprising analyst recommendations was for SAP to take its “swagger” back. According to the analysts, SAP is a technology leader, and given current market conditions and the conflagration of many technologies that include cloud, social and mobile solutions, the expertise of SAP in guiding University and Research institutions adoption of those technologies would be a significant assistance.
Other significant Higher Education and Research industry developments included some of the following:
- Universities are in a fiscal crisis mode –
outdated business models are threatening the future of many institutions - There is a power shift of decision-makers on
Campuses from the CIO to the CFO – solutions should stress business outcomes - New Institution investments will be driven by ROI – business cases should be presented that
can be realized in shorter times with reduced risk - The model for Four Year full tuition payment
models are being challenged with pay-as-you go models - Changing demographics structures are reducing
the available pool for student recruitment - There is rampant waste on Institution campuses –
Universities often cannot even identify their costs
The SAP Public Services team will continue to work closely with the analysts to refine solutions and tailor delivery to institution clients for most effective service delivery. Stay tuned to the SAP Community Network and SAP Twitter feeds @SAPforHigherEd for more developments.