Maybe being an island girl impacted my pace in doing my Sapphire recap, a stereotype that usually irks me but today I will humbly accept it. A little over three weeks later I am still in awe at the sheer magnitude of SAPPHIRE NOW, held in Orlando May 5-7 and I have been replaying highlights from the unforgettable keynote by Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner.
Overall Experience
SAPPHIRE 2015 was an overall great experience as a first time SAP Mentor and Sapphire attendee. The opening keynote by Bill McDermott set the tone for the conference which focused on S/4 HANA and Bernd Leukert’s Day 2 Keynote built on that by giving a good overview of the SAP HANA core and how the in-memory and simplified data model of S/4 HANA provides a revolution in user experience and overall configuration. My favourite keynote came from none other than Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner who shared SAP’s boardroom of the future with “fact boards” and not dashboards. His keynote was the most diverse showing applications of the HANA platform in business, medicine and research. Balancing visits to show floor booths with one-on-one SAP exec sessions and Keynotes proved to be a challenge, and for a first-timer day 1 was exhausting. Thanks to fellow mentors jelena.perfiljeva, matt.harding3 , robin.vanhethof , tom.cenens2 and ankur.godre who were quite helpful amidst the confusion and each in their own way took the time to share their experiences or simply have a chat.
The one-on-one sessions with SAP executives were informative and gave a unique platform for candid discussions that would not be possible outside this environment. Most noteworthy and absorbing were the sessions with Steve Lucas and Bernd Leukert on HANA Roadmap and HANA Velocity. Quentin Clark, Sam Yen and Irfan Khan were also engaging and stimulating. I found the sessions to be a good learning platform by observing more seasoned mentors in action and getting a broader view and appreciation of the SAP ecosystem.
Mentor Session with Bernd Leukert
SAP Mentors and the Community
The welcome reception was a great introduction to the mentor family with opportunities to interact and meet all the mentors in person. Special thanks to jeanne.carboni and marilyn.hazen who ensured I felt welcomed and did not get lost in the mix. It was a pleasure to meet and chat with esjewett , dallas.marks , jamie.oswald , tammy.powlas3 , derek.loranca and I am looking forward to working with all the members of the analytics group.
Upcoming Activities: TechEd and SAP Inside Track Caribbean sitcarib
At Sapphire I realised how easy it can be to get lost in the group and how difficult it can be to connect and find your space. Now being back in Jamaica, I find it even more challenging to keep up with all the discussions and to further enhance the connections made. With that realisation, I want to challenge myself to increase my community involvement and I am currently working on a SAP Inside Track for the Caribbean. After connecting with ann.rosenberg and Stacey Fish at SAPPHIRE, I am hoping a collaboration with SAP and local businesses and universities will see the Caribbean host its first ever Inside Track Dec 5 2015 or Jan 9 2016. For further details, I did a blog post on the Caribbean Inside Track and how it will provide value for SAP and its user community.
Tech Ed is on the horizon and I am looking forward to innovations and trends in the analytics and mobile space. I am also looking forward to reconnecting with mentors from Sapphire and also meeting new mentors. I am grateful for the opportunity to represent the Caribbean and I look forward to all the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
- One Love
Images Credit: martin.gillet2
- SAP Managed Tags:
9 Comments
