First and foremost, I want to personally thank all of you who attended the 10th International Utility Conference in Berlin, Germany last week. I had so many people tell me how much they enjoyed the conference and I trust you are one of them!
We started with the iPad magician testing our confidence in the simple digital reality; then to Simon Paris demonstrating the simple way maintenance is possible today; hearing Professor Woudhuysen’s provocative presentation; witnessing a run through the city performing simple “emergency maintenance” at the right time, right place with only seconds to spare; and finally listening to Peter Maier explain the simple approach with S/4HANA. Watch Peter´s keynote:
I heard many customers and partners talking in the exhibit hall during breaks about how the changing utility business model requires a better way to run simple.
Like many of you, I always try to answer key questions during a conference:
1) Did I learn anything I can bring back to my company?
2) Did I meet anyone who does something better which I can use today?
3) Was this worth my time and investment?
For me, the answer is an absolute “Yes!” to all of these questions.
As a Utility professional, I have a better understanding of utility trends and drivers by listening to utility presentations as well as insights from analysts such as IDC. I then tried to highlight our utility solution direction and roadmap in my keynote with these trends and insights. I reviewed portions of my presentation with several utility executives prior to Berlin to make sure I covered the important topics. I will add the video of my keynote next week.
Other SAP colleagues also shared their insights to the conference in a summary of key takeaways found here: http://scn.sap.com/community/utilities/blog/2015/04/20/key-takeaways-from-the-10th-sap-international-utilities-conference
Even though the conference has ended in Berlin, simplification occurs daily. Please subscribe to the Utility Headline Newsletter by emailing Susanne.Schlenker@SAP.COM and follow us on twitter at @SAPIndustries #utilities
I look forward to our continued journey together. SAP is listening and committed to helping you run simple!
All the best,
Henry