Hamburg 2017 Conference Recap

Yup.. here we are in Hamburg..

 

. Part of the Steelcase crowd got welcomed by their own private VIP shuttle...

Thanks Nicole!!

This started the conference out on a great footing.. Followed up that evening with the first of a few social activities organized by the Official European CWG Social Coordinator... Nicole Krull!  (We gave her a nickname, but I promised not to share it)...

It all started out on the Reeperbahn with a great 2 hour tour.. 

After a long, cold walk we ended up in an old fashioned dive bar... It's claim to fame is that the Beatles never paid their bill in 1962... So in 1989 the owner talked Paul McCartney out of a poster.. There was a lot of talk about staying up until the Fish market started (5am the next day) but in the end, nobody did it... Although a little bird told me that a certain few folks celebrated Marco's first presentation with a really late night Tuesday.... Come to think of it, when they finally showed up in the conference Wednesday, they did look a tad the worse for wear...

 

And then Sunday.. A tour of downtown Hamburg.. Yup, it was cold...

But the views!! Oh my, I could post a bunch, but lets just say this... It was a great way to spend 3 hours!

 

Monday rolled around and it was time to go to work... We had quite a few folks at the conference;

I counted 123 different companies.... And SAP sent 29 people!! 

Ahhh... Old friends.. So good to see all of them again, even if I can't take a decent picture of some of them...

Great news about this old website... The NEW website is in Assurance and being tested... So get ready... Before you know it we will have a new site.. From all the reports I heard, it's going to be wonderful!! Thanks to everyone that will be involved in making this happen...

Our Chairman (Marin Ukalovic);

Gave a nice presentation that allows you to connect the SAP acronym to an actual person!! For details, go see his presentation here.

Them came even better stuff... Johann Dornbach gave us the view from the top regarding the SAP "Lot Size of One" strategy..

So, I get it... And agree with the drive to individualize... But when Stefan Kienzle presented the Advanced Variant Configuration Update he got asked "will this require any additional licensing?"... And the answer, while vague was "YES"...

It seems kinda strange to me that SAP would be saying this.. While I get they need to recoup the investment in the new stuff (did I mention the Hybris Revenue Cloud Solution described by Bernhard Teltscher?) it certainly seems that they could use a little better Marketing... See, in the S/4 cloud edition, the only VC engine offered is the the new Advanced Variant Configuration engine... So, let me get this right... I have to buy the basic S/4 software and then, if I want to do a "Lot Size Of One" I need to pay for the base back end configurator???

Ah well.. I guess it wouldn't be a CWG conference if I can't find something to complain about....

By the way.. Johann mentioned that there are OVER 3000 Developers working on S/4... Most application areas will be getting "a complete re-write"... So, if you want to influence SAP and the direction, get involved in some kind of infleunce activity NOW!!!

Oh yeah.. Go take a peek at Harald and Karlheinz's presentation.. Especially the end, specifically slide 25... Seems like I've been on that particualr soapbox for about 10 years... Nice to see that someone is actually listening!!

 Another interesting presentation was that from Andreas Koelbl on Day 2.. I counted over 80 people in the room.. It was standing room only, at least 3 to 4 deep in the back of the room!! Eddie Sommer kind of brought the house down at the end with his comment "You mean if I have 10,000 dependencies now, I'll have 20,000 tomorrow?"... It will be interesting to see if this particular strategy makes it or not.. 

You see, that's the really good thing that is happening at SAP now... They are listening and paying attention in ways I've never seen before.. Ok, I'll admit, I'm a relative newbie at the SAP thing, having only been involved for 20 years or so... Maybe it happened before??

Not sure, but it's happening now... Did you hear me when I said Johann wants you to influence them??? Run, don't walk to an influence center near you!! And if you don't know where that is, shoot me an email at sschneid@steelcase.com...

Some interesting news on the new simulation environment from Jozsef Murvai, and on the classification front from Imola Bogat.. Wait...... What was that I heard Karlheinz say at the end of  Petra Meyer's presentation??

Something about machine learning in the ERP backend?? Maybe, just maybe I better go put my name on THAT list...

Other notable presentations were given by Eddie Sommer, Anders Hellermark, Ekki Beier and Daniel NausPhil Martin (he gave 2) and the "Father of SAP Configuration" Albert Haag...

And no, I didn't keep my mouth shut... 

Somehow, they even talked me into giving user feedback on the new Hybris Rules solution... I wonder... Will they make that mistake again??

Tuesday evening did kind of "devolve"... Some interesting moments around the boat tour;

beer

and maybe even some dancing (somewhere out there is a picture)...

 

And the lengths that some people will go for a picture...

But it turned out really well, even though a bunch of folks left early (WHY???);

 

This was, by far and for many reasons, the best CWG conference I've been to.. Of course, it was only my 19th, so maybe I don't have the right frame of comparison... But it's gonna be really tough to beat...

 

Now, if only we had an official CWG Social Coordinator for North American events...... 

Does that sound like you???

 

Till next time (Ft. Lauderdale, October 8-11)..

 

Cheers!

 

Steve