SAP TechEd 2014 - the wrap
- Summary:
- SAP TechEd 2014 was a mixed bag but with plenty of positives. Even so there are many issues that need clarification.
Conversations will continue around big issues like SAP's ability to provide meaningful cloud deployment options. So for instance in one discussion, SAP attempted to persuade me that the IBM relationship which Holger Mueller welcomes, is a viable option.
I argue this is hosted software c.1999 with a partner who has limited and immature experience of cloud apps sold at premium prices. SAP for its part asks who else has the same global capabilities, pointing towards Oracle as the competitor. As I argued - considering Oracle as a competitor is asking the wrong question. Check out how Salesforce.com (CRM) and Workday (HR plus financials) are addressing the same topic.
My view is that the current state of cloud play makes it hard for SAP to present a picture that jibes well with the mood of the buying market. Its customers have incredibly complex landscapes that are far removed from point or peripheral solutions and in this sense it is right to point towards CRM and aspects of HR as non critical.
Real world IoT
All this pales into insignificance when weighed against the real world problems SAP is solving. Here, I was impressed by the scale of developer opportunities presented by the large Hacker Lounge space, Code Jam section and IoT lounges. Scratch the surface and you quickly find that SAP is asking developers to consider multiple data source and access points to complex systems. This is not kiddy park stuff by any stretch.
So for example, it was interesting to see a developer clutching a massive tome on statistical analysis models. It was encouraging to know the CodeJam sessions were 4x over subscribed.
Fun and games aside in the developer areas, the fact that serious big budget buyers were asking pointed questions in these playgrounds speaks volumes to where SAP could go next.
This is all good news and as someone who has closely followed the SAP developer community, I was very impressed with the way SAP is aligning itself to the broader developer needs.
Problems, problems everywhere
SAP has many problems to solve. Coming out of TechEd && d-code, my view is that these issues are marketing problems and not technology issues. Having the benefit of attending three major tech conferences in quick succession, it is clear to me that SAP has a very strong technology story but is far too weak in talking to the line of business buyer.
Technology doesn't matter so much to these buyers as much as the ability to wrap it up in language the market can consume. This is hard when developers are being asked to code into multiple data sources, some of which they may never have seen.
For my part., I believe SAP has to carefully traverse the developer and business communities. It would be tough for any company to do that in a simplistic, consumer world that focuses on problems that are foreign to the average SAP customer.
SAP has a huge opportunity that is tech led but which has to be expressed in terms that the humble business buyer can understand. Solve that problem and many criticisms go away.
Based upon what I have seen the last weeks, SAP HANA is a clearly superior technology platform. It is up to SAP to figure out how to express the value HANA delivers in the context of a complex world which it is trying to simplify. Not an easy task.
Bonus points: a wrap video with Jon Reed and Graham Robinson that touches on some of the points raised this week but which concedes that SAP did a largely good job.
Disclosure: SAP is a premier partner at time of writing and covered most of mine and Jon Reed's travel expenses for attending the show.