I could not, after all, make it to Sapphire Vienna. Could not reschedule a client commitment. But in reading Charlie Wood's and Thomas Otter's posts in particular filled with photos and videos, I can see I am missing Bruno Haid's hospitality, great weather, and a good time is being had by all. Would have been great to hang our with the EIs, see how the Lipizzaners and cafes have aged since I was last in city - and gotten hell from more SAP execs -)
Content wise, though, I am not sure I am missing a whole lot. As with Hasso's comments at Software 2007 last week, there seem to be many SAP mea culpas. But as I found at Software 2007, SAP mid-level executives are still in
denial that drastic changes are needed in just about every aspect
of SAP - from SG&A to pricing to partner management. There is a
wary "Darn it, I told you we would change - now can we get down to
business as we know it. We still have Oracle to worry about". Does Oracle really matter any more when it does not play a major role in SaaS, Web 2.0, BPO and other sweeping changes in the industry? But I digress...
Whether SAP internally changes or not, what matters is what its software delivers. As Tony Scott of Disney said last week - for him to get excited about new (and old) stuff, there has to be breakthrough improvements in business results - cost, payback. Not just better or prettier software, results. Breakthrough as in 60, 70% improvement. Tony is not the only CIO out there with such modest expectations.
But there I go again - when I should be enjoying Vienna vicariously through the EIs.
But enough of the vicarious stuff. Bruno, looks like I may be in Vienna June 6. Keep the weather warm and the Schwechater cold -)
