Ok, as we enter Day 3 of this event, let me lay out the stuff I have been impressed with/need to compliment so far
- A much more smiling Hasso Plattner than in prior years. We had a chance to spend some time with him yesterday in a breakout, and again at a press event. His beloved in-memory work is finally getting productized.
- Impressive job by Bill McDermott and Jim Snabe in their first 100 days as Co-CEOs to stabilize the ship . As 2 long-time SAP employees told me in different ways "There is more positive energy in the organization than we have seen in the last 10-12 years when Hasso and Henning were at their peak"
- A much more confident Vishal Sikka than I have ever seen before.
- Good to see ByD finally giving a chance to hit the road. Oh, it will be beaten up by existing SaaS players for the next year or two, but it is important is gets out and matures
- Nice job by Mike Prosceno to get us some of the elusive sessions with the executives above
- Awesome logistics by Stacey Fish who is helping with her first Sapphire effort
- Nice to see SAP give Jeffrey Word a chance to showcase an Innovation corner - I am looking forward to a personal tour
- The always-alert Bill Wohl - as if Sapphire was not exhausting enough he had a week's run-up handling media queries about the Sybase acquisition
- The SAP Mentors deploying their Flip cameras everywhere and subtly and not so subtly making their points to SAP executives
- The omnipresence of the blogger contingent at the event. The "Everready Bunny" Ray Wang tweeting from every corner of the massive event, Dennis Howlett taking timely videos everywhere, Larry Dignan summarizing key trends, James Governor regaling crowds. And as at every Sapphire, the chance to meet an ever new group of bloggers. Kudos again to Prosceno and Fish for keeping this vibrant group going for the last 5 years.
Are there challenges, of course - more on those later. For now, let us compliment SAP for many of the things it has done well to bring this event together.
