Amazon has just started to take advance orders for the eBook version of SAP Nation 3.0. It shows release date of April 15, but we are trying to get it out by March 31. The print version should also be available around that time.
In the meantime, I am seeing tweets and other social media speculation about the book, so allow me to give you a sneak preview.
It is a celebration of customers
35 case studies, representing over 20 industries and 10 countries, make up half the book. The book is for their peers to learn from their experiences. The dedication at the front of the book shows my gratitude to the executives who spent hours talking to me, reviewing transcripts and their profiles:
This book is dedicated to buyers of enterprise technology. They are the unsung stakeholders who pay the big bills and still do the bulk of the work delivering measurable outcomes.
The foreword to the book is written by Geoff Scott, CEO of ASUG. I am honored he agreed to do so - it adds to the customer voice in the book.
A note to SAP Detractors
No, this is not like the first volume. It is actually pretty generous to SAP for what I show is an on-going turnaround. The majority of the case studies in the book talk about products that did not exist 5 years ago. You can feel the vibrancy in the pipeline diversity.
The majority of SAP execs I profile were not there or not that prominent 5 years ago. You can feel the urgency in their voices.
To SAP Fans
No, don't expect a cake walk. I am tough about a number of "unforced errors" SAP continues to make. Some of the case studies talk about diversifying away from SAP. Overall, though you will have plenty to admire.
And to SAP competitors
Many of you do pretty poorly in the book. I talk about a lot of missed opportunities. After 20 years of cloud applications, less than 20% of enterprise customers have moved to new solutions. We have a huge challenge with older systems - they are heavily customized, awfully expensive, are security and compliance risks and are increasingly unattractive to recruit and retain talent around. As an industry we need to urgently "tilt the bell curve".
It is a cameo of a market in transition
Even though the book is SAP-centric, it brings out a wide range of industry trends. It highlights developer communities and startups in Silicon Valley, China, Germany, India and elsewhere. It showcases opportunities across the enterprise - in marketing, product engineering, logistics. It highlights changing economics in software.
It is my longest book to date. It also took me the longest time to write. I felt the constant pain of my transcriptionist, Tina Pham as she navigated a vast array of product names and TLAs in German, Aussie, Canadian, French, Indian and several other accents. I am pretty proud of the end result and the balance I have achieved.
Few more short weeks. Thanks for your patience. Then we can have long debates, not speculate :)
