For the 121st episode of Burning Platform, we host Clare Henry who heads Analyst Relations at SAP. She provides a sneak preview of Sapphire in Orlando this week, in Barcelona next week and other locations to follow. She provides a 360 degree perspective.
I ask her about the “Bring Our Your Best” theme for the event. “It fits into a brand campaign we've been running for a while. SAP’s purpose continues to be that we help the world run better and improve people's lives. That is a cornerstone of our identity. However, we've updated our vision to say bring out the best in every business. It connects to our heritage, of course, while still embracing our future to help our customers embrace their future. And it's very customer-centric. It's one of the real things that differentiates SAP and certainly what drew me to the company.”
She calls the event “one continuous keynote with multiple chapters”. CEO Christian Klein and CMO Julia White will kick it off Tuesday morning (EST) and weave in multiple C level roles, and how they can strategically work together and how AI can supercharge that collaboration. They will be joined by the new AWS CEO, Matt Garman and I am sure they will talk about RISE and the role of the hyperscaler. Matt is also expected to talk about Amazon’s internal use of SAP products. Other SAP partners will make cameo appearances. Tuesday afternoon, Muhammad Alam and Juergen Mueller will present a “demo heavy” innovation keynote. Wednesday morning, Russell Scott and Thomas Saueressig (in his new cloud focused role) will focus on customer success and finally, Wednesday afternoon, Academy Award winning actress Reese Witherspoon will deliver an inspirational talk.
She next talks about the Experience Center which will feature the Semiconductor supply chain. Last year it was “Farm to Table” and a hit with attendees as you ended with a scoop of personalized ice-cream. This year you may walk away with a personalized microchip. In the book I helped Thomas and Peter Maier write last year, Business as Unusual, we brought out the impact of chip shortages on the auto sector and the resulting genesis of Catena-X, an industry specific network. Jeff Howell had brought out in this Burning Platform episode the broad role SAP plays across the semiconductor sector.
I love how SAP is able to combine the physical and digital aspects of complex supply chains in such exhibits and effortlessly move them from one event to another around the world. Andre Bechtold had presented on last year's exhibit in this episode
We next talk about some of the other news planned at the event including that of the expanding role of Joule, the SAP AI Copilot.
I ask her if SAP will ever go back to the 3 day, “big tent” format. She explains how the time-concentrated but location-decentralized format is delivering a lot more engagement for attendees.
Finally she turns the tables and asks if I have anything to say about founder Hasso Plattner as he retires from official duties after an amazing 52 years at the company. I share some snippets from my blog post where I described Hasso’s storytelling prowess, a facet not many people got to see.
It is impressive how much ground she covers. One area she was coy about was when I asked her for details of the Wednesday evening entertainment. Actually I know and I could tell you, but then...:)
A must-watch especially if you are not going to Sapphire – she summarizes in 25 minutes what you would need to invest days of travel and onsite time.
Very generous, Clare!
