SAP TechEd 2011 key messages

SAP TechEd season is over. In Madrid we had 699 sessions. That means:

• 860 hours of SAP TechEd stuff;
• 36 days non stop;
• 108 working days (8 hours each);
• 224 expert sessions;
• 202 lectures;
• 164 pod sessions;
• 106 handson sessions.

A lot of knowledge to absorb. And now I'm trying to recap that in only one blog post ;-)

First, let's do the short version: SAP TechEd 2011 in only 3 words:

HANA, Mobility and Innovation

SAP is sending out a stable message. The core is to be stable and flexibility is to be provided to endusers. Huge investments are made to enable 'your own' apps to connect to the SAP backend. With Gateway, Sybase and DUET, SAP realizes that they need to open up. With mobility and other end user platforms the power is back to where it belongs: the end user. The person who actually wants to get work done in the most efficient and effective way, regardless of whatever backend system is underneath.

Let's go back to Vishal's keynote. At first I was a bit disappointed that the mobile aspect was not really in the spotlight, it was all about HANA, HANA and HANA. Then the announcement that SAP is bringing in 20 mobile apps ... only 20? Then again, should SAP deliver a lot of mobile apps to be used by everyone worldwide ... or is SAP to deliver a platform that enables you to create and personalize your own app, targeted at your own user groups. I think the latter. SAP is focussing on the core and how to enable using its core, and that is good.

Allow me to identify some (personal) highlights:

• 8:00 - 9:00 Landscape simplification with HANA. Data warehouse is dissolving as separate layer and becomes part of the landscape.
• 9:00 - 9:40 Consolidate and simplify the layers. So much for the good old 5 layer architecture ;-)
• 11:00 Mobility + Cloud + InMemory AND non disruption. Main innovation focus points for SAP.
• 13:00 - 13:18 Vishal's first lesson: Innovations can enable a fundamental simplification of your landscape
• 15:00-20:00 Five key takeaways for HANA. With HANA you are able to ask questions, questions that you didn't think of before or questions that weren't possible or just took too much time.
• Going deep - Complex questions, interactive questions
• and broad - large amounts of data, many types of data
• in real time - recent data, preferably real time
• with high speed - fast response time, interactivity
• without pre-fabrication - no data preparation, no pre-aggregates, no tuning
• 31:38 - 32:35 Second lesson: We are bringing these innovations to renew all our platforms and products. SAP is bringing all innovations to their existing platforms and products.
• 32:56 – 41:30 Bjorn Goerka on the SAP NetWeaver Platform
• 33:45 Facts and figures on SAP NetWeaver installations
• 35:30 BPM to be integrated within SAP PI and the Solution manager. 
• 41:00 "We take ABAP platform, take Java platform and put HANA underneath. We’re bringing innovation without disrupting what is on top."
• 54:00 Sybase is mentioned
• 57:19 We bring 20 apps to you.
• 57:30 – 57:50 Important statement: "Mobile first, any new user experience that we build, we assume that is for a mobile device first."
• 64:57 Cloud
• 76:00 Third lesson. These innovations can empower end users and vastly extend their reach. This third lesson is possibly the most important one. Empowering and extending the reach of your end users.
• Bring value to your end users, enable them to do things that they weren't able to do before.
• 78:00 Recap

I also found an interview with Angelique de Vries, managing director at SAP NL, appropriate for closing this blog.

• 5:26 - 6:08 Technology is going fast, very fast. Look what happened to the iPad. Hop on and join the new world of possibilities.
• 7:12 - 7:44 Make the difference by embracing innovation.

SAP hasn't lost its cheese, they already found new cheese. How about you?