Live Blog: Sapphire Now, SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott, and More

SAP (NYSE: SAP) Sapphire Now has kicked off and more than 600 SAP partners are in attendance to hear what SAP executives have to say on SAP HANA, mobility, cloud, and big data. SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott is expected to give opening remarks before a discussion among leading sports visionaries about customers and the power of technology to change the game.

CJ Arlotta, Associate Editor

May 14, 2013

3 Min Read
SAP coCEO Bill McDermott HANA is now the platform of every single thing SAP will do going forward
SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott: HANA is now the platform of every single thing SAP will do going forward.

SAP (NYSE: SAP) Sapphire Now has kicked off and more than 600 SAP partners are in attendance to hear what SAP executives have to say on SAP HANA, mobility, cloud, and big data. SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott is expected to give opening remarks followed by a discussion among leading sports visionaries about customers and the power of technology to change the game. Will they make any major industry announcements? We’ll stay on top of the action and report back.

Batting First: SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott:

  • Three and a half years ago we asked ourself tough questions: Are we relevant, did we matter, and if we weren’t even around, would anyone even care?;

  • Let’s be clear on HANA: HANA not only represents the intellectual renewel of SAP, but it’s now the platform of every single thing the company will do going forward;

  • Cloud solutions are a top priority: We invested $8 billion dollars in cloud solutions;

  • SAP is innovation without disruption;

  • Nearly 75 percent of world’s transactions run on SAP’s Business Suite;

  • There are 30 million users in the SAP cloud;

  • Sapphire is a forum where we can look at the horizon together. We can dream a bit — it’s okay;

  • Focus on the millennials: They represent the biggest target market on earth. “I think of them as the empowered generation.” 9 out of 10 them expect companies to be socially concious;

  • These two billion consumers are not just our future, they are here today;

  • SAP HANA can find patterns in dark data;

  • With SAP HANA you can predict what customers want.

Batting Second: Group Sports Discussion: sportscaster James Brown; Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour, Inc.; Adam Silver, incoming commissioner and former chief operating officer of the National Basketball Association; SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott; and Jed York, CEO of the San Francisco 49ers.

  • The majority of sport fans view sporting events through technology;

  • New sporting event innovations: ticketless stadiums, ordering items from your seat, and cashless arenas;

  • Teams want to understand how to how to assess college players and analyze data;

  • SAP has developed leadership apps for sport teams, as well as companies;

  • Replicate the live game experience for those watching the game through technology at home:

  • How can we connect people at the game with the people viewing the game through technology?;

  • Invest in software, not hardware. Software foundation needs to be flexible;

  • SAP HANA can grab data from all of the social media platforms. You have to know what your customers are thinking.

Batting Third: Robert M. Calderoni, Member of the Global Managing Board of SAP AG; Chairman and CEO of Ariba, an SAP company

  • We simply focus on achieving one goal: Helping businesses like yours unlock productivity;

  • Productivity drives value of corporations;

  • We are now more than connected than ever. Cloud, mobility, big data, and social media are changing the way we live and work;

  • We live in a networked world to make our lives run better;

  • More than 80 percent of business-to-business transactions are taking place offline, wasting paper and money;

  • The Ariba Network extends the value of your exisiting footprint with collaboration through a standard platform;

  • There are more than one million companies on the network in 190 countries;

  • Ariba can deliver an additional $50 billion in savings; and

  • Our customers put Ariba and SAP together.

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About the Author

CJ Arlotta

CJ Arlotta

Associate Editor, Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media

See more from CJ Arlotta
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