Mastering SAP 2022 – A Partner’s Perspective

Mastering SAP 2022 – A Partner’s Perspective

Chris Rae seems a cheerful man as he reflects on the two days that he and his team spent at the MasteringSAP conference in Melbourne last week.

As a current SAP Mentor and founder of SAP Gold Partner DalRae Solutions, Chris has plenty of experience attending SAP-related conferences around the world, speaking at multiple events over the last 7 years since he started his Brisbane-based company. And it’s clear from his enthusiasm that he feels the 2 days in Melbourne last week were some of the most productive that he has attended.

“There was a great vibe at this year’s event, probably due to it being the first face-to-face event in a while for many here in Australia. We really felt people wanted to engage, and there was genuine interest in the topics presented,” he tells us.

It’s an understandable reaction to this year’s MasteringSAP conference, with the tagline for the event – Live is Back! – emphasizing its return to an in-person format after 2 years of operating through the Covid pandemic.

This reflects in the participation numbers, with over 800 delegates packing into the Crown Promenade conference facilities to hear presentations from over 100 speakers on a wide range of SAP-related topics over the two days.

One fresh addition to this year’s event was the Education Pavilion, an area allowing delegates to view additional presentations outside the main auditorium.

It was this venue that Chris’s company sponsored, with the “DalRae Education Pavilion” becoming a popular spot for consuming educational content on DalRae’s key focus for the event–SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP).

When asked why his company sponsored this new concept, Chris highlighted how it aligned with DalRae’s organizational values and focus.

“We built our business on the back of the commitment we have to educate the broader SAP Community, and the passion our people have for sharing their technical and business knowledge. As a result, we felt that sponsoring the new Education Pavilion concept was a brilliant choice for DalRae,” he explained.

This passion for educating an audience was apparent, with Chris and his team delivering nine separate presentations on various aspects SAP BTP at their self-titled venue, as well as inviting other vendors to contribute to the discussion by presenting their ideas during the breaks in the DalRae schedule. So how was it received?

“Our focus for the conference was educating the audience on what is possible with SAP Business Technology Platform, and it was clear from the level of interest we had that people want to know more and how to get started,” commented Chris enthusiastically.

He explains that the volume of traffic to the Education Pavilion was evidence of this interest, with DalRae’s QR code attendance tracking showing that close to a quarter of the entire conference viewed at least one of their presentations. Some delegates even attended multiple presentations, showing their enthusiasm for both the subject and the quality of the content.

We asked Chris why he felt the Business Technology Platform content had proven so popular.

“I think the fact that BTP is an innovation platform–people always want to see what’s new–and that we focused our content on how this relates to real business problems and improved usability, was what made it so appealing to a wide variety of delegates,” he responds.

Based on this evidence, the Business Technology Platform will be a growing focus for SAP customers in the next 12 months, as more businesses realize how its capabilities can drive innovation in their transformational journey to the cloud.

Aside from the success of the Education Pavilion concept, we were curious to find out what else Chris saw as the highlights in this year’s MasteringSAP event. Did he have time to catch any of the other speakers?

“To be honest, we were flat out most of the time, but everyone I spoke to around the place said it impressed them with the breadth and quality of the content on offer. The live Twitter Stream on the conference app was a useful way of viewing people’s highlights too, and as usual, the evening networking was really beneficial, as well as great fun!”

It wouldn’t be a great conference without the opportunity to mingle with existing contacts in a social setting, as well as to get to meet new people within the SAP community.

As for the use of Twitter for real-time interaction, this is becoming a standard for leading conferences to communicate the experience both for attendees and a wider audience, as Chris alluded to.

On browsing through the #MasteringSAP Twitter hashtag post-event, one example that seems to capture the mood of the event stands out. Actor Alan Fletcher–better known to millions of Australians as the fictional character Dr. Karl Kennedy from the leading show Neighbours–entertaining the Keynote audience by leading a singalong of Hey Jude, is not your typical impression of an IT conference!

https://twitter.com/thomas_jung/status/1549939807077691392

While we are sure that many delegates gained valuable information on how SAP technology can continue to transform their organization, it’s great to see that they also indulged in more lighthearted activities that only human interaction can bring.

It seems like this year’s MasteringSAP event enhanced its reputation as Australia’s leading SAP conference, as well as being a refreshing change from the virtual events of recent years. Live is most definitely back!

DalRae Solutions are an Australian IT Consultancy known for providing SAP software solutions to the Asia Pacific market. An SAP Gold Partner, they are acknowledged in-region experts in SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), as well accredited SAP Recognised Experts in User Experience and S/4 HANA.

More information on their program of presentations at this year’s MasteringSAP event can be found here