Who Has the Data?
Most organizations like to assert that they are “fact-driven”. But the reality of mundane, everyday decision making doesn’t always match the rhetoric, and force of personality (or simply seniority!) often swings the debate. But information is still power. As SAP BusinessObjects marketing VP Franz Aman explained in a recent podcast with Jon Reed of JonERP.com “It’s stunning every single time when you get into a discussion, whether it’s... [Read More...]
SAP CTO Shares Web 2.0 Vision
In a recent interview with SearchSAP.com’s news editor Courtney Bjorlin, SAP’s CTO Vishal Sikka explained that mobile applications, the cloud and virtualization will be key technologies in SAP’s product roadmap. Here are some key excerpts from the article: Entire economies going mobile in the next several years and companies running almost exclusively on mobile environments. So the way in which people access and support those applications... [Read More...]
The Very First Version of Xcelsius?
It turns out that dashboards like Xcelsius have their roots all the way back in 1939 — in cardboard, at least! (Click on the image to get a bigger version) Thanks to Modern Mechanix blog: “Yesterday’s Technology, Today!” Read More →
Digital Native Test
If the image below automatically sets your teeth on edge, you’re probably a baby boomer. If it takes you some time to work out, you’re probably Gen X. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, congratulations, you may well be a digital native! If you see the problem here, you're probably NOT a digital native... Image credit: photoshop disasters blog Read More →
SAP’s New Cloud Platform
SAP has purchased a cloud computing company, Coghead, a “next generation platform for building web applications.” The vendor was struggling in the current economic climate, SAP Ventures had previously invested in the company, and the company already offered integration with SAP environments. “SAP is one of the premier tech companies in the world and we’re really happy this transaction took place,” said Coghead CEO Paul McNamara... [Read More...]
Social Networking @ SAP
In 2007, SAP announced at the Sapphire event that it was getting serious about Web 2.0 within SAP, using new technologies to help “shift from a top-down, technically rigid structure to a more fluid, informal way of thinking with a certain trust in that people can find workable solutions to their problems.” Attendees were impressed. For example, Jerry Bowles noted a blog post called SAP to Enterprise 2.0 Community: We Get It: “Having spent a... [Read More...]
The Future of SAP Events?
SAP recently launched Business Suite 7 in SAP’s New York offices in New York City, to a room was packed to capacity with journalists, analysts, and customers. They were shown a presentation, demonstration, and customer panel, followed by a live Q&A session. There was also support for internet viewers, with a video feed and conference call, and after the event, the presentation, photos, and screen shots from the demonstration were made available. Social... [Read More...]
Using Business Intelligence to Catch Wasteful US Spending?
Until recently, if you wanted to find out where your US taxpayer money was going, the best you could do was this handy wall chart from the “Death & Taxes” web site. Click on the image below to go to their site, where you can zoom in and see different parts of the image. USA Spending.Gov USA Spending.Gov gives you access to the same information in the form of a public database. It’s the result of the 2006 Transparency Act which requires... [Read More...]
Coghead Overview Video
A quick overview of the Coghead Platform-as-a-Service, recently acquired by SAP Read More →Giant Brains: Did Edmund Berkeley Predict Email, the Internet, ERP Systems and the iPhone in 1949?
Now that prediction season is coming to an end, it’s time to reflect on how technology always changes, but the underlying business needs remain the same from year to year, or even decade to decade. I recently stumbled across a second-hand book in the American Library in Paris titled "Giant Brains or Machines That Think" by Edmund C. Berkeley. Edmund Berkeley was an early computing pioneer, and the book includes a description of one of... [Read More...]
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