Innovation Evangelism

How SAP Got 1.7 Million Members in Its Online Community

Both Business.com and SAP Info have great interviews with Mark Yolton, Senior VP of SAP’s 1.7 million-strong Community Network.

Mark Yolton, SVP of SAP Community Network

Mark talks about how to create a feeling of community, how SAP leverages technology like Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, and what his team does to measure the success of their initiatives.

SDN – SAP Developer Network – http://sdn.sap.com
BPX – Business Process Expert Community – http://bpx.sap.com
BOC – Business Objects Community – http://boc.sap.com
SAP EcoHub – http://ecohub.sap.com
UAC – University Alliances Community – http://uac.sap.com
SAP TechEd & SAP Tech Tour – http://sapteched.com
SCN – SAP Community Network – http://scn.sap.com

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Timo Elliott

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Comments

8 responses to “How SAP Got 1.7 Million Members in Its Online Community”

  1. Bruce Draganjac Avatar
    Bruce Draganjac

    Don’t mean to sound like a party pooper, but the SAP Community Network seems to have some technical issues. When you try to create an account so you can use the features, you must click the “I have read and agree” button for terms and conditions before you can proceed. But the required document, delivered as a popup, does not load, so you cannot complete your account creation. If you click “contact us” at the bottom of the page so that you can tell someone that the site is not working correctly, it goes to a page that says “sorry, but you must be logged in to view that feature”. I wonder if their new member count has fallen off drastically lately?

    1. Timo Elliott Avatar
      Timo Elliott

      Thanks for the heads-up — I’ll follow up…

      1. Bruce Draganjac Avatar
        Bruce Draganjac

        Thanks Timo,

        FYI, I tried it again this morning after a reboot (I’m willing to believe the problem could be on my side), but the same issue existed. I also tried switching the page from IE8 to IE7 compatable, and that didn’t help either. Also tried Firefox 3.5.8 with no success.

        Thanks for looking into it.

        1. Timo Elliott Avatar
          Timo Elliott

          Thanks — they’ve opened a “trouble ticket”, and supposedly it’s only affecting one of the servers, so that refreshing/retrying may get you one that’s working…

  2. The ‘social enterprise’ comes of age | IT Project Failures | ZDNet.com

    […] the “borderless enterprise.” It’s worth noting that his community has almost two million […]

  3. The ’social enterprise’ comes of age

    […] that he calls the “borderless enterprise.” It’s worth noting that his community has almost two million […]

  4. Mark Yolton Avatar
    Mark Yolton

    Thanks, Timo.

  5. Is community the next step for vendors? | AccMan

    […] Many of them still exist. Today I see a different trend. The best example I know is the SAP Community Network. I am a member and SAP Mentor so have a good amount of knowledge about what it does and how it […]