{"id":13311,"date":"2017-02-27T14:29:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T13:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/?p=13311"},"modified":"2017-03-08T17:45:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T16:45:02","slug":"bi2017-hana2017-keynote-driving-insights-to-outcomes-across-the-business-value-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/bi2017-hana2017-keynote-driving-insights-to-outcomes-across-the-business-value-chain.html","title":{"rendered":"At BI2017 Mike Flannagan Explains Why He Joined SAP to Drive Analytics Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the SAPInsider conference this week in Orlando Florida, with co-hosted conferences BI2017<\/a>, HANA 2017<\/a> and Basis & SAP Administration 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rizal Ahmed<\/a>, President of Wellesley Information Services, kicked off the conference. He talked about the challenges of explaining what he does to his young son.<\/p>\n

After failing to explain the nuances of in-memory systems, he tried a higher-level analogy:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYou remember that story about Newton and the apple? Well, we help shake the tree\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou try to kill people with apples?!\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! we try to help spark insights and innovation…”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Next,\u00a0Mike Flannagan<\/a>, SAP’s new Senior Vice President of Analytics Strategy did a presentation on driving insights to outcomes across the business value chain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mike recently joined SAP to head up analytics after many years working at Cisco. He shared why he had accepted the role, and why he was so excited about the future.<\/p>\n

Throughout the presentation, he talked about the challenges that organize face when trying to implement “bimodal IT<\/a>“, defined by Gartner as:<\/p>\n

Bimodal<\/strong> is the practice of managing two separate but coherent styles of work: one focused on predictability; the other on exploration. Mode 1 is optimized for areas that are more predictable and well-understood. It focuses on exploiting what is known, while renovating the legacy environment into a state that is fit for a digital world. Mode 2 is exploratory, experimenting to solve new problems and optimized for areas of uncertainty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Both these modes play an essential role in digital transformation, but marrying the more predictable evolution of mode 1 products and technologies with the new and innovative mode 2 approach is challenging — Mike likened it to trying to change the tires on a fast-moving car.<\/p>\n

Mike is\u00a0particularly interested in how the innovative combination of\u00a0BusinessObjects Cloud<\/a> and SAP Digital Boardroom<\/a>\u00a0can go beyond traditional analytics scenarios:<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve looked at data forever. But while looking at what happened in the past can be interesting, what we really want to know is what\u2019s going to happen next, and then we\u00a0want to be able to actually change that outcome.<\/p>\n

Everybody in the industry talks about being able to do this. But there’s a big difference between making a decision and actually doing something. For example, I decided yesterday that I would go running this morning and eat a healthy breakfast — but it didn’t happen!<\/p>\n

What I found really compelling about about SAP is\u00a0that\u00a0it’s able to do every step on the chain and actually get to a better decision: you can look at the past, make a prediction, do scenario planning for the future, and implement the decision back into the operational decisions.<\/p>\n

Turning decisions into outcomes requires tight connections between operations and analytics, and this is one of the areas that I think is unique about SAP’s approach.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n