SearchSAP Audio Downloads

ASUG president discusses challenges for 2008

2008-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

ASUG president discusses challenges for 2008 -- January 8, 2008

SearchSAP.com caught up with ASUG’s president, Steve Strout, to discuss the organization’s busy 2007, including which SAP announcement had the biggest effect on ASUG and its membership. Strout also looks at how ASUG will put Business ByDesign to use in its own organization, what members are requesting, and how ASUG hopes to improve its services in the coming year.

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SAP tames 'spider webs on LSD' for public broadcaster

2008-01-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

NCPB tames ‘spider webs on LSD’ with SAP -- December 10, 2007

BOSTON -- The Northern California Public Broadcasting Company (NCPB) had no easy way to view and project budget and fundraising trends until it implemented Outlooksoft. NCPB stuck with the product after SAP acquired it and has already seen significant ROI. SearchSAP.com spoke with Jeff Nemy, NCPB’s chief financial officer, at SAP’s Influencer Summit last week to learn more about how SAP Business Planning and Consolidation has helped the company manage budgets, improve fundraising, and provide more visibility into processes that Nemy described as “spider webs on LSD.”

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How ASUG influences SAP

2007-11-07T12:04:00.001-08:00

ASUG influencing SAP products behind the scenes -- November 6, 2007

One of the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG)’s main functions is to give member feedback to SAP on its products and services in order to influence future offerings. This influence is exercised in many ways, including surveys, conferences and ASUG meetings with SAP executives. Rod Masney, chairperson of ASUG’s board, and Steve Strout, CEO of ASUG, recently returned from meeting with SAP executives in Germany. They share their experiences in this SearchSAP.com podcast. Strout and Masney discuss their meeting with SAP executives and new ways ASUG is influencing SAP, including its 360-degree review program and how SAP users can have their voices heard.

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Advice for business process experts

2007-11-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Becoming (and staying) a business process expert takes business, technical skills -- November 1, 2007

Business process experts face constantly changing demands and must combine technical and business skills to be successful. In this podcast, SearchSAP.com career expert Jon Reed and Marco ten Vaanholt, director of SAP’s business process expert community, discuss how to become a business process expert (BPX) and how to keep up with the changing landscape and demand for business process skills. Ten Vaanholt also gives an update on the SAP BPX community and what users can expect next from the group.

Listen to the podcast from this Web page below:

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SAP project tips from MassMutual

2007-10-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

MassMutual's NetWeaver admin director outlines SAP project tips

SAP projects are complex, especially for large organizations. In this podcast, MassMutual’s director for SAP NetWeaver administration offers tips and tricks from his TechEd 2007 presentation.

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SAP NetWeaver jobs: What the future holds

2007-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

SAP NetWeaver jobs: What the future holds

With NetWeaver upgrades going strong and enterprise service-oriented architecture (ESOA) projects becoming a reality, it is an exciting time to be an SAP professional. In this podcast, SearchSAP.com career expert Jon Reed and Ori Inbar, SAP's senior vice president of solution marketing for NetWeaver, discuss emerging SAP NetWeaver job roles and explain where talent shortages are expected in the future. Also, Inbar offers a sneak peek at TechEd 2007.

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SAP Business ByDesign introduction

2007-09-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

SAP Business ByDesign: An introduction -- September 20, 2007

NEW YORK -- On Sept. 19, SAP released more details of its midmarket, ERP on demand product, formerly codenamed A1S. The product, now dubbed SAP Business ByDesign, will be priced at $149 per user per month, and already has early customer stories. At the unveiling event in New York, SearchSAP.com caught up with Hans-Peter Klaey, SAP's SMB (small and medium-sized business) president, and an early customer, Harry Krisch, SAP practice director for West Conshohocken, Pa.-based Judge Consulting Group.

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The state of SAP SRM

2007-08-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

SAP SRM release 6.0 has been pushed back twice and is now branded as SAP SRM 2007. The new version will require users to be up to speed on MDM, Enterprise Portal and other NetWeaver components. SearchSAP.com checked in with veteran SRM (supplier relationship management) site expert and author Sachin Sethi on what's going on with SAP SRM, what the technology requirements will be, and whether SAP can keep up with the niche vendors.

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Supply chain management forecast and trends

2007-08-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Supply chain management (SCM) is at the core of many businesses and the technology is developing at a rapid pace. According to Cambridge, Mass.-based AMR Research, the market for supply chain applications grew 7% in 2006 and is expected to reach $7.9 billion by 2011. SearchSAP.com caught up with AMR vice president of research John Fontanella to get an overview of what’s going on in SCM, where SAP fits in, what to expect next from RFID, and other supply chain management topics.

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Keys to SAP project success: It's the people

2007-08-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Amidst the technology, cost and scheduling issues that arise in SAP implementation projects, the human element can often get lost in the shuffle. But Abiomed, a midsized medical devices manufacturer, found that staffing, communication, motivating project resources, and finding the right mix of consultants and employees are all important factors in a successful SAP project.

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Going Global: Localizing products, content and systems for an international market

2007-08-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Localization of products, support materials and back-end systems is critical for SAP customers doing business in international markets. In this podcast, the Globalization and Localization Association gives some tips for success.

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ASUG's new chief discuses Duet, SAP ERP upgrades and his role

2007-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

SearchSAP.com spoke with Steve Strout, ASUG’s incoming executive vice president. Strout will take over as president of ASUG later this year. In his day job, Strout is the CIO of Morris Communications, a privately held media company, based in Augusta, Ga., which counts 27 newspapers, 33 radio stations and many other publishers in its portfolio.

Morris has been running SAP for about four years and is at the tail end of an SAP ERP 2005 upgrade. Based on his hands-on experience, Strout offers his thoughts and advice on making upgrades as smooth as possible. He also discusses Duet, including the Duet appliance, and A1S. Finally, he looks at what went well and what could be improved from ASUG’s annual conference and looks at what’s coming up in the next few months.

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Keys to SAP business process success

2007-08-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

SAP has been pushing its business process initiative for some time, and the new BPX community is beginning to gain some traction. But what exactly is a business process expert, and how do those skills translate into an actual job role? We sat down with Helen Sunderland, platinum consultant at SAP Canada, and Marilyn Pratt, BPX community evangelist, to talk about what SAP is trying to accomplish and how SAP professionals can benefit.

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SAP master data management demo and trends

2007-08-23T13:16:00.001-07:00

Master data management (MDM) is becoming an important technology for many SAP customers. This podcast gives a demonstration of SAP's MDM offering from Sunil Gupta, director of solutions marketing for SAP Labs, looks at some of the latest SAP MDM news from Sapphire, and previews what's coming next.

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Governance, risk and compliance trends

2007-08-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) has been on the radar of SAP users for some time. The topic is constantly evolving, with new regulations seeming to pop up daily and companies looking for ways to leverage GRC solutions to add value to their business. In this podcast from Sapphire 2007, SearchSAP.com spoke with Amit Chatterjee, senior vice president for SAP's GRC business unit, to get the latest news and trends, look at SAP's announcements from Sapphire, and see what's coming next.

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Business intelligence, analytics and performance management trends

2007-08-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Business intelligence (BI), analytics and corporate performance management (CPM) are three topics that spark interest and cause some confusion among SAP customers. In this podcast from Sapphire 2007, SearchSAP.com spoke with Nenshad Bardoliwalla, SAP's senior director for CPM solution management, to get the latest news and trends, clear up acronym confusion, and see what's coming next for SAP in the market.

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Sapphire and ASUG Annual Conference preview

2007-08-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Sapphire takes place April 23-25 in Atlanta. As SAP's main end user event, there is always a wealth of news and networking opportunities. For the past couple of years, the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) Annual Conference has been co-located with Sapphire, further enhancing the educational opportunities for SAP users. This podcast with ASUG president Rod Masney previews the events and takes the pulse of what is on SAP users' minds.

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MySAP ERP upgrade advice with ASUG's Matt Rickard

2007-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

According to SAP, Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) and others, this year will see an increase in the number of customers upgrading to mySAP ERP. In this podcast, Matt Rickard, ASUG's director of groups and chapters and a member of its board, discusses some common upgrade questions. Rickard talks about technical versus functional upgrades, common problems, and resources users can turn to, among other things.

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SAP xMII manufacturing xAPP: What's next

2007-08-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

According to SAP, xApps brought in more than $200 million in license revenue in 2006. SearchSAP.com interviewed Scott Campbell, SAP Practice Manager with Austin, Tex.-based MomentumSI, a consulting organization specializing in SOA, and Mo Ghanam, manager of partners and field enablement services at SAP Labs, about one of the more popular xApps: xMII. This stands for Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence and is utilized by manufacturing organizations. In this interview, Campbell and Ghanam discuss xMII basics, customer use cases, career opportunities and partner solutions.

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RFID and SAP trends

2007-08-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

RFID technology continues to gain popularity, according to Josh Slobin, director of marketing for AeroScout. Based in San Mateo, Calif. AeroScout produces active, Wi-Fi-based RFID products. In this podcast, he gives some background on the topic, explains the differences between active and passive RFID technology, looks at some real-world cases, and gives advice for SAP users.

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SAP jobs present and future, with David Foote

2007-02-23T05:30:00.000-08:00

The market for SAP jobs is hot, with some SAP skills paying premiums over the general IT market. In this podcast with David Foote, president of Foote Partners LLC, find out which modules have a particularly rosy outlook and which ones aren't expected to fare as well. Foote also discusses how outsourcing could affect SAP professionals and gives a general market update and predictions for the upcoming year.

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Influencing SAP: User group helps define SAP strategy

2006-11-30T06:22:00.000-08:00

Members of the America's SAP Users' Group are taking part in about 60 influence councils that help shape application updates and fill gaps in SAP software. Learn more in this audio download.

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SAP’s platform ecosystem chief sets direction

2006-10-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

Zia Yusuf, who leads SAP’s Platform Ecosystem unit, is finding software vendors that fill various gaps in SAP’s software. In a wide ranging interview, Yusuf explains his role shaping SAP’s strategy.

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Podcast: Guide to choosing a systems integrator

2006-10-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

Michael Doane, founder and chief intelligence officer of Performance Monitor discusses his firms study of the top systems integrators.

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Podcast: SAP firms cope with support issues

2006-10-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Consultant Doug Whittle discusses the support issues SAP customers face after their new systems go live and the support strategies that get the most value out of an SAP system.

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SAP pros feud in ongoing talent war

2006-08-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Employers are shopping for the right SAP talent to manage projects. Find out which job skills and certifications are rising in value, according to data from Foote Research LLC.

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SAP, Microsoft Duet costs, viability explained

2006-08-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Jim Murphy of AMR Research discusses a recent survey in which SAP customers saw the value in Duet, but said it isn't ready for prime time.
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Business intelligence and data management tips

2006-08-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hear who is leading in the business intelligence market and get some best practices in this overview of business intelligence and master data management for SAP customers.

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Roundtable: SAP firms struggle to master compliance investments

2006-07-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Abbe Mulders, CIO of Dow Corning Corp., Joshua Greenbaum, principal consultant of Enterprise Applications Consulting and Rod Masney, president of the Americas' SAP Users' Group discuss SAP and compliance.

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Master data management trends and resources for SAP customers

2006-06-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Master data management is emerging as an important enterprise technology. Gartner's Andrew White and SAP's Sunil Gupta discuss recent trends affecting SAP customers and the market as a whole.

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Understanding SAP analytics

2006-05-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

More SAP customers are beginning to build and deploy composite applications using NetWeaver, according to Roman Bukary, vice president of analytics and composite applications at SAP. By injecting analytics directly into key SAP business processes, end users will get useful and actionable information quickly, according to Bukary, who was interviewed by news editor Robert Westervelt.

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Understanding SAP Business Intelligence Accelerator

2006-05-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

SAP’s Roman Bukary discusses the SAP Business Intelligence Accelerator, an appliance that SAP says will boost query performance.

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TomorrowNow CEO responds to critics of SAP union

2006-05-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

In a broad ranging interview, Andrew Nelson, CEO of SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow, discusses his firm's strategy as it broadens support to include Siebel customers and recent criticism from members of the Quest International User's Group.

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SAP ABAP, IBM WebSphere, RFID skills pay rising

2006-05-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Employers are paying a premium for SAP ABAP, IBM WebSphere skills and Java experts. IT personnel skilled in radio frequency identification technology are also being paid well, according to research from Foote Partners LLC.

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SAP user group head explains SAP successes, challenges

2006-04-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

In this podcast, ASUG president Mike Perroni talks about the latest SAP technologies, why SAP customers are slow to upgrade and what to expect at this years ASUG and Sapphire user conferences.

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Podcast: SAP implementation challenges, potential pitfalls -- April 13, 2006

2006-04-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

James Smith, IT director of dishware and stemware maker Rosenthal USA discusses the challenges and potential pitfalls of an SAP implementation with News Editor Robert Westervelt. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.