A number of high profile experts have signed up to share their knowledge at Saphila 2017, the African SAP User Group’s (AFSUG) biennial conference for SAP users, which takes place at Sun City on 5 and 6 June 2017.
Billed as “ICT’s don’t-miss conference of 2017”, featured speakers include Mike Ettling, president of SAP SuccessFactors, the global provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software.
An inspirational, visionary and highly dynamic leader, Ettling grew up in South Africa and is now based in London, from where he leads the HR cloud and on premise business for SAP. He comes with a wealth of experience and an exemplary record driving multi-million dollar sales, marketing initiatives and transformation in a global context. Ettling’s keynote is themed “Redefine the Employee Experience with Innovative Digital Solutions”.
Dominic Podmore, programme manager at De Beers, will also address delegates during a talk titled, “In search of human gems – success factors: a customer story”, highlighting the De Beers journey to implement SuccessFactors Employee Central. He’ll especially focus on planning for success and the key lessons learnt beyond the sale pitch.
Bringing insight from the retail environment is Wesley Grisdale, IS Executive for solution delivery at Pick ‘n Pay. He’ll elaborate how the retail giant recently re-invented its in-store mobility landscape through the introduction of innovative Android technology using the SAP partnered Neptune Platform. “The change has substantially improved our operating model, bringing with it a number of measurable benefits,” notes Grisdale.
Highlighting that a transformational human resources journey starts with understanding what people data you need and what technology platform you need to support this, will be speaker Angela Nell, vice president for Talent at Gold Fields. She’ll elaborate on why the mining company selected the SAP SuccessFactors talent suite and how it has implemented all modules in this suite. “Many challenges were overcome but great successes identified particularly with the mobile functionality of the modules. This was a journey not well travelled in the mining industry and in South Africa and many lessons have been learnt,” she points out.
Illustrating how technology aids the safety of citizens will be Mehboob Foflonker, manager: Architecture for the City of Cape Town. “EPIC is a single, integrated emergency and disaster management technology platform, built on SAP CRM that allows the City of Cape Town Safety and Security and Social Development Directorate to register, distribute, dispatch, manage and resolve all planned and unplanned activities undertaken,” says Foflonker. “Additionally, EPIC delivers a situational awareness through GIS mapping and in-field mobile applications that provides the resources an opportunity to understand their environment implicitly, thereby improving their effectiveness, their performance and critically their safety. Finally, BI reporting off SAP HANA makes sense of the 300,000 incidents registered annually, allowing the City to create a safer environment for all.”
And, if you thought SAP was only used to run businesses, come listen to the role it plays in sport – cycling in particular! Doug Ryder and Scott Gibson of Ryder Cycling and Dimension Data Digital Practice will take you on a fascinating journey of how the world of cycling is being disrupted, how technology is enabling change in the sport and the role SAP is playing in this area. You will also gain some insights into the upcoming Tour de France, find out how Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka is utilising technology to improve performance and how Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka is changing lives.
Solution Manager Workshop
Of note is the Solution Manager Workshop, which takes place on the second day of the conference. It will be facilitated by Tim Steuer who studied physics at the Universities of Bonn and Heidelberg, Germany, and has since 2006 been the team lead responsible for the areas of program management, information development, and solution management. In addition to this role, he also manages the Customer Connection and Early Adoption Program for SAP Solution Manager.
During Steuer’s full-day workshop, delegates will learn how to easily adopt SAP Solution Manager at their own pace, experience the new features of SAP Solution Manager and build their own roadmap to maximise the value they can get out of SAP’s strategic lifecycle management platform. The workshop is designed to gain insight on the SAP Solution Manager strategy and on value aspects, a functional overview of all SAP Solution Manager scenarios and also includes best practices regarding the upgrade to SAP Solution Manager 7.2.
With almost 60 speakers providing trends, insights and lessons learnt, Saphila 2017 creates the strongest platform for SAP users to connect, create and collaborate, through sharing knowledge about innovation, implementation and service delivery. Don’t miss out. The speakers’ agenda can be viewed here.
“AFSUG’s and SAP’s commitment to rethink, reassess and reimagine business for the digital economy, that drives their search for what is possible,” says Reg Barry, AFSUG Board member and Saphila 2017 Chairman.
“Our focus remains on quality content through a myriad of speakers and ‘real’ users that encourages a positive shift in business in order to add economic value. Networking with peers forms part of this too, which is why we have created numerous breakout sessions for CXOs, SAP COE managers, SAP users, technical specialist and business representatives to get together and discuss issues and ideas,” adds Barry.
Delegates need to register for Saphila and pay a registration fee. Discounts are offered to members of AFSUG.
Visit www.saphila2017.com.
