SAP BusinessObjects Wants Your Input!
The SAP BusinessObjects Product team is looking for your input! In less than two months, SAP BusinessObjects Users from around the world will be decending on Dallas Texas for the annual SAP BusinessObjects User Conference. This year, the SAP BusinessObjects is introducing the concept of a product council, where you can provide feedback into the product. You will get a chance to see how other companies are leveraging SAP BusinessObjects products. Now is your opportunity to tell them what you love and what you hate… knowing that feedback will make it’s way back to the product team.
This is a Start
Personally I think this is a great start, but I wish that SAP would send all the product managers and program managers to the conference so that they can speak face-to-face with customers. Back in the 90’s when I was working with Lotus products, they had a huge annual conference in Orlando and their entire product development team was onsite and had lots of informal one-on-one time with customers. As an end-user, I loved that. Even if they weren’t able to address my problems at least I felt I had been heard.
Influence Sessions
SAP is taking a slightly different tact. They are creating a “council” that will work to gather all the feedback that SAP BusinessObjects users give. They will consolidate and prioritize the issues and work with the SAP BusinessObjects Product Development team to improve future product releases. The Influence sessions will include:
Business Objects Enterprise Council – to discuss administration, security, platform features and versioning/change management within the Business Objects Enterprise solution.
Xcelsius Council – to discuss issues surrounding the new integration with Excel, document areas for improvement, identify issues that are occurring with the system.
WebI Council -was formed last year and will be presenting an update of their work and where their recommendations fit into future SAP BusinessObjects product releases. A portion of the presentation will also include a discussion of migration from Deski to WebI.
Designer Council – with no major changes in Designer since 1999 (yep, that’s 10 years!), the semanic layer is an area of upcoming innovation and redesign. Make sure your voice is heard!
Data Management Council – will provide customers with the means for constructive dialog with SAP BusinessObjects regarding their use and implementation of the Data Services product. The Influence Council will provide SAP BusinessObjects with feedback from its users about proposed changes, integrations, or new features in future Data Services releases.
So Let Your Voice Be Heard
Plato said: Necessity is the mother of invention. I can tell you through my many years of experience that the best product features and innovations come from solving real-world customer problems. Therefore I strongly encourage you to attend the 2009 SAP BusinessObjects user conference and take full advantage of these Influence Council sessions. You may be the reason behind the next major innovation at SAP BusinessObjects!
Click here for more information…
«Good BI»
While I am glad to see an initiative like this, I don’t understand why it has been limited to attendees of the conference. I hope that it proves successful and is extended to us all via the web.