Sap And Enterprise Trends Podcasts From Jon Reed (@jonerp) Of Diginomica.com

In their traditional post-Sapphire Now live recording, Jon and Dick once again grab an empty meeting room, but this time, they are - fittingly enough - disrupted. But the taping goes on, as Jon and Dick talk through the major themes of the show, kicking off with the diginomica.com story Dick published before Sapphire Now 2017 on multi-cloud that caused a stir. The guys hit on Sap Cloud Platform and Cloud Foundry, debate whether S/4HANA Cloud was overlooked, and break down Leonardo. Dick also gets into SAP Hybris, microservices, and the guys talk about the SaaS standardization dilemma for customers. They also explain why they chose NOT to talk indirect access.

In the audio-only version of this informal video hangout from Mark Finnern's departed treehouse, Finnern reflects with Jon Reed of diginomica on what he learned at SAP in the early days of building enterprise tribes. Now a consultant, Finnern explains why companies should be passionate about communities - not just for customers, but for competitive edge. Finnern also makes his case playfulness as a way of energizing companies and breaking down silos. The guys also discuss Finnern's keys to a successful enterprise communities, and where companies run into trouble. They move into the tricky territory of KPIs, and measuring the results of community investments. The podcast closes with Finnern's take on how SAP has handled community - and the SAP Mentors - after his departure.

In this informal, audio-only Hangout, Jon Reed of diginomica talks with two enterprise blockchain enthusiasts about the potential of blockchain in the enterprise. Fresh off a Hyperledger hackathon event, Clive Boulton and Greg Misiorek share what they've learned, and why a couple of enterprisey dudes think that the enterprise is due for some enterprisey disruption. The guys also touch on Ethereum and why Hyperledger, a Linux project heavily supported by IBM and other players, seems to have the most potential right now for enterprise blockchains.   NOTE: recommend headphone listening as Greg's audio was not optimal. Did my best to improve it. I'll also be writing about this discussion on diginomica.com, so if you missed anything on the audio, check and/or search "blockchain" on  http://www.diginomica.com for more.

In this shorter companion podcast to their longer IoT chat, Jon and Mrinal Wadhwa of Fybr discuss SAP's Internet of Things strategy. Wadhwa explains why he stayed away from SAP involvement for a few years, and why SAP's current IoT strategy has brought him back. He shares what he learned in Barcelona, and the guys touch on where SAP goes from here. As in the last podcast, there is a touch of wind in the background, but mostly the sound is good - though you'll hear Jon's business cards getting blown away at one point. 

In this live podcast from SAP TechEd Barcelona, Jon finally gets his schedule aligned with Mrinal Wadhwa of Fybr, which has a very interesting IoT play underway. The guys talk about Wadhwa's career shifts, before moving to a deeper talk on Internet of Things use cases. Wadhwa shares customer projects with cities, and how those projects are designed and funded. The guys discuss what the IoT value is underneath the hype, and wrap with some words on IoT security. There is a bit of wind noise at the beginning as the guys taped outside, but otherwise this should be a good listen. Note: though this podcast was taped at an SAP show, there is not much SAP talk in this podcast. The guys delved into SAP's IoT plays in a shorter, companion podcast.

In this SAP TechEd 2016 Barcelona review podcast, Jon Reed talks with cloud and DevOps expert and SAP Mentor Dick Hirsch about his reactions. The guys break down the high points of their meetings, with a look at digital transformation, Hybris and micro-services, IoT, and progress with SAP's Apple iOS development partnership. They also explore the question: why isn't there more DevOps at SAP TechEd? The impact of DevOps and pros/cons of micro-services are other topics the guys explore from their outdoor - though slightly chilly - poolside taping. 

In this brief instant reaction podcast, Jon talks with SAP Mentor and developer Graham Robinson about his reaction to Bernd Leukert's SAP TechEd keynote. Graham also lays out the developer questions for SAP TechEd he is looking to get answered. 

At the Acucmatica analyst day, Jon Reed sat down with world class event troublemaker Brian Sommer not long after blowing a fuse. Jon sees if he can get Brian worked up again as the guys review current issues in HR tech, with the HR tech event season about to hit. The guys hit on problems in HR analytics and recruiting in this fairly short but spicy conversation.

In this live conference wrap, taped on SuccessConnect day two, Jon Reed and SuccessFactors consultant Jarret Pazahanick kick around the key themes of the conference and provide a gut check. Pazahanick is known for his pesky questions, but this review catches Pazahanick in an upbeat mood. Pazahanick explains why his views on SuccessFactors have shifted, and the guys hit on multiple themes of the conference, including diversity and business without bias, Intelligent Services. mobile UX and more. The guys hit on under-reported news, keynote reviews, and Pazahanick detailed his biggest concerns going forward. Jon does manage to get Pazahanick in a feisty mood regarding ASUG's announcement of their "Partner Place" program for evaluating SAP consulting partners. 

Jon Reed and Vinnie Mirchandani have their differences when it comes to the outlook for robotics and jobs. At Inforum 2016, they sat down for a podcast taping where Vinnie explained the motivations behind his soon-to-be-released book and why he is optimistic about robotics and how workers can find new ways of working with tech and alongside the robots of the future. Vinnie made his case for why alarmists aren't helping us and the guys do some back and forth over the responsibilities of workers and employers and our educational system for adapting to the changes that automation brings.

In the second of their seat-of-the-pants Inforum 2016 podcasts, Jon and Brian Sommer discuss the radical future of finance, based on Brian's recent posts on radical EPM on diginomica.com. Brian makes his case for why big data threatens spreadsheet culture, and how robotics is changing the finance profession. He brings in real world examples on social media sentiment analysis, and why finance people and CIOs have to get on the same page. The guys wrap with a preview of Brian's piece on how the airlines can redeem the customer experience with applied analytics - the topic of a recent multi-part series, "The Right Stuff" - now up on diginomica.com. Listeners who make it to the end get to sample Brian's Rodney Dangerfield "no respect" impersonation, dedicated to frequent flyers everywhere

In this informal video hangout, Jon Reed of http://www.diginomica.com talks with SuccessFactors consultants/experts Jarret Pazahanick and Luke Marson to get their views on Sapphire Now and ASUG 2016, and the key questions customers raised. The guys dig into the future of SAP HCM in an S/4HANA world, and also break down the open questions on S/4HANA that customers are asking. Because of the critical issues on private versus public clouds and what this means to customers, Jon has added an 8 minute audio postscript with additional comments and clarifications from SAP Mentor Dick Hirsch.

In part two of their informal video hangout, Jon Reed of diginomica.com, Jarret Pazahanick and Luke Marson shift their focus to cloud HCM in the field. Using their recent podcast with Steve Bogner's SAP HCM Insighs as a starting point, Jarret and Luke talk about bad versus good practices in SuccessFactors consulting. the guys hit on the demand for SuccessFactors skills, the need for independent experts, and they hit the always-hot issue of SAP certification. Note: part one of this video chat, on S/4HANA and HCM, will be released soon.

At the day one LiveWorx keynotes, Internet of Things security was an overlooked topic. Jon set about to correct that by sitting down with Volker Gerstenberger and Tomi Ronkainen of Giesecke & Devrient, a firm with a deep history of security - everything from bank notes to, now, the IoT. The guys talk about the thorny security issues raised by IoT, and how they can be addressed during the design process. Autonomous/smart cars are one hacking controversy the guys cover. They also discuss the tensions between airtight security and great UX, and what they tell end customers about security preparedness.  

In this now-infamous reunion shoot, the five dudes/miscreants/wayward travelers are reunited for a rehash of the events of Sapphire Now Orlando 2016. Harald, Jon, Den, Vijay and John all have new gigs or roles since the were last together, but the goal remains the same - a frank breakdown of what they've learned and heard. The guys review the keynotes, discuss the viability of S/4HANA at this juncture, and evaluate SAP's customer-first intentions. Digital moves such as Digital Customer Insight also get the rundown. This audio is pulled from a video shoot - you can read extensive Sapphire Now/ASUG 2016 coverage on diginomica.com.  

During this candid interview with ASUG CEO Geoff Scott, Jon gets the skinny on ASUG's latest collaboration with DSAG - a position paper on digital transformation that is a key issue for SAP customers. Scott shares the story on how the collaboration came about, and Jon presses to find out if ASUG endorses S/4HANA and SAP's view of S/4HANA as the digital core. Taped live in Orlando the day before ASUG Annual Conference and Sapphire Now, Scott shares his goals for the show and beyond. He also gives the view on ASUG's surprise acquisition of the U.S. division of The Eventful Group. This is the audio of a video shoot - you can check the companion analysis Jon wrote of this shoot on diginomica.com. 

During this live interview, taped in the midst of a bustling Consensus 2016, Steemit co-founder Ned Scott gives Jon the inside view on the creation of Steemit, and their unique approach to rewarding/paying content creators and curators through their blockchain-based platform. He also announces the launch of Steemit.com. Ned talks about Steemit's different asset classes, including Steem dollars, and how they've sparked their launch with a Slack-based community. The guys also get into the failure of existing networks to compensate content creators, and create a civil environment for discourse.  Jon also vows to jump off a bridge it companies like Steemit can't build new media models as viable alternatives to living on Facebook. 

Following their annual tradition, Jon Reed and Dick Hirsch steal an empty room - or in this case, a (mostly) empty hallway - for a review of the news and events of Sapphire Now and the ASUG Annual Conference, 2016. Hirsch shares his investigations, and the guys compare notes on topics such as the HANA Cloud Platform, the SAP-iOS partnership, and S/4HANA clarifications. The guys discuss S/4HANA's viability as a digital core, SAP's cloud positioning, and how attendees reacted. Customer feedback to SAP on integration, a big theme of the conference, is addressed. This podcast leans on the technical side, which was surprising given Sapphire Now is a business conference - but even Hasso Plattner's final day keynote had an in-depth S/4HANA migration demo. 

During this live taping at Collision 2016, Jon talks with "User researcher, artist, and digital anthropologist" Caroline Sinders about the intersection of UX design and machine learning. Sinders shares key points from her Collision talk on design for consent, and whether online harassment can be reduced via design. Sinders gives her assessment of Facebook's chatbots and explains why calling such chatbots "AI" is inaccurate. Finally, Sinders sets the record straight on the panel controversy at SXSW and what conference organizers should learn from that brouhaha.

In this frank/informal chat, recorded live at Collision 2016 in New Orleans, Mike Janke, Co-founder and Chairman of Silent Circle, shares his field views on enterprise security, starting with the advice and wake-up calls he gives to customers. Janke also gives a blunt take on the FBI vs Apple encryption controversy. The issue of user experience design versus security is addressed. The guys wrap with some reflection from Janke on his prior work as a Navy SEAL, and what he learned about risk that carries over into his work with Silent Circle.