Inspiration and restraint

The 2022 annual congress aims to inspire participants

The days of restraint are over when it comes to the propensity to invest in IT. At 59 percent of the companies surveyed by DSAG at the beginning of this year in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the overall IT budget is increasing. For 29 percent, it remains the same, and for 5 percent, it is decreasing. With regard to investments in SAP, it can be noted that the budget is increasing at 57 percent of the companies surveyed. "The investment backlog of the past two years seems to be dissipating. What was still only developing very cautiously in 2021 will pick up speed as a result of the relaunch of projects or the need for transformation efforts. This is supported by the results for both overall IT budgets and SAP budgets."commented Jens Hungershausen, DSAG Chairman of the Board. With this starting situation from the beginning of this year, the SAP community is now heading to Leipzig for the DSAG Annual Congress.

ECC, S/4 and Rise

"The DSAG Annual Congress thrives on the exchange of ideas among participants and with SAP representatives and partner companies. That is why we are pleased to be able to open the doors to visitors again this year. Informative and insightful event days await us."Jens Hungershausen looks ahead.

There is much to discuss: ERP/ECC 6.0 and the Business Suite are still well ahead of S/4 in terms of the solutions currently in use, although S/4 is now ahead of ECC and the Business Suite in terms of willingness to invest, with around twice as many companies. Rise with SAP is treading water in terms of acceptance among DSAG members. There will hopefully be more news on this from SAP board member Thomas Saueressig in his DSAG keynote on the first day of the congress.

Success is the goal of every company, and all the more so the greater the challenges. Thus, the motto of this year's DSAG annual congress is "In search of ... success". Depending on the individual situation, flexibility and sovereignty, sustainability, transformation or cooperation can accompany this search and contribute to success.

New techniques

It is a question of checking where automation can be used profitably. The technical possibilities for this have continued to improve over the years. "SAP is on the right track by incorporating relevant achievements such as machine learning into new releases. However, these must then also be used by customers depending on their current state of transformation. So this is a challenge for both sides, Jens Hungershausen is convinced.

In practice, for example, one way can be to make established processes fit for the future, replace old ones and introduce new ones. "Some companies are already succeeding in this transformation, while others are still relying on their traditional process landscapes. But all of them currently have to question their business models and processes and, if necessary, adapt them to new technical possibilities," summarizes Jens Hungershausen, CEO of DSAG.

Close cooperation with partners in the supply chain and perhaps even with market competitors is also becoming increasingly decisive for success. This means that business networks are becoming increasingly important for exchanging relevant data efficiently and across companies. "The cooperation will intensify and spread to other industries. Here, too, SAP's assistance will be important in putting this type of cooperation on a secure footing and gearing it up for the future." says Jens Hungershausen.

As one of the 46 SAP user associations worldwide, DSAG has repeatedly succeeded in making its customers' voices heard over the past 25 years, which is also an important function of the annual DSAG Congress. "In 2000, SAP formally granted DSAG a leading role among European SAP user groups. At that time, SAP accepted us as a partner on an equal footing. This was primarily due to the fact that we presented ourselves to SAP in a professional manner with know-how", says Jens Hungershausen. The DSAG was founded by 15 committed SAP users from various companies. Today, more than 60,000 users from over 3,800 companies are organized within the interest group.

The main characteristic of partnership is that people negotiate together. First we talk to each other, then about each other. "It is in the nature of things that the interests of user associations and SAP sometimes diverge. But that doesn't mean we have to publicly bang the drum to get something done."says Jens Hungershausen.

Diversity and innovation

In recent years, DSAG's topics have become more diverse - also due to developments around the cloud and digital transformation. Nevertheless, there are also constant topics, such as licenses, maintenance and integration. DSAG's central positions in this context are: SAP's cloud revenue targets must not adversely affect existing contracts. Transparent, flexible and scalable cloud contracts with associated metrics are desirable. There is a need for easier use of different SAP solutions through uniform - where necessary, user-friendly supported by automation - master data models in hybrid S/4 scenarios and in future cloud scenarios. Reliable product and technology strategies as a basis for investment security and plannability as well as resilient roadmaps and migration paths are essential.

SAP and DSAG will therefore not run out of topics in the next 25 years and at the annual congress in Leipzig. "It's a constant give and take - and that's what makes our collaboration so successful"Jens Hungershausen is certain.