Welcome to your March News
Chairman's Note
I cannot believe it's March and we have already had several well attended and interactive sessions and as the year progresses, we will be continuing to evolve and build on our virtual and face to face learning and collaboration community events.
I am pleased to say that we have opened the voting on our Board election, we have three extremely capable and experienced members of the UKISUG community looking to be elected to the two vacant positions on the UKISUG Board. If you are the primary contact for your organisation now is the time to cast your vote . The UKISUG board helps to shape the strategy, improve and run your community, so it’s important we can hear your voice and make the changes you want to see. Voting closes on Monday 28th March so don’t miss your opportunity to shape the future of your User Group. Earlier this week myself and Craig Dale UKISUG CEO held one of our regular catchups with Michiel Verhoeven, SAP UKI Managing Director. As well as getting an update on the SAP customer success organisation, this was a good opportunity for us to update Michiel on the UKISUG strategy plans, our 2022 community success initiatives and our membership growth objectives, plus some new events and the potential topics for this year’s white papers – watch this space as these plans come to fruition!
At the end of March, we’ll be supporting Global Autism Acceptance Week. We are committed to growing a diverse community, and we know that it’s our differences that make us so vibrant. Recognising neurodiversity within the workplace, the community and society at large is important, and UKISUG want to celebrate and champion that! Not sure what neurodiversity is? find out more here. If you have a story to share or want to find out how you could get involved contact charlotte.mcconville@sapusers.org.
I am pleased to announce that our first symposium of the year is on the 5th April. Our analytics symposium is invaluable for anybody within the analytics sector. Hosted at The Vox, Birmingham the day promises to be a great opportunity to connect, collaborate and come away with thoughts and ideas you can take back to your organisation. With topics featuring SAP Analytics Cloud, Data Preparation and Digital Transformation not only is this a fantastic opportunity for analytics specialists but also users of SAP BusinessObjects. With keynote speakers, Trevor Cowan from Howden Joinery presenting why “Howden’s turned to Machine Learning to deliver production optimisation” and Chris Hodgetts from Sanctuary Housing presenting "From Pandemic to Mesh" as well as Timo Elliot from SAP, we know it’s going to be a great day.
Our Learning Hub offer is entering its final few weeks and if you haven’t already renewed or purchased your licences, time is running out. SAP’s Learning Hub offers the most comprehensive SAP learning materials available and with complimentary Live Access you can practice implementation whilst you train, and without the risk to your actual systems. With Certification in the Cloud, you can also get certified in the training you’re undertaking, schedule up to 6 exams a year and test your skills and knowledge. Save 67% on your training with SAP’s Learning Hub, find out more and start saving on your training here.
Thank you for continuously supporting your UKISUG community and to our Board nominees, good luck!
Paul Cooper UKISUG Chairman
An efficient supply chain requires fast and accurate communication between trading partners and EDI integration is the industry standard for efficiently exchanging data between suppliers and customers, particularly in high-volume industries such as retail and manufacturing.
EDI should not be seen as simply a cost of doing business, even if the initial driver is a customer mandate – it’s a strategic investment for businesses that makes you more competitive, delivering ROI multiple times over. With that being said, the key to unlocking the full value of EDI is for companies to move beyond just compliance to an EDI solution that is fully integrated with your SAP ERP system.
Why SAP EDI Integration?
SAP EDI integration increases the speed and efficiency of trading with your customers by removing the manual processes otherwise needed to move data between your EDI and SAP system. This is particularly important as transaction volumes increase or more customers ask you to trade electronically.
Automating the exchange of EDI messages with SAP EDI integration enables you to process more orders in less time and redeploy internal resources into more strategic areas of the business. It also increases the level of service you deliver to your customers, as not only do you eliminate the errors caused by manual data entry into your EDI and SAP systems, advanced error checking and validation maintains data integrity within your SAP ERP system.
If you are interested in how SAP EDI integration can help your business become more competitive, please contact us on 0345 643 6600, or visit our website at www.truecommerce.com
At UKISUG we value knowledge and collaboration within our membership and we want to make sure you can find and access some of the best learning materials available.
Our member exclusive offer won't last forever, you only have until 30th March to renew or purchase your Learning Hub licences. Don't miss out on an opportunity to excel in your training!
Find out more about our exclusive member offer and how Learning Hub can improve training within your organisation here, or email robyn.brentley@sapusers.org
Events Our calendar is always full of interesting, educational and open spaces for you and your community to get together.
Take a look at our upcoming events, or check out our full events calendar below!
In the spotlight this month... Your Analytics Symposium provides you with a great opportunity to network and collaborate with peers on topics such as SAP Analytics Cloud, Data Preparation, including Platform & Database and Digital Transformation.
SAP UKI are keen to listen and learn from you, understand what is working well and where improvements can be made. We want you to know that your insights and opinions matter and sharing those with SAP is the first step to ensuring you're getting the most from your SAP products.
The Customer Loyalty (NPS) program is one of the ways that SAP UKI will collect your thoughts, integrate your ideas and deliver what you want to see!
The first phase of Customer Loyalty Survey is now LIVE and will be open for your feedback until 22nd March 2022.
Look out for an email from (customerinsights@surveys.sap.com) and don’t miss your opportunity to influence change!
Have you heard about SUGTalks?
SUGTalks is the official podcast of the UK & Ireland SAP User Group. Together with our special guests, this series will take a deep dive into the topics, challenges and opportunities facing SAP Users today.
We welcomed the new year with the start of our sixth season of the podcast and we've already had some great guests. Our most recent episode features Simon Nichols from Thrive, as he talks about overcoming adversity through positivity.
Listen below, and if you have any suggestions for what we can talk about let us know at support@sapusers.org
Could an MSc Student support your next project? Are you looking to undertake a digital transformation project in the coming months? At UKISUG, we are supporting the University of Portsmouth in securing 8-12 week placements for Digital Business Management Students.
Students are looking to engage within your organisation and work collaboratively on digital transformation and analytics consulting projects. They are hoping to begin a career in the technology consulting industry and you could help!
Could you... 1. Provide a project scope to the student 2. Allocate time to explain the scope 3. Fill in a one page report monthly about the student's progress 4. Review the final outcome of the project with the student
If yes, then utilise a student placement opportunity today and benefit from strong analytics and reporting skills!
Do you have a story to share?
It is really important to us that we include customer experiences in our events. Please get involved and let us know if you are interested. You will be invited to attend a speaker training workshop as a thank you and you will also receive a complimentary pass to our annual conference, UKISUG Connect 2022.
We would love to hear from you!
'I have presented a few times and that has been great. You feel even more connected with the User Group. The amount of connections I made afterwards from people reaching out to ask questions, has helped me build a broader network of people across the UK and Ireland from a business and knowledge perspective.' - Conor Riordan, Pfizer
Email robyn.brentley@sapusers.org to get started.
Latest News Computer Weekly - SAP and Oracle express solidarity with Ukraine against Russia Diginomica - How Managecore is automating SAP operations with Avantra IDG Connect - Why organisations need to ‘tread carefully’ when it comes to their SAP Cloud migration Diginomica - ASUG’s Pulse of the SAP Customer 2022 Study Results – behind the numbers The Register - Skills shortage puts SAP projects on hold
UK and Ireland SAP User Group
+44(0)1642 309930
Email not displaying correctly? View Online |