I’m very proud to have been working with SAP technologies and products for over 17 years.
My career transitioned from Business Analyst in Logistics, to Functional Consultant in SD/LE, to ABAP Developer, to Solution Architect and now finally to Entrepreneur.
Thanks to SAP…
- …I’ve been exposed to very sophisticated products. A domain of never-ending learning. More recently, even SAP has been introducing innovation faster than we can keep up… but that is another discussion;
- … this domain allowed me to travel and work almost anywhere. I was able to immigrate to Canada! Almost everything around me is directly or indirectly a result of decisions taken around my career;
- … I met incredible people via the community. SCN has become my family;
- ... via the SCN, I was able to give a lot back to the community. Here are a few of my engagements:
- Community projects like ABAP Report Wizard and Business classes (downloaded more than XXXXX times), with all its event presentations support that (TechEd, SAPPHIRE, Innojam);
- Contributed in pushing SAP for: Better UI experience (technology, adoption etc around SAPUI5, Screen Personas etc);
- Improved ByDesign product development;
- Help communicating the Business Value of HANA and specifically ERP on HANA;
- Several presentations on Community events (LOCATIONS>…….)
- Developer engagement (licensing advocacy);
- … I’ve been able to build a very successful company. We are proud to be one of the largest SAP consulting companies in Canada.
But I’ve been away….
Having multiple jobs is a very difficult thing. It is admirable that anyone can handle day job, family and still be so generous towards the SAP community. Thanks to all guys for making SCN is what it is today, a great success story. Particular THANKS to Mark Finnern and the Mentors (excluding me here for obvious reasons). Mark, a great community needs great mentors. You’ve succeeded in building an incredible team.
So in my case, since the start of my company, my job slowly transitioned to a more and more managerial one. SCN Contributions was the obvious sacrifice, but a difficult one. I’ve been in the last years away from SCN, or at least with minimal implication. As a result, I even considered joining the Mentor Alumni group….
But that would have been a terrible mistake….
This past year was important for me to refocus back on what interests me and what makes me happy. Ultimately, a pursuit of fulfillment.
On a personal level, I’ve decided to…
- Focus on an activity that I like. A real hobby. So I started biking. It is also an incredible workout. It gives you so much time to meditate, focus and rethink things…..
- Give back more to others. That is how I got engaged on the cause of Pediatric Cancer. You can see it here….
- Several other, very important, changes happened too…
My contributions and my work as a SAP Mentor with SCN is the highlight of my career
Simply put, that is what fulfills me, what makes me happy, to know I am making a difference. Realizing that was important.
I consider being a SAP Mentor as the highlight of my career. I love SAP products and technology and the Mentor program is the ultimate way to connect this all in a way to give it all back to the Community (SCN).
So I decided to make some important changes on my work activities to allow back an active contribution. A slowly transition that started a few months back is getting me to a point when now I can resume what I like doing the most, giving back to SCN.
Refocusing
My return will come back with a slightly different angle. I am a very good ABAP developer. I was also involved with SAP Business ByDesign, so these are the areas in which I am most known.
The following areas will be my focus:
- Solution Architecture – SCN is still very technically focused. I have a business background. I can help bridge the communication gap between technology and customers. For example: it won’t be about how nice the new ABAP feature is, but why customer’s development teams should start using it…
- Functional – Application expertise – I believe SAP has been playing the technology pitch a bit too hard. Sure SAP Tech is incredible, in many areas, but SAP is what it is for its APPLICATION FUNCTIONALITY DEPTH. Ex: you could argue who has the best DB support underneath, but NO ONE can compete with SAP Financials. Point!
- SAP Language Services – SAP Applications were built with full multilanguage support. That means that there are tools that allow customers to PROPERLY translate their solutions (custom code and config). Analysts and ABAPers are definitely NOT the right people to translate that content… YET, almost no customer is aware that this functionality exists and is FREE!
- Business Suite renovation – HANA being now the platform for new (and revised) applications is opening the door for an incredible transformation. It started with Simplified (or Simple!?) Financials. Soon we will have an optimized ERP complete (to run on HANA, or other in memory DB). I will focus on the value and the road ahead. I look at the future and that means the NEW BUSINESS SUITE. CRM, ERP, SCM, BW as separate systems will be a thing of the past. THEN you will see the incredible disruptive transformation coming to us. Skeptics, fasten your seatbelts.
Please be patient, this coming back won’t be instantaneous, but…
I am back…
