Thomas Otter

On the 2nd and 3rd of December Gartner is running a conference for the German market at the Frankfurt Airport Sheraton.  Details here. You can flick through a funky online brochure here. 

The German IT market has its own quirks and nuances. SAP looms even larger than it does in other markets, so I expect lots of discussions and mutterings on SAP’s maintenance moves.  I’ve had quite a few calls and meetings  with German CIO’s recently, and they are feeling more than a tad grumpy about the changes. I heard words that expand my German vocabulary but  are not suitable for a family blog.

Gartner subscribers may want to read Peter and Alexa’s note, Guidelines for Responding to SAP’s Increased Maintenance Fees (G00162411), 05-NOV-2008.

Clients are concerned about the significant cost impact of SAP’s new Enterprise Support offering, and have struggled to distill the benefits commensurate with the increase in fees. Gartner offers a six-step plan of action to help clients improve their situation with SAP.

The agenda has something of a green theme. As a society, "green" is not a new thing in Germany, it has been going on for decades, so the Germans have a good nose for Greenwash. 

The presenters are a mix of international and German analysts.

It will also be an opportunity to catch up with my German Colleagues. A conference half an hour’s drive away up the autobahn. Sweet. We have a merry band of German based analysts. Andy Bitterer, Carsten Casper, Martin Gutberlet, Christian Hestermann, Martina Kurth, Mick MacComacaigh, Frank Ridder, me, Bettina Tratz-Ryan, Jürgen Weiss, Peter Wesche, and Annette Zimmermann.  Many of them will be at the event.

In between my rather hectic travels, I’m working on figuring out my research agenda for 2009. I’ve not written anything about SAP since I joined, but now that I have some more personal distance, I hope to play a more active role in the SAP coverage at Gartner. These are interesting times.

If you would like to attend the event, Details here.