My current travel is horrendous but thankfully only two more weeks to go and that will end a five week stint and hopefully get me back to more normal blog activity. Next week it’s Munich at SAPs TechEd. Yes sirree, a suit (who doesn’t have one) in the geek pit. I may have a few sartorial problems. The good news is that Redmonk is putting on a series of Community Day events where one of the tracks has the grand title: The New Business Meets The New IT: disruption in business models, culture and technology. A mouthful I know and not invented by me I hasten to add.
I’ll be in the discussion coconut shy with James Governor and Marilyn Pratt as we ruminate and hear views on some (or all) of the following (from Michael Cote’s blog):
What the Web, Office and Enterprise 2.0 hype means for you. A conversation about what works, what doesn’t and why. Or, what if anything does 2.0 have to do with SAP?
While Dennis outlined some more narrow topics:
1. How you can bring the edge stuff to the centre (if possible) – ie breaking the 1/9/90 rule?
2. What can smart geeks (eg Majority Desk) teach business? For me that changes the conversation. Dan McW had feedback I thought was useful as a starting point. Examples speak louder than theory/ideas.
3. Moving the geek vs. suits conversation forward – we know the problem exists but what are people doing about it? Where are the pinch points? (sorry middle management, step aside or step up to the add value plate)
4. FaceBook for business – silly or sensible?
5. Loose ties strongly held (if temporarily) – what does this do for relationship?
6. Making it worthwhile
The listed topics are of interest to me on a number of levels. Answers help me get a better understanding of the kinds of consumery technology that make a solid business fit. Given some of the Stone Age thinking I see among professionals, it’s important to know whether I’m thinking sensibly or am in gaa-gaa land.
I’m hoping that part of the wider conversation will help me understand more about how the geek v suit divide is realistically crossed. How does the world of money relate to the world of creativity? These are not trivial discussions. IT is often cast in the role of a roadblock to innovation. With so much emphasis on control and compliance, it’s hardly surprising. Especially when it means a concentration of power in the hands of people who are frequently characterised as socially inept – a stereotype I personally find offensive.
As an aside, the trip will give me the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues (other than James, Marilyn and Cote) like David Terrar, Sig Rinde, Thomas Otter and Nigel James. And of course get time with some of the SAP execs (again.)
Technorati Tags: SAP TechEd, SAP, SAP BPX, SAP SDN
