I spent the day with one of SAP’s partner companies in the North of Germany in the city of Hamburg. I was invited up to discuss community, spirit, power and of course engagement. Now having led the SDN community for so many years I felt very comfortable going up and speaking at their kick-off meeting and talking to them about how SAP engages in on the various different social channels.
Needless to say a couple of things happened that I was not expecting…
First, the company blew me away at how they were working in such a combined and open way with each other with a clear and direct focus on what they were doing and second what began as my typical “here is SDN” became more of a “here is SAP” and this is how we are broading ourselves and how we engage in places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Quoting Hasso from Sapphire a few years ago, “there will be no new product without community” could never be more true than today as I began to give examples and talk about experiences I realized myself exactly how far things have progressed at SAP in these terms.
Certainly some people have “issues” with our social approach and others tend to think of it as simply a marketing drive but yet here I am part of “Social Media Relations” on the “Media Relations” team within Global Communications… I still remember when I started the “sapnetwork” and “sapteched” Twitter accounts back in 2006 and how much resistance I was met with and now when I look I could not be prouder of how well things have progressed. Sure there are small things here and there I would personally change but all in all I think SAP has done a termendous job embracing a bold new way of engaging and they’ve done this without fear.
For opening my eyes and helping me realize the bigger picture I can only thank Acando for inviting me up there and repeat my offer – if you need anything please feel free to reach out and ask!
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