One of the hottest topics in the SAP ecosystem is the future of SAP developers. Gateway and SUP are coming on strong, but will SAP find a way to open up the platform for developers who often find themselves on the outside looking in? SAP’s Aiaz Kazi thinks SAP can pull this off. In this JD-OD shoot, he gives us his view from the field as the rules of developer marketing change.
Kazi also works closely with Vishal Sikka‘s team on Sikka’s keynotes, so the second half of the interviews moves into Sikka’s keynote messaging (think: HANA) and whether HANA talk is going to move beyond speed into business value.
Show Notes
0:00 “You don’t market to developers – you give them software they can get their hands on”
1:10 How does SAP engage with developers who are not part of large SAP partner shops?
2:55 The challenge: will SAP make progress on this by SAPPHIRE Now Orlando?
3:30 Barriers to overcome: “It boills down to culture” – access versus monetization
4:30 Vishal Sikka keynote themes – HANA and customer value
6:30 HANA talk should be about business value more than speed – would Sikka agree?
I get the feeling that developer access at the level we are talking about is understood by some parts of SAP, but it is not generally accepted as a ‘good thing’. I have some sympathy with SAP over the licencing issues, but as Jon and Aiaz alluded to, most areas of SAP just don’t have a culture of ‘reaching out’ yet.