The first official day of ASUG’s SAP BusinessObjects User Conference (a.k.a. SBOUC) commenced at 8 a.m., when ASUG CEO Bridgette Chambers addressed the attendees in Orlando.

Her message was clear: The event was a celebration of the accomplishments of this band of BusinessObjects brothers and sisters—a gathering of like-minded individuals who share, challenge and educate each other (via 162 hours of content at SBOUC) and directly influence SAP’s future BusinessObjects’ product direction. “They’re listening to you!” Chambers said of the impact that ASUG members have had on SAP.

Photo by Timo Elliott

Following Chambers was Steve Lucas, SAP’s global GM of business analytics and technology. His keynote covered a range of topics—relations with ASUG BusinessObjects members (“The handshakes have lightened up a bit”); the general availability of BI 4.0 (“The launch of BI 4 in February was a little preliminary”); its acceptance by customers (4,000 downloads of BI 4 during ramp-up); and some road signs on SAP’s BI roadmap (“We believe in one fundamental tenet for BI: There is not one tool to rule them all”).

Lucas also pledged SAP’s adherence to openness—“We are freakin’ open,” he said. “We can literally report off of smoke signals.” He also contrasted SAP’s approach to Oracle’s “Red Stack” strategy. “It’s boxing out not just the competition but their partners,” Lucas noted.

He and his team also offered several analytics demos (such as one on mobile BI and another on sentiment analysis) that illustrated the effects that real-time analytic data could have on business operations and mobility processes.

Speaking of business users’ wants and needs today, Lucas said, “We don’t want income statements. We want that kind of real-time analysis that changes the way the business functions on a daily basis.”

Be sure to check out ASUGOnline.com for SBOUC keynotes and interviews in the ASUG News Studio, as well as the #SBOUC hashtag on Twitter.

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