On March 22 and 23, 2023, the SAP user community will meet in Mannheim for the DSAG Technology Days 2023. The motto of the event is “Work in Progress” – a clear indication that a lot is currently in motion in the SAP world: New products are on the horizon, others will soon be phased out of maintenance, and the SAP community is also waiting for a sharpening of SAP’s product strategy following the Walldorf-based company’s announcement that it will focus more on its core business in the future. The DSAG would like to use the Technology Days to take stock of these and other issues and identify ways in which the status can be changed from “in progress” to “done.”
One ongoing issue that has preoccupied SAP user companies for many years is the move to SAP S/4HANA. This year’s 2023 release has been announced as the target release for all ERP customers for the next two years. So SAP is moving from a one-year release cycle to a two-year release cycle while offering longer mainstream maintenance per release of seven years and easier-to-adapt feature packs. It will be interesting to see whether companies will abandon their previously hesitant attitude toward SAP S/4HANA migration.
The DSAG has also been calling for a security dashboard for some time. The aim behind this is to create a single solution that automatically draws attention to security-relevant settings and potential security gaps in the (hybrid) SAP architecture.
A number of key SAP products will run out of maintenance in 2027. In this regard, the DSAG expects not only binding performance commitments for the new SAP products and services, but also complete migration paths and useful standards and services that are uniformly available for all SAP products to guide user companies through the changeover.
In the analytics area, the “One Data Suite” has been announced for the turn of the year 2023/2024 as a merger of SAP Data Intelligence, SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. In terms of investment protection, existing customers are interested in clear migration paths and license conversion models from SAP for their existing SAP BW installations.
As usual, the DSAG Technology Days also include an extensive program of presentations in which companies and SAP partners showcase successful projects. In Mannheim, Landgard GmbH, a producer cooperative for flowers, plants, fruit and vegetables, and IBsolution will be taking part with a joint presentation entitled “Landgard on the way to BW/4 – does it always have to be the cloud?” The content will focus on the question of why Landgard decided in favor of SAP BW/4HANA and against a direct migration to the cloud. The special circumstances regarding the existing system architecture will be outlined, as well as the arguments that spoke against a migration to the cloud. The presentation will take place on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 2 p.m.
The DSAG Technology Days are the most important industry meeting of the SAP community in spring. At the two-day event, the DSAG highlights the most important developments and trends around SAP technologies. The agenda includes practice-oriented presentations, discussions and expert sessions. There will also be an accompanying exhibition, which offers the opportunity to enter into dialog with SAP experts and exchange ideas with like-minded people. DSAG members and non-members alike can participate in the DSAG Technology Days.