01. Day 1 Kickoff With John Furrier & Peter Burris. (00:21) 02. Big News From Microsoft With SAP. (00:43) 03. Are All The Vendor Shows Are Cloud Shows. (02:20) 04. Is Making Stuff Under The Hood Seemless The Mission. (04:02) 05. Talk About The Battle For Growth In SAP. (06:19) 06. What Are Your Thoughts Around Ecosystem. (08:13) Track List created with http://www.vinjavideo.com. --- --- SAP’s been on the defensivetime for full frontal attack: Analysts at #SAPPHIRENOW by Kristen Nicole | May 172016 The new landscape for modern business is characterized by a digital transformationand SAP SE is heavily invested in the changing marketplace. The software maker’s partnership with Microsofthighlighted by an appearance of Satya NadellaCEO of Microsoftat SAP Sapphire’s keynote this morningis just one example of the company’s direction moving forward. While notablethe Microsoft teamup isn’t surprising given SAP’s penchant for open systems. So how can its ecosystem-driven strategies work in this era of digitization? Discussing SAP’s tactics and reviewing Sapphire’s kickoff keynote were John Furrier (@furrier) and Peter Burris (@plburris)cohosts of theCUBEfrom the SiliconANGLE Media team. Key partnersusable design The integration with Microsoft’s Office 360 is a natural extension for SAPBurris saidbecause of Microsoft’s broad adoption. “Having this integration makes an enormous amount of senseas SAP’s overall mission is a modern application setnot just a migrated application set” he explained. The joint offering is just one example of SAP’s focus on usabilitya principle applied to several initiatives within the company. This all contributes to SAP’s becoming a modern platform so that when a customer does move to the cloud under SAP’s guidancethey do so with a graphical user interface designed with the end user in mind. What’s it all mean for the customer? This well-designed software can complement a customer’s end goalbut also solve many problems that previously would not have been able to benefit from a software solution. “Software is flattening dramatically many of the things that used to distinguish how customerssmall businesses and large businesses behave” explained Burris. “The whole thing is brought together with the software experience.” For practitionersthat means small businesses can act more like big businessessolving more problems with new technologies and agility. “A new class of business problems are coming under the umbrella of what tech can do for you — it’s now easier to attack [problems] at scaleengaging customers and partners with a high amount of responsiveness” Burris furthered. “Everybody’s looking at these new technologies and seeing new opportunities because we can identify new problems we can actually attend to.” New opportunitiesrival ecosystems Such fresh opportunities ultimately mean competition within the marketas SAP and its rivals present their unique solutions to businesses. For this emerging market landscapeFurrier pointed outthere’s battle for growthprofit and a new kind of engagement. He asked of Burris“What does SAP need to do?” SAP’s aggressive acquisition streak has led to significant advancementsso unlike many of its rivals SAP has done very well in that it hasn’t failed in cloud. Citing double-digit growth over the past few yearsBurris was careful to note the scaling costs and the marginal profits. Of particular interest to Burris was the reactions from customers and employees alike. He explained: “A lot of interesting things with SAP — as they go through this transition — customer satisfaction goes up and employee participation goes up. They’re doing something right.” For SAP and its rivalsthe cloud ecosystem plays a critical role in market success. For SAPBurris saidits experience in open ecosystems will drive new levels of efficiency. Throughout this week’s Sapphire event he will be looking to determine to what degree SAP will establish itself as a driver of that ecosystem competition? “Historically SAP’s been defensive — I have a sense now SAP will go on the attack and do a full-frontal against Oracle’s ecosystemas they try to bring what’s working to more customersespecially those that already have SAP installed” said Burris.