SAUG Summit Details Released

[Steve Bennett]

SAUG Summit Details Released
Inside SAP 17 Jul 2009 by: Nathan Dukes

Acting Chairperson, and vice-chair of the SAP Australian User Group (SAUG), Paul Hawking, today announced the agenda for the 2009 SAUG Summit.

The summit provides delegates with networking opportunities with leading industry figures, and access to the latest tools and resources.

The SAUG summit is the largest SAP event in the Asia Pacific region, and organisers describe the event as a focal point for co-innovation and knowledge exchange within the SAP ecosystem.

SAUG Acting Chairperson and Vice-Chair, Paul Hawking, said they anticipate this year’s event will be even bigger than last year.

“While most conferences are struggling to maintain attendance this year, SAUG events continue to grow. Last year, we had 650 members attend the 2008 SAUG Summit, which was a great success. This year, we expect even more registrations,” he said.

For the first time this year, the summit will also include presentations and content specific to BusinessObjects.

In November 2008, the SAUG announced it would merge with the BOAUG (Business Objects Australian User Group) to provide a more complete user group for customers of BO and SAP.

Mr Hawking said the title of the conference, ‘The Intelligent Advantage’, serves to promote one of the key concepts of the conference: discovering who you can partner with to achieve a competitive advantage.

Paul also added that even though budgets had tightened due to the economic downturn, people are still investing in SAP projects.

“All it’s done is brought to their attention they need to do things a bit smarter. There’s a very heavy focus in this event related to business intelligence and also how companies are doing some things smarter,” he said.

He said the event is a great learning opportunity for people at all levels of the business.

“At the Summit, attendees listen to and learn from the experiences of peers, as well as thought leaders and SAP experts from around the globe. There's also specific content aimed at Summit 2009 for CFOs and CIOs.”

“The keynote speakers at the SAUG Summit will provide insight into specific business issues facing SAP users in the current climate, he said.

To be held at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, from the 4th to the 6th of August, the summit is an annual event that brings together hundreds of industry experts and SAP professionals.

Organisers say the SAUG Summit is not only about education but is also an opportunity for delegates to connect with peers to share ideas and methods to help save money and time, and increase effectiveness.


This year, key speakers include:

Ross O’Brien
Director, Economist Intelligence Unit.

Dr David Skellern
CEO, NICTA (National Information and Communications Technology Australia)

Kenneth Hierman
Finance Manager, Disney Corporation, Orlando USA.

Patrick Lilwall
CIO, Queensland Rail.

Dennis Lewis
CIO, 7-Eleven Stores Pty Ltd.

Christopher Rowley
Director- Customer Management & BI Systems, Tetra Pak, Singapore.


Also presenting are speakers from Australia Post, Konica Minolta, ANSTO, DEEWR and Sanitarium Health.