SAP

SAP. A name known by many. Many know it not because its a very powerful software but the prospect of being someone associated with it. Many who have ventured into becoming a specialist in this field are seen as one of the top earners in the IT industry.

The SAP Summit that was held from 5-6 July at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre was an event that I was looking forward to attend. I had heard many stories from collegue of this event namely the wonderfully deck buffet and the generous distibution of freebies from the various participating partners. Plus, it was free of charge.

There were many talks and forum organise thoughout the two day event. Saw many of my collegues from Shell attending the event as well mainly to catchup with the latest technology that SAP had to offer. One of the most interesting topic that caught my attention was the application that merges Microsoft Office and SAP. A product called DUET. A partnership from one of the two biggest software giants in the world coming together and presenting an application that would indeed change the way we work. I couldn't help by be dazzled by the uniqueness of the software that allow SAP users to access SAP via Outlook. Leave can be done via Outlook. You could even do your time writing while composing an email. Everything in a single interface. An interface that many are so accustomed to especially when emails play a huge part in our working life. Seeing this may not be that new to me as I am currently supporting a similar application in Shell that functions similarly to DUET which is catered mainly to the Sales people.

Besides this innovative software, I had a chance to see for myself how the next generation of SAP would look like. Visually SAP can really be very interesting especially with reporting where data can be translated into graphs and pie charts. Supporting version 3.1 to 4.6C, it was simply a breath of fresh air to see some pictures instead of the usual boring interface which I do not think is that user friendly. With the partnership with Microsoft, I believe SAP will be able to evolve into a more user friendly software which can be use by all even for those who had never seen SAP before.

As I sat and heard the various topic that were addressed during the two day conference, it does seem that the future of IT would indeed take a different pathway. As more and more companies start to invest in IT, IT has never been an investment to a company but a running cost. Companies have now seen IT as medium to obtain the correct information in order to make the right decision. As IT progresses, many companies would not want to concentrate on building the best IT infrastructure but the most cost effective medium that would generate profit for the company. Business is still the key area that companies should concentrate their attention to as this is where the bulk of the money will come from. In order to expand the profit, cost would most definitely need to be reduce.

IT would eventually be a victim of this cost cutting measure. Software will evolve in becoming a simple, powerful and user friendly tool whereby anyone would be able to use it. One do not need to be an expert in using a software. Out of the shelf software would be next in thing whereby company would just need to buy and implement it in their company without spending much money coming up with project and developing software by scratch. With the right know how, there would a less need to have much support and with less support there would be less people require to support the IT industry. A handful would just be sufficient to maintain the current system and make sure that it works.

As I look at the trend the market is setting, I sit and wonder where I would be in near future. Indeed I will not be a techie. Knowing this trend would indeed help in me in setting my direction in my career. Time will only tell where I would be in future. I only hope that it would be a place whereby I would enjoy working at and not dread having to wake up every day.