ASUG Talks kicks off 2026 answering your questions. 

Last year, during an ASUG Community Conversation focused on SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), we fielded questions from our attendees about the newest addition to the SAP portfolio. 

This week on ASUG Talks, I am joined by Sandeep Dhingra, VP & Strategic Architect Advisor of SAP BDC. He addresses the event's unanswered questions about BDC, and how it can help customers prepare their IT landscapes for AI. 

Related Insights

• I spoke with my ASUG colleagues about the insights and pieces of content from 2025 they found most beneficial 
• Tune in to my conversation with ASUG CEO & Chief Community Champion, Geoff Scott, focused on his biggest takeaways from 2025

ASUG CEO & Chief Community Champion, Geoff Scott, joins ASUG Talks this week to discuss three of the year's most critical theme--as revealed to us by our ASUG Talks agentic AI chatbot!

Geoff and I also walked listeners throughout our own AI use case and reflected on the year's key themes and topics in the ASUG community. 

Key Insight:

• AI growth and innovation in the SAP ecosystem 
• Cloud adoption among ASUG members 
• ASUG's own agentic AI use case

This week on ASUG Talks, I am joined by several of my colleagues, who worked hard this past year to develop content aimed at helping ASUG members make the most of their SAP technology investments. We cover the year's best insights, from conferences to podcasts, and which insights are the most helpful and critical. 

Key Resource: 

• 2025 ASUG Pulse of the SAP Customer Research
• ASUG Executive Exchange
• First Five newsletter sign-up
• ASUG Talks Roundtable: Inside ASUG's SAP S/4HANA Adoption Research
• SAP's Irfan Khan on SAP Business Data Cloud's Impact and Future Development
• Migrate First, Transform Later: J. J. Keller’s Strategic Path to SAP S/4HANA
• Hydro One’s Transformation Journey and Key Takeaways for Canadian Utilities
• Unlocking Value: How John Deere Successfully Migrated from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA
• ASUG Collective

This week on ASUG Talks, SAP Cloud ALM takes center stage. I am joined by two guests offering different perspectives about the solution. Bryce Lightner, Enterprise Solutions and Operations Architect at Woodstream Corporation, discussed his experience using the solution, while Sören Ruder, Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Head of Customer Experience & Solutions (CXS) at SAP, joined the podcast to articulate the value of SAP Cloud ALM and where it fits into the portoflio. 

Key Insights

• How SAP Cloud ALM helped Woodstream optimize its project management capabilities
• The impact SAP Cloud ALM can have on enterprises as they undertake business transformations
• How SAP Cloud ALM can also help organizations with their AI journeys

Related Insights 

• Read ASUG editorial's interview with Irfan Khan, President and Chief Product Officer of SAP Data & Analytics, about SAP Business Data Cloud

Leaders from the global SAP user groups DSAG, UKISUG, and ASUG joined the podcast this week to discuss the findings from the annual collaborative research projects the communities undertake. The three leaders not only discussed the similarities in SAP priorities, investments, and hurdles among their members, but they also parsed the differences in response among the global user groups. 

Key Insights

• The knowledge gap surrounding licensing of certain SAP solutions
• The split between private and public cloud environments among the global communities
• Security and customization concerns 

Related Insights

• Gains insights from SaskPower around its five SAP migration projects
• Dive into ASUG's recent change management and SAP Signavio research

In a special episode of ASUG Talks, we dive into several of clips from ASUG Talks episodes published throughout the year, covering topics ranging from cloud environments to IT professional development. Join us this week to hear clips from some of the podcast's most popular 2025 episodes. 

Episodes Included: 

• SAP's Thomas Saueressig on Public and Private Cloud, Enterprise Architecture, and AI Integration
• ASUG Talks Roundtable: Inside ASUG's SAP S/4HANA Adoption Research
• How Precision Drilling Drives Improved Asset Maintenance with SAP S/4HANA
• ASUG Talks Customer Success Story: How SA Power Networks Managed a Dual SAP S/4HANA Migration
• ASUG Talks Executive Interview: Philipp Herzig, Chief Technology Officer at SAP
• ASUG Talks Roundtable: The Changing Role of Enterprise Architects in Utilities
• SAP's Irfan Khan on SAP Business Data Cloud's Impact and Future Development
• ASUG Talks Roundtable: How Agentic AI is Reshaping the SAP Ecosystem
• Advice from ASUG Board Members: Building Resilient IT Careers in the Age of AI

If you have any comments (or pitches) for ASUG Talks Senior Producer, Jim Lichtenwalter, please email him at [email protected]. 

Related Insights

• Join the ASUG Communities team on Dec. 3 for a break down of the top insights from ASUG Tech Connect

In this live episodes of ASUG Talks, we answered your questions. ASUG CEO and Chief Community Champion Geoff Scott was joined by analysts Jon Reed and Joshua Greenbaum for an "ask me anything session." The three fielded questions submitted by conference attendees throughout the week, along with questions asked by the live audience. 

Key Topics: 

• The interoperability of SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) with non-SAP data ecosystems 
• Industry-specific challenges barring organizations to adopted "vanilla" ERP systems without much customization 
• How public cloud environments free enterprises to focus on IT innovation

Related Content:

• Read our exclusive interview with Tim Way, VP and Chief Product Officer, Business AI Product Engineering at SAP America

This week on ASUG Talks, Isaac Feldberg, Senior Editor at ASUG, joins the podcast to discuss SAP TechEd and ASUG Tech Connect. These events share many of the same topics and themes--specifically focused on SAP developers and solutions like SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC). On the podcast, we chat through our biggest takeaways and what some of the main announcements from SAP TechEd mean for SAP customers. 

Key Topics: 

• The place of both generative and agentic AI in the SAP ecosystem 
• The announcement of SAP's foundation model built specifically for structured business data: SAP RPT-1
• Key customer stories from ASUG Tech Connect 

Related Content: 

• Read Isaac's coverage of ASUG Tech Connect and SAP TechEd
• Gain insights from  Etosha Thurman, Chief Marketing Officer for Finance and Spend Management at SAP

In an exclusive interview, Irfan Khan,  President & Chief Product Officer of SAP Data & Analytics, joined ASUG Talks to lay out the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) announcements coming out of SAP TechEd. Following up on his appearance on ASUG Talks earlier this year, Irfan also discusses the SAP customer community's reception of SAP BDC and how it fits into the software company's suite-first strategy. 

 Key Insights:  

•  How customers are leveraging SAP BDC
• How SAP BDC specifically helps customers with SAP S/4HANA adoption 
• What future development of SAP BDC might look like 

 Related Insights:  

• Read our insights from ASUG Tech Connect
• Listen to an episode of ASUG Talks focused on future-proofing IT careers
• Tune in to our exclusive with SAP executive board member Thomas Saueressig

 During a special episode of ASUG Talks recorded live at the recent Dallas-Forth Worth ASUG Chapter Meeting, Geoff Scott, ASUG CEO & Chief Community Champion was joined by a panel of current and former ASUG board members: Jamie Lee, Tony Caesar, and Craig Dalziel. 

The group focused on a timely and critical topic:  future-proofing IT careers.  With advances in AI changing the ways enterprises work and shifts in the industry job markets, it has never been more important for IT professionals to take steps to ensure they are continually improving their skillsets and expanding their knowledge base. 

 Key Topics:  

•  The need for knowledge workers to effectively leverage AI
• The importance of networking and building meaningful professional relationships 
• Understanding the business needs and using AI to meet those needs. 

 Related Insights:  

• Tune into an exclusive interview with SAP executive board member Thomas Saueressig: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saps-thomas-saueressig-on-public-and-private-cloud/id1613357106?i=1000733593928