openSAP Invites

Welcome to openSAP Invites! I’m your host Elisabeth Riemann and in this episode, we’re talking to SAP experts Boris Bezirtzis and Nikolai Vetter about their openSAP course “Learn How to Build Better Products with a Human-Centric Product Backlog.” The digital transformation means we all have rising expectations for any new product or service. Let’s be perfectly honest, we all want to be WOWED! By learning how to define a product backlog that balances the REAL needs of our customers with the business value and technical feasibility of our product, we’ll be sure to hit that sweet spot!

Boris Bezirtzis is an innovation coach and design thinking expert and was one of the first design thinkers at SAP. He is the global design thinking lead at SAP Customer Innovation & Maintenance and facilitates a DT coaching community with more than 30 coaches. He combines agile and human-centered design principles to make innovation real in large customer projects, innovative products, and smaller innovation sprints.

Boris studied industrial design in Germany and did Master of Fine Arts (MFA) focusing on user research and co-creation at the Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, USA. Boris is an SAP Mentor, has designed several design and innovation training camps, and was a speaker at the Lean Startup Conference in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, as well as other events.

Social Media: LinkedIn

Nikolai Vetter is a UX designer, design thinking coach, and innovation expert at SAP Customer Innovation & Maintenance. His focus is on building next-generation software products with customers and partners in co-innovation engagements. Before joining SAP, Nikolai worked at a retail fashion company, where he created unique omni-channel shopping experiences while building up UX competence and driving an agile mindset in software development projects. He holds a master’s degree in innovation management and certifications as a scrum master and in User Experience & Usability.

Social Media: LinkedIn

Additional Downloads:

Learning Opportunities

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to openSAP Invites! In this episode, we talk about the long-standing partnership between SAP and Microsoft and how they’re working together to simplify and streamline the customer journey to the cloud. We’ll be focusing on the free openSAP course “Building Applications on SAP Business Technology Platform with Microsoft Services” where you can learn all you need to start building your own integrated apps. I’m your host Elisabeth Riemann, and we’re in conversation with two of the instructors, Max Streifeneder from SAP, and Holger Bruchelt from Microsoft.

Max Streifeneder is a solution expert for SAP Business Technology Platform in the Platform Adoption & Advisory team at SAP. He’s responsible for employee and customer enablement, solution positioning, and implementation of reference architectures for SAP Business Technology Platform.

Max has enjoyed many different roles both in and outside the SAP technical world, meaning he has a broad perspective and understanding of the challenges that developers and architects face today.

Holger Bruchelt is a program manager on the SAP Architecture team at Microsoft, located at the SAP HQ Campus in Walldorf, Germany. Before Holger joined Microsoft 4 years ago, he spent over 10 years with SAP, always working in the SAP & Microsoft integration area. 

Holger was a product manager for Duet Enterprise, SAP Gateway, and SAP Cloud Platform, and is passionate about showing the value-add of using and combing different tools and technologies. He loves working with customers and partners to bridge the worlds of SAP and Microsoft.

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

Learning Opportunities

References & Recommendations

SAP Discovery Center: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/

YouTube Videos

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode with Lone Aggersbjerg as we discover the inspiration behind her coworking space, Tink Tank Coworking, in the heart of Heidelberg, Germany. Lone takes us all behind the scenes, shares what it’s like to be a new entrepreneur during the pandemic, and talks about the people, the community, and how working models are evolving to suit our changing attitudes to where we live and work.  

Whether you love the routine of working in the same place every day or you’re more of a digital nomad, stay tuned to learn from Lone’s fascinating coworking expertise.

CEO and Founder of CEO & Founder of Tink Tank Coworking

Lone Aggersbjerg is the CEO & founder of Tink Tank GmbH, a premium Coworking Space located in Heidelberg, Germany. Lone worked for SAP for 15 years before she founded her own company with the vision to build a creative and authentic workplace with a hint of her native Danish simplicity and professional flexible working models. 

Lone works for and with all kinds of companies, consulting them both in New Work, new working models as well as supporting startups in different stages of their growth. She is co-rebel for the digital agency, Business Rebels, combining digital transformation needs with humanized methods like Design Thinking and modern communication to help customers to be prepared for their future. 

Lone is a certified Design Thinking coach and about to publish her first book on Hybrid work and workplaces as well as a white paper on hybrid work. 

Social Media

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to openSAP Invites! I’m your host Elisabeth Riemann and in this episode, we’re speaking with Product Manager, Karsten Strothmann, to learn all about the world of extensions and event-driven extensibility with SAP Extension Suite.

Karsten explains when and how to extend the business core, highlights the different extension types available, and makes us realize the importance of staying focused and building for the future – not just for fair weather days!

Karsten has a real talent for explaining technical concepts in simple terms. So, stay tuned to find out what a spider’s web, a washing machine, and restaurant pagers have to do with extensions. When you remember these, you’ll be well on your way to understanding and implementing extensibility concepts!

Karsten Strothmann is a Product Manager and evangelist for SAP Event Mesh at SAP SE in Walldorf, Germany. He has more than 22 years of experience in the software industry, 20 of which at SAP. Karsten is currently working on event-driven architectures, and specifically extensions and integrations on SAP Business Technology Platform. Previously, Karsten worked on SAP Gateway, which can be seen as a synchronous technology for extending and integrating SAP backends. During his career, he has held various roles from product management, to development, to quality assurance, and consulting. This has given him a holistic view of both software creation and its usage. Karsten holds a master’s degree in computer science from the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

Learning Opportunities

• SAP Learning https://learning.sap.com/learning-journey/building-extensions-with-sap-extension-suite

References & Recommendations

• https://podcast.opensap.info/cloud-platform/2021/01/28/sap-cloud-platform-episode-68-teched-2020-recap-and-rebranding-insights/
• SAP Discovery Center: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/
• Mission Catalog: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/missions
• Service Catalog: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/viewServices

YouTube Videos

• From Inspiration to Implementation with SAP Discovery Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j–wHs2N6CE
• Business Use Case Implementation with SAP Discovery Center Missions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tSxHWWhCU

Blogs

• Discovery Center – Service Catalog: Service Roadmap Information: https://blogs.sap.com/2021/03/11/discovery-center-service-catalog-service-roadmap-information/
• SAP Discovery Center Gets a Fresh Look: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/11/16/sap-discovery-center-gets-a-fresh-look/

Social Media

• SAP Application Development and Integration Twitter: https://twitter.com/sapcp

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to openSAP Invites. In this episode we’re learning all about SAP’s Climate 21 initiative with Bettina Zedlitz, Senior Director for Sustainability and Climate 21 at SAP. We’ll be finding out how it’s helping customers minimize the CO2 footprint of their products, operations, and supply chains. We also learn more about the openSAP course, Business Success with Climate Action. Stay tuned to find out some simple steps we can carry out to reduce our own carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Senior Director for Sustainability and Climate 21, SAP S/4HANA Go-to-Market & Solution Management

Bettina Zedlitz is a senior director for Sustainability and Climate 21 within the SAP S/4HANA Go-to-Market and Solution Management organization. Over the last 5 years she has been driving innovation for SAP S/4HANA, focusing on all aspects of the cloud.

Follow Bettina on LinkedIn

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

Learning Opportunities

openSAP courses:

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-she-her-213838131/

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode with Jeannie Walters, CEO and Founder of Experience Investigators. In this episode, Jeannie explains how by understanding our customer’s journey and their personal experience, we can develop strategies to exceed their expectations, delight new and existing customers alike, and get everybody excited about our brand! It’s time to flip the script and focus on those who really matter for our business, our customers!

CEO and Founder of Experience Investigators

Jeannie Walters, CEO and Founder of Experience Investigators, has spent more than 20 years evaluating and improving customer experiences and teaching her trademarked methodology to enlightened leaders in many industries. 

She’s a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP,) a charter member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association, a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association, a LinkedIn Learning Instructor, and a TEDx speaker. 

Jeannie is passionate about improving the everyday interactions we all have as customers and writes, speaks, studies, and trains on customer experience issues around the world. Her mission is “To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers.”

Social Media

Experience Investigators Website: experienceinvestigators.com

LinkedIn: Jeannie Walters, CCXP: linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/

Instagram: Experience Investigators @ExperienceInvestigators: instagram.com/experienceinvestigators/

YouTube: Jeannie Walters at Experience Investigators: bit.ly/jeannieyt

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

• Weekly “Ask Me Anything” Webinar Series on Linkedin Live: bit.ly/jeannielive
• Crack the Customer Code Podcast: crackthecustomercode.com/
• Get a year of free Customer Experience Resources: YearofCX.com
• Try the Customer Lifetime Value & Key Metrics Calculator: bit.ly/clvmetrics
• Free online course on openSAP: Understanding Your Customer’s Journey

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode for Pride month with Jens Schadendorf, economist and book changemaker, in which we learn why it’s important to invest in LGBT+, diversity and inclusion to drive positive results at corporate, societal, and personal level.

Jens chats about work and family relationships, his own personal struggles as a gay white man serving in the German army, his bilingual studies, and the fascinating global research behind his latest and extremely successful book “GaYme Changer: How the LGBT+ Community and Their Allies Are Changing the Global Economy”

We also talk about sports, good pasta, and dachshunds.

Economist and Book Changemaker

As an author, keynote speaker and panelist, Jens focuses on LGBT+ equality, responsible business, organizational and social change and thought leadership. He has written several books. His latest, “GaYme Changer”: How the LGBT+ community and their allies are changing the global economy”, was published in spring 2021 and is the first of its kind. He has also written for leading German media, including Financial Times Deutschland, Zeit online, and Spiegel, and is an independent LGBT+ researcher at the Chair of Business Ethics at the Technical University of Munich, Bavaria, where he lives.

Jens makes change via books in another way, too. An award-winning editorial and publishing director for many years, he has worked with bestselling authors such as Jack Welch, Bill Clinton, Anita Roddick, Philip Kotler, Peter Drucker, Don Tapscott, and Hans-Werner Sinn. Today his main business is to advise companies, scientists, managers, and medical doctors on book projects globally. These have been published by well-known US, British and German media houses, as well as some in Japan, China, France, Brazil, Korea, and Russia.

Jens has served as a medical corpsman in the German army and holds a degree in shipping management and a Master’s in economic and social sciences from the bilingual French-German university of Fribourg, Switzerland. There, he also worked as a research associate at the Institute of Political Economy, followed by postgraduate studies on East Asian economic development and culture in Bangkok and Singapore, funded by the Swiss National Fund.

Jens is also a passionate runner and a sports, books and arts enthusiast. He loves baking and good wine, his (Danish) husband Karsten and their extraordinary dachshund Nelly, the headstrong lady governing their household.

GAYME CHANGER – The economic power of human recognition (Download as PDF)

Social Media

Follow Jens on social media

LinkedIn

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode for Pride Month with Nina Strassner, Head of Diversity and People Programs at SAP in Germany, and Ezequiel Massa, Head of Diversity & Inclusion for SAP Latin America & Caribbean. We talk about what Pride Month means to us as individuals, as a community, and at corporate level. We focus on personal stories behind the rainbow, the activities of the Pride@SAP community, and learn what we can do to make the world a brighter place for us all.

Head of Diversity and People Programs, SAP SE

Nina is responsible for diversity measures and HR programs for SAP employees in Germany. Before joining the SAP management team in 2019, Nina previously worked as a lawyer and specialist in labor law for almost 12 years. She’s a lecturer and business editor, has published a book on family and labor law topics, she writes columns in Brigitte MOM and Wirtschaftswoche, and has a “Golden Blogger 2018” badge on her backpack.

Nina’s is happy mother of two and lives in Kiel, in the very North of Germany with an overweight cat, she says, and an annoyingly sporty husband. She grew up in a small town in the Swabian Alb in southern Germany, and then made her way to Dresden, Sydney Australia and Stellenbosch South Africa, to the Baltic Sea, from where she now regularly travels to meet with her team and colleagues at SAP HQs in Walldorf, Germany.

Social Media

Follow Nina on Twitter: @DieJuramama

Web page: https://www.juramama.de/ (German only)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-strassner/

Head of Diversity & Inclusion for SAP Latin America & Caribbean

Ezequiel started his career as Senior Finance Operations Specialist at SAP Argentina back in 2011. His passion for equal opportunity and creating a sustainable corporate culture led him to join SAP’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives in 2015 as a volunteer. In his six-year tenure with D&I, he has helped nurture a welcoming work environment for all, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or its expression, ethnicity, race, generation, culture or ability. Since April 2020, he works as Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Latin America & Caribbean.

Ezequiel regularly coaches Employee Resource Group leads from across the region, works alongside HR and other stakeholders in SAP’s People Agenda, spearheads workshops and webinars, speaks at international conferences and acts as spokesperson on the benefits of driving inclusion at the workplace.

Ezequiel was recently ranked 29th in the “50 LGBT+ Future Leaders 2019” list by OUTstanding and Yahoo Finance.

Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezequiel-massa/

Additional Downloads:

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode with Sindhu Gangadharan, Senior Vice President of the SAP User Enablement unit and Managing Director of SAP Labs India.

Sindhu talks to us about her own career in technology, shares what it was like to grow up in Bangalore, and explains why it’s important we follow our own dreams and inspire and support others by revolutionizing the world around us!

It’s all about providing equal opportunities, equal encouragement, and an equal voice.

SVP, SAP User Enablement and Managing Director of SAP Labs India, SAP SE

As a Senior Vice President, Sindhu Gangadharan leads the SAP User Enablement unit and is the Managing Director of SAP Labs in India, a leading hub for innovation and a hot spot for talent and diversity. Sindhu joined SAP in 1999 when SAP Labs India set up its operations in Bangalore and she later moved to SAP’s headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. She’s worked on various products, technology and innovation platforms and held several strategic and leadership positions managing global teams.

In January 2021, Sindhu was appointed to the Board of Directors at Utah-based Qualtrics International Inc, the global pioneer of the Experience Management software category. She also serves on the Board of Titan Company Ltd as an Independent Director with a focus on technology. Sindhu is a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council – the apex industry body for the IT/IT enabled services in India. She’s also a member of the Steering committee of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, an industry body driving the bilateral trade and deliberations. In March 2021, Sindhu was appointed to the Advisory Board of ReLoop by SAP.

As a respected thought leader, Sindhu is a regular speaker at conferences. She’s a passionate advocate of using technology to benefit customers and society, workplace diversity and inclusion. Sindhu currently resides in Bangalore with her husband and two daughters.

Social media

Follow Sindhu on Twitter: @gangadharansind

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sindhugangadharan/

Additional Downloads

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

https://podcast.opensap.info/simply-amazing-podcast/2021/03/05/episode-8-how-to-be-successful-as-a-career-woman/ – In this Women’s Day Special episode of the Simply Amazing Podcast, Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP, SAP User Enablement & MD, SAP Labs India, spills the bean on what it takes to be successful as a career woman. Tune in for an inspiring session!

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131

Welcome to a special Thought Leaders episode with Cheryl Bayer, CEO of Living Popups, and V.R. Ferose, Senior Vice President and Head of SAP Academy for Engineering. In this episode, we learn how augmented reality is being used to bring the learning experience to life to educate and entertain children and adults alike. We’ll be focusing on the magic of storytelling and how authentic AR characters are breaking down barriers to motivate us, help us understand one another better, and develop deeper emotional connections.

CEO Living Popups LLC

Cheryl Bayer has an exciting career in entertainment. She opened her own casting company, Cheryl Bayer Casting, where she was known for finding talent for shows such as “In Living Color”,  “Baywatch”, and “Dream On”.  As the Head of Talent and Development at ABC Productions in the early 90s, she worked in comedy and drama development, marrying the writers and talent with shows such as “Roseanne”, “My So-Called Life”, and “Home Improvement”. After joining Creative Artists Agency, Cheryl developed new talent and projects and was instrumental in the success of shows such as “Sex and the City” and “Freaks and Geeks”. Moving to FOX as Senior Vice President of Comedy, she was directly responsible for the success of “Malcolm in the Middle”, “That 70s Show”, and “Family Guy”.  Cheryl left FOX to pursue her passion in education and founded a critically acclaimed and award-winning children’s business, Creative Space LLC. Excited about merging technology with entertainment and education, Cheryl co-founded, Living Popups LLC, a leading company in AI Technology for education, tourism, and entertainment. To name just a few examples, Living Popups has produced a library of augmented reality educational apps, starting with the first four books in the Boxcar Children series. Recently, Living Popups was contracted to work with the Air Force to create an on-base app Take Flight, a mobile and web app that supports the well-being of military families and their communities.

Follow Cheryl on social media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/living-popups/

Senior Vice President, Head of SAP Academy for Engineering, SAP SE

Based in Palo Alto, USA, Ferose heads the SAP Academy for Engineering. The mission of the organization is to create the next generation of engineers involved in solving some of the most complex problems in the world.

Ferose was formerly head of the Globalization Services unit and responsible for enabling the global adoption of SAP products worldwide. At 33, he became Managing Director of SAP Labs India and held this post for over 5 years, during which he transformed SAP Labs India into an innovation hub. In 2012, the company was recognized as a “Great place to work” in India for the very first time. 

Ferose is Chairperson on the Board of Specialisterne USA, a not-for-profit foundation with the goal to create one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges. He is founder of the non-profit India Inclusion Foundation, which aims to bring the topic of inclusion to the forefront in India. This foundation’s initiatives include the India Inclusion Summit, The Inclusion Fellowship ,and The Inclusive Walkathon.

Ferose has co-authored a best-selling book on people with disabilities, GIFTED. The book has been translated into four Indian regional languages. The Kannada translation won the prestigious Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. He also authored “Innovating the World: The Globalization Advantage” and “GRIT: The Major Story”. Ferose teaches “Personal Leadership” at Columbia University, New York and is a columnist for New Indian Express and Mint. 

Follow Ferose on social media

http://www.ferosevr.com

Twitter: @VRFerose

Additional Downloads

• Download transcript as PDF file.

References & Recommendations

Hosted by Elisabeth Riemann – Senior Knowledge Consultant & Product Manager, openSAP

Social Media

Twitter: @ElisabethRiema1

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-riemann-213838131