SAP TechEd Sneak Preview: Q&A with SAP CTO Juergen Mueller

With SAP TechEd season upon us in a few weeks, I reached out to Juergen Mueller, member of the Executive Board and chief technology officer (CTO) of SAP SE, who's slated to keynote all three events this fall.

In this exclusive interview, Mueller shares why SAP TechEd is the ultimate destination for how-to learning experiences, along with a hefty serving of visionary inspiration and career-building connections. He also provides a sneak preview of what to expect in his keynotes.

Q: How does SAP TechEd deliver on the top three things software engineers, developers, and other technologists want most?

A: While I don't code as often as I'd wish these days, I remain very much in tune with what engineers and developers need to do their best work. These are the three things they'll get to experience at SAP TechEd. First, they'll see and get to work with the latest, delightful-to-use technology, technology they'll be keen to use. Second, they'll experiment, building their technical skills during a highly immersive week with time for direct conversations with SAP experts and customers. Third, they'll learn how to build software that not only works, but is maintainable, something they can take pride in because it solves real-world business problems.

What's the relevance of SAP's vision of the Intelligent Enterprise in the experience economy to SAP TechEd participants?

We're going all in sharing the tools and technologies attendees need to help their organizations become intelligent enterprises. They'll learn how to transform experience data (X-data) plus operational data (O-data) into action for positive impact on customers and employees. For example, organizations need a comprehensive view of how customers want to be treated, perceive their brand, and experience their products. The same applies to the employee experience - companies need to get a holistic view of an employee's experience from recruitment to retirement. With an integrated view of what's going on and why, companies can drive actions that deliver breakthrough business results.

At SAP TechEd, participants will discover how to build, integrate, and extend new applications for the Intelligent Enterprise. They'll gain hands-on experience using the broad SAP portfolio of intelligent technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT), in order to access X-data and O-data for business advantage.

Can you give us a sneak preview of your keynote?

The Intelligent Enterprise permeates this year's entire event, including my keynote themes in Las Vegas, Barcelona, and Bangalore. I'll share the leading concepts and technologies powering the Intelligent Enterprise, whether it's our technology portfolio, line-of-business applications, vertical industry solutions, or experience management suite.

Throughout each SAP TechEd event, the business technology platform will be center stage. I'll explain the evolution of our digital platform providing comprehensive, intelligent, business-centric services to customers. Attendees will see how we help developers bring the business technology platform to life with out-of-the-box integration, modularity, easy extensibility, and a consistent experience across business processes.

How will SAP TechEd help attendees achieve their career and company objectives?

As the world's largest enterprise applications company, we're providing a forum for thinkers and doers at SAP TechEd to explore the latest solutions in a real-world environment. It's about gaining knowledge for today's work, as well as preparing for tomorrow's challenges.

In addition to the keynotes, we've structured workshops, show floor demos, hands-on training sessions, and lectures around seven learning journeys :

• Explore the Intelligent Suite
• Integration Out-of-the-Box
• Digital Transformation and Cloud Application Architecture
• Applied Intelligence
• Next-Gen Data Management and AI
• User Experience
• Security by Default

And as always, SAP TechEd is a prime networking opportunity for people to expand their connections with peers and experts worldwide.

Why are you excited about SAP TechEd this year?

I am looking forward to welcoming great guests, including SAP partners and customers, to share the stage with me. For example, at our SAPPHIRE NOW event in May, we announced some exciting new products that I am now very keen on sharing as part our customer successes stories at SAP TechEd. Lastly, I am proud to show SAP's full technology and end-to-end application portfolio for cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments.

SAP TechEd registration is open now and I'm very excited about seeing everyone there!

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