February 26, 2007
I drifted over to SDN this evening as German TV was about as interesting as watching cement set.
Have a look at what the guys at Colgate Palmolive are upto.
Using our newfound shiny object, we just had to experiment and introduce the Wii to the enterprise. We decided to integrate the Wii remote with an existing Ruby on Rails application connecting to an SAP BW backend
I remember as part of the developer challenge a couple of months ago some top SAP developers had experimented with the Wii, but to see customer developers doing this means a lot more.
This seems like fun, but it got me thinking.
1. The SAP ecosystem rocks. These guys could probably get dates, but this is what they spent their Friday evening doing.
2. The world of the GUI will change faster than most of us imagine.
3. SAP, Ruby on Rails and the Wii. Next time someone says SAP isn’t open I’ll suggest the pop over and talk to Ed, Dan and Mark
4. Nintendo may have a business opportunity.
5. Dan may have started to answer his own challenge.
6. There is masses of innovation going on in our customer base. We need to do a better job at uncovering and nurturing it, but SDN is a great place to start. Customers telling their own story, in their own words beats a brochure anyday.
Thanks guys.
February 27, 2007 at 1:51 am
We weren’t really sure how this experiment would be received, but so far everyone seems to really be enjoying it. We have had some really great comments, and even people giving ideas about different things that this may be useful for.
Maybe something real will come out of us playing around. I guess that’s what an open platform and a community to foster innovation to go with it is what it’s all about though, eh? =)
-ewH
Thanks for the mention on here; I am a loyal reader.
February 27, 2007 at 9:17 am
[...] Thomas Otter has an excellent post about innovation going on inside the SAP customer base. For once, it is answering the critique many critics levy: Stop telling us about your products, show how you’re helping SAP customers innovate. [...]
February 27, 2007 at 10:19 am
Thomas,
whilst I agree that pushing the boundaries is an important thing, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that “masses of innovation” are happening in the SAP customer base. From my experience, the SAP customer base is to a big extend interested in reducing costs of development and ownership. I mean, this is why standard software is deployed in the first place.
And: A lot of projects I am involved in are about catching up with latest SAP upgrades and understanding/communicating to stakeholders what the next SAP release will bring in terms of business benefits - no time for Wiimotes or ROR there.
What the Palmolive guys have done there is both fun and interesting, but it is an exception.
February 27, 2007 at 10:38 am
[...] http://www.accmanpro.com/2007/02/27/wii-innovation-at-colgate-palmolive/ http://theotherthomasotter.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/dad-stop-using-my-wii-to-play-that-sap-game/ [...]
February 27, 2007 at 10:52 am
Michael.
I’m continually impressed by what I see at customers. The gadget example here is fun, but I see real innovation happening.
http://theotherthomasotter.wordpress.com/2007/02/09/german-it-departments-and-sap-related-innovation/
February 27, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I agree with you that innvoation is taking place. However my impression is that it is happening on a smaller scale and depending on the industry in question.
From where I stand (UK), I can see a lot of SAP shops finding it difficult to have time and money to innovate in or with SAP (sadly).
Companies (wrongly) shy away from too much innovation because they think:
1. doing it internally means staff will eventually leave once they’ve aquired certain marketable skills (a problem that will go away over the next 2 years)
2. doing it externally can come at a high price and makes them dependent on a consulting partner
3. that there is still an assumption on board level that SAP standard software is there to solely reduce costs
On a different note: I received my Wii last week and it has already become my top gadget of 2007.
February 27, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Michael.
Lets catch up when I’m next in the UK. I worry about your point 3 more than the other two.
February 27, 2007 at 12:38 pm
No problem - let me know when you’re around my neck of the woods.
But I get the feeling that all of this is rather an attempt to challenge me on the Wii, right? I am unbeatable at Tennis…
February 28, 2007 at 9:56 pm
[...] Meanwhile, we’ve been discussing these issues in the groups. In defense of IT, Thomas Otter had a good comment for me: I’m with Mike on this one. Why is it that the original posterchild for enterprise 2.0 is DresdnerKleinwort and the driver was the CIO? Casting this as “battle” with IT is simply wrong. Some CIO’s and IT departments get this. Others don’t. At least in my experience, it is often the IT department that is likely to be using WIKIS and the like first. If I look here at SAP the developer wiki use is far richer and deeper than that of sales marketing accounts etc. I’d suggest rereading Andrew McAfee’s Mastering the Three Worlds of Information Technology. There is more innovation going on in the average IT department than most of us imagine. Check out what the guys are Colgate are up to… http://theotherthomasotter.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/dad-stop-using-my…; [...]
March 5, 2007 at 8:54 am
Michael,
I must confess, I don’t yet own the device.
Thomas
March 11, 2007 at 10:41 pm
[...] just read on Thomas’s blog about what the guys at Colgate Palmolive where doing with their SAP software and the Wii [...]
March 12, 2007 at 10:31 am
[...] customers innovate Dennis Howlett pointed me to Thomas Otter who has an funny post about innovation going on among the SAP customer base. This is an interesting [...]