How numerous are the things of which I have no need!

I do not need a Sapphire in Orlando. But I would very much like to have information on the topic of AnyDB in connection with the SAP maintenance extension 2027/2030. I don't need the colorful and noisy booths of a Sapphire, a DSAG annual congress or an SAP TechEd.

But access to all the talks and educational events at a Sapphire, the DSAG Congress, and TechEd is something I would love. Business-class flights and five-star hotels don't make E-3 Magazine more interesting. Congresses with expensive evening events do not promote the necessary educational work.

These days we recognize many things that seem pleasant and desirable, but in the end have no added value. Thus, the current restrictions also have a lot of good: The canals in Venice have clean water again for the first time after many decades and in the clear water you can even see fish.

Even without expensive air travel, I can finish an E-3 magazine. (The 50-minute Lufthansa flight Salzburg-Frankfurt costs me 550 euros each time. It is a personal satisfaction to see that the Lufthansa monopoly is becoming obsolete. And who still needs flights to Orlando?)

Whether things will get better after the shutdown, curfew and border closures has not yet been decided. Many countries and companies survived the past financial crisis sufficiently well.

The lessons learned and a correction of the financial system exist only on a minimal scale. Thus, this crisis was a missed opportunity. This time, we should do better and perhaps take our cue from Socrates.

Once the philosopher Socrates walked through the Athenian marketplace and was amazed by the numerous offers. Socrates is credited with the phrase "I know that I know nothing".

Shortly after a friend told him that the oracle at Delphi called him, Socrates, the wisest of men. Walking through the market, he is then said to have uttered the phrase "How numerous are the things of which I have no need." No criticism of the supply, but a reasonable self-restraint to the necessities of life.

Similar modesty and focus on what is necessary can be lived out in the SAP community: We need more information and educational outreach and less event marketing. I still have a scary memory of the funfair gag of the SAP Ferris wheel at the summer CeBIT 2018.

Ride in circles once and then customize S/4, right? The SAP community doesn't need a CeBIT Ferris wheel, but it might need a technically demanding SAP financial press conference in the financial metropolis of Frankfurt am Main.

Instead, SAP has been "hiding" at its Walldorf headquarters for years, only allowing selected journalists to enter. This is not a sustainable information policy and educational work. Corporate communications must be done differently.

The current challenges are a unique opportunity to separate the wheat from the chaff: What does the SAP community need? How numerous are the things that SAP's existing customers want to know, and SAP remains silent:

AnyDB and maintenance extension 2027/2030? Indirect usage? Consolidation and harmonization of cloud offerings? Positioning of Qualtrics? Alignment or cancellation of Sapphire 2020 in Orlando? Cloud stability of SuccessFactors? IP on the SCP? Hana 3? Brownfield, bluefield or greenfield? How numerous are the questions for SAP that the community needs.