As 2014 has ended and 2015 begins, I have been thinking as both a user group member and volunteer that "influencing software", especially SAP, has not been discussed enough. This is my opinion only, of course. Specifically, programs like the SAP Customer Connection and in the case of ASUG Influence Councils. You can find out more at SAP's site https://influence.sap.com/
I also Googled the software influence groups and it was good to see ASUG appear first in the search results:
I was reviewing material from past ASUG Volunteer meetings and found these quotes from customers about ASUG Influence Councils:
"Relationships you form through Influence Councils give you more networking possibilities when you are faced with specific problems"
"Direct involvement in the requirements definition, prototyping and development ensures that the solution developed is flexible and can be adapted to our work processes"
The material also lists some other values of ASUG influence councils including voicing your needs to SAP to "drive the future of development" and networking. Looking back at 2014 we tried to publicly share these results How ASUG Members Influenced Analysis Office (and Sneak Preview) and Power of ASUG Influence : How ASUG members Influenced SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI Solution
During ASUG Annual Conference 2015 more ASUG Influence Councils will be accepting new members. I encourage you to take advantage of your membership and check them out.
Not unique to just ASUG but you have to be a member of a user group are SAP Customer Connection Programs. While I wasn't directly involved with this one News for FICO Friends: ERP for Financials Customer Connection we have taken advantage of several improvements. This year there was a kick-off call for Web Intelligence as well. Unfortunately there was no webcast for the final call for Web Intelligence, and I've asked SAP to reconsider this for the future. You can see current and upcoming customer connections going on here. While none are specifically planned for BI in 2015, if there are some planned for the future I hope it gets more publicity.
Consider signing up for ASUG Influence Council for online and in-product education for the BI Suite - Closing Loop, Relaunch - January 27th is the webcast and I hope to see you there.