Thoughts from SapphireNow

First impressions from SapphireNow EMEA.... SAP's key strategies highlighted in todays sessions were applications for mobile staff (mobility) and high speed analytics using in-memory databases - particularly for real-time analytics. Real time analytics of large data sets is a key challenge for UK insurers where pricing aggregators are driving increased pressure on pricing decisions - any advantage in just in time data and analytics can mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity or worse, taking on a bad risk. The SAP solutions around mobile in part brought about by the purchase of Sybase, seem to be about empowering a distributed work force. Mobile staff have always been a part of the insurance industry and is increasingly something that insurers and brokers alike must address in a modern age where staff are no longer "tethered to their desktops". Where will these innovations feature the SAP Insurance product roadmap? A question that will hopefully be answered tomorrow when I speak with the SAP Insurance team. Meanwhile Sir Richard Branson and the ex-next-president (his phrase) Al Gore spoke to the attendees on a number of topics but focussed principally on the role of the business community in helping to solve the world's most pressing problems.