News from French-speaking Switzerland: The Channel Counselor Roundtable including Get Together

Interview intro

Hello Michael, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. Now that we have expanded our business to French-speaking Switzerland, it is of course also important to get in touch with our partners there. To this end, you recently attended a networking event that offered this opportunity and also provided strategic input from SAP. What exactly were these events, what was discussed there, and why is it important for us to be present at such events? That's what we want to clarify today in a short interview.

Question 1: Which exchange events have you been to exactly?

I was at two events that were held with SAP partners from French-speaking Switzerland. The first event was the Channel Counselor Roundtable, which took place with selected consulting firms that re-sell SAP products. This format has existed in German-speaking countries for a few years and has been extended to French-speaking Switzerland since 2021: So this year was already the second roundtable. The aim of the event is to network with other active partners of SAP. The Roundtable was organized by SAP Switzerland from Zurich.

The second event was the Romandie Partner Get Together . All partners from French-speaking Switzerland who work in the SAP environment were invited. This event was also a networking event with additional input from SAP. 

In general, the events are aimed at partners from specific regions, because although SAP has customers throughout Switzerland, the partners often work more regionally. We as s-peers AG are rather an exception - there are only a few partners who offer their services in both the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. 

Question 2: What was discussed at the events?

The topics of the two events overlapped to some extent: There were presentations from SAP, for example on the topic of Sustainability and Data or generally on the area of Business Technology Platforms (BTP). In addition, the vision and thus the long-term strategy, as well as priorities, specific goals and ambitions of SAP were discussed. For example, the general market awareness is to be strengthened and there is a focus on the training and further education of SAP consultants, who are currently in short supply in Switzerland. 

After an extensive Q&A including feedback and discussion, an apéro at the end was of course not to be missed: There was ample opportunity for networking and further exchange.

Question 3: Why are such events important for s-peers AG?

For us, such networking events are particularly important, as we want to actively live partnering. Due to our specialization in the area of analytics, we are a niche partner of SAP and want to be able to offer this expertise to our customers in combination with other consulting services from the SAP environment. This networking and the associated possibility of jointly serving customers in an ecosystem is expressly desired by SAP and thus naturally also a contributing reason for the organization of such events. We at s-peers AG are happy to go along with this: in view of current circumstances such as consultant bottlenecks or a more networked market, we see a trend away from end-to-end consulting.

Participating in the Roundtable and Get Together for SAP partners especially in French-speaking Switzerland is important for us, as we would like to actively collaborate with other SAP partners in the region as the market expands.