| Issue 3, 2013 | Download pdf |
The 2013 conference of Software AG’s International User Groups (IUG) was held from June 17-21 in Barcelona, one of the most popular destinations in Europe. The city’s famous sights and attractions combine modern and historic architecture in a unique way, a strategy that Software AG also pursues with our integration solutions.
Global Participation
As every year, the conference attracted customers from around the globe. Ninety companies from twenty-four countries were represented. Among the customer participants were companies such as Banco do Brasil, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Staples, Statoil, Infineon, Bank of Montreal, Rabobank and Carlsberg to name but a few. There were 170 participants in attendance this year.
Product-Related Sessions Provide Insights
Customer feedback showed once more that these user group conferences are extremely useful to the daily jobs of the participants. This also proves that the conference format of having key product-related sessions back-to-back within one week is the right one for the groups. This year’s sessions spanned the four Software AG product brands relevant to the International User Groups: Adabas-Natural, webMethods and ARIS. The innovative BigMemory technology from Terracotta was also introduced.
Participants gained insight into Software AG’s strategies in the four megatrends areas of cloud, mobile, social and big data. Linking the Adabas-Natural, webMethods and ARIS sessions together with a general track of engaging speakers who presented topics not connected to a particular product group, attracted the interest of all attendees. In this track, Software AG’s CTO Dr. Wolfram Jost gave an update on strategy and a Terracotta customer presented a compelling use case.
Shared Experiences
All sessions were met with high interest and included a balanced mix of discussions, workshops and presentations from customers and Software AG. The Software AG experts informed the participants about roadmaps, new technical features as well as tips and tricks. Customers shared their experiences with Software AG technology, some with very impressive use cases and figures. Panel discussions and focus groups in all sessions supplied an additional interactive aspect and received high praise from the participants.
On the Right Track
Support of Software AG’s user group concept was evident at the conference and attendance in Barcelona proved that the user groups are on the right track. Several presidents of regional user groups such as Austria and Germany, the Eastern US and the ARIS user group from the Netherlands were welcomed participants at IUG 2013.
Throughout the conference a personal and friendly atmosphere, where customers felt comfortable and communicated freely and openly, was provided. The attendees made ample use of the opportunity to network and share and discuss ideas with Software AG experts and other Software AG customers. During the two evening events, the customers were happy to forget about their daily challenges, had fun with the team activities and shared a lot of laughs.
The feedback collected after the conference was once again overwhelmingly positive. The customers are highly appreciative of Software AG’s providing a platform where they can compare notes on their common challenges and are able to learn from one another.
We are now planning the next conference for May 19 to 23, 2014. The location is still being evaluated. Be sure to save the date and look for more details to come.