Head to head

This month was a momentous one for Middle Eastern enterprises, as user groups from of the two largest software vendors in the world both held their annual meetings.

The annual meeting of the SAP User Group Middle East and North Africa - or SUG-MENA - took place in Bahrain Just days later, the Oracle Application User Group staged only its second-ever conference in Dubai, with the event firmly focused on building on momentum gained from the first event last year.

You can read in more detail about the effectiveness of these rival events in this month's issue of ACN when it comes in April, but first here's some candid impressions from the two events and how they compare to each other.

First - some figures. In terms of raw numbers, SUG-MENA had the OAUG handily beat with over 350 representatives from 75 companies in attendance. By comparison, OAUG mustered just over 170 representatives from 72 companies.

Next, let's talk costs. The SAP-sponsored event was free to all members of the SUG-MENA group - membership of which is also free provided you purchase products and services from the SAP portfolio. OAUG, on the other hand, was a paid event, with entry fees of $495 for both days of the meeting, with the price slightly down from $795 the year before.

What the numbers don't tell you is how the actual events unfolded. For example, SAP may have had more attendees, but it's also been running for the best part of a decade so you'd frankly expect a decent turnout. Large Saudi companies like ARAMCO also comprised a significant portion of the attendance - in fact, it was such a large contingent that it had its own check-in line at registration. In general, there did not seem to be a major variance in verticals with the vast majority of companies coming from the manufacturing and retail sectors, where SAP's traditional strengths reside.

Conversely, the OAUG event certainly drew less attendees but it seemed to have greater variance in the verticals they represented. From real estate developers Nakheel to regional airline Gulf Air, to Sharjah-based manufacturing concern IFFCO, the spread was impressive. That is however, entirely as it should be, considering that Oracle's products are exceptionally popular throughout the region, particularly in the government space.

The meat of any such meeting is the interactions between the users and the vendor - and again, SAP clearly had the edge with its Executive Exchange meetings, which allowed free and frank discussion behind closed doors. Outside those doors however, few of the visiting IT management were willing to admit to disagreements, although there was certainly rumblings of discontent over pricing and localisation of products from the German titan. The impression I received was that while there's a strong belief in the necessity for a group like SUG-MENA, there continue to be discussions over what exactly the group should be doing to further its own agenda independent of SAP.

What about OAUG? With only two years under its belt, it's hard to tell where the group may go. One local CIO made a suggestion that it might actually be better to target one notch of management below the most senior level. The idea is that IT managers who engage in development efforts or specialise in Oracle are better placed to understand the often highly-technical briefings at the event, rather than bringing in CIOs who might be only there to network with other execs.

But there are wrinkles in that argument - chiefly the fact that as a paid event, it's difficult for low-level managers to get finance departments to sign off on paying for attendance, while CIOs with their senior clearance levels are much more at liberty to move around. It's not a problem that SUG-MENA had; being free, a preponderance of SAP managers were present.  

I don't want to give the impression however, that I'm pitting these two user groups against each other. Far from it - the truth is that in many ways, they are precisely the same, but just at different stages in the lifecycle. SUG-MENA represents the elder statesman, a user group that's grown and prospered over the years and is now trying to ensure that it remains relevant for its users, rather than being held for the sake of appearances every year. OAUG is still very new on the scene and needs to build a consistent user-base and find key internal drivers who will work to ensure the long-term future of the group.

Most importantly, senior management from both groups are working together to exchange what they've learned about organising their events. It's the best sign yet that regional users are finally starting to come together and understand the value of collaboration.