Firstly, what a city for COLLABORATE this year! San Antonio’s Riverwalk transforms a typical mid-sized city into a riot of color, flavor and fun, and gives those of us from overseas some fantastic ideas to bring home to our own river cities. It provides an excellent range of entertainment options too, from the ubiquitous Tex-Mex (and the obligatory 60-oz. margaritas!) to classic English pubs and high-end seafood, all with the backdrop of informative river cruises and lively mariachi bands.
The OATUG’s Build-A-Bike was again a fantastic initiative – a great way to meet and connect with other delegates and exhibitors ahead of the conference itself, and of course a lovely opportunity for our industry to give to the city of San Antonio. The event was fully subscribed. While some delegates were disappointed to have missed out, everyone who did attend was fully committed and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, as did we as sponsors of the event.
At the conference itself, one of the resounding messages that echoed through all our conversations was that Oracle EBS is alive and well and far from being pushed to the back burner. In the exhibition hall as well as throughout the education schedule, there was a strong focus on getting the best from EBS and JDE, with a noticeable undercurrent of resistance from many businesses and sectors that, for a number of reasons, are not considering the move to Cloud ERP in the foreseeable future. For those not moving, the delegates appeared comfortable discussing the reasons WHY and were proactive in looking at tools that could make their experience with EBS more efficient and enjoyable. For those that were, it seemed most were looking to move and starting to plan over the next 3-5 years. It was great being able to engage with these folks as we, too, look to how we will work with Cloud ERP in the future.
As a third-party ISV, the team at More4Apps had many conversations with existing customers enquiring about solutions in other areas of their business. These enquiries have slowed down over the past couple of years, but this year many users revealed more of an appetite to remain on EBS and maximise what they can get out of it for years to come. To that end, More4Apps held its first ever special interest group (SIG) meeting at COLLABORATE 19, which our team agreed was a real winner with a great number of attendees and some good discussions between delegates and staff. The timing of the session was perfect too, as many of our guests were able to join our experts at the Exhibitor Showcase straight after the SIG meeting to see demonstrations of the Wizards in action.
More4Apps’ Jenny MacGregor, events coordinator, and Derryn Brenan, marketing lead, say hello from the Exhibitor Showcase at COLLABORATE 19.
From the standpoint of an exhibitor, the highlights were definitely the evening Exhibitor Showcase events. These were by far our best opportunities for engaging with delegates in a meaningful way, as it seems that glass-in-hand conversations flow far more freely than during the lunchtime rush. Those moments are pure gold for our team, and after all, that’s why we come to COLLABORATE!
About the Author
Jenny MacGregor, More4Apps
Jenny is an events coordinator with More4Apps, an OATUG Five-Star Partner, key exhibitor at COLLABORATE and provider of Excel-based data processing software that helps Oracle EBS users streamline all manner of tasks.
