I am on my way back from Vienna to San Francisco and wanted to take a minute to update you on TechEd in Europe before I head to Boston on Monday.
To make it short: The event was great! It was a great opportunity to meet people with whom I had exchanged e-mails on Interactive Forms, both from SAP and SAP customers.
The event (the third European TechEd I attended to educate on Interactive Forms) clearly showed that we have created critical momentum. A number of developers and architects stopped by our booth to tell me that they have implemented Interactive Forms in SAP NetWeaver and start to use interactive PDF forms to extend SAP business processes. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive. What more can I ask for as a Product Manager.
My personal three highlights of the show:
1) The two hour Interactive Forms overview session I jointly presented with Markus Meisl and Volkmar Jaekle from SAP. The room was full with about 130 attendees. Volkmar is an SAP consultant who presented the implementation of Interactive Forms at Cincinnati Insurance. It allows insurance agents to fill-out electronic claims forms and print checks right in their office, resulting in improved customer satisfaction (I think I will write about this in more detail another time).
2) The Interactive Forms Birds-of-a-Feather session. I wasn't sure what to expect since these sessions compete with the main program and you never know if somebody shows up. Well, I ended up with 45 attendees and spent most of the time on my laptop showing new features of a "fresh from the labs" LiveCycle Designer 7.1 build. The new table wizard is great!
3) The TechEd party... I have to say the TechEd parties improve every year. You would not expect this from a company like SAP and especially at a Tech event in Europe. Great band and performances and a great opportunity for me to catch up with some of my friends from SAP I hadn't seen in a while. You can find the party pictures tagged with SAPTechED on Flickr.
Finally (I think we are landing soon), SAP released a new book called "mySAP ERP for Dummies". They had free copies and book signings. I was pleased to see that Interactive Forms are extensively featured in the book! Another proof that Adobe technology is now deeply entrenched in the SAP universe. If you have the book, check out page 244. The interactive PDF insurance form screenshot is from one of my favorite demos... I was so surprised to see it in the book. Kel Varsen (the user name we use for a lot of our demos) will become famous!
That's it for now... Hope to see some of you in Boston.
Busy Adobe Booth at SAP TechEd in Vienna
