It is one week now since
we returned from the conference – and I am still excited by the positive
dynamics created in the multitude of keynotes, meetings and presentations, not
forgetting the fun. We have had a lot of positive feedback from all over the
region, both from our customers and colleagues. Thanks to everyone for
participating in the Teradata
Universe Conference in Istanbul. I hope that having returned home, you find
that the conference has given you a new impetus and fresh ideas for your
business.
For us at Teradata, there is a lot
of work ahead – surely nothing anyone here would complain about. We have
promised to deliver on the further integration with SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse and
will push hard to meet all expectations. Press reactions across the region and
beyond welcomed the agreement almost enthusiastically. Teradata continues to
pursue its best-of-breed approach, while our joint customers will benefit from
BI environments that become less complex and more effective. Noteworthy enough, we were able to
announce a series of new customer wins from the finance sector, including Banque Accord, Bank Alior, BBVA and Unicredit Group. This clearly indicates
an intensified interest in BI, for which banks are increasingly choosing a
centralized data warehousing approach.
What else? Web 2.0 and the way it
changes relationships between companies and customers proved to be a hot topic
throughout the keynotes and sessions and it definitely will be an recurring
theme in the future. According to our CTO Stephen Brobst, companies relying on
gut feeling marketing instead of analytics are bound to be lost in this
constantly evolving social media environment. Institutions need to take new
levels of interaction into account that go far beyond the simple question of
sale or non-sale, such as browsing behaviour, online surveys, product ratings
etc. And they need to make an intelligent response immediately if they want to
stay in touch with the customer.
As Hermann Wimmer said before this
conference, the times may be economically challenging, but they certainly appear
to have sparked a high level of activity among Teradata customers. I think our
time in Istanbul have proved this to be true and I trust it has helped everyone
to get an even clearer perspective for the months ahead.
Mario Bonardo
