we.CONECT SAMS 2015 Conference Review

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we.CONECT SAMS 2015 Conference Review

I attended the we.CONECT SAMS 2015 DACH conference held at the Proarte Maritim Hotel in Berlin, Germany from the 23rd-24 February 2015.

A German only speaking conference for 250 Software Asset Management professionals and Licensing Specialists coming from the DACH region.

‘The conference focuses on approaches, processes and tools for legally compliant management of software assets and licenses.’ we.CONECT

The video below was recorded live at the conference:

Conference Highlights

With the entire conference being spoken completely in German and having not learnt German as a youngster, I was unable to follow the keynotes and case studies during the two day conference but was able to interview and speak with the attendees (who all spoke impressive English) and was able to get a feel for the level of engagement and interest during the keynotes and networking sessions.

"SAM 3.0 is about delivering increasing value over reducing costs (SAM 2.0)" Bjorn Blatt SAMS 2015

— The ITAM Review (@itamreview) February 23, 2015

The format of the conference is billed as, “A combination of inspirational keynotes and well moderated, interactive world café sessions, intensive discussion rounds and networking sessions.” By and large they achieved this with the event. My criticism is that to deliver inspirational keynotes at events, presenters must get away from using Powerpoints with very small writing on to deliver their message, as I found in a very large conference hall, only the front row are going to be able to read the slides.

2nd day of SAM DACH 2015 event in Berlin. Death of the powerpoint and lectures is coming soon to be replaced by interactive info sharing

— Glenn Thompson (@GlennThompson79) February 24, 2015

The main strengths of the conference were the networking opportunities. There were ample opportunities to interact with peers starting on the Sunday night with the ‘Icebreaking ‘ sessions, which was an informal round tables discussions with drinks and snacks with vendors, partners and end users on topics like:

• Process- Structure- Employees: central factors for license management projects
• Commercial vs. Technology based license management

There were also ‘Challenge your Peers‘ sessions where round table discussions were facilitated by mainly end user organizations around topics provided by a pre event survey.

The ‘World Café’ sessions on day 2 where informal and cafe style discussions on topic streams like:

• Can you really save with SAM project costs?
• SLM in a decentralized business organization
• Licensing cloud services: Processes, requirements, challenges and prospects for the license manager

All of these networking sessions were a good way to maximize interaction with peers during the conference and mix up the day from the usual keynote lectures.

Positives ✔

• Healthy split of customers, vendors and end users presenting
• Lots interactive sessions
• Berlin Hotel is in good location
• Well organized event

Negatives ✗

• Too many unreadable Powerpoint presentations

Germany leading the SAM market?

The ITAM Review is always keen to attend ITAM events globally as it is great to understand and learn what challenges ITAM, SAM and Licensing specialists face in their day-to-day work. This conference also gives us the opportunity to compare the maturity of the market and key issues discussed compared to other markets. One of the attendees stated:

“Germany is firmly recognized for its approach and adoption of Software Asset management (SAM) and leads the US and UK in terms of maturity of the market.”

Do you agree?

Conclusion

The SAMS 15 conference in Berlin was a well-run event and was a lively alternative to some of the more established SAM events globally. The we.CONECT approach is to run a highly interactive conference with a focus on information sharing over lectures via Powerpoint, which although there were still plenty of-seemed much less than other events we attend. Furthermore the ‘Icebreaking’ sessions, the ‘World Café’ and ‘Challenge Your Peers’ are an engaging and useful way for the attendees to find out what is new, what peers are doing and what priorities to focus on in an environment where are you are encouraged to speak up and discuss your every day challenges in IT Asset Management.

we.CONECT returns with their European wide event on 21st-22nd September 2015 in Berlin.

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