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