Innovative Solution Partners co-founder Mustansir Saifuddin recently joined more than 130 other ASUG volunteers from throughout the country in Austin, Texas, for the SAP users group’s annual strategy and planning session.
The session, which took place Jan. 24-26, 2025, included a review of the Pulse of the SAP Customer Survey 2025 as well as breakout planning sessions for the year ahead.
“This event, as well as Michigan and Midwest events planned for throughout the year, are important opportunities to bring IT professionals together for networking and learning,” said Saifuddin, who has been one of the Midwest ASUG volunteers planning events for the past several years.
“In the coming year, I and my Midwest colleagues hope to continue to foster a spirit of community through our own regional events.”
Saifuddin’s sentiments were echoed by ASUG CEO & Chief Community Champion Geoff Scott, who said during the session: “SAP partners and customers agree: Chapters are essential, now more than ever.”
Key ASUG topics for 2025
Setting ASUG strategy for 2025 is a primary goal for the annual session. ASUG consults with its members to identify these strategic topics. In Austin, Kelly Dowling, director of strategic topics and communities at ASUG, outlined the top four topics and discussed how individual chapters can integrate them into their own events:
- Cloud ERP and SAP S/4HANA strategy
- SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)
- Business Transformation Management
- Artificial Intelligence
Pulse of the SAP Customer
In an early and exclusive look at the 2025 Pulse of the SAP Customer report attendees heard about adoption rates of critical SAP technologies as well as stats on business priorities among SAP customers. Also discussed were challenges ASUG members are experiencing with SAP technology investments.
In the annual survey, 44% of SAP customers identified integration of SAP and non-SAP systems as a key area of focus in 2025. In addition, 54% cited budget challenges as a top challenge for 2025. That percentage rose from 34% in 2024.
At the keynote session, Microsoft provided attendees an overview of its partnership with SAP, including the Global Acceleration Program for RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure.
In additional to planning sessions there were awards given to four ASUG volunteers for their hard work in 2024.
ASUG volunteers discussed strategies for continued growth to build on 2024, when ASUG community events drew more than 6,000 attendees.
Attendees participated in planning and professional development sessions and focused on how to improve their ASUG chapters and how to drive attendance to regional events.
Next Michigan chapter meeting
The Michigan chapter’s spring ASUG meeting is scheduled for April 23, at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
About ASUG
ASUG is the world’s largest SAP user group, serving thousands of businesses and connecting more than 130,000 professionals with networking and educational resources. Its mission is to help people and organizations get the most value from their investment in SAP technology. The group holds in-person and virtual events and makes on-demand digital resources available to its members. at
