Continuing with the S4/HANA theme: Why is the roadmap for S4/HANA published piecemeal ? Financial accounting (FI) and logistics we already know. What comes next ? Without knowing the roadmap, how can customers realistically plan their migration? Customers are confused as in this inquiry: Should customers move to successFactors or will there be a Simple HR or Business Suite on the cloud...or wait for S4-whatever..total confusion? Apparently there won't be a Simple HR, SuccessFactors is it but let's get this one cleared up. On licensing: What specifically has SAP done to increase transparency around licensing as customers still seem confused? Cloud licensing models should be simpler but this is SAP we're talking about. An old chestnut but one worth repeating: What are SAP customer satisfaction numbers, how does it gather it, how is it trending, and how does SAP plan to improve it overall? How has the HANA cloud platform (HCP) been received/grown for non-business suit customers. ..i.e. those using the platform for their own products/companies? Last year at SAPPHIRE, SAP was very vocal about 'simple' yet most will agree it cost some serious dollars for most customers to get to simple. What type of migration paths does SAP plan to offer to incent customers to make the move especially from OnPremise to Cloud based offerings especially in areas where there is a reimplementation needed? What ever happened to Value Engineering? A strategic weapon if HANA ever needed one. I want to know why SAP aren't selling their cloud/departmental analytics offerings the same way their competitors are, i.e. to departments? What is SAP's departmental analytics solution ? Lumira positioning looks very similar to enterprise with Hana, BW now. What is SAP going to do to encourage customers to buy into the S4/HANA vision. User organizations don't see a compelling use case.

My take

SAPPHIRE Now 2015 is just around the corner and there are no shortage of questions that attendees want answered. Earlier in the week, Brian Sommer offered his CIO checklist for S/4 HANA. What follows are the unfiltered questions I received:

Prior to putting out the request, Bill McDermott, CEO SAP asked what I would like to see at SAPPHIRE:

Show customers that are doing great things with HANA in a way that everyone can understand and relate to. Assuming I am in the market, a vision for S4/HANA that I could sell to my board which walks me through not just what S4/HANA does for me in terms of simplification, but the place it gets me to where I can then take advantage of the network and what that offers.

I know McDermott has a vision for a connected enterprise that drives much more than incremental value. While I kind of get that, I have yet to see a compelling case that pulls the whole picture into clear sight and with broad appeal, not just to the Global 400 customers SAP hopes will remain loyal as it transitions them to the 'new.' SAPPHIRE Now is SAP's shot at doing that.

One question I didn't raise but will add here: Can SAP lay out in clear terms what 'simple' means for product, licensing and customer engagement, providing an indication where the company is along that transitional path?

Endnote - feel free to add more questions in comments. We will report back as the show unfolds.

Disclosure: SAP is a premier partner at time of writing.