As a vendor, we always walk into conferences like SNUG with a level of hope and anticipation. Will the attendance be good this year? Will anyone care about our offerings? How will the SunGard folks treat the outside vendors? Will anyone attend our sessions? Like every year, the event was amazingly positive for everyone involved.
Capitalize Consulting had a great time in Palm Springs at SNUG 2015 and had as much interest as we could have hoped for! Our booth was a flurry of activity as the BusinessPLUS community wanted to know more about IBM Cognos and how it could help their districts. Our sessions were well attended with 10-20 people in each of the two sessions, and people seemed excited to see what they could do with this new and powerful tool.
The eSchoolPLUS and eFinancePLUS groups are always a blast to work with, as they’ve had many more years to work with Cognos and typically have some pretty complex questions! We were able to assist a few folks right at the booth and also showed some of these veterans the latest and greatest functionality (along with some hidden gems).
The SunGard team, who has some fresh faces in the executive offices, were so welcoming. We put faces with names of folks in sales, services, training, and management across the product suite. We learned a lot and were able to share some ideas that should be mutually beneficial.
During the conference, we discussed the technology and services with which Capitalize Consulting can assist. With so many clients moving from legacy products (Cognos 7 and CDD) to IBM Cognos, we feel that conversions, training, and ongoing support are the most important things people should consider when they make the move. Cognos is a remarkably robust tool, and with it comes some complexity. People frequently ask if Cognos is “hard” and I always say, “Not if you’ve done it once.” Like anything, once you’ve gotten past the initial fear and start using the tools, it’s just a matter of practice. The beauty for me is that unlike many reporting/BI tools, Cognos can grow with you. I personally have been working with Cognos for over 10 years and while I’m very proficient, I’m always learning something!
Give us a shout if we can help. Check out our training classes for formal Cognos training – or if you need a partner ready to answer questions when you get stuck or assist with report conversion, our CARE program is just what you need. We are always willing and ready to come to you and do training at your site on YOUR data.
We hope to see you at MIDSUN, TSUN, and/or SNUG next year!