SearchSAP.com podcasts and audio downloads

SearchSAP.com's topical audio downloads and podcasts include interviews with analysts and experts in the SAP universe. These podcasts help you stay on top of the latest issues in enterprise business software and SAP. Click on the links below to subscribe or download these podcasts to your PC or MP3 player.

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 Getting started with SAP data archiving: Answers to FAQs -- March 24, 2010
As more organizations confront aging SAP systems, SAP data archiving projects are coming up on the radar. Archiving data can help enhance the performance of databases, applications and free up infrastructure resources for other projects like upgrades to ECC 6.0. In this podcast, SAP data archiving expert Nick Parkin of Proceed Archiving Solutions answers some of the most frequently asked questions about getting started with an SAP data archiving project.

 The seven hidden costs of SAP support -- February 5, 2010
Seeking to keep IT spending down, many midmarket companies are keeping SAP applications in maintenance mode, foregoing upgrades or product enhancements. But simply supporting applications in maintenance mode can be costly in and of itself. In this podcast, Mike Kerrigan of Laurus Technologies discusses his thoughts on the seven hidden costs of SAP support, and lends advice on tasks that can be outsourced for cost savings.

 Getting ready for SAP TechEd 2009 -- September 23, 2009
Preparing for TechEd ahead of time will help ensure there's time to catch everything you've come to Phoenix to for, from sessions on SAP's business intelligence roadmap, to the new Process Design Slam that showcases BPM methodologies, to the Demo Jam -- affectionately referred to as American Idol for Geeks. In this podcast on getting ready for SAP TechEd, SAP mentor and SAP analyst Jon Reed, who runs the SAP career-focused website JonERP.com, offers advice on getting ready for the event.

 Increasing operational efficiency and agility with BPM -- August 18, 2009
More and more companies are turning to business process management (BPM) technology to automate business processes, optimize workflows and improve operational efficiency and agility. But no simplifying technology is ever simple, and even though SAP BPM technology deployments deliver quick ROI, getting business and IT to work together on business process modeling can be a challenge. In this podcast, Gartner Research vice president Michele Cantara explains why BPM technology is not only a technology for automating processes, but a discipline as well.

 Tips for a winning workforce management software implementation -- July 16, 2009
In a time of layoffs and cutbacks, workforce management tools are helping companies not only with traditional time-tracking, but with cutting costs and meeting strategic objectives for increased revenue. In the conclusion of this two-part podcast, Steve Goldman and Don Giffels drill down into how to build a business case for workforce management software, the integration challenges and SAP's workforce management tools.

 Today's workforce management tools: Trends and use cases -- July 16, 2009
As the recession rages on, companies are looking for ways to get more out of their number one, and most expensive, resource -- their people. Many companies are taking another look at their workforce management software. In part one of this two-part podcast, Steve Goldman and Don Giffels, managing partners at Workforce Insight, discuss the trends and leading use cases they're seeing.

 Keys for SAP customers on SAP's product strategy going forward -- May 27, 2009
As Leo Apotheker takes over as sole CEO, changes are afoot at SAP. At Sapphire 2009, there was relatively little mention of NetWeaver or service-oriented architecture (SOA). Instead, SAP introduced the concept of the "clear enterprise," which emphasizes analytical applications over strictly transactional applications. In this podcast, Jim Shepherd of AMR Research tells customers what they should know about SAP's product strategy going forward, which technologies will be important to the SAP product roadmap, SAP's strategy for the cloud and how much attention to pay to SAP's new sustainability products.

 SAP job market: Building a future in an SAP career -- May 7, 2009
In the current SAP job market, aligning oneself with the proper SAP technologies and products can mean the difference between collecting a paycheck and collecting unemployment. There are plenty of SAP job titles that continue to thrive in this recession, as well as skill-sets that keep employers happy. In part 2 of this podcast series, Jon Reed and David Foote examine the future of the SAP job market. Find out what SAP skills and job titles are proving layoff-resistant, what regions and industries continue to recruit SAP talent and why certain SAP products and technologies will be particularly important for advancement.

 SAP job market: What are the hot SAP skills and what's cooled off -- May 7, 2009
A little less than a year ago, SAP was facing a shortage of professionals with the skills to install and run its software. Since then, some SAP professionals have lost their jobs or have seen colleagues let go. In part 1 of a two-part look at the SAP job market, David Foote, CEO and cofounder of Foote Partners, discusses his most recent survey research, including the hot SAP skills, what's in less demand and whether there's still a shortage of SAP professionals in some areas.

 Minimizing business disruptions during an SAP upgrade or implementation -- April 9, 2009
System disruptions usually take place in the first 60 days of the go-live during software implementations and upgrades. Aside from the negative impact such disruptions have on operations, now time must be spent on the manual fix that's required. In this podcast, Eric Kimberling, president and founder of ERP consulting firm Panorama Consulting Group, discusses how to prevent such disruptions during SAP implementations and upgrades, or, if they do occur, how to deal with them.

 SAP Sapphire Preview: Getting the most out of Sapphire 2009 -- April 8, 2009
The week of May 11, thousands of SAP customers and partners, as well as analysts and press descended upon Orlando for the annual user conference, held in tandem with the annual conference of ASUG, SAP's largest user group. Among them was Ray Wang, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. In this podcast, Wang lended some advice before the event on how Sapphire attendees could get the most out of this year's conference.

 Data archiving in SAP environments -- April 3, 2009
Companies are drowning under the constant injection of data and the high number of transactions that their systems perform. . .sometimes in the trillions. When a system becomes swamped by transaction overload, users will struggle to find the information they're looking for. In this podcast, Deepak Sood addresses the challenges of performing data archiving in an SAP environment.

 Lean SCM: How IT can incorporate lean principles into the supply chain -- March 25, 2009
Companies adopt lean practices to eliminate waste in production, inventory and other processes and improve operating costs. By using lean principles, a company is boiling down business processes so that they contain only those steps that add value for the customer, while also allowing its workers to feel like they have a stake in the product they're working on. In this podcast, Ron Wince, an expert in performance improvement techniques for manufacturing, service and government organizations, discusses ways that companies can incorporate lean principles into their supply chain management (SCM) practices.

 Creating an enterprise MDM initiative in an SAP environment -- March 9, 2009
Corporate master data is a critical asset that must be increasingly managed within and beyond the enterprise in order to create a single customer view -- one version of the truth. In this podcast, Aaron Zornes, founder and chief research officer for The MDM Institute, discusses how to get started when creating an MDM initative for an SAP environment. Zornes also explores SAP user issues related to MDM, as well as SAP's position in the MDM arena.

 What's in store for SAP BusinessObjects CPM software? -- March 5, 2009
Companies are still buying corporate performance management (CPM) tools, and demand for CPM is outperforming big-ticket ERP software. With the acquisition of Business Objects more than a year ago, SAP bolstered its CPM portfolio, and became one of the leaders in the industry, according to several analyst reports. But what's in store for SAP's CPM software line, and what will the vendor focus on in 2009? Sanjay Poonen, vice president and GM at SAP BusinessObjects in charge of the CPM and GRC lines, discusses SAP's plans, what tools are the most popular, and whether SAP will offer any of them on-demand.

 How lean six sigma strategy can pave the way to lean government -- February 9, 2009
Governments at every level are struggling to keep employees and deliver services within their current budgets. Taking a page from the manufacturing sector, some governments are turning to lean six sigma strategy -- boiling down business processes so that they contain only those steps that add value for the customer -- to help them streamline daily activities like permitting processes. Ron WInce, an expert in lean techniques, lists the business drivers that are pushing governments to adopt lean six sigma. He also discusses how governments are applying technology, specifically ERP, to realize lean principles, and why having an ERP system in place doesn't guarantee that processes are as lean as they can be.

 Getting started with SAP NetWeaver PI (formerly XI) -- January 27, 2009
SAP has reintroduced SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (XI) as SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (PI). NetWeaver PI serves as the integration engine for SAP's implementation of SOA middleware, and includes an Enterprise Service Bus as well as pre-built integrations for connecting SAP systems to each other and to non-SAP systems. Ian Finley, vice president at Boston-based AMR Research, looks at NetWeaver PI's features and functions, and examines how NetWeaver PI stacks up against other products, such as Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Making sense of SAP Business Objects for SAP BI customers-- January 22, 2009
What's the deal with SAP Business Objects? It's a question SAP customers, particularly those with SAP BI investments, have been asking ever since SAP purchased the company more than a year ago. Justin Burmeister and David Fox have been working on SAP BI and SAP Business Objects implementations for the last year. Fox is president of and principal BI architect with Claricent, Inc., and has more than 10 years of experience in SAP BI. Burmeister is a Basis consultant who has 11 years of SAP experience. The two recently completed an SAP BI and Business Objects integration/implementation for a large SAP retailer and here, they offer a "down in the trenches" view of what went wrong, what went right and how to navigate SAP Business Objects as an SAP BI customer.

Virtualization in SAP environments -- December 12, 2008
Christopher Carter, a virtualization expert, digs into specific strategic issues pertinent to virtualization in SAP environments. Learn how SAP applications can be optimized for a virtualized environment, how to integrate third-party virtualization technology with SAP and how to achieve business agility via virtualization. Highlights include: "Why is virtualization important for SAP customers?" and "How do virtualization technologies work together in SAP environments?"

Run SAP and Solution Manager -- August 7, 2008
For end users, Run SAP is a post-implementation methodology that could lower your total cost of SAP ownership, reduce the incidence of technical problems, and allow you to better understand and manage your business processes. For consultants, Run SAP is a skill you need to master in order to present a complete value proposition to your client. Listen to better understand Run SAP and its closely related technical component, Solution Manager. End users may discover how to make their newly increased license fees pay off, and consultants will learn about the next big SAP skill.

SAP and SOA -- August 1, 2008
Everyone's talking about SOA. Whether you're a CEO, CIO, SAP developer or consultant, SOA is changing how you work with SAP. Rabi Jay, SAP expert and author of the standard NetWeaver Portal guide, walks you through the business case for SOA, details how SOA is altering SAP's product offerings and architecture and helps you understand what SAP's Enterprise SOA will mean for your company and your career.

SAP and Change Control, Part I -- August 1, 2008
Implementing, upgrading or customizing an SAP system is a major technology change that can cause cascading effects throughout your IT landscape. Adopting a strict and automated change control protocol helps to defend your system from the potentially disastrous impact of SAP-related changes. In Part I of this podcast, consultant Paul Hayes lays out the business case for automating change control.

SAP and Change Control, Part II -- August 1, 2008
Implementing, upgrading or customizing an SAP system is a major technology change that can cause cascading effects throughout your IT landscape. Adopting a strict and automated change control protocol helps to defend your system from the potentially disastrous impact of SAP-related changes. In Part II of this podcast, end user Susan Cannington of CHEP explains how automated change control helped her company simultaneously upgrade SAP R/3 and various legacy systems without experiencing technical problems, outages or delays.

 SAP explains its certification program -- July 14, 2008
This podcast expands on the red-hot topic of SAP certification. Find out why it might be a good idea to stay away from third-party certification programs, how SAP's own certification program adds value to your career and what's next for the certification marketplace. Jon Reed and Sue Martin, Global Certification Portfolio Manager at SAP, offer details.

 SAP exec discusses Imagineering, the future of development -- June 23, 2008
SAP's Imagineering division's senior vice president discusses Web 2.0, and how gaming could be the next development model, in this podcast from the Enterprise 2.0 conference.

 The SAP skills shortage: What it means for you -- May 28, 2008
ASUG, SAP's user group for the Americas, always has the inside track on what actual SAP users are thinking about major deployment, upgrade and technology issues. This interview with ASUG CEO Steve Strout offers up ASUG's recent insights on these and other topics, including SAP's acquisition of Business Objects.

 SAP user chief chats up Sapphire, executive changes -- April 30, 2008
ASUG, SAP's user group for the Americas, always has the inside track on what actual SAP users are thinking about major deployment, upgrade and technology issues. This interview with ASUG CEO Steve Strout offers up ASUG's recent insights on these and other topics, including SAP's acquisition of Business Objects.

 How can ABAP developers survive in a NetWeaver era? -- February 8, 2008
SAP's NetWeaver push and SOA (service-oriented architecture) strategy make the future somewhat confusing for ABAP developers. In this podcast we talk with SearchSAP.com careers expert, and president of jonerp.com, Jon Reed and Thomas Jung, a NetWeaver product manager with SAP Labs, about how developers can enhance their skills to keep up.

 ASUG president discusses challenges for 2008 -- January 8, 2008
Almost every action by SAP requires some sort of reaction from the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG). When SAP releases a new product, ASUG designs new services and programs around it. If SAP acquires a company, ASUG must figure out how to support those customers and potential members. With SAP's release of Business ByDesign, its acquisition of Business Objects and several smaller companies, and its continued NetWeaver upgrades push, 2007 proved to be a busy year for ASUG.

SearchSAP.com caught up with ASUG's president, Steve Strout, to discuss the organization's busy 2007, including which SAP announcement had the biggest effect on ASUG and its membership. Strout also looks at how ASUG will put Business ByDesign to use in its own organization, what members are requesting, and how ASUG hopes to improve its services in the coming year.

 NCPB tames 'spider webs on LSD' with SAP -- December 10, 2007
BOSTON -- The Northern California Public Broadcasting Company (NCPB) had no easy way to view and project budget and fundraising trends until it implemented Outlooksoft. NCPB stuck with the product after SAP acquired it and has already seen significant ROI. SearchSAP.com spoke with Jeff Nemy, NCPB's chief financial officer, at SAP's Influencer Summit last week to learn more about how SAP Business Planning and Consolidation has helped the company manage budgets, improve fundraising, and provide more visibility into processes that Nemy described as "spider webs on LSD."

 ASUG influencing SAP products behind the scenes -- November 6, 2007
One of the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG)'s main functions is to give member feedback to SAP on its products and services in order to influence future offerings. This influence is exercised in many ways, including surveys, conferences and ASUG meetings with SAP executives. Rod Masney, chairperson of ASUG's board, and Steve Strout, CEO of ASUG, recently returned from meeting with SAP executives in Germany. They share their experiences in this SearchSAP.com podcast. Strout and Masney discuss their meeting with SAP executives and new ways ASUG is influencing SAP, including its 360-degree review program and how SAP users can have their voices heard.

 Becoming (and staying) a business process expert -- November 1, 2007
Business process experts face constantly changing demands and must combine technical and business skills to be successful. In this podcast, SearchSAP.com career expert Jon Reed and Marco ten Vaanholt, director of SAP's business process expert community, discuss how to become a business process expert (BPX) and how to keep up with the changing landscape and demand for business process skills. Ten Vaanholt also gives an update on the SAP BPX community and what users can expect next from the group.

 SAP Business ByDesign: An introduction -- September 20, 2007
NEW YORK -- On Sept. 19, SAP released more details of its midmarket, ERP on demand product, formerly codenamed A1S. The product, now dubbed SAP Business ByDesign, will be priced at $149 per user per month, and already has early customer stories. At the unveiling event in New York, SearchSAP.com caught up with Hans-Peter Klaey, SAP's SMB (small and medium-sized business) president, and an early customer, Harry Krisch, SAP practice director for West Conshohocken, Pa.-based Judge Consulting Group.

 The future of SAP NetWeaver jobs -- September 18, 2007
With NetWeaver upgrades going strong and enterprise service-oriented architecture (ESOA) projects becoming a reality, it is an exciting time to be an SAP professional. In this podcast, SearchSAP.com career expert Jon Reed and Ori Ingbar, SAP's senior vice president of solution marketing for NetWeaver, discuss the future for NetWeaver jobs, including job roles of the future. Ingbar also offers a sneak peek at what attendees can look forward to at TechEd 2007.

The state of SAP SRM -- August 23, 2007
Author and SearchSAP.com site expert Sachin Sethi discusses SAP SRM topics, including release date push-backs and MDM.

 Supply chain management forecast and trends -- August 15, 2007
AMR's John Fontanella discuses RFID, SAP's supply chain management module, and his SCM market forecast.

 Keys to SAP project success: It's the people -- July 26, 2007
When implementing SAP, managing personnel issues is as critical to project success as the technology.

 ASUG Impact Awards -- August 8, 2007
ASUG's annual Impact Awards highlight and reward SAP innovation. This SearchSAP.com podcast series highlights the winners: Powell Electronics, Monsanto and Orange County Public Schools.

 Going Global: Localizing products, content and systems for an international market -- June 6, 2007
Localization of products, support materials and back-end systems is critical for SAP customers doing business in international markets. In this podcast, the Globalization and Localization Association gives some tips for success.

 ASUG's new chief discuses Duet, SAP ERP upgrades and his role -- May 29, 2007
Steve Strout, incoming president for ASUG, offers advice from his company's SAP ERP 2005 upgrade, gives his thoughts about the Duet roadmap and appliance, and provides an update on ASUG news.

 Keys to SAP business process success -- May 23, 2007
SAP has been pushing its business process initiative for some time, and the new BPX community is beginning to gain some traction. But what exactly is a business process expert, and how do those skills translate into an actual job role? We sat down with Helen Sunderland, platinum consultant at SAP Canada, and Marilyn Pratt, BPX community evangelist, to talk about what SAP is trying to accomplish and how SAP professionals can benefit.

SAP master data management demo and trends -- May 3, 2007
ATLANTA -- Master data management (MDM) is becoming an important technology for many SAP customers. This podcast gives a demonstration of SAP's MDM offering from Sunil Gupta, director of solutions marketing for SAP Labs, looks at some of the latest SAP MDM news from Sapphire, and previews what's coming next.

 Governance, risk and compliance trends from Sapphire 2007 -- April 30, 2007
ATLANTA -- Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) has been on the radar of SAP users for some time. The topic is constantly evolving, with new regulations seeming to pop up daily and companies looking for ways to leverage GRC solutions to add value to their business. In this podcast from Sapphire 2007, SearchSAP.com spoke with Amit Chatterjee, senior vice president for SAP's GRC business unit, to get the latest news and trends, look at SAP's announcements from Sapphire, and see what's coming next.

 Business intelligence, analytics and performance management trends from Sapphire 2007 -- April 24, 2007
ATLANTA -- Business intelligence (BI), analytics and corporate performance management (CPM) are three topics that spark interest and cause some confusion among SAP customers. In this podcast from Sapphire 2007, SearchSAP.com spoke with Nenshad Bardoliwalla, SAP's senior director for CPM solution management, to get the latest news and trends, clear up acronym confusion, and see what's coming next for SAP in the market.

 Sapphire and ASUG Annual Conference preview -- April 17, 2007
Sapphire takes place April 23-25 in Atlanta. As SAP's main end user event, there is always a wealth of news and networking opportunities. For the past couple of years, the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) Annual Conference has been co-located with Sapphire, further enhancing the educational opportunities for SAP users. This podcast with ASUG president Rod Masney previews the events and takes the pulse of what is on SAP users' minds.

 MySAP ERP upgrade advice with ASUG's Matt Rickard -- April 6, 2007
According to SAP, Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) and others, this year will see an increase in the number of customers upgrading to mySAP ERP. In this podcast, Matt Rickard, ASUG's director of groups and chapters and a member of its board, discusses some common upgrade questions. Rickard talks about technical versus functional upgrades, common problems, and resources users can turn to, among other things.

 SAP xMII manufacturing xAPP – What's next -- March 8, 2007
According to SAP, xApps brought in more than $200 million in license revenue in 2006. SearchSAP.com interviewed Scott Campbell, SAP Practice Manager with Austin, Tex.-based MomentumSI, a consulting organization specializing in SOA, and Mo Ghanam, manager of partners and field enablement services at SAP Labs, about one of the more popular xApps: xMII. This stands for Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence and is utilized by manufacturing organizations. In this interview, Campbell and Ghanam discuss xMII basics, customer use cases, career opportunities and partner solutions.

 RFID and SAP trends -- February 21, 2007
RFID technology continues to gain popularity, according to Josh Slobin, director of marketing for AeroScout. Based in San Mateo, Calif. AeroScout produces active, Wi-Fi-based RFID products. In this podcast, he gives some background on the topic, explains the differences between active and passive RFID technology, looks at some real-world cases, and gives advice for SAP users.

 SAP jobs present and future, with David Foote -- February 13, 2007
The market for SAP jobs is hot, with some SAP skills paying premiums over the general IT market. In this podcast with David Foote, president of Foote Partners LLC, find out which modules have a particularly rosy outlook and which ones aren't expected to fare as well. Foote also discusses how outsourcing could affect SAP professionals and gives a general market update and predictions for the upcoming year.

 Trends in ESA and SOA with author Scott Campbell -- December 13, 2006
SAP has been making lots of news on the ESA (enterprise services architecture) and SOA (service oriented architecture) fronts. SearchSAP.com interviewed Scott Campbell, co-author of the new book Mastering Enterprise SOA with SAP NetWeaver and mySAP ERP. In this interview, Campbell, SAP Practice Manager with Austin, Tex.-based MomentumSI, a consulting organization specializing in SOA, addresses common issues with SOA deployments, best practices and advice for SOA projects, and why it's a good time to be in the SAP jobs market.

 Influencing SAP: User group helps define SAP strategy -- November 28, 2006
Members of the America's SAP Users' Group are taking part in about 60 influence councils that help shape application updates and fill gaps in SAP software. Learn more in this audio download.

 Podcast: SAP sets sights on BPM with new community -- October 30, 2006
As customers look to improve their business processes, SAP is trying to provide some help. Mark Yolton discusses SAP's new Business Process Expert Community.

 Podcast: SAP's platform ecosystem chief sets direction -- October 19, 2006
Zia Yusuf, who leads SAP's Platform Ecosystem unit, is finding software vendors that fill various gaps in SAP's software. In a wide ranging interview, Yusuf explains his role shaping SAP's strategy.

 Podcast: Guide to choosing a systems integrator -- September 29, 2006
Michael Doane, founder and chief intelligence officer of Performance Monitor discusses his firms study of the top systems integrators.

 Podcast: SAP firms cope with support issues -- September 6, 2006
Consultant Doug Whittle discusses the support issues SAP customers face after their new systems go live and the support strategies that get the most value out of an SAP system.

 Podcast: SAP pros feud in ongoing talent war -- August 30, 2006
Employers are shopping for the right SAP talent to manage projects. Find out which job skills and certifications are rising in value, according to data from Foote Research LLC.

 Podcast: SAP, Microsoft Duet costs, viability explained -- August 23, 2006
Jim Murphy of AMR Research discusses a recent survey in which SAP customers saw the value in Duet, but said it isn't ready for prime time.

 Podcast: Mastering business intelligence and data management -- July 29, 2006
Hear who is leading in the business intelligence market and get some best practices in this overview of business intelligence and master data management for SAP customers.

Roundtable: SAP firms struggle to master compliance investments -- July 1, 2006
Abbe Mulders, CIO of Dow Corning Corp., Joshua Greenbaum, principal consultant of Enterprise Applications Consulting and Rod Masney, president of the Americas' SAP Users' Group discuss SAP and compliance with News Editor Robert Westervelt.

Podcast: SAP, ASUG preps benchmarking campaign for customer ROI measurements -- June 26, 2006
The Americas' SAP Users' Group and SAP are showcasing a joint benchmarking campaign designed to measure company successes and develop a roadmap to measure the ROI of SAP applications. Rod Masney, president of the Americas' SAP Users' Group, discusses the benchmarking initiative and gives his views about the latest SAP issues with News Editor Robert Westervelt.

Podcast: Master data management trends and resources for SAP customers -- June 5, 2006
Master data management is emerging as an important enterprise technology. Gartner's Andrew White and SAP's Sunil Gupta discuss recent trends affecting SAP customers and the market as a whole with News Editor Robert Westervelt.

Podcast: Understanding SAP analytical xApps -- May 25, 2006
More SAP customers are beginning to build and deploy composite applications using NetWeaver, according to Roman Bukary, vice president of analytics and composite applications at SAP. By injecting analytics directly into key SAP business processes, end users will get useful and actionable information quickly, according to Bukary, who was interviewed by News Editor Robert Westervelt,at the Sapphire '06 user conference in Orlando, Fla.

Podcast: SAP boosts queries with Business Intelligence Accelerator -- May 24, 2006
SAP's Roman Bukary discusses the SAP Business Intelligence Accelerator, an appliance that SAP says will boost query performance. The box can be plugged into NetWeaver to speed high volumes of queries from end users of SAP NetWeaver BI, according to Bukary, who was interviewed by News Editor Robert Westervelt, at the Sapphire '06 user conference in Orlando, Fla.

Podcast: TomorrowNow CEO responds to critics of SAP union -- May 19, 2006
In a broad ranging interview, Andrew Nelson, CEO of SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow, discusses his firm's strategy as it extends support to Siebel customers and recent criticism from members of the Quest International User's Group. Nelson also talks with News Editor Robert Westervelt, about future service and support options for PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Siebel customers. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

Podcast: SAP ABAP, IBM WebSphere, RFID skills pay rising -- May 10, 2006
Employers are paying a premium for SAP ABAP, IBM WebSphere skills Java experts and radio frequency identification technology talent, according to research from Foote Partners LLC. Foot discusses his latest research with News Editor Robert Westervelt. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

Podcast: SAP user group head explains SAP successes, challenges -- April 27, 2006
ASUG president Mike Perroni talks about the latest SAP technologies, why SAP customers are slow to upgrade and what to expect at this years ASUG and Sapphire user conferences with News Editor Robert Westervelt. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

Podcast: SAP implementation challenges, potential pitfalls -- April 13, 2006
James Smith, IT director of dishware and stemware maker Rosenthal USA discusses the challenges and potential pitfalls of an SAP implementation with News Editor Robert Westervelt. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

Podcast: The state of the SAP job market -- March 27, 2006
News Editor Robert Westervelt provides an update of recent stories of importance to the SAP users. He interviews Jon Reed, who serves as a site expert on SAP careers for SearchSAP.com. Reed is the author of the SAP Consultant Handbook and also produces the "SAP eCareer Transitions Journal," a newsletter for SAP professionals seeking career advancement. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

Podcast: SAP CRM on demand; Mendocino unwrapped -- March 15, 2006
In our premier podcast News Editor Robert Westervelt discusses SAP's recent foray into the CRM on-demand market with Barney Beal, news editor of SearchCRM.com and talks with SearchSAP.com Site Editor Matt Danielsson about the latest news around Mendocino, the jointly developed Microsoft-SAP product that incorporates SAP transactions into Microsoft Outlook. Listen on your PC or download to your favorite mobile device.

What is a podcast?
Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio (and possibly other media) files for download to digital music or multimedia players, such as the iPod. A podcast can be easily created from a digital audio file. The podcaster first saves the file as an MP3 and then uploads it to the Web site of a service provider. The MP3 file gets its own URL, which is inserted into an RSS XML document as an enclosure within an XML tag.

Once a podcast has been created, it can be registered with content aggregators, such as podcasting.net or ipodder.org, for inclusion in podcast directories. People can browse through the categories or subscribe to specific podcast RSS feeds which will download to their audio players automatically when they next connect. Although podcasts are generally audio files created for digital music players, the same technology can be used to prepare and transmit images, text, and video to any capable device.

This definition was provided by our sister site Whatis.com.