Building product, once you get beyond the brain wave stage, really requires customer input. Not all customer input is made equal though. What makes a massive impact is when you find that customer that shares your goals, your vision,and brings that dose of realism and practicality to the party. Treasure those customers. They don’t come around often. I’m enormously grateful for those customers that have played that crucial role in our success to date.
Last year we announced the Klaus Tschira award. I’ve written about this a couple times. Klaus meant a great deal to me. He inspired me early in my career, and his wisdom, kindness, and humility have continued to influence me even today. He was a remarkable man in so many ways.
So it was really cool today to see Shakti Jauhar and PepsiCo to win the award. It is a pity that Shakti never met Klaus, I reckon they would have got on fabulously.
Our partnership with PepsiCo and Shakti goes back to early bet Shakti took with Lars and the team. Since then Shakti has collaborated, cajoled and coerced us to build Employee Central into a solution capable of handling the largest global processes. Without you and your team, our product would have not become what it is.
It seems appropriate to include a photo of Shakti with Murali. Murali is the lead Product manager on Employee Central, and his partnership with Shakti is the Leitfaden that runs through the heart of the product.
To Shakti and all the team at PepsiCo, our deepest thanks and gratitude from all of us here at SAP SuccessFactors. We consider you a partner and a friend.
(Cross-posted @ Vendorprisey)
