I've spent the last 4 days in sunny Orlando at the HR2010 conference, run by SAP Insider. It's shared with SAP Financials and SAP GRC, but of course my only interest was HR.

It was an unexpectedly good conference. I expected it to be somewhat lackluster due to the recession. I was pleasantly surprised to find quality customer and vendor presentations, engaging and conversational SAP HR system users, and a vibrant and busy vendor showcase.

I followed the presentations and discussions around talent management, so I can't speak for other areas such as time management or payroll. I'm sure Steve Bogner did a good job. Clients were positive about the new functionality and roadmap of all areas of SAP talent management. 

One thing I did notice was that a lot of clients that I'd seen in previous years (I've been doing this conference since the first one in 2004) were not there, and there were a new crop of clients that I'd never met before. This is a good sign. It shows new customers are seeing the value in SAP Human Capital Management. It wouldn't surprise me if some customers that needed to cover all of HR were overwhelmed. It seems that SAP were in hibernation mode for a while with talent management and they're now bombarding clients with new functionality.

I didn't get a lot of value out of the keynote. For the most part it was either too salesy or too BOBJ. There wasn't really much in the way of HR content. Surprising since HR attendees were in the majority. It's always a pleasure to see Peter Graf present and he did a good segment on sustainability.

From a personal point of view, it was nice to reconnect with friends and colleagues from EPI-USE, AspireHR, Exaserv, HCL Axon and of course SAP. I got some great ideas for Ingram Talent add-on software ideas and am itching to get them built and put on SAP Ecohub. I definitely slept on the flights home on Friday.

Notably missing were booths by Cap Gemini and IBM. It seems strange when smaller vendors continue to invest in this area.

E-Recruiting had a great presentation from my friend Susan Simons of SAP. She covered the latest and greatest Enhancement Pack 4 functionality, and had some information about the roadmap. Overall the roadmap wasn't a big discussion for any modules. There have been some huge improvements in terms of usability. It would have been nice to see forward-thinking improvements around the candidate experience, candidate sourcing and contact management, and broadening the solution capabilities rather than just streamlining and beautifying the existing applicant tracking system. 

Microsoft did a great presentation on their use of E-Recruiting in 88 countries. An interesting point was that many of the enhancements they have done in the past have now been included in the SAP standard, or are planned by SAP. A major one for an organization of their size and volume of recruiting is Enhancement Pack 4 Support Pack 6. This Support Pack (SP) will see major performance enhancements in the Candidate Selection List.

Mass Mutual did a technical presentation on the use of Business Warehouse analytics and E-Recruiting. I took a lot of practical hints away from it.

In terms of one-on-one time with E-Recruiting I met a few clients that were upgrading in the next 18 months from earlier releases to Enhancement Packs 4 or 5, some clients taking a first look, and a good number that had taken a look in the past but haven't seen it as an attractive solution until now.

It was a great conference. I felt I'd had my money's worth after the second day and will definitely attend next year (maybe with a booth next time). Mark Stelzner attended HRevolution 2010 in Chicago the same week and suggested covering booth floors with beanbags to encourage discussion. Great idea!

I'm not expecting the same degree of HR content from ASUG/SAPPHIRE in May but hope to get a better grip on the technology stack direction and overall strategy. I'm also presenting there so it should be a great opportunity to connect with people.

And yes the recruiting and management books I was handing out as business cards went very well. I was almost out of books at the end of the conference. Thanks to Shari Storm and Lou Adler for the books.