Mobile Expert Interview Series: SAP's Usman Sheikh, December 2010

SAP's EcoHub is SAP's online market for certified partners' solutions.  If you want to know what's new in the SAP ecosystem, EcoHub is the first place to visit.  I wanted to learn what was new in the category of enterprise mobility on EcoHub, so I called up my friend Usman Sheikh, vice president of SAP's EcoHub.  He was kind enough to answer a few questions and share his thoughts with us.

Kevin:  Usman, you have a great vantage point as vice president of EcoHub.  You get to see what your certified partners are doing.  What is new at EcoHub?

Usman:  Here are some interesting EcoHub facts.  15 percent of all EcoHub solutions are mobile.  When we headline with mobility our EcoHub web traffic doubles.  We get 30-40 percent more sales leads for mobile solutions than other solution categories.  Twenty-five percent of leads that come into EcoHub are the result of social media marketing campaigns.

Kevin:  What does EcoHub do for mobile application vendors?

Usman:  We are SAP's online market place for certified partner solutions.  We offer onsite advertising, marketing campaigns, online demos, solution information and much more.  It is our goal to be the leader in social markets.  We want EcoHub to be the platform of choice for people looking for enterprise mobility solutions in the SAP ecosystem.

Kevin:  How is Sybase going to interact with SAP's EcoHub?

Usman:  Over time we hope EcoHub will become a market place for all of Sybase's mobility partners as well.

Kevin:  What new and interesting technologies are you watching these days?

Usman:  I am very interested in the emerging categories of social intelligence and social commerce.  Social intelligence is the learning and education you can gain from following feeds, newsreaders, online conversations, topics or threads online.  Social commerce is like SAP EcoHub.  It is an online community where you can choose to spend time and conduct business.  I am spending a lot of time researching these topics.  I would love to team up with you and speak on how these areas will impact enterprise mobility!

Thank you Usman for sharing your insights and time!

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.