Ten Years On: Reflections from the SAP Aerospace & Defense Industry Event
- Magnus Bjorendahl
- Apr 22
- 3 min read
By Magnus Bjorendahl
This year marked the tenth anniversary of the SAP Aerospace & Defense Industry Event, an annual gathering I helped launch a decade ago, alongside Greg Rietzke and Dyan Schertler. At the time, I was leading SAP’s Aerospace & Defense Industry Business Unit, and through my connections with other industry leads, I learned how one sector had successfully created and sustained an annual industry-focused event around SAP. It made me think: Why don’t we have something like this for A&D?
That spark of inspiration became a shared mission with Greg and Dyan to create a dedicated space where SAP’s A&D clients could come together to learn from each other, share strategies, and navigate the unique complexities of our industry, while also bringing partners into the conversation. What started as a small, purpose-built forum has grown into one of the most valuable industry events on the calendar. In fact, many participants now prefer this event over the much larger, cross-industry Sapphire event.
It’s been incredibly rewarding to return this year as CEO of Twenty5, now one of SAP’s strategic ecosystem partners, and see how this event has matured into a trusted platform for collaboration and co-innovation.
A Decade of Dedication: Dyan Schertler’s Stewardship
While the event was a collaborative effort from the beginning, its sustained success is thanks in large part to Dyan Schertler. Over the past ten years, Dyan has personally carried the torch with energy, vision, and heart. She has been the backbone of this event, ensuring that it remains a thriving, inclusive, and forward-thinking space year after year.
An Ecosystem Approach to Innovation
One of the defining themes of this event has been the spotlight on SAP’s strong partner ecosystem. Companies like Twenty5, Cognitus, and Cora are extending SAP’s footprint into critical business processes that traditional ERP alone can’t fully address.
The A&D industry adopted SAP ECC solutions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At the time, most of SAP’s functional gaps were filled by custom solutions built by system integrators or internal IT teams. Fast forward to today, it’s clear that a more scalable and efficient model is to embrace key solution partners who can build and maintain best-practice industry tools that complement SAP.
At Twenty5, for example, we’re helping A&D organizations replace highly customized tools, like legacy material cost estimating (MCE) solutions, with scalable, off-the-shelf products that align with SAP’s “clean core” philosophy. This approach not only reduces complexity but also accelerates innovation by making future upgrades smoother and more sustainable.
Tackling the S/4HANA Transition
Of course, the path to modernization remains a major challenge for many A&D companies. Migrating from SAP ECC, often running on two-decade-old, heavily customized systems, to S/4HANA requires more than just technical migration. It means addressing:
Instance consolidation after years of acquisitions or fragmented rollouts
Replacement of custom solutions with integrated partner tools
Critical decisions around hosting models (S/4HANA private vs. public cloud, self-hosted vs. RISE with SAP vs. NS2) each with unique implications for compliance, cost, and control
These are tough decisions. And this event continues to be the place where leaders come to work through them together.
Looking Ahead
As I reflect on this year’s event, I’m filled with pride, not just for what we started ten years ago, but for what it’s become: a community of builders, thinkers, and change-makers committed to moving our industry forward.
To Greg and Dyan, thank you for helping bring the original vision to life. And to Dyan in particular, thank you for nurturing it into something far bigger than we imagined. And to everyone who participates each year, thank you for making this event a space for real dialogue, shared progress, and lasting impact.
Here’s to the next ten years.
CEO & Co-Founder of Twenty5
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