International User Groups Conference 2019

IUG gets Next-Generation Revamp

Which conference has over 500 attendees? Welcomes attendees from as many as 40 countries? And has a global reach of nearly 1,600 members? 

The answer is the Software AG International User Groups (IUG) Conference. And this year the team were in Riga taking user engagement to the next (gen) level under the new management of Felix Friedrich.

Young and fresh!

For almost 15 years, IUG was under the watchful eye of Bernd Gudat, but last year that all changed when newly appointed Director User Groups at Software AG, Felix Friedrich, took over the ropes. Understandably, Felix set his sights on turning the IUG Conference 2019 into an event with a noticeable difference.

Attendees certainly will have noticed an even greater shift from learning to connecting with people from all ends of the world. And what says networking more than an all-digital attendee platform? With an updated app to increase usability, attendees were able to easily search for peers according to the products they are using and message them with a single click.

To back this up, the team expanded the onsite collaboration hub to allow for ad-hoc and impromptu meetings. And there were not one but two celebration events on the second and fourth night.

Younger, fresher, better!

Of course, while all our products feature center stage, it was particularly exciting to have Cumulocity IoT represented at the IUG Conference for the very first time. There was lively participation in this new workstream.

Another first this year was the IUG Alumni Network meeting. In an exciting new constellation, the network met to brainstorm how long-standing customer knowledge can be gathered and channeled for the benefit of both sides of this dedicated community.

At the Riga IUG Conference, every effort was made to give attendees the best environment to learn, share and explore the Software AG product world. With a strong presence from R&D and product experts, over 100 presentations, of which 40 were from customers, there was certainly not a dull moment.