SAP User Group scraps CIO Council

The SAP Australian User Group has scrapped its CIO Council to make way for participation from executives outside of the technology industry.

SAUG today announced it would shutter the CIO Council and replace it with the 'SAUG Executive Council (SEC)'. 

SAUG will offer membership to non-IT C-level, vice president and director executives - expanding out from the previous CIO Council arrangement, which was limited to senior IT execs. 

SAUG said high-level IT decision making was no longer confined to IT managers, with HR, marketing, sales, finance and other departments now participating in the process thanks to the advent of such trends as cloud computing.

"The SAUG Executive Council has formed in recognition of this shift, and to enable participation by a broader range of C-level executives whose work relates to the IT operating environment,” said SEC steering committee chairman and Linfox CIO John Ansley in a statement.

"As part of this group, C-level executives actively participate in both the long-term roadmap and short-term solution investment opportunities with SAP and become part of ongoing discussion and evolution of SAP initiatives.”

SAUG operates a as forum for discussion and sharing of SAP solutions and knowledge, and to influence the direction of SAP. Meetings for the new council will be held twice a year, the first in September. 

Current SAUG members will not be required to pay a fee to become a member of the SEC, however those wishing to apply for SAUG membership will need to pay a fee of between $374 and $2040 for one of three types of memberships.