As you may have heard, this year’s UKISUG Connect was the largest on record - making it a pretty great year for it to be my first time attending. A few days packed with learning, conversations, and meeting new faces (with a few now becoming familiar!) was made even better by the fact it was hosted in my old university hometown.

The Monday keynote quickly set the tone. Conor Riordan, Chair of UKISUG, shared that approximately 40% of companies using SAP will still be on ECC going into 2030. That stat really stood out - especially when paired with the live poll showing that 46.5% of people think managing data quality and fragmentation is their organisation’s most pressing technology challenge.

Those numbers reinforced something we often see at Xmateria: when the data workstream is properly understood and prioritised, it brings clarity - and helps the wider transformation move more smoothly.

That message came through in a lot of the conversations we were having at the stand - and it’s exactly why we chose UKISUG Connect to launch our Data Transformation Survey. With so many organisations grappling with similar challenges, we want to get a clearer view of where the real pressure points are - and how teams are approaching them. We’ll be sharing the results in early 2026, so if data’s high on your agenda, it’s one to watch.

All in all, a brilliant few days. Huge thanks to the UKISUG team - already looking forward to next year!

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