Conferences and industry events

The events worth your time while you are deciding.

If you are evaluating a platform or planning a transformation, the right conference is a short-cut: a day of reference customers, roadmap, and candid hallway conversation. This is the shortlist, grouped by where it fits your journey, from the vendor flagships to the industry and strategy events.

Major ERP vendor conferences

The flagship events where the vendors set their roadmap. Go to pressure-test a platform you are shortlisting, meet reference customers, and see what is shipping versus what is still a demo.

SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference

When: Typically May (annual)
Where: Orlando, FL (US) and Madrid (Europe)
Who: SAP customers and prospects, CIOs, finance and supply-chain leaders

The decisive event if S/4HANA is on your shortlist or you run SAP ECC and are planning the move. ASUG sessions are the candid customer side of the same week.

SAP / ASUG Official site →

Oracle CloudWorld

When: Typically September–October (annual)
Where: Las Vegas, NV
Who: Oracle customers and prospects, finance, HR, and IT leaders

Where Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, NetSuite, and the EBS/JD Edwards/PeopleSoft roadmaps are set. Go if you run any Oracle ERP or are weighing Fusion against a rival.

Oracle Official site →

Microsoft Ignite

When: Typically November (annual)
Where: Varies (US) and online
Who: IT leaders and architects across the Microsoft estate

The broad Microsoft event where Dynamics 365 (Finance & Operations, Business Central) and Power Platform direction land. Relevant for Dynamics GP/AX holdouts planning a move.

Microsoft Official site →

Microsoft Dynamics Communities Summit (NA)

When: Typically October (annual)
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Dynamics 365 and Business Central users and partners

The independent user-community event for Dynamics. More candid, customer-run sessions than the vendor keynotes — useful for a realistic view of Business Central and F&O.

Dynamic Communities Official site →

Infor Velocity Summit

When: Typically Q2–Q3 (annual)
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Infor CloudSuite customers and prospects

The event to see Infor CloudSuite depth in its named verticals (manufacturing, distribution, public sector) if Infor is a tier 2 candidate on your shortlist.

Infor Official site →

Manufacturing

Industry events where manufacturing ERP, MES, and operations leaders compare notes. Strongest for discrete and process manufacturers scoping a plant-to-boardroom program.

Epicor Insights

When: Typically spring (annual)
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Epicor Kinetic customers in discrete and mixed-mode manufacturing

Worth it when Epicor Kinetic is a serious candidate for a discrete, make-to-order, or mixed-mode plant and you want to see MES alongside the ERP.

Epicor Official site →

Hexagon LIVE / asset & operations events

When: Typically annual
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Asset-intensive manufacturers and operations leaders

Relevant where enterprise asset management (EAM) sits alongside ERP — including the former Infor EAM line — in asset-heavy manufacturing and plants.

Hexagon Official site →

IndustryWeek / manufacturing operations events

When: Varies through the year
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Manufacturing executives and operations leaders

Vendor-neutral manufacturing-operations content. Good for the readiness and selection stages, to frame what an ERP has to support on the shop floor.

Endeavor Business Media Official site →

Utilities

Where utility finance, asset, and customer-systems leaders meet. Useful when the ERP decision is tangled up with billing (CIS), asset management, and rate-case timing.

CS Week

When: Typically spring (annual)
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Utility customer-service, billing (CIS), and metering leaders

The central event for utility customer and billing systems. Essential when the ERP decision is bound up with the CIS (meter-to-cash) question, as it usually is.

CS Week Official site →

DISTRIBUTECH International

When: Typically spring (annual)
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Electric, water, and gas utility T&D and operations leaders

Grid and operations focused, but the right place to understand the asset and field-work systems an ERP has to integrate with at an investor-owned or municipal utility.

Clarion Events Official site →

American Public Power Association (APPA) events

When: Varies through the year
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Municipal and public-power utility leaders

For municipal and public-power utilities where public-sector finance (GASB) and a municipal-scale CIS shape the ERP decision more than FERC reporting.

APPA Official site →

Enterprise technology and digital transformation

Vendor-neutral events on enterprise technology, ERP modernisation, and digital transformation. Good for the strategy and business-case stage, before the platform is chosen.

Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo

When: Typically October (annual)
Where: Orlando, FL and other regions
Who: CIOs and senior IT leaders

Vendor-neutral strategy event. Best at the earliest stage — deciding whether to replace, building the case, and framing the transformation before any platform is chosen.

Gartner Official site →

Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit

When: Typically annual
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Application and ERP strategy leaders

More ERP-specific Gartner content: application strategy, composable ERP, and modernisation patterns. Useful for the strategy-and-readiness cluster.

Gartner Official site →

Forrester Technology & Innovation Summit

When: Typically annual
Where: Varies (US)
Who: Technology and digital transformation leaders

Independent research-led event on enterprise technology direction. A counterpoint to the vendor conferences when you are forming a point of view, not buying.

Forrester Official site →

Dates and venues are indicative and change year to year; the official site linked on each event is the source of truth. Suggest an event we have missed through the about page.