Feed aggregator

The SEC’s suit against Kraken has “has no limiting principle” and gives the agency too wide of an authority, the crypto exchange argues.

Disrupt yourself or risk being disrupted. That’s true in every industry today. But when it comes to the automotive industry, disruption can be a massive opportunity.

The speed at which the auto industry is changing is nothing short of remarkable. Just think of all the changes we’ve seen in vehicles over the past few years — from more autonomous driving capabilities to being more connected to your surroundings as you drive.

Advance your business and navigate the dynamic world of mobility with SAP Learn more

Electric vehicle demand has also surged over the past few years, which is also great news for the planet. Consumer buying habits are changing as well, with more and more people shopping for vehicles online. Last year, 65% of U.S. vehicle buyers said they shop for vehicles partially or entirely online according to S&P Global Mobility. Car companies are even building for entirely new ownership models.

Generative AI is forcing even more change, particularly by automating time-consuming tasks and allowing data to be used in more intelligent ways. For the auto industry, it’s beginning to improve everything from design and forecasting to manufacturing and production, while also making the customer experience more personal.

All in all, Precedence Research projects the global market for generative AI in the auto industry to eclipse more than $2 billion by 2032. All of this is fueling a new urgency for automotive companies to transform digitally. But what exactly does that mean?

Simply put, it means incorporating digital technologies into every aspect of a business’ operations. It allows businesses to seize new growth opportunities faster than they could before and future proof their operations in new ways. By transforming digitally, businesses can plan and pivot at the same time.

There are so many stories of SAP customers embarking on digital transformation journeys with important lessons to teach for industries.

Take the BMW Group for example: the company has had a longstanding partnership and collaboration with SAP for more than 30 years. Last year, it entered a new phase of its digital transformation journey by moving to a digitized cloud architecture through SAP S/4HANA for its iFactory in Oxford, UK.

Jointly creating the first blueprint for process digitization of automotive plants, it marks the first step to creating a digitized cloud architecture for its connected factories. The solution will simplify and unite the process of making complex changes to the IT systems of its plants in the areas of parts logistics, finance, and meeting customs requirements.

By doing so, the BMW Group intends to create a common digital language that will allow for reducing costs and increasing efficiency for its other automotive plants. And that could create a whole new standard for process efficiencies throughout the auto industry.

The BMW Group’s transformation story shows what is possible by moving to a cloud architecture. It also shows how the company is putting the pieces in place to take full advantage of generative AI as it ushers in a new wave of automation.

Despite a lot of macroeconomic uncertainty in the world, I believe the future for the auto industry could not be brighter. And it will belong to those who put digital transformation at the center of their business strategies, fueling unlimited possibilities for growth and success.

Scott Russell is a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.

Connect with SAP News on LinkedIn for the latest updates Follow us

Young told Cointelegraph that the initial skepticism around USDe’s sustainability is “right” following the pitfalls of the last cycle.

In today’s dynamic business environment, organizations need highly efficient sales teams to generate revenue and stay ahead of the competition. But while advances in AI-powered tools have accelerated the sales process, they have also increased the value of soft skills and the relationship-building acumen that talented salespeople bring to their jobs. That’s why savvy organizations are more committed than ever to keeping their sales teams engaged and productive.

Accelerate business outcomes with sales performance management products from SAP Learn more

High-performing sales teams are using sales performance management solutions from SAP SuccessFactors to manage and optimize sales compensation and incentives – rewarding sales reps for their performance – while streamlining sales processes and using real-time insights to improve operational efficiency and drive revenue.

“There’s this renewed emphasis on efficiency,” said Rahul Iyer, general manager, Sales Performance Management, SAP SuccessFactors, speaking to SAP customers at the SAP North America Sales Performance Management Customer Summit, held February 13-14, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. “Customers want faster, simpler outcomes – and they want to provide a great seller experience, as well. At SAP SuccessFactors, we’ve threaded the intelligence of connected cloud applications throughout the SPM solution portfolio. This allows us to deliver the efficiency, transparency, and rich experience of SAP in a comprehensive platform that covers a full range of end-to-end processes in sales compensation.”

Together for Success

Under the banner “Together we can make it better,” the summit event provided a venue for SAP customers – some of whom came from as far away as South America – to meet one-on-one with experts and gain valuable knowledge from product road maps, demos, and deep dive sessions, as well as learn from one another’s experiences in customer sessions. 

Iyer affirmed SAP’s commitment to deliver the advanced innovations customers need to be competitive: “As a strategic partner to our customers, we have the moral responsibility to help them receive progressively more out of technology innovations, while accelerating with the best-in-class capabilities SAP has to offer. We are simplifying from every angle to make it easy for our customers to adopt, so they can achieve business outcomes faster.”

Barbara Rubis Linning, SAP SuccessFactors global vice president, Product and Engineering, presented the latest innovations and features across the sales performance management solution set, which includes SAP SuccessFactors Incentive Management, SAP SuccessFactors Territory and Quota, SAP SuccessFactors Agent Lifecycle Management, and SAP SuccessFactors Agent Performance Management. With features like territory planning and incentive compensation, SAP sales performance management solutions enable organizations to optimize their sales performance for better business results. The solutions use advanced features – for tasks such as drive time analysis and mapping to optimize territories – to streamline processes and make workflows easier so that customers realize value faster. The ongoing introduction of the Horizon visual theme on key administrative pages delivers a fresh, modern user interface (UI) for an elevated user experience. 

“We want our customers to have winning sales teams,” said Linning. “Their success is why we continuously look for new ways to build innovations and relevant features into the portfolio to accelerate business outcomes. SAP is building intelligence that is relevant, responsible, and reliable because we believe it leads to smarter, data-driven decision making and results in better sales performance. Our new intuitive UI helps simplify tasks and puts people at the center of business for improved productivity.”

SAP SuccessFactors solutions deliver Joule, SAP’s natural language processing AI copilot, to help people be more productive in their jobs using SAP business solutions.    

The integration of sales performance management solutions with SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Datasphere enables seamless access to real-time data and analytics, empowering organizations to make informed decisions and drive sales success.

Winning with Sales Compensation

As the all-important link between an organization’s products and services and its customers, the sales team is a principal driver of bottom-line growth for the whole organization. Correctly incenting sales teams requires the use of proven strategies and solutions to align the pay program with organizational goals, said David Cichelli, revenue growth advisor at The Alexander Group, who presented “Leading the Sales Design Compensation Project.”

He advised sales compensation leaders adopt an annual review process that includes assessment, strategic alignment, taskforce design, and comprehensive communication phases. “Sales compensation design needs to reflect the consensus of key stakeholders: sales, finance, product management, and HR,” he said. “By following a proven design process, you can develop a strategically aligned, effective, and motivational pay program.”

Supporting Customer Success for Better Outcomes

The summit showcased the SAP ecosystem with sponsorships and informative sessions from SpectrumTek, Canidium, OpenSymmetry, Cahaba Consulting Group, The LC Firm, and Aspire Digital.

SAP experts highlighted SAP’s message of ongoing support for customer success: “We’re here for you,” said Tak Kusano, global chief operating officer of SAP SuccessFactors. “SAP has a tight-knit community of sales performance management experts that bring deep domain knowledge to this niche space. That’s why we’re able to work so closely with customers to gain consensus on the road map and product innovations, like AI. We’re passionate about bringing the best of technology to SAP customers.”

Subscribe to the SAP News Center newsletter to get weekly highlights delivered to your inbox Sign up now

In today’s business landscape, technology plays a pivotal role in solving customer problems and driving growth. But simply purchasing software doesn’t ensure resolution of the business issue.

Consider this: your business implements new software intended to speed up processes but finds out that your processes are instead stalling. Why? Because your employees never fully adopted the solutions. Now you may ultimately decide to stop using that software. To avoid this scenario, more and more software vendors are turning to an adoption-focused mindset that empowers customers to make the most of their software investments.

In fact, 85% of businesses say adoption and utilization data is the most valuable information in determining a software renewal. Yet, only one-third of software vendors on the market have a documented adoption framework to assess how well specific customers are adopting their technology. Enter telemetry, which can help organizations make more informed decisions, optimize business processes, and realize the full potential of emerging technologies.

Telemetry Helps Us Help You

Telemetry often refers to the automatic collection of data measurements from physical equipment. Telemetry has had profound impacts on Industry 4.0, as it’s adopted by not only manufacturers but also by any business that uses virtually any kind of equipment. But with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and its seamless integration into many cloud applications, companies from all industries can consume AI-driven insights and capabilities. These innovations are transforming the way businesses operate, creating new opportunities, and driving efficiencies.

Increasingly though, telemetry is also helping software vendors gather data on the performance and use of their customers’ deployments of their software. This includes SAP. Just like Industry 4.0 data analytics help your business optimize equipment, telemetry from your SAP software helps us see where you could best use our solutions to meet your unique goals, how it can be optimized, and where further enhancements may be necessary.

The ever-expanding landscape of intelligent software and next-generation technology has opened many new doors for businesses, but all these opportunities can be overwhelming and even confusing. Telemetry empowers software vendors – including SAP – to help their customers understand the full potential presented by new software solutions.

SAP Business AI: Revolutionary technology, real-world results Learn more Telemetry-Driven Customer Success

Telemetry is a game-changer in the realm of customer success. It provides a more accurate, near-real-time look at how software investments are performing. For software vendors, telemetry’s greatest advantages to help our customers include:

• Identifying user patterns: Telemetry can provide a real look at user behavior with our software. By tracking navigation patterns and time spent on specific tasks, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of how your users work every day – and how they should work instead. With this insight, businesses can make data-driven decisions to enhance user experiences and drive greater adoption, which drives greater value.
• Optimizing business processes and performance: Using telemetry, we can see how your software is performing across environments. It helps us discover process bottlenecks, frequently occurring errors, and system resource usage. With these insights, we’re better prepared to help you find out what processes simply aren’t working and why.
• Analyzing feature use: Find out what features are most popular among your users – and which ones aren’t. Using this information, we can encourage users to take advantage of the features you’ve implemented or implement new ones that help users work more efficiently.
• Predictive analytics: Telemetry data can be leveraged to create predictive models, anticipating potential issues or opportunities before they arise. This can help businesses stay one step ahead, ensuring smooth technology adoption and minimizing disruptions.

Telemetry serves as a source of 360-degree signal interpretation, and it provides you with opportunities for intervention in the moments that matter most. Building off the above benefits, you can use telemetry to take advantage of predictive analytics for feature development, feedback-driven iterations, and customized user training.

Bridge the “Hype-Reality” Gap

Telemetry and data analysis are helping us help our customers solve arguably the greatest threat to solution adoption: the “hype-reality” gap. Often, businesses hype up their latest software investment to users, claiming they’ll save employees time and effort. But when users don’t see results, they get disappointed – and they stop using the new software. Telemetry, by providing insight into how real users have been using your new software, is a critical way to show real-time results and get the entire business on board.

In addition, telemetry builds on the increasing value of partnership between software vendors and their customers. By harnessing the power of real-time insights right from our customers’ own deployments of our software, we’re better prepared to steer the future of our software toward outcomes that support our customers. As organizations combine telemetry with advances in generative AI, they have a powerful tool at their disposal to drive customer technology adoption and success with data-driven insights.

Claudio Muruzabal is chief business officer at SAP.

Get the latest SAP news delivered to your inbox once a week Subscribe to our newsletter

3AC creditors nab $700 million in Worldcoin, foreigners paid crypto to spy on China, USDC to cease Tron support, and more: Asia Express.

Google to fix the Gemini model that’s been generating pics of “diverse” Nazis, but open source AI models are the only real solution: AI Eye.

Tether did not specify whether it plans to drop support for Tron after rival Circle dumped the network over safety concerns.

WALLDORF — The Supervisory Board and Executive Board of SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) recommend that shareholders approve a dividend of €2.20 per share for fiscal year 2023. If approved by shareholders and assuming the same level of treasury shares as at December 31, 2023, the total amount distributed in dividends would be approximately €2.568 billion (2022: €2.393 billion), representing a pay-out ratio of 43.1% (2022: 139.6%).

SAP believes that its shareholders should benefit appropriately from the profit the Company made in 2023. The Company’s dividend policy is to pay a dividend totaling 40% or more of profit after tax.

The following dates are relevant for the dividend payment:

• Record date for dividend payment: May 15, 2024
• Ex-dividend date: May 16, 2024
• Payment date: May 21, 2024

Elections of Shareholder Representatives to the SAP Supervisory Board

As announced on February 11, 2024, the Supervisory Board has nominated Pekka Ala-Pietilä to stand for election at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) as shareholder representative on the SAP Supervisory Board.

• Dr. h. c. mult. Pekka Ala-Pietilä (67), Helsinki, Finland, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanoma Corporation, Helsinki, Finland. In case of election, his term would expire in 2026. The Supervisory Board intends to elect him as chair.

Further, the Supervisory Board is announcing the nomination of the following candidate to stand for election:

• Prof. Dr. Ralf Herbrich (49), Falkensee, Germany, Managing director, professor for artificial intelligence and sustainability, Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH, Potsdam, Germany. In case of election, his term would expire in 2028.

Additionally, three candidates have been nominated to stand for re-election:

• Aicha Evans (54), Los Gatos, CA, USA, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, Zoox, Inc., Foster City, California, USA. In case of re-election, her term would expire in 2028.
• Gerhard Oswald (70), Walldorf, Germany, Managing director, Oswald Consulting GmbH, Walldorf, Germany; Associate lecturer, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. In case of re-election, his term would expire in 2026.
• Dr. Friederike Rotsch (51), Königstein im Taunus, Germany, Group General Counsel, Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt, Germany. In case of re-election, her term would expire in 2028 and she would continue in the role of Lead Independent Director (LID).

These nominations are in alignment with the Profile of Skills and Expertise, the Supervisory Board’s Diversity Policy, and the objectives set by the Supervisory Board for its own composition.

Note to holders of SAP ADRs (American Depositary Receipts):
One SAP ADR represents one SAP SE share. The final dividend amount per ADR is dependent upon the euro/US dollar exchange rate. Since SAP SE pays cash dividends on the ordinary shares in euro, the exchange rate fluctuations will affect the US dollar amounts received by holders of ADRs. The final dividend payment by SAP SE to the depositary bank is scheduled for May 21, 2024. The depositary bank will then convert the dividend payment from euro into US dollars as promptly as practicable.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP at @SAPNews.

Subscribe to receive weekly news highlights from the SAP News Center Sign up

About SAP

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 26 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, financial community only:
Anthony Coletta, +49 (6227) 7-60437, investor@sap.com, CET
Follow SAP Investor Relations on LinkedIn.

For more information, press only:
Joellen Perry, +1 (650) 445-6780, joellen.perry@sap.com, PT
Daniel Reinhardt, +49 (6227) 7-40201, daniel.reinhardt@sap.com, CET
SAP Press Room; press@sap.com

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP’s 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
© 2024 SAP SE. All rights reserved.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants to raise $7 trillion for chip production to help AI systems, but he has yet to show AI is moving in a direction that will help us.

The world’s most isolated capital is wealthy, offers stunning beaches, and has embraced crypto. Here’s our Crypto City Guide to Perth.

With rural population in decline, many communities in the Japanese countryside struggle to continue farming and harvesting their land. SAP partner PSI and SAP Co-Innovation Lab in Japan launched a co-innovation project to help the town of Minano revitalize its community.

Like other industrial nations, Japan has been facing massive demographic challenges in its agriculture sector. An aging population and a lack of younger individuals entering the sector to replace them have led to farms being abandoned and fields lying fallow.

Japan’s government has realized the demographical issue, of course, as it touches not only the agricultural sector. To revitalize rural areas and stem the rural exodus, the government launched a national action plan.

In alignment with this action plan, SAP Japan has joined the effort of encouraging rural communities to thrive by launching a co-innovation project with PSI, an SAP partner, and the local government of the town of Minano.

Digitizing the Agricultural Sector

The small town of Minano is located in the hills of Saitama Prefecture, about two hours from Tokyo. While the south of this prefecture is largely a suburb of the Tokyo area, the west, approaching Mt. Fuji, is still very rural and thinly populated. A former center of silk industry, the region on average is sunny and warm but can get lots of snow in winter.

“Farms in this area are traditionally small and dispersed, located between forests and mountains,” says Yoshihisa Horiguchi, chairman of MINNANO Future Create. “Big supermarkets and retailers overlook them. Nowadays, the farmers cultivate rice and vegetables in small amounts to consume themselves, sell to their neighbors, or send to their children or grandchildren that live in cities.”

Since 1950, Minano has lost roughly one-third of its population, largely due to the decline of the agricultural sector. Today, it counts about 10,000 inhabitants.

“Young people often migrate to urban areas for better education and employment opportunities,” Horiguchi explains. “Where 50 years ago, a farm may have relied on 20 young workers, now only two elderly workers are left.”

Digitization is one obvious approach that may help prevent those areas from depopulating completely.

“But while large-scale farms benefit from the economic feasibility of applying robotics and the like, it is financially and logistically challenging to apply such technologies to small-scale dispersed farms,” Horiguchi says.

Horiguchi, the owner of an automotive parts manufacturing company, co-founded the local initiative MINNANO Future Create in 2019 to solve the challenges resulting from population loss. Its members range from elderly individuals to young residents, forming a diverse group of individuals, including pharmacists, architectural designers, and other professions, all living in the town.

For one of its projects, the Minano Digital Eco Farm, it partnered with SAP Co-Innovation Lab.

IoT Solution for Monitoring Agriculture

The Minano Digital Eco Farm project aims to build a communication platform that connects farmers and urban residents as well as small-scale dispersed farms to major supply chains, forming a portfolio that coexists with existing large-scale farms. In alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the project will help overcome supply chain disruptions due to food shortages and crop failures due to abnormal weather, conflicts, disasters, and more.

For this vision to become a reality, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors were distributed in various locations and managed remotely from headquarters.

Tap the power of SAP BTP to integrate and connect landscapes Learn more

“The idea was to have an IoT solution running on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) that would help monitor all the agricultural processes,” says Atsushi Minakuchi, senior solution specialist at SAP Co-Innovation Lab in Japan.

SAP Co-Innovation Lab partnered with PSI, which brought in the Digital Material Controller (DMC), an all-in-one compact edge controlling server that enables easy setup of a ubiquitous IoT environment. And, due to the cooperation with SAP Co-Innovation Lab, the DMC has also obtained SAP certification.

“Many IoT sensors lack cybersecurity functions,” Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, senior advisor and former president of PSI, says. “However, by connecting sensors to a DMC with cybersecurity capabilities, it becomes possible to securely store locally collected data on the DMC, safely transmit to SAP BTP, and accumulate, analyze, and utilize data from the DMC. This enables seamless and easy integration between the SAP core system and the IoT system.”

“Collaboration with SAP Co-Innovation Lab has significantly expanded the application possibilities of DMC,” Masaki Fukui, former PSI Cyber Security Lab director and now with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, says. “Global users of SAP now could have the opportunity to easily implement and utilize a ubiquitous supply chain platform through the combination of DMC and SAP BTP.”

Through integration with SAP BTP, the deployment locations can then be displayed and monitored on a dashboard.

The idea is for citizens living in the city to enter a service contract with a rural farm or supplier and to connect via a technology platform to remotely monitor and support agricultural processes. In return, they receive part of the crops – freshly delivered to their homes in the city.

So far, two proofs of concept for farms have been completed between March 2019 and November 2022, as well as one proof of concept for a miso factory. Agriculture and rural industry are only two fields of application. Future projects could include schools, hospitals, stores, and elder care facilities.

Strengthening Rural Appeal for Inland Tourism

As a corporate social responsibility project, the Minano Digital Eco Farm came to life through the voluntary engagement of SAP employees in Japan who supported the project on top of their regular work.

The project is supported by a government program unique for Japan, the so-called hometown tax payment, which makes it possible for citizens to choose and support the region they were born and raised in or a community they wish to engage with.

“The possibility of hometown tax payment is very popular among Japanese people,” Hidenori Kurosawa, vice governor of Minano, explains. “To us in rural regions, it seems that this played a significant role in creating an interest in the countryside. People want to get to know and support local towns.”

Indeed, the appeal of small, thinly populated communities surrounded by beautiful forest landscape hasn’t gone unnoticed by Japanese inland tourists.

Kurosawa says: “We wish to make Minano appealing to visitors by offering return gifts that provide an experience – that allow visitors to come to the town, interact with the locals, and experience things that are unique to this place.”

The Minano Digital Eco Farm project aligns well with this strategy. Not only does it promote Minano’s charm but, by expanding initiatives, it addresses local challenges such as reclamation of abandoned farmland, increased self-sufficiency in food, reduction of CO2 emissions, and improved profitability in agriculture.

“We have great expectations that this initiative will contribute to addressing the town’s challenges and advancing the UN SDGs,” Kurosawa states. “We express our sincere gratitude to the volunteers from SAP Japan who provided invaluable assistance in bringing the Minano Digital Eco Farm project to life.”

“MINNANO” means “for everyone” in Japanese and is pronounced the same way as the name of the town. Fukui from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication explains the idea behind that name: “One action can have multiple meaningful impacts. The issue of unseen small-scale dispersed farms facing economic challenges can be witnessed around the globe. By collaborating with SAP, we hope to inspire rural communities beyond our own prefecture, maybe even beyond Japan.”

Connect with us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date Follow SAP News

The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan was told that strict regulations are drying up the liquidity of the Japanese crypto markets.

VanEck and WisdomTree’s Bitcoin ETFs saw significant trading volume upticks out of the blue, with analysts at a loss for why it happened.

Bitcoin price surged to $53,000 today. Cointelegraph explains why.

Coinbase's quarterly earnings report released last week indicated the company is well-positioned to tap into a number of growing revenue streams.

India banned crypto exchanges that didn’t comply with FIU guidelines, but market experts point to a lack of regulatory clarity and high taxation, forcing crypto traders to rush to foreign exchanges.

Shaking your Sweatcoin fitness app won’t lead to millions, MotoDEX review, Gods Unchained 2024 roadmap, WAX on Web2 gaming studios, and more.

The attractive yield opportunity is causing widespread concern in the crypto community.

A few users on X believe the movement of funds indicates a supply shock prior to the halving, while others pointed out that whales are just moving funds to OTC desks or other custodians.