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WALLDORF and TOKYO — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701 “NEC”) has selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud through the RISE with SAP solution, running on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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Together with implementation partner ABeam Consulting, the migration will leverage NEC’s generative AI technology and SAP’s natural language, generative AI Joule copilot.

NEC, a Japan-based multinational leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, was seeking to optimize costs and streamline data systems to increase integration across its lines of business. As part of advancing its digital transformation, NEC will migrate from on-premise SAP S/4HANA software to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and adopt a clean-core approach, which emphasizes standard offerings and extends them while also reducing future upgrade and operational costs.

NEC is currently operating a large-scale system that includes 1,200 add-ons and more than 200 external interfaces. To migrate to the cloud, NEC will use generative AI to facilitate a clean-core transformation, streamline migration costs and improve operational efficiency. NEC’s generative AI and SAP’s Joule copilot for natural language processing will automate critical processes such as add-on analysis, report interpretation, code generation from specifications and test automation. Joule is SAP’s generative AI assistant that understands the user’s unique role and acts as a work copilot across SAP applications to streamline tasks. NEC will be among the first companies to leverage AI tools from SAP to streamline its migrations.

“NEC sees itself as the first customer of its own innovations, applying cutting-edge technologies internally and sharing the gained insights and know-how with customers and society,” NEC President and CEO Takayuki Morita said. “This milestone implementation with SAP creates a new industry blueprint for other businesses looking to migrate to the cloud, underscoring NEC’s commitment to leading by example in technological adoption and societal contributions.”

By migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, NEC anticipates more-efficient system operations by tapping into AI to support version upgrades and reduce future operation-related costs while being able to quickly respond to market changes. By leveraging innovative technologies including AI, NEC aims to digitally drive societal and industry transformations. This migration to the cloud is a key part of NEC’s 2025 mid-term management plan focusing on internal, customer and societal digital transformations.

“Our shared vision with NEC of creating a sustainable society through digital transformation is the foundation for our long-term partnership,” said Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “This project marks a milestone in our relationship, and we’re excited to support NEC on their continued transformation journey.”

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About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE: SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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Dr. Benjamin Blau was recently appointed chief process and information officer and head of Corporate Processes and Information Technology at SAP. Here, he shares how he defines his new role as well as the future of his organization and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

SAP Business AI: Revolutionary technology, real-world results Learn more

Blau joined SAP in 2010 and has held various executive leadership positions with a strong track record in process management and business transformation. As chief process and information officer (CPIO), he represents the Corporate Processes & Information Technology (CPIT) organization with the main objective to enable SAP to scale and increase productivity through process transformation and optimization powered by AI. At the same time, the unit functions as the company’s own best reference customer showcasing how SAP runs SAP.

In this interview, Blau discusses his role and the transformation of the IT industry in general.

Q: For those not familiar with the Corporate Processes & Information Technology organization, what is its role within SAP?

A: It is widely recognized and acknowledged that the traditional concept of IT Services has undergone a significant shift in recent years, thanks to advancements in cloud computing, AI, and Big Data. Companies need to double down on their core strength and USP while demonstrating their ability to scale. To do so, IT has become a strategic instrument to enable every business to be more adaptable, scalable, and intelligent.

At SAP, we have invested a considerable amount of time and resources in this transformation, turning IT into a strategic enabler for business growth and a trusted technology partner. However, companies need to rethink their strategies to outperform their competitors by demonstrating operational efficiency and accelerated scalability. We see a substantial requirement to focus on process excellence and automation powered by AI. This means unleashing productivity through simplification and standardization of processes, powered by business AI and SAP’s own technology.

With that in mind, our strategic focus has evolved beyond information technology to support end-to-end process excellence with clear accountabilities that drive autonomy and quick decision-making. And that is the leading aspect of the CPIT organization.

Q: How would you describe the difference between the CIO and CPIO?

A: For me, the key difference lies within the approach to problem-solving. Rather than focusing solely on products or tools, the CPIO tends to tackle issues at the process level, where the root causes are often found. Especially as a SaaS company, we tend to solve every issue with another tool or a customization and/or a worst-case modification of a system, while in many cases the problem can be solved by standardizing and simplifying the way we work.

Hence, in addition to our information technology strategy, it is crucial for our organization to fulfill our mandate as SAP’s business process design authority, emphasizing our responsibility to oversee and optimize business processes. This means the business defines the strategy and clear objectives — aka the “why” and “what” — while we define “how” to get there in the most end-user friendly and productive way.

Q: What are you most looking forward to in your new role? 

A: Coming from my former role leading Industry Engineering for SAP, I love working close to products and customers. To this extent, I have the perfect job as we are SAP’s customer and first adopter of new technology, all while I am in the luxury position of being able to authentically talk to SAP’s customers about our challenges and solutions, being their trusted “peer” in the industry. This also means demonstrating how we boost productivity for SAP mainly through our fast-growing AI portfolio.

Q: The past five years have seen a tremendous amount of innovation, especially with the rise of generative AI. How will this influence the role of CIOs or that of an IT organization in the next two to five years?

A: In the coming two to five years, the influx of generative AI promises to revolutionize the landscape of IT organizations and the role of CIOs. Let me give you three examples.

First, it will significantly boost IT productivity by automating repetitive tasks and streamlining processes, which will free up valuable resources to either “do more with the same” or elevate those roles to even higher value-adding ones. Second, as CIOs in SaaS companies are customer zero, it is our task to showcase how AI can unlock value in highly differentiating parts of our value chain as innovation leaders of the industry. Third, with data even further emerging as a crucial competitive advantage, CIOs will increasingly focus on harnessing and maximizing the value of data assets. This entails not only owning and controlling data, but also developing new data products and mastering provisioning, management, and analysis, thereby cementing data management as a core responsibility of the IT organization.

For SAP, this clearly is the competitive edge in the AI game, as we have access to the probably largest amount of business data to feed high-value AI scenarios.

Q: Considering the fast-tracked development of AI and its potential impact, what is your approach for CPIT and SAP at large?

A: The strategic role of my organization in that context is twofold. First, we are the early adopter of every AI case ideated and developed at SAP, with an obligation to challenge the level of quality, maturity, and value on behalf of our customers. Second, I expect my team to also come up with new ideas and potential AI use cases, try them out, and be equally strict in their assessment regarding desirably, feasibility, and especially viability.

At the end of the day, business AI is about quality not quantity. To accelerate AI innovation, we have started an internal initiative to identify use cases with the highest value. This includes a process that also ensures we focus on the most effective solutions. By implementing quality gates in each step of the process, we also prioritize quality over quantity. This enables us to implement use cases that clearly demonstrate business value.

Marcus Kabat is head of CPIT Business Operations at SAP.

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MANNHEIM — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that at the company’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM), Pekka Ala-Pietilä (67) was elected as a new member of the company’s Supervisory Board. Ala-Pietilä’s election was supported by 95.50% of shareholders. Subsequently, Ala-Pietilä was also elected the new Chairman of the SAP Supervisory Board, completing the handover from former Chairman of the Board, Prof. Dr. h. c. mult. Hasso Plattner.

“I am happy to pass the baton to Pekka Ala Pietilä to accompany SAP’s ongoing successful transformation,” said Plattner. “Pekka profoundly understands SAP and the technology industry and will strongly support the company in expanding its leadership in cloud ERP and business AI.”

Ala-Pietilä added, “I am grateful to the SAP shareholders and Supervisory Board for the opportunity to rejoin Europe’s most important software company and I’m looking forward to help SAP broaden this strong position.”

As announced in 2023, SAP Co-Founder and former Chairman of the Board Hasso Plattner left the SAP Supervisory Board after the 2024 AGM.

During Plattner’s tenure as Chairman of the Supervisory Board (May 2003 to May 2024), SAP’s market capitalization increased from c. €30 billion to c. €200 billion, making SAP Germany’s most valuable listed company. Plattner’s innovative and competitive spirit has been a foundation of SAP’s success for more than 50 years, from the company’s first pioneering innovations in ERP to its strategic shift as an enterprise cloud and business AI leader. He will continue to serve as an advisor to SAP, ensuring his knowledge and experience remain available to the company.

Aicha Evans (55), Gerhard Oswald (70) and Dr. Friederik Rotsch (51) were re-elected as members of the Supervisory Board with 93.39%, 89.82% and 92.45% of the vote respectively. Prof. Dr. Ralf Herbrich (50) was elected with 99.29% of the vote as successor to Punit Renjen, who left the SAP Supervisory Board at the end of the 2024 AGM.

The AGM also supported all other proposals of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. That included approving the actions of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board for fiscal 2023, 99.51% and 99.44% support respectively, and approving the adaptation of the compensation of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. An overview of the resolutions of the Annual General Meetings 2024 and of previous years can be found here.

For 2023, SAP shareholders will receive a dividend of €2.20 per share. This is an increase of €0.15, or seven percent compared to the dividend paid for 2022. The total payout to shareholders will thus amount to around €2.6 billion. The dividend is expected to be paid out from May 21, 2024.

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About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE: SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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BELLE, W. Va. — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that PureTech Scientific LLC, a global leader in the production of glycolic acid products, with a range of uses from skin care to clean and disinfect, has gone live with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to position itself for further growth.

Iron Path Capital, a private equity firm that acquired the company in 2023, has significant growth ambitions for PureTech Scientific. The first milestone for PureTech Scientific transformation was the move to the cloud to build a unified technology platform that would fully transition employees, customers and vendors with minimal disruption. Completed in 14 weeks, the implementation has already seen improved operational visibility and more timely transactional discipline.

“The real-time insights and automation PureTech Scientific plans to gain from implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition will help to streamline our operations and significantly enhance our ability to serve our customers with greater speed and accuracy,” PureTech Scientific CEO James Kanicky said. “This is just the beginning, and we’re excited for the opportunities ahead as we continue to drive growth and innovation with glycolic acid in the personal care and health care markets.”

GROW with SAP: Cloud ERP adoption with speed, predictability and continuous innovation Learn more

With its entire ERP now in the cloud, PureTech Scientific, the only North American glycolic acid producer, has real-time insight of its daily production and the ability to employ and automate barcoding. PureTech Scientific is now able to complete SAP goods issue and goods receipt transactions automatically with mobile devices, further reducing time needed for reporting.

“SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition provides a best-in-class foundation for enterprise scalability, security and compliance,” said James Smith, executive advisor for Iron Path Capital and PureTech board member. “After an impressive 14-week implementation, PureTech Scientific is now able to have real-time business analytics and implement industry-best-practice, fit-to-standard workflows. The commencement of digital manufacturing cloud, barcoding and sales cloud capabilities will eliminate manual transactions, automate production recording and material movements, and employ mobile data collection for improved enterprise productivity and customer satisfaction.”

Glycolic acid is used as the core agent in multiple industries, ranging from industrials to life science. PureTech Scientific expects the market to grow 10% CAGR over the next five years. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition was selected specifically to support PureTech Scientific’s vision for growth. With scalability and integration as top priorities, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition allows the company to now focus on pursuing growth opportunities in new markets and new capabilities for new and existing customers.

“PureTech Scientific has undergone a significant transformation in the past year,” SAP North America President Lloyd Adams said. “It has completely revamped its ERP system and moved to the cloud. Doing so allows for quick and data-driven business decisions as it enhances its capabilities and deepens its market share in key markets.”

Learn more at PureTech Scientific.

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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 2023 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.

At a time when many companies are still using guesswork and spreadsheets as the basis of territory and sales quota planning and commission calculations, top-performing sales teams use science. With the right modern tools and data-backed methodology, planning doesn’t need to be overly complicated or time-consuming to deliver a powerful incentive for sales reps through clarity and transparency.

When global technology services company Kyndryl Holdings Inc. was spun out of IBM in November 2021, it became the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services. The company has over 80,000 employees in 60 countries and 3,500 sales reps. With a focus on continuously improving the vital systems at the heart of the digital economy, Kyndryl works with partners and customers worldwide to co-create solutions to help enterprises reach their peak digital performance.

When Kyndryl spun from IBM, a transition service agreement (TSA) was put in place with a two-year deadline for Kyndryl to complete the disengagement of its IT systems from IBM. One of the challenges Kyndryl faced during the separation was how to transition tools over and apply them in the best way for the new business. This was not an insignificant task given its sales operations extended to more than 60 countries.

Kishore Kancharla, director of Sales and Incentive Systems at Kyndryl, was tasked with working out how best to clone these systems and work on the go-to-market transformation. “When we separated from IBM, we had close to 100 people supporting these mainframe applications, which were very expensive to maintain. As the legacy systems were built for IBM’s operations, there was significant complexity,” he explains. “We wanted to simplify the systems and streamline the processes as well, but it was also very difficult to make changes to support our needs as a new company.”

The nature of sales incentives means there are many dependencies on other core systems. In the planning stages, reliable data is needed to set up territories and quotas and then track sales and calculate commissions, making sure sales reps get paid accurately and on time. The company also had to factor in the transition service agreement exit in terms of sunsetting the legacy applications and moving to stand-alone applications while complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).

Empower sales teams with the tools they need to create effective sales experiences Learn how

Seeking another way, Kyndryl evaluated several different products against its needs, making the decision to invest in sales performance management solutions in the SAP SuccessFactors portfolio. The portfolio offers integrated solutions for compensation and territory and quota management in the form of SAP SuccessFactors Incentive Management and SAP SuccessFactors Territory and Quota.

But one major challenge stood in its way. The company needed to go-live with the sales performance management solutions before the start of its fiscal year beginning in April 2023. This was well ahead of its TSA deadline in October 2023 and gave the company less than a year.

To make it happen, Kyndryl worked closely with the team from SAP and an SI partner Municons, a company from Munich that specializes in SPM implementations, to implement both solutions. The company also drew on additional support from a systems integrator partner to configure SAP SuccessFactors Incentive Management.

“The team from SAP was a wonderful partner all through the project. In the beginning, I was not 100% confident because of the scale of the task. The idea of replacing the entire legacy solution we inherited seemed daunting, but we had the right people come together with the right skills to make the impossible possible,” Kancharla reflects.

With the successful go-live before the start of its fiscal year, Kyndryl untangled a labyrinth of more than 45 legacy modules supporting sales performance management, now needing just one integrated solution. It moved from 10 different applications to feed sales quota business flows into one. It moved from cluttered and replicated data in multiple places to a streamlined and simplified data landscape, centralizing all sales data in one place. In addition, Kyndryl simplified territory and quota processes, reducing complexity in its business processes by more than 60%. The streamlined business processes also drove savings in operating expenses and mitigated business continuity risks for financially significant applications.

Elsewhere, integrated functionality from DocuSign helped eliminate the need for in-person signatures and the company has simplified support staff roles to clear separation of duties (SoD) conflicts. With the new setup, Kyndryl has minimized the potential for errors and non-compliance while enabling its business teams to develop intricate sales strategies through user-friendly, drag-and-drop interfaces and ready-made templates. And commission details are now accessible through dashboards that are available anytime, anywhere though a mobile app.

At an operational level, the company has reduced the processing time needed to execute the monthly commissions cycle and streamlined integration with its HR system for delivery of pay files. By streamlining year-end close activities, Kyndryl saved weeks of effort from both business and technical teams.

The close relationship with SAP has continued past the initial go-live date. SAP participated in multiple workshops to understand intricacies for some of Kyndryl’s most challenging business processes related to territory and quota and financial planning. A second-year fiscal planning process is already taking advantage of these new offerings, further simplifying and streamlining the company’s complex processes.

Learn more about sales performance management solutions in the SAP SuccessFactors portfolio.

Rahul Iyer is general manager of Sales Performance Management at SAP.

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We’re proud to announce that SAP Signavio has been recognized as a Leader in the 2024 SPARK Matrix for Digital Twin of an Organization (DTO) for the fourth consecutive year. This consistent recognition by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions is a testament to our ongoing commitment to technological excellence and impactful customer service in digital transformation.

The SPARK Matrix provides a detailed analysis of global market dynamics, significant trends, and the vendor landscape. Each market participant is analyzed against several Technology Excellence and Customer Impact parameters. SAP Signavio stands out for its comprehensive DTO solutions that can effectively merge organizational processes with technological capabilities, fostering continuous improvement and strategic decision-making.

Our strengths highlight our leadership position in several critical areas:

• Enterprise observability: Integrating process observability with technology observability, we can provide organizations with a detailed understanding of their operations.
• AI-powered applications: We leverage generative AI to offer applications that help enhance process knowledge and support informed decision-making.
• Value accelerators and benchmarking: Our tools can provide ready-to-use best practices and metrics, helping organizations quickly assess and improve performance.
• Modeling and experience connection: We extend DTO capabilities to customer touchpoints, working to ensure comprehensive transformation efforts.

According to Sofia Ali, associate director and principal analyst at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, “SAP’s integration of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX into its DTO platform enables organizations to achieve digital transformation seamlessly. By leveraging SAP Signavio’s process observability and SAP LeanIX’s technology observability, SAP provides a holistic approach to enhancing processes and deriving value through unified observability. This approach enables organizations to represent their architecture and capabilities virtually and facilitates continuous improvement and automation of operational processes through AI-powered simulations. SAP’s robust vision and focused strategy and the development of large process models promise to deliver AI-driven transformation services that enhance insights, recommendations, and governance. Overall, SAP’s continued enhancement of its DTO platform underscores its commitment to empowering organizations with the tools needed to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

Exploring the Digital Twin of an Organization

The digital twin of an organization mirrors how the business as a whole operates and adapts. Modern organizations are complex sets of connected business units, processes, people, and systems. The DTO showcases interdependencies among the different entities and the impact of change at all levels. 

The DTO helps to understand how an organization operationalizes its business model in processes and applications, monitors inefficiencies, and tracks process improvement measures. In other words, creating a digital twin allows decision-makers to answer the big what-if questions about how their enterprise functions.

Rouven Morato, general manager of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX, emphasizes the strategic importance of DTO solutions: “The ability to map interactions across business processes and IT architecture gives leaders the confidence they need to drive change. Our advanced AI functionalities allow customers to safely simulate new business scenarios, ensuring agility and resilience in a volatile market.”

This honor reflects our dedication to empowering businesses with cutting-edge solutions that meet the evolving demands of the digital age. Download the complimentary SPARK Matrix report to understand the DTO market better and why SAP Signavio has been acknowledged as a leader in this crucial area for four years.

Dee Houchen is global head of Market Impact for SAP Signavio.

Transform existing business processes while optimizing operational excellence and customer experiences Learn more about the SAP Signavio portfolio

Talk to any high-tech industry leader who’s launched an as-a-service offering, and they’ll tell you that everything as a service (XaaS) is unlike any other business model transformation. Instead of a one-and-done sales transaction, customers are signing up for a long-term relationship that bundles services with the company’s hardware or software products. XaaS often broadens the collaborative bonds with partners that are involved in service delivery as well. At the outset, companies need to think big but start small.

“Moving to an as-a-service model dramatically changes how an organization does business and keeps customers satisfied, starting with product design and pricing through synchronized order fulfillment, revenue recognition and sharing, invoicing, and contract management,” said Mirjam Wittmann, director of Product Marketing, High Technology at SAP. “We’re seeing our customers begin with a targeted pilot in one line of business, followed by refinements and expansion to monetize XaaS packages for greatest competitive advantage.”

XaaS-Driven Growth at Lenovo: Go Bigger Than Back Office

Everything-as-a-service business models are essential to Lenovo’s growth plans. Long recognized for laptops, phones, tablets, data center servers, and business solutions, the company’s service-led transformation has been a catalyst for significant expansion in its non-PC business, accounting for over 42% of the company’s revenue.

“We’re in a phase of rapid acceleration, focusing our efforts on the expansion and refinement of our XaaS capabilities and business infrastructure,” said Arthur Hu, senior vice president and chief information officer at Lenovo and chief technology and delivery officer at Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group. “This journey involves a multifaceted approach, combining agile development, strategic partnerships, and continuous optimization to ensure that our XaaS offerings meet the evolving needs of our clients.”

Accelerate monetization of any business model with SAP solutions Learn more

Hu said that SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management provides Lenovo with the flexibility to monetize services through pay-as-you-go, subscription, consumption-based, outcome-based, and other models. For example, the company can structure pay-as-you-go packages priced by the customer’s power consumption, storage of gigabytes, utilization, and number of nodes in an installation.

“Redefine your product hierarchies to fit the as-a-service world. Update financial accounting for managed services, such as revenue recognition and costing. Provide the sales team with a clear understanding of the offerings so they can articulate the value to customers,” Hu said. “Make sure that every impacted system has the integrated data for accurate and timely fulfillment and entitlement that delivers the optimal customer experience and desired outcomes.”

Personalized XaaS Offerings Generate Revenue at Autodesk

Autodesk offers customers both subscription- and usage-based models for nearly all products across 50 countries. As a global leader in the design and software industry for media, construction, and engineering, Autodesk is using XaaS to future-proof the company.

“As-a-service provides us with a scalable, nimble foundation that drives better outcomes for customers and generates a steady stream of revenue for the company. We can quickly offer customers personalized products and pricing combinations for faster go-to-market,” said Sudhir Misal, senior director of Engineering at Autodesk. “SAP solutions are the backbone of our as-a-service business model, helping us cost-efficiently manage orders, converged invoicing, contract accounting, and the financial supply chain. For example, we’ve reduced quarterly financial closing times by over 80%.”

Misal agreed that a successful XaaS strategy requires a mindset shift.

“You need to partner closely with your system provider, in our case it was SAP, to understand the business context behind the offering. We focused on standardizing as much as possible,” Misal said. “Change management was a priority as we went through this journey that included all stakeholders. By talking with peer companies to hear their learnings, we avoided repeating mistakes that others have made.”

Generative AI Promises Dynamic Innovation

No discussion of high-tech innovation would be complete without addressing the significance of generative AI. Misal said that Autodesk was exploring how AI can help companies quickly test and adopt value-added XaaS offerings.

“Generative AI can analyze data to help organizations see how customers are behaving depending on the services they’re using,” said Wittmann. “Data from generative AI can help companies cross sell and upsell personalized services that meet individual customer preferences, increasing customer loyalty. With faster market demand insights, companies can dynamically adjust XaaS bundles and iterate fresh ideas to take advantage of emerging opportunities before the competition.”

Learn more about becoming a scalable subscription business with SAP’s unified quote-to-cash solutions for recurring revenue.

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Over recent years, retailers have experienced a notable shift in consumer behavior towards more sustainable products and conscious consumption. Consumers have driven this shift with their increased awareness of environmental issues, ethical concerns, and desire to support products which are eco-friendly, ethically sourced, and produced under fair labor conditions.

Companies that prioritize sustainability in their operations, such as using recycled materials, reducing carbon emissions, or supporting social causes, are gaining popularity among consumers. But those consumers demand proof of these values and product promises at the point of sale.

“The rise of sustainability isn’t just a movement; it is a shift in consumer consciousness,” said Dania Fayyaz, SAP North America sustainability program manager. “Today’s consumers are redefining their purchasing patterns, opting for products and brands that align with their values, and driving a demand for eco-conscious practices and ethical sourcing.” In her conversations with retailers that visited SAP’s booth at NRF 2024, the world’s largest retail fair, she saw a high interest in sustainability solutions.

Consumers – and Markets – Demand Visibility

When the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into effect for large enterprises later this year all products sold in the EU containing palm oil, cocoa, soy, rubber, cattle/leather, coffee, wood, and their derivatives will need proof that their harvest didn’t contribute to deforestation. Non-compliance will result in potential fines of up to 4% of companies’ EU annual turnover. To help businesses simplify this complex task, the SAP Green Token solution can track the geolocation of where raw materials are harvested and automate the creation of due diligence statements (DDS). The solution can also help improve visibility for consumers on where the raw material for their clothing was sourced and offer information on potential reuse and recycling.

Record, report, and act with SAP Sustainability solutions Learn more

Take the example of a cotton shirt made from 50% certified recycled materials. Cotton can be sourced from multiple farms or recycling services and taken to a cotton mill where it’s spun into thread and later fabric. It becomes impossible to distinguish the different cotton elements – conventional versus recycled cotton – once they are co-mingled and the manufacturer loses insight into the sustainability attributes of the raw materials. That’s why it’s important to have a sophisticated tracking solution in place. “SAP Green Token can enhance transparency for bulk-traded, co-mingled raw materials by digitally storing sustainability attributes on tokens that traverse the supply chain,” said Fayyaz.

In addition to making conscious decisions on raw materials and products, consumers can also consider circular economy models. “I’m really intrigued by the idea of revitalizing clothing items,” said Fayyaz. “Imagine being able to exchange a well-loved jacket you’ve had for years and receive credit in return. And the jacket might find a new owner who will genuinely appreciate it.” The SAP Recommerce solution enables that scenario, helping brands and retailers take back, manage, and resell secondhand inventory to help accelerate the shift from linear to circular business models. On an even larger scale, SAP Green Ledger is SAP’s vision to make transactional carbon accounting a reality. It can enable organizations to track carbon like they do cash, with every financial transaction having a corresponding carbon entry. “This is incredibly desirable because we will see taxes for carbon imposed in the future, and decision-makers will want insights into which processes are utilizing the most carbon,” Fayyaz said.

The Future of Retail – A Retailer’s View

At a recent SAP event, Christoph Werner, CEO at German retailer dm-drogerie markt, shared his view on the future of retail and his insights on what customers want – and therefore what will shape the way retailers have to engage to drive business.

For Werner, individualization of the shopping experience and any transaction will play a major role. Therefore, retailers will have to focus on the individual shopper, not on clusters of shoppers like in the past. Hyper-personalizing the customer experience will improve loyalty; the value for the customer will not only be the price, but increasingly the overall service and experience. This will change the concept of promotions. Werner is convinced that retailers will benefit from giving added benefits and delighting the customer, rather than pushing products into the market based on reduced prices. “Bring home flowers every now and then, but keep it special,” Werner said.

To no surprise, AI will be the foundation for personalized shopping experiences. “AI has benefits and downsides and today it remains to be seen where it will take us,” Werner stated. Overall, retailers see AI as an opportunity, with the technology completing repeatable tasks, freeing up employees for more value-adding tasks, and empowering individuals to make a difference. As retail stores often face staffing challenges, this can empower people in sales and marketing teams instead of replacing them. From Werner’s perspective, an AI-empowered workplace will attract new employees.

Learn more about dm-drogerie markt and its path to excellence with SAP.

A Glance into the Crystal Ball

At the same time, low-price online platforms continue to attract consumers with their affordable and wide range of products. They offer competitive prices on trendy clothing and accessories using economies of scale and direct-to-consumer models. Despite concerns about their environmental and ethical practices, these platforms remain popular among price-conscious consumers. However, there is growing awareness of the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion and low-price models. As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning in their purchasing decisions, prioritizing quality, longevity, and sustainability over cheap prices and fast fashion trends.

“Overall, the consumer landscape is evolving, with a growing emphasis on sustainability, conscious consumption, and ethical practices,” said Sven Denecken, chief marketing and solutions officer for SAP Industries & CX. “Companies that can adapt to these changing preferences and demonstrate a commitment to environmental and social responsibility are likely to thrive in the long term.”

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“SAP Fieldglass has consistently set the bar for the extended workforce solutions industry through a blend of innovation, advanced analytics, and total talent management functionality.” That is Ardent Partners’ assessment of the leading role SAP Fieldglass plays in the marketplace for vendor management systems. In its 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor report, it has positioned SAP Fieldglass as a Market Leader.

This recognition is especially gratifying as we continue to invest in enhancements and new functionality that make the SAP Fieldglass portfolio the benchmark for VMS innovation. Every day, we focus on empowering organizations to:

• Automate the procurement of external workers and services
• Build a strong external workforce and talent ecosystem
• Enable visibility across their extended workforce
• Use analytics and machine learning to engage and manage top talent
• Track and report on all their external workers
• Onboard, manage, and pay multiple resources for multiple assignments

Because of our focus on innovation, we all know the best is yet to come. New enhancements include the use of generative AI to help create and translate job descriptions, as well as to help produce statement of work descriptions. Even more powerful AI enhancements are planned for later this year that will continue to enhance productivity and streamline processes across hiring and workforce management. We will also continue to improve the user experience. And for midsize organizations, we are planning to deliver out-of-the-box solutions that are simpler to deploy.

We will continue to deliver innovations that enable organizations to deploy total workforce management – referred to as “total talent management” by Ardent Partners – across the enterprise.

Drive agility and resilience with a well-managed external workforce Discover how Recognizing the Strengths of SAP Fieldglass

“With a firm commitment to extended workforce innovation and the integration of AI-based tools into total talent management, SAP Fieldglass continues to deliver next-generation automation and powerful value within the Future of Work movement,” said Christopher J. Dwyer, SVP of Research at Ardent Partners and author of the new study. “SAP Fieldglass remains an ideal platform for both procurement and HR leaders to reimagine their contingent workforce initiatives and transform the ways non-employee talent supports work optimization.”

In its assessment of SAP Fieldglass solutions, Ardent Partners highlighted some of the portfolio’s strengths. Here are excerpts from the report:

• Spend management integration: “SAP Fieldglass is a pioneer in delivering the ‘spend management’ attributes of extended workforce management via on-demand supplier intelligence and guided, proactive spend and financial data. With its tight integration into SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Fieldglass Vendor Management System enables users with a series of real-time insights into the critical spend components of the external workforce.”
• Automation of statement of work (SOW) management: “SAP Fieldglass offers a powerful SOW management and services procurement module that was designed to optimize this extended workforce subcategory in a data-driven, value-added manner. This solution offers a unique and flexible design that enhances SOW creation, management, and reconciliation.”
• A “one-stop” experience for talent information: “SAP Build Work Zone offers real-time visibility into all workforce (both extended and traditional) attributes through a centralized entry point that brings together SAP Fieldglass, other SAP systems (particularly SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba), and third-party integrations. SAP Build Work Zone can serve as a powerful ‘one-stop shop’ experience for critical talent information.”
• AI leadership: “SAP Fieldglass is at the forefront to AI revolution with its fully-embedded generative AI capabilities, including advanced job description automation, real-time talent recommendations, and on-demand pay rate intelligence. The company has built on its already-robust predictive analytics and scenario-building capabilities with added AI-led functionality that provides real-time rate guidance.”
• Total workforce management: “SAP Fieldglass is focused on delivering comprehensive ‘total workforce management’ with an offering that combines external workforce and FTE management with a single, global view. Key integrations with SAP SuccessFactors build on this solution with connections into SAP Analytics Cloud reporting, human capital offerings (like learning and development), candidate experience automation, and a ‘recommendation engine’ that is embedded across the talent acquisition process.”

Ardent Partners’ assessment also praised how SAP Fieldglass solutions can simplify assignment management, calling it a “core differentiator.” For managing light industrial, blue collar, and services-heavy labor for asset-heavy industries, the SAP Fieldglass portfolio includes end-to-end capabilities like timeclocks and badging, purchase order management, equipment tracking, resource management, and dynamic bill rate management.

Recommendations from Ardent Partners

How do SAP Fieldglass solutions fit the needs of organizations looking to purchase a new VMS, or upgrade from their current one? “SAP Fieldglass deserves strong consideration from enterprises that are seeking a trusted, global, innovative, end-to-end provider that presents cutting-edge technology that converges with total talent management and artificial intelligence,” Ardent Partners concludes. The report suggests the portfolio deserves consideration for these customer scenarios:

• “Businesses that desire AI-led tools and technology to guide talent decisions, fuse intelligence into workforce management, and provide real-time staffing insights.”
• “Companies that need a VMS partner that can optimize enterprise-level services procurement spend and SOW management with innovative functionality.”
• “Organizations that seek a VMS platform that focuses on Future of Work readiness and skills-based hiring.”

Vish Baliga is chief technology officer for SAP Fieldglass.

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Ardent Partners’ 2024 Vendor Management System (VMS) Technology Advisor is designed to help procurement, human resources, human capital, and talent acquisition executives navigate the complex and mature VMS solutions marketplace. This report analyzes and assesses the primary VMS solution providers in the marketplace today. You can read the full report here.

Leveraging Technology to Drive Excellence On and Off the Pitch

FC Bayern, one of the most successful global football clubs, continues to raise the bar on and off the field. With a relentless focus on excellence and innovation, the world-renowned club has extended its usage of SAP SuccessFactors software with AI-enabled solutions to enhance its HR functions and processes.

A clear key to the club’s success are the more than 1,000 employees in Munich, New York, Bangkok, and Shanghai who are as integral to the club as the players on the pitch, meaning each job experience and career path must enable employees to continuously develop themselves professionally to reach their full potential.

Streamlining HR Operations with SAP SuccessFactors

FC Bayern initially adopted SAP SuccessFactors to optimize its  talent management, modernize HR processes, and foster a culture of continuous learning and development. Over the years, the club has expanded its utilization of SAP SuccessFactors to manage everything from employee onboarding to performance management.

FC Bayern Bring Out Their Best with SAP SuccessFactors and AI

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By leveraging SAP SuccessFactors, FC Bayern benefits from:

• Increased Efficiency: Automated workflows and streamlined processes have significantly reduced administrative burdens, allowing HR teams to accelerate complex processes and continually reduce time on the recruiting journey.
• Insightful Analytics: Real-time data and analytics providing managers with valuable insights into employee performance, engagement, and development, enabling holistic decision-making across an employee’s career path.
• Scalability: As FC Bayern continues to grow and evolve, SAP SuccessFactors offers scalable solutions that adapt to the club’s ever-changing needs and requirements. Employees can now access their personnel data securely from anywhere using any device, with self-service options for employees, managers, and HR admins.

Transforming Recruitment with AI-Enabled Solutions

SAP Business AI has the ability to transform the employee experience for employees, managers, recruiters, and HR professionals. Recognizing the importance of hiring top talent to maintain its competitive edge, FC Bayern will use AI-assisted capabilities in its recruiting process.  Now, the talent acquisition team at FC Bayern will be able to create compelling job descriptions — a previously time consuming and manual task — at the touch of a button, as well as be prompted with AI-generated interview questions based on job descriptions.

AI-enabled capabilities embedded in SAP SuccessFactors solutions empower organizations like FC Bayern to:

• Redefine Recruitment: Recruiters and hiring managers can benefit from the use of generative AI to create tailored job descriptions based on data from within SAP SuccessFactors solutions.
• Interview Questions with AI and Interview Evaluations in Microsoft Teams: Using Microsoft Teams integration, interviewers can now generate interview questions on the spot based on the job description in the job requisition by using generative AI capabilities.
• Elevate the Employee Experience: FC Bayern will empower their workforce to excel by providing seamless access to all HR systems, optimizing career development with SAP SuccessFactors Learning, and fostering engagement through experiences that prioritize and organize an employee’s individual needs, skills, interests, and aspirations, helping organizations like FC Bayern reinforce their reputation as an employer of choice.

The Future of HR at FC Bayern

By leveraging the SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite and SAP Business AI capabilities, FC Bayern will set new benchmarks in HR excellence, driving innovation and fostering a culture of professional growth and learning.

When organizations invest in their people — and in their passions and potential — they return the investment over and over. This happens when they are provided with intuitive self-service tools such as the SAP SuccessFactors Mobile app and access to HR systems that empower them to perform at their true potential. An improved employee experience in turn leads to better business outcomes.

As the club continues to evolve and face new challenges, FC Bayern remains committed to leveraging technology to stay competitive and bridge the skills gap of today to be better ready for what tomorrow brings.

Learn more about how SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting uses AI to transform your organization’s HR processes and drive success:

• SAP Business AI in Human Resources
• Talent Acquisition and Recruiting Software

Maryann Abbajay is chief revenue officer at SAP SuccessFactors.

Customer Testimonial: Discover more about the SAP and FC Bayern partnership Explore the journey

An Oxford Economics survey, sponsored by SAP, recently uncovered that close relationships between HR and IT are dynamically driving organizational success together. For 55% of the 550 respondents in HR and IT leadership roles, such collaboration improves talent development, optimizes internal processes, and modernizes systems for overall business success.

This finding confirms what thousands of midsize organizations using SAP SuccessFactors solutions already know. Accelerating the shift to digital HR isn’t just a critical advantage; it’s a game changer for business growth, especially as the need for new skills intensifies due to emerging technologies such as AI.

Oxford Economics’ research explains why: “As AI-enabled technologies like chatbots and personalized recommendations become the norm outside the workplace, HR functions will need to strategize to incorporate similar self-service experiences and other AI-driven use cases into their employees’ way of working.”

Driving Growth with a Talent Management Edge

Midsize organizations often seek a human capital management (HCM) solution that supports scalability and can match the pace and extent of their business growth. Yet, they frequently operate with limited HR capacity, hindering their ability to compete in a complicated talent landscape where a shortage of a million experts is expected by 2030.

Expanding midsize organizations particularly struggle to secure or develop talent with the skills required for growth. Oxford Economics reports that 49% of surveyed organizations cite the inability to find the right talent to maintain operations as their greatest near-term risk. Similarly, 41% of HR executives believe their organization’s inability to reskill and upskill workers to adapt to changing needs is a top threat.

With SAP SuccessFactors solutions, midsize organizations can address both concerns. The HCM solutions can help run a cohesive, organization-wide strategy for upgrading outdated technologies and implementing modern, foundational capabilities such as workforce management tools and AI-enabled functionalities.

Here’s a sneak peek into the outsized outcomes SAP SuccessFactors solutions can deliver:

1. Inclusive Job Descriptions and Assisted Candidate Screening

AI is transforming skills-based hiring by creating compelling job descriptions and enabling inclusive applicant selection so organizations can find the best talent quickly and efficiently. We have thoughtfully embedded these capabilities into the SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting solution to provide organizations with tools to help attract and secure candidates with the right skills. 

Embedded AI assistance helps talent acquisition teams make better, more equitable hiring decisions while reducing time spent on manual, tedious tasks such as creating job descriptions. Insights into applicant skills – extracted from résumés using AI – allow recruiters to quickly identify and rank top candidates based on their match to a job, removing unconscious bias from the process. 

2. Integrated Learning and Talent Management

As the nature of work evolves, so does the approach to HR technology solutions. Integrated learning and talent management systems are pivotal in addressing this dynamic, facilitating a smooth flow of development opportunities for employees.

By leveraging SAP SuccessFactors Talent Management solutions, organizations can tie learning initiatives with talent management processes to help create a cohesive, impactful talent strategy and employee experience. Employees can access learning resources based on their career goals and performance, aligning their development with personal goals and organizational objectives.

Unlock the potential of your people and your organization Learn more about SAP SuccessFactors solutions 3. Intelligent and Personalized Skill Recommendations

The Oxford Economics survey reveals that 30% of HR and IT decision-makers are starting to understand how AI can help meet talent development and retention goals critical to their company’s growth. This includes helping employees stay on track with a personalized view into what they have to, need to, and want to learn.

Adopting a learning management system that includes AI, such as the SAP SuccessFactors Learning solution, gives organizations capabilities that can enhance the learner’s experience. For example, instead of a “search and find” approach to identifying relevant courses and content, an AI-driven system can offer learning options highly relevant to the learner by automatically surfacing personalized recommendations based on the employee’s role, skills, needs, and preferences.

This approach can help save time by pointing learners toward the most relevant and valuable resources, instead of requiring learners to search for them alone. Most importantly, access to self-directed learning and development opportunities fosters a habit of continuous learning and personal growth.

4. New Opportunities for Employees to Grow

Both consumers and employees expect personalized experiences that are easy to navigate and relevant to their needs. Reflecting on this trend, organizations are leveraging solutions – such as the SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace solution – to support upskilling and reskilling efforts. 

The solution can connect employees with relevant projects, learning opportunities, mentors, and dynamic teams, presenting recommended matches through centralized access. Integrating talent intelligence into these recommendations can enhance their effectiveness by enabling the identification of skills gaps and the analysis of individual preferences and career aspirations. In return, employees can be empowered to grow and develop in ways that benefit them and the organization, helping to create a more engaged and motivated workforce.

Additionally, with the SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development solution, organizations can optimize employee experiences by properly preparing them for their next role. For instance, employees can feel empowered to own their career development by exploring career options with AI-driven recommendations and intelligent skills gap identification. Also, with AI-assisted goals, employees can quickly create more ambitious development goals aligned with their growth plans.

5. Holistic Skills Management

Competing for and retaining top talent remains a significant challenge for midsize organizations as the skills gap widens. While visibility into current skills and those required for the future can offer a competitive edge, tackling this issue fully requires a more comprehensive approach beyond skills alone. 

SAP SuccessFactors HCM can address all sides of this complex challenge by considering individual competencies, aspirations, and preferences. Leveraging talent intelligence, the suite allows organizations to enhance the talent experience with a strategy that can cater to the “whole self” of the employee.

6. Enhanced Productivity and Engagement

Aligning employee goals to business objectives is crucial for enhancing productivity and performance. With AI-assisted goals, employees can craft meaningful and aspirational goals in a fraction of the time it usually takes. 

The SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals solution enables flexible and continuous performance modeling. Real-time coaching and feedback are included in the flow of work, helping employees feel more supported and engaged while enabling continuous insights and growth.

Building a Workforce Culture of Growth with AI

SAP SuccessFactors solutions can offer a holistic approach to take advantage of the critical role of talent management strategies in driving business growth, as highlighted in the Oxford Economics report. With innovative AI capabilities, the solutions are helping many organizations worldwide win the race for talent and skills and build an agile workforce.

SAP’s commitment to AI innovation is not just about cutting-edge technology. We create HCM solutions that are relevant, reliable, and responsible. Backed by this AI principle, SAP SuccessFactors solutions can offer a competitive edge in the current dynamic talent landscape. Organizations are not only empowered to keep up – they’re also prepared to lead the way with talent management strategies that drive ongoing growth, innovation, and success.

Discover how growth-focused midsize businesses prioritize their HR and IT strategies to help them grow and remain competitive. Read the Oxford Economics study, sponsored by SAP, “Optimizing Talent Management: Best Practices for HR and IT.”

Margit Bauer is director of Product Marketing for SAP SuccessFactors.

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SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp once said about co-founder Hasso Plattner: “It’s hard to quantify his legacy. All I can say is that without him, SAP would never have been so successful.” At the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on May 15, Plattner will step down from the SAP Supervisory Board after 21 years as its chairman.

One need only look at the key milestones in Plattner’s 52-year career at SAP to gain a vivid picture of his legacy. Together with Dietmar Hopp and his fellow co-founders, Plattner created the market for real-time business software, helped steer SAP through more than five decades of fast-moving IT history, and drove SAP’s global expansion – transforming it from a single-product company to the world’s No. 1 provider of enterprise applications.

Over the years, he worked tirelessly to open new horizons for the company and its employees, identifying technological trends and channeling his pioneering spirit into revolutionizing far more than just data management.

1972-1973: The Early Days Hasso Plattner (sitting) explains the real-time screen application to colleagues from IBM and ICI

Having created Germany’s first real-time software application with a user interface, Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp founded a company they named Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung (“System Analysis Program Development”) on April 1, 1972, together with their IBM colleagues Claus Wellenreuther, Klaus Tschira, and Hans-Werner Hector.

In 1973, the entrepreneurs launched RF, their first financial accounting system. The “R” in the name stood for “real time.” Developed under Plattner’s leadership, RF laid the foundation for a series of software modules in a system that would later be known as SAP R/1.

“Before I worked on RF,” Plattner once said, “I knew nothing about financial accounting; afterwards, I could hold seminars about it for CFOs. And not because I’d read stacks of books or was very smart, but because I’d learned from customers how to build this kind of system. I worked side by side with our customers at their offices every day.”

1976: The Formative Years

Systemanalyse Programmentwicklung was renamed “SAP.” Each of the founders and their employees – numbering about 30 at this point – was a developer, salesperson, and consultant all rolled into one.

Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp were constantly competing to be the best at programming and selling their products. Plattner recalls that it made him really mad once when Hopp sold more than he did. Wherever their tasks and skills converged, they would engage in a private, “take-no-prisoners” contest to outdo each other.

Dietmar Hopp (left) and Hasso Plattner: ambitious and always encouraging each other to achieve top performance (in the anniversary year 2022)

Nevertheless, both men also knew how to harness their ambition and fondness for friendly competition to the benefit of their fledgling business.

1988: Conversion and IPO

SAP GmbH was converted to a stock corporation, SAP AG, and in October 1988 it listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, providing the company with the funding it needed to expand into even more markets.

The initial public stock offering (IPO) was the beginning of a steep stock rise 1991: SAP R/3 SAP R/3 made the company a global player. Plattner in 1991 at a Hewlett Packard (HP) event.

At SAP’s 25th anniversary celebrations in 1997, Plattner recounted an incident in late January 1991, which he described as “probably the most dramatic situation” in the company’s history: “A year before the final delivery date for R/3, we realized during testing that its performance on our mainframe was completely unsatisfactory and that the test conditions were unacceptable. Six weeks before we had planned to present R/3 at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, we had all but given up on the project.

We called an emergency meeting at which everyone remained standing, such was the urgency of the matter at hand. We decided to halt work on the mainframe systems and, in a last-ditch attempt, to switch to the new, more powerful Unix workstations, which we’d previously only used in development.

The presentation of R/3 on Unix was a huge hit. A year and a half later, we began shipping our new client-server software to customers. That was the start of R/3, a business application for network-based computers.”

1992: Heading Stateside

In the early 1990s, when everyone else’s attention was focused on getting SAP R/3 to market quickly, sales of SAP R/2 in Germany were a cause of concern for Dietmar Hopp. As Plattner recalls: “Dietmar and I were standing in his office, and he said to me, ‘It’s not looking good. The only option I can see is for you to pack the system up and take it to America.’” They agreed to continue promoting the SAP R/2 mainframe software in Germany while going all-in on SAP R/3 in the U.S.

At the Sapphire customer conference held in Orlando in September 1992, Plattner announced that SAP would deliver the SAP R/3 system within six weeks to anyone who ordered it there and then. By October, computer manufacturer Convex had signed a contract for the new product, giving SAP its first SAP R/3 customer in the United States. And when, not long after that, oil giant Chevron – one of the country’s largest companies – also opted for R/3, SAP’s new software, originally built with the midmarket in mind, was well on track to becoming a global success story.

The computer manufacturer Convex was the first SAP R/3 customer in the U.S. 1993: A Very Special Partnership

SAP entered into an alliance with the world’s largest software company: Microsoft. Bill Gates, who had flown into Munich to sign the contract in person, told the audience at the press conference announcing the partnership: “We are delighted that SAP, one of the leading providers of standard software, supports Microsoft’s client-server operating system. We believe that many businesses will see this move by SAP as a compelling reason to opt for Windows NT.”

The beginning of a long and fruitful partnership: Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Hasso Plattner

And when, in 2010, Plattner received the Transatlantic Partnership Award, Gates had this to say about his friend and colleague: “I’ve known Hasso for more than three decades. His knowledge, energy, and vision never cease to impress me.”

1997: SAP Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary SAP turns 25 and celebrates with the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Erwin Teufel (left) and Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl (right) in between Hopp, Tschira, and Plattner

Plattner was appointed co-CEO, alongside Dietmar Hopp. In his speech at SAP’s 25th anniversary celebrations, he spoke about what had helped the company prosper: “Product focus is one pillar of SAP’s success. When a product sells well, the employees share in that sense of achievement. That feeling is just as important to them as the pay they take home each month. Our employees identify with the product – that’s why they have always gone the extra mile. No matter how different our views at times were, we always managed to regroup and we never lost sight of the product. For the past 25 years, the founders and employees of SAP remained true to the original product vision and never veered off course.”

1998: SAP Conquers New York

On August 3, 1998, the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the world’s largest exchange. CEO Hasso Plattner described SAP’s Wall Street listing as “a strategic necessity and logical milestone in the history of SAP.”

By having its shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange “Big Board,” SAP gained new prominence in its most important market

That same year, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) for Software System Engineering in Potsdam, near Berlin. “The institute here in Potsdam is my contribution to training internationally competitive junior managers who help shape and advance the digital world,” he said.

Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira transitioned from the Executive Board to the Supervisory Board, and Plattner became co-CEO alongside Henning Kagermann.

1999: The mySAP.com Revolution

In May, Plattner announced the mySAP.com strategy, which set the company and its product portfolio on an entirely new path. Using the latest Web technology, mySAP.com connected e-commerce solutions with the company’s existing ERP applications.

To be successful in the increasingly important Internet business, Plattner relied on the mySAP.com strategy

According to Plattner, success on the Internet was key to the company’s survival. At the Sapphire conference in Philadelphia in September 1999, a live demo of mySAP.com — with a prelude by Plattner playing Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” live on electric guitar — was enough to convince customers to adopt SAP’s Web strategy.

And, true to form, Plattner was already thinking about where the technology would go next, predicting that e-commerce and the hosting of applications on SAP servers would be “the future of software sales.”

2003: From Executive Board to Supervisory Board

Plattner stepped down from the Executive Board and was elected chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in May, he said: “This rising star of the 90s is now playing in the same league as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.”

With Plattner’s withdrawal from the Executive Board, Kagermann (left) becomes the sole CEO

Though no longer its CEO, Plattner continued to channel his passion and his eye for technological trends into driving SAP forward, but now in his new role as chief software advisor on the Supervisory Board. That same year, he helped found the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (“d.school”) at Stanford University, providing funds to support its work on design thinking, a new approach to finding creative solutions to complex problems.

2006: The In-Memory Database

It was in 2006 that Plattner and students at HPI began work on a revolutionary technology. The result was SAP HANA (High-Performance ANalytic Appliance), an entirely new, column-oriented, in-memory database management system.

“It’s not so easy for a big company to break out and do something radically different,” said Plattner. “The university context gives you the freedom to do it.”

Plattner loves to pass on his knowledge to young people 2011-2013: SAP HANA Drives Growth Plattner talks about the importance of SAP HANA at the SAPPHIRE NOW conference in Orlando in 2012

Five years later, the first SAP HANA customers began implementing the new database, which generated the kind of demand not seen since the market launch of SAP R/3.

By the end of 2013, the entire SAP Business Suite had moved to SAP HANA. In the three years since its launch, SAP HANA had garnered nearly €1.2 billion in revenues, making it one of the fastest-growing products in the history of enterprise software.

In an interview with German daily Handelsblatt in 2020, Plattner said: “SAP HANA is so superior in practice that there is no alternative. And quite honestly, it saved SAP’s life, because it let us massively accelerate our ERP system without a lot of changes, while physically downsizing it at the same time. That meant a huge cost saving for our customers.”

2015: The Foundation

Plattner reinforced his commitment to promoting education and culture by setting up the Hasso Plattner Foundation.

Among the many causes the foundation has supported over the years are programs to promote healthcare and health education in South Africa. The German city of Potsdam also has much to thank Plattner for: The Hasso Plattner Institute is the largest investment in Potsdam and the one that bears his signature most strongly. The Barberini Museum that he rebuilt completes the inner cityscape of Potsdam and provides a home for his impressive Impressionist collection — the largest outside of France. With the Kunsthaus MINSK, he saved one of the few architectural icons of the GDR era and created a home for his GDR art collection.

Celebrities at the opening of the Barberini Museum in Potsdam in 2017

On being asked why he chooses to get involved with causes and projects of this kind, Plattner explained: “I owe the resources and skills for life to my parents and, above all, to my studies at the public technical university in Karlsruhe. That’s why I want to give something back in the area of education, so that others can also benefit from it.”

2022: Learn from Our Customers

In an interview to mark SAP’s 50th anniversary, Plattner shared some advice: “I recommend a return to the approach we used in the early days of SAP – of sending SAP teams out to the customer. Instead of implementing our standard systems, they should find out how people actually use the tools they get from SAP and other vendors. That will give us our starting point. There are so many interesting companies out there. We can learn from them and with them. We have to step outside SAP and do something with the customers.”

And in a comment directed to SAP employees, he said: “Treat the customers well – once we have them, we have to keep them. That’s one of SAP’s strengths. And never think it’s done. You have to carry on. The job is never done!”

“Treat the customers well” – Plattner’s wish to employees on SAP’s 50th birthday 2024

Plattner will step down from the Supervisory Board on May 15, the last of the SAP co-founders to leave the company.

Explore more of SAP’s more than 50-year history of success that began with five entrepreneurial programmers Learn more

WALLDORF and BANGKOK — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (“CP Foods”) has selected multiple SAP solutions to drive further growth and competitive advantage and to ensure the sustainability of its products for the future.

Record, report and act on your sustainability goals with SAP software Learn how

Catering to more than 4 billion people globally, CP Foods is embarking on its next stage of digital transformation with the RISE with SAP, SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, and SAP Sustainability Control Tower solutions. In addition, the SAP EHS Management, environment management application will be implemented to future-proof its business and to gain strategic insight into the sustainability impact of its products, processes and infrastructure globally. The company is a leading integrated agro-industrial and food business that is one of the world’s largest producers of feed, shrimp, poultry and pork. It has operations in 17 countries and exports to more than 50 countries.

Global Net-Zero Ambitions  

In line with CP Foods’ goal of becoming the “Sustainable Kitchen of the World,” CP Foods is the first food processing company in the world with near- and long-term forests, lands and agriculture (FLAG) sustainability targets validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). CP Foods is looking to realize the company’s Net Zero goals of reducing 42% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 30.3% of Scope 3 emissions by 2030 – and 90% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 72% of Scope 3 emissions by 2050. To achieve these goals, the company is implementing SAP Sustainability solutions to record, report and act on real-time sustainability data, driving carbon accounting at both corporate and product levels.   

“Net Zero is the only solution to climate change,” CP Foods CEO Prasit Boondoungpraser said. “It is important to us to understand and reduce our impact on the planet, so we create food that is not only safe and nutritious for people but also green and clean for the earth. Feeding our livestock, farming our food and transporting it to people’s plates incurs emissions we have to be able to record and report. With RISE with SAP and SAP Sustainability solutions, we will have insight into actual emissions automated in real time rather than relying on manual averages, allowing us to make quick, informed and sustainable business decisions for our operations and for the planet.”  

SAP plans to provide a technology foundation that will support CP Foods in complying with forthcoming carbon regulations in various markets, including the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (EU C-BAM) and U.S. SEC climate risk disclosures.  

Key to reducing total emissions, CP Foods will focus on supply chain emissions, with its emissions mostly falling under Scope 3. CP Foods will work with the Customer Success organization at SAP, leverage YASH Technologies’ sustainability expertise and build on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to implement SAP Sustainability solutions. Doing so will allow it to record and report on its Scope 1 and 2 emissions in Thailand and select Scope 3 (3.1 and 3.4) for its feed business in Thailand covering both FLAG and non-FLAG emissions. The next phase of implementation will extend in scope to cover operations around the world.  

Cloud Sustainability

Paul Marriott, president of SAP Asia Pacific & Japan, said: “Sustainability is a huge opportunity for businesses across Asia. Using RISE with SAP and our sustainability solutions, CP Foods is getting ahead of forthcoming emissions regulation and future-proofing its business by using data to make more sustainable decisions. It can use those insights to drive more operational efficiencies, optimize supply chains, and differentiate its business against competitors.”

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

Learn more about our approach to sustainability and our aspirations for a world with zero emissions, zero waste and zero inequality Explore our journey

About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. 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, press only:
Rizka Laksmi, rizka.laksmi@sap.com, WIB
Lesa Plingen, +49 622 776 9000, lesa.plingen@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 2023 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.
Please consider our privacy policy. If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line. 

To help address the challenge of unproductive meetings, the Future of Work team at SAP and SAP AppHaus created the “Meeting Workout” board game. It brings a playful approach to making meetings more efficient. Interested teams can choose between a virtual template or a downloadable, do-it-yourself version.

For the majority of employees, work comprises enjoyable projects and duties but also routines and tasks that can be tiring or difficult. To make the work experience as positive and efficient as possible, experts and companies around the globe seek to continuously improve the realities of their workforce. This is also true for SAP.

Meetings, All Kinds of Meetings

An important facet of today’s work reality is meetings. They are where all sorts of work decisions are prepared and made, where briefings take place, where teams build up their team identity, exchange thoughts, solve challenges, share updates, align across geographical time zones, and much more. In many cases and for many roles, meetings consume a considerable part of overall working hours. So it comes as no surprise that, in their most recent project, the Future of Work team at SAP and SAP AppHaus colleagues joined forces to develop an easy approach for teams to improve their meeting routines.

“As featured by Forbes in May 2023, an average employee spends 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings. This is a challenge we want to address with the Meeting Workout game,” says Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of SAP AppHaus Network. “By innovatively blending play with productivity, we can transform these hours into opportunities for meaningful engagement and collaborative innovation, paving the way for a future where every meeting is a step towards building stronger, more dynamic teams.”

Photo courtesy of Hyun Lee. The Imperative for Efficient Meetings

According to a recent Microsoft report, inefficient meetings have been identified as the top disruptor to productivity, with an excessive number of meetings following close behind. As SAP Chief Future of Work Officer Christian Schmeichel states: “The way we are working is changing rapidly, and both the rise of hybrid work and new technologies have increased the number of meetings for many of us. Hence, it’s an imperative to foster meetings that best utilize our time, spark energy, and drive outcomes. The Meeting Workout game can help with an engaging workshop format that can not only improve meeting effectiveness but can enable teams to set new standards for workplace collaboration on their journey into the future of work.”

Playing for a Better Meeting Experience

From the initial idea to create a game for teams to improve their meeting routines, it took the New Work Practices team and SAP AppHaus a few weeks to design, test, and produce the Meeting Workout game. However, what might look like a fun project was very similar to any other design and innovation project.

“In our planning meetings and test sessions we really tried to put ourselves in the shoes of all kinds of teams in different organizations and setups,” recall project members Beate Riefer, UX designer at SAP AppHaus, and Filip Weidenbach, HR project expert in New Work Practices. “Through a very generic phrasing of the cards and in simple steps, the game should be applicable in the most diverse, if not all, environments. It’s not as easy as it might seem – and it’s the reason why we established breaks in our meetings to keep the energy and concentration levels up. Here’s an important recommendation for all teams playing the Meeting Workout game: have plenty of sticky notes and a variety of snacks available!”

50 Meeting Workout Games Available

The Meeting Workout game can be a perfect opportunity to help actively inspire and support teams in restructuring their current meeting formats. Users can choose between the virtual version available on Mural, a do-it-yourself, paper-based version for a physical workshop, and a tangible board game version.

The Future of Work team at SAP is gifting 50 board game versions on a first-come, first-serve basis. People or teams that would like to test and use the board game can contact SAPFutureOfWork@sap.com, thereby acknowledging that their postal address and contact information will be used only for the delivery of the game shipment, in accordance with the SAP Privacy Statement.

Waltraud Grimm is communications lead for SAP Future of Work.
Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for SAP AppHaus.

Top photo courtesy of Hyun Lee

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SAP’s commitment to customers is steadfast in making SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) the best platform to extend and personalize SAP applications, integrate and connect landscapes, maximize the value of data, and drive business innovation through artificial intelligence (AI).

Discover which version of SAP BTP meets your needs Try it today

To that end, I am thrilled to announce that TrustRadius, a leading independent peer research and review platform, has once again recognized SAP BTP, along with multiple solutions that run on our platform, as winners of the 2024 Top Rated awards.

As a reflection of direct customer feedback, the TrustRadius Top Rated awards offer an authentic measure of a product’s quality and customer satisfaction and highlight those products that have demonstrated excellence in fulfilling clients’ needs and expectations.

Best of Awards

SAP customers’ willingness to share their hands-on experience and opinions of SAP BTP is testament to our platform’s services, robustness, and ongoing innovation.

We are honored that the following solutions have been recognized with Top Rated awards:

• SAP Business Technology Platform on TrustRadius:  Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Application Infrastructure 
• SAP Build on TrustRadius:  Low-Code Development and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
• SAP Integration Suite on TrustRadius:  Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS), and API Management
• SAP Master Data Governance on TrustRadius:  Master Data Management (MDM) and Data Governance

“SAP Business Technology Platform’s comprehensive suite of solutions has been recognized with a TrustRadius Top Rated award,” said Allyson Havener, senior vice president of Marketing and Community at TrustRadius. “SAP is committed to delivering innovative technologies that empower businesses to drive digital transformation, and achieve their goals. We congratulate SAP on this achievement, showcasing their continued leadership and excellence in providing cutting-edge enterprise solutions.”

Our Focus on Customer Success

At SAP, customer success and satisfaction are the ultimate measures of our own success. We strive to deliver industry-leading solutions, functionality, and user experience that exceeds customer expectations and unlocks business potential. This is especially important as customers accelerate their digital innovation across business operations while maintaining the agility to adapt to fluctuating market demands. SAP BTP provides this for our customers.

“SAP Business Technology Platform is the right tool to manage sites, applications, users, and everything you can imagine in the cloud and non-cloud world, from my point of view BTP is very well focused and has everything that a tool has to have.”

Read the full review by Warner Bros. Discovery on TrustRadius

To read what other customers said about SAP BTP, please take a look at our TrustRadius review page. We welcome you to try out SAP BTP for yourself too.

On behalf of the entire SAP BTP team, we sincerely thank TrustRadius for acknowledging SAP BTP in its 2024 Top Rated awards and our dedicated SAP BTP customers for their unwavering support.

JG Chirapurath is chief marketing and solutions officer for SAP Business Technology Platform.

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As the global economy continues to evolve, supply chains have grown more interconnected, complex, and prone to vulnerabilities. This evolution, paired with increasingly stringent regulations that require businesses to report on sustainability practices, has necessitated that procurement teams deliver enhanced transparency into increasingly dynamic supply chain operations.

Yet, this has become a challenge for chief procurement officers (CPOs) who often lack information on the supplier base. In fact, a recent study from Procurement Leaders and SAP found that suppliers are often reluctant to disclose privileged information, leading to miscalculated procurement decisions.

Against this backdrop, how can procurement professionals elevate their role and transform the depth of insights the function can offer? I believe this starts with three key actions.

1. Go Beyond Reporting

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives have become a priority for procurement teams in recent years. Unfortunately, buyers often fail to receive accurate or complete sustainability information from sellers, according to the Procurement Leaders study. This lack of transparency can increase the potential for regulatory violations, especially as climate-focused laws like the European Green Deal come to fruition.  

While reporting should remain a key tactic, it is not sufficient to deliver on sustainability goals. Organizations must invest in software that fits within the organization’s scope, generates more touchpoints with sellers, and provides visibility into suppliers’ social and environmental impacts.

Move faster and spend better with e-procurement solutions from SAP Learn more

Software can help organizations increase regulatory compliance, reduce costs, and develop healthy relationships with sellers. Of course, there are limitations as suppliers can be reluctant to share information – like financial statements or internal regulatory policies.

However, software that is augmented with predictive analytics can deliver metrics and insights into supplier emissions and energy usage that enable organizations to evaluate suppliers against their sustainability objectives.

2. Take the Lead Through a Bold but Methodical AI Strategy

As procurement teams take on more responsibility in increasing transparency across the supply chain, they should be courageous but vigilant in efforts to uncover supplier insights. Consequently, many CPOs have opted for strategies involving AI.

AI can provide procurement teams with intelligent business data that can lead to more informed purchase decisions. Additionally, according to the Oxford College of Procurement & Supply, AI can reduce time spent on buying processes by up to 60% and reach cost savings of up to 40%.

Adopting AI throughout the source-to-pay process has obvious benefits, although many companies lack the internal skills needed to leverage the power of this technology. Organizations should take a holistic and careful approach, ensuring that internal and external stakeholders are “bought-in” and empowered through cohesive training and change management programs.

Similarly, CPOs should take steps to maintain rigorous data privacy policies to build trust with suppliers. Procurement teams should only implement AI technologies that are relevant, responsible, and reliable, ensuring that the implementation of AI follows guiding principles and protects the privacy of all users.

3. Select a Trusted Technology Partner

Leading procurement teams are realizing the importance of cultivating trusted and mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers, particularly those offering resources vital to business continuity. Identifying a technology partner who understands the needs of different industries and the power of developing connections can empower procurement teams to optimize decision-making.

This is where SAP is in a unique position to help. We not only have unmatched access to business data, but we’ve processed data responsibly and reliably for decades through our ERP systems, SAP Ariba solutions, and now SAP Business Network. This makes it possible to help organizations counteract supplier reluctance, as SAP Ariba solutions work with millions of trading partners to help develop connections and provide greater visibility.

In addition, SAP Ariba solutions can provide guided recommendations for buyers, supporting internal compliance even if the user is unaware of regulations. This can enable deeper knowledge of spend management, helping to reduce redundancies and complexities and provide employees with more time to solve harder problems.

Procurement’s visibility into the supply chain is paramount for informed decision-making and mitigating risk. By moving beyond reporting, investing in AI methodically, and partnering with a trusted solution provider, procurement will not only achieve greater supply chain visibility but also lay the foundation for increased innovation and competitive advantage in today’s global economy.

Now is the time to rethink your procurement technology strategy.

Baber Farooq is senior vice president and head of Market Strategy for SAP Ariba.

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New Value Generation partnership initiative focused on delivering greater client productivity and innovation with new generative AI capabilities and industry-specific cloud solutions

WALLDORF and ARMONK — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced their vision for the next era of their collaboration, which includes new generative AI capabilities and industry-specific cloud solutions that can help clients unlock business value.

Unlock new capabilities with generative AI Learn how

“IBM and SAP’s shared approach to generative AI, built on an open ecosystem, trust and purpose-built models, will help empower clients to optimize business outcomes,” said John Granger, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting. “Our new Value Generation partnership initiative will enable clients to accelerate the path to innovation, competitive advantage and become a next generation enterprise through generative AI.”

“It makes perfect sense to expand our partnership with IBM to help more customers accelerate their cloud journey leveraging RISE with SAP and realize the transformative benefits of generative AI for business in the cloud,” said Scott Russell, Chief Revenue Officer & Executive Board Member, Customer Success of SAP SE. “This expanded partnership will help more of our joint customers reach new heights by innovating through the cloud, data and business AI to grow and transform their businesses.”

IBM Consulting and SAP aim to accelerate transformation enabled by RISE with SAP by supporting clients in the following key areas:

• Next-Generation AI Business Processes: Together, the companies are exploring opportunities to build new generative AI capabilities for RISE with SAP and infuse AI into SAP business processes across industry-specific cloud solutions and line of business applications. Initially, IBM plans to extend AI capabilities across SAP’s portfolio of cloud solutions and applications, all of which are underpinned by SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). This includes RISE with SAP, the GROW with SAP solution, financial solutions for the office of the CFO, supply chain management solutions,  solutions for human capital management, SAP Customer Experience solutions and intelligent spend management solutions. IBM also plans to leverage SAP Signavio and SAP Business AI solutions to help define next-generation business processes through a proof-of-concept adoption program.
• Next-Generation Industry Innovation: IBM and SAP plan to build intelligent industry use cases, enabled by data-driven insights, into end-to-end business processes to fuel next-generation industry innovation. These use cases will initially focus on the industrial manufacturing, consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, defense, automotive and utilities industries. This includes IBM’s recent work with SAP to develop new AI solutions for the CPG and retail industries. As part of this initiative, IBM has begun the development of an extensive portfolio of over 100 AI solutions across industry, line-of-business and product delivery. In addition, IBM plans to develop prescriptive industry value maps that define next-generation business processes and opportunities for impact with AI. Clients will be able to access all of these new AI solutions through the global IBM Innovation Studios and SAP Experience Center sites.
• Next-Generation Platform Architecture and Customer Adoption Approach: Next-generation enterprises require next-generation platform architectures and a modernized approach to customer adoption. Through the Value Generation partnership initiative, IBM intends to provide next-generation reference architectures that enable a clean core approach. To do this, IBM plans to leverage SAP BTP, SAP Signavio and  LeanIX solutions. These new reference architectures will help define standards across data, process, systems and device integration, process orchestration and automation. IBM consultants supporting clients on SAP projects can also leverage IBM Consulting Advantage, IBM’s AI services platform, and its portfolio of proprietary methods, assets and Assistants to bring more repeatability and consistency to client delivery.  With IBM Consulting Advantage, IBM consultants can transform the way they deliver SAP solutions to boost productivity and mitigate risk by leveraging generative AI to help complete tasks like generation of user stories, test scripts, training and change management content and code creation.
• Next-Generation Ecosystem Expansion: IBM and SAP plan to partner around their respective employee network groups and “next-gen” communities, such as the business women’s networks at IBM and SAP, the SAP University Alliances program and the Veterans to Work program of SAP and Veterans at IBM to increase the SAP solutions experience in the consulting workforce and develop the next generation of talent. The companies also plan to explore new ways to collaborate on social impact programs, such as training at- risk youth in the IT sector and accelerating the integration of social businesses into global supply chains.
• watsonx Planned Availability on the Generative AI Hub: IBM Granite Model Series are expected to be accessible for use across SAP’s portfolio of cloud solutions and applications – which is underpinned by the generative AI hub in SAP AI Core. The generative AI hub facilitates relevant, reliable and responsible business AI and provides instant access to a broad range of large language models (LLMs). This expands on IBM and SAP’s collaboration around embedding IBM Watson AI technology into SAP solutions. To further highlight watsonx.ai Granite capabilities, IBM Consulting plans to build extensions using the model on the generative AI hub for select customers.

This initiative will build on the companies’ over 50-year collaboration based on deep technology, industry and domain expertise and demonstrates the two organizations’ joint commitment to continue to evolve to put clients first and meet market demand.

IBM Consulting accelerates business transformation for our clients through hybrid cloud and AI technologies, leveraging our open ecosystem of partners. With deep industry and business expertise spanning strategy, experience design, technology, and operations, we have become the trusted partner to the world’s most innovative and valuable companies, helping modernize and secure their most complex systems. Our 160,000 consultants embrace an open way of working and apply our proven, collaborative engagement model, IBM Garage, to scale ideas into outcomes. As the only major global systems integrator inside a technology company, we don’t just advise – we invent and build what’s next together with our clients. Find out more at IBM.com/consulting.

To learn more about the Value Generation partnership initiative, visit ibm.com/info/sap-value-generation.

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

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to effect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. 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, press only:
Scott Malinowski, SAP, +1 (781) 852-3822, scott.malinowski@sap.com
SAP Press Room; press@sap.com
Jamee Nelson, IBM,  jamee.nelson@ibm.com 

Learn more about the power of SAP partners, who drive customer success, delivering trusted advice and deep product knowledge Learn more

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 2023 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.
Please consider our privacy policy. If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line. 

SAP SuccessFactors has once again been recognized as a leader in human resources software by TrustRadius, earning 12 Top Rated awards in 2024. TrustRadius is a peer research and review platform designed to help business leaders find and select the right software to meet their needs.  

“At TrustRadius, we pride ourselves on providing unbiased and transparent insights into the software industry,” said Allyson Havener, senior vice president of Marketing and Community at TrustRadius. “Receiving a TrustRadius Top Rated award is a testament to SAP SuccessFactors HCM’s exceptional performance as validated by unbiased user feedback. This recognition highlights SAP SuccessFactors’ commitment to delivering innovative human capital management solutions that truly meet the needs of businesses.” 

This year, SAP SuccessFactors earned awards across the following categories: Applicant Tracking, Compensation Management, Talent Management, Workforce Analytics, Sales Incentive Compensation Management, HR Management, Workforce Management, Employee Performance Management, Sales Performance Management, Corporate Learning Management, Succession Planning, and Internal Payroll. 

Adopt the latest in HR innovation with SAP SuccessFactors HCM Learn more

We are grateful to our more than 10,000 global customers whose partnership allows us to help make every employee a success story by harnessing the power of AI to elevate every experience, guide every people decision, and connect HR across every aspect of the business. 

In the past year, SAP has introduced new AI capabilities that span the entire SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite and help transform how organizations unlock individual and collective potential. Joule, SAP’s natural language generative AI copilot, helps employees and managers work faster and smarter by making it easier to find information and complete common HR tasks. With an embedded AI-driven skills framework, SAP SuccessFactors solutions help power an organization’s learning and talent strategy and address critical skills gaps. The combined force of these innovations helps customers better meet the business challenges of today and tomorrow.  

Below are a few reviews from our customers:

“We chose SAP SuccessFactors over competitors for its comprehensive HR suite, superior integration capabilities with SAP systems, and global scalability. Its user-friendly interface and extensive analytics stood out, offering more in-depth insights and a seamless experience compared to other solutions in the market.”

Solution Architect, Barclays

“The benefit of [SAP] SuccessFactors is its flexibility. I have implemented [SAP] SuccessFactors at companies with as little as 1,500 employees and also with as many as 120,000 users. It can handle the complexities of global requirements while still being able to scale to a small, midsized business in a cost-effective manner.”​

HRIS Manager, Great Lakes Cheese

“SAP SuccessFactors has a clean employee view of data and offers a wide range of functionality to support midsize to large companies.”​

Software Engineer, John Deere

Learn more about SAP SuccessFactors HCM and read our customer reviews on TrustRadius. For more information about these recognitions, visit the TrustRadius scoring FAQ page. 

Aaron Green is chief marketing & solutions officer for SAP SuccessFactors.

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At SAP MaxAttention Summit 2024, attendees received in-depth information about SAP Business AI, clean core with SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), updates on enterprise architecture, and more.

SAP MaxAttention: Premium-level engagement and personalized service Learn more

The event was held April 23-25 in Heidelberg, Germany, and customers on-site experienced insightful keynotes and sessions from SAP Executive Board Members Thomas Saueressig and Muhammad Alam, as well as SAP Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Philipp Herzig and other experts.

SAP and customer speakers presented important updates on topics that also included Business Transformation as a Service, RISE with SAP, and SAP BTP. Attendees also benefited from interactive “eXpert eXchange” sessions and opportunities to network and share their experiences and best practices.

The SAP MaxAttention program offers premium-level engagement and personalized service for customers to move business-wide transformational change from boardroom plans to business reality with a tailored, premium experience. Program participants get premium access to trusted SAP experts, tools, and methodologies that can help deliver expected outcomes successfully with SAP solutions.

Replays

Watch the replays to see more:

Thomas Saueressig’s Keynote

Innovate to Deliver: The Journey to Business Transformation with SAP

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Muhammad Alam’s Keynote

Thriving Through Uncertainty with SAP’s End-to-End Portfolio Strategy

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Philipp Herzig’s Executive Session

The Future is now – Embrace it with SAP Business AI

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SAP has been named as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems. For the 11th consecutive year, SAP is positioned in the Leaders quadrant based on Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.

We believe that this recognition confirms our strategy in logistics, which is based on three pillars:

• Connecting every process to facilitate synchronized logistics execution, supporting highly efficient and fast-paced fulfillment cycles through seamless integration with logistics applications like SAP Transportation Management, SAP Business Network for Logistics, etc.
• Collaborating within a diverse ecosystem of system integrators, software partners, hyperscalers, hardware partners, and robotics OEMs, with warehouse management being an integral part of cloud ERP.
• Contextualizing every decision leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize operations and to provide business insights

Keep pace with demand, minimize costs, and maintain sustainable, risk-resilient warehouse operations Learn more

SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) is an integral part of the overall SAP strategy and gives companies the ability to operate modern warehouses that must respond quickly to changing business conditions. The flexibility of SAP EWM helps manage a high volume of goods and run sustainable, risk-resilient operations with digitized warehouse processes in the cloud including direct control of warehouse automation equipment.

SAP continues to innovate in SAP EWM based on market analysis and even more importantly based on feedback from our global install base and ecosystem. Recent innovations include cross-process integration in the areas of transportation, production, and quality management, addressing industry-specific requirements, extensibility, and usability.

SAP EWM combined with SAP Transportation Management and SAP Business Network for Logistics provides a platform for companies to collaborate with their logistics partners to gain end-to-end visibility and insights across their logistics operations.

Our global partner network — made up of systems integrators, business consultants, and technology providers — helps our customers manage their warehouse management transformations, whether they be system replacements, upgrades, greenfield deployments, or part of larger enterprise transformations. 

“Warehouse Management with SAP EWM is an integral part of our cloud ERP offering,” said Till Dengel, global head of Logistics and Manufacturing Product Marketing at SAP. “Customers use SAP EWM to manage their warehouse operations in 66 countries and 24 industries.”

“SAP Extended Warehouse Management helped Bridgestone reduce errors, with a new level of productivity and safety.”

Eric Dyason, National Distribution Manager, Bridgestone New Zealand Ltd.

Get more details on the latest
Gartner Magic Quadrant for WMS here.

Ganesh Wadawadigi is chief product marketing owner for Logistics at SAP.

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*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems, Simon Tunstall, Dwight Klappich, Rishabh Narang, Federica Stufano, 2 May 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.