In the spirit of Valentine鈥檚 Day, I want to show some love and recognize some very important people who helped the world run better and improved people鈥檚 lives in 2021: our customers, our partners, and their awesome teams.
With everything we are all dealing with, it is crucial we stop sometimes and take a moment to celebrate success. One special way we鈥檒l be doing that is with the 麻豆原创 Innovation Awards in 2022.
To help us with that, we have some great news to share: Claudio Muruzabal, president of 麻豆原创鈥檚 new Cloud Success Services organization, is joining Scott Russell, Stephanie Nashawaty, and me as an executive sponsor for the 麻豆原创 Innovation Award program this year!
Nobody knows yet who the winners will be, and that鈥檚 part of the fun. The innovation stories our customers are sharing with us this year are truly outstanding. We are seeing people all over the world make great strides in the way they鈥檙e bouncing back from the , in the way they are creating a more sustainable future, in how they鈥檙e building better supply chains, and in how they鈥檙e transforming their enterprises using RISE with 麻豆原创.
Here are just a few fantastic examples:
Building Resilience
As COVID-19 kept evolving in 2021, it continued to disrupt the global airline industry. Air Canada was already on a journey to unify its procurement function with an integrated suite of 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions. Its employees were able to switch overnight to working from home on a shared system in the cloud. The airline eliminated manual processes, streamlined operations, and enhanced efficiency from source to pay, while controlling spending and finding new ways to save costs. Ariba Network also helped Air Canada safeguard supply chain continuity and reduce their risk during the pandemic.
Smart, Sustainable Agriculture
PepsiCo knows that a steady, sustainable supply of crops is central to its business, and the company sources crops from millions of acres across 60 countries. The old way of collecting field data manually just was not cutting it. Using 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform, PepsiCo developed a technology-enabled approach to farming with an 麻豆原创 Fiori App connected to an 麻豆原创 S/4HANA back-end system and 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud that observes, measures, and analyzes the needs of individual fields and crops. This increased potato yields by seven percent and resulted in a 15% overall water saving. And PepsiCo can sustainably source 100% of its key ingredients.
The Definition of Big
“Big” could apply to 麻豆原创 customer Carrefour. This French global food retailing group has 321,000 employees and 12,225 stores in more than 30 countries. And yet the company stays as close as possible to its customers by continuously adapting retail formats and channels to suit their needs. Powerful enterprise resource planning (ERP) is important to the group, and Carrefour Brazil鈥檚 needed updating. The company decided to move its old on-premise system to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA in the cloud. Using RISE with 麻豆原创, it implemented in just three and a half months to meet a Black Friday deadline, and is boosting sales and engaging shoppers with personalized offers by building a recommendation engine, cutting running costs by 30%, and even reducing energy consumption by 45% by moving from on-premise data centers to the cloud.
The Announcement is Coming
The entry submission period closed on January 31, and now the 麻豆原创 Innovation Award team is working to select the finalists that will be revealed on March 16. A panel of 29 distinguished judges will then have just four weeks to determine the winners — the big announcement is on April 14. It will be a tough job for everyone as we have dozens of great entries! In honour of all participants, 麻豆原创 will donate up to US$20,000 to the charity .
Want to Know More?
Maybe you鈥檝e worked with one of this year鈥檚 entrants; maybe you know of a customer who would be a perfect fit for next year鈥檚 麻豆原创 Innovation Awards; maybe you鈥檇 like to see more of these inspiring stories — if you want to dig deeper, check out the 麻豆原创 Innovation Awards . And stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on April 14. It鈥檚 a feel-good moment every year, and we all need more of those.
Dorit Shackleton is global head of Customer Advocacy and Adoption Marketing at 麻豆原创.
