Olaf Winkler Archives - �鶹ԭ�� Africa News Center

PwC South Africa Crowned Winner of AFSUG’s First African Hackathon at �鶹ԭ��HILA 2025

�鶹ԭ�� News — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 07:46:39 +0000

�� has taken top honours at the African �鶹ԭ�� User Group’s (AFSUG) inaugural �鶹ԭ�� Business Technology Platform (BTP) Hackathon finale, which took place live at the recent��conference, AFSUG’s premier �鶹ԭ�� user conference for Africa.

The AFSUG �鶹ԭ�� BTP Hackathon invited AFSUG members – including customers, partners or joint teams – to submit creative, impactful use cases or projects using �鶹ԭ�� BTP components such as �鶹ԭ�� Build, �鶹ԭ�� HANA Cloud, �鶹ԭ�� Integration Suite and ABAP Cloud.

After an intensive eight-week development sprint, three teams, who were shortlisted from an original 18 entrants, were invited��to present their��real-world, use case-based business solutions at the event. These included: PwC South Africa; , a manufacturer and distributor of heavy equipment for sectors including mining, construction and agriculture; and��the , one of the world’s foremost diamond producers by value and volume.��Each team showcased the solutions they had explored, designed and built using �鶹ԭ�� BTP.

In a closely contested finale, the �鶹ԭ��HILA audience voted live to award the PwC South Africa AI-driven legal services solution first place.

PwC South Africa simplifies legal document processing and understanding with AI

PwC’s winning solution,��LegalEase, is��a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform designed to streamline the understanding and processing of legal documents. It aims to address common challenges such as unexpected charges, misleading billing, difficulties in cancelling contracts and the complexity of legal language.

Citing consumer experience statistics during the presentation, the PwC team noted that 91 percent of consumers have signed contracts without reading them.

Key features of the LegalEase solution included document scanning and summarisation, an interactive Q&A module, and translation capabilities into the user’s native language. The solution also incorporated a knowledge base of related services and policies to improve user awareness and drive upselling opportunities.

From a technical perspective, the team integrated prompt engineering, retrieval augmented generation and knowledge graphs, using �鶹ԭ��’s retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approach, enabling smart prompt engineering, document embedding and contextual queries.

Future use cases for the proof-of-concept could include seamless onboarding of new employees, allowing them to familiarise themselves with company policies in an interactive way; insight into customers’ understanding of the organisation’s services; and AI-assistance on scope validation and obligations of contracts and statements of work.

Debswana solution tackles overtime risk and streamlines HR processes

As the runner up, the Debswana Diamond Company team presented a compelling use case focused on��overtime management and compliance, a critical concern for the organisation, given that overtime affects��approximately 80 percent��of its workforce of over 4,400 employees.

The team highlighted how ineffective overtime management could not only inflate operational costs, but also compromise��employee well-being, with issues such as fatigue and insufficient take-home pay linked directly to unscheduled or poorly managed overtime.

The current overtime process at Debswana is manual and paper-based, managed through spreadsheets and reliant on negative time-tracking, a method that depends heavily on manager and employee inputs for both planning and capture. This creates risks in governance, data accuracy and training effectiveness, especially given that the process mainly affects frontline mining staff.

To address these challenges, the Debswana team developed an��AI-powered overtime assistant��using �鶹ԭ�� BTP services. The application enables managers to plan overtime more efficiently by inputting a simple command, prompting the system to generate a��historical-data-informed overtime schedule. The AI evaluates employee work histories to avoid overloading those who have already clocked high overtime hours, improving safety and fairness issues.

Bell Equipment streamlines��shipment tracking process with automation

In third place, Bell Equipment addressed a critical logistics challenge: accurately matching inbound shipments with their expected delivery dates, essential information for effective planning of customer part deliveries and meeting demand forecasts.

Previously, capturing sea freight shipment data was a manual, time-consuming task, and any changes to estimated delivery dates would not be reflected in the system, introducing significant business risk. In some cases, the company had to resort to costly air freight to meet customer commitments.

To overcome this, the Bell Equipment team designed an intelligently automated solution that could create inbound delivery records and maintain accurate estimated times of arrival (ETAs). This would allow the company’s materials planning system to proactively flag potential stock shortages and enable early intervention to mitigate risk.

The solution leverages��鶹ԭ�� Build Process Automation��for bot and workflow automation, and��鶹ԭ�� Cloud Application Programming (CAP)��for the development of the application interface. Key functionalities include scheduled, fully automated execution without manual intervention; a bot that monitors a designated Outlook inbox for incoming shipment documents such as waybills and freight invoices; the automatic download and storage of these documents, triggering document classification and data extraction processes.

Using��optical character recognition (OCR),��the system identifies and classifies different types of documents. Each document type is then processed through a tailored automation pipeline. Following this step, the solution cross-checks the extracted information against existing records. If a corresponding shipment already exists, it is updated; if not, a new record is created.

Participating with passion and purpose

, BTP product management at �鶹ԭ��, reflected on the core objectives of the hackathon initiative and the journey that brought customers and partners together to explore the full capabilities of the �鶹ԭ�� BTP.

“The main objective was to ensure strong collaboration between �鶹ԭ�� and participating customers, and to provide our local BTP customers with a practical opportunity to explore the platform,” said Winkler. “We wanted customers to truly understand what �鶹ԭ�� BTP can offer and to begin building real solutions on the platform.”

The initiative began with an ideation phase in the previous year, followed by an onboarding programme to ensure all participants had a clear understanding of the available tools and services. A team of 10 �鶹ԭ�� coaches supported the journey, helping participants shape their use cases and align their work with key��鶹ԭ�� BTP components.

“We had 18 amazing teams enter the hackathon, each of them using �鶹ԭ�� BTP to develop impressive, real-world solutions. A key criterion in evaluating these was the innovative use of less commonly used BTP services, such as artificial intelligence, to demonstrate what’s possible on the platform.”

Product managers from �鶹ԭ�� participated in the judging process, providing a global perspective and ensuring technical and business relevance in the final selection.

Winkler also acknowledged the effort and creativity of all participating teams. “The quality of the solutions presented was outstanding, not only from the finalists seen on stage, but from all 18 teams. The decisions weren’t easy, and we had several close calls between second and third place, and even between first and second.

Says Amanda Gibbs, AFSUG CEO: “Firstly, AFSUG would like to congratulate the PwC South Africa team for winning our first �鶹ԭ�� BTP hackathon –��your energy and ideas were truly inspiring. Secondly, a heartfelt thank you to all the teams involved for their significant time investment and commitment. It is inspiring to witness what can be achieved in just eight weeks using �鶹ԭ�� BTP; we’ve seen incredible progress and innovation.

“It has also been a real privilege to work alongside the incredible �鶹ԭ�� team from Germany and our dedicated local �鶹ԭ�� South Africa team, and AFSUG extends its gratitude for the many hours of input, guidance and unwavering support given to our local participants.”

For more information on the African �鶹ԭ�� User Group (AFSUG), or to become an AFSUG member, please visit��.��

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A Solid Platform Enables Innovation

Kathy Gibson — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 06:41:58 +0000

Kathy Gibson is at Saphila Transcend in Sun City – The world around us is evolving faster than ever. In a chaotic and unpredictable environment, and with new technologies emerging almost daily, industries are being reshaped, and customer expectations are shifting.

“Uncertainty is not going away,” says , BTP product management at �鶹ԭ��. “You need to think about how you can transform your business for the years to come.”

At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising decision-making, redefining efficiency, and helping make it easier to run the business, he adds.

“The pace of change is accelerating, and businesses are asking how they can stay ahead of the change; how they can build business that don’t just keep up with change, but thrive on it.

“The ability to adapt, to innovate, to seize opportunities is no longer an advantage, but a necessity,” Winkler says.

He believes that, to be resilient and navigate uncertainty, companies need to embrace entrepreneurial skills.

“We believe that in this time of change and technology disruption, entrepreneurial skills are more relevant than ever in small or corporate organisations.

“The first key skill is courage,” Winkler says. “This is about being adaptable, having no fear, and moving forward in a focused and lean way.”

The second is resourcefulness. “Ensure you have the right resources in place, to accomplish a lot with few resources, and to execute on anything.”

The third key skill needed in this fast-changing world is self-discipline. “Be self-driven,” Winkler says. “Think about transformation from a technology point of view, but prioritise what is important for the business.”

At the same time, organisations need to be very clear about the way they want to go forward, Winkler adds. “Clarity is needed now more than ever – not as a choice, but a necessity. Be clear about your transformation and about what you want to achieve.”

Winkler explains that is the foundation on which the company has built its technology and transformation ecosystem.

As the foundation that underpins Business Suite, Business Data Cloud, and Business AI, BTP allows organisations to integrate and extend business applications faster; create business-relevant apps; and innovate and accelerate with AI.

Winkler points out that it is a unified platform available as public cloud or multi-cloud that harmonises �鶹ԭ�� and non-�鶹ԭ�� applications, empowering customers and partners to innovate.

BTP is powered by more than 90 applications and services.

There are currently 33��000 customers on �鶹ԭ�� BTP, including 66% of the largest companies in the market.

New on �鶹ԭ�� BTP is better integration between �鶹ԭ�� Build and �鶹ԭ�� S/4 HANA. The company has also introduced additional AI features with Joule for Developers.

In addition, �鶹ԭ�� is continuously adding BTP to new data centres and regions. It has already built out to seven new regions this year, with more on the cards.

There is more functionality for users and more AI available for �鶹ԭ�� S/4 HANA Cloud.

More features are available in �鶹ԭ�� Business Data Cloud (BDC), and �鶹ԭ��’s Integration Suite makes it easier for customers to bring their ecosystem together.

The new releases are especially relevant for developers.

�鶹ԭ�� Build now offers the ability to create Joule Skills and AI Agents – Joule Skills where the process path is known, and AI Agents where it isn’t.

“Now, developers are able to enhance Joule’s out-of-the-box capabilities to support organisation-specific workflows,” Winkler says. “They can deploy, monitor and manage their own Joule Skills in �鶹ԭ�� Build. “And, with the agent builder in Joule Studio they can build their own customised AI Agents.”

There are also new features to help ABAP developers ��improve their efficiency. “In the ABAP cloud environment, we have released intelligent features that help developerss with testing, and Joule will even offer recommendation to improve code.”

Further enhancements improve developer efficiency in ��鶹ԭ�� HANA Cloud, helping them to make smart decisions while handling large amounts of interconnected data to achieve meaningful outcome.

“BTP addresses the challenges of digital transformation and helps to accelerate customers’ move to the cloud,” Winkler says. “It helps customers to optimise and integrate processes so they can innovate while keeping the core clean.

“This empowers them to unlock the power of business data and AI.”

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