To be perfectly clear, as a senior developer at 麻豆原创, Wahlig doesn鈥檛 oppose technological advances. But when he sees value in something, he holds onto it and improves it. He applies this principle to many things in his life, but it鈥檚 perhaps most evident in his vintage glider. Together, Wahlig and his LS-3 鈥淣ovember Sierra鈥� glider consistently finish ahead when competing against the best pilots and planes in the world.

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If he weren鈥檛 so successful, the German pilot with long hair could conjure memories of Bj枚rn Borg鈥檚 attempted tennis comeback with a wooden racket against carbon in 1991. But Wahlig pulls it off without a trace of bravado. In June, he in the Racing Class competition at the German National Championships in Zwickau, Germany, also placing first on the fastest day of racing.

For Wahlig, the joy of flying is the ultimate goal. Pilots at the German nationals applauded his gliding mastery. Because, in addition to his flying skills, he is revered among the gliding community for his quiet nature, sportsmanship, and calmness under pressure.

Optimizing Everything

Wahlig鈥檚 calm demeanor belies a burning passion for the sport of competitive gliding and an unabating lifelong drive to optimize everything about himself and his plane. He leaves nothing to chance in preparing for competitions, meticulously studying the geography and climatic conditions wherever he flies. There is a myriad of variables in the course of a flight that a pilot needs to consider, and he knows them all. 鈥淵ou always keep an eye on the clouds and the ground to have an idea where the thermals come from, and you need to be optimizing everything during the competition,鈥� Wahlig says.

His passion to optimize everything stems from his experiences building and flying model airplanes as a boy. What began with launching paper airplanes from the second story window of his grandmother鈥檚 house into the neighbor鈥檚 yard continued with the construction of his first model gliders of balsa wood. 鈥淢y father wasn鈥檛 impressed with my initial models, but with time they got better and better,鈥� he says today.

Soon, Wahlig was testing and refining his model planes with his friends at the in Bensheim, Germany. At 17 he earned his glider pilot rating and at 19 he already won his first national youth gliding competition. He was always finding new ways to improve his flying skills with the club鈥檚 planes, which at the time were made mostly of wood. All along his path to becoming world champion, he was intuitively applying 鈥�,鈥� a widely recognized software development approach whereby incremental changes are made that add immediate value for end-users.

As a software engineer at 麻豆原创, Wahlig is detail-oriented and accustomed to applying the latest technology to test and optimize the operation of business software for hundreds of thousands of business customers worldwide. 鈥淚 apply the same focus I have during gliding competitions to my work improving software solutions,鈥� he says. By taking advantage of 麻豆原创鈥檚 flexible working policy, the glider pilot has been able to hone his skills and compete at competitions across Europe and beyond.

The Sky Is Not the Limit

Wahlig is constantly pushing the limits of himself and his LS-3. Improvements he has made to the plane鈥檚 flight characteristics and instrumentation have helped him achieve the maximum possible performance for the vintage glider. For example, he added winglets and installed bug wipers to reduce drag and maximize the gliding ratio, and he recently installed the latest instrumentation for navigating and locating the maximum lift in thermals. 鈥淎 good plane and good pilot are important, but to reach the last two percent of performance, you need good instruments,鈥� says Wahlig.

At the German nationals in Zwickau, Wahlig knew he wouldn鈥檛 stand much of a chance against modern gliders on days with very strong thermals. But competitions are conducted under varying weather conditions, so a day with weak thermals or changing conditions could benefit a lighter plane like his LS-3.

Several challenging flying days played into the gliding champion鈥檚 strategy, and by keeping a cool head and waiting for the best opportunities he was able to maintain consistently good results throughout. Flights can be up to five hours long in the same position 鈥� half sitting and half lying, so he practices yoga to relax between flights. 鈥淭his brings you back to the ground when you are in the air so long,鈥� Wahlig says. The added flexibility in his neck and shoulders also affords him a nearly 360-degree view from the cockpit.

鈥淧reparation, consistency, and simply the avoidance of stupid mistakes are often more important than the plane you are flying,鈥� he says. He鈥檚 convinced that recent competitions have helped him better understand the limits and strengths of his 45-year-old glider. 鈥淚 have a lot of new ideas and have recently made a lot of improvements in the way I fly,鈥� says Wahlig without mentioning any trade secrets.

Wahlig is now preparing for the next competitions to help him defend his No. 1 ranking at the in Australia. There, you can be sure that he will be flying his trusty LS-3 along the fastest route from thermal to thermal. Because for Wahlig, the sky is not the limit.

Salmon, the world鈥檚 second-most consumed fish after tuna, is revered for its rich content of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. The is projected to reach US$46.8 billion by 2026, an increase of over one-third from 2020. But sustainable growth in the industry is dependent on environmental factors, and every salmon鈥檚 journey from hatchery to the table presents multiple challenges for producers.

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Berg understands that the foundation for Nordlaks鈥� long-term success is a healthy ecosystem and attending to the basic needs of the fish. 鈥淭he welfare of the salmon is just as important as for other animals such as sheep and cows,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f the salmon have a good home with enough space to swim, current to swim against, good feed, and rest, their quality and taste will be good.鈥�

Sea Farms: The New Frontier in Aquaculture

Norway鈥檚 fjords may appear plentiful, pristine, and empty to the casual observer, but the truth is that the fjords are approaching their limits for traditional aquaculture. To ensure the salmon thrive while reducing the impact on the ecosystem and surrounding communities, . Aquaculture pods must be isolated from each other to ensure the health of the farmed salmon and other indigenous fish species.

The future of fish farming is therefore moving to the sea, and to this end is creating incentives for companies like Nordlaks to develop sustainable aquaculture solutions for exposed areas off Norway鈥檚 virtually endless coastline. Farming in exposed areas is viewed as the first step towards offshore fish farming.

In 2017, Nordlaks secured a development license to launch a large-scale fish farm capable of withstanding coastal waters. The result is the 385-meter vessel “,” the world鈥檚 second-largest man-made floating structure (after the LNG production plant ) and longer than the . Its six nets hold up to 10,000 tons of salmon, or approximately two million fish. The design combines expertise from Norway鈥檚 maritime and aquaculture industries. To date, Nordlaks has invested nearly 鈧�400 million in offshore farms and related innovations.

Safe and Sustainable Operations with the Help of Digital Twins

To ensure the safety and environmental sustainability of the ocean farm, Nordlaks is also pioneering advanced digital technology.

For example, data from seven GPS sensors installed along the steel hull is fed into an identical mathematical model of the vessel that delivers precise measurements of the structural loads in near real time. This 鈥渄igital twin鈥� of the vessel enables Nordlaks to safely adapt operations to changing ocean conditions, for example during rough seas when the hull must be raised.

鈥淲e have to make sure that we don鈥檛 cause unnecessary strain or stress to the ocean farm when changing ballast to raise and lower the structure,鈥� says Trond J酶rgen Hanssen, ocean farm captain, Nordlaks. 鈥淭he digital twin from 麻豆原创 allows us to prevent unnecessary hogging and sagging of the structure.鈥� Control is critical, because the difference in depth of the hull in the water between the maintenance position and the operational position is 12.5 meters.

The digital twin of the hull, built with the cloud-based solution , also keeps track of the cumulative loads on the structure over time, enabling operators to maximize the useful life of the vessel. 鈥淥ver time we can see which parts of the vessel have experienced the most stress and introduce counter measures to maximize the life of the ocean farm,鈥� says Hanssen. Designers can also use the data to verify their design parameters and optimize future hull designs.

The 麻豆原创 solution also helps Nordlaks constantly monitor the integrity of the 11 anchors that are clustered at a single point under the bow of the vessel and the biological load on the sea floor. 鈥淏ased on GPS data, we can map the areas where most of the feeding took place and concentrate our sample-taking in this area,鈥� says Hanssen.

Fisheries Fuel Regional Growth

Nordlaks鈥� new vision for salmon farming and its investment in the region has already provided a significant boost to the local economy. Over two years, the number of Nordlaks employees in the municipality of Hadsel in the north of the country has increased by over one-quarter to around 700. According to Nordlaks, this is having a ripple effect in business activity and the company hopes it will help attract citizens from other parts of Norway to move to the picturesque region north of the Arctic Circle.

More people are needed, according to Berg, and she sees growth in the industry as an opportunity to make salmon an affordable source of protein for the entire world. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 produce enough salmon today, which drives the price up. If we can produce more, then the price will be stabilized and the whole world will benefit from it,鈥� she says. She is therefore calling for more people to join so salmon farming in the sea will be a global success. 鈥淚f you have a skill, we need you in this industry!鈥� says Berg.

Contributors to this story: Lars Fredrik Martinussen, Thomas Borvik Johnsen, Marit Reiso

The dots, as Sahling refers to them, are the individuals and organizations working tirelessly every day to transport desperately needed medical supplies into Ukraine and fly back vulnerable Ukrainian civilians, often wounded and traumatized, to safe countries in Central Europe.

Ukraine Air Rescue () connects private pilots and other volunteers with physicians, medical centers, pharmacies, and aid organizations to arrange supply flights to Ukraine鈥檚 borders with Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. Over 250 pilots from Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and elsewhere have signed up to help. The volunteers have completed more than 20 humanitarian flights so far.

鈥淥ur aircraft get medical supplies and urgent medicines to the places they鈥檙e needed fast,鈥� says Sahling. 鈥淩equests come to us directly from hospitals and aid organizations in Ukraine and we deliver specifically to them. We also receive confirmation that the goods have arrived safely.鈥�

On their return journeys, the aircrafts transport vulnerable people to safety, including mothers and children, the wounded, and disabled. Volunteers make sure that suitable accommodations are available for the refugees when they arrive at their destination.

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Transporting the Wounded and Vulnerable

An avid pilot, Sahling has flown several missions to airports in Poland since Ukraine Air Rescue was founded and has witnessed the impact of the war on civilians. On May 11, he co-piloted one of three UAR-sponsored planes to Rzesz贸w-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland to deliver medical supplies and pick up a family of four who had recently escaped the besieged city of Mariupol. Sergey, 64, had been buried in rubble when a Russian vacuum bomb destroyed the apartment building he lived in. He lost his wife and nine-year old grandson in the explosion. When rescue workers dug him out, one arm and a leg were crushed. He was rushed to hospitals in Mariupol and then Donetsk, but to save his life, doctors had to remove his right leg. His left arm was broken several times.

On his arrival in Germany, he was met by Semion Iomdin, a volunteer with the humanitarian organization Mrija Bergstrasse in Heppenheim, Germany. The flight reunited nine family members from three generations who are receiving medical attention in Germany. Iomdin thinks Ukraine Air Rescue fills an important need for refugee transport to safe countries. 鈥淭ransport by land to a country like Germany takes up to 20 hours and requires quite a lot of logistics effort,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he flight only takes a few hours, so we contact UAR when we need to transport families that have suffered major injuries or trauma and time-to-treatment is a major factor.鈥�

Ukraine Air Rescue also works with the German-Ukrainian aid association (Blue-Yellow Cross), , and other organizations to supply hospitals in and around Ukraine. For example, a Ukrainian patient lying in a hospital in Ia葯i, Romania, was diagnosed with sepsis but had a high resistance to antibiotics. UAR supported Pharmacists Without Borders by organizing the flight of a concentrated antibiotic from Ireland to Romania, enabling it to be administered to the patient within hours.

麻豆原创 Employees Help Ukraine

Ukraine Air Rescue has united 麻豆原创 colleagues, partners, customers, and others in a common purpose. All bring their own special talents and strengths to the cause and are reinforcing the network into a resilient fabric. 鈥淚 know how important it is to have a wave of people supporting in the background,鈥� Sahling says.

For example, Peter Horsch, who is responsible for the partners in the 麻豆原创 Retail team, heard about UAR from a friend and signed up as a pilot through the website. Sahling got in touch with him, and it turned out that they both work at 麻豆原创. Horsch has flown to Poland three times now. He can transport up to seven people in his Cessna 414. He says: “麻豆原创 is a very altruistic corporation that not only supports financially in times of crisis, for example through the , but also encourages employees to donate their time to charitable organizations.” Through UAR, Horsch experiences many aspects that are also deeply rooted in 麻豆原创’s corporate culture, like solidarity, mutual support, commitment, and the willingness to build bridges: 鈥淓veryone makes a small contribution and gets involved where their strengths lie.”

Other examples include Sahling鈥檚 manager, Andreas Hauke, chief information security officer for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience, who volunteers his expertise to keep the organization鈥檚 website secure. Uliana Caceres, senior developer for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience, helped establish a cooperation between UAR and (Munich helps Ukraine) to send 600 liters of insulin to Lviv. She also helps bridge the language barrier in support of UAR鈥檚 transport logistics. Michal Tabakowski and Pawel Wiacek, 麻豆原创 employees in Poland, volunteer with local NGO (Laboratory of Peace) to organize the logistics for Ukrainian refugees traveling on UAR鈥檚 return flights. And Anouk Vastert from 麻豆原创 in the Netherlands helped by sourcing tourniquets from the U.S. to help save lives in Ukraine.

The Power of Connections

The humanitarian crisis has unleashed the power of personal and professional connections in the tech industry, as people collaborate across companies with single purpose. ServiceNow is supporting the aid organizations Blau Gelbes Kreuz e.V. and UAR with a ServiceNow platform-based application that maps all process steps of the relief operations, developed within only a few weeks. Sascha Wildgrube is a senior technical consultant at ServiceNow. Together with a core team and many supporters, he is developing an application that manages the processes from the requests of the Ukrainian hospitals; to the procurement and dispatch of medical supplies, including transport documents; to the return transport of the passengers in need of help and accommodation in Germany.

“We started immediately and implemented the most important processes,鈥� Wildgrube says. 鈥淥ur goal was to give NGOs a better alternative to email, chats, and spreadsheets for planning and coordination, thus enabling them to carry out their work in a structured, fast and compliant manner.”

He estimates about 200 person-days have already been invested in the application so far, with time donated by ServiceNow and Teiva Systems employees and by paid time allocated by ServiceNow. “It’s just good what we’re doing,鈥� says Wildgrube. 鈥淣ormally, our solutions help companies work efficiently and save costs. This time, we’re using it to help people who have been wounded in war to survive.”

The e-mobility transformation is underway, and chances are good that you are witnessing it on the streets of your own town. More and more consumers are choosing electric-powered transport over the internal combustion engine, and this despite supply chain disruptions due to the ongoing global pandemic.

As battery range improves, charging infrastructure expands, and government incentives gain traction, the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) . According to the Electric Vehicle World Sales Database, in 2021 all regions witnessed strong , with growth rates three to eight times higher than for the overall light-vehicle market. By 2026, , EVs will account for more than half of light vehicles sold globally.

But there are still hurdles to overcome. Case-in-point is a charging infrastructure that is unevenly distributed and cannot keep up with demand. For example, Europe only has around per 100,000 inhabitants, while the U.S. has roughly 37 charge points on the same per-capita basis. This is causing many potential EV converts to take a “wait-and-see” stance until they are assured of a viable charging infrastructure in their area.

The successful transition to e-mobility will therefore require huge and related technologies. Industry experts agree that demand can only be satisfied through a which includes semi-public charging options like privately run charging stations, office and retail parking lots, home garages, and government-provided locations.

麻豆原创 E-Mobility: Intelligent Charging Experience

Establishing a ubiquitous charge-point network is only one side of the coin. Charge-point providers will also need to provide consumers an easy, intelligent, and automated charging experience. Think of the one-click online-shopping experience consumers have become accustomed to and you get the idea. Achieving this level of service requires an intelligent software platform that is interconnected with other mobility-related business tasks and immediately recognizes the charging profile of your vehicle when you register at the charging point.

In September 2021, 麻豆原创 launched 麻豆原创 E-Mobility, a standardized, cloud-based solution that provides a complete package that enables charge point operators to run their business efficiently and profitably.

鈥溌槎乖� E-Mobility is targeted at companies where mobility is the core business, such as logistics companies managing large vehicle fleets or mobility-as-a-service providers such as public transit, municipalities, and private ground transportation,鈥� explains Ulrich Scholl, vice president and chief product manager for 麻豆原创 E-Mobility.

The enterprise-grade capabilities of 麻豆原创 E-Mobility offer integration with other software solutions for expense reimbursement management, analytics, cost management, billing, and invoicing.

Transition to an Emissions-Free Car Fleet by 2030

Since 2009, 麻豆原创 has made sustainability a key pillar of its corporate strategy and annually discloses its own sustainability performance in an . It is only logical, therefore, that 麻豆原创 would use the business software it develops to increase its own operational efficiency. This is exactly what the company is doing with 麻豆原创 E-Mobility.

To make good on its promise to become carbon neutral by 2023, 麻豆原创 is applying the standard solution for its own electric vehicles, which comprise nearly one-fifth of its total fleet of around 27,000 company cars. Battery electric vehicles have been part of the company鈥檚 fleet since 2010, and their share is growing as part of the company鈥檚 transition to an emissions-free fleet by 2030. Coupled with the decision to go 100% electric by latest 2030 is a pledge to employees that the charging infrastructure at its facilities can meet growing demand.

E-Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: Flexibility Is Key

The 麻豆原创 Austria office in Vienna was the company’s first corporate location to implement 麻豆原创 E-Mobility. Currently one-quarter of the 400 company cars at 麻豆原创 Austria are battery electric vehicles, with a significant transition to electric planned in the coming years.

The charging infrastructure is operated by 麻豆原创’s facility management team in Vienna as part of its overall responsibility for asset management. Charging capacity is supplemented by a photovoltaic system that is also connected to the electricity grid.

鈥淔lexibility is key to any enterprise charging concept because employees want to be able to charge their cars at work, public charging points, and private charging points at home,鈥� says Steffen Krautwasser, head of Global Car Fleet at 麻豆原创. “The operation of our charging infrastructure in Austria is based on our strategic adoption road map of 麻豆原创 E-Mobility and marks a critical milestone for adoption at our other locations.”

Strong fluctuations in office use during the pandemic have shown the importance of flexibility. Close coordination between the fleet manager and facilities manager in creating an adaptable strategy is of the utmost importance. 麻豆原创 E-Mobility enables flexible charging at work and supports reimbursement of private charging at home via software for travel and expense management.

Charge-Point Sharing for Sustainable E-Mobility in Cities

Some cities and communities are looking to bridge the current shortage in public charging capacity by opening private charging infrastructure to the public. 鈥淪ince the number of public charging stations is increasing more slowly than demand, it is particularly relevant to open up semi-public charging points to as many users as possible,鈥� says Scholl.

This is where the versatility of 麻豆原创鈥檚 new solution comes through.

鈥溌槎乖� E-Mobility gives us the ability to open up access and billing options to any user, and we can scale the system to new requirements rapidly as required,鈥� says Robert Diglas, head of regional facilities for 麻豆原创 in Austria, Switzerland, Central Europe, and Ukraine. 聽鈥淔or example, the flexible solution will enable us to open up our charging points to customers and business partners if and when we decide to do so.鈥�

But 麻豆原创鈥檚 e-mobility vision extends well beyond the office parking lot. In 2021, the company started a co-innovation project with UnternehmerTUM, the city of Munich, and other partners from the mobility and energy industries. Together, they are developing new concepts based on to improve charge-point coverage in German cities.

The integration of private charge points is just one focus area, according to Scholl. 鈥淲ith 麻豆原创 E-Mobility, we are just beginning to help our customers and partners turn mobility as a service into a reality,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he collaboration with innovative partners and real-life testing by citizens has delivered innovative use cases and thoughtful insights into how sustainable e-mobility, as one mode of urban transportation, can work in the future.鈥�

Customers and partners can experience the 麻豆原创 E-Mobility solution in action at the company鈥檚 in Walldorf, Germany, and Bangalore, India.

The cloud-based solution鈥檚 dashboard provides executives a commanding view of business operations and enables faster decision-making in response to events that, if unrecognized, would imperil company objectives.

鈥淭he release of 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower represents another key milestone on our mission to establish the ‘green line’ alongside the top and bottom lines as key dimensions of performance,鈥� says Gunther Rothermel, head of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Sustainability Management. 鈥淏ased on the power of 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform, the solution provides the necessary agility and flexibility to quickly adapt to evolving and changing requirements without having to write code.鈥�

enables companies to transform into intelligent and sustainable enterprises based on financial as well as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators, allowing them to fully assess global impact both within their operations and across their business networks.

“The very first thing companies need to do on their path of becoming sustainable enterprises is to understand their environmental footprint based on facts and figures,” says Jan Gilg, president of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, 麻豆原创. 鈥淯sing these insights, 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower combines a company鈥檚 critical ESG metrics into one aggregated view, helping leaders take informed decisions to shape a better, sustainable future.鈥�

The Push to Become More Sustainable and Socially Responsible

A number of drivers 鈥� ecological, economic, and societal 鈥� are currently motivating businesses and entire industries to make their operations more sustainable. Companies have taken notice, for example, that investors, shareholders, regulators, and consumers increasingly demand responsibly derived products and services with a smaller environmental footprint.鈥�

In a , the share of sustainability-marketed products grew more than seven times faster than other products, delivering 54.7% of CPG market growth. According to The World Bank, have already been implemented worldwide. A confirmed that younger generations want to work for companies with a purpose beyond profit.

Most recently, the ambitious goals discussed at the (COP26) in Glasgow made it clear that businesses are under growing pressure to accelerate their sustainability efforts in conformance with regulations and that ESG-related KPIs have become part of the 鈥渓icense to operate.鈥�

In a of business professionals who are knowledgeable about their organization鈥檚 sustainability goals, actions, and reporting methods, 17% of respondents believe environmental issues are already materially affecting their companies鈥� finances and operations.

But, as with every new venture, there are challenges. Early adopters seeking a complete picture of their ESG impact struggle with many reporting frameworks and standards. This hinders their ability to produce consistent and comparable investor-focused disclosures, creating a negative impact on global business. The International Federation of Accountants that fragmented financial reporting systems cost the global economy US$780 billion per year.

Embedding Sustainability into Business Processes

麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower addresses fragmented financial reporting head-on by giving companies tools to extend their top- and bottom-line optimizations to the 鈥済reen line,鈥� based on sustainability KPIs. Using a data-driven approach, businesses can now embed sustainability throughout their business and gain actionable insights across the value chain to enable the transition to low-carbon business processes.

鈥淭he insights from combined data provide a continuous view on a company鈥檚 performance that manual processes based on spreadsheets cannot match,鈥� says Rothermel. 鈥淪implified steering, reporting, and performance management meet the requirements of a growing number of legal obligations as well as the emerging sustainability standards.鈥�

Users can drill down into strategic areas within the company and across a business network to make informed decision-making based on financial and pre-financial (ESG) indicators. An optimization can then be made between costs and greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a company鈥檚 chief financial officer could quantify the total impact of a business activity on the environment and society and manage trade-offs based on a comparable monetary currency.

麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower uses the World Economic Forum鈥檚 as a foundation. These can be applied by companies to align reporting on performance against ESG indicators and include non-financial disclosures centered around four pillars: people, planet, prosperity, and principles of governance. The Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics promote alignment among ESG frameworks and create data points that are comparable between companies, regardless of industry or region.

Co-Innovating with Customers and Partners

As part of its co-innovation model, 麻豆原创 has worked closely with numerous customers and partners to test 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower during development to ensure it meets market requirements and is focused on users鈥� needs. Customer feedback is continually used to improve the product and adapt the road map to customer priorities. Partnerships with BCG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC will help reinforce 麻豆原创鈥檚 strong value proposition to its customers on ESG reporting and climate compliance.

麻豆原创 has long been committed to fully integrating sustainability into its strategy and business model, and recently achieved top scores as an ESG leader by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). It is only natural, therefore, for the company to apply 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower in its own operations.

鈥淎t 麻豆原创, we believe in managing business success holistically and have been reporting on our financial, social, and environmental performance in one since 2012,鈥� says Daniel Schmid, 麻豆原创鈥檚 chief sustainability officer. 鈥淲e are excited about being an early adopter of 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower, which will help us further simplify and automate our reporting processes by enabling us to integrate financial and pre-financial data on an ongoing basis. Based on the insights derived from the combined data we can manage and steer the company performance while minimizing manual processes.鈥�

麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower is one of numerous sustainability solutions 麻豆原创 released in 2021. In November, the company introduced 麻豆原创 Responsible Design and Production, a solution for designing products sustainably and transitioning to a circular economy. With 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management, introduced in September, companies can gain visibility into carbon footprint data throughout a product鈥檚 supply chain, enabling intelligent supply chain decisions that improve sustainability KPIs. This product-related carbon footprint data 鈥� collected during production, material sourcing, and transport 鈥� can be used by other solutions, such as .

Bridges in Norway have an excellent safety record, but the nearly 80-year-old Stav氓 bridge along Norway鈥檚 main north-south highway has been a constant cause for concern to NPRA鈥檚 engineers. Like so many older bridges worldwide, the concrete arch bridge was built for less than half the traffic volume and loads experienced today. Even before the April event, trucks were required to cross the bridge at reduced speed in one direction at a time.

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When Sletten arrived at the bridge, he felt the reinforced-concrete structure moving under him.

鈥淚 saw the end of the bridge moving up and down with each truck passing and thought to myself, 鈥楾his doesn鈥檛 look good at all,鈥欌�� Sletten recalled. Realizing that one of the bridge abutments was floating free of its support, Sletten coolly blocked traffic in the northbound lane with his vehicle and called a road crew to manage traffic.

In the meantime, an interim bridge has been put into operation while a new bridge is under construction.

Detect, Understand, and React in a Critical Situation

Sletten was able to react quickly thanks to a solution from 麻豆原创 that combines IoT sensors, digital twin technology, and asset intelligence to deliver insight into bridge behavior in real-time. is a new class of tools that authorities can use to monitor their road assets remotely, plan maintenance, and 鈥� in extreme cases 鈥� predict structural failure.

The average age of Norway鈥檚 5,800 bridges is 36 years, and they undergo routine inspections every five years. The bridges are considered safe, but it was a mixture of intelligent foresight and good fortune on NPRA鈥檚 part that the Stav氓 bridge was being used to test a new real-time monitoring and prediction system using digital twin technology.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to think about what might have happened if we didn鈥檛 have this instrumentation on the bridge,鈥� said Trond Michael Andersen, director of Technology, division for Operation and Maintenance, NPRA. 鈥淚t gave us a lot of insight into the integrity of the bridge and enabled us to detect, understand, and react in a critical situation.鈥�

Much of the wear and tear on bridges is not visible to the human eye. But the latest digital twin technology can recognize stresses before they result in damage to a structure.

鈥淲ith the cloud solution from 麻豆原创, NPRA can react immediately to abnormal behavior and also localize the problem at an early stage in development in locations where engineers cannot inspect visually,鈥� said Marit Reiso, senior project manager for 麻豆原创 Enterprise Product Development. 鈥淭his has added benefits, because during routine inspections traffic has to be stopped to look at the entire bridge, and structural problems may not be recognized during non-operational conditions.鈥�

It is important to note that later discovery of the Stav氓 bridge鈥檚 defect would not have resulted in a collapse, but it likely would have resulted in greater damage and required shutdown of the structure and blockage of one of the country鈥檚 most important north-south transit routes. As NPRA鈥檚 Andersen puts it, 鈥淏ridges are not only important because they shorten travel times. They are critical for healthcare services and disaster relief efforts that save lives.鈥� An example of the potential impact on transport is exemplified by the

The clock is ticking on millions of aging bridges around the world. In the U.S. alone, are also sounding the alarm that without proper monitoring and maintenance, more bridge failures like that of the , Italy, can be expected.

The as the expanding development in BRIC countries and other growth markets increase the use of roadways.

More Digital, Intelligent, and Automated Roads

Andersen recognizes the advantages of technology for keeping Norway鈥檚 roads open and safe. Being a rugged country of islands, peninsulas, and mountains, it has a complex network of 94,000 kilometers of road connected by bridges and tunnels 鈥� many of them in remote terrain. NPRA will soon introduce an asset management system for inspection, monitoring, and repair.

鈥淭he roads are becoming more digital, intelligent, and automated and the requirements for an asset management system to manage all of the data will only increase. We expect this system to help us become more predictive,鈥� says Andersen. The introduction of an asset management system for a national road system is no simple task, but Andersen takes the long-term view, because he knows that technological change across NPRA must be accompanied by a cultural change.

鈥淲e have to adapt best practices and take the lessons learned from other asset-intensive industries to develop our organization, our tools, our methods, and we are integrating all of these aspects,鈥� he says.

As he puts it, technology and data are 鈥減art of a large formula鈥� to achieve the needed result: 鈥淲e are in the middle of this process and it requires a big effort, but we will get there.鈥�

麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management enables companies to lower their carbon emissions, make their products more sustainable, and disclose their products鈥� environmental footprints to regulators. The product launch underpins to deliver products and services that address the sustainability challenges and opportunities of its customers.

Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE, responsible for Product Engineering, explained the urgency for applications like 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management: 鈥淐ustomers want it, the world needs it. There is no time to waste for businesses to act more responsibly and sustainably. Sustainability goals are increasingly as important to business success as financial goals.鈥�

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By integrating emissions data across all solutions that govern production processes with master data from business applications such as 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management can calculate the environmental impact of various production scenarios.

鈥淲hen companies embed emissions data into underlying business processes, leaders can drive real change by making conscious decisions across the entire value chain,鈥� Saueressig said, noting that 麻豆原创 is uniquely positioned to drive this change throughout collaborative, intelligent, and sustainable business networks.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Commitment to Sustainability

麻豆原创 has been leading by example in sustainable business practices for more than a decade. In addition to being named the software industry leader in the聽Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 14 consecutive years, 麻豆原创鈥檚 membership in the Value Balancing Alliance and use of the annual illustrates our commitment to integrating economic, environmental, and social performance to drive business decisions.

鈥溌槎乖� has long had a strong, dedicated focus on its own sustainability operations,鈥� said Marta Mu帽oz, senior research director and lead, Technology & Sustainability Practice, IDC EME. “The launch of the 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management solution, combined with the , represents a unique opportunity to bring together companies to jointly drive decarbonization across value chains and industries.”

Interview with Gunther Rothermel and Anita Varshney

Gunther Rothermel is senior vice president and head of Sustainability for 麻豆原创 S/4HANA. Anita Varshney is global vice president of Strategy for Sustainability for 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and oversees the product strategy and global partner ecosystem across 麻豆原创鈥檚 sustainability portfolio.

Q: What鈥檚 the significance of this product launch for 麻豆原创?

Rothermel: All of us can see climate change impacting not only our customer鈥檚 operations, but also our own personal lives. 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management is an incredibly important milestone along our path to help customers systematically monitor and control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their end-end business processes. To support their decarbonization journey, the solution delivers data transparency on their environmental footprint and enables them to make more informed decisions in real time.

The potential impact cannot be overstated. Boston Consulting Group analyzed the and found that around 40% of GHG can be eliminated with measures that bring cost savings or are at costs of less than 鈧�10 per ton of CO₂ equivalent. Just imagine what we and our customers can achieve together.

Competition for sustainability management software is heating up. How is 麻豆原创 differentiating itself?

Varshney: A number of new technologies are emerging to facilitate the identification, tracking, trade and offset of GHG emissions, and established players and as well as newer, small vendors are coming out with innovative solutions applying leading technology to solve complex problems. As long as we stay focused on our core business capabilities and deliver innovations on top of 麻豆原创 Business Technology (麻豆原创 BTP) platform, we can position ourselves as a front runner in solving environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues at scale. We can differentiate ourselves from the competition in three ways:

• Differentiated impact of our product offerings: With our portfolio, we will enable organizations to assess and reduce their carbon footprint, increase resource productivity through circular processes, and run safer, sustainable business processes while providing industry-specific insights that combine operational and financial data across value chains.
• Deep process integration: By embedding sustainability data into end-end business processes across value chains, we can help our customers adapt their key business processes to be more sustainable.
• Co-innovation with ecosystem partners: In close collaboration with our partners, customers, market makers, and standard bodies, we will jointly shape and accelerate innovations for the future sustainability landscape, which enables and drives new redefined business process models.

What鈥檚 the role of 麻豆原创 BTP? How can our customers use these cloud services?

Rothermel: 麻豆原创 BTP plays a very important enabling role for us. We are building our new sustainability solutions along cloud engineering principles, based on open, flexible architecture on top of 麻豆原创 BTP. We are also making full use of key additional platform capabilities.

For instance, we are closely working with the 麻豆原创 BTP team to build 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud and 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud content for our upcoming solution 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower. We are also following an 鈥楢PI-first鈥� approach for our new services, helping our partners more easily adapt and integrate their own solutions on top of the foundation that we deliver from 麻豆原创. This enables us to jointly address most critical use cases in different industries, enabling our customer to manage their environmental, societal, and planetary impact.

What鈥檚 our future road map and our vision to support our customers as they transition to become sustainable enterprises?

Varshney: During their life cycle, products move from material acquisition and pre-processing to production and storage, and finally, downstream to distribution, delivery, use, and end-of-life. 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management enables transparency regarding environmental footprints across this full product life cycle. For this, we are taking a holistic approach and are now also embedding emissions data into our other products like 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning, 麻豆原创 Ariba and others.

Two more products will be announced soon: 麻豆原创 Responsible Design and Production and 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower. With 麻豆原创 Responsible Design and Production, we empower businesses to eliminate waste and support compliance to extended producer responsibility schemes. This will allow them to manage their limited resources productively throughout their life cycle. With 麻豆原创 Sustainability Control Tower, we enable our customers to improve performance and long-term valuation by embedding sustainability metrics and insights into core business processes.

What was the most challenging aspect of the project?

Rothermel: There is a lot of time pressure given the urgency the topic has for 麻豆原创, the industry, and society overall. I am extremely proud of what my team has accomplished in a very short time window. Although the team was only set-up in the fourth quarter of last year, we delivered on our promised innovations on time despite the restraints of COVID-19. With the sustainability management program, colleagues came together and each has played a significant role in shaping this product, the first significant innovation focused on the vision of a sustainable intelligent enterprise for our customers.

In the role, Franc will prioritize building upon the foundation laid over the past year in California and further unite the research and development teams across the U.S.

鈥淚 think it is about really engaging deeply with employees and understanding what drives them both inside and outside of their careers,鈥� she says.

Franc鈥檚 career at 麻豆原创 began almost two decades ago on the Corporate Strategy team. After leaving to gain further experience in the tech industry in Silicon Valley, she returned to 麻豆原创 in 2014, assuming leadership roles across development, design, and sales.

鈥淪he brings a strong strategic perspective on the market, an operator鈥檚 mindset, and a fierce dedication to this company, its employees, and our customers,鈥� 麻豆原创 Executive BOard Members Thomas Saueressig and Juergen Mueller shared in an e-mail to the 麻豆原创 development community.

Most recently, Franc held the role of chief operating officer (COO) for 麻豆原创 Labs in California, where she focused on motivating and connect people across different functional areas.

鈥淭his role really prepared Anamarie for her new position as managing director for 麻豆原创 Labs U.S.,鈥� says Clas Neumann, head of 麻豆原创 Labs Network. 鈥淎ll those years of experience and the different roles she held helped her become an empathic and authentic leader paired with customer centricity in everything she does.鈥�

Tapping into the Power of the Region

Innovation at 麻豆原创 happens everywhere, reflecting the success of the of 20 development centers across 17 countries. However, the San Francisco Bay Area remains the densest hub of enterprise software innovation in the world and acts as a magnet for the most sought-after engineering talent. Through her experience working with enterprise technology and software as a service (SaaS) companies, Franc understands the strong influence Silicon Valley鈥檚 ecosystem of innovation has on the technology decisions made by global companies, particularly those based in the U.S.

鈥淪ome of our most innovative customers are based here, adopting the latest technologies and pushing the envelope the furthest from a market perspective,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you can win in the U.S. market, you’re primed to win in any market around the world, both as a line of business and as a company.鈥�

Cloud Mindset as Basis for Customer-Centricity

The U.S., particularly the West Coast, is home to many of the world鈥檚 leading cloud application companies along with 麻豆原创鈥檚 major acquisitions in the cloud that maintain a presence within the region — Sybase, Ariba, SuccessFactors, Concur, Callidus Cloud, Gigya, and Qualtrics. Development teams in the Bay Area are spearheading cloud-based application development and cloud-native best practices for the 麻豆原创 development community. Franc says this is expected to remain the case for the foreseeable future.

Developing for customers with a cloud mindset is a clear priority for the new managing director; she is committed to ensuring the dots are connected from the end user to deep in the development organization. 鈥淭o me it鈥檚 simple, but certainly not easy,” Franc says. “We need to understand our customers鈥� goals and what will make them successful and extend that understanding directly into every role and every function within the organization.”

The Value of Education and Mentorship

Franc is passionate about recruiting and developing young talents and has been instrumental in growing the program, an 18-month early talent rotation started on the West Coast. Under her leadership, the program tripled in size and now receives up to 12,000 applications. 麻豆原创 Next Talent has developed into a high-performing, diverse, and inclusive program, with 50% women and 10% of participants from non-traditional backgrounds. At the conclusion of the program, 90% are hired as full-time employees.

Achieving a truly inclusive workplace is especially important to Franc. As the daughter of a first-generation Mexican American father, she saw firsthand the obstacles he faced and was motivated by the thirst for education that he instilled in her. Franc sees her diverse background, both personally and professionally, as a strength that allows her to evaluate situations from multiple perspectives and build bridges among employees.

Bringing Out the Best in Employees

As COO for 麻豆原创 Labs in California, Franc orchestrated the launch of a new future of work pilot program that puts 麻豆原创鈥檚 new Pledge to Flex work model into practice. The seven-week program currently underway at the Palo Alto campus draws from the collective wisdom of employees to gather feedback on hybrid working arrangements.

鈥淏ringing out the best in our 4,500 employees in ways that helps them achieve great results leads to successful teams and happy customers,鈥� she says. Franc emphasizes the critical role played by company leaders in supporting a new balance between home and office.

But the race to 鈥渘et zero鈥� for the automobile industry is still in the first lap, and the route promises to be long and arduous. Greenhouse gas emissions from the industry account for more than 9% of global emissions 鈥� equaling those of the entire European Union. To achieve their individual sustainability targets, companies are dependent on each other for reliable and verifiable data.

Decarbonization Is All About the Data

Becoming carbon neutral requires managing the carbon footprint of individual products in the supply chain, and to achieve this companies need transparency into the carbon footprints of their upstream suppliers 鈥� referred to as . The problem is that only 21% of business executives are satisfied with the quality of their environmental data, according to a global research study from 麻豆原创.

But more accurate carbon footprint data is on the way. 鈥淯ntil now, companies have been using averages to calculate carbon footprint at a product level because there鈥檚 been a lack of accurate, granular emissions data and no consistent methodology,鈥� said John Revess, director Net Zero Transformation at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). 鈥淭o remain a part of global supply chains, it will be necessary for companies to accurately calculate the carbon footprint of their products based on measured values,鈥� predicted Revess. As a member of WBCSD, 麻豆原创 and other companies are defining a for the exchange of carbon emissions data.

鈥淭o meet our decarbonization goals, we depend on credible data from our suppliers on the carbon footprints of the components we build our vehicles with,鈥� said Ralf Pfitzner, global head of Sustainability at Volkswagen, at the .

The two-day online meeting focused on how companies are applying new technologies to reduce their environmental footprint and manage limited resources. 鈥淲e decided to join 麻豆原创 in the co-innovation of a digital carbon tracking tool and database, and this is really exciting because there is obviously a demand,鈥� said Pfitzner.

Volkswagen and 麻豆原创 are working together toward decarbonization in other ways. In 2020, their CEOs Herbert Diess and Christian Klein joined the . The Alliance鈥檚 10 European business leaders have committed 100 billion to decarbonizing their companies and products and are calling for far-reaching climate protection measures.

Massive Investments Necessary in Electrification and Digitalization

VW is to help put its decarbonization challenges in the rear-view mirror. The underlying reasons for companies鈥� investments in environmental issues varies, spanning industry regulations (29%) to society鈥檚 approval of their organization (27%) and strengthening company reputation (26%). Uncertainty as to how to embed sustainability into business processes and IT systems is seen as the greatest barrier to implementing plans for action, one study concludes.

Despite the challenges, VW鈥檚 Pfitzner is optimistic about achieving the company鈥檚 decarbonization targets. VW鈥檚 head of sustainability expects digitalization to play a major role in this transformation. 鈥淏eyond green electricity, there are plenty of opportunities where digitalization will help us reduce our carbon footprint, for example by hooking the manufacturing data into the cloud and having more efficient programming of robots,鈥� he said.

Pfitzner reiterated along the entire lifecycle of its cars, emphasizing the need for intermediate milestones. 鈥淭he coming decades will be essential for the transformation of transport and the car industry. By 2030, we intend to reduce the lifecycle carbon footprint of our passenger car portfolio by 30% compared to 2018,鈥� said Pfitzner.

No Carbon Neutrality in Isolation

Although nearly two-thirds of the global economy is covered by net zero targets, achieving them will require systems thinking and collaborative action among businesses of a type and scale that has never been done before, , partner, Deloitte UK. 鈥淭he proof will be in the implementation,鈥� she predicted.

鈥淣o business or country can become net zero in isolation,鈥� said Routh. 鈥淲hether you are looking at energy supply, transportation, infrastructure, government, or communities, they all need to act in a coordinated way.鈥�

One of the biggest challenges for companies, says Routh, is embedding climate transformation into their business strategies and decision-making processes. This requires data transparency, she emphasizes, noting that there is no shortage of data, but the quality and usability of the data must be ensured.

Nicolas Peter, BMW鈥檚 chief financial officer, agrees. 鈥淒igitalization helps in a significant way to increase data quality, and, from an auditor鈥檚 perspective, data quality is key in order to perform his responsibility in the audit process,鈥� he said at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Sustainability Summit. Peter left no doubts that BMW is counting on new technologies to help it : 鈥淭he trend to sustainability has to be accompanied by digitalization. There is no alternative,鈥� said Peter.

Digitalization Supports Decarbonization

鈥淐EOs need transparency into their supply chains,鈥� said Thomas Saueressig, head of Product Engineering and member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE. 鈥淭hrough its strategic initiative , 麻豆原创 is launching new solutions that help customers reduce their emissions and manage their carbon footprint.鈥�

A new integrated set of solutions announced at the 麻豆原创 Sustainability Summit includes 麻豆原创 Product Footprint Management, which treats greenhouse gases like a 鈥榗urrency鈥� in the value chain. 鈥淥ur sustainability management solutions enable companies not only to optimize their production facilities according to top line and bottom line, but also according to greenhouse gas emissions,鈥� said Saueressig. As part of several joint sustainability initiatives with Accenture, 麻豆原创 and Accenture are working聽to develop new 麻豆原创 solutions that address sustainability and enhance existing core technologies.

The Need for Speed

Setting data quality issues aside, the most important factor for transforming businesses to net-zero is speed, said Deloitte’s Routh. 鈥淚 think the world can master this, but my concern is whether it can do it quickly enough. The businesses that are going to succeed are the ones that understand and embrace the urgency.鈥�

The challenge this presents is huge, but so are the rewards. In Europe alone, .

Change in the Air

SMEs have compared with large corporations. But change is in the air. 麻豆原创ure to act is as large companies pass their requirements on to suppliers.

BMW is a case in point. In July 2020, the German auto group of well over 10,000 suppliers, with the goal of reducing emissions per vehicle produced by at least one-third. The company uses carbon footprint as a criterion for awarding contracts for everything from materials and components to production equipment and tools. 鈥淥ur aim is to ensure the most sustainable supply chain in the entire industry,鈥� says Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board of Management at BMW.

BMW鈥檚 German competitor Mercedes-Benz announced that more than 75% of its suppliers are committed to supplying CO鈧�-neutral parts to help it achieve its 2039 ambition of CO鈧� neutrality.

Other examples of large enterprises that are working with their suppliers to reduce carbon footprint include and . Nearly half of CEOs at large companies are targeting sustainability in their business operations, according to the .

But it is not only the supply chain leaders that are adding climate action to their corporate policies. Increasingly investors, shareholders, consumers, and employees are looking to business to adopt ambitious climate-related targets. Countries, cities, states, and provinces are also adding to the pressure. Over or are planned worldwide. National and international regulations may soon require to be provided on product labels and descriptions.

Open Questions Without Adequate Answers

Matthias Weigold is familiar with the complex world in which SMEs currently find themselves. The director of the Institute for Production Management, Technology, and Machine Tools (PTW) at the Technical University Darmstadt is partnering with German manufacturers to test scenarios for energy efficiency and flexibility in manufacturing processes based on the availability of renewable energy sources.

鈥淢any SMEs hear their primary customers saying, 鈥楧o something about your carbon footprint and do it fast.鈥� They are faced with a mountain of open questions without adequate answers,鈥� he explains. 鈥淪MEs also know that if they react too slowly and without the necessary level of detail, they could lose their most valuable customers.鈥�

To satisfy the demands of their customers for low-carbon production, SMEs will increasingly need to adapt their manufacturing operations to the pricing fluctuations associated with the energy mix of fossil and renewable energy. The scenarios are no longer hypothetical, according to Weigold: 鈥淓xceptionally led wholesale electricity prices to go negative in Germany.鈥�

Complicating the situation are the myriad national policies and timelines worldwide, says Weigold, who provides an example. 鈥淥ver 80% of the machine tools made in Germany are exported, with the lion鈥檚 share going to manufacturers in China. Now that , German SMEs are unsure how they should react.鈥�

At the which makes it possible to test various production scenarios under real-world conditions, 麻豆原创 and PTW are modeling enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to the manufacturing environment.

鈥淏y bringing two worlds together — the business software layer and the operational layer — we can influence the efficiency and flexibility of manufacturing processes,鈥� Weigold says, adding that it is the first project of its type worldwide.

Turning Climate Action into a Competitive Advantage

麻豆原创 expects the cooperation with PTW to help it refine its new software package that enables CO₂ accounting for SMEs over the entire supply chain. The solution makes it possible for companies to manage the CO₂ footprint for each product by combining their existing ERP system — for example, 麻豆原创 Business One or 麻豆原创 Business ByDesign — with an energy flow model for the process. 麻豆原创 partners worldwide will be responsible for applying the solution to customers鈥� individual and industry needs.

that SMEs are prepared to manage their carbon emissions if they have the necessary support and tools. The recently launched is a brokerage for such resources. With a growing number of members, the hub could serve as a vital part of the implementation of ambitious corporate climate action.

Emissions are typically divided into three categories, or . The main targets of 麻豆原创 Business Ecology Management are the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of SMEs, which directly impact the upstream Scope 3 emissions of their customers.

鈥淪upply chains make up the part of the carbon footprint, which are not under direct influence of a company, but have the highest reduction potential because they give organizations insight into the hot spots in their supply chain,鈥� says Jochen Mayerle, business process architect, 麻豆原创.

Mayerle emphasizes that the new product is designed to be easy to use and its implementation does not require the hiring of an expert in sustainability. Niels Hermansen, founder of the Danish 麻豆原创 partner BitPeople A/S, based in Denmark, agrees. 鈥淚 like that 麻豆原创 has taken the initiative in this area,鈥� Hermansen says. “It understands that SMEs have the same requirements as big companies, but do not have the same resources.”

麻豆原创 Business Ecology Management is currently being testing by numerous customers and is planned for launch the third quarter of 2021.

Sandra Thiel, Agile expert, and Chris Horak, global vice president of Solution Marketing, contributed to this story.

Considering around 12% of global trade runs through Suez, it is not surprising that the impact is being felt even before the recently stranded ships reach their final destinations. The expectation of delays and shortages .

The pandemic has made us aware of 麻豆原创鈥檚 leadership role in making supply chains resilient and sustainable. Lesser known, however, is that nine of the 10 largest shipping companies run 麻豆原创 solutions.

Based on this collective expertise, we asked Sabine Hamlescher, chief product owner of 麻豆原创 Logistics Business Network, and Till Dengel, head of Digital Logistics Solution Management, about the current challenges for shipping companies and how 麻豆原创 solutions are helping supply chains become more resilient.

What crossed your mind when you saw the container ship blocking a major commercial waterway?

Dengel: It makes clear how interconnected everything is and shows the importance of logistics resiliency to global trade. Even before the Suez Canal incident, we had a shortage of containers and congestion in commercial ports triggered by the pandemic. This just adds to the pressure on global commerce. Supply chain management has been focused so much on driving efficiency that there is almost no room for failure. Goods like chemicals and automobile parts supplied from China have delivery windows of only a few days. A production stop when a slot is missed is costly for everyone.

Hamlescher: A man-made disaster turned the world鈥檚 largest ships into floating warehouses, and even the shipping companies sometimes don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 in the containers. I can imagine some CEOs are getting very nervous not knowing if their goods are aboard, let alone when they will arrive at their destination. The fact is, there鈥檚 not yet enough transparency in the logistics and transportation industry to find out. But 麻豆原创 has the solutions.

How involved is 麻豆原创 in serving global logistics customers?

Dengel: As the market leader in digital logistics, we are deeply immersed in supply chains across all major industries. There are more than 1,000 customers using our transportation solution, and several thousand across the logistics space, including warehousing. We manage the supply chains for many leading companies in many sectors, including consumer products, chemicals, and fashion — and I鈥檇 bet that many of them are nervously waiting for goods aboard those ships. In addition, we also serve the liner shipping side, supporting ocean freight operations for some of the largest shipping companies in the world.

Last year was the best year ever for our . We continue to see a strong focus from customers in solutions for solving routing and scheduling problems and for improving logistics visibility, like .

How are 麻豆原创 solutions able to support the industry during a crisis like this?

Hamlescher: We have been approached by many customers for a solution to address exactly the kind of problem this event triggered. In the coming weeks we will announce new intelligent insights capabilities as part of 麻豆原创 Logistics Business Network, which helps companies gain insight into all current shipments and how they are likely to be impacted by interruptions like the one playing out. Customers currently testing the beta release like that they can determine if there is an impact and then choose alternatives based on which parts of their business are affected.

The Ever Given is maneuverable again. Everything is going to be fine, right?

Dengel: Not by a long shot. The queue of hundreds of ships waiting to enter the canal will be reformed at major container ports like Rotterdam and Hamburg. Once they are unloaded, a mad scramble will ensue to transport the containers to their final destinations.

There are two dimensions to this 鈥� transportation planning and empty container repositioning. can help rescheduling of transport from the port to the final destination. Since everyone is trying to find a trucking company that can deliver the containers, there is also a freight collaboration capability enabling customers to tap into the spot market to find a carrier in times like this of extreme scarcity. Take, for example, our partnership with , which is like Uber for the freight industry in Europe and is connected into 麻豆原创 Logistics Business Network.

The other constraint is empty-container repositioning, because there will most likely be an imbalance between Europe and China for a while. can help reestablish stability in an optimal way.

What is 麻豆原创鈥檚 next move in logistics and freight?

Hamlescher: We continue to foster partnerships technology to provide real-time visibility into supply chains. Paired with supply chain risk and operational data, we create a powerful data layer to help logistics professionals assess the impact and react to disruptions like the one we just witnessed.

Dengel: Over the past 20 years, it鈥檚 been all about efficiency and squeezing out the last cent in cost, but now the vulnerabilities have been laid bare and it is most certainly leading to a change of thinking leading to even stronger digitalization efforts. With the new offering, we provide every customer access to 麻豆原创 Logistics Business Network. Together with our ecosystem of partners we also created solution packages enabling customers to move from analog paper-based transportation management to a digital solution in 90 days.

Does the Ever Given incident have a message for us?

Dengel: Everything that we put into place during the COVID-19 crisis can be applied to this short-term incident. In 2020 we refocused our solutions and messaging, appealing to companies to prepare for the next crisis by making their supply chains more resilient, more digital, and more transparent. The same message applies to man-made disasters like this one.

Hamlescher: Despite the negative impact this is having on the global economy, it is a confirmation that we at 麻豆原创 are working on the right topics to deliver solutions that our customers need. We have a great opportunity to help companies better navigate natural and man-made impacts to global supply chains.

Back then there was very little reason to look back. , but through government initiatives and entrepreneurial spirit, .

Since 2015, Li has maintained orchards full of blooming dragon fruit plants, one of . An annual yield nearly 30,000 kilograms per acre has helped earn Li the honor of 鈥渢op return entrepreneur鈥� in Sichuan in 2020.

Supported by 麻豆原创, he is now learning to apply new technologies in combination with trickle irrigation to achieve even greater yields at less cost.

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Li Jie鈥檚 story is an integral part of China鈥檚 transformation to economic superpower and its negative impact on rural areas. Four decades of strong growth and increases in per capita income have and improved food security, nutrition, and human development.

But there has been a palpable drain on rural towns, whose populations are projected to drop from 40% of China鈥檚 total population today to 31% by 2030. If not checked, this trend is predicted to have a , according to Matteo Marchisio, head of East Asia Regional Hub at the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Urban-Rural Divide Is Global

The worldwide exodus from rural areas to cities is not new and it is not limited to China. The world鈥檚 rural citizens currently but bear a disproportionate burden of poverty, malnutrition, and poor quality of life. This is why to make rural areas more attractive to young people.

Rebalancing initiatives, referred to as 鈥渞ural revitalization,鈥� are essential to achieving sustainable living conditions for all, concluded a . 鈥淧olicies, institutions, and investments that take advantage of new opportunities and technologies, increase access to basic services, create more and better rural jobs, foster gender equality, and restore the environment can make rural areas vibrant and healthy places to live and work,鈥� the report stated.

麻豆原创 Introduces The Leader Plan

Dragon fruit farmer Li Jie is at the forefront of an emerging trend in China, as more and more young people are attracted by government-sponsored incentives to move back to their rural communities and start new livelihoods as farmers. According to China鈥檚 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 7.5 million young people returned to rural areas in 2019.

Since 2017, 麻豆原创 has been supporting China鈥檚 鈥渞ural renaissance鈥� by providing digital skills training and mentorship to these returning workers. Under the title 鈥淭he Leader Plan,鈥� 麻豆原创 partnered in 2019 with , , and to launch the new initiative. 麻豆原创 provides funding and volunteer expertise to develop learning courses that are delivered online. By 2023, 麻豆原创 aims to train 50,000 rural entrepreneurs across 30 provinces.

After moving back to his village, Li took online courses which focused on the industrialization and commercialization of agriculture. With his new knowledge and skills, Li plans to build intelligent greenhouses and manage the temperature in them automatically.

Now in its third year, online courses have reached more than 43,000 learners. 麻豆原创 has also supported Tsinghua University in conducting an 鈥淓lite Camp鈥� courses and mentoring for entrepreneurs. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had great impact with The Leader Plan, and I look forward to more success in the future,鈥� said Mark Gibbs, president 麻豆原创 Greater China.

Next Steps for The Leader Plan

In the future, 麻豆原创 in China will explore how digital farming technology and information systems can help agricultural productivity in rural China. This includes the use of e-commerce, Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics and other technologies that support the entrepreneurs鈥� ambitions of improved productivity and commercialization. Employee volunteers will contribute their expertise to the program, and other opportunities such as the program will be explored to train rural entrepreneurs with the skills they need to grow their businesses sustainably.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, CureVac immediately applied the its founder, Ingmar Hoerr, had , to develop a vaccine candidate. Currently in the process of completing its late-stage clinical trials, the company expects approval to produce and distribute its vaccine in the second quarter of this year. are already in circulation.

Ramping Up Operations in All Areas

CureVac therefore needs to rapidly transition from research and lab-scale producer to large-scale manufacturer. CEO Dr. Franz-Werner Haas the goal of producing 300 million doses by the end of this year and 600 million in 2022.

Pierre Kemula, chief financial officer of CureVac, described the challenge ahead: 鈥淭o get ready, we have to ramp up our operations in all areas, including manufacturing, procurement and supply chain, quality management, business planning, and analytics 鈥� but also administrative functions like human resources and finance.鈥�

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Video by Tilman Goettke and Klaus Boeckle

To scale up rapidly, CureVac is working with partners. In January, the company entered a German multinational pharmaceutical group Bayer to draw on its expertise and infrastructure. Then in February, CureVac announced a , building on their existing relationship to jointly develop next-generation mRNA vaccines to address multiple emerging variants.

By with experienced contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), CureVac will tap into expertise and capacity across Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Austria, as well as potentially Sweden, Poland, Italy, and Ireland. CureVac is also building a at its headquarters in T眉bingen, to go into operation in 2022.

Although mRNA vaccines are not a new concept, the pandemic marks the first time they have been authorized for use outside of clinical trials. The resulting surge in demand has been the source of some hiccups in the supply chain. A shortage of messenger RNA is not expected, but there is , according to Scientific American.

One of the limiting factors in vaccine production currently are lipid nanoparticles (LNP), the material needed to encapsulate and protect the messenger RNA, which are very sensitive and require rare special expertise to produce, explained Dr. Oliver N眉rnberg, chief product owner for 麻豆原创 Life Sciences at 麻豆原创.

Moving the Needle: CureVac Entrusts 麻豆原创 with its Business Transformation

A business transformation of this magnitude with peak demand and supply chain challenges from the outset requires a highly adaptable, integrated, and intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. To achieve the desired scale quickly, CureVac will focus on developing and producing vaccines, while relying on for its business and operations.

鈥淲e need a partner like 麻豆原创 to define and implement the business processes to tackle this incredible growth,鈥� Kemula confirmed. CureVac leaders have teamed up with 麻豆原创 to introduce cloud-based solutions for procurement, manufacturing, quality management, and supply chain processes to a global scale.

Since most of CureVac鈥檚 partners, suppliers, and customers already run 麻豆原创, CureVac鈥檚 CFO is convinced the collaboration, sharing of digitized data or interoperability of manufacturing and supply chain systems will be much easier. 鈥溌槎乖� solutions also support CureVac鈥檚 GxP compliance, which is a key requirement for all biopharmaceutical companies. This a must-have for us,鈥� he said.

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A Supply Chain Challenge of New Proportions

The pharmaceuticals industry is no different. Numerous pharma research and development companies have created and tested vaccines at record speed. Now they are facing the next challenge. To get the pandemic under control, about 7.6 billion earthlings need a shot 鈥� or two 鈥� in the arm that can come none too soon as the virus mutates and becomes more and more virulent. The demand is without precedent, stretching the supply chains of the companies that produce COVID-19 vaccines to their limits.

Supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry are complex and haven鈥檛 always been the most robust, according to Bruce Y. Lee, professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. The reason, according to Lee, was often , leading to major bottlenecks and the discarding of many vaccine doses.

But the world鈥檚 vaccine producers are not starting from zero. Data-heavy industries like pharmaceuticals have matured, and many of the global players have digitalized their production to achieve production scale and flexibility.

Major Vaccine Producers Overwhelmingly Run 麻豆原创

Today, 18 of the world鈥檚 20 major vaccine producers are already running their production on 麻豆原创 solutions that cover the end-to-end process from manufacturing to controlled distribution to administration and post-vaccine monitoring. One of those producers is German vaccine manufacturer CureVac, whose COVID-19 vaccine is currently in the testing phase. 鈥淲e need 麻豆原创 to manufacture and distribute our vaccine on a global scale,鈥� says Pierre Kemula, CFO at CureVac.

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Another producer, , which began shipping its COVID-19 vaccine in January, is relying on 麻豆原创 to help distribute hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. The company is running digital supply chain solutions from 麻豆原创 to help with serialization and distribution. is helping Moderna to comply with international legislation intended to prevent counterfeit drugs from reaching patients. The application provides a corporate serialization repository, serial number management, and regulatory reporting capabilities. To work with its supply chain partners, namely contract manufacturers and wholesalers like , Moderna leverages聽麻豆原创 Information Collaboration Hub for Life Sciences, a public cloud network that enables collaboration for pharmaceutical supply chain trading partners. In the U.S. alone, the hub is already processing more than 70 percent of drug volume for verification.

, and聽Pfizer, all pharmaceutical companies working on COVID-19 vaccines. Here are just a few examples:

• is managed with 麻豆原创 software, enabling the company to leverage the data it collects and develop insights from that information to improve operations. GSK also uses 麻豆原创 Ariba to help procure the raw materials that make up its vaccine formulas.
• to oversee its manufacturing equipment and help managers predict when machines require maintenance. This has resulted in a six to eight percent increase in worker efficiency, according to Michael Zboray, lead business analyst at AstraZeneca.
• to help standardize and harmonize processes, support the development of standard solutions, and improve efficiency.

Vaccines Require a Supply Chain with Speed, Transparency, and Flexibility

Once a producer has finalized its immunization formula, reliable production and logistics are the next hurdle. But the distribution and administration of vaccines at the scale of COVID-19 is a monumental challenge. There is much at stake because disruptions in the supply chain can prevent the delivery of the vaccine and negatively impact public trust. Delays are paid for with human lives and push out the prospect of herd immunity. Reacting quickly to unexpected interruptions is key and is only possible if the entire supply chain, from procurement to production and delivery, is managed end-to-end.

According to Dr. Oliver N眉rnberg, chief product owner of 麻豆原创 for Life Sciences at 麻豆原创, three characteristics differentiate the COVID-19 supply chain from a typical pharmaceutical supply chain and make tight coordination a must.

First, the temperature of most vaccines needs to be closely controlled, generally between 2掳 and 8掳 Celsius or frozen at temperatures within the range of a standard freezer. The temperature of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, however, must be held at minus 70掳 Celsius, which requires special handling along its entire distribution route to the vaccination centers. 鈥淩eal-time temperature monitoring is a huge asset here and allows the producer to react quickly if any vaccine has spoiled during shipping,鈥� says N眉rnberg.

Second, because the demand for the vaccines will be greater than the supply for quite some time, the supply chain for COVID-19 operates in 鈥減ush鈥� rather than 鈥減ull鈥� mode. Governments are taking as much vaccine as they can get their hands on and no standard ordering is required.

Third, the players and conditions are different. Recipients of COVID-19 vaccine shipments are generally government authorities and not the pharmacies that routinely handle delicate pharmaceuticals. Medical personnel, equipment, patients, and vaccines must come together at newly installed vaccination centers just in time, under the right conditions, and in the right quantities.

All of these characteristics place demands on vaccine management teams to ensure speed, transparency, and flexibility.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Vaccine Collaboration Hub Supports German Vaccination Campaign

To support large-scale vaccination programs like the world is experiencing with COVID-19, 麻豆原创 recently launched its vaccine collaboration hub (VCH), an extension to its business network. It covers the end-to-end process from manufacturing to controlled distribution to administration as well as post-vaccine monitoring. Through cloud-based applications from 麻豆原创, such as 麻豆原创 Logistics Business Network, 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, and cloud solutions from 麻豆原创, the VCH provides transparent insight into the vaccination process.

鈥淗umanitarian logistics is a big challenge in our fight against the pandemic,鈥� says Lars Werthmann from the German Red Cross (DRK) in Saxony. 鈥溌槎乖粹�檚 solutions enable digitized planning, procurement, inventory management, and delivery of the vaccines.鈥� The platform shows availability, supply quantities, and progress, making the entire logistics and distribution process plannable in real-time to support the DRK in vaccinating citizens seven days a week.

鈥淭he vaccine collaboration hub allows people to focus on their tasks along the supply chain, whether it鈥檚 planning, ordering, producing, storing, transporting, delivering, tracking, inspecting, or injecting the vaccines,鈥� says Katrin Lehmann, head of Customer Innovation and Maintenance at 麻豆原创. 鈥淭he ultimate goal is to save lives, restart the economy, and bring people back together again.鈥�

Sarah Heinz, Klaus Boeckle, and Tilman Goettke contributed to this story.

Although Mother Earth could take a deep breath, we still need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would have to be reduced by around 7% every year for the next 30 years in order to not exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius temperature limit set by the . Climate scientists have not therefore stopped sounding the alarm: The largest greenhouse-gas-producing economies must hit the ground running to veer off a destructive path.

Drivers for Sustainable Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered an example of how quickly countries can mobilize against a common threat. Some leaders see a to the pandemic as an opportunity to forge a better world by reducing dependency on fossil fuels and stemming global warming. A new administration in the U.S. under president-elect Joe Biden has , which is almost certain to spur renewed global impetus in the battle against climate change. Biden鈥檚 transition team has already launched their , which carries the same name as 麻豆原创鈥檚 Climate21 initiative to help companies become sustainable businesses.

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There are number of drivers 鈥� ecological, economic, and societal 鈥� currently motivating businesses to make their operations more sustainable. Customers are demanding visibility into the carbon footprint of the products they purchase, as are shareholders and employees, who are looking for purpose and sustainability in their investments and livelihoods. Producers are taking notice, not least because national and international regulations may soon require such environmental impact information be provided on product labels and descriptions.

But does transparency have to come at the expense of profitability? No, says Toby Croucher, solution manager for Climate 21 and Sustainability at 麻豆原创.

鈥淪ustainable businesses have the ability to measure the carbon footprint of their manufacturing processes and are able to direct investments to the right parts of their business in a timely fashion, enabling them to achieve both strong financial returns and decarbonized business models,鈥� Croucher says. With the introduction of carbon pricing, he predicts strong demand for such solutions.

For those companies aiming to improve their carbon footprint across the supply chain, establishing GHG transparency is not something achievable overnight.

鈥淚t is about establishing long-term value in a carbon-constrained world,鈥� Croucher explains.

Footwear Industry Takes a Step in the Right Direction

Every industry has exemplars of sustainable business practice, but few have gained as much attention as the shoe industry. The world consumes about 25 billion pairs per year, an average of three pairs per person. The result is _e, contributing about 1.4% to total global greenhouse gas emissions.

A pair of . This includes greenhouse gas emissions generated from conception and design, until it is eventually used and discarded or recycled. Some manufacturers are making strides to reduce the footprint of their shoes significantly. , have already gotten off on the right foot by targeting the zero-carbon shoe made of recycled, recyclable, or natural materials.

In 2019, Nike was able to reduce the average carbon footprint of its footwear and apparel products to 7.33 kg CO_2e per pair. As part of its , it plans to power its facilities with 100% renewable energy by 2025, reduce carbon emissions across its global supply chain by 30% by 2030, and divert virtually all of its footwear manufacturing waste from landfills.

It remains to be seen whether sustainability initiatives like Nike鈥檚 will gain traction with Generations Y and Z, but such strategies take time to develop and companies that get off to an early start are likely to reap the benefits sooner. Others may be forced to catch up by regulatory measures.

Carbon Emissions Accounted for Along the Entire Value Chain

In early 2020, 麻豆原创 introduced a product that delivers transparency on the carbon emissions of a product across the entire value chain of a business, including production, raw materials, energy use, and transport. 麻豆原创 Product Carbon Footprint Analytics makes it possible to compare each activity of a value chain to determine the amount of GHG released to make the product in each location.

鈥淚n the future there will be no difference made between cost, revenue, and GHG performance,鈥� says Bettina Zedlitz, solution manager for Climate 21 and Sustainability at 麻豆原创. 鈥淲e think that end-to-end ERP processes need to support multiple sustainability-related attributes of products and services, to gain insights for understanding and optimize the GHG footprint. We can give you the tools to analyze your business models and identify tangible actions to minimize emissions.鈥�

麻豆原创 Product Carbon Footprint Analytics is part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Climate 21 program. .

Celebrated climate researcher, author, and expert on climate change Professor Hans-Joachim (John) Schellnhuber stands out as a that calls the shots the way he sees them. As founding director of the and former chair of the , Schellnhuber is an independent global authority on climate change and, at 70, has no career ladder to climb or political ax to grind.

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麻豆原创 recently invited Schellnhuber to a virtual event and discussion on the topic of climate change and sustainability. Sustainable business practices are for its own operations, and those of its customers. A聽2019 company-wide survey showed that 94 percent of the more than 100,000 麻豆原创 employees agree that sustainability is an important business objective.

Software Code Rules, But Nations and Industry Must Act

麻豆原创 employees are proud that the business software they deliver can help reduce carbon emissions 鈥� touches an 麻豆原创 system. While software code rules the world, it will take the will of nations and industry action to reverse the destructive path along which climate change is already progressing.

This is both a tall order and not a topic for weak stomachs. Schellnhuber began with a ray of hope, announcing results from a soon-to-be-published scientific paper in Nature Communications: During the first half of 2020, there was an 8.8 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions globally.

Now for the sobering news: The world would have to reduce its carbon emission by around seven percent every year for the next 30 years in order to keep global warming below the 1.5-degree Celsius limit set by the . Considering the world is currently at 1.1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, keeping to that goal is virtually impossible, Schellnhuber says.

Even in a pitch-black room, Schellnhuber will always find a light switch. 鈥淩educing emissions by seven percent every year is almost unthinkable, but we have the money and the technology to do it,鈥� the self-professed agnostic says. For example, consumers can reduce their CO₂ footprints by sourcing energy from renewable sources, eating less beef, and taking the train instead of the plane, he suggested.

The Promise of a 鈥淐yborganic Age鈥�

The most important factor driving global warming is not the energy industry, agriculture, or transportation. According to Schellnhuber, it is the building industry. Some 40 percent of CO₂ emissions results from the construction and operation of homes, offices, skyscrapers, airports, train stations, and other structures. If conventional materials like steel and concrete continue to be used in construction until 2050, this will use up most of the CO₂ budget incorporated into the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

As a 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥� for throttling CO₂ emissions, Schellnhuber suggests switching to building with wood instead of cement, steel, and concrete, which are extremely energy-intensive in their life cycles by comparison. Wood is more sustainable, because it sequesters CO₂ for centuries and acts like a pump, with replanted trees extracting carbon continuously from the atmosphere, he explains. Combining wood construction with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) could enable autonomous operation of buildings to optimize energy efficiency.

Schellnhuber is calling for a revolution in architecture, the combination of construction with organic materials and intelligence through digitalization to launch the 鈥淐yborganic Age.鈥� Climate scientists like him are pointing to real opportunities to alter the current course of climate change.

It is up to consumers and policy makers to take them seriously and adopt needed changes.

RPA does not stand for 鈥渞ecovery from pandemic aftermath,鈥� but it could serve as an alias for the technology during the current economic downturn.

RPA is defined by IDC as a class of software designed to automate or augment repetitive tasks that require a significant manual effort. RPA using software scripts or robots. Although not new, it has been catapulted into the limelight by the business-process vulnerabilities that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed.

鈥淐ompanies find themselves adapting faster and faster to new circumstances while trying to maintain seamless operations,鈥� says Sebastian Schroetel, vice president of Machine Learning and Intelligent Robotic Process Automation at 麻豆原创. 鈥淩PA provides a way to manage the demand peaks, cut costs, and free up employees for higher-value tasks.鈥�

Another example of RPA鈥檚 use during the pandemic is illustrated by the Swiss Canton of Z眉rich, which deployed a solution to cope with a deluge of short-time work requests. The number of requests per month exploded from around 10 to 30,000. By deploying an RPA solution, processing time per request was shortened from 25 minutes to 20 seconds.

But even beyond COVID-19 and the crisis, RPA is also viewed by some analysts as a means to counter the . According to David Vellante, chief analyst at Wikibon, global challenges like climate change, global competitiveness, aging populations and infrastructure, deficits, mass immigration, sustainable food sources and healthcare all will require — and RPA will be on the menu.

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Defying Cuts in IT Spending

Despite the for 2020, Vellante is bullish on RPA for this year and beyond. 鈥淩obotic process automation solutions remain one of the ,鈥� he wrote recently. And compared to other technology investments, he says RPA is 鈥渢he enterprise software sector with the highest spending momentum — .鈥�

Similarly, IDC identified RPA as a key investment technology for the post-COVID rebound in its recent . One of the use cases that will see the greatest growth in spending is RPA-based claims processing in insurance.

Enterprise software providers also expect an accelerated uptake of RPA projects. Worldwide according to San Francisco-based Grand View Research, and is expected to grow between 29 and 41 percent over the coming five to seven years.

鈥淭he coronavirus pandemic has increased demand in RPA,鈥� says Al Hilwa, senior director of AI, Machine Learning, and Platform Technology Research, 麻豆原创. 鈥淭he integration of machine learning into RPA is driving many of the new investments, including more funding and acquisitions.鈥�

Hilwa also sees a shift to RPA into the cloud on the horizon as players focus on “unattended” RPA, where robots work autonomously and predictively with human supervision only.

Rather than being applied as a standalone solution, RPA is increasingly seen as part of a spectrum of process automation tools best applied in unison, for example and process mining.

鈥溌槎乖� is currently seeing major adoption of the combination of RPA and intelligent business process tools,鈥� says Flat Chen, head of 麻豆原创 Intelligent Enterprise Solutions in Asia-Pacific, and lead for the company鈥檚 RPA program in China. 鈥淭hey are two sides of the same coin. RPA augments BPM by letting customers combine system-to-system and human-to-system interactions within a single executable workflow.鈥�

鈥淚ntelligent document processing is a layer that most of the RPA vendors are beginning to offer as they extend capabilities to support AI use cases,鈥� shares Maureen Fleming, program vice president for Integration and Process Automation at IDC, who examines the products and processes used for building, integrating, and deploying applications within extended enterprise systems. 鈥溌槎乖� has a document processing service that works with 麻豆原创 Intelligent RPA and also is callable by workflow, a form, or by an integration component 鈥� and it works really well for business documents that are managed by 麻豆原创 applications.鈥�

RPA can also be combined with conversational AI technologies, which apply natural language to communicate intent and trigger actions downstream. Under the new rules of COVID-19, wherein businesses are challenged to interact physically, the need for digital customer engagement and service has been amplified.

RPA Cloud ERP Co-Innovation Project in China

麻豆原创 views RPA as an essential technology in its goal to help customers realize the . With prescient foresight in 2019, Jan Gilg, president 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, called on development teams to make bot development a priority. 麻豆原创 employees based in China took on the challenge, and the fruits of their labor were recently rewarded when REHAU Polymer China went live in June with an RPA bot and machine learning. The application automated invoice processing and helped REHAU achieve higher process efficiencies.

REHAU is the first 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud customer in Greater China, as well as the first reference customer for and intelligent technology packages that include machine learning, natural language understanding, and advanced analytics capabilities. The co-innovation project with REHAU brought together teams from across 麻豆原创: 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Finance & Risk, New Ventures & Technologies, and Intelligent Delivery Group of Greater China.

To streamline and automate the financial operational process in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud, project members trained a machine learning model that, when used in combination with the RPA bot, was able to achieve greater accuracy and seamless automation.

A machine learning model is only as good as the data it has been trained on and each method of training 鈥� isolated, centralized, or federated 鈥� has its own advantages and disadvantages. Certain types of data, such as transaction data, is highly sensitive and usually cannot be shared outside a company’s network for building a model, which makes it difficult to apply AI for RPA solutions.

鈥淲hile training the model, we were able to keep sensitive data on the customer鈥檚 system, aggregating it in anonymous form to build a federation of data,” shares Voga Li, data scientist at 麻豆原创 Labs China. “This method allowed us to achieve a higher prediction accuracy for the model.”

The REHAU project under the guidance of 麻豆原创 demonstrated that federated training can be applied to datasets related to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and achieve the same or better performance as isolated and centralized training models. 鈥淲e are now testing an out-of-the-box machine learning model for federated learning and are currently validating this work together with our co-innovation customers,鈥� Li says. He attributes the success of the co-innovation project to strong leadership and open environment provided by 麻豆原创 Labs China.

REHAU has been live on 麻豆原创 Intelligent RPA since January 2020, having already replaced two manual processes with the combination of AI and RPA. In one solution, the company was able to reduce its monthly manual processing time of about 1,000 financial accounting documents from four days to 10 minutes. In the other, a bot that combines 麻豆原创 Intelligent RPA and machine learning reads invoices, extracts the information from them, and then automatically generate payables in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud. It can currently process 3,000 product invoices in roughly two minutes.

Chengbo Yu, CIO of the Asia Pacific Region for REHAU Polymer China, is satisfied with the result: 鈥淲e used 麻豆原创 Intelligent RPA to automate use cases that required significant manual intervention and redundant work. This saves us time and cuts down on human error, and our employees are spending more time on innovative work.鈥�

Thanks to the following 麻豆原创 employees for their support: Akie Pan, Camile Zhou, Voga Li, and Cyrano Chen from 麻豆原创 Labs China; Claire Tseng and Pierre Col from New Ventures and Technologies; Sarah Harvey from Analyst Relations.

The , where nearly . This sent China鈥檚 economy into a nose dive, resulting in a record contraction in output of 34 percent in the first quarter of 2020, .

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While signals a rebound for China, manufacturing enterprises are aware that a return to 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥� is not an option. They need to address issues that will make them vulnerable to the next potential supply chain disruption.

Digitalization: Move Early and Decisively

If the , they should be by now.

Digitalization is widely viewed as one of the keys to a sustainable recovery from the pandemic. Studies show that companies that move early and decisively to digitalize their operations during challenging times can turn adversity into advantage. Boston Consulting Group , increasing both their sales and profit margins

Staying power is also key. Research by management consultant McKinsey found that during a downturn were able to accelerate faster coming out of it.

Some markets are benefitting from government stimulus packages that support investment in new technologies. 聽In China, a passed in March totaling $US4.8 trillion is aimed at softening the blow of current and future disruptions. It encourages investments in new data centers, artificial intelligence (AI), smart manufacturing, and 5G networks. The expectation is also that by rejuvenating legacy systems, China鈥檚 manufacturing will be able to reverse the productivity decline it has experienced since the global financial crisis of 2008.

The main applications for AI in manufacturing include value chain redundancy, remote operations, process automation, industrial robotics, predictive maintenance and machinery inspection, and autonomous materials movement. Machine learning .

麻豆原创 Promotes Integrated Development of AI and Industry in China

Companies that can scale up their AI use cases during the crisis will be better able to navigate uncertain supply and demand, adjust to disruptions in operations and supply chains, allocate their workforces, and adapt to sharp changes in consumer confidence and priorities, according to .

There is no shortage of automation experts touting the benefits of manufacturers investing in AI; (see below for more analyst predictions).

Sam Li, global senior vice president and general manager of 麻豆原创 China, is convinced that , and that AI shows the most promise in making companies resilient.

鈥淛ust as digitalization has enabled China鈥檚 consumers to access life-essential services and stem the deadly chain of infection, digitalization in the business-to-business sector to create intelligent and integrated enterprises will be the engine for economic recovery,鈥� Li said last month at the (WAIC) in Shanghai.

He sees huge potential for AI in China鈥檚 manufacturing industries, and believes 麻豆原创 is set up to become a main driver for AI in this sector: “As a global technology company with both business and R&D headquarters in Shanghai, 麻豆原创 will help build a world-leading AI co-innovation and technology center in Shanghai and actively promote the integrated development of AI and industry in China.”

From AI+ to +AI

Speaking at WAIC, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, chairman and CEO of Innovation Works, traced the development of AI in China and forecast how it could reshape the economy. The application of AI has made a tremendous transition over the past few years, shifting from technology-driven AI to business-driven AI, Lee said. He termed this movement 鈥渇rom AI+ to +AI.” AI+, the first phase, has been focused on AI-centric business opportunities led by engineers and scientists. The second phase, +AI, will focus on value creation led by conventional companies in traditional industries.

“Leveraging AI to empower value creation will create an opportunity for overall economic development, and is the best investment option,” Lee said. 鈥�+AI will enable the one-step realization of datafication, ITnization, and cloudification, playing a pivotal role in reshaping and developing China鈥檚 economy.鈥�

According to Lee, the companies most likely to benefit from AI are those that have a strong motivation to expand their business or reduce cost, have availed themselves of the structured data needed to feed AI models, and exhibit leadership that fosters a culture of innovation and transformation.

AI in Manufacturing: Sleeping Giant?

There is no shortage of automation experts suggesting that manufacturers invest in AI, as indicated in . As a result of COVID-19, conservative estimates call for a moderate decline in AI investment of around 2.5 percent in 2020. But a turnaround is expected in 2021, .

In the global AI study, , PwC estimates that AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined. Of this, $6.6 trillion is likely to come from increased productivity.

The greatest economic gains from AI will be in China, with $7 trillion (26 percent boost to GDP in 2030), and North America, with $3.7 trillion, (14.5 percent boost), accounting for almost 70 percent of the global economic impact.

Despite this rising forecast, some analysts think AI investments are disappointingly underrepresented in the manufacturing sector. Of , less than one percent went into manufacturing-related AI applications, while 23 percent were put into commerce and retailing, and 18 percent into autonomous driving.

Helen Tian, Tina Chen, and Jungsong Peng contributed to this piece. Video by Renata Pompeu Pividal.

The company鈥檚 New Ventures and Technologies group, led by Max Wessel, is an exploratory unit set up to produce cutting-edge, future-focused technology quickly. In addition to heading up the group, Wessel is chief innovation officer for 麻豆原创 and managing director of 麻豆原创 Bay Area. Here, Wessel talks about his approach to fostering innovation.

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Q: What constitutes innovation at 麻豆原创?

A: Innovation is a big word, and we do a lot of it at 麻豆原创. It鈥檚 in every incremental change we bring to a product, in every iteration of our business model and approach to engaging customers. And we should be proud of all of it. When customers ask us about innovation, it鈥檚 often about where we embrace truly new technologies and business models. 麻豆原创 has been making great progress in the past few years by targeting game changers alongside our core business. For example, the Voice AI team from Newport Beach is using natural language processing to analyze 麻豆原创 Concur call center data to determine how effective an engagement has been. Instead of spending hundreds of hours manually checking call logs, artificial intelligence (AI) takes over. That’s a great example of taking a net-new technology to solve an age-old problem.How does 麻豆原创 create organic innovation?

Across the company we introduce new features, new products, and new services on what seems like a daily basis. That innovation has allowed us to create strong footholds in our customer environments. However, to deliver transformative growth, we also need a big vision. We have to look 10 years into the future, identify the big problems that are worth solving, and then attack them in ways that deliver value to our customers.

Coupled with that vision, 麻豆原创 has to empower its innovators to explore new technologies, work with customers on proofs of concept (POCs), and share great ideas with colleagues across the globe. It鈥檚 that exchange that lets us identify the big ideas together. Last year, more than 20,000 employees engaged with our intrapreneurship program, and at we officially launched the 麻豆原创 Technology Radar tool, a central, internal platform for knowledge exchange on new technologies. We want every employee to contribute to the process of pushing 麻豆原创 forward. And our New Ventures and Technologies team supports that conversation.

What major trends are you are seeing?

There is still enormous potential for machine learning inside the enterprise. That鈥檚 why we are continuing to push AI capabilities in voice recognition and looking at synthetic data generation and new encryption methodologies. We believe they will play a role in bringing advanced AI capabilities to the enterprise.

But it鈥檚 not just about technologies. It鈥檚 also about simplifying software deployment and customization through and . These advances will empower almost anyone to build a business app, without having to be an engineer.

The last trend is applying new business models to deliver software in fundamentally different ways. For example, we are now able to , using their invoices as a point of reference for credit. This has allowed us to open up credit to businesses that desperately need it during the current economic crisis at no cost to the businesses or to our 麻豆原创 Ariba customers 鈥� all because we’ve been experimenting with this new business model for the past two years.

How do you find those sweet spots in the 麻豆原创 portfolio?

麻豆原创 shines when we understand the customer problem, have deep domain expertise in a given line of business, and infuse new technologies to solve the problem. The SMB lending product that I just mentioned, , came from the Ariba Network team based on conversations they had with their customers. They had a deep understanding of the customer problem, but they needed a technology partner and found that in our organization.

Part of our role is to start a conversation with all of 麻豆原创 about the future. Every year we run a variety of innovation campaigns at 麻豆原创. Because of these efforts, a lot of the projects we start come directly from the experts across our company. I encourage my team to embrace a beginner’s mind by stepping back to listen to all of the ideas from the product experts and understand where new opportunities might lie.

How do we prevent the cannibalizing of our classical solutions?聽

I鈥檇 rather we cannibalize our classical solutions than have a competitor do it. Here is where we need to be creative and have conviction. If we are convinced that the world will change in 10 years, then we should embrace a cannibalization of existing streams. The shift to the cloud over the past decade is something 麻豆原创 should be immensely proud of. But the cloud is more than a new delivery mechanism, and it has required us to re-architect many of our products. And we did that boldly with a belief that the cloud would be the preferred delivery mechanism for many of our customers in many situations.

How can we incentivize employees to be more innovative?聽

I object to the premise that employees aren’t innovative enough. I get more ideas that are more creative with more depth of understanding of an industry problem from our colleagues than you can imagine. Instead of incentivizing people to be more innovative, we need to empower them. One of the initiatives that I am proudest of at 麻豆原创 is our intrapreneurship program. When I took over the organization, fewer than 3,000 people were engaging in our scouting and acceleration group on an annual basis. We now have more than 20,000, and the goal this year is to engage 25,000.

The reason we run the intrapreneurship program isn’t because we think that it’ll generate better ideas鈥攖he ideas are already out there. It’s to give people a means to build on those ideas, to test them out, and then to take them to market. And the more we do to create easier paths to innovation, the easier it will become for people to innovate.

What do we need to do to enable better throughput of innovation?

I believe we need three ingredients: patient capital, creative structure, and executive mandate. Attacking big problems takes time, and this is why we need to plan in terms of 10-year time horizons. We need to put small teams on those problems that only 麻豆原创 can solve and give them the patience and structure that allows them to deliver value to the market. If they’re tackling big enough problems, if they’re given that mandate, if they’re allowed to take a non-linear path, they will do amazing things.

As managing director of 麻豆原创 Bay Area, what advantages are there to being part of the 20 worldwide locations that make up 麻豆原创 Lab Network?聽聽

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to get all of the labs directors on the phone to gain an understanding of 聽regulatory best practices and digital communications in different cultural environments. This is a perfect example of the way we’re able to harness the best of a global development force to drive improvement. But we also combine ideas and forces when it comes to things like activating the employee base to drive innovation, creating hackathons, empowering employees to come up with new business ideas, or scaling our reach into the ecosystem so we identify local partners who can take our products and services to market.

What is your personal recipe for future-proofing 麻豆原创?

Everything we do from an innovation perspective has to tie into making enterprise software more personal, more flexible, and more open. It’s becoming easier than ever to connect systems together, which means the more open your systems and ecosystem are, the wider variety of innovations you can deliver. We have 100,000 employees at 麻豆原创, but there are 7.5 billion people on the planet with an incentive to help us help the world run better. We would be remiss if we didn鈥檛 open ourselves up to outside ideas around how to evolve enterprise software.

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COVID-19 has exposed the world鈥檚 vulnerability, but it also provides a shining example of how quickly countries can mobilize forces when faced with a global threat.

A triumvirate of forces — ecological, economic and societal — are currently encouraging leaders across many industries to take action to make their businesses more sustainable. Many leaders see a as an opportunity to forge a better world by reducing dependency on fossil fuels and stemming global warming. The World Economic Forum has even called on business leaders to 鈥�.鈥�

Managing the 鈥淕reen Line鈥�

The shift toward sustainable business practices is being driven by governments, consumers, investors, and even employees. While most companies monitor and measure the CO₂ emissions of their production sites, customers are increasingly demanding visibility into the full carbon footprint of the individual products they purchase. Discerning consumers are inclined to choose companies that deliver transparency while shunning those they view as indifferent to the environment.

In the future, national and international regulations may even require such environmental impact information be provided on product labels.

Company leaders will therefore need to do much more than just manage their top and bottom lines to keep investors happy; they are increasingly being held accountable for the way they are managing their 鈥済reen line鈥� to reduce the carbon footprint across their business.

Introducing 麻豆原创 Product Carbon Footprint Analytics

This week, 麻豆原创 announced the first solution in its Climate 21 program to support enterprises trying to make their operations better prepared for the emerging business reality where sustainability is a strategic and economic imperative.

Delivering product-specific carbon footprints in industries such as consumer products, chemicals, and oil and gas can be very complex, involving analysis of multiple production sites and production steps. But no other enterprise software company is prepared to help enterprises tackle the challenge like 麻豆原创.

鈥淐limate 21 is the embodiment of the intelligent enterprise because it spans the end-to-end business processes across both companies and industries,鈥� Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE for 麻豆原创 Product Engineering, said as he addressed participants at 麻豆原创PHIRE NOW.

For nearly 50 years, companies of all sizes and from all industries have trusted 麻豆原创 to help them manage their enterprise resources to drive revenue, reduce cost, optimize asset utilization, streamline supply chains, and improve customer service. Much of the base data needed to determine carbon footprints is already in 麻豆原创 systems, such as bill of materials, energy usage, procurement data and master data. 麻豆原创 is also used to managing the complexity that such projects demand.

“It is in our DNA to build software that helps companies measure, account, and take the right action in dynamic and heterogeneous regulatory environments,鈥� Saueressig wrote.

But 麻豆原创 solutions for carbon accounting are not an afterthought bolted onto existing software applications; they are integral to the company鈥檚 digital core. Accounting for CO₂ and other greenhouse gases is just an additional factor in an enterprise鈥檚 operations.

Carbon Emissions Accounted for Across the Entire Value Chain

麻豆原创 Product Carbon Footprint Analytics delivers carbon emission insights for a company鈥檚 products by plant, profit center, or cost center. Based on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud and 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform, the application delivers transparency on the carbon emissions of a product across the entire value chain, including production, raw materials, energy use, and transport. Producers can also integrate data from product databases and third-party solutions to analyze and understand the emissions breakdowns.

If a specific product is made in more than one location place, for example, comparisons can be made for each activity of the value chain to determine the amount of CO₂ it takes to produce the product in each location. Transparency about the carbon footprint lays the foundation to聽minimize聽carbon emissions. Producers can use the data to run simulations to optimize the carbon footprint according to buyer requirements.

鈥淥ur goal is to create transparency about carbon emissions all the way through the value chain, across industries, geographies, products, and services,鈥� said Toby Croucher, head of Solution Management for Climate 21 and Sustainability at 麻豆原创. 鈥淐reating transparency of the carbon footprint straight through to the consumer will help inform climate-responsible buying and consumption.鈥�

Transparency about the product carbon footprint for any good or service can also be passed down the value chain to consumers, enabling buying decisions to be based not only on quality or cost. For example, would be able to view the carbon footprint of the rims from Belgium, the titanium frame from Taiwan, the hub gears from the U.S., and tires from Germany, as well as the total carbon footprint of the bicycle delivered to the local bike store.

Co-Innovation Projects Lead the Way to Carbon Transparency and Climate Action

In addition to taking , 麻豆原创 is running numerous co-innovation projects with companies that are sustainability champions in their industries and understand the business value of taking the next step in managing their environmental impact.

Doehler is a global producer, marketer, and provider of technology-driven natural ingredients, ingredient systems, and integrated solutions for the food and beverage industry. Last month, it became the first company to go live with 麻豆原创 Product Carbon Footprint Analytics.

Watch this space for more examples of companies that are acting today to responsibly manage their green line.

The question is no longer if but how fast and how large the .

While experts, activists, and politicians debate the correct response, it is clear that , , and will not be nearly enough to bend the global warming curve.

The current COVID-19 pandemic could mark a turning point in progress on climate change; the has been advanced as a silver lining of the crisis. Estimates by the United Nations (UN) show that emissions must fall by 7.6 percent every year until 2030 to keep temperature increases to less than 1.5掳C.

As companies emerge from the crisis, they have to expect that they will be faced with legislation that stipulates a sustainable recovery through tighter CO₂ regulation. This would significantly impact operating costs. The largest carbon producers will feel the push for climate action beginning in highly developed markets, followed successfully by others.

A challenge to corporate reputation is another risk not to be underestimated, as companies are increasingly and the public whether their businesses and products are contributing to the solution or to the problem.

Make the World Run Greener

A few months ago, Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE leading Product Engineering, launched an initiative to understand how 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and other 麻豆原创 applications could help customers manage their carbon footprints.

The initiative resulted in Climate 21, a program that reaches well beyond the corporate practices of emissions reporting to data about product-related greenhouse gases and other sustainability issues that help businesses and consumers make more responsible buying decisions.

In January, top management made the company鈥檚 first statement to the market on Climate 21 at the World Economic Forum.

Manage the 鈥淕reen Line鈥�

Saueressig鈥檚 vision for the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) products is to add sustainability as the third dimension to driving business success: the “green line,” as he calls it.

鈥溌槎乖� helps customers manage the top line and bottom line of their business, and we run the supply chains and value chains of the largest companies in the world,” Saueressig said. “So we are in the best position to now help companies manage their green line by minimizing the carbon footprint and negative environmental impact of their product. I believe this will help make us the leader of the next-generation ERP market.鈥�

Not Just About CO₂

Since 1972, 麻豆原创 has helped businesses to manage their enterprise resources to drive revenue, reduce cost, optimize asset utilization, streamline supply chains, and improve customer service. From this point of view, minimizing CO₂ and other greenhouse gases is just an additional factor in an enterprise鈥檚 target function.

鈥淥n the way to a more sustainable future, 麻豆原创 has a critical role to play in helping companies understand, monitor, and optimize their CO₂ transactions — up and down their supply chains as well as in their asset base,鈥� said Toby Croucher, head of Solution Management for Climate 21 and Sustainability at 麻豆原创.

Green Line Benefits for Companies and Consumers

The Climate 21 program team is planning a phased approach to crafting the solutions that companies can use to manage their green line. This starts with understanding the composition of the CO₂ footprint that products accumulate over the entire value chain and looking at product design, operations, and supply chains.

The idea is to share the CO₂ product footprint with business customers and consumers to enable them to make climate-friendly buying decisions. Customers that know the CO₂ rating of each product they buy and each service they use are empowered to choose products with the smallest climate impact.

But can citizens really make a difference? Studies say yes. In the U.S., about ; reducing this footprint by only five percent would make a substantial difference. Such buying decisions would influence supply chains and reward businesses that make products and services with a smaller CO₂ footprint.

麻豆原创 is busy preparing to introduce the first analytical solution. Co-innovation with leading customers across all industries in well underway and has set the company on a path to a sustainability-enabled ERP that helps companies balance top line, bottom line, and green line for the 21st century.

With nearly 9,000 employees across five cities, 麻豆原创 Labs India is the second largest location in the 麻豆原创 Labs Network and is central to the company鈥檚 product development strategy. Despite a dynamic environment, the forced virtual teamwork as a result of the COVID-19 has not hampered productivity.

The India-based teams, together with other teams globally, just released to customers the second version of the essentials edition of . 鈥淲e stuck to the timeline as well as to the scope that was promised to our customers,鈥� Gangadharan reports proudly.

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Gangadharan believes that the pandemic will expedite the move to digitalization in India, and notes that 麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is resonating strongly with customers. The same trend toward digitalization and cloud computing has been confirmed in other markets, including China and Europe.

If there is anyone that understands the benefits of digitalization, it鈥檚 Gangadharan.

She formerly served as head of the Intelligent Enterprise Program, where she worked side-by-side with 麻豆原创 colleagues from key functional areas and across multiple Board areas. Those close connections are extremely valuable to her today in the current virtual work mode.

鈥淚’m pretty confident that 麻豆原创 will come out stronger post-COVID-19, and we will also help many of our customers come out stronger as well,鈥� Gangadharan emphasizes.

But the business is only one side of the coin; supporting the most vulnerable parts of society is her other priority. 麻豆原创 has always led a very strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) program in India, and those relationships are now enabling it to make a contribution.

By opening the large kitchens on campuses in Bangalore and Gurgaon, 麻豆原创 Labs India is helping distribute more than 17,000 meals a day to the poor and is also donating personal protection equipment and ventilators to local hospitals.

鈥淚t’s so gratifying to see a lot of people are being touched by this, and it is only possible by people coming together and collaborating to make it possible,鈥� says Gangadharan.

To learn more about how 麻豆原创 is helping India surmount business and humanitarian challenges, watch the full interview with Sindu Gangadharan:

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To cushion the economic and human impact, many nations passed legislation that required fast implementation to protect the jobs of those citizens most in need.

Companies were under pressure to quickly comply with these new legal obligations and tax regulations. Because many of the tax and legal changes influence how companies compensate their employees, have been heavily impacted by the legislation.

Businesses worldwide have therefore turned to 麻豆原创 to help them quickly comply with the changes by updating their software.

80 Fast-Tracked Legal Measures to Help Customers

麻豆原创 has a robust localization strategy that is designed for such unexpected emergencies. Whether it is implementing legal compliance related to income security, booking round-trip tickets for stranded expat employees, or tax relief for small and midsize businesses, the Globalization Services team has it covered.

Meeting the challenge meant redistributing teams, mobilizing additional resources, and continuing to engage with internal and external experts.

鈥淲e have spared no effort to that will help customers navigate the current market challenges,鈥� says Stefan Steinle, head of Globalization Services at 麻豆原创. 鈥淎nd on top of all the COVID-19-related legal changes, we also keep delivering regular updates and legal changes.鈥�

Globalization Services has been working closely with customers and partners to provide a solution for every relevant change as quickly and effectively as possible and to make this information publicly available. Nestl茅 is one global company that relies heavily on the 麻豆原创-supported localization wherever its customers operate.

鈥淚t is a great idea to have one-stop source for all the legal changes that are COVID-19-related,鈥� says Mukesh Kumar Rai, 麻豆原创 Total Quality Manager at Nestl茅 for Asia, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa. 鈥淭his is even more useful for a global customer like Nestl茅 with multiple country versions.鈥�

麻豆原创 maintains this overview of the . Three examples from Spain, Italy, and Austria show the scope of the legal changes 麻豆原创 has implemented in HXM solutions during the pandemic.

Rallying Around Spain

Spain is among the countries hardest hit by COVID-19. Government authorities there published six legal bulletins containing up to four changes each. These changes affect social security payouts and taxes and require algorithm changes to master data, payroll calculation, and legal reporting.

Because the analysis and implementation of these changes had to be completed quickly, 麻豆原创 Spain鈥檚 product manager Gema Moraleda and development product owner Carlos Moehlecke called user group meetings to share details of 麻豆原创 solutions and used multiple communication channels to keep customers informed.

麻豆原创鈥檚 contribution has been acknowledged by representatives of the user group, customers, and partners. In March, Juan Jos茅 D铆az V谩zquez from , an 麻豆原创 partner, : 鈥淛ust as there are moments for criticism, we from Barrahache also believe there are moments for gratitude, and in this case we applaud how 麻豆原创 Spain has stepped up to give answers to the Spanish payroll users in these complicated times we are living.鈥�

Helping Italy Heal

In mid-March, the Italian Government enacted the 聽(鈥淗eal Italy鈥�) law decree, containing measures such as deferral of tax payments, special absence treatment, additional bonuses, and allowances to support families. The biggest challenge was to update the software in line and on time with the dynamic nature of the announcements. 麻豆原创 used all possible communication channels to help minimize any lack of clarity faced by the customer.

Adapting to Austria鈥檚 Short-Time Work Model

Austria聽adopted a model of , which draws on federal unemployment-benefits. Although the program required highly complex changes to the software run by companies and institutions, the regional Globalization Services team completed the analysis and implementation of the required changes within in a week. By the second week of April, more than 600,000 citizens had requested compensation under the program, prompting the Austrian government to raise the available funds to support the short-time work program more than ten-fold from 鈧�400 million to 鈧�5 billion.

Steinle sums up his team鈥檚 response to the global crisis: 鈥淥ur contribution extends beyond solution expertise, agility, and on-the-ball delivery. We have differentiated ourselves not just by responding quickly to the market opportunity, but also by offering real-world solutions that have huge socioeconomic impact on citizens, businesses, and governments.鈥�

The program was launched in October 2019 with the aim of and inspiring its software development community to innovate organically, while also helping to attract the best engineering talent. For Ferose VR, head of 麻豆原创 Academy for Engineering, it was clear that a new training concept was needed to achieve these goals.

Ferose drew on his previous experience as managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs India and head of the Globalization Services organization at 麻豆原创, where he placed a strong focus on trying new ways of doing things. 鈥淲e are aiming to create a social movement that generates a ripple effect across all of 麻豆原创,鈥� he says.

Supported by 麻豆原创 CEO Christian Klein and Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE leading 麻豆原创 Product Engineering, the new program is based on the multiplicative power of its graduates to influence 麻豆原创鈥檚 30,000-strong Development organization.

鈥淭he beauty of the 麻豆原创 Academy for Engineering is its real-world learning approach,鈥� says Saueressig. 鈥淐olleagues collaborate in building applications for real projects to develop their skills and technical abilities. This is not only an opportunity to broaden knowledge and sharpen skills, but also to experiment, explore interests, and network 鈥� all combined with an outside-in perspective from excellent partners.鈥�

Program Spans Science, Technology, Business, and Humanities

Achieving technical skills in 麻豆原创 products and technologies is only one aspect of the multi-dimensional engineer program created under Ferose鈥檚 leadership. The academy also focuses on soft skills referred to as the 5 Cs: to be courageous, practice compassion, build community, embrace a curious mindset, and go beyond code.

鈥淭he 5 Cs are key differentiators that can lead the multi-dimensional engineers to become better coders, leaders, and innovators,鈥� Ferose says.

Instead of hiring a large core team, the program draws on the extensive 麻豆原创 ecosystem to connect participants to leaders from science, technology, business, and the humanities. During the pilot program, young engineers from Brazil, Canada, China, India, and the U.S. practiced compassionate communication, learned to fall in love with problems and not just solutions, and tested their courage through improv and speaker engagements. 鈥淲e learned by doing,鈥� said Berry Ban from 麻豆原创 Labs China.

Opportunity to Work in Diverse Teams

For many of the participants, the 麻豆原创 Academy for Engineering was the first time they had traveled outside their home country. Presented with the opportunity to work face-to-face with engineers from different cultures and work styles, the engineers found ways to embrace their differences. This enabled them to realize the true .

鈥淒iversity helps you identify risks, have more creative ideas, and have a better image of your final customer,鈥� said Gabriel Moita from 麻豆原创 Labs Brazil.

On March 25, 2020, the program hosted its first virtual demo day, consisting of nine different teams sharing real product solutions to real-world challenges, such as electric vehicle charging, plans for the circular economy, and commissions management.

During the virtual demo day, engineers pitched and delivered their innovative applications to five global managing directors of 麻豆原创 Labs, who acted as guest judges.

鈥淔rom my perspective this program was a great success,鈥� Ruicheng Li, managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs China, commented. 鈥淲hen I met the colleagues from the academy a few months ago, I felt that they have already changed their way of thinking, from a technical perspective and a business perspective.鈥�

鈥淢y Time at the Academy Made a Difference鈥�

Neha Sanganeria from 麻豆原创 Labs India was in the first academy class. 鈥淚t makes me proud that I graduated from the 麻豆原创 Academy for Engineering,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a fantastic journey moving from chaos toward clarity. I am much more confident and passionate about my work now. The unique approach that the program had of giving us a 360-degree view of what is happening at 麻豆原创, right from the days of 麻豆原创 R/2 to the present, really helped.鈥�

The Journey Has Only Begun

The program concluded on March 26 with a virtual closing ceremony. 麻豆原创 CEO Christian Klein personally congratulated the first pilot cohort. And in his closing remarks to the graduates, Ferose said: 鈥淐ommunities are built on the foundation of actions. As ambassadors of the academy, it is now up to you to cultivate the engineering pride at 麻豆原创.

Learn more at .

The current economic crisis is pushing businesses toward software and services that are light on resources, less expensive, and easy to deploy.

With its long and rich history of innovation, 麻豆原创 is in a unique position to offer these solutions. The company鈥檚 New Ventures and Technologies group is an exploratory unit led by Max Wessel and set up to produce cutting-edge, future-focused technology quickly.

Wessel is also chief innovation officer for 麻豆原创 and managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs Silicon Valley. Here, he talks about fostering innovation amid the challenges of COVID-19.

Q: Looking at the 麻豆原创 customer base, where do you see immediate opportunity and necessity for innovation to alleviate the impact of the pandemic?

A: Our customers need quick wins. We see three critical business requirements at the top of a CIO鈥檚 agenda in the coming months and years: optimizing and automating processes, strengthening supply chains, and supporting remote work.

Here鈥檚 how we can help. 麻豆原创 can help address customers鈥� short-term needs and mitigate long-term risks by offering lightweight products that automate their processes. Automation reduces dependency on domain expertise, which may be less accessible at this time. To improve overall efficiency, many enterprises are looking for ways to apply technology to automate mundane tasks. They are also seeking ways to build and implement entirely new, innovative processes and want to keep implementation time to a minimum.

Supply chains are particularly strained in times of crisis. 麻豆原创 can ensure our customers have more flexibility in the way they operate their supply chains by making it easier to organize, communicate, and automate processes.

With teams now working remotely and distributed, it鈥檚 imperative that companies improve digital engagements and work-related communications along with simplifying remote-work processes.

Is it possible to be innovative in virtual teams? What challenges and opportunities do you see?

Working remotely is not new, and there are plenty of successful companies that are built on a remote-only workforce. 麻豆原创 has a unique global presence and we can emerge from this crisis with a better handle on how to connect with one another across the globe, and with our customers, in better ways than we ever have before.

We may even find that for some things, virtual is at least as effective as in person. When the New Ventures and Technologies team found out in the first quarter that our events would be scaled back or cancelled, we took that as an opportunity to build better digital connectivity to the chief information officers (CIOs) of our customers. Now we鈥檙e doing 30-minute virtual coffees with CIOs to talk about megatrends like the decreasing cost of software development and its impact on business and enterprise software. I鈥檝e found this format to be simpler and even more valuable in understanding and reacting to their problems than before.

How can New Ventures and Technologies help 麻豆原创 address those three customer needs?

We have many solutions that immediately address these needs, are simple to deploy and offer commercial adoption and well-defined, measurable valuable propositions. For example, 麻豆原创 Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (麻豆原创 Intelligent RPA) offers software robots to help companies automate processes. is an agile business platform that allows customers to easily build, automate, and execute processes on top of their existing architecture without the need to invest in coding. is data-driven and seamlessly tooled approach to understand the business operations and guide the intelligent automation journey of customers. streamlines hiring by helping recruiters and hiring managers access highly qualified candidates through an unbiased process in a much quicker manner than traditional recruiting.

One of the things I’m proudest of in 麻豆原创鈥檚 COVID-19 response is the incubation we鈥檝e been stewarding for the last two years around lending for small and midsize businesses called . We are now able to match small businesses with lending partners in Ariba Network using their invoices as a point of reference for credit. We can open up credit markets during this time where there is lack of access to capital for small businesses that desperately need it at no cost to the businesses, and at no cost to 麻豆原创 Ariba customers. And this is all because we’ve been experimenting and stewarding this forward for the last few years.

Here, Maier discusses the response to COVID-19 and explains changes to the way 麻豆原创鈥檚 new field unit, Customer Success, engages with customers.

Q: Your team is currently on the front lines of serving customers during COVID-19. What is your focus right now?

A: Our focus is squarely on protecting our employees while at the same time supporting our customers to keep their operations and supply chains running. Some industries will be impacted more than others, such as hospitality, automotive, airlines, oil and gas. If I project where this is heading — and we have already heard from customers on this — the whole topic of how to manage supply chains will be changing in a big way. Companies will want much better visibility into their supply chains and therefore analytics will play an important role.

Companies heavily dependent on supply chains want to have transparency on their dependencies. Take, for example, the manufacture of vehicles or medication: If your supply chain doesn鈥檛 have the resilience needed in a crisis, you have real problems. The industries impacted most are those that have highly optimized, long and complex supply chains — for example retail, automotive, and consumer products. Companies have built a highly material- and time-optimized supply chains, but these supply chains are also extremely vulnerable to interruptions.

How are we engaging with customers during the crisis?

A crisis always creates opportunities, and our customers are aware of that. At the same time, customers need our advice now more than ever. Therefore, the more in touch we are with our customers and the closer we listen to them to understand their current issues, the better we are going to be able to serve them in responding to the crisis and rebounding out of it.

Why was unifying the Industries, Presales, and Customer Advisory areas and moving them closer to the field so critical for 麻豆原创 and customers?

There are two very important roles at 麻豆原创: the employees who develop our solutions and those who sell them. My organization connects these two roles. The objective is to ensure essential customer experiences and needs are fed back into the development process so we build the right solutions — and better solutions — for the customer.

We support the regions and the partners. Based on our deep understanding of a customer鈥檚 industry, we offer advice. This means giving the customers very clear guidance and a road map for when to use which solution. We also need to be able to demo solutions, share best practices, and explain the value customers can expect from using 麻豆原创 solutions. For example, we are now able to bring the demo teams much closer to the teams that build the products so we will have demos much earlier to show and validate the products. This helps development teams to better understand what is resonating in the market and what is not.

It is very important to me that the strategy is developed hand-in-hand with the regions and adapted to regional requirements. A one-size-fits-all approach just doesn鈥檛 work.

What are the customers saying about their pain points?

From a product point of view, it is integration because this is absolutely vital to our customers and they have confirmed this to us again and again. is more than just a mantra. If we fix the integration and if we fix the relevance of 麻豆原创 in an industry context and we deliver what we promise, that will improve the customer experience and the net promoter score will go up. I believe we are addressing this topic with the right sense of urgency.

Our customers want to see tangible outcomes from using our products, so it is much more important today and in the future to articulate the value of our solutions.

And finally, companies want to talk to us about their core business processes, where they make money today, and what they are planning for the future. We need to make 麻豆原创 relevant in the discussion around our customers鈥� core processes. And to do that, we need to speak their industry language.

麻豆原创 is very well positioned and staffed in Europe and the Americas. How are you supporting Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) region to gain more traction?

At least before the current crisis, . We are currently preparing for this shift to the East. This year, for example, we started an incubation model, bringing in experienced employees from selected markets into APJ to support in ramping up our sales teams there. The aim is to balance our capabilities worldwide.

In China, where the epidemic began in December, life appears to be returning to a degree of normalcy, albeit slowly. Sam Li, managing director of 麻豆原创 China, talks about how the company is currently dealing with the fallout from COVID-19 in Mainland China and how it is preparing itself for economic recovery.

Q: How are you doing? And how is the spirit among 麻豆原创 China employees at the moment?

A: I believe the most difficult time for China has now passed. Our employees are in good shape, and although there are still many restrictions on business travel, which limits face-to-face contact with each other and with customers, we are managing to work productively together. For this reason, my confidence grows daily that we will master this crisis.

So far, no 麻豆原创 employee in China has tested positive for coronavirus. What measures did you take to keep employees safe and productive?

We took swift action. On January 27, as we saw the epidemic rapidly expanding in Hubei province and beyond, we immediately established a task force with representatives from all areas of our business. Together, we established sweeping guidelines to help protect employees from infection and provide any support they might need. By January 28, we had launched a mobile app that allowed us to track employees and get updates on their status and health.

In early February we established a hotline service for employees who needed any type of support, whether physical or emotional. Since employees were widely distributed and confined to their homes, we decided to create a video that brought us together virtually with the objective to fight the feeling of isolation and boost morale after weeks of confinement. I asked our creative colleague Rick Yu, Presales Innovation team manager, to make a video combining the different experiences, which resulted in a lot of positive feedback.

We also provided training courses for various collaboration and communication tools that support working remotely and even offered them to our partners and customers. These tools have increased our productivity and helped us maintain a close relationship with customers.

Are you all working from home or at the office?

Our offices opened February 17 per government guidelines and we鈥檙e sterilizing daily to keep employees safe. Conditions in China have improved to the point where we can now let employees decide whether or not they want to commute to the office. About four out of every five colleagues are currently working from home because they prefer not to take mass transit.

One of the biggest challenges we currently face is the travel restrictions between cities, which makes it very difficult to hold onsite meetings with customers. We expect this to last until the mid-year, so remote and onsite modes of working will exist side-by-side for the foreseeable future.

To help us reach customers remotely, we recently started a digital marketing campaign using online workshops.聽 Based on the challenges posed by COVID-19 in various industries, we offer different suggestions and solutions. For example, we show customers how 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors software can provide real-time monitoring of employees鈥� health and adapt employee goals to the current situation.

What positive things have you experienced during the crisis?

There were lot of inspiring acts among colleagues. Right after the outbreak, our managers realized we needed an effective way to find out how employees are doing and offer them suggestions on how to protect themselves. Wang Nan from our Analytics Presales team immediately set to work to develop a cloud application that every employee could access. Within eight hours, the app was launched and in the hands of our employees. Each could enter their location, temperature, and other vital statistics. The app, developed on 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform, was eventually expanded to the entire China sales team of 600 colleagues.

How are you helping businesses get back on their feet?

To show our support for small and medium-sized businesses, which have been the hardest hit by the crisis, we have launched two social responsibility campaigns in China. First, we are donating software products and supporting services valued at more than RMB15 million (US$2.1 million) to help SMEs in Wuhan and Hubei to establish digital systems and achieve post-disaster reconstruction. 麻豆原创 has also donated RMB6 million (US$843,000) to the to support five hospitals of the Hubei Epidemic Center, bringing total cash donations in the Hubei region to more than RMB20 million.

In line with 麻豆原创 worldwide, China is opening to all of China鈥檚 enterprises for 90 days free of charge. The solution can help China鈥檚 SMEs maintain the reliability and transparency of their supply chains, which have been disrupted by COVID-19 and ensure that critical materials reach the places they are needed.

What challenges are you currently facing in serving customers?

Strict regulation on travel between cities makes it difficult for us to provide onsite support. And many customers are not allowing visitors to their factories and offices in order to protect their employees from infection. We are doing our best to serve customers remotely.

Has COVID-19 forced you to change your focus and strategy for the year?

Our overall strategy won鈥檛 change much, but we are adapting our execution tactics to the situation. For example, we鈥檝e put on hold addressing industries that have been impacted most by the outbreak because they first need to focus on survival and recovery before investing in digitalization. These include restaurants, wineries, retail with brick-and-mortar stores, and labor-intensive manufacturing.

We expect industries such as medical, biotech, pharmaceuticals, and logistics to increase investments in digitalization sooner because the impact on them was not as large. Supply chain management, smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, as well as and employee safety and health management are also areas of increased focus.

Where are the biggest opportunities you see this year for 麻豆原创 in China? How are you addressing them?

To counter the negative impact on the economy from the coronavirus outbreak, in early March the Chinese government , totaling US$4.8 trillion. These extend beyond areas such as travel and transport to include technology investments for data centers, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and 5G networks. Such investments will provide us with a new growth engine for our business. We are currently adapting our operations to take full advantage of this opportunity for a new round of growth.

Do you think the crisis is helping tout the advantages of digitalization and the Intelligent Enterprise?

There was because workers were not able to return to the factories and lines were to shut down. A lot of customers are looking at the technology they will need to help them prepare for the next epidemic. We are actively using our technologies and solutions to help customers resume their production. Since the outbreak, more and more customers have shown interest in and cloud computing solutions to help them predict bottlenecks and make their operations more resilient.

You are in the middle of expanding offices to additional cities in Mainland China. Is this plan moving forward?

We plan to continue our expansion, but we may have to adapt our time plan depending on the speed of recovery in 2020.

What messages do you have for the other companies facing the same situation you did in January and February?

Employee health and safety should always be the top priority, whether at home, at the office or travelling. Since the impact of COVID-19 will continue on for a while, we need to ensure employee mental health and well-being while helping them to maintain stability and normalcy in their lives.

I believe we will win. The past two months were a very difficult for us, but today things are getting better and better in China. The rest of the world should know that things will also get better for them too.

Many thanks to Tina Chen, chief of staff in the office of the 麻豆原创 China MD, and Helen Tian from Internal Communications for 麻豆原创 China for their support.

By now, you probably know the elevator pitch: By bringing together experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data), decision-makers can understand not only what is happening with their business, but also why. It鈥檚 all about closing the experience gap for customers.

Ever since 麻豆原创 acquired Qualtrics in January 2019, it has made experience management (XM) a key growth catalyst for the Intelligent Enterprise strategy and is on a quest to make every company understand and apply the power of X+O. But don鈥檛 the same principles apply to 麻豆原创?

What few may be aware of is that 麻豆原创 has launched its own XM journey. The print was still fresh on the acquisition when Christian Klein, then chief operating officer and now also co-chief executive officer, put 麻豆原创鈥檚 Transformation Office to work on ways Qualtrics software could be used to improve its own processes. The goal: to create a world-class XM practice at 麻豆原创.

Turning insight into action through experience management at 麻豆原创 is a multi-year journey, but much has been accomplished inside the company over the past year, and the team from the Transformation Office has even more ambitious goals for 2020.

To find out more, 麻豆原创 News talked to Oliver Staudenmayer, program manager for the company鈥檚 TopX Experience Management program and head of Employee Experience Management at 麻豆原创, and Christian Koenig, operation expert and project lead for TopX XM at 麻豆原创.

Q: What is the goal of the Best Run TopX Experience Management Program?

Staudenmayer: Our goal is to actively design and improve experiences that our customers, partners, and employees love and enable them to run at their best. Ultimately it means transforming 麻豆原创鈥檚 internal processes by using new technologies and trends.

Q: How did you begin?

Staudenmayer: After the closing of the Qualtrics acquisition at the end of January 2019, we wanted to move fast to show benefits of combining O-data and X-data. But before we could forge ahead on the many promising use case ideas, we first had to set up one consolidated platform, establish a process for incoming X+O ideas, and build a governance model for compliance and legal requirements 鈥� for example for GDPR and data privacy.

Second, we had to by educating employees about how to 鈥淟isten, Understand, and Act.鈥� Qualtrics software is not just a research tool or data collection exercise, it requires us to follow up and act based on the input. After laying the foundation, we now need to put even greater effort into education.

Despite the large number of requests, by July 2019 we were able to select the top 10 use cases. Several are already live and some were moved into 2020 because of the steep learning curve. But this is merely the beginning, and we are already working on additional uses cases.

Q: Where did the top 10 use cases come from and how were they evaluated?

Koenig: Some ideas came from the field while others came from the Transformation Office. We scored each use case by asking: (1) Is it a strategic fit? (2) Is it a true X and O use case, rather than just X data? (3) Can it improve our top or bottom line? (4) How much effort is involved? A matrix depicting impact versus effort helped us identify the quick wins and choose the top 10.

Q: What were the most promising use cases?

Koenig: That鈥檚 hard question to answer, because great use cases are still rolling in, but here are a few:

• For customers, Net Promotor Score (NPS), which is conducted quarterly, indicates on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely a customer will recommend 麻豆原创 to others. Customer NPS is one of 麻豆原创鈥檚 main KPIs and is reported in our Annual Integrated Report.
• For products, 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud integration means customers can give direct feedback to help product engineers improve the user experience. Experience data helps developers gain insight into what users are thinking as well as whether functions, features, and design choices are actually hitting the mark.
• For employees, MyTeam Dashboard is a tool available to team managers at 麻豆原创 to support their HR-related management tasks. Based on 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, data is collected from managers to find out how helpful the dashboard is during compensation rounds and to identify training needs for managers to support them in their roles.
• The Feedback Catcher enables any employee to give feedback on whatever they like. It will be installed on the computer and on mobiles, and employees can give feedback on anything they like, whether it鈥檚 the purchasing process, online conferencing, cafeteria food, bicycle stands, etc.

Q: Do you think that Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 (Qualtrics) will change the way employees work in the future?

Koenig: The solution alone will not help us to become the experience management company. This is a journey that doesn鈥檛 happen overnight. The good news is that there is a great deal of interest in the topic and goodwill among employees. Every transformation requires a cultural change, and to become an experience company, we need to focus on the third imperative of 鈥淟isten, Understand, and Act.鈥� Acting on the feedback, showing results and transparency are key to a successful XM program.

Q: What plans do you have for 2020?

Staudenmayer: We have big plans to deliver what we are calling our 鈥渇lagship鈥� use case that seeks to integrate experience data across all four Qualtrics pillars: Customers, Products, Employees, and Brand. The goal is to achieve a holistic view over how employees are experiencing the processes across a company and then provide management with the data to act on it. The idea is that happy employees leads to happy customers 鈥� a goal that applies to every company, not just 麻豆原创.

Q: Speaking of experience management, what鈥檚 your experience been as project lead?

Staudenmayer: The good news is that there鈥檚 a great deal of attention on how XM can be applied in our daily work with customers, employees, and products. People are working together very constructively across 麻豆原创, focused on the larger goal of getting the use cases launched, so it鈥檚 been very exciting to be a part of this journey.