Keeping FC Bayern at the top is no mean feat, and the action on the pitch is supported by a global administrative team of over 1,200, in addition to the thousands of operational staff who work to deliver a seamless experience to the fans who fill the Allianz Arena for each home match. The focus on match-day operations encompasses everything from security to ticketing to retail, as well as managing one of the largest parking garages in Europe, which accommodates up to 12,000 cars that must enter and exit within a few hours.

FC Bayern’s match-day operations generate a staggering volume of data, but capturing and making sense of every fan interaction鈥攂oth in the stadium and among the hundreds of millions tuning in worldwide鈥攚as becoming a herculean undertaking. Fan data was siloed in more than 50 legacy systems, creating a fragmented information landscape that hindered FC Bayern’s ability to understand and serve its legions of fans.

Thankfully, a club that has been in the business of winning for over a century is no stranger to innovation.

Game plan: data

, head of Development and Process for FC Bayern Munich, captured the club’s challenge in a nutshell: “Everything needs data.” Everyone from the firefighters and police who supported match days to the IT teams and retail staff “needed data, and everyone needed the same perspective on the data,” Winter explained.

But the club’s data was sprawled across dozens of siloed systems, each tied to different vendors and service providers. And when it came time to make crucial match-day decisions, team members had to rely on analog, piecemeal methods of sharing information鈥攐ften through SMS and radio. As a result, no one ever had the same information at the same time.

FC Bayern needed to harness its vast amount of information with a single, integrated system that provided a unified, 360-degree view.

From silos to a streamlined system

The storied sports club has enjoyed a partnership with 麻豆原创 dating back more than a quarter of a century. Therefore, (麻豆原创 BTP) was a natural fit for the next step in the club鈥檚 digital journey. The platform includes to help capture and combine data from disparate sources and systems, including both 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems. This newly integrated data landscape provides a single source of truth across the organization, enabling real-time data analytics that not only streamline match-day operations and optimize the fan experience on-site but also provide invaluable insights to fuel long-term strategic planning.

For example, Winter explained, the club now has access to an up-to-the-minute, “high-level” overview of FC Bayern fans鈥�”how they behave, what they鈥檙e interested in, how old they are, whether they buy jerseys, whether they only go to soccer matches, whether they are already interested in basketball,” and more鈥攖hat has facilitated a much deeper understanding of fans, not only on the individual level but also across the entire fan base.

Forecasting the future

With a solid, integrated data foundation established, FC Bayern is looking ahead and will be adding AI to its technology line-up to maximize the value of its data across the organization, from amplifying process efficiency to developing robust, data-informed predictive capabilities.

For organizations looking to undertake their own digital transformations, Winter advised to not put the cart before the horse: “To use AI, you need to have good data.” And while Winter cautioned that every organization’s process is unique, he recommended listening as a good first step for everyone: “Talk to your users. What are their problems? What do they need to know? What processes are they trying to optimize?”

While the journey is not always easy, FC Bayern knows that winning is always worth the effort.

For the full FC Bayern Munich episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit 

Timo Elliott is the vice president and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创. 

Top photo courtesy of FC Bayern M眉nchen AG

Founded in 1917, the is comprised of 32 Clubs located across North America. It serves a global fan base of nearly 700 million annual spectators across in-arena, broadcast, and digital channels. With millions of fans worldwide watching and Clubs fighting for any edge they can find, the NHL needed a future-focused way to manage critical decisions shaping the game.

To develop, maintain, and grow a roster within the salary cap system’s guidelines is no small undertaking, especially given the numerous variables that change in real time. While instituting the salary cap helps maintain evenly balanced teams that deliver thrilling games, it also contributes to a complex front-office balancing act, where every potential trade or player acquisition poses a mind-numbing array of opportunities and complications, short and long term.

Across the League, Clubs develop their own roster-management approaches, each using different tools and resources. No matter the variations among the solutions, they were mainly labor-intensive, disconnected systems, which meant that teams did not necessarily have access to real-time data, let alone reliable data, or an efficient means to access and analyze the data they did have.

The NHL, however, had a vision鈥攁 unified system that would consolidate player and League data into one platform accessible to all Clubs.

The 麻豆原创-NHL Front Office App for iPad delivers on that vision by providing a centralized view of the League, down to the team level, and drilling further into player data, enabling front offices to make more informed, real-time decisions with greater accuracy and efficiency.

First steps: consolidation and collaboration

Before the League could make that vision a reality, several obstacles needed to be resolved, starting with what , VP of Digital Business Development at the NHL, described as the League鈥檚 primary pain point: disconnected, legacy data management systems. Pascal Bornet, AI and automation expert, applauded this approach, advising organizations to 鈥渟tart with the friction points.鈥�

Phase one, Foster explained, was 鈥渞eally updating our backend,鈥� consolidating all the League鈥檚 data, from contract to salary information, and combining it with player statistics and video clips on 麻豆原创 HANA Cloud.

Armed with a new database that would provide a seamless, fully connected single source of information for every NHL Club, the League was ready for its next challenge: creating a digital front-office solution that would meet the needs of 32 entirely different front offices, each with their own systems, priorities, 鈥渦se cases, day-to-day responsibilities, and current challenges with data or workflows,鈥� Foster explained.

The key to developing the League鈥檚 new application, Foster said, was leveraging 鈥渄esign-thinking principles鈥� and 鈥渁uthentic user feedback鈥� to create a single solution that would offer real added value to each user, from GMs to analysts to administrators, on each NHL team.

A power play digital solution

That disciplined, user-centered approach, combined with the NHL鈥檚 diligent attention to data consolidation, enabled the League to launch its 麻豆原创-NHL Front Office App for iPad in record time. While not mandatory, the app quickly proved its value and was rapidly adopted by all 32 Clubs. 

The app has already transformed day-to-day operations for Clubs, thanks to its ability to seamlessly access and interpret a single, reliable, and interconnected source of information on three different levels. The broadest level, the league view, offers data across the entire NHL, including current and projected salary caps for each club, off-season scenarios, and draft pick conditions; the team view breaks down the contracts of each player on the roster and provides visual cues for free agents or injured players; and the player view displays bios, contract PDFs, no-trade clauses, waiver status, performance bonuses, and even video clips of game highlights for every player in the League.

As Bornet said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the right data, instantly and everywhere.鈥� By rethinking the process first and prioritizing user needs, the League created a foundation for change鈥攐ne that keeps 鈥渉umans firmly in command鈥� and uses technology to 鈥渁mplify judgment, not replace it,鈥� Bornet added.

Foster attributed the new app鈥檚 resounding success to the processing power of (麻豆原创 BTP), which enables club-specific customizations and allows for real-time calculations to fuel mission-critical decision-making.

Playing the long game

The NHL and 麻豆原创 have a long-standing technology partnership that has powered several League-wide innovations, including NHL.com/Stats, the 麻豆原创-NHL Coaching Insights App, and NHL Venue Metrics. The Front Office App builds on this foundation and represents the next phase of the League鈥檚 digital transformation.

While the Front Office App is currently helping each NHL Club shape its team’s future, the League is continuing to look ahead. 鈥淭his is a project with a multi-year road map,鈥� Foster said.

As the NHL continues its innovation journey, it will remain laser-focused on user experience. Foster advised those looking to undertake their own digital transformation to take a page from the NHL鈥檚 playbook: 鈥淟et go of preconceived notions and realign your priorities according to user feedback. Be adaptable. Be fluid.鈥� And get excited, because 鈥渢he possibilities really are limitless.鈥�

That same approach, Bornet added, 鈥渁pplies far beyond Hockey.鈥� The NHL鈥檚 emphasis on identifying friction points and applying user-first design offers a practical template for any organization managing complex constraints and real-time decisions. Across industries, the challenge is the same: 鈥渢oo much data, too many variables, and decisions that can鈥檛 wait.鈥� The real breakthrough, he noted, 鈥渋sn鈥檛 the technology itself鈥攊t鈥檚 a mindset shift,鈥� from 鈥渁dding AI鈥� to 鈥渞emoving cognitive friction,鈥� and from 鈥渂uilding for power users鈥� to 鈥渄esigning for actual users.鈥�

Explore the episode, focused on the customer journey

Learn more about how the NHL engineered a game-changing, League-wide digital transformation:

• : Foster and Bornet talk with Thulium CEO Tamara McCleary about the untapped power of data, when it鈥檚 reliable, connected, and accessible, and how the NHL went from inspiration to iteration with the end users being essential to the transformation.

• : Foster聽talks with me about聽the process of creating a mobile app that聽meets聽the needs of 32聽distinct聽front offices, each with their own systems, use cases, day-to-day responsibilities, and priorities.

For five seasons on demand, visit .

Do you have ideas for topics or technologies we should cover, or would you like to be a guest on the show? We鈥檇 love to hear from you. E-mail us.

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创.

Bringing a sport like dressage into the digital age would be no small feat, but that is precisely the challenge Black Horse One undertook in 2016.

Partnering with 麻豆原创, Black Horse One CEO Daniel G枚hlen and his team of 12 brought a quiet digital revolution to the paper-based, tradition-bound world of equestrian sports鈥攊ntroducing digital scoring systems, streamlining event operations, and facilitating fan engagement鈥攖hat supported and enhanced the experience of trainers, athletes, judges, federations, event managers, and fans all over the world.

However, Black Horse One saw room for even more innovation in equestrian sports, particularly in addressing the operational challenges of equestrian event management and the untapped potential of the industry鈥檚 heavily siloed data.

Digital transformation unlocks boundless potential

With its 鈥渃onsistency, affordability, and proven reliability,鈥� 麻豆原创 quickly became mission-critical for Black Horse One. Building on that success, G枚hlen turned to to bring the company鈥檚 next vision to life鈥攁 digital event management system designed to transform how equestrian competitions are run. The new system delivers real-time, end-to-end oversight and streamlines every workflow, giving 鈥渟how organizers and national federations a 360-degree software鈥� that has cut event preparation time in half.

The industry quickly took note, and Black Horse One went from 100 equestrian shows a year in 15 countries to around 300 in 32 countries and from 50,000 unique users per month to as many as 3 million鈥攁n exponential increase in operations that the company supports with the same small team.

Further digitization of processes and information has helped Black Horse One dismantle the data silos that challenge many industries, especially one as rooted in tradition as equestrian sports. Data pours in from multiple sources: national federations maintain separate records for each horse, judges and audiences submit marks in real time, and organizers update competition systems on the fly. Every change must be reflected instantly, not only to maintain accurate results but also to meet fans鈥� expectations for real-time updates.

G枚hlen, himself a former equestrian athlete, explains that many seasoned trainers and riders struggle to capture and pass on their hard-earned expertise and knowledge built over decades in the arena. A platform that enables real-time recording and sharing of performance data, scoring insights, and training techniques across a global, always-on network is transforming how the dressage community preserves and transmits its know-how.

And, in a sport where animal welfare is paramount, continued technological advancement offers additional layers of information and accountability when it comes to tracking and monitoring horses, which, G枚hlen hopes, will continue to equate to happier, healthier equine athletes.

Leveraging AI in a world of tradition

Black Horse One continues to take a storied sport across new technological frontiers, leveraging 麻豆原创 BTP to help bring artificial intelligence (AI) into its offerings. The company is already using AI to analyze performance data and biomechanical metrics, delivering personalized training and technique insights. It can even generate AI announcers when human ones aren鈥檛 available. G枚hlen notes that Black Horse One is still in the early stages of exploring the 鈥渢remendous鈥� potential of AI鈥攗sing it to support and advance equestrian sport in ways that are not only exciting but also wise and effective.

G枚hlen himself offers sage advice when it comes to assuaging stakeholders鈥� fears around digital transformation and AI in particular: 鈥淧eople really need to see that the technology supports them rather than replaces them.鈥�

Real and sustainable innovation

Black Horse One鈥檚 remarkable story of leveraging technology to transform an age-old sport demonstrates that there is no company too small or industry too niche to benefit from digital transformation.

For those looking to embark on a similar journey, G枚hlen has advice: first, start with the pain points, 鈥渨here processes are currently inefficient or fragmented,鈥� and then find the technology to ensure meaningful innovation. Second, G枚hlen advises companies to earn and keep their customers鈥� trust. 鈥淚n many of our mission-critical settings, if we make a mistake, we can鈥檛 undo it. So, make sure that you choose your technology wisely,鈥� he says.

Finally, and most crucially, remember that innovation is a process, not a destination. 鈥淣ever stop learning,鈥� G枚hlen says. 鈥淓ach project should push you and your team to grow technically and strategically. This is how innovation stays real and sustainable.鈥�

For the full Black Horse One episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

The full episode

Learn more about how Black Horse One brought digital transformation to the tradition-bound world of equestrian sports.

• : G枚hlen, CEO of Black Horse One, talks with Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium, to share his motivation and journey merging tradition with technology to transform equestrian events, improving the sport and the sporting experience for athletes and audiences and winning over even the most traditional participants.
• : G枚hlen talks with me about what it took and the technologies that have resulted in a suite of applications that revolutionized the dressage world.

To access the whole series, on demand, visit .

Do you have ideas for topics or technologies we should cover, or would you like to be a guest on the show? We want to hear from you, just e-mail us.

Timo Elliottis vice president and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创.

Once perceived as a distant issue, food insecurity became a lived experience for millions as economic instability, layoffs, and shortages spiraled out of control. Even in the most affluent countries, the cracks became visible. In March 2020, a former refugee, , watched as social service agencies and food banks in his adoptive country of Switzerland were shuttered, risking enormous food waste and adding to the 745,000 people already living below the poverty line in one of the world鈥檚 most prosperous nations.

Meanwhile, an unprecedented lockdown created drastic shifts in consumer demand, and surplus food and other necessities accumulated in warehouses while families went hungry, amplifying another existing crisis: food waste. Millions of tons of food are lost annually in Switzerland alone, and food waste worldwide accounts for a quarter of the environmental impact of the entire food system.                                

As the pandemic wore on, Diare-Conde saw an opportunity to tackle two urgent challenges simultaneously 鈥� feeding people in need and reducing food waste. He founded (EfA), an entirely volunteer-run non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to eradicating hunger in Switzerland by redistributing surplus food to anyone who needs it. Essen f眉r Alle means 鈥渇ood for all.鈥�

The Right Partners, Across Generations, at the Right Time

Diare-Conde found an unlikely IT lead in then-thirteen-year-old , who coded the software that got EfA up and running, collecting and distributing food at its first location in Zurich. As the organization continued to grow, Beeler鈥檚 heroic, homegrown solution was struggling to keep up with increasingly complex logistics 鈥� coordinating the shifts of hundreds of volunteer workers, tracking the intake and distribution of thousands of pounds of food and other supplies, and keeping secure records 鈥� especially, Diare-Conde explained, since EfA鈥檚 IT lead was often otherwise occupied with school and homework.

EfA needed a secure, scalable, user-friendly solution that would help maximize the organization鈥檚 resources and supplies and, therefore, impact. Enter , who brought Diare-Conde a possible solution: perhaps Nadjmabadi鈥檚 employer could sponsor the organization鈥檚 new software and build EfA a cloud-based technology foundation. Nadjmabadi鈥檚 employer? 麻豆原创 Switzerland. Diare-Conde was quickly convinced. 麻豆原创 jumped on board, and within five months EfA鈥檚 new software, created using (麻豆原创 BTP), went live.

Streamlining Aid, Maximizing Reach

In the short time since, EfA鈥檚 user-friendly, cloud-based, mobile-optimized solution has streamlined food distribution and volunteer management 鈥� enabling the distribution of around 900 tons of food and the management of 10,000 volunteer shifts 鈥� while offering 360-degree visibility for planning and oversight and providing advanced analytics to enable further process innovation and optimization.

Of particular importance to EfA鈥檚 clients were the new solution鈥檚 stringent protocols for safeguarding sensitive personal data. 鈥淢any clients come to us asking if we can guarantee that [their] details will be kept securely, and I can say we work with 麻豆原创 so we have everything we need to guarantee secure data handling,鈥� Diare-Conde said.

By leveraging the 麻豆原创 BTP AI-enabled business optical character recognition (OCR) capability, new clients experience a seamless registration process with a passport scanner that securely captures their personal information, while returning clients benefit from a smooth and efficient check-in experience.

The scalable, cloud-based 麻豆原创 BTP solution that runs on a database as a service means that EfA鈥檚 technology solutions can quickly and efficiently evolve with the organization. 鈥淲e are constantly working on enhancements and improvements to the existing solution,鈥� Nadjmabadi said. 麻豆原创 BTP was instrumental in integrating and connecting the entire EfA landscape.

For now, every Saturday, volunteers from a database that has grown to 1,000 members distribute 20 tons of food to 2,000 people at up to five locations across Switzerland. And, Beeler explained, EfA鈥檚 impact is even more significant than these numbers suggest because some recipients are collecting food for an entire family, meaning that the organization鈥檚 dedicated volunteers serve as many as 10,000 people each week.

A Beacon of Hope

Unfortunately, demand for EfA鈥檚 services will only be increasing. In 2023, 30,223 refugees applied for asylum in Switzerland, up 20% from 2022. Diare-Conde plans to keep pace: 鈥淲e will cover almost all of Switzerland soon.鈥� And the NGO isn鈥檛 stopping there 鈥� the organization is currently exploring a partnership with a prominent German food bank.

But given that food waste is estimated to account for 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gases, EfA鈥檚 impact is already reverberating beyond Switzerland鈥檚 borders by directing thousands of tons of food that might otherwise be wasted onto the plates of people in need and by blazing a bold trail that others may follow.

For the full Essen f眉r Alle episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Technology Serving People

The human side of technology is about ensuring that technology serves people, not vice versa. Known for his thought leadership in intelligent automation and digital transformation, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 about designing and implementing technology with empathy, understanding how it impacts individuals and society. Doing so enables a future where innovation benefits everyone 鈥� ethically, inclusively, and sustainably.鈥�

Timo Elliott is VP and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创.

Those gases also include oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, neon, xenon, and krypton鈥攁ll critical to supporting processes and products in electronics, food and beverage, metals, biopharmaceuticals, and other industries.

Business demands and market realities in the dynamic gas sector are constantly in flux, so Messer relies on real-time data intelligence to stay agile and flexible in their decision-making. Increasingly hampered by siloed data and a patchwork of third-party visualization tools, Messer embarked on a digital transformation to create a next-generation data management solution worthy of the company’s high-tech, high-flying operations.

Data with a Purpose

Messer knows critical and often lifesaving business decisions require accurate, real-time intelligence and insights. explained: 鈥淭he stakes in many of the sectors that we provide gases for are really very high.鈥�

From steel plants to the semiconductor industry to intensive care units, 鈥渋t is critical that our distribution processes are operating at a level that ensures our customers are getting what they need when they need it.鈥� 

Messer was able to rise to the moment and meet the urgent needs of its customers when the COVID-19 pandemic delivered unprecedented demand for oxygen coupled with massive logistical challenges. That global crisis revealed that Messer鈥檚 legacy IT system needed an overhaul.

Messer鈥檚 siloed data was in several different databases, which meant it was time-consuming to access, and a single source of the truth was elusive. Various visualization tools also required different data formats, which slowed reporting time and bogged the IT department as it tried to manage a complex, disparate landscape, creating, as Johnston explained, 鈥渁 huge amount of complexity and a huge amount of inefficiency.鈥�

Messer CIO David Johnston sought a solution that would provide a unified source of truth and the powerful analytics tools Messer needed to give an elevated purpose to the company’s data鈥攁 new, cloud-based data management and analytics foundation for an actual data-driven enterprise. was the company鈥檚 choice.

The Modern Data Landscape Delivers

麻豆原创 BTP, with 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud, 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, and the next-generation 麻豆原创 Datasphere, provided a modern data architecture to establish a single, trusted source of truth, combining 12 data sources in one solution for mission-critical business insights.

Messer has been reaping benefits across the board, from IT and supply chain cost savings to improved customer service, inventory management, and data security. 鈥淲e started with five specific use cases that we went after,鈥� Johnston shared. 鈥淎s I sit here today, we’re at well over 200.鈥�

Messer’s new, simplified IT landscape has empowered business users, who benefit from intuitive, self-service dashboards and quick access to relevant, actionable, real-time data, as well as IT personnel, to now focus on higher-value, strategic tasks. This amounts to accelerated time-to-insight and more energy and resources available to focus on future innovation.

鈥淲ith a data fabric that allows us to see our business in a consistent, fast, reliable, and highly trustworthy way,鈥� Johnston said, 鈥渨hat we can do is really almost unlimited.鈥�

Next for Messer and Wise Advice with an Eye on AI

With Messer’s new, streamlined data management foundation, the sky is no longer the limit.

鈥淥ur objective isn’t just to deliver a suite of great dashboards and great analytics stories,鈥� Johnston explained. 鈥淥ur goal is to build out a strong, coherent, strategic data fabric that will allow us to unlock the power of AI and drive the next level of business transformation.鈥�

For other organizations hoping to build the data foundation that will send them soaring into the future, ready to capitalize on and whatever else awaits, Johnston鈥檚 advice is to frame your technology transformation as a business transformation, and a business imperative.

鈥淏ring the business community together around data,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll the key stakeholders, the influencers, and the owners of data from across the organization: bring them to the table.鈥�

The Full Episode

Messer CIO joined 麻豆原创 BTP to discuss the medical and industrial gasses industry and Messer’s digital transformation.

• : Johnston sat down with Thulium’s CEO to discuss why end-to-end data-driven insights are necessary, what technology solutions were required for the world’s largest privately owned industrial gases company to transform, and why Messer leveraged 麻豆原创 BTP to drive a complete business transformation.
• : Johnston and I discuss why and how Messer, one of the biggest suppliers of medical oxygen and other industrial mission-critical gases, built a new, cloud-based data management and analytics foundation because the future belongs to data-driven organizations, and thriving in the dynamic industrial gases sector means responding quickly to changing market conditions.

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创.

It has been challenging, though, for women entrepreneurs and their businesses to be visible in the global marketplace. Equally, it had been difficult for buyers dedicated to diversity and inclusion to identify best-in-class women-owned suppliers.

Not-for-profit , with help from 麻豆原创 partner and experts, worked to develop a solution to expedite and simplify connecting member-buyers with member-suppliers and vice versa while reducing barriers and opening doors for women entrepreneurs to the international value chains.

Connecting US$4 Trillion in Purchasing Power with Women-Owned Businesses

Women own 33% of all privately held businesses worldwide but earn only 1% of the total spend. Many organizations have a clear mandate and mission to seek out women-owned companies. Still, organizations have no easy means of discovering qualified women-owned suppliers in the vast international marketplace. Similarly, women-owned businesses have no clear path to a seat at the table in the conventional system dominated by legacy corporate giants and complex, often rigid government agencies.

WEConnect, helmed by CEO and co-founder , stepped in with a vision to bridge the gap with a solution connecting a formidable member-buyer network with a collective annual purchasing power of $4 trillion with women-owned businesses in 135 countries.

A Solution to Lower the Barriers to Supplier Onboarding

Vazquez realized the original WEConnect solution did not allow suppliers and buyers to find each other easily, it was cumbersome for suppliers to apply for certification, and the staff had problems registering and certifying global businesses because the solution only supported one language, English. A new solution had to eliminate those barriers and provide targeted, comprehensive, user-friendly searching for buyers while integrating seamlessly with buyers鈥� existing technology.

As a lean nonprofit with no IT department, WEConnect relied on the expertise of Premikati, a wholly women-owned business, and 麻豆原创, a member-buyer, to design and build WECommunity, the organization鈥檚 new, mobile-enabled solution, which helps deliver on its mission to drive revenue to women-owned suppliers around the world. 鈥淲e wanted to go straight to, what platform is the most commonly used amongst our member buyers for managing their suppliers?鈥� Vazquez recounts. 鈥淎nd it was an obvious decision that 麻豆原创 was the go-to platform for most of our member-buyers. They use some form of 麻豆原创 or multiple 麻豆原创 offerings.鈥�

Improved Search Increases Supplier Onboarding

WECommunity is a trusted self-service solution that allows 鈥渂uyers and suppliers to find each other efficiently and effectively,鈥� Vazquez explains. In addition to accomplishing that essential goal, WECommunity makes the organization鈥檚 robust network of worldwide member-buyers available in 10 of the most common languages among members. The mobile-optimized solution also includes a portal that enables women supplier members to easily register their businesses and initiate requests for certification using just their smartphones.

All the improvements, including added security features, have driven a 95% increase in certified and registered women-owned businesses in the WEConnect database. WECommunity鈥檚 streamlined, user-friendly functionality has also made WEConnect more appealing to buyers, and the organization has seen a 91% increase in membership.

100% Increase in Spending on Women-Owned Businesses

Since the launch, WECommunity-tracked spending with women-owned businesses outside the U.S. has doubled, from $4 billion to $8 billion, and the impact of those dollars has rippled far beyond the pockets of business owners. 鈥淚 am obsessed with moving as much money into the hands of women as quickly as possible because of how they reinvest in their employees, families, and communities,鈥� Vazquez says. Proving her point: in 2021 alone, the certified women-owned businesses in WEConnect鈥檚 network created 24,000 new jobs.

Preparing for a Future of Innovation

WEConnect, a , looks forward to scaling its solution to accommodate more suppliers and buyers while continuing to leverage data analytics to empower women-owned businesses. But WEConnect won鈥檛 stop there 鈥� AI and machine learning are next for added efficiencies, accuracy, and automation as the organization and its membership expand. Vazquez explains that the organization is actively conversing with 麻豆原创 and other member-buyers: 鈥淗ow do we all collaborate? How do we use AI and machine learning to find the women suppliers of the world, get them up to speed on what it takes to compete for larger contracts, and make it easier for them to connect with buyers?鈥�

With boundless ambition and limitless imagination, the future is bright for women-owned businesses and the families and communities they support.

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP at 麻豆原创.

These government funds are typically managed by a traditional provider who establishes a plan within the customer鈥檚 budget and assigns caregivers. They offer limited to no choice regarding providers and little transparency on how the funds are being spent. This inefficient and costly approach reduces available funds for actual care with limited and often unfamiliar providers.

Enter HomeMade, a startup looking to disrupt the home care sector with a transformative solution that would empower customers to not only stay in their own homes but also to oversee their spending and self-select their providers. With an initial staff of only six, HomeMade set out to create a technology platform that would deliver efficiency, flexibility, transparency, and ease of use for customers and a scalable model that would grow and evolve with the company.

A Rock-Solid Technology Foundation for a Digitally Native Startup

Technology is at the heart of HomeMade鈥檚 business model, so choosing the right technology partner and the right digital platform was essential. 鈥淲e wanted a solution that would give us that ability to scale rapidly and with confidence knowing that the rails weren’t going to fall off, because to be digitally enabled is what makes us different,鈥� , HomeMade general manager, said.

HomeMade found the perfect partner in Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, which steered the startup to (麻豆原创 BTP). In choosing the platform, HomeMade benefits from a locally hosted, high-performance cloud architecture that can scale across its network. As a React Native open-source Cloud Foundry runtime service, the HomeMade application is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy for the company to maintain and support long term. Add 麻豆原创 Integration Suite and 麻豆原创 HANA data storage into the mix and HomeMade emerged with a secure, integrated, and scalable technology foundation to offer efficient care and support to Australia鈥檚 at-home care population.

Young Company Makes an Outsize Impact

In just two years, HomeMade has grown its business to 2,500 customers and reduced new user onboarding time from 14 days to 48 hours. The company has empowered qualifying citizens to manage their budgets and choose their care while saving 14 million Australian dollars and counting.

Customers and families rave about the solution’s functionality and ease of use. HomeMade鈥檚 team members, who have grown to over 100, can happily focus on the customer instead of the endless paperwork they might find in traditional care management. Service providers appreciate timely payment, and another critical stakeholder 鈥� the Australian government 鈥� conducted a regulatory compliance audit and found that HomeMade scored 100% across 42 requirements for the Age Care Quality Safety Standards.

And this is only the beginning for a new company already making an appreciable impact. 鈥淎s the needs of HomeMade grow and evolve, the platform will grow and evolve with HomeMade,鈥� , managing director of Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, explained. For example, Ahmed continued, 鈥淲e leverage AI business services to read documents…and we’re feeling really confident that those AI services will continue to play a part in the future evolution of HomeMade as the company moves more and more towards automation and self-service.鈥�

Adding Value Through Innovation

An 麻豆原创 Innovation Award winner in 2023, HomeMade continues to grow and think creatively about how its foundational 麻豆原创 BTP-based technology can enable it to continue to innovate and add value for customers. 鈥淭here are endless opportunities,鈥� Westhorpe said, from increasing efficiency to leveraging data to identify falls or other incidents to using large language models to recognize clinical deterioration in users and launch preventative interventions.

For other startups looking to build technology solutions that will make a dramatic impact, Westhorpe offered to consider, “You want to build everything and you’ve got all these grand ideas, but what are the biggest things that will add value for customers?鈥� Ahmed adds that resilience, a strong partnership, and hard work are critical: 鈥淎dapt, learn, grow together, and accept feedback鈥o build something innovative, you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves.鈥�

The Full Episode

Special thanks to , a hub for fostering human-centered innovation, for collaborating on this on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform episode. Learn more about how HomeMade built a better solution for qualifying citizens:

• Thought leadership podcast: Thulium’s CEO sat down with Westhorpe and Ahmed to discuss the change in caring for older adults, home-based care, and how technology can deliver on a promise dedicated to purpose.
• Practitioners鈥� video: Westhorpe, Ahmed, and I discussed the challenges and opportunities in creating a world-class digital solution for a small but rapidly scaling startup.

Explore more success stories of customers leveraging 麻豆原创 BTP to help optimize processes for the sake of people and purpose:

• : This nonprofit provider of wide-ranging social services chose聽麻豆原创 BTP聽and 麻豆原创 HANA Cloud to enable extensive solution integrations, helping deliver better data connectivity and operational efficiency.
• : Administratively supporting over 1,700 dental practices, Heartland Dental leverages 麻豆原创 BTP to help improve the business assistant’s user experience, increase productivity, and reduce turnover.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and a global innovation advocate for 麻豆原创 BTP.

The tech team at took the company鈥檚 purpose 鈥� building a better working world 鈥� to heart. Supported by , a global initiative to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2030, the team made it their mission to use technology to help solve a problem: to connect countless refugees landing in Poland with the resources they need to survive. The result, the , was live within six urgent weeks.

Responding to a Need

“It was winter, and women and children were standing in long queues for necessities like milk, diapers, and blankets,” Diksha de Sousa, 麻豆原创 Core Tech at EY, recalled. “And we thought a platform can make this simpler. Resources were available 鈥� donations were streaming into NGOs working all over Poland 鈥� but organizations had no centralized database or way to share what they had available and where.鈥� So de Sousa鈥檚 team mobilized.

The development process would not be typical; this need was dire and immediate. It was about saving lives. When they reached out to other EY groups for support, the response, de Sousa said, 鈥渨as overwhelming. I think we had the UX design in three days.鈥� The EY development team worked at a breakneck pace to create the app while coordinating with NGOs on the ground in Poland and working with the marketing teams who would mobilize the app through the power of social media.

Harnessing New Technology to Deliver Impactful Solutions

鈥淲e needed automation, we needed workflow technology, and, last but not least, we needed the stable backend,鈥� so that the NGOs could upload all their data and ensure it would be stored safely, explained Oktavian Wagner, EY鈥檚 head of CT Innovation, Technology, and Architecture. And, since no one on the development team could write in Polish or Ukrainian, they also needed translation capabilities. 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) was a natural fit, not only because EY was already running close to a thousand 麻豆原创 instances but also because, as Wagner explained, 鈥渨e share the same vision: using technology to create a better world.鈥�

With 麻豆原创 Build solutions, a low-code app development and automation portfolio, and with the support of 麻豆原创 Business Accelerator Hub, the EY team brought the new EY ERA from ideation to execution in record time. While the technology was crucial, Axel Janz, global head of 麻豆原创 Products and Innovations at EY, said having live, personal support from 麻豆原创 was invaluable. 鈥淎t the end of the day, the people make the difference,鈥� Janz said.

Also crucial to EY鈥檚 whirlwind development process was a laser focus on user experience. 鈥淵ou want to make sure that the application is stable, that it’s fast, that it’s scalable, that it’s safe, but also that it’s easy to use 鈥� concentrating on what we call the workflow of the end user,鈥� Wagner said. The end user in this case was refugees. 鈥淭hey don’t want to see a commercial. They don’t want to see what else we’re doing at EY. They don’t even want to see and touch the technology. They just want to use it.鈥�

A Targeted Tool with Global Potential

EY ERA has 162 registered humanitarian aid distribution centers in 53 cities in Poland and more than 15,000 users, refugees who can find the necessities they need to care for their families. The app鈥檚 impact is already reaching beyond the borders of Poland and the ongoing crisis for Ukrainian refugees. EY ERA has also been deployed in response to Australian wildfires and is ready to adapt to other natural disasters or humanitarian crises. Whatever the future brings, EY is committed to deploying new technology to serve people in need and to build a better working world for all of us.

Interested in more stories that feature organizations creating innovative solutions to make a positive impact? Check out:

• : Swiss independent organization Essen f眉r Alle (Food for All) is better supporting its commitment to address food insecurity and hunger with a scalable and efficient solution in the cloud from 麻豆原创.
• : EY created a digital platform for financial aid applications with 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is VP and global innovation evangelist at 麻豆原创.

The HR team at gladly accepted that challenge and raised it, aiming not only to alleviate commuting-associated stress but also to streamline HR processes while incentivizing sustainable transportation alternatives. 

Overhauling Employee Transportation Benefits

With offices in major cities across Belgium and over a thousand employees grappling with a daily commute, Degroof Petercam realized that the bank鈥檚 employee transportation benefits needed a significant overhaul. Employees had to choose one mobility plan from limited options and commit to it for four years. The application process was also cumbersome, miring employees and HR staff in time-consuming, manual tasks.

Degroof Petercam needed an intuitive, flexible application to maximize employee benefits and meet their commuting preferences while encouraging sustainable commuting and minimizing administrative headaches. The bank reached out to Flexso, whose deep HR business expertise and extensive experience with 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) made it the perfect partner.

Guy Spitaels, head of HR Service Center, Payroll & Systems, explained: 鈥淲e started from a blank page, so it was really important to have a sounding board, and Flexso challenged us in each phase of the project鈥hey really played a critical role.鈥� As for the development process, Bert Van Bree, solution architect at Flexso Digital, said, 鈥淚 think our approach can be summarized as start with design thinking and then scale with architecture thinking鈥� while remembering that 鈥渢he application must really empower the employee.鈥�

Meeting the Personal Needs of Employees While Helping the Planet

Flexso鈥檚 human-centric approach, combined with the power of 麻豆原创 BTP, resulted in a new mobility app perfectly tailored for the employees and the business. The user-friendly app gives employees the flexibility to spend their yearly commuting budget on an array of options 鈥� public transportation, leasing a traditional or electric bike, leasing a gas-powered, hybrid, or electric car, or any combination of the above.

For example, an employee might choose to drive on days when they are dropping a child off at school or heading straight to the gym after work and then take public transportation at other times. The app allows users to simulate infinite combinations of different transportation scenarios to create their ideal commute. Degroof Petercam employees value 鈥渢he transparency and the flexibility of our tool,鈥� Kira Zouboff, HR business analyst, said, and the simulations allow them to 鈥減lay in the tool. They discover all of its features while they are making their own choices, meeting their personal needs.鈥�

To reduce the bank鈥檚 overall carbon footprint, the new app awards employees a 鈥済reen bonus鈥� when they choose more sustainable options, a benefit that has increased Degroof Petercam employees鈥� sustainable commutes by 50%. 鈥淲e can incentivize the reduction of our carbon footprint while offering a very flexible solution, and the fact that the tool is consolidating all of the data helps us report on long-term sustainability solutions in line with all of the initiatives that are led by our group sustainability manager,鈥� Zouboff explained.

Efficiency Improvements for HR

As for the HR team, the new mobility app automatically assigns each employee鈥檚 transportation budget and provides a real-time view of employee choices and requests through the user-friendly administrative platform. After the app’s rollout, Degroof Petercam saw a 75% improvement in efficiency around the administration of mobility benefits.

The mobility app is also a powerful recruitment tool for like-minded top talent. 鈥淚 think our large and flexible mobility offer is absolutely an asset in the war for talent,鈥� Spitaels said.

The Full Episode

The guests from Degroof Petercam 鈥� , , and 鈥� joined , to discuss the origins and implementation of the app:

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree shared insights behind Degroof Petercam鈥檚 inspiring move to offer sustainable transportation alternatives as a benefit to its employees in an easy-to-use mobility app.

• : Spitaels, Zouboff, and Van Bree continued the conversation and dug deeper into how real-time integrations with mobility providers and an intuitive app interface came together to help employees better understand the impact of their transportation choices.

Empowering Employees by Focusing on Their Well-Being

A recent Harvard Business Review article argues that a daily commute is an important ritual that can increase employee well-being and job satisfaction. At Degroof Petercam, current and future employees are empowered to create a daily routine that works for them 鈥� walking, biking, driving, public transporting, or carpooling to a perfect day.

Interested in more stories that feature companies innovating for people, productivity, and the planet? Check out:

• : As one of Europe鈥檚 leading frozen food brands, FRoSTA is committed to sustainability and environmental protection. The company aims to be a digital champion in the frozen food sector by 2025. Ultimately, FRoSTA鈥檚 employees will help bring about this change, reduce the company鈥檚 environmental impact, and drive its success.
• : In 2022, Cepsa presented its new strategic plan for 2030, 鈥淧ositive Motion,鈥� which projects the company鈥檚 ambition to be a leader in sustainable mobility, biofuels, and green hydrogen in Spain and Portugal and become a benchmark in the energy transition. Cepsa places customers at the heart of its business and will work with them to help them advance their decarbonization goals.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate at 麻豆原创.