Perhaps surprisingly, private equity firms are a huge driver of this trend, whether via investments in solar, wind, biomass, or some other type of renewable energy. These companies recognize not only the social, humanitarian benefit but the economic benefit of renewables: low-cost power, reduced dependence on imported fuel, and more secure, reliable energy supply.

The numbers bear out this trend. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, private equity and venture capital transactions in the global renewable energy sector reached , the highest total in the last five years. More so, funds raised in recent years are approaching the value of fossil fuel asset fundraising, per The Impact Investor.

However, there are challenges inherent in this tectonic shift. With broader strategic change in how we produce and consume energy comes more narrow change – and difficulties – in areas like engineering, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain management, human resources, and finance. These areas make it hard for private equity investors to easily operate and scale businesses, highlighting the present need and opportunity for scalable, cost-effective solutions that truly support the renewable space’s growth and future success.

With Great Power…

A crucial element of today’s state of play in the renewables space is the rapid acceleration in load growth made manifest by today’s technology advancements. Whether it be ChatGPT, Bitcoin, or some other artificial intelligence- or machine learning-related innovation, our tools are requiring more energy production and consumption than ever.

That means there is expansive economic benefit to finding cheaper, faster, less energy-consuming ways to run these tools and solutions – not to mention widespread social benefit.

Companies across the industry are already embracing �鶹ԭ�� solutions to use less energy, improve business operations, and meet sustainability goals. One global market leader in energy storage solutions and services recently selected �鶹ԭ�� to help it scale faster, improve supply chain visibility, and boost overall efficiency. Another business – an established provider and owner of clean energy solutions nationwide for commercial and industrial businesses – chose �鶹ԭ�� to help amplify its growth efforts via the acceleration of its ability to both scale and innovate in the energy space.

By iterating and streamlining processes to meet modern needs, companies like these can not only equip themselves for success today but for success tomorrow, as they grow and change alongside the evolving and progressing energy transition.

…Comes Great Capability

In our current industry moment, renewable energy companies demand unparalleled visibility and insights into financing, projects, operations, and more. Whether it be land acquisition, asset construction, or maintenance, a centralized data model that facilitates intelligent business insights is vital. It’s how you empower everyone in the organization to make informed decisions that drive the company forward.

Take supply chain management. Renewable energy companies can’t just order new parts or materials with a short delivery time. Some of the materials necessary for renewable energy products, like graphite, have order lead times spanning years rather than months. Top technology solutions will meet engineering requirements for things like storage, transportation, and integration of natural resources into the production process so that they can ensure supply chain management goals are met. In short, efficient and effective development and implementation of renewable assets requires careful management of the supply chain.

So, yes, these companies and their private equity backers are innovating toward a cleaner future. But they may not always have the time or resources to fully innovate and advance their business processes, sometimes resorting to manual ones that slow things down and add risk. Companies like �鶹ԭ�� can offer a seamless platform for managing these enterprises’ various business needs, in an integrated way that can enable them to focus on their core business and not have to worry about IT risks.

No matter where a renewable company is on their journey, �鶹ԭ�� and its partners have solutions that can automate and optimize core business processes to help meet their maximum potential. This is due to elements like:

• Centralized ERP data providing a single source of truth and improved decision-making ability
• Fully managed supply chain procurement and logistics, with deep supplier networks
• Faster ROI thanks to repeatable, trustworthy, and accurate processes empowering business users

These seamless integrations and true end-to-end insights will power renewable companies well into the future, so that they can power us as well.

A Brighter Tomorrow

Leading private equity firms are leading for a reason. They see what’s possible in the renewable energy space and recognize the tremendous economic and social benefits that are available. For them, digital transformation is the skeleton key for unlocking a bigger and better future – one where they can easily scale up or down depending on their needs.

Leading ERP solutions can meet these companies where they are, with the speed and flexibility necessary to streamline business processes and build on them in exponential ways.

For the renewables space, it’s about setting the foundation for whatever comes next – not just for individual companies, but for our world and the way we all consume energy.

Mark Hollis is an industry executive advisor for Renewable Energy & Utilities at �鶹ԭ��.

On top of that, we still need to foster relationships with suppliers, manage costs, address sustainability mandates, and build resilient supply chains — all while transforming procurement into a more strategic business function. Not surprisingly, procurement leaders are looking to the next wave of technology to help them position their organizations to adapt quickly to changing conditions.

For many, moving key business processes to the cloud represents that “next wave” and for that, is the perfect option.

The RISE with �鶹ԭ�� solution is a managed cloud offering that enables a smooth, secure migration of on-premises ERP, including �鶹ԭ�� ERP and �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, to the cloud. Its holistic approach to business transformation empowers organizations to better adapt to changing market dynamics and innovate more quickly.

Businesses can leverage RISE with �鶹ԭ�� to modernize their IT infrastructure, optimize and automate key processes, and unlock new levels of efficiency. They can also harness the power of data and analytics to make informed decisions, enabling them to achieve their business goals more effectively and efficiently.

The Challenge for Procurement: Extending Digital Transformation to Suppliers

For many years, “digital transformation” has been the hot trend for business functions, including procurement. Organizations are moving their internal business operations from manual processes and disparate software applications to integrated ERP systems. These systems are starting to leverage generative AI to improve the user experience, digitalize manual processes, and accelerate strategic decision making.

This is a win for the business with one caveat: “traditional” digital transformation does not go beyond the four walls of the organization. This creates a challenge for procurement because suppliers operate outside those four walls, where communication can be anything but digitalized. In fact, * revealed that 68% of respondents use email to transmit and receive data and documents for procurement and supply chain collaboration. Other methods include telephone (44%), supplier/customer portals (38%), and EDI (26%).

Given the technology available today, this is not only unproductive, but it also is completely unnecessary. With , �鶹ԭ�� offers a premium plus edition that includes �鶹ԭ�� Business Network for Procurement. This enables businesses to extend the digital transformation of business processes outside their walls.

Better Collaboration, Faster Invoice Processing, and an Improved User Experience

is a cloud-based collaboration offering that gives buyers and suppliers a way to find each other and do business within a single, networked platform. The network makes it possible for organizations to:

• Exchange data and documents digitally with suppliers, eliminating the need for phone calls, faxes, emails, or snail mail
• Achieve enhanced spend visibility and compliance
• Access a marketplace of suppliers to ensure business resilience, diverse spending, and alignment with sustainability objectives

Additionally, improved transactional operations and invoice status visibility enable better working capital management for stronger trading partner relationships. Finance colleagues can enjoy a faster month-end close due to improved accounts payable efficiencies and increased procurement and payment compliance.

�鶹ԭ�� Business Network for Procurement Extends �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud

When RISE with �鶹ԭ�� is combined with �鶹ԭ�� Business Network for Procurement, procurement teams can collaborate digitally with suppliers across procurement and invoicing processes. This dramatically improves transactional efficiency.

A natural extension of ERP, �鶹ԭ�� Business Network provides an environment in which procurement processes initiated from �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud can be transmitted digitally to suppliers. As a result, suppliers can view and generate transactions like orders, order confirmations, ship notices, and invoices, and then act quickly to accelerate the procure-to-pay process.

�鶹ԭ�� Business Network for Procurement improves process efficiency in many areas, including:

• Purchase order processing: Digital purchase orders that are created in ERP are sent automatically to suppliers. Once confirmed by the supplier, buyers have visibility into order acceptance and delivery dates.
• Invoice payment status: Invoice and payment status information is available on the �鶹ԭ�� Business Network dashboard to update suppliers, eliminating the need for phone calls.
• Invoicing business rules: Buyers have the flexibility to configure applicable business rules that require adherence to business process and regulatory compliance.
• Change order update: Buyers and suppliers can communicate changes to open purchase orders, which creates an auditable record of changes and variations. Related documents, such as shipping notices, are also synchronized with updates.
• Payment compliance: Quick invoice processing and data accuracy minimizes wrong or duplicate payments, while improving accounting processes and overall financial visibility.
• Supplier collaboration: Digitalization enables quicker feedback from suppliers, making it possible for suppliers to “flip” purchase orders into confirmations and invoices, reducing errors and manual effort.
• Promotional opportunities: Networked suppliers have additional opportunities to grow their business by using the network to promote their offerings and connect with new customers.

The Next Wave of Digital Transformation

When you invest in RISE with �鶹ԭ��, you are enabling your business to migrate core business processes to the cloud. By complementing this solution with �鶹ԭ�� Business Network, you extend your digital transformation to interactions with trading partners though a single, end-to-end technology landscape built on standardized processes and consistent data.

This is the next wave of technology that will enable you to address the ever-growing list of business challenges you wake up and face every day.

is chief marketing and solutions officer of Intelligent Spend and Business Network at �鶹ԭ��.

*, doc #US50854723, July 2023

Deutsche Telekom is the first enterprise to implement RISE with �鶹ԭ�� through �鶹ԭ��’s recently expanded partnership with , marking a significant milestone in the relationship between �鶹ԭ�� and Deutsche Telekom.

As Europe’s largest telecommunications provider, with more than 252 million mobile customers, 25 million fixed-network lines and 22 million broadband lines, Deutsche Telekom operates in more than 50 countries. Aligned with the company’s vision to be the leading digital telecommunications provider in the world, Deutsche Telekom has chosen RISE with �鶹ԭ�� to transform a major part of its ERP landscape to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud. As a premium supplier of RISE with �鶹ԭ��, T-Systems will migrate, consolidate and manage more than 300 systems into the public and private cloud using T-Systems’ Future Cloud Infrastructure (FCI) and select hyperscalers. This is designed to enable customers to meet all German and European data protection requirements, as well as to benefit from tailored migration and orchestration of complex landscapes.

Peter Leukert, chief information officer of Deutsche Telekom, said, “�鶹ԭ�� is a trusted and important partner for Deutsche Telekom in both reliably running core business processes and accelerating innovation in the cloud. Through RISE with �鶹ԭ��, we can drive business transformation and take our partnership to new heights. With �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, Deutsche Telekom will be able to drive efficiency across key business functions such as logistics, procurement and finance.”

“Deutsche Telekom’s decision to select RISE with �鶹ԭ�� to migrate and streamline more than 300 of their systems to the cloud marks an important milestone in their business transformation and continues a long history of our two companies innovating together for our customers,” said Scott Russell, member of the executive board of �鶹ԭ�� SE, customer success. “This investment by Deutsche Telekom will give them new capabilities, drive greater efficiencies, and allow them to access key insights from across their enterprise so they can adjust to changing market conditions and seize new opportunities faster than they could before. We look forward to supporting Deutsche Telekom in this exciting new era of their cloud transformation.”

As a premium supplier of RISE with �鶹ԭ��, T-Systems offers “,” a collection of end-to-end transformation services that includes consulting, migration, implementation and operation of RISE with �鶹ԭ�� and support for RISE with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.

Visit the �鶹ԭ�� News Center. Follow �鶹ԭ�� at .

About �鶹ԭ��

�鶹ԭ��’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: �鶹ԭ�� customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. �鶹ԭ�� helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 26 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, �鶹ԭ�� helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit .

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It will modernize the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and benefit nearly 30,000 global employees through integrating advanced functionalities, such as enabling global manufacturing, supply chain and finance business processes. This achievement signifies the third crucial phase in Seagate’s digital transformation journey, complementing for Supply Chain and �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors solutions.

Seagate embarked on this transformative path in 2021, transitioning from its legacy systems to embrace �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors, and �鶹ԭ�� Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain.

“We chose �鶹ԭ�� solutions for our integrated ERP landscape because its strategy closely aligns with our own: to implement a foundational platform on which the business can scale and grow,” said Grace Liu, senior vice president and chief information officer at Seagate.

Seagate’s leadership recognized the limitations of its existing ERP, prompting the need for an integrated platform to keep pace with evolving business models. �鶹ԭ�� solutions address these challenges, offering an integrated ERP landscape with centralized business rules and roles. The implementation aims to enable unified global reporting, overcoming hurdles posed by diverse data repositories and laying the foundation for scalable growth while minimizing total cost of ownership (TCO).

The go-live phase was executed efficiently, without operational disruptions, reflecting �鶹ԭ��’s commitment to a smooth transition. Seagate’s reliance solely on the �鶹ԭ�� Value Assurance program underscored the efficiency of collaboration, while the use of cloud application services for pre-go-live testing ensured a robust launch.

Seagate’s move to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA will provide the company with significant improvements in supply chain management, manufacturing execution, and even ongoing transformation. This recent go-live highlights the transformative power of �鶹ԭ��’s innovative solutions and strategic guidance in driving digital transformation for its customers.

Visit the . Follow �鶹ԭ�� at .

Media Contact:
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This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ.  Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of �鶹ԭ��’s 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
© 2024 �鶹ԭ�� SE. All rights reserved.
�鶹ԭ�� and other �鶹ԭ�� products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of �鶹ԭ�� SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

Over the last year, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm and captured our collective imagination – and it has been a clear focus for us. We see a lot of potential in how AI can improve user and organizational productivity: doing things faster, making better decisions, and automating business processes. We have been embedding intelligent capabilities in our product regularly and will continue to invest in AI to help organizations be successful. 

Simply Ask Joule

Available through the , Joule, our AI-powered copilot, can redefine user interaction, streamline business processes, and enhance productivity. It can offer quick, contextual access to content and applications; users can simply ask Joule for guidance and get pointed in the right direction.

Catch a glimpse into the future of AI in ERP and find more information about the development of AI and Joule in �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition .

Improve Productivity with Embedded AI

The 2402 update also enhances productivity across various business processes through embedded AI capabilities. Examples include:

• helps accelerate sales order creation and processing by providing smart input field recommendations.

• helps streamline material inspection for customer returns, enhancing logistical efficiency and flexibility.

Adopt a Modern and Collaborative User Experience

The launch of spaces and pages in the �鶹ԭ�� Fiori design system can offer a more intuitive user experience, enabling better task organization and quicker resource access. Highlights include:

• The helps enhance personalization for end users, including personalization export/import and improved language support for System News. Watch a to learn more.
• facilitates information sharing in Microsoft Teams, helping to enhance collaborative efforts across platforms. Watch a to see it action.

• Contact card collaboration is now possible by initiating chats, calls, or video meetings directly from the . Watch a to see how.

Transforming to Intelligent and Sustainable Finance

One important aspect is treasury and risk management, . Our latest finance enhancements are specifically designed to help elevate businesses into sustainable, intelligent enterprises:

• can increase transparency and process health, helping to ensure a more robust compliance structure in your financial operations.

• in �鶹ԭ�� Analytics Cloud allows planning alongside economic sustainability goals. This can provide a dual perspective on financial metrics and environmental impact, aiding in the development of eco-responsible strategies and identification of related financial risks.

• The focuses on seamless data management for enhanced efficiency in real estate and contract management processes.

Powering Service-Centric Companies

We have seen a spike in service-centric companies using �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and were named a leader in this area by . Based on feedback from our customers and partners, we are continuously improving the product experience. Examples include:

• The can offer a detailed project overview, enabling managers to monitor project health and address issues like missing time entries, pending invoices, or unassigned roles. This can allow for more proactive and efficient project management.

• The improved billing solution helps prevent revenue losses and streamline billing processes for increased flexibility and accuracy. Enhancements include , , and , all within the Manage Project Billing app.
• The �鶹ԭ�� Business Technology Platform (�鶹ԭ�� BTP)-based module of �鶹ԭ�� Subscription Billing is tightly and seamlessly integrated. It can support customers’ transitions to subscription-based commercial models. Effective and detailed profitability analysis becomes instrumental to maximize revenue with tailored subscription-pricing models with the . Take a look at our brand-new .
• Advanced solution order management can elevate your sales strategies. By , we provide the tools to help enhance your solution selling approach, working to ensure that every sales opportunity is maximized for optimal results, enhancing the process from ordering to billing and accounting.

Boosting Manufacturing and Product-Centric Companies

The enhancements for product-centric companies help elevate operational efficiency, streamline processes, and unlock new revenue opportunities. . Highlights of the 2402 update include:

• For manufacturing sectors operating under the produce and sell standard products model, we now offer . This synergy allows you to leverage comprehensive data insights for precise production planning, helping to ensure that your manufacturing processes align seamlessly with market demand.
• is tailored for businesses in a two-tier ERP setting and can simplify direct shipments from suppliers to customers with enhanced order fulfillment, greater sourcing flexibility, and reduced logistical expenses.

• The helps improve the combined sales of a physical good and a service and enables you to increase revenue by selling combinations of physical products, one-time services, and recurring services. This also helps to avoid errors and reduce manual effort.

Enhancing Global Reach

We further invested in localization, so our software complies with local regulations and cultural norms:

• With the 2402 update we are to meet specific regional requirements.
• We , responding to customer needs and enhancing local compatibility.
• We enhanced scope in our Customer Local Version countries (formerly CLT) to include baseline, finance, and now product-centric capabilities, catering to a wider range of customer needs.

And So Much More…

Throughout this year, we will deliver many more innovations that help bring value to your business. For more details around what is being delivered for the 2402 update, see the . For more information on �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition:

• Watch product videos on our 
• Explore the early release webinar series 
• See what’s new 
• Visit on the �鶹ԭ�� Help Portal site
• Explore extensibility options by leveraging sample scenarios from �鶹ԭ�� in the tool
• Learn more about

Arpan Shah is SVP of Public Cloud ERP Product Management at �鶹ԭ��.

This strategic move laid the foundation for future innovation targets and enables Fresenius to improve scalability, enhance application security and drive the digitalization of its global business processes.

The migration encompassed a wide range of systems, including ERP systems for core business processes in finance, manufacturing, supply chain and procurement as well as CRM system among others.

“The cloud migration is accelerating our #FutureFresenius journey. The ability to scale our IT landscape more flexibly enables us to gain efficiency and to adapt to changes faster,” said Michael Sen, CEO, Fresenius. “Digitizing our organization and the healthcare industry requires scalable platforms and working in ecosystems with internal and external partners. Digitization will be a key enabler for our business to advance patient care.”

“We are excited to partner with Fresenius on their digital transformation journey with RISE with �鶹ԭ��,” said Christian Klein, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of �鶹ԭ�� SE. “Our solutions will empower Fresenius to streamline operations, enhance efficiency and deliver even more exceptional value to its patients and customers.”

The migration project involved extensive collaboration between Fresenius and �鶹ԭ�� where 29 system landscapes containing 134 systems were migrated to the cloud smoothly and in record time of less than 15 months. The project’s completion sets the stage for Fresenius to leverage the full potential of the latest �鶹ԭ�� technologies, including �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, to accelerate innovation and deliver exceptional value to the Fresenius Group.

The migration has resulted in improved security and resilience of all �鶹ԭ�� systems. It allows the company to identify and resolve issues before they impact the business through delays or outages. The migrated systems show better performance in general.

“We have a long and successful history of working with �鶹ԭ�� for 30 years now. We’re thrilled with the outcome of the cloud migration. It is proof that all the hard work and close collaboration on challenges has paid off. The dedication, expertise and collaboration of everyone involved has been instrumental in achieving this significant milestone. As we move forward, we’re confident that the cloud transformation will empower our organization to innovate and excel in today’s competitive healthcare market,” said Ingo Elfering, CIO, Fresenius Group. “Migrating our core databases to the cloud with RISE with �鶹ԭ�� will also provide a secure and stable platform for our future �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA journey.”

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This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of �鶹ԭ��’s 2022 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
© 2023 �鶹ԭ�� SE. All rights reserved.
�鶹ԭ�� and other �鶹ԭ�� products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of �鶹ԭ�� SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

Delek US – a North American energy operator with midstream, downstream, and retail oil and gas assets in the Southwest United States – is one such customer as well as one of the earliest adopters of RISE with �鶹ԭ��.

I recently had a chance to connect with the leadership team at Delek US to get an update on how their RISE with �鶹ԭ�� journey is going.

Drowning in Complexity

Over the past 20 years, Delek US has made a number of strategic acquisitions, always with the goal of positively impacting its shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which it operates. With each acquisition came a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to integrate – and technical challenges.

Delek US found itself with more than 6,000 customizations – or code modifications that change the way an ERP system works – and the volume and complexity of these customizations made it virtually impossible for Delek US to get the most value out of its ERP.

“We were previously at a point where every change had the potential to create an unwanted impact due to the modifications that had to be done,” said John Paul Palelil, senior director of ERP & Business Applications at Delek US.

Its complex ERP environment was also creating roadblocks and leading to a lack of utilization. Some employees were unaware of how to use the system for certain data management tasks. Others took to relying on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track information. Delek US knew it had to change, but how best to do that with such a highly customized ERP landscape?

“To me, the biggest story of this project is how a company can go from 6,000 modifications to zero,” said Nir Yatziv, CIO for Delek US. “That’s what Delek US brings to the table, the understanding that we needed to listen, evaluate, and ask how we can make it work.”

Embracing Standardization

In working with �鶹ԭ�� to assess the situation, Delek US realized it had an opportunity to leverage the RISE with �鶹ԭ�� solution to standardize on �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud and also demonstrate its commitment to change management by adopting �鶹ԭ�� standard content activation best practices.

“I don’t think of �鶹ԭ�� as just an ERP,” Palelil said. “I think of it as an all-encompassing solution.”

Standardizing with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud and �鶹ԭ�� standard content activation represented a technology and process game changer for Delek US. It would give the company a unified ERP with a single instance of �鶹ԭ��, digitally transform all in-scope processes to best practices, and improve maintainability. This prize outweighed the required change management, which Delek US addressed head-on.

According to Delek US’s executive sponsor and CFO Reuven Spiegel, “The keys to success were detailed pre-project preparation, ‘out-of-the-box’ implementation, and a strong change management program.”

Managing through Change

Digital transformation is a complex puzzle of people, processes, and technology. Delek US found that and �鶹ԭ�� standard content activation provided the base technology and process pieces, which allowed Delek US to focus on its people.

Employees can be reluctant to change the way they work, leading to potential conflict among workers and management. There are also times when an organization adopts new technologies, only to find that its workers continuously go back to the systems and processes they’ve grown accustomed to using.

Delek US’s leaders, though, understood the challenge and developed a robust set of project controls and tight governance to maximize adoption and readiness. In addition, a heavy emphasis was placed on business function ownership – they didn’t want this to be viewed as merely an “IT project.”

Marie Sutton, senior director of Technology Strategy and Delivery at Delek US, shared: “We were very intentional with all elements of our project plan and execution to maximize our probability of success. Beyond the ‘what,’ we focused on culture to maintain an attitude of ‘how can we make this work.’”

Well-Earned Success

Delek US completed its implementation of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud in October 2022 on time, on budget, and on scope – a total of 13 months from initial assessment to go-live for delivery of a full ERP solution.

“The day before go-live I sent people home at noon,” Palelil said. “Never in seven projects have I had that much breathing room.”

Delek US is already seeing benefits and has a clear path to capture more value leveraging its modern cloud ERP. Immediate benefits beyond full standardization were recognized in areas such as order processing, inventory management, and bank reconciliation.

“Previously, we had to review multiple systems to receive an accurate count on things like how much equipment we had in the warehouse,” Yatziv said. “Now with our �鶹ԭ�� system, we have the data presented in real time.”

Ready for What’s Ahead

Delek US is expecting bigger and better things from �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud in the foreseeable future. For instance, the company is using it to gather data and intelligence that further support its corporate governance and stewardship initiatives. It’s also continuing to look for new opportunities to integrate �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud advanced tools and technologies into its operations.

Delek US is also committed to improving its social and environmental performance, having recently launched its first greenhouse gas reduction targets, and maintains high standards of corporate governance. It’s also dedicated to finding ways to listen, evaluate, and understand how to make digital tools and transformation truly work.

Companies in every industry that are struggling with the complexities of their ERP system can learn from Delek US’s RISE with �鶹ԭ�� journey to start a cloud ERP journey of their own.

“We did it,” said Yatziv. “It was not easy, but we accomplished it.”

John Tully is senior vice president and managing director of the NA South Market Unit at �鶹ԭ��.

In my conversations with Paul Saunders, head of Product Strategy for �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, he says “ERP is like music.” Whether its baroque, rock and roll, or punk rock, music is structured upon the same core building blocks, yet this essential core structure has been the basis for innumerable musical genres and flavors throughout history.

In Saunders’ view, ERP is no different.

The core purpose of ERP has always been to help customers manage their business functions within a centralized and integrated system, yet ERP has undergone significant changes since the 1960s. It incorporated customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain, evolved toward cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), and fundamentally recharacterized itself as agile, nimble, collaborative, mobile-friendly, and data driven. Like music, says Saunders, “ERP exists to provide for the audience of the moment.”

For some customers, selecting the right ERP deployment option to suit their business needs is not quite as straightforward as choosing new vinyl at the record store. And for current on-premise ERP customers, some of which may not have run an upgrade in years, the prospect of change can feel overwhelming. �鶹ԭ�� is ready to guide them through it and accompany them on the journey.

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The Next Step for ERP Customers

As is often the case in life, it’s first about defining the what before the how. At �鶹ԭ��, we encourage customers to ask themselves: “Where do I want my business to be in the next five to 10 years?” The intention should be clear from the start. If you can already answer this in one succinct sentence, you’re already well on your way.

Next, it’s about the how: “What technology is best fit for purpose to make my company’s ambition a reality?” �鶹ԭ��’s purpose is always to have open and honest conversations about which technologies can help get customers to where they want to be. �鶹ԭ�� ECC customers should carefully weigh up their options in conversation with �鶹ԭ��, without blindly jumping on the cloud bandwagon.

As Cedric Price rightfully said, “Technology is the answer, but what is the question?” Customers should first be clear on the destination before they start their transformation journey.

�鶹ԭ��’s job is to support customers in this process, and translate business needs into solution offerings that work — that applies to all customers.

Perhaps you’re a business owner looking for cost-effective, easy-access technological solutions to get your company up and running. Public cloud could be the perfect deployment option. For a large multinational that wants the freedom to customize elements of your own cloud infrastructure, a private cloud might be an ideal solution. Perhaps you want to exploit the flexibility and innovation of public cloud, while keeping sensitive data in your own data center to meet certain regulatory requirements. In that case, a hybrid deployment model could be a good fit.

For an �鶹ԭ�� ECC customer, for whom this all sounds a bit overwhelming, there are plenty of options — whether continuing to run �鶹ԭ�� ECC standard support or starting the next conversation with �鶹ԭ�� about how we can help you drive innovative value that differentiates you to your customers.

There is no right or wrong approach; there is just the best approach for your business and �鶹ԭ�� can help you find that.

At �鶹ԭ��, we are proud to have an ERP solution for every business need.

Laura Marwood is a product strategist for �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.

As 2022 draws to a close, the year looks much like 2021, with supply chain disruptions still plaguing consumers and companies, costs continuing to rise, and the added threat of recession.

What �鶹ԭ�� has heard from customers both last year and this year is that to address these ongoing challenges, they want to digitalize their business to have more visibility, more control, and a better user experience. Simplifying procurement is central to their improvement plans.

Industry research supports these personal anecdotes. In an Economist Impact report commissioned by �鶹ԭ��, “,” C-level executives talked candidly about their procurement goals and challenges.

The introduced in �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement, private cloud edition, both address respondent challenges and support their goals. Here’s how I see the data lining up with .

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA is no longer a prerequisite for �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement.

Large enterprises often have dozens to hundreds of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. These systems are not connected, which creates difficult to access, siloed data. Moving these disparate systems to �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement had required �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA or RISE with �鶹ԭ��, but that is no longer the case. �鶹ԭ�� ECC customers and others can gain access to �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement, private cloud edition, without first starting an �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA implementation.

The flexibility offered by the private cloud edition of �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement can help organizations reduce the complexity of multiple back-end systems and move toward digitalization while keeping an eye on their budget. It also enables them to continue using familiar systems without facing the disruption of migrating to a new technology.

Mass changes are possible for price conditions and custom fields in central contracts.

Large organizations can have as many as 3,000 line items that are distributed across back-end ERPs. The new feature means a user can add and update mass changes to price conditions using Microsoft Excel at item level and hierarchy level and distribute the changes across multiple backend ERPs.

This type of improved management is among the top focus areas for delivering increased value in procurement, based on survey findings. The list of focus areas includes cost savings, risk reduction, inventory management, and category management implementation/improvement. Category management also emerged as the second biggest driver of digital transformation. With every new release of �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement, we aim to add features that make it easier for procurement managers and their teams to do their jobs.

Integration with �鶹ԭ�� Ariba simplifies RFP process allows quick ad hoc buying.

Within �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement, private cloud edition, central sourcing is now integrated with �鶹ԭ�� Ariba solutions. Having quick access to this global business network means improved supplier discovery, faster price updates, and a simpler process for ad hoc buys. Procurement managers can bundle various demands into their requests for proposal (RFPs), source across multiple back ends, negotiate better pricing on purchase contracts, and requisition price updates through the �鶹ԭ�� Business Network Discovery.

The full integration addresses respondents’ concerns about budget constraints. The research also points out that supply chain visibility has not improved during the past two years. In 2018, 65% of procurement professionals said they lacked visibility into their supply chain and the numbers have only worsened, with 90% of organizations rating their supply chain visibility as moderate to very low. Integration to �鶹ԭ�� Ariba improves visibility and offers benefits across both purchasing and selling.

Customers and industry analysts are giving these three new features lots of positive feedback, but they are not the only improvements in this recent release. Find out more about the private cloud edition of �鶹ԭ�� Central Procurement .

Features to Look Forward to in Future Releases

�鶹ԭ�� strives to be transparent about features that are in the pipeline. For 2023, we are excited to talk about two new features on the road map. The first is the addition of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation, which are among the biggest innovations being added to platforms to improve management, reduce errors, and increase productivity.

In the first quarter, our engineers plan to add a feature for intelligent recommendations that will support source to order across disconnected ERPs. This new feature will be especially valuable for companies that have different material classifications for the same product. When procuring raw materials, for example, the material group (classification) may be hardware in one system and connector in another system. In an upcoming release, AI will look at data across different ERP systems and intelligently recommend the more accurate material group. Hardware, from the previous example, would be changed to connector. These types of intelligent recommendations will be made across the disconnected ERPs. Overall, embedding AI and machine learning in the platform will open up more opportunities for automation improvements.

Unified key mapping is another improvement we look forward to releasing. This feature eases procurement management by enabling integration with third parties in heterogenous landscapes and in those that do not use �鶹ԭ�� solutions for ERP.

Altogether, the new features in the current release and the planned features for upcoming releases are exciting achievements for �鶹ԭ��. More importantly, our customers are on the winning side as they gain the visibility they need, improve user experience, and move further in their journey of digital transformation.

Salvatore Lombardo is senior vice president, chief product officer, and head of Engineering for �鶹ԭ�� Procurement.

However, some organizations put off integrating HR software with other areas of the business. To better understand the challenges that organizations face with enterprise technology, �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors interviewed leaders in HR, finance, IT, and other operations at large and midmarket companies. Some of the comments that stood out include: “It’s a complicated dance to integrate the data.” “It’s hard to know how many people we have – let alone what they’re working on.” “How do we use data to tell our people story?”

These business leaders were aware of the benefits of connected cloud ERP and HXM. What was the barrier to investment? It was their organization’s technology strategy. As one member of the group summarized, “Ownership or what’s on fire – it’s impacting our ability to make strategic investment decisions.”

Carrie Klauss from Solution Marketing for �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors presented these findings at SuccessConnect 2022 in the session “Improving Business Performance by Connecting Cloud ERP and HXM,” .

“One of the key things we identified is that while there’s a desire for a much more integrated approach between HR and other business operations – and a strong acknowledgement of the associated value – for many, this remains a challenge,” Klauss said. “To no surprise, the overarching challenge theme was complexity due to silos.”

Thinking Beyond Walls to Connected Business

In the former model of enterprise technology, HR systems were separate from business systems. As a result, there was an inordinate amount of latency, inaccuracy, and complexity in the relationships between the business and the HR organization. Business and HR leaders struggled to understand the connection among management practices, employee engagement levels, and customer outcomes, Klauss noted.

This outdated model continues in some organizations, with business areas operating independent of one another. In these instances, HR is inefficiently connected to the rest of the organization through manual, offline, or similarly inefficient processes that reinforce inaccuracy and complexity.

Alternatively, when organizations take an advanced, connected approach with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA and �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors running on a common cloud platform, they succeed in breaking down silos and enable enterprise-wide insights, processes, and experiences.

“It was really interesting to hear the feedback from our research participants,” Klauss said. “While many of them started with a fairly narrow view, specific to their respective area and the associated challenges, the majority quickly pivoted to begin thinking beyond their HR or finance walls.”

Unified Data Leads to Expanded Mission in Healthcare

One �鶹ԭ�� customer that is seeing the benefits of a connected approach is (HHC), a U.S.-based organization with 5,000 employees. A key pillar of HHC’s vision is to lead with innovation in clinical care, research, education, and service excellence. However, its four business units – healthcare, government, public health, and public safety – previously operated in silos. This business structure led to operational inefficiencies and a frustrating user experience for employees that could also carry over to the patient experience.

HHC deployed �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA for finance and the supply chain and �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors software on a common platform. As a result, the organization improved its supply chain efficiency, with an 85% reduction in purchase order processing time. It has also seen vast improvements in employee productivity and satisfaction, with a 94% improvement in benefits admin for new and existing employees and an 80% improvement in ad hoc reporting capabilities.

With enterprise-wide data now available, HHC has set new targets to roll out strategic analytics across the enterprise to tackle larger public health issues, such as food insecurity, homelessness, and vector-borne illness.

Putting People at the Center of Business

�鶹ԭ�� helps customers advance to a connected cloud approach with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA and �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors solutions so they can run as intelligent, sustainable enterprises.

The benefits of �鶹ԭ��’s intelligent suite are manifold. Having data connected on a common data foundation improves speed, accuracy, and insights. The unified integration extends beyond the data to connect processes and employee experiences. In addition, a connected approach opens the opportunity for enterprise-wide adoption of intelligent technologies by removing the limitations of specific business silos or use cases and enabling automation.

Learn more about how connected cloud ERP and HXM can provide and .

That is what �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud is all about.

We deliver innovation on a regular basis, and we do not just deliver ERP capabilities that support new business processes and models, but also modern experiences that simplify the way people and businesses work. It is humbling to be able to do this, as many customers — such as and — trust �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud to run their businesses. (.)

I want to share some of the innovation highlights from the most recent August (2208) release.

Modern, Fast, Intuitive User Experience

The user experience (UX) of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud lets users easily access business processes and data. We deliver tailored experiences across a wide range of devices, including laptops, tablets, and phones.

Our customers want an easy way for their user base to collaborate and make better decisions based on business data and processes. For example, there may be blocked sales orders or supply chain issues; you may need your sales team to review metrics or your marketing team to be aware of product delays. We make it easy for any user to collaborate using their preferred productivity tools, such as Microsoft Teams, Office, and Google Workspace.

Some of the new UX highlights in the �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud 2208 release include:

• New that delivers a clean, beautiful user experience across devices in a light and dark mode.
• Building on the functionality of �鶹ԭ�� Fiori launchpad, orchestrates information, tasks, and applications so that you can do your job with speed and agility.
• offers easy sharing, plus a new , and an Excel add-in for analytics.

Best-in-Class Product and Service-Centric Functionality

We are committed to enabling all organizations to operate globally. Whether you are an organization that sells services or products, we deliver out-of-the-box pre-configured business processes built on industry best practices. We focus on time to value so you can be up and running quickly. We have even been recognized as cloud ERP leaders, both service-centric and product-centric, by analysts including IDC and Gartner.

Other 2208 highlights include:

Support for , meeting business and legal requirements, including Bulgaria, Colombia, Chile, and Qatar.

For service-centric industries, we are releasing functionality to improve project planning and project resource management. You can now . It is also possible to improve and .

For product-centric industries — alongside innovations to enhance the end-to-end process visibility and efficiency such as the and stock transfer — we are introducing capabilities such as that reduce risk and costs of changes. To accelerate the pace and quality of decisions with an integrated information flow from planning to execution of an outbound transportation process, we are introducing the .

Designed for Extensibility and Lifecycle Management

While �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud delivers a wide range of ready-to-use core capabilities, we know that customers and partners want flexibility to extend based on their business needs. With that in mind, extensibility is a key attribute of every scenario — not an afterthought. We deliver an extensive range of cloud and tools to support these scenarios without compromising innovation updates. If you are curious about the different extensibility capabilities, check out the sample scenarios on the ���ճ�� allows the building of extensions directly in �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud and makes extension options even more powerful.

Extensibility and lifecycle management highlights include:

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud already offers extension capabilities for business users with a low-code/no-code tooling and the possibility to add functionality by . We will also provide an offering to implement new functionality directly on the �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud stack to realize development projects that need a tight coupling of business processes — in-app available via a three-system landscape (3SL).

We expect to make generally available in the near future. In addition to quality and production systems, we are adding a dedicated development system to the �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud system landscape, giving you a more powerful, granular, and transparent distribution of developments and configuration changes. You can continuously implement, test, and deploy, even during a software update period.

Immersive Analytics and Intelligence

Whether it is quick actions and insights on the home page, embedded analytics in different places, or recommended actions and automation based on your data and goals, we strive to make our users more productive.

Highlights of this release include:

The supports accountants by automating payment advice processing. This artificial intelligence-supported capability enables automatic matching and clearing of invoice and payment items while creating more transparency and reducing otherwise time-consuming tasks.

With , purchasers can gain more transparency on the carbon footprints of their products with material movements. The data can be analyzed across various dimensions, such as by product category or plant. A trend view analyzes the carbon footprint across a timeline.

And Much More

At �鶹ԭ��, we stand on the shoulders of giants: 50 years of leadership in industries, 50 years of business applications innovation, 110,000 employees, 23,500 partners, and more than 100 development locations worldwide. The numbers are impressive, but what matters most is how we can help our customers run their businesses efficiently and securely.

Arpan Shah is senior vice president of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud at �鶹ԭ��.

Global company spending on cloud-based infrastructure continues to surge, topping $50 billion for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Data compiled by Synergy Research Group  based on the latest earnings reports shows enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services up 36% from the fourth quarter of 2020.

Amazon continues to lead the cloud infrastructure market with a steady worldwide market share of around 32-33%. But AWS faces growing competition from Microsoft, which is continuing to grow its market share — up almost nine percentage points since the end of 2017 — that stood at 21% in the fourth quarter. Google and Alibaba also continue to grow market share, while in aggregate the long tail of small- to medium-sized cloud providers see revenues growing steadily but market shares declining.

�鶹ԭ��’s Take

The latest cloud infrastructure spending figures underscore the massive shift by companies across the globe from running enterprise applications and consumer services on their own hardware (on premise) to the cloud.

This trend, which has been accelerated by the global pandemic, reflects the benefits in terms of flexibility, speed and scalability of the move to the cloud, together with the growing imperative for companies to transform into intelligent sustainable enterprises.

Companies that have made the move to the cloud will be best positioned to respond to the challenges and opportunities in their markets in the future, including rapidly changing customer demand, fierce competition and unexpected disruptions like natural disasters, supply chain problems and the next pandemic.

“Cloud solutions enable companies to move faster and be more agile while better meeting modern customer, partner and employee expectations for connectedness and mobility,” says �鶹ԭ�� Executive Board Member , who leads �鶹ԭ��’s Customer Success organization. “For this reason, we’re seeing more and more customers move to the cloud, driving the evolution of their end-to-end business processes, like recruit to retire, lead to cash, source to pay and design to operate.”

Contact:
Joellen Perry, Head of Global Public Relations, �鶹ԭ��
+1 (626) 265-0370, joellen.perry@sap.com, PST

However, over time, it became clear that some of its complex legacy systems were not poised to meet the requisite challenges going forward, especially with �鶹ԭ��’s support for �鶹ԭ�� ECC — an impactful solution in Chevron’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) portfolio — coming to an end in 2027. That’s why Chevron is now teaming up with �鶹ԭ�� as a customer and co-innovation partner to transform its digital core and position itself for the cloud future.

“Our motivation was clear: We are embracing a more reliable digital foundation that can enhance production efficiency and enable faster, more informed decisions,” said Michelle LaPoint, general manager of Enterprise Digital Delivery at Chevron. “We wanted up-to-the-minute, forward-looking, embedded analytics and the ability to simplify enterprise processes, automate where possible, and innovate around the digital core going into the future.”

Designing a Clean Digital Core

Currently, Chevron operates on more than a dozen distinct ERP systems across its business segments. Given that complex landscape, and taking into account the varying processes across business units, standardizing business processes, data, and technology were top of mind for business and IT leadership.

“For a large company like Chevron, transformation is a global, phased, multi-year journey,” said LaPoint. “We want one common platform with standard data and processes and now we’re well on the path toward that goal.”

Historically, Chevron modified and customized its legacy systems to meet complex and varying global requirements. By transforming its digital core, the company is now working to position itself for whatever comes next, taking advantage of �鶹ԭ��’s standard cloud product to adopt new functionality as it becomes available in . It is expected that this will enable Chevron to:

• Increase overall speed and agility
• Decrease total cost of ownership of business solutions
• Drive greater digital innovation

More so, through its co-innovation partnership with �鶹ԭ��, Chevron is working to position itself as a key player in what the “standard” product will look like in the months and years to come.

Co-Innovating, Collaborating, Communicating

For large customers, the standard functionality of �鶹ԭ�� software may not perfectly line up with their sophisticated system needs and requirements. That’s where �鶹ԭ��’s co-innovation program comes into play. Partners like Chevron regularly connect with the �鶹ԭ�� Services team to discuss their business needs and make their voices heard regarding the overall product road map going forward.

“This is just an extension of working closely with �鶹ԭ�� as a co-innovation partner,” said Rajesh Sahajwani, services partner at �鶹ԭ��. “We are the design authority. We create the way ‘standard’ runs. It’s important that we are in communication with our largest customers, so we can find gaps, feed information to our product teams, and strengthen our future product road map. Ultimately, it’s all about building a better product.”

Chevron’s close collaboration with �鶹ԭ�� in asset management is already delivering a reduction in future technical costs. This is made possible by Chevron’s strong governance efforts and positions the company as a unique �鶹ԭ�� partner and customer going forward.

In other words, this partnership is expected to keep each company from remaining stagnant on the path to the cloud, so that tomorrow’s Chevron — and tomorrow’s �鶹ԭ�� — will be even better than today’s.

Michael Mahoney is head of Services for �鶹ԭ�� North America.

By continuously evolving our enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, we are helping our customers modernize business processes and helping them adjust to a new IT reality at the same time. As I’ve said before, this reality combines flexibility, agility, and choice for our customers: Flexibility through a modular yet integrated approach to enterprise software, agility through business processes that can be adapted as needed, and choice for customers to operate their systems on the infrastructure of their choice. And we can certainly add the need for collaborative, networked, and sustainable solutions here.

One of my favorite examples of how �鶹ԭ�� is helping customers adapt and modernize their business processes comes from the retail sector and relates to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce has surged during the pandemic as consumers faced lockdowns and sought the relative safety of online shopping. This surge in e-commerce has had dramatic implications for traditional retailers that have had to pivot quickly from primarily in-store sales to online platforms but have also had to deal with much higher levels of returns.

Consumers are more likely to return something when bought online compared to offline purchases. This is particularly true in fashion retail because there is a much higher probability that a particular size doesn’t fit or the color is not quite what the consumer was expecting. Online customers also often bracket-purchase — ordering several similar items or sizes to ensure that one is the right fit and return the others.

This represents a significant problem for traditional retailers that were not used to dealing with such high levels of returns and that, in the past, often outsourced the handling of returns. Returns — or reverse logistics, as the process is sometimes called — is a costly and time-consuming part of the daily life of the supply chain.

Companies need to make decisions on where to return the stock, how to handle the stock when returned, and whether the customer will receive a refund or a replacement. Typically, these operations were optimized for time in order to keep customers happy, even if this meant destroying returned goods.

Retailers know that the return experience can break or build customer loyalty and trust, and that’s why they aim to process returns and provide refunds to customers as quickly as possible. But destroying — and even storing — returned items is potentially bad for the environment and represents a monetary loss. According to UK’s online retail association, .

Recognizing these problems, �鶹ԭ�� has developed an innovative solution that we call �鶹ԭ�� Intelligent Returns Management, a returns optimization solution that guides products from customers’ hands to the final dispositioning steps, maximizing both the customer experience and company margins. It uses routing and dispositioning decisions driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to maximize our customers’ sales and profits.

�鶹ԭ�� Intelligent Returns Management benefits consumers, retailers, and other stakeholders — and it helps customers operate more sustainably. Consumers benefit because we help our customers make the returns process easy, and that delivers the intended consumer experience. Our retail customers know that brand loyalty is fragile and can be lost quickly if a returns process is anything but straightforward and smooth. They need to optimize their return process to be efficient and ensure a great customer experience. When goods arrive at their return centers, retailers want to be able to make fast decisions about what to do with them: Should they dispose of the goods? Should they do a quality check and re-certify them for sale, or send them to an agent such as outlet or reseller?

Our solution intelligently recommends return options for consumers optimizing for both the customer experience and the retailer and recommends disposition decisions for warehouse teams to limit value leakage. But it also provides business leaders with newfound visibility into the end-to-end returns process, enabling them to make data-based decisions.

Particularly, retailers can use the embedded analytics to understand what is selling and what is not. Does a particular item always come back because it does not meet expectations in terms of size or look? Is a particular color not selling or is a style out of fashion? Whatever the reason, they can inform the design team and stem a problem at the source by not offering products that do not meet expectations, and thereby be more sustainable.

�鶹ԭ�� has offered a returns solution in the past, but it was a back-end, logistics solution. Now, with �鶹ԭ�� Intelligent Returns Management sitting at the intersection of cloud ERP and �鶹ԭ��’s industry cloud, we have closed the gap between front office and back office. That’s the biggest advantage our solutions bring to fashion retailers and the like.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of �鶹ԭ�� SE for �鶹ԭ�� Product Engineering.
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Today’s new normal requires businesses to pivot and adapt with speed. Customers sense the urgency to digitally transform their businesses to survive and gain an advantage through the pandemic and beyond.

Digital transformation has to be holistic, meaning it needs to encompass the entire value chain, every business department, and internal and external factors. It is crucial that companies align their digital transformation efforts with their individual strategic business goals. Transformation strategies across organizations can look similar as — by their very nature — the focus is firmly on big-picture items: technologies, capabilities, business goals.

However, specific plans need to vary widely through the expectations, priorities, needs, and types of interactions that take place among the people who directly impact how a company grows and changes.

Addressing all these variables, �鶹ԭ�� has launched a flagship offering for holistic business transformation as a service���ɾ��ٳ���, where we can help customers to reimagine business models and processes end to end in order to deliver the best business outcomes.

In doing so, we recognize and acknowledge that every customer has a different context and a different point of departure. This new approach will enable them to keep their eye on the goal of the Intelligent Enterprise.

With RISE with �鶹ԭ��, the customer’s migration and business change aspects of their journey is completely on their terms and their timeline. A redesign of their business plans and processes demands new thinking and new technologies that unlock new ways of doing business. This business evolution is made simpler by bringing together all the components of our new offering under a single subscription and in alignment with our partners. It is anchored by �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud and will ultimately help accelerate digital transformation for our customers, taking them from wherever they are today to become an intelligent enterprise.

When and How Fast? You Choose

A key tenet of RISE with �鶹ԭ�� is that customers can decide when and how they want to migrate their enterprise resource planning (ERP) to the cloud. As a part of the RISE with �鶹ԭ�� offering, the customer has primarily two options for deploying �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud as their digital core.

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud is our default public cloud offering. This is the preferred deployment model for all customers opting for a greenfield, best practice implementation and where functional extensibility and localization requirements can be addressed. With this, customers have access to a complete, modern, native SaaS ERP solution with the full benefits of public cloud. This enables them to reimagine business processes fueled by intelligent technologies. �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud offers standardized processes based on industry best practices, which provide the innovation companies require as well as the simpler �鶹ԭ��-managed solution life-cycle management customers expect. In addition, it provides customers the flexibility to configure and extend the pre-configured best practice processes to match their unique requirements.

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, targets customers that plan to convert to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud and carry over enhancements or modifications with the ability to extend and enhance. This deployment option will help rapid conversion to a cloud-based architecture, stitching in the flexibility of a traditional on-premise application as well a subscription-based cloud economics. It is a simple and standardized offering with predefined materials including pre-sized and standardized infrastructure assumptions, clear and consistent services and service-level agreements, and a three-tier standard system landscape. Our continuous focus on customer-centricity and the value of our conversations with and feedback from all stakeholder groups are a deciding factor in what we offer our customers and how we back them up in their business decisions — no matter where and how they are placed.

Innovation, Optimization, Transformation

The driving factor for any ERP decision needs to be value and time to value. Let’s start with value.

With �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud we enable the subscription economy, allowing companies across all industries to establish subscription and usage-based business models and helping ensure that revenue recognition takes place to optimize the financial outcomes for the company. �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud is at the heart of Industry 4.0, building out the digital thread from engineering to manufacturing and logistics, all the way to asset maintenance. �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud also helps to move from documenting risks to self-healing systems that stay in compliance automatically. It actively manages cash and working capital, which is more important now than ever. These are just some of the innovations we deliver and continue to build out with the next generation of ERP in the cloud.

In rethinking and constantly re-framing �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, we enable companies to become more agile by providing intelligence and insights, which helps to improve decision making, speed up innovation, and offer better customer experiences. �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud provides real-time insights along with real-time planning, forecasting, and simulation, as well as embedded analytics at each step. It opens up new opportunities for companies to gain value from embedding artificial intelligence, running end-to-end business processes, differentiating with dedicated but integrated industry solutions, and, above all, achieving sustainability goals, thereby enabling competitive differentiation for businesses. With �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, organizations can also reimagine and redefine processes with greater ease, develop best practices and identify better ways of working.

Now let’s look at time to value. Whatever deployment option is selected, the customer can choose an approach that helps launch �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud quickly and efficiently the first time, while continuously delivering advanced technologies to drive sustained innovation. provides a clear process of structured and solution-specific practices for businesses to choose how to adopt and extend new and differentiating capabilities across the organization.

Following the launch of RISE with �鶹ԭ��, we now have the availability of the new  for �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, that complements �鶹ԭ�� Activate Methodology for  for our customers adopting �鶹ԭ��’s public cloud offering. This new release builds on the success of the cloud implementation road maps and offers further guidance during the customer’s journey to RISE with �鶹ԭ��.

Spending time in dialog with our customers and listening carefully to their concerns and challenges has placed us in the unique position of being able to help them grow, develop their business, and adapt proactively. The insights customers have given us are takeaways that provide new techniques for managing customer experiences during and post-pandemic. For example, with the , a significant part of the business continuity and success that we offer includes the right guidance, and governance, the correct process, tools, and accelerators, and, most importantly, the shift in our mindset to be more collaborative and build a bridge to the cloud. The experience and service we provide is vital in helping them navigate any crisis.

Transforming a business digitally provides the means for it to survive in a complex new world. When things return to normality, our consumers will remember positively the businesses that were helpful and supportive in their times of need. It is an opportunity to help our customers reduce costs, adopt innovations quickly, and enable business transformation to the Intelligent Enterprise.

It is indeed the basis for the next phase of growth and innovation — no matter what else the future brings.

Jan Gilg is president of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.
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Recent M&A activity meant FMC would need to consolidate and integrate legacy back-end systems to make the most of the acquisition, a challenging task that the company’s leadership entrusted vice president of Procurement, Thaisa Hugenneyer, to solve.

We recently sat down virtually with Hugenneyer to learn more about FMC’s digital transformation strategy and how a recent upgrade to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA and integrated business planning has helped FMC modernize a global landscape of IT systems and disparate business processes.

An Acquisition Sparks Innovation

FMC’s �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA implementation journey began with its acquisition of DuPont’s Crop Protection Business, a move aimed at expanding the company’s agricultural sciences offerings and capabilities. While this would create efficiencies needed to support FMC’s transformation, the disparate IT landscape  and lack of harmonized business processes had to be addressed.

No stranger to a technological challenge, the company opted to invest in a greenfield �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA implementation that would make this integration — and future acquisitions — easy to navigate.

“Our vision centered on one, standardized system with a single set of global processes for our company,” Hugenneyer said. With its implementation strategy and a strong partnership with �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention and Accenture, which has led more than 500 successful customer implementations, as well as a consulting partner in place, the new �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA system would create instant value for the company, allowing FMC to map all processes across its global operations.

The World Goes Virtual

In the middle of the implementation, the global pandemic struck, forcing workforces across the world to transition to remote work. By design, Hugenneyer had developed a best practice years earlier centered on remote collaboration, which mitigated the impact the pandemic had on the implementation project.

“We were already well adjusted to remote work as most of our team worked in different areas of the world,” Hugenneyer explained. “When the pandemic started impacting the world, we were already in year three of our program and we had a strong group of colleagues who were working remotely already.”

This included the implementation partner’s team and �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention, which led advisory and safeguarding services for a full, integrated approach. Another ingredient for success: Hugenneyer’s change management strategy. This would not be a simple system implementation; the new �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA system would drive immense value for the organization, but it would require a special focus on business readiness given the scope of the transformation. Hugenneyer navigated this change by partnering with company leadership and leading close collaboration with the business to help them adjust and take advantage of the new systems.

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Delivers a Path to New Growth for FMC

Since its last go-live, FMC has already seen immense value from �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.

“It’s an enabler for us to evolve our operating model — we now have one global process where we are able to truly have center-led functions with centralized transactions,” said Hugenneyer.

As someone who is heavily engaged in the IT community, Hugenneyer shared several key learnings gathered from the project. First, focus on building the perfect team composed of the best and diverse talent. Results are only as strong as the team driving them, she said. Second, take advantage of the resources that �鶹ԭ�� provides to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA customers, including hypercare, and consider as a value driver. Third, think bigger than system implementations. Projects of this size and scope require leaders, including IT, to become culture and change management facilitators given the potential solutions like �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA have to drive growth.

For Hugenneyer, an industry veteran who has years of experience leading successful projects for global teams, all three factors set FMC up for success.

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region for �鶹ԭ�� North America.

While Hasbro has become synonymous with experiences like family game nights and has expanded into emerging areas such as esports, the global play leader is well aware that business success isn’t just all fun and games. To move the company into its next century of disruption and facilitate growth areas, Hasbro’s leadership has spent years strategically investing in technology to drive its digital transformation journey forward.

For Luis Ydrach, Hasbro’s director of IT Services, this has meant reimagining how Hasbro’s IT solutions can propel the business to new horizons and create new, valued experiences for the company’s loyal, cross-generational customers.

On a of the ongoing , Ydrach virtually sat down with Richard Strattner, global vice president of ERP Product Marketing at �鶹ԭ��, and integration partner to share its story of success and innovation using �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.

Why Hasbro “Entertained” �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA

A long-time �鶹ԭ�� ERP customer, in 2018 Hasbro started to make the case for why an eventual upgrade and move to would make sense for its business and strategic growth plan. The upcoming 2025 deadline around �鶹ԭ�� ERP Central Component was one factor, but for a company that always has innovation top of mind, it simply served as a spark for a more strategic rationale: getting the right infrastructure in place to support where the business wanted to go in the coming years and decades.

“When we were justifying this to the business, it was initially about staying current as our platform is critical to our business,” Ydrach said. “We knew the longer you wait, the bigger the delta.”

The next significant consideration for Ydrach and his team was whether to launch �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA on premise or in the cloud. As noted by Ydrach, for years Hasbro had experienced firsthand the benefits of running several areas of its businesses on cloud-based �鶹ԭ�� solutions, including �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors and �鶹ԭ�� Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solutions. However, the move to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA would impact multiple lines of business, including finance, sales and logistics, so out of caution and in alignment with its existing strategy to refresh its hardware, Hasbro chose to maintain its ERP on premise.

Planning, Planning, Planning

For a company famous for iconic brands like Monopoly and Nerf, Hasbro knows strategy is everything. Converting to the new �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, Hasbro had firm goals to achieve this as fast as possible, minimize disruption, and maximize utility for end users.

One other important benefit was top of mind for Ydrach and team: “Get us to this new platform and then have a plan and the ability to incrementally take advantage of �鶹ԭ�� innovations in the new platform.”

To achieve its goal, Hasbro initiated its planning in 2018 and began execution the following year. Two of the biggest factors for the company’s successful project were �鶹ԭ�� tools and its trusted systems integrator , known for its Safe Passage methodology for �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA conversion projects.

“U�����Բ������ԴڴDz������, a tool for comprehensive conversion impact analysis, report output, we identified additional areas such as pre- and post-work for the third-party add-ons, technical inconsistencies, and additional scope for international trade management in the area of intrastat,” said Satinder Pal Singh, �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA architect at . “Most importantly, we were able to identify the activities that we could complete in production system upfront with zero impact to business, which later simplified the conversion cycles and the production cutover.”

Lessons Learned from the Sandbox

The global pandemic turned the world upside down last year, right while Hasbro was in the middle of its transition to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA. However, Ydrach and team had years of experience leading challenging IT projects and knew how to respond with agility. When COVID-19 first impacted workforces in North America, Ydrach’s team proactively decided to execute the remaining portion of the project remotely.

In the early days of uncertainty, according to Ydrach, “We were still in the office when we were executing our second-to-last cutover simulation. However, we didn’t know what was going to happen, there was a chance that we would be locked out of the office, so we proactively said: ‘Let’s execute 100% remote.’”

Joining the list of IT leaders who have showed grit and experience managing successful projects remotely during the pandemic, Ydrach gathered a few useful learnings that he hopes others can leverage, including:

• Collaboration between IT and the rest of the business is a make-or-break ingredient.
• The value �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA will deliver for the business after implementation must be crystal clear.
• Take advantage of free and the customer care program, available to customers that are considered early adopters for newly released �鶹ԭ�� solutions, as Hasbro was when it first adopted �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.
• Speak often with other �鶹ԭ�� reference customers as these conversations generate a wealth of useful information.
• Select an integration partner that has proven accelerator tools.
• Execute the tool and for a better understanding of what a project will look like, use the maintenance planner, even before engaging with an integrations partner

In the end, Hasbro managed a successful and seamless �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA implementation that will generate business value for its users for years to come. This year, Hasbro continues monitoring for additional capabilities that �鶹ԭ�� brings to market and where additional innovation can help the company build on the early results it has seen from �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA – a sign the global play company is ready to lead its industry for another century.

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region for �鶹ԭ�� North America.

The New Rules of the Game

In today’s ever more complex and rapidly evolving business landscape, mastering uncertainty has become the new competitive edge. Agility and foresight are the future currencies of success. Only a firm that truly knows itself and understands its environment is equipped to thrive.

If the past year has taught us anything, it is that the status quo no longer holds. Erstwhile formulas for achievement are losing their shine and can be depended upon no more. As the global pandemic continues to upend legacy business models and expose supply chain fragilities, digital technologies have been levelling the playing field and empowering upstarts to leapfrog long-standing incumbents.

As notes, a new breed of champions is now coming to the fore: one that has been primed for speed and excellence of execution. Tomorrow’s winners will most likely share certain characteristics; they will be the most aware, the flattest, the nimblest, and the most digitally immersive.

Taking the Plunge

Faced with such a volatile, opaque, and complicated operating ecosystem, most midcap and large multinationals have already grasped the urgency of embracing change. According to , a full 72% of businesses have now resorted to disrupting their own sectors just to survive.

Moreover, most recognize the need for faster reaction speeds and greater real-time insight into all aspects of their operations – from procurement and supply chain activities to customer experience management and distribution. The question is no longer whether to transition towards becoming an intelligent enterprise, but when and how.

Adopting cutting-edge digital technology has, of course, been an essential part of this process as data collection and extrapolation are the lifeblood of better insight. One study reveals that over 69% of companies have been ramping up their digital initiatives in the past year alone, whereas a reported 59% are already exploiting advanced data and analytics to inform strategic decision-making.

A Path Well-Trodden

For many elite companies and aspiring champions, intelligent ERP is already the only game in town. An impressive 86% of the world’s , 75% of the world’s , and 52% of the are, right now, all well advanced in their deployment of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.

This picture becomes even more pronounced in the European theatre of operations where a mighty 98% of EuroStoxx, the top 50 blue-chip representations of super-sector leaders across the Eurozone, run the software. Nor is there any sign of let up or slackening of momentum. On the contrary, since 2020 there has been no less than one �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA go-live every single business hour!

Interestingly, the shift to this state-of-the-art software is no longer the cumbersome, disruptive, tortuous process it was once purported to be. What formerly may have been a long, arduous trip for those businesses that didn’t quite fit the template has now become an enlightening journey of discovery accessible to companies of all shapes, sizes, and sectoral flavors.

Into the Fast Lane

Indeed, undertaking the leap to enlightenment has never been so effortlessly easy and smooth, courtesy of RISE with �鶹ԭ��, a freshly unveiled business-transformation-as-a-service offering that responds to the need for a simplified, flexible route that suits everyone and is fully accompanied every step of the way.

This self-styled “concierge service” to the Intelligent Enterprise has managed to blaze new trails by bundling together the requisite tools, guidance, and support systems needed for any company, irrespective of its starting point, to scale.

Examples now abound of tip-top transitions from all four corners of the planet. One Indian automotive giant with a head count of over 24,000 recently accomplished their metamorphosis to an intelligent enterprise within a mere 17 months, a big brand American retailer of 300,000 in under 10 months, and a British telecom heavyweight in only 16 months.

In a League of Their Own

Software like �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA thus increasingly stands as a critical differentiator in a global marketplace where the competition is narrowing, clarity is in short supply, and opportunities are rife for the taking. Only those endowed with it can keep pace with their peers and their idols, operate at full throttle, and face the future with confidence and poise.

Discover more about and its one-stop enabler, .

We recently sat down virtually with Farooq to discuss the strategy he’s been executing to grow the energy leader’s business since the merger as well as the role �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud has played in this process.

Merger Gives Rise to New Industry Leader

Houston-based well completion and production services company NexTier Oilfield Solutions has quickly become one of the leading providers of such services in the United States. However, in the grand scheme of things, it is still a relatively new company that emerged onto the global energy scene following a . It was important for Farooq and his team to get some early momentum to ensure a strong footing for the company’s future. This is where NexTier’s digital transformation strategy would play a pivotal role, revolving around boosting operational efficiency wherever possible.

Two examples include the company’s Equipment Health Monitoring and NexHub tools, which help them track activities on the rig site, granting teams a real-time view of operations that enables them to provide centralized monitoring, real-time reporting, and workflow automation—all advancements that are critical in the world of energy production.

Specific to the merger, one of the biggest value drivers within NexTier’s digital transformation strategy—and one of Farooq’s top priorities—is to manage the technological integration of disparate systems resulting from the merger of two different companies so the team could take advantage of the massive scale, technical expertise, and resources the move opened for the company. Enter �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA.

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Emerges as an M&A Lever

One beneficial feature of the merger was that �鶹ԭ�� ERP was already in use at both companies, so �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA was a natural stepping-stone to help Farooq and his team redesign and simplify business processes. Add this to the oil and gas industry standards �鶹ԭ�� has established with the help of leaders like NexTier, and �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud quickly helped the company unlock millions in merger synergies through reduced costs across IT.

“�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA allowed us to build an ecosystem of tools that were fit for purpose and aligned with the business. In addition, it helped us reduce our run rate costs for the maintenance of an ERP application,” Farooq said.

Since implementing the solution, NexTier’s team has seen significant improvements, including a smooth integration with a third-party solution for integrated field ticketing and customer invoicing, more efficient exchange of supply chain partner information, and greater operational and financial visibility thanks to improved data aided by spread-level profitability reporting and increased process discipline. In an industry where margins are everything, �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA has proved to be a valuable tool in Farooq’s overarching and industry-leading digital transformation strategy. But functionality wasn’t the only ingredient for success.

CIO’s Secret Ingredient: Familiarity with �鶹ԭ��

Farooq has gathered many best practices throughout his extensive career, but one element of his background played a particularly important role in ensuring NexTier’s success with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud. His first job out of college was with Nissan Motors, where he led the implementation of their �鶹ԭ��-powered vehicle management system.

“This is where my current role as the leader of technology strategy at NexTier came full circle with the positive career experiences with �鶹ԭ��,” Farooq said. “�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud became a foundation for NexTier’s ERP system consolidation efforts, and it was thanks to early experiences with the world of �鶹ԭ�� that the process has gone smoothly.”

A certified video game tester and avid reader in his spare time, Farooq has seen tremendous success in his career of helping organizations solve large-scale challenges with technology. When asked what advice he’d give to other aspiring IT leaders, he responded, “The biggest mistake you can make is to shy away from taking calculated risks in your career. You never know when a role you maybe thought wouldn’t be the right fit or a project that you believed might be too challenging uncovers fruitful growth opportunities.”

The �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Success series features content by leaders from �鶹ԭ�� North America focused on highlighting customer success with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA. Learn how customers in this region manage successful implementations with the partner ecosystem and �鶹ԭ�� Services as well as leverage the software to transform their industries.

John Tully is senior vice president and managing director of the South Region of �鶹ԭ�� North America.

Closets. Every living space has one housing a mix of everything from the frequently used, the untouched, and the forgotten. And the only time they are thoroughly cleaned out and reorganized is when the owner decides to move to a new home.

In many ways, businesses are doing the same by storing in their ERP systems that no one will ever see. The technology may provide more tools — such as machine learning-enabled image and pattern recognition — to make sense out of all this information. But the business process layer is also evolving to the point where the entire data stack must be well-coordinated and connected.

The minute businesses realize that their ERP must be transformed and modernized, their attention turns to the latest applications, capabilities, and processes enabled by intelligent ERP such as . But very few of them assess their stack to determine which data should be removed or kept. Instead, the great majority fall victim to what I call the data dump syndrome – the wholesale migration of every piece of information into the new ERP environments.

Protecting ERP Transformation with a Proper Data Strategy

In any economic condition, the key to staying competitive is the ability to capture, analyze, understand, and act upon information in real time. According to , this includes recognizing patterns; comprehending ideas; planning, predicting, and problem-solving; identifying actions, and making decisions.

With the explosion of intelligent devices and digital interfaces creating interconnected ecosystems of people, processes, and systems, businesses have endless possibilities to convert data into insights and experiences augmented by context and machine-enabled intelligence. Despite all this opportunity, of companies still fail to realize such an edge to become truly data-driven.

Before transforming data silos and inefficient processes into a landscape of consistent data management and standardized operations, businesses need a dedicated data strategy to cover three fundamental principles:

1. Rethink the value of front- and back-office data

Over half of the companies reported in a study conducted by 451 Research have more than 11 separate repositories of customer data alone dispersed across various applications and organizational groups. And many more structured and unstructured data sources are often linking to that intelligence across both the back and front office.

Understanding the benefits of consolidating data into a single source usually compels executives to commit to transitioning their legacy ERP to a modern ERP. But such a move does not fix the fact that most of their information may still be left unused or forgotten.

Evaluating the usefulness of data – individually, by category, and in aggregate – is critical to ensure optimal modern ERP performance. Doing so can amplify the effectiveness of algorithms used to automate processes, executive dashboards that assist decision-making, and collaborative interactions that drive new business opportunities and revenues.

2. Help ensure the right data is in the right places

As the volume of available data increases, human-driven analytics becomes ineffective, sluggish, and error-prone. And in response, the ability to map the right data to the right functions in a modern ERP becomes even more essential.

The critical nature of this part of the data strategy further increases when intelligent technologies – such as machine learning, natural language processing, contextual artificial intelligence – are integrated into the ERP. Adding automated reasoning to dashboards, workflows, processed, and predictive forecasts allows users to make accurate inferences and enrich their analytics profile. It also enables line-of-business users to predict business outcomes such as financial turnover and profit, a customer’s propensity to buy, emerging skill gaps, and supply alternatives.

3. Build a secure and trustworthy business system

Unquestionably, effective use of data is an intrinsic part of business success. However, data strategies must also consider how data privacy and protection impacts the trust of people who provide their information willingly and the decision-makers who use it.

Facing emerging compliance regulations, consumer concerns over the safety of their personal information, and employee expectations for accuracy, the pressure to handle it all is only increasing. Companies that address data privacy and protection during their move to a modern ERP are well-positioned to deliver consumer and employee experiences that are transparent, controlled, and responsive.

Achieving the Full Potential of Modern Digital Investments

Remember, data is at the core of every customer interaction, organizational process, and employee decision – especially when running based on a modern ERP. And with a comprehensive strategy that addresses the principles of connected, clean, and consistent data, businesses can avoid the data dump syndrome to realize their digital transformation’s full potential.

Learn more about the importance of data management during an ERP transformation. Read our white paper ““ and explore solutions.

Engelbert Quack is a strategic customer advisor for �鶹ԭ�� Advisory Services.

But what about the realities of all that costly machinery that has been in place since the 1970s? How are manufacturers bringing new technologies into old environments without throwing in the proverbial monkey wrench? How are they protecting their investments?

I learned the answers in a discussion with Andrea Rösinger and Oliver Hoffmann, co-CEOs of Forcam GmbH, a 20-year-old company headquartered in Germany. Its leading application, helps companies connect “brownfield” machinery with the latest software. In short, Forcam Force Edge collects data “in the edge” – from machinery wherever it’s located – and pushes it via the cloud for aggregation and reporting. The product description on explains it well: “Signals – from machines that were never intended to be digitized to semi-intelligent assets – can be understood, translated, and communicated to the shop and top floor.”

Digitizing the Ghost in the Machine

The “aha” moment for this invention struck way back in 2001, said Hoffmann, when Forcam’s founder had a brilliant idea. “These monolithic systems don’t focus on modern machines,” he noted, and clearly, that would have to change for companies to move into the next generation of manufacturing. At the time, �鶹ԭ�� was revolutionizing the business landscape with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which could integrate data and systems across organizational boundaries.

“Before ERP, every plant had different systems without a common database,” Hoffmann explained. “That was the on-premise age, but client/server technology made it possible to connect and standardize even machines of different vintages from different manufacturers.”

Forcam experienced rapid growth, celebrating its debut and first customer, including global airline and automotive manufacturers. �鶹ԭ�� had good market penetration with many of these same companies that were also early adopters of �鶹ԭ�� ERP, Hoffmann added. The result was an early, loosely coupled alignment of Forcam with �鶹ԭ��.

As Forcam’s customers expanded their operations globally, Forcam followed suit, establishing service centers in locations convenient to customers’ plants. Over time, the company has evolved into a comprehensive Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and production control solution provider, with an extensible cloud platform solution running on some 100,000 machines worldwide.

But the past year has driven an explosion of demand, Rösinger said. One obvious reason is the need to reduce the number of people physically working in a plant; they need a way to access machines remotely and see what’s happening in real time. That is well supported by Forcam Force Edge, which features a role-based interface, whether for the operator on the plant floor or a production manager working from home.

Shifting Expectations for Plant Managers

Other key factors have come into play, Rösinger explained. The pressure is on from CFOs and CIOs to execute processes quickly, switch gears to respond to changes in demand, grease the wheels of the global supply chain, control costs, and boost productivity. Hence, the incentives for plant managers have shifted. Their plant is their own domain, she observed, and their primary mission is to ensure that high-quality products are manufactured on time. End-to-end processes, standardization, and cross-communications across lines of business are not necessarily on their radar screen. “Yet this decentralized model is not practical as digital strategies are introduced,” Rösinger added.

That’s not to say that Forcam Force Edge is unpopular with plant managers. The app helps production people in the plant with decision-making by collecting and normalizing data from signals on process values such as temperature and quantity count, and writing the parameters of machine controls. It supports all industry communication standards, with plug-in architecture for efficient integration of new standards. And it’s fast to implement.

Cloud Integration for Data Access and Insights

Integration with the �鶹ԭ�� Digital Manufacturing Cloud solution enables access to all relevant data and insights, not just for in-plant operations but as well for broader managerial use and higher-level improvement processes. And Forcam today has a much closer relationship with �鶹ԭ�� that began about a year ago with the arrival of hyperscalers and �鶹ԭ��’s strategic partnership with Microsoft, along with �鶹ԭ�� Business Technology Platform. For Forcam, that translates to support for rapid and secure integration with a vast number of machines in plants across distances.

Now an �鶹ԭ�� partner, Forcam is doing brisk business on �鶹ԭ�� Store, especially as �鶹ԭ�� account execs recommend the solution and send customers to �鶹ԭ�� Store to find out more. .

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for �鶹ԭ�� Digital Commerce.

The private edition makes it easier and faster for companies running older enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems from �鶹ԭ�� to move to the cloud.

“Zespri is a large and fast-growing business, and we need mature processes and systems to fuel our next stage of growth,” said Zespri Chief Digital Officer Dave Scullin. “Adopting �鶹ԭ��’s standardized core platforms will be transformational in itself, while also letting us leverage �鶹ԭ��’s cloud road map to adopt innovation at speed. Not only will our transformation help us to reduce business risks by moving to standard systems, but it will also enable us to collect and analyze more data, helping us to plan our supply chain more accurately and improve our decision making around shipping and market allocation.”

“Moving to the cloud has been a key strategic decision for us, providing us with greater flexibility, scalability, and faster innovation cycles,” Scullin shared. “We know �鶹ԭ��’s private cloud capabilities have matured significantly in recent years, particularly in the form of customer flexibility, service level security, and automation, which makes the new private cloud edition best for our business long-term. This will allow us to focus on our process and systems transformation, knowing that our underlying infrastructure and computing platforms are secure, stable, and available.”.

“Our mission is to create sustainable, long-term value for kiwifruit growers by offering consumers the world’s leading portfolio of branded kiwifruit 12 months of the year.” Scullin explains in that the company chose �鶹ԭ�� as its key technology partner in order to standardize and automate processes across the organization, increase efficiency, and provide a platform for growth and innovation.

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The technology will underpin Zespri’s ambitious and multi-year Horizon transformation program, “which will transform the way our company operates, replacing legacy systems and processes that were designed 20 years ago, before the significant growth we’ve experienced in recent years,” said Scullin, a member of Zespri’s leadership team. “It will replace old systems and processes designed for a much smaller, much less complex industry of 20 years ago, which, quite frankly, is holding us back now.”

Strong demand for Zespri’s premium-quality fruit has seen the industry grow strongly, recording global sales of NZD$3.14 billion in 2019/20.* Longer-term, the industry is forecast to increase global supply of kiwifruit from 164.4 million trays in 2019/20 to around 280 million trays by 2030.

“We are in a very fortunate position where demand absolutely exceeds supply, and that’s why we have an ambition to grow more kiwifruit in the Northern Hemisphere so that we can attain 365-days-of-the- year shelf space,” Scullin shared. The kiwifruit industry has grown significantly in recent years, buoyed by the increasing trend of more health-conscious consumers looking for products that taste good and are nutritious.**

“Horizon will release our potential to deliver so much more for our growers and shareholders. It’ll deliver modern systems and processes right across our business from finance and supply chain through to sales, grower, enablement, and engagement and integrated business planning. And it will allow us to be more effective and efficient in how we deliver our product to consumers and return value to growers. Most of all, it will strengthen our ability to grow and sustain returns for the industry for decades to come.”

Zespri had been running on what Scullin described as “a heavily customized” �鶹ԭ�� landscape, but had already moved its legacy systems to Microsoft’s Azure public cloud. After conducting a thorough evaluation as part of its transformation program and some detailed cost versus benefit analysis, Zespri concluded that �鶹ԭ��’s private cloud option was “the best for us and the most strategic long term.”

While according to Scullin the initial focus of Zespri’s transformation project will be “to get our platforms in place and modernize our base systems and processes,” it will also allow the company to plan its supply chain more accurately and make longer-term predictions. Together with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, the deal with �鶹ԭ�� also includes the implementation of several digital supply chain applications. Zespri also plans to deploy �鶹ԭ�� Analytics Cloud and several �鶹ԭ��-endorsed partner solutions.

The implementation will be conducted by a consortium of partners, including in partnership with , part of Accenture. The project will be split into several phases, with the first digital core build phase due to begin in this month, focused on finance and supply chain processes, before progressing to integrated business planning and sales enablement.

*
**In , 4.35 million tons of kiwifruit were produced worldwide. This is predicted to reach 5.9 million tons by , as a result of increasing global demand. New Zealand produces around 10% of the total global production of kiwifruit, around 95% of which is . Kiwifruit exports in 2019 accounted for more than two-thirds of the New Zealand’s fresh fruit exports.

Of course, our market-leading intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud is a cornerstone of this offering. Regular product updates serve to provide customers with innovations and enhancements that can be consumed immediately in order to seize new business opportunities, strengthen their market position, streamline operations, and build resilience in more challenging times.

As the last 12 months have clearly demonstrated, when the world we know is turned on its head, those businesses able to sense changes and identify potentials, able to adapt quickly to unforeseen needs and unfamiliar circumstances are the ones best positioned to emerge strongest from the pandemic.

Introducing �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud Release 2102

Just like previous updates, today’s release of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud 2102 provides customers with new capabilities to further the successful transformation of their business. Short development sprints and continuous delivery coupled with a close relationship with companies in all industries and user groups around the world allow us to prioritize capabilities that we know our customers need now and can benefit from straight away. Allow me to share with you some of the key additions in this latest release.

A company’s financial operations are like the oil that keeps an engine running smoothly. Particularly in challenging times, a well-managed cash flow is crucial. And in a volatile business environment, companies need to be able to act and adapt swiftly to changing circumstances. In �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud for finance, we introduce the simulation cockpit for integrated financial planning, which allows management and controlling stakeholders to perform what-if analysis and simulate the impact of changes in factors like sales quantity or personnel expenses. A further highlight in the area of finance is the flexible assignment of accounting principles to ledgers. In order to run parallel accounting processes in their systems, customers need to use several accounting principles — for example, IFRS and a local accounting principle such as HGB. New customers that use �鶹ԭ�� Central Business Configuration to configure their systems can now flexibly assign the accounting principles they require to their respective ledgers. And the best thing: a single configuration is required to assign the ledger to the accounting principle throughout �鶹ԭ�� finance applications such as general ledger, treasury, and revenue recognition.

In recent releases we have focused significant development efforts on building out new capabilities in solution order management, which support customers to transform their product to higher-margin solutions comprising complementary products and services. This release sees the introduction of subscriptions for consumption-based business, integrating �鶹ԭ�� Subscription Billing and allowing users to create subscription services as well as sales and service products in a single order. This facilitates the sale of revenue-boosting bundles of physical products together with one-time, recurring, and consumption-based services.

Turning our attention to the sales department, I cannot help but think of the old adage “Time is money.” Intelligent automation in the creation of sales orders means a real boost to the efficiency of sales teams. A sales representative who doesn’t have to invest high manual effort into creating orders in the system can already move on to the next sale without delay. The �鶹ԭ�� Fiori app in �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud release 2102 creates sales orders from unstructured data in PDF files. After a purchase order file in PDF format is uploaded, the system automatically extracts master data from the file. This data is saved in a sales order request, which can later be converted into a sales order. This user-friendly approach considerably reduces manual — and often error-prone — effort.

The smart application of intelligent technologies is key to any company’s digital transformation. Each update of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud brings additional tools to increase the intelligence of your business processes. One highlight in this release is in the use of machine learning algorithms to provide system support in maintenance notifications. Maintenance technicians or supervisors can have the system suggest the most likely damage code by automatically analyzing information that is already collected through the maintenance process. This can significantly shorten the time needed to assign the correct damage code to a maintenance notification, speeding up the time to resolution for the customer. It also improves data quality for later breakdown analysis.

We also continue to grow the intelligence and automation of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud through �鶹ԭ�� Intelligent Robotic Process Automation – hundreds of predefined bots are available to help drive automation within your business. See the and the for more information.

This just scratches the surface of the innovations delivered with �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Cloud 2102. Of course, there are further enhancements across all areas of the product for the benefit of all lines of business. Familiarize yourself with some of the other highlights through our and , or take a look at .

Sven Denecken is COO �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA and head of Product Success at �鶹ԭ�� SE.

The startup’s cloud-based app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to calculate clothing sizes for individual online shoppers. Much more than welcome relief for anyone who has ever hesitated to buy clothing online because they were uncertain of their size, the tool reduces size-related product returns by 50% on average.

“Sustainability is core to our mission,” said Leon Szeli, co-founder and CEO. “Every product return we save is a win for the consumer, the brand, and the planet. Every item of clothing that consumers scan using our app means fewer returns. This contributes to a lower carbon footprint for the planet, less time wasted for shoppers, and greater cost-savings for retail brands.”

Sustainability Is the Perfect Fit for Online Shopping

Based in Germany, Presize serves well-known clothing apparel brands in that country and throughout Western Europe. Its online sizing tool has provided half a million recommendations to delighted consumers. Instead of second-guessing ambiguous size charts, shoppers simply click on the “find my size” button, answer basic questions that include their height, weight, and gender, upload a video of themselves if they choose, and then the algorithm provides their best size for that product. Behind the scenes, AI-fueled algorithms learn from dynamic data analyses.

“We constantly train the algorithm using data from hundreds of thousands of human shapes and other variables, plus stock-keeping units (SKUs) from clothing manufacturers, and layer that with product return information,” Szeli said. “Once someone saves their size ID, it can be applied to any brand that uses the Presize app, making shopping much easier. Shoppers can even share their size information with family and friends.”

According to Szeli, online retailers that use the Presize app on their website have increased conversion rates, meaning consumer sales, by up to 25%. As with any AI-based tool, user adoption is critical for calculation accuracy. Szeli said that approximately 10% of shoppers use the tool when it is available on a brand’s site.

“A big part of sizing uncertainty is the diversity between brands, Szeli explained. “Every product is different, and we want to help consumers regardless of what brand of clothing they buy.”

Digital Insights for Sustainable Results

Presize is the culmination of Szeli’s two major career passions: conducting research and having a positive impact on the world. As a university student in the U.S. and the UK, he focused on human trust in AI-based technology. However, he quickly realized that he wanted to accomplish much more than producing papers for niche audiences. When he met his co-founders, who were working with computer vision and AI, they embarked on a journey to literally change the world – beginning with online shopping.

“I wanted to do something entrepreneurial that would have a much wider impact and change people’s lives for the better,” Szeli said. “I saw the problem of product returns as a sustainability issue that wasted environmental resources, as well as time and money for businesses and their customers.”

�鶹ԭ��.iO Fosters Collaborative Innovation

Szeli valued the insights his team walked away with after participating in the in fall 2019, particularly around go-to-market and sales practices involving large enterprise customers. He was equally excited about future potential opportunities to integrate Presize capabilities into , the company’s intelligent suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.

“�鶹ԭ�� is one of the most successful business to business (B2B) software companies in the world, and learning new ways to market and sell complex software to numerous stakeholders – including how to shorten sales cycles – was the biggest takeaway for us,” Szeli said. “We’re actively exploring how we can continue to work together.”

Sustainability in Numbers

The pandemic has only boosted e-commerce. Recent research found that consumers increased online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic by 90%, and that may not be a temporary blip. The same surveyed consumers expected to continue shopping more online post-COVID-19 than pre-pandemic – even more reason to keep digitizing the shopping experience with tools like Presize. In many ways, Szeli sees the opportunity as a numbers game.

“Product returns are incredibly inefficient, multiplying the monetary and environmental costs of shipping and repackaging,” he said. “Sometimes companies end up throwing away returned clothing because it’s less expensive short term. We want to reach as many brands and their consumers as possible, and we’re aiming to offer people the right size for one billion products by 2023.”

Follow me: @smgaler
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�鶹ԭ�� HANA is one of these game changers for enterprise software – and it is much more than just a database. It is the foundation for �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA. Thanks to �鶹ԭ�� HANA, data is used in a different way — or, in other words, in a more intelligent and predictive way.

�鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA comes with embedded machine learning cases, like tax compliance smart automation, demand-driven replenishment, supplier delivery prediction, intelligent staffing and resource matching, and sales performance prediction – with the artificial intelligence (AI) foundation in �鶹ԭ�� HANA underneath.

These are the ingredients for a new user experience, as users can gain insights that support the decision-making – from insight to action. Insight to action is such a key capability of a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP), enabled by �鶹ԭ�� HANA. Insight means the ability to get a comprehensive, real-time overview of a business, including information about liquidity, order stats, assets, and customer satisfaction. While this is, to a certain extent, also the case for legacy ERP systems, the insights were derived from outdated static data snapshots based on precalculated aggregates within databases. These technological limitations brought uncertainty and prevented us from making fully informed business decisions, particularly lacking the ability to react in real time to unforeseen events.

The unified data model in �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA allows companies to rely on a single source of truth, another key capability of modern ERP. The unified data model calculates key performance indicators (KPIs) on the fly by using actual line items instead of aggregates with undetermined timestamps – reflecting reality in the moment. Customers can see their inventory in real time. However, the data model itself is just the foundation for a new level of insight. To operationalize these insights, embedded analytics capabilities help raise awareness for business events in the moment they happen, guiding the users and enabling them to avoid issues and exceptions.

The same applies to finance, where the universal journal brings together previously separated tables and sub-ledgers. This capability allows for a soft close and an on-demand consolidation that gives leaders the full picture of all relevant data, helping them make informed decisions and resulting in greater business agility. It also captures all financial data in one place and therefore allows for one consistent parallelism across all sub-ledgers and value flows. Moreover, universal journal is a perfect fit to �鶹ԭ�� HANA because of its simple structure without aggregates or hierarchies. Thanks to the in-memory technology, data from universal journal can be reported easily and quickly. Ledgers are a key field in the universal journal, enabling fast and efficient reporting of financial data according to different accounting principles and attributes – pulling the data from one table.

Speaking of business agility, and according to an , managing unexpected changes to financial forecasts and adapting finance processes to rapidly evolving business models are top challenges finance executives face in executing their day-to-day activities. Additionally, 90% of senior finance executives believe that finance should facilitate collaborative enterprise planning to ensure that operational plans are aligned with financial and strategic plans.

Being able to run planning, profitability analysis, and group reporting on the same data set will change finance forever. That said, we are moving toward a more future-oriented view. The latter can be enabled by smartly combining real-time data — as well as planning, prediction, and simulation data — to detect and react to both risks and opportunities quickly. This ultimately helps make processes even more efficient and intelligent and offers new opportunities for finance in the future. In times like these, with a global pandemic, this has helped many of our customers to steer their enterprises through rough waters and allow them the agility to quickly react to ever-changing environments.

But still, insight alone is not enough when it comes to bridging the gap between analytical and transactional systems, as is the case for legacy ECC systems. Automation, decision support, and AI cannot be fully utilized because of the technological divide. This is where action comes into play, providing the guidance business users need to realize decisions and operations in workflows and highly automated intelligent processes.

There are many examples of innovative �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA applications on �鶹ԭ�� HANA in the area of material requirements planning (MRP) live, demand-driven MRP, inventory management, finance, availability-to-promise, backorder processing, and new variant configuration.

Take, for example, MRP live, the MRP cockpit, and predictive MRP. With MRP live, customers can plan and evaluate very large data volumes in real time. Compared to former MRP runs and evaluations, MRP live and MRP cockpit can run more frequently and the planner can significantly improve business KPIs, such as inventory levels and service-level agreements toward customers. Furthermore, with predictive MRP, it is possible to run simulations of the factory. This next-generation MRP within �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA automatically converts exceptions in solution proposals.

We have customers of all sizes and across regions and industries, such as industry machinery and components and consumer products, making use of MRP live. , a midsize company based in India, runs �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA and could achieve increased revenue thanks to greater visibility, with key business processes such as MRP running on live data and instant access to reports across business functions. Or take , a provider of professional sportswear, that was able to enhance the MRP calculation mechanism and reduce the change time for bills of materials by 80% through collectively changing batches of data. Using �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, ANTA also managed to increase efficiency of inventory consumption by 90%, thanks to automatic updates for a large number of orders.

Demand-driven MRP, a component of �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA, checks the demand and replenishment situation regularly and proposes optimal heights of buffers and inventory to be put into action via just one click. Demand and replenishment can now be adjusted more often and more regularly, which in turn leads to a more effective steering of the adjacent processes. What used to be an inventory optimizing project that companies conducted once a year in an Excel sheet has now become an automated routine process that offers the best delivery capacity while at the same time optimizing a company’s assets and liquidity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has showed us how fragile global supply chains are and how quickly they can be disrupted. But enterprise software helped keep organizations agile to reduce uncertainty and financial impact for companies.

As I laid out in the beginning, digitalization it is not about doing the same with new technology, but about changing the way businesses run. This is what companies need to be prepared to address today’s challenges.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of �鶹ԭ�� SE, Product Engineering.
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The new system went live in late October — at more than 80 companies with 21 production sites in 41 countries, from New Zealand to South America. The ongoing global transformation is taking place in stages in different markets and will be completed by 2025.

The go-live in these countries was executed nearly simultaneously, in just four days. More than 600 employees were involved worldwide, running more than 3,400 test scripts. The brownfield approach posed a special challenge to the project: completing a 1:1 conversion of the existing ERP system “GBS” to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA within the regulated processes. Due to the myriad documentation requirements in the pharmaceutical industry, it is especially important to build on the existing ERP system without reimplementing or disrupting ongoing business processes.

“With �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA as our digital core, we have created the foundation for using additional innovations like predictive analytics, AI-based automation, and �鶹ԭ��® Asset Intelligence Network, combined with a new user experience. As such, Boehringer Ingelheim remains an early adopter in the industry,” said Markus Schümmelfeder, CIO at Boehringer Ingelheim.

Alexander Kläger, managing director, �鶹ԭ�� Germany SE & Co. KG., also emphasized the importance of the partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim: “We need the courage to innovate to meet the challenges in the healthcare system. Boehringer Ingelheim is moving key innovations forward as part of its digital transformation, and our technologies are creating the foundation. We see partnering with companies from the healthcare sector as a societal obligation, not just an important area of business.”

Visit the . Follow �鶹ԭ�� on Twitter at .

Media contact:
Dana Roesiger, +49 6227 7 63900, dana.roesiger@sap.com, CET
�鶹ԭ�� �鶹ԭ�� Room; press@sap.com

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to �鶹ԭ�� are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. �鶹ԭ�� undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views and assumptions and all forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. The factors that could affect �鶹ԭ��’s future financial results are discussed more fully in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. The future-oriented statements reflect the point of view at the time they were made. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
© 2020 �鶹ԭ�� SE. All rights reserved.
�鶹ԭ�� and other �鶹ԭ�� products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of �鶹ԭ�� SE (or an �鶹ԭ�� affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. For more information about the trademarks, copyrights, and their usage, see .

This usually begins with establishing an intelligent core or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but for many companies, migrating to a new system is more than just a simple upgrade.

With the accumulation of years of historical business data across highly complex system landscapes, companies need to take a specific migration approach to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA to help ensure they are maintaining business continuity, while benefitting from any innovation that comes along with the migration. While many of these transitions may take the form of a new implementation or system conversion, some customers need more flexibility to master their move to an intelligent ERP.

Common Standard for the Market

Recognizing this need, �鶹ԭ�� formed a working group, , along with expert consulting firms cbs, Datavard, Natuvion, and SNP. The group facilitates a common standard that addresses a very specific need from the market: a tailored scope between system conversion and new implementation.

This approach, called selective data transition, combines the redesign of business processes with the retention of select historical data to align with the customer’s new business reality.

Alongside industry peers that have proven expertise in system landscape transformation projects, �鶹ԭ�� put together common standards and best practices for the market to help ensure that high quality is continuously maintained as customers make their move to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA using selective data transition. While each party works with its individual customers on their own unique migrations, the group has access to expert content, recommended scenarios, best practices, and solution patterns to help make sure that all customers’ needs are met.

Customers across the globe can now rely on this working group to get a better understanding of their options, and the opportunities and benefits of using this selective approach, as well as access to a range of expertise through an internal knowledge exchange that takes place across the group. The group has defined a variety of scenarios that can benefit from this migration approach and continue to get updated on the database.

Custom Approach for Each Migration

Striking a balance between redesign and reuse, selective data transition can take place across various scenarios for companies of all sizes to support a smooth transition to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA that enables the right IT landscape for each customer’s unique needs. Since selective data transition goes beyond a standard implementation, there are a host of options that customers can choose from depending on their current landscapes and their future needs.

Customers can work with �鶹ԭ�� or their partners to define the appropriate structural changes that need to take place during data migration, as well as any business processes that may need to be amended or redesigned. With this tailored approach, customers have increased flexibility to adapt data and processes – all in just one step.

Using selective data transition, customers can take advantage of select innovation, where they can adjust business processes to enable the use of new tools and functionality without having to start from scratch. Long-time �鶹ԭ�� customers that have very mature landscapes can clean up their environments while retaining those investments that matter most and short track their transitions by bypassing preparation projects.

For those looking to split some of their projects between the cloud and on premise, selective data transition allows them to split, restructure, and consolidate their environments as they please. Most importantly, this migration approach allows customers to save time by combining all tasks in one step.

With the �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Movement initiative, �鶹ԭ�� is constantly looking for ways to make these migrations as simple as possible for customers, investing in ways that provide as much flexibility as possible.

Today, that is simply not enough. Whereas IT used to be seen as a cost factor, technology now drives the value chain. “On-value” has become a criterion for customer success.

This is the view held by Derek Prior from Resulting IT, an independent �鶹ԭ�� consultancy in the UK. He looked at the importance of premium-level engagement for �鶹ԭ�� customers and presented the results of his study at the 2020 �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention Summit, which took place November 9-10.

�鶹ԭ�� wants its most strategic customers to gain from its own transformation as a company.

He concluded that �鶹ԭ�� Services played a pivotal role in sustaining customer success. �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention helped companies generate value-based outcomes – and innovate incrementally – again and again. Businesses with their own Global Center of Expertise (CoE) are best placed to do this.

But there is a message of caution here, too. Namely, if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Too much has happened in the last few months. Paul Kurchina, who has many years of experience as an independent �鶹ԭ�� expert and guru of the �鶹ԭ�� scene in North America, recommends that customers look very closely at their Global CoE models.

When describing the most significant change, Kurchina said, “Remote business has become the norm.” That might mean that neither a company’s CoE concept nor its tool landscape is equal to new, emerging challenges.

Greater Impact

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention Summit in the era of Customer Success was a virtual event this year. Presenting in tandem, Prior and Kurchina interacted adeptly to create a compelling online exchange.

Adaire Fox-Martin, member of the Executive Board of �鶹ԭ�� SE and head of Customer Success,  explained that �鶹ԭ�� had brought all its customer-facing services and sales roles under one area.

“Our name is our mission,” Fox-Martin explained in her welcome address. Under the new organizational structure, some 40% of �鶹ԭ��’s workforce was now focusing directly on customer success by following the LACE (Land, Adopt, Consume, Expand) operating model – though the “customer first” mantra, of course, applied equally to all of �鶹ԭ��. According to Fox-Martin, �鶹ԭ�� was unique among its peers in the way it has organized to make customer success its key mission.

Having opted for a strategic partnership with �鶹ԭ��, �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention customers in particular need to consistently “feel” the benefits of this close cooperation in the shape of business outcomes.

Tangible Results

As the subsequent presentations showed, that is exactly what is happening. In 30-minute slots, long-time �鶹ԭ�� customers spoke about how they benefit from �鶹ԭ��’s premium engagements – in a variety of ways.

With help from �鶹ԭ��, an industrial conglomerate from Turkey has made a slew of improvements after embarking on its digital transformation. These include productivity and efficiency gains in multiple divisions. The company has driven costs down and minimized risk while increasing employee satisfaction and improving its environmental footprint.

According to its chief information officer (CIO), almost all of the company’s 850 individual projects have been completed, and it now has around 40,000 �鶹ԭ�� users working with products that include �鶹ԭ�� Analytics Cloud, �鶹ԭ�� SuccessFactors, and Qualtrics solutions.

An operations manager from a telecommunications company reported on his experiences with �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention. The telecommunications giant switched to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA Finance in under two years, implementing various cloud solutions –– �鶹ԭ�� Concur and �鶹ԭ�� Ariba software among them –– at the same time.

An urgent need for real-time reporting coupled with mounting volume issues were key reasons for transforming the in-house enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, EVO. By achieving optimal levels of standardization – an 84% improvement – and automation – a 73% increase – the company now has better control over its hybrid IT landscape, while adding refinements to accelerate month-end closing were still ongoing.

For their part, IT experts from a multinational IT company provided initial insights into their cooperation with �鶹ԭ�� on business operations self-healing. Here, they plan to use chatbot technology to more rapidly remedy errors commonly made by its internal IT users and implement a more consistent approach to automating routine tasks.

New Offerings

Innovations like these are possible because �鶹ԭ�� often trials and enhances new ideas together with customers – and thus in the real world.

In this context, Peter Harkin, senior vice president of Premium Engagements at �鶹ԭ�� and host of the 2020 �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention Summit, announced the founding of the Intelligent Enterprise Institute, where customers will be able to work together in various labs on new processes and much more. EMEA North has been selected as the pilot region for this cooperation.

Harkin also announced extensions to the �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention portfolio for 2021. These include back-office �鶹ԭ�� applications and the Mission Control Center.

With regards to expanding its technology for the benefit of customers, �鶹ԭ�� would be investing chiefly in the �鶹ԭ�� Business Technology Platform (�鶹ԭ�� BTP) and its components, according to Anja Schneider, head of Customer Innovation in the �鶹ԭ�� Technology and Innovation board area. She described technology as integral to customer success.

“Technology is a value driver,” said Shane Paladin, president of �鶹ԭ�� Services. But he added that the benefits could only be reaped if the technology was utilized in the right way, which made it even more crucial for �鶹ԭ�� to gain customers’ attention and position itself as a trusted advisor. “Trust is the default of moving forward,” he said.

Both Schneider and Paladin advised customers to keep their core systems clean. Any specifications and enhancements they required could be integrated through the �鶹ԭ�� Cloud Platform as part of the �鶹ԭ�� BTP.

Bring on the Feedback

A highlight at the end of each day was the executive session, in which �鶹ԭ�� managers answered questions from attendees.

One of these questions related to “cloud-only.” Thomas Saueressig,  member of the  Executive Board of �鶹ԭ�� SE responsible for product strategy, explained that this was not yet an option for �鶹ԭ��. With demand for on premise still strong, particularly in the ERP segment, �鶹ԭ�� was sticking to the principle of “cloud-first.”

When asked how �鶹ԭ�� measured its customers’ success internally, Fox-Martin referred to the Net Promoter Score and user feedback. She stressed that one of the reasons why �鶹ԭ��’s strategic partnership with its �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention customers was so important was that it was a source of firsthand feedback. Also, programs had been set up to evaluate joint key performance indicators (KPIs) for �鶹ԭ�� and its customers.

Addressing the issue of customer criticism, Harkin confirmed that �鶹ԭ�� had responded and structured the contract for the New �鶹ԭ�� MaxAttention offering more flexibly. Initially, the extensions to the portfolio had been met with a positive response – the complicated rules less so. But �鶹ԭ�� had remedied the situation in the meantime.

“I hope we’ll be able to meet face-to-face again next year,” Harkin said when closing the event.

Even the best virtual event is no substitute for personal contact.

Lehmann explains how �鶹ԭ�� collaborates on co-innovation projects to help create solutions that extend the value of each customer’s investment and quickly scale for more companies, generating immediate and industry-wide business value and results.

Q: How has �鶹ԭ�� transformed customer co-innovation and what is different now?

A: Co-innovation with customers has long been foundational to �鶹ԭ��’s evolution, driving our extraordinary growth. It remains an important piece of our strategic journey as we’ve renewed our commitment to listen to our customers’ experiences and act on their feedback.

What’s changed is how we’ve doubled down on co-innovation that extends with standardized, scalable solutions that seamlessly integrate with our intelligent digital core. A great example is our solutions. We’re bringing together customers and partners to co-innovate vertical-specific extensions at scale. This allows many more customers to quickly apply the latest intelligent technologies for faster business results that meet their company’s objectives for differentiation and growth.

What role does customer support and maintenance have in co-innovation?

It’s not unusual for support and maintenance requests to become co-innovation projects. We continuously analyze incidents, and when we find a critical mass of requests with relevance for many customers in a certain industry, those can morph into projects that our team handles. We also collaborate regularly with other �鶹ԭ�� development teams to create new solutions.

Why did �鶹ԭ�� make this change?

Customers want our guidance in understanding what standardized processes make the most sense for their particular industry and how they can use �鶹ԭ�� solutions to quickly apply them to their business. This is why our new co-innovation strategy involves �鶹ԭ�� teams company-wide, including services and support, sales, and product engineering. Working closely with customers in the context of their unique challenges and objectives, as well as market dynamics, we make sure they receive the solution extensions they require for business innovation, including seamless integration with the intelligent digital �鶹ԭ�� core.

How does this new co-innovation model reflect the company’s Intelligent Enterprise vision?

We want our customers to move to the cloud with us. However, we understand that customers are at very different starting points. This co-innovation model is designed to bring every customer to the next level for modern business – whether they have our on-premise systems or have already begun moving forward with cloud.

Can you share examples of how companies have co-innovated with �鶹ԭ�� for business results?

We are co-innovating to help numerous customers generate quick results from their investments in . A pharmaceutical company involved in clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine was using our on-premise solutions, so we are building an extension that will allow them to connect a key process to �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA. The solution will address blinding and randomization needs in clinical trials, facilitating important processes including demand forecasting, manufacturing, and shipments of clinical trial materials.

Another co-innovation project is in the automotive industry, where we are exploring how a manufacturer can inject artificial intelligence (AI) into their logistics processes to increase speed and reduce errors. The public sector is a major growth area too, where we have projects that have included procurement extensions, allowing governments to significantly simplify complexity. Co-innovation projects like these can become strategic partnerships that bring new solutions to entire industries.

What advice do you have for customers that want to co-innovate with �鶹ԭ��?

Be bold and challenge us. We want to understand your evolving business aspirations and challenges so we can work together to co-innovate solutions. We’ll find the best engagement model to explore innovations for your company. Technology-wise, keep your core ERP system with no additional modifications – or as standardized as possible – and build extensions in the cloud so you can quickly take advantage of innovations as they become available. The biggest benefits of moving to the cloud are speed and the resultant business agility. These capabilities are critical to success in today’s environment.

Looking ahead to 2021, what should customers expect from �鶹ԭ��?

As we continue massively investing in cloud solutions, co-innovation with longtime and new customers is central to our strategy. We will deliver new solutions and redefine markets together, jumpstarting innovation across industries. We’re looking ahead to faster new solution delivery and measurable business results for even more customers in 2021.

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The lab provides a working space built on design-thinking principles to stimulate and encourage innovative thinking, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing in the region and across the Gulf. It is part of a larger program of �鶹ԭ�� Next-Gen Lab locations, where �鶹ԭ�� partners with leading universities accelerate “innovation with purpose” in classrooms, provide students with the knowledge and skills for a digital future, and spearhead recruiting in their respective areas.

Heiderose Moossen, manager for Vocational Training (Dual System) at the university and long-time Omani resident, has been investing much of her time and effort in developing vocational training and education opportunities for youth. It was energizing to hear from her and some of her students about the origins of the �鶹ԭ�� Next-Gen Lab in Oman and how it is making an impact.

Equipping Students with Digital-Ready Skills

Since initially launching as a pilot program, Moossen has successfully trained around 75 students to date, with a 100% passing rate, all achieving the �鶹ԭ�� Global Certification. With an , individuals can distinguish themselves among the best and become customers’ trusted �鶹ԭ�� software experts of choice.

To help prepare students with the right knowledge and practical skills needed to excel in a digital-forward workforce, Moossen ran various lectures based on the �鶹ԭ�� course “Integrated Business Processes in �鶹ԭ�� S/4HANA” in 2019 and 2020.

The course covers various aspects of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and introduces students to different concepts and processes that are found at a corporate organizational level. It teaches students both business vocabulary and technical terminology, equipping them with skills that will help differentiate them in the workplace. With an �鶹ԭ�� certification, the students and graduates can set themselves apart in the job market.

Moossen believes it is necessary to bridge the gap between the education sector and the workplace, which is why she started integrating �鶹ԭ�� courses into her work. “Not only do the courses provide students with the knowledge they need to work in the digital future, but it also provides them with the opportunity for critical and analytical thinking – skills that are necessary to be successful in an international marketplace beyond Oman and the Gulf region.”

Michael Smith, a student with a background in tourism and international business explained how beneficial the course was for him before working at a small and midsize enterprise (SME): “It was extremely fascinating to get a sneak peek into the way corporations operate on a day-to-day basis and discover what the future of business will look like. Most importantly, I learned how the various units and departments of a company mesh together in an efficient and streamlined fashion, giving me a comprehensive overview of the entire modern business process.”

Shaikha Al Hinai, a computer science graduate, has been able to expand her experience with �鶹ԭ�� by taking other courses and certifications thanks to the knowledge she acquired through this first course.

Preparing Students for the Future

Beyond teaching her students technology and IT skills, Moossen wanted to make sure she set them up for success in the future. Throughout the program and partnership with �鶹ԭ��, she organized events with students and industry experts, providing a forum to discuss the changes taking place across Omani society and the professional sector.

“I think it’s necessary for students to gain exposure to the workplace before actually entering it so they can begin to understand how companies are set up and how processes are run,” Moossen said. “We need to prepare them for what to expect so that when they graduate, they are ready to enter the workforce. We hear too often about graduates who need about a year or so to acclimate to professional work, which isn’t beneficial for the company, student, and the industry overall.”

This out-of-classroom support also extended to study groups which offered coaching and mentorship to students, especially as courses moved to remote, online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is always important for me to help keep my students’ spirits high, and I always thought about developing the students as humans and making sure they not only understood the content, but also the right values.”

What we have seen in Oman through Moossen and her students is a model for inspiring the future generation of talent through the �鶹ԭ�� ecosystem. As the company helps fuel its customers’ paths to becoming intelligent enterprises, it will also continue to cultivate young talent around the world with to help fulfill its mission.

Sabine Benz is vice president and head of Outbound Go-to-Market for �鶹ԭ�� Knowledge and Education.