“We started by fixing the basics,� said Siani, Transformation and Technology director at Ipiranga, one of Brazil’s largest fuel distributors.

Ipiranga operates almost 6,000 service stations nationwide. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, the company has more than 6,200 B2B customers and 1,500 convenience stores. Ipiranga generates $120.7 billion in revenue, yet despite its size and market leadership, the company faced a critical problem: repeated project failures.

Working on the root cause

“Before we could start investing in new technology, we needed to take a good look at why some of our initiatives were not generating the expected value for the business,� Siani said, speaking at the TAC Insights conference for in Toulouse. “We needed a rigorous RCA.�

RCA, or root cause analysis, is a structured approach to problem-solving that focuses on identifying the underlying causes of issues rather than just addressing surface-level symptoms.

“Instead of making new investments, we decided to dig deeper and identify the causes,� she explained. “When we examined the company’s history, RCA confirmed that the high level of customization was limiting our ability to deliver at the required speed. Our inability to adopt the best technologies and functional best practices was directly impacting the company’s ability to evolve and drive business growth.�

Speaking the language

From the outset, the Technology team recognized that the case for the ERP transformation rested on demonstrating how inconsistent processes and the lack of standardized best practices hindered the organization’s ability to respond quickly and remain competitive in the market.

“When we went to the Board to secure the budget for the digital transformation, we didn’t start by talking about technology,� Sian sharedi. “We started by discussing what the business needed to achieve its strategic objectives faster. Then, we listed the obstacles preventing that progress along with the technology capabilities required to remove those barriers.�

By translating technical challenges and opportunities into business language, Siani helped Ipiranga’s leadership understand that innovation without a strong foundation would not take the business to the level of efficiency required.

“By identifying these root causes, we were able to avoid a common trap,� she explained. “Instead of investing in new technology without fixing the foundation, we shifted our strategy. We refocused on  tools to process integration, governance, and operational discipline.�

Getting approval for a big investment

Ipiranga partnered with Â鶹ԭ´´ to assess critical processes across operations, finance, and commercial operations.

“Â鶹ԭ´´ brought in business experts to pinpoint how a heavily customized ERP system was slowing decision-making and limiting visibility and innovation,” Siani said. Rather than focusing on Â鶹ԭ´´ functionalities, they asked fundamental business questions: What does your financial process look like? How does your order-to-cash process work?”

Armed with these insights and a clear understanding of what was slowing decision-making, Siani returned to the board with a clear message: “Fix the foundation, or transformation will fail.”

As a result, she got approval to implement a new ERP system, driven by business value and ROI. What ensued was a massive integration effort, with a targeted go-live scheduled for December 31, 2026.

With support from Accenture and Â鶹ԭ´´, Ipiranga adopted a clean core strategy, ensuring minimal customization and long-term scalability. Overall, 104 legacy systems were analyzed, 64 systems will be integrated and 40 decommissioned, and over 750 interfaces are being built. Of course, all developments had to pass strict governance gates to guarantee the clean core.

People driving change

Technology may enable transformation, but people make it successful. Over 350 professionals from a variety of business and technical teams are involved in the ongoing project. Crucially, leadership played a direct role. With executive sponsorship and transparent communication, resistance to change has been minimal.

“We were careful not to impose change, but to explain the impacts clearly and discuss them with a multidisciplinary team,� said the IT expert, who is also a rowing champion. “We made sure to prepare teams early and embed change management at every phase.�

The team prioritized initiatives with the highest return on investment (ROI) and paused non-essential projects. They also selected world-class partners—including Accenture as the implementation partner and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the hyperscaler—to help ensure a high-quality, successful transformation.

The company’s transformation is now in the middle of a critical milestone (SIT1). The expected ROI is over $40 million, but more importantly, the company has built something far more valuable than a new system.

“We will have a solid operational foundation, integrated, scalable ,and efficient processes, and a culture that understands how transformation goes beyond technology. Technology is simply the path,� Siani said.

Ipiranga’s journey offers a powerful reminder that digital transformation is not about tools; it’s about assertive fundamentals. RCA can reveal issues technology alone cannot fix. It demonstrates that preparation is as important as execution, and that clean core strategies reduce long-term complexity.

“In effect, the path to successful transformation doesn’t start with innovation. It starts with clarity, discipline, clear goals that together determine the correct technology,â€� Siani concluded.

Managing abundance

These are just some of the challenges facing KETRACO, , as Africa’s energy sector is undergoing a shift from a centralized power system to a more diversified, renewable-energy-based grid.

“Renewable energy is abundant. The real challenge is how to manage, integrate, and stabilize it,� Dr. Njogu Kimando, energy expert at KETRACO, said, speaking at the TAC Insights conference for in Toulouse. “The energy transition is not constrained by capacity, but by our ability to manage complexity in real time.�

Geothermal power generated in the Great Rift Valley provides about 40% of electricity in the region, making Kenya Africa’s largest geothermal producer. About 24% is generated by hydro power from rivers. The rest of the demand is met by wind power coming mostly from Lake Turkana, Africa’s largest wind farm, as well as solar. The fastest growing sector, solar is widely used in rural homes and businesses. Kenya has one of the highest household solar adoption rates in the world.

While renewables reduce costs, support climate alignment, and provide energy security, challenges include drought-induced water shortages, sun and wind variability and grid instability.

Lack of synchronized intelligence

In the traditional grid, power is generated at a few centralized plants, creating a stable source of supply that is easy to control based on demand forecasts. The renewables (REN) grid, on the other hand, fluctuates with the weather, requiring real-time monitoring, rapid balancing, and more dynamic system control.

The core challenge in modern power systems is not the absence of data, but the lack of unified, real-time visibility across fragmented systems. This lack limits the ability to make timely and coordinated operational decisions. 

“We’re constantly balancing supply and demand,� Kimando explained. “We have limited real-time visibility across generation sources, transmission assets, and demand patterns.�

As renewables expand, KETRACO’s role has evolved from simply building and operating transmission lines to managing power flows in real time, coordinating variable energy generation, and ensuring grid stability and reliability. The company is relying on digital systems to accomplish these tasks.

Kimando outlined the company’s new, integrated smart grid infrastructure. Forming an end-to-end digital value chain, it functions as the digital twin foundation for the grid and links operational technology with enterprise systems and advanced analytics.

Data is captured by SCADA, an industrial control system for infrastructure and utility networks, and is securely routed through Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Technology Platform middleware to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA, which serves as the enterprise backbone. It is here that operational data is translated into structured business processes. 

From data to decisions

“We’re relying on Â鶹ԭ´´ technology to transform that raw data into predictive, actionable intelligence,â€� said Kimando, citing asset lifecycle management and outage reduction metrics as examples of ways to shift from reactive maintenance to predictive grid reliability. “Digital transformation is no longer a technology choice, but a strategic necessity. It’s a balancing game: values versus risks.â€�

For KETRACO, the goal is to unlock the full value of renewable energy while avoiding the escalating risks of operating in a complex and dynamic power environment. Inaction leads to grid instability and operational inefficiency, underutilization of energy investments, rising costs, and exposure to regulatory and compliance risks. Action based on data analytics leads to improved financial efficiency and better CAPEX decisions. It also leads to enhanced operational resilience with reduced outages and faster system recovery.

“Together, this strengthens our strategic positioning for the energy transition and ESG compliance,� Kimando explained.

The next frontier

At KETRACO, AI is considered a capacity multiplier, enabling a crucial shift from resource-intensive grid expansion to intelligence-driven grid optimization. 

“AI is helping us achieve more with the same workforce. We’re enabling engineers, not replacing them,� the expert shared. “Automation is enabling our people to focus more on predictability and decision making.�

In addition, AI supports long-term sustainability goals because simulating scenarios before investing reduces errors and costs. It also enables self-optimized grid operations, reducing manual interventions and improving collaboration and integration among regional power systems and cross-border energy flows.

KETRACO’s role is to transmit electricity across Kenya and connect the country to the wider East African power market. Its importance is growing as Kenya has become a REN hub, expanding its geothermal, wind, and hydropower generation. Without its transmission infrastructure, much of Kenya’s renewable energy could not be delivered efficiently to consumers or neighboring countries.

In closing, Kimando summarized how digital transformation is changing the way power is managed, stabilized, and optimized: REN presents a system challenge, not a technological one. Technology must align to operations and strategy, control is achieved through visibility and integration, and partnerships accelerate scale and execution.

“The future grid will not be defined by how much power we generate, but by how intelligently we manage it,� he concluded.

“The global energy demand won’t stop growing,� he explained. “As renewables only provide a small share of the energy we currently use, we’ll still need oil and gas that are safely produced as we transition to a lower carbon world.�

Crude oil still remains indispensable where alternatives are limited, particularly in heavy transport and the chemicals industry, and natural gas plays a key role in the low-carbon transition, both as an energy source and in large-scale hydrogen production.

A unique model

What’s interesting about Harbour Energy, one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies, isn’t just that it’s big. What’s interesting is how it got big and how it operates differently from traditional energy companies. The company was founded in 2014 by private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners with a goal to build a global, independent company by acquisition.

“We’re basically trying to solve a very hard problem. How do we scale like a major, but stay agile like a startup?� Young said during his presentation about Harbour’s rapid growth journey. He explained that in a company that grows through acquisitions and runs multiple ERP systems, the role of technology is less about “one system� and more about connecting everything, standardizing insight, and accelerating change.

Masters of integration

Most oil and gas giants grew over decades. Harbour did it in about 10 years by pursuing an aggressive strategy of mergers and acquisitions, buying assets such as oil fields from industry giants like Shell. The company also scaled rapidly across 11 countries giving it a broad geographical reach. Crucially, Harbour Energy was often able to integrate acquisitions within a year, demonstrating a rare combination of speed and integration.

“A lot of companies struggle after acquisitions,� Young said. “Systems break, processes clash, value gets lost. At Harbour, we focus on quickly stabilizing new assets, extracting synergies early, and reducing operating costs even while growing.�

Young’s team took a different approach to technology. While most companies push for one massive ERP system, Harbour doesn’t blindly take that path. It runs multiple ERP systems when it makes sense, focuses on fit-for-purpose architecture, and uses tools to connect processes rather than force everything into one box. Such flexibility is a big advantage for a company that keeps acquiring new businesses.

The digital backbone

Because Harbour Energy operates multiple ERP systems rather than a single monolithic platform, complexity is unavoidable. , particularly Â鶹ԭ´´ LeanIX solutions and the Â鶹ԭ´´ Signavio portfolio, connects this landscape by aligning processes, linking capabilities to systems, and providing a unified view of ‘what’s where,’ ultimately creating visibility across an otherwise fragmented environment.

“Before we implemented the Â鶹ԭ´´ tool chain, processes were hidden in Excel and PDFs. It was all part of the local knowledge we acquired,â€� Young said. “We had no clear view of duplication or inefficiencies. For example, we found that we had dozens of HR systems, which we were able to reduce by half.  We were able to consolidate 33 different ways to do travel expenses into just one.â€�

One major impact is speed. Whereas traditional transformation planning took up to 24 months, now, with the tool chain and process modeling, key design cycles can sometimes be achieved in four to six weeks. This is enabled by standard process templates and automated modelling for faster validation cycles leading to faster execution of integration and transformation programs.

In addition, tools like the Â鶹ԭ´´ Test Automation solution by Tricentis and Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM for application lifecycle management help ensure that releases are safer and fewer operational surprises occur during go-lives, which is critical in an industry where downtime is expensive.

By connecting systems and processes, the tool chain enables cost transparency across business units and investment prioritization based on real data. This directly supports financial discipline and shareholder value creation

For a company built on acquisitions, probably the biggest value driver is that the tool chain helps rapidly map the systems of acquired companies and compare them against Harbour’s core model identifying what to keep, retire, or migrate. This is why Harbour can integrate acquisitions quickly instead of getting stuck in years of IT consolidation.

Structure before automation

Only when processes are structured and visible can they be used for automation, which is why these tools all play a crucial role in enabling AI adoption. Standardized workflows and process maps are input for AI tools, and digital adoption platforms guide users through systems.

The three key engines provided by the Â鶹ԭ´´ tool chain include:

• Transparency engine makes the business visible end-to-end
• Standardization engine aligns processes, systems, and capabilities globally
• Acceleration engine speeds up M&A integration and transformation delivery

Together with Â鶹ԭ´´ Analytics Cloud for global forecasting and planning, these tools are at the heart of the company’s successful business transformation.

Young listed the three strategic levers keeping the company strong, resilient, and ambitious. The first is maintaining strict financial discipline, followed by using data driven insights that ensure the company remains competitive, and, last but not least, equipping the business teams with advanced capabilities ensures resilience.

“The Â鶹ԭ´´ tool chain allows us to grow aggressively through acquisitions without collapsing under complexity,â€� Young concluded. “It’s essentially the difference between chaotic expansion and controlled, scalable growth.â€�

Check out the Â鶹ԭ´´ integrated tool chain and its core capabilities .

AI works when the foundation is right 

The energy and utilities sector is investing heavily in AI. Business leaders worldwide are embracing artificial intelligence to increase efficiency, unlock new business models, and prepare for the energy transition. A successful proof of concept is often the first milestone—but it marks only the beginning. The real challenge lies in scaling pilot projects across the entire organization. 

In this context, the time and effort required for a full implementation is frequently underestimated. Around six months are needed to build a robust data foundation. A further 12 months pass before initial results manifest in the form of a measurable return on investment. Large-scale rollout can take another three years. The reasons for this are manifold: 

• Unrealistic expectations: Many people use AI in their daily lives for simple tasks and expect similarly seamless effects in complex enterprise environments. 
• Legacy infrastructure: Historically grown system landscapes cannot be transformed overnight. 
• Regulatory complexity: In regulated industries such as electricity, gas, and water supply, compliance requirements are particularly high. They must be factored into every architectural decision from the very beginning. 
• Lack of AI-specific talent: What is needed are people who genuinely understand both the business and AI. This bridge between IT and the business side will become increasingly important in the future. 
• Organizational change management: Technology alone is not enough. Organizational transformation is and remains the decisive success factor. 

From AI hype to real value 

Building a new application is only the first step. On the path to scaling, lifecycle management, identity and access management, security, compliance, and governance must all be consistently taken into account. Release management, testing, and continuous improvement processes add further complexity. “The companies that invest in the right foundation today will benefit from AI to its full extent tomorrow,â€� says Andre Bechtold, president and head of Â鶹ԭ´´ Industries & Experiences. 

For companies, this means overcoming fragmented data silos and developing an integrated data strategy. Legacy systems must be integrated into a modern data and AI platform on which AI models can genuinely create value. Torsten Welte, head of Energy & Natural Resources Industries at Â鶹ԭ´´, summarizes it as follows: “AI is fundamentally transforming the energy industry. The business must understand what is technologically possible. And IT must understand what the business needs.” 

 can provide the essential foundation for this. AI is already natively embedded in the suite in the form of Joule. This can open up concrete use cases for the energy industry: in the area of asset management and predictive maintenance, utilities can proactively manage assets and grids before disruptions occur. The Utilities Customer Self-Service Agent, in turn, enables 24/7 self-service for customers and can reduce service costs by up to 90%. 

Distributed energy requires intelligent networking 

The topic of distributed energy resources (DER) remains of central importance. In the past, energy flowed in only one direction: from the power plant to consumers. In the future, it will be bidirectional. Consumers that generate their own energy will actively feed it back into the grid. 

DER describes precisely this principle: the generation of electricity through millions of decentralized resources such as solar panels, EV chargers, heat pumps, and battery storage systems by consumers and so-called prosumers. These assets generate vast amounts of data. Their orchestration represents one of the key challenges of the energy transition. 

The  solution provides a platform for a single source of truth: technical assets, commercial contracts, and customer data are brought together in a coherent data model. This helps create the foundation for new business models such as smart tariffs, dynamic pricing, energy sharing, and demand response.

Â鶹ԭ´´ consistently relies on a growing partner network built around its own data platform. Markus Bechmann, global VP and co-head of Industry Business Unit Utilities at Â鶹ԭ´´, describes it this way: “Dynamic pricing and smart tariffs are no longer distant concepts. They are the business models of tomorrow. With Â鶹ԭ´´, energy providers already have the technological foundation today to seize these opportunities.” 

Â鶹ԭ´´ Experience Centers: experiencing AI, not just discussing it 

To make AI tangible, Â鶹ԭ´´ Experience Centers offer visitors the opportunity to experience AI in real-world scenarios beyond classic demo environments. One central example is the Â鶹ԭ´´ Energy Park in Walldorf. Using real infrastructure on the campus, Â鶹ԭ´´ demonstrates how the company itself is implementing the energy transition. This includes e-mobility, intelligent asset management, and energy communities. 

A new chapter for the energy industry 

The Â鶹ԭ´´ for Energy & Utilities Conference in Toulouse has once again demonstrated that AI in the energy industry is no longer a topic for the future. However, the path from pilot project to company-wide transformation requires more than technological enthusiasm. To meet the challenges of the energy transition, what is needed—alongside technological innovation—is a solid foundation of data, processes, and organization.

He mentioned driverless cars in San Francisco, autonomous drones conducting warfare, and robots that are trained to care for humans as real humans would. Speaking at the recent TAC Insights sponsored conference featuring , Weber admitted he finds it all rather scary, but also very exciting.

For an energy company operating critical infrastructure, this pace of technological change is not just fascinating or frightening—it creates a responsibility to adopt innovation in a controlled, resilient, and purpose‑driven way.

Riding the waves

Weber sees these developments as a continuation of various “big waves” of technology that keep touching our hearts and minds as they shape the world around us. Who can imagine the world without the internet? Who can deny that the mobile phone didn’t revolutionize the consumption of IT when people started expecting the same ease of use in the workplace?

“AI is creating the same response,” Weber explained. “ChatGPT makes my life easier at home solving gardening issues, so I expect it to make my life easier at work.â€�

One of E.ON’s biggest challenges is closing the widening gap between the rapid pace of technological innovation in the outside world and the organization’s internal ability, shaped by its structure and DNA, to absorb and implement these changes effectively.

This tension became evident when leadership questioned whether sustained IT spending at large scale was justifiable. It soon became clear that continuous investment is the price of system stability, affordability, and resilience in a digitized energy system if E.ON is serious about becoming the leading playmaker in Europe’s green energy transformation.

To achieve this ambition, the company has defined three strategic priorities—growth, sustainability, and digitalization—recognizing that falling behind in digital capabilities would carry far greater long-term costs.

“Bringing the system up to speed requires internal readiness. It means we must think deeply about investments, prioritization, and most importantly, people and culture,� said Weber. “One thing is sure: we won’t be going back to what was normal speed before.�

Becoming strategic

E.ON operates across three domains: energy grid, customer solutions, and energy infrastructure solutions.  This broad scope creates a high level of operational complexity, requiring scalable, transparent, and collaborative ways of working across the organization.

To meet these challenges, E.ON is strengthening its internal capabilities and investing in its people. By expanding in-house expertise, the company has welcomed over 1,000 specialists, including more than 500 in data and 300 in cybersecurity, fostering greater ownership, collaboration, and innovation across the organization.

This move reflects a broader philosophy. IT is no longer just a support function; it is foundational to pioneering the energy transition and delivering competitive advantage.

As E.ON’s transformation unfolds against a backdrop of rapid technological evolution, AI is at the heart of the current inflection point. Technologies like AI-powered assistants and automation tools are not novelties; they are actively redefining how customers interact with services. E.ON recognizes this shift and is embedding advanced technologies directly into its core systems, rather than treating them as add-ons.

Closing the gap

Weber explained that digital transformation at E.ON means putting the right technology into the core of the business to better serve its 47 million customers.

It starts with platform standardization, followed by cloud ERP transformation and the Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA migration. Instead of building fragmented custom solutions, this strategy allows the company to integrate leading technologies into a cohesive architecture, ensuring scalability while avoiding unnecessary complexity. These basic investments in foundational infrastructure have delivered tangible results, including an 77% reduction in IT downtime within five years.

A key lesson from E.ON’s journey is the importance of embedding digital capabilities into the heart of operations. “We’ve moved away from isolated innovation hubs such as digital labs or experimental ‘garages’ in favor of integrating digital tools directly into business processes,â€� Weber explained.

While innovation is essential, E.ON places equal emphasis on governance and control. Managing a digital ecosystem at this scale requires strong oversight to ensure security, consistency, and cost discipline. The company implemented centralized governance structures, including standardized contracting and unified IT system management to help maintain control without stifling innovation.

Equally important is investment in people. Through targeted training and capacity building initiatives, employees are empowered to turn new technologies into measurable business impact.

Harnessing AI

As with many companies, AI is at the center of E.ON’s forward-looking strategy, but the company is approaching it with deliberate caution. Rather than rushing to build proprietary platforms, E.ON is leveraging partnerships with established technology providers while maintaining flexibility in its IT portfolio. This approach allows the company to explore the potential of AI in customer service automation, predictive maintenance, and operational optimization without overcommitting to unproven solutions.

“In essence, our experience highlights a broader truth about digital transformation,� said the IT expert. “Success really depends on balance. We absolutely must push innovation forward, but not at the expense of stability, cyber security or governance.�

Equally, digital tools alone are not enough. Without proper training and alignment with business needs, even the most advanced technologies can fail to deliver value. E.ON addresses this through a “BizDevOps” mindset, ensuring that digital initiatives are an integral part of business goals and supported by the right capabilities.

In summary, E.ON’s transformation illustrates what it takes to modernize at scale in a complex, highly regulated industry. By doubling down on IT investment, bringing expertise in house, and adopting a disciplined yet forward-looking approach to innovation, the company has positioned itself for the future of energy.

The result is not only improved system performance or reduced downtime. It’s a fundamental shift in how technology drives business success, turning technology into a cornerstone of making new energy work—reliably, affordably, and at scale.

With six locations and a rapidly expanding international presence, WestWood faced growing complexity in managing siloed data and keeping up with ever-evolving compliance requirements. The company’s small product safety team was stretched thin, struggling to maintain manual processes and ensure the highest standards across teams and departments. To better serve customers and streamline its operations, WestWood set out to find an integrated, automated solution.

To address these challenges, the German construction company adopted a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions, services, and learning resources to accelerate its digital transformation.

Working together with Â鶹ԭ´´ gold partner , WestWood implemented and . WestWood unified business processes, standardized information management, and automated workflows across the company. This integrated approach made critical data accessible to all relevant teams, helping WestWood stay ahead of compliance regulations and support sustainable growth.

Automating product safety for innovation and growth

“We wanted a solution that automated important steps of our product safety processes and was flexible, so we can evolve our workflows as compliance standards change and our company expands into new markets and regions with dynamic requirements,� explained Martin Wegner, product safety manager at WestWood.

The flexibility of WestWood’s products has spurred innovation, such as the growing trend of green roofs, which require robust waterproofing. “It’s becoming increasingly popular to grow plants on roofs, creating a ‘green roof’ that is environmentally friendly and improves air quality,” Wegner added. “New construction trends such as this encourage us to continuously innovate.â€�

Given that many of WestWood’s protective, decorative, and slip-resistant finishes require special handling, product safety and compliance are mission-critical. Previously, these processes were manually and fragmented across departments, making it difficult for the small team to keep up with changing regulations.

Harnessing automation for superior customer service

With , WestWood automated the delivery of product safety information. Now, every customer automatically receives up-to-date safety data sheets with their orders, and these updates can be sent instantly to all previous customers, ensuring safe and compliant use of WestWood products. Previously, this was a time-consuming manual process. Thanks to the automated customer service process, now over 24,000 e-mails are sent automatically each year, saving time and ensuring compliance.

“Automating this process is an amazing time-saver,” Wegner noted. “It makes our lives so much easier and helps us ensure the latest safety and usage instructions are reliably available to our customers.â€� Centralized data management also provides a continuously updated, auditable track record of all product safety activities.

Automation has also improved internal processes. The product safety team now receives automated notifications whenever product safety information is needed and can easily support multiple languages and fulfill local compliance requirements and regulations.

According to Wegner, “As we expand into new markets, the built-in internationalization features of Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA will be crucial to our success and help us deliver outstanding customer service and support sustainable processes in compliance with local regulations.â€� This enables WestWood to have faster, more practical management of customer orders for around 10 users across 3 departments, supporting the innovative company’s global expansion.

“Thanks to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA for product compliance, it is impossible to forget things,” Wegner said. “No information gets delayed in communication between departments, and customers instantly receive the latest safety and usage information for our products.â€�

Streamlining workflows and supporting sustainability

With Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, and support from Innovabee, WestWood no longer needs to run on-premises IT systems and can focus on adding value for its customers.

Building on the success of its implementation, WestWood plans to further streamline its operations. The ambitious company aims to consolidate two systems for dangerous goods management into a single Â鶹ԭ´´ application. They are also planning to fully automate label printing, which is an important step as new regulations require larger font sizes and more detailed information. Automatic label printing based on existing product data will optimize management, eliminate redundancies, and save significant time and effort.

WestWood is also committed to sustainability. By reducing paper use and leveraging integrated solutions from Â鶹ԭ´´, the company is expanding its sustainability management and reporting capabilities. Streamlining and automating compliance with documentation and labeling guidelines, as well as managing hazardous chemicals, allows WestWood to protect the environment at every stage — from production plants and warehouses to end customers.

Improved insights and reporting are also helping WestWood future-proof its business and stay competitive in an industry shifting toward greater environmental, social, and governance transparency.

To learn more, read WestWood’s customer story: .

Its equipment and personnel operate in some of the harshest environments on Earth. Every piece of equipment is vital for safe, efficient operations; even minor failures can cause significant downtime, production losses, or safety risks.

Maintenance costs for oil, gas, and energy companies are substantial, involving helicopters, specialized technicians, and strict safety protocols. A single maintenance trip can cost hundreds of thousands of euros, while unplanned downtime can result in millions in losses.  

Recognizing these challenges, Aker BP decided to embrace digitalization to improve efficiency and safety. Its goal was to build an infrastructure where equipment could communicate its needs proactively, alerting operators well before problems occur. 

To realize this vision, Aker BP implemented as a hub for condition-based maintenance (CBM). In partnership with , the company leveraged and (Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP) as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate maintenance and enable predictive, data-driven decision-making. 

Vision behind Aker BP’s digital ambitions

Within the company, the key challenge was not just collecting data but making it actionable. Knowing the importance of digitalization, Aker BP decided to deepen the understanding of available data and use it effectively for informed decision-making while ensuring thorough documentation of these decisions.

“In Aker BP, we have a strong ambition to modernize and digitalize the way we work,” shared Torben Kristensen, Advanced Reliability engineer at Aker BP. “It is not just an ambition, it is a necessity.â€�

Operating Normally Unmanned Installations (NUIs), Aker BP required robust monitoring solutions to gain clear insights into system health and to anticipate maintenance tasks ahead of time. This proactive approach was crucial given the remote and automated nature of the company’s facilities. 

Aker BP knows that automation is integral to achieving these objectives. The company decided to automate the processing and management of the decisions made in the previous steps to enhance efficiency and accuracy. 

Putting plan into action

The foundation of the project was the use of Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management to create a robust CBM hub. To meet Aker BP’s unique needs, the team leveraged standard building blocks from Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP to extend Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management with the asset data onboarding application to manage data ingestion and integrate third-party alerts. 

The challenges were efficiently collecting and processing time-series data and real-time alerts. With the assistance of Lighthouse, the team developed a custom onboarding application to streamline the data ingestion process for smooth integration and accurate real-time monitoring.  

“Our goal is to establish a comprehensive maintenance strategy that eliminates unknown breakdowns on critical equipment,” explained Kim Alexander Jørgensen, operations manager for Reliability and CBM at Aker BP. “By leveraging real-time data and condition-based maintenance, we aim for zero unknown failures, ensuring optimized reliability across our operations.â€�

Using the data from Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA allows engineers to fine-tune how thresholds for various assets are set; alerts are only triggered when necessary, avoiding interruptions. This integration meant that the system was always working with accurate, up-to-date information, which is critical for timely and effective decision-making. 

Recognizing the value of third-party specialist systems that had years of accumulated knowledge about specific equipment, Aker BP focused on integrating alerts and events from these systems into the Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management hub. This integration allowed Aker BP to benefit from external expert data without duplicating efforts, with maintenance responses based on real-time information. 

The condition monitoring was handled in silos by different specialist systems, leading to inefficiencies and manual processes. The team created a unified overview page on Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP that consolidates data ingestion, alert management, and monitoring in one place, allowing engineers to manage alerts more efficiently and ensure that responses are timely and well coordinated. 

Seamless user experience meets workflow efficiency

With the CBM hub, engineers now have a comprehensive view of system activities at their fingertips. The heartbeat overview continuously monitors both core and third-party systems, making sure they are operational and providing confidence in the reliability of the data. This also allows engineers to quickly detect any issues that may arise during the data ingestion process. 

Alerts from multiple sources offer details on system health, maintenance needs, or potential failures. Presented hierarchically, these alerts help users prioritize and easily access the most relevant, actionable information. 

The 2020 migration to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA was a key milestone, enabling integration of various Â鶹ԭ´´ applications with Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management. This links alerts from asset performance management to business processes like work orders and notifications. For example, an  Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management alert triggers an notification with context-specific data, allowing immediate action without switching systems. 

Integration with third-party systems adds further context, including links to original alerts in source systems for deeper analysis. By centralizing maintenance data, Aker BP has integrated multiple Â鶹ԭ´´ applications into Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management, facilitating seamless workflows and supporting the growing scale and complexity of operations. 

Fine-tuning was essential after implementation, as alerts were initially too frequent. The team introduced a “mass closeâ€� feature to categorize multiple alerts as false positives or data anomalies, maintaining transparency by recording closure reasons and enhancing future learning. Additionally, engineers can now add comments to alerts, documenting and sharing findings directly within the system. 

Business benefits and what lies ahead for Aker BP 

Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management has provided significant business value to Aker BP, including increased operational efficiency through automated monitoring and maintenance, which allows engineers to focus on critical tasks. Cost savings have been achieved through reduced emergency repairs and lower operational expenses, and real-time monitoring improves safety by identifying potential issues before they escalate, particularly in high-risk environments. 

The company implemented proactive maintenance, driven by AI and machine learning, and now can estimate potential failures, which has helped the company to minimize downtime and extended the asset lifespan. The system’s centralized data — integrated with Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA — enhances data accessibility and interpretation, while its scalability means it can handle Aker BP’s growing operations.

“For our new project, ‘Yggdrasil,’ starting up in 2027, this solution is a prerequisite,â€� said Terje Lindrupsen, senior maintenance engineer at Aker BP.

The company plans to expand this solution to all of its brownfield and greenfield installations, and also plans to transition to the latest Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities in Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Performance Management, embedded IoT, in 2025, enabling even more advanced real-time monitoring capabilities.  

Daniela Haldy-Sellmann, global VP and head of Energy & Utilities Industries at Â鶹ԭ´´, spoke about key trends and the role of new technologies and gave her take on the future of the utilities sector.

Q: What do you see as the challenges and opportunities for the energy sector today?

A: In Germany and across Europe, we have a decentralized market in which a variety of players generate, transmit, distribute, and supply power. The challenge for energy suppliers is to make their pricing and services more attractive. So they are no longer just selling electricity or gas, they are also focusing on building customer loyalty and on fostering interaction between themselves and their customers. As for consumers, they want transparency about whether the electricity they are using really is “green,� and whether they can produce energy themselves—by installing solar panels, for example.

Energy suppliers are completely rethinking their offerings as a result, which is also putting pressure on their competitors to become true market leaders and to align their offerings with those of conventional retailers. On the distribution side, we are seeing how more and more energy is being generated outside the grid and then being fed into it—from smaller sources such as residential solar installations to large, new B2B plants. The energy market is in a period of disruption, which is inevitably affecting energy prices and driving the need for products and services that are viable in the long term. With energy providers’ profit margins shrinking dramatically, additional energy services will become their main source of income.

Decentralization was one of the major talking points at the conference. In that context, could you explain what “distributed energy resources� are?

Traditionally, our energy has been generated in large, centralized power plants and sent—in one direction, via a transmission system operator and distribution system operator—to consumers. In the future, the flow of energy will be bidirectional, because now, in addition to large conventional generation plants and a growing number of sustainable alternatives such as onshore and offshore wind parks and solar parks, we also have consumers who produce their own energy and feed it into the grid. (DER) refers to the assets that consumers and businesses have for generating power and distributing it through a grid that, in the future, will allow that energy to flow in two directions rather than one.

How does Â鶹ԭ´´ help suppliers manage distributed energy resources?

Our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can already cover all of a company’s core processes. For transmission and distribution system operators, that means all of their network assets, including power grids, generation plants, and substations, right up to the point of consumption. What we at Â鶹ԭ´´ are now doing is providing transparency for meter operators, grid operators, and energy providers about the systems and devices consumers have installed in their homes. This data used to be highly unstructured. Now, thanks to our measurement concept management component, energy providers can map data for consumers who have an EV charger, solar panels, battery storage, or a heat pump, and use it to plan their capacity. They know, for instance, how much power a solar installation generates and what its maximum capacity is. So when a surplus occurs, they can remove any excess power from the grid or, in the event of a shortage, have their customers feed more energy into it. Depending on the scenario, the Â鶹ԭ´´ software can analyze meter data from the cloud, format it, and make it available. Energy providers integrate this data into their DER platform to provide transparency about consumption and to allow an appropriate level of control over the power entering and leaving the grid.

Which solutions does Â鶹ԭ´´ offer for managing sustainability goals and compliance?

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s sustainability portfolio is extensive. It provides answers to questions such as “What are my supply chain emissions?” and “What emissions does a specific product I supply or manufacture produce?â€� Having this information means that, first, companies have proof for an auditor of the precise emission values per product. And second, that they can track those emissions to see, for example, how the values change. They can show that they use various technologies, that their products meet all the current environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, and that they can prepare not only consolidated financial statements but consolidated emissions reports as well. Here, Â鶹ԭ´´ offers and . Then we have the Â鶹ԭ´´ Green Token solution and , which aligns carbon and financial data.

Did Â鶹ԭ´´ present a use case at the conference?

Yes. We presented the , which can show me exactly how much energy is being generated overall, how much I am producing, and how I can use it. Whether you’re a consumer, an energy provider, or a transmission system operator, you want an accurate picture of how much energy you have available, or need, to keep the power supply in the area or region you cover stable—because that’s what matters most.

What is Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s strategy for utilities?

We help our customers migrate from their existing Â鶹ԭ´´ ERP Central Component (Â鶹ԭ´´ ECC) and Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA IS-U systems to a cloud-based to help ensure that they have a consistent data layout. The standardized digital core with Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA is complemented by flexible cloud solutions for customer management and more.

The transition in the energy industry is also about shifting toward a greater reliance on renewable energy, phasing out fossil fuels, and helping companies in the sector diversify their product and service portfolios. We are seeing, for example, more and more oil and gas companies expanding into biodiesel and other biofuels. We’re seeing new carbon capture technologies emerge and huge investments in hydrogen, though these need to increase dramatically. And that is exactly what Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s strategy is designed to support by providing an application landscape with a clean core model in which the latest innovations can be readily adopted.

What excites you the most about working at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and the utility industry?

I’ve had jobs in many different industries, including automotive, manufacturing, high tech, and healthcare. But the energy sector is where I see the most collaboration and the most disruption. If you look at the net-zero and carbon-neutral targets that we need to achieve in Germany, Europe, and worldwide, and at the money being poured into renewables and green bonds, this is an industry with enormous opportunities for growth and investment. Technology is the backbone of everything, and we at Â鶹ԭ´´ are contributing to the energy transition not only by simplifying processes for consumers, but also by developing technologies that fundamentally change the options that are open to them.

This article also appeared on the German Â鶹ԭ´´ News Center.

As the company expanded, ONTRAS sought better visibility across its operations, especially those carried out by service providers. Manual communication interfaces led to information loss, hindering operational efficiency and service quality. To address these challenges, ONTRAS aimed to improve field operations with offline capabilities, ensuring better data integrity for uninterrupted operations and much faster response times.

After thorough research, the German utility company implemented smart forms within to capture and monitor real-time data from its field operations. supported ONTRAS throughout the implementation process, serving as the interface to Â鶹ԭ´´ and customizing and enhancing Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management, including customizing the Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management, connector for Â鶹ԭ´´ ERP, in order to meet the company’s specific requirements.

Faster process runtime with improved data visibility at ONTRAS

Working with a large external staff and a dispersed system led to a significant data gap.

Ines Kurmies, an Â鶹ԭ´´ specialist at ONTRAS, explained: “Our internal staff extracted data from Â鶹ԭ´´, while external staff used a manual Excel logging process, which made it difficult to understand the status of orders.â€�

The external staff was receiving the orders through the Â鶹ԭ´´ system, but it was not possible to track their work. Feedback was received within the Â鶹ԭ´´ system only after completion, and the logs were uploaded to Â鶹ԭ´´, which meant the company lacked visibility into the steps in between.

ONTRAS needed a solution to maintain maintenance plans and functional locations within Â鶹ԭ´´ while providing access to external service providers via an interface. The company sought comprehensive data integration and a single source of truth with real-time data monitoring.

With the full integration of logs and smart forms, ONTRAS can now guide technicians through tasks, capture data, and provide a structured way to document the inspection process in real-time. Integrating these disparate systems created a single source of truth, helping the company eliminate inefficiencies and data gaps, enabling faster process runtime.

“With the full integration of logs and smart forms, we achieved a much faster checklist revision,� Eva Scholl, a maintenance engineer at ONTRAS, shared. “Now we have an end-to-end digital process, so the process runtime in itself is one of the greatest benefits.�

Real-time data and comprehensive tracking are crucial for preventative maintenance, rapid response to issues, and compliance.

During a gas pipe fitting inspection, the company’s system creates an order dispatched to a service provider, the responsible specialist, who then assigns it to an assembler. The assembler inspects the fittings, logging their work using smart forms in Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management. This information is sent back to the responsible specialist, who reviews and completes the order. Finally, an audit report is generated as a PDF and transferred to Â鶹ԭ´´ Plant Maintenance Rapid Mart, where the company can view and process the inspection results. Without this real-time data flow, a faulty fitting might go unnoticed, leading to a gas leak and potential safety hazard.

The company can see what order is dispatched when it is processed and what the status is.

“Now, field sales representatives have more information and experience less information loss because they directly see the order from us — exactly what we want to see,â€� Scholl added. “Previously, there was a manual communication interface, which inevitably led to information loss.â€�

Running safe, efficient, compliant operations in remote and challenging environments

For utility companies, inspecting and maintaining natural gas pipelines in remote rural areas is crucial. These locations often suffer from unreliable internet connectivity, leading to potential data gaps.

ONTRAS has significantly improved its field operations by implementing offline capabilities. Technicians can now conduct inspections, record findings, and complete digital checklists directly on their mobile devices on-site, even without internet access. Once back in an area with connectivity, all data automatically syncs to the central system, updating records and informing supervisors of completed work.

“With Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management, there is the app that can be connected to all applications,” Kurmies added. “We achieved the broadest coverage of our use cases for the first time, with many already covered by the standard product.â€�

As the company continues to grow, the German Association of Gas and Water Compartments regulations are a central component, implemented to guarantee the technical security of the installations and the security of supply.

With Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management, the company can now operate offline remotely without internet coverage and maintain the patching and checklist functions. This is especially important for technicians in remote areas lacking internet connectivity. Technicians must adhere to strict safety protocols and document every step. Offline checklists and patching functions ensure that no steps are missed, even in remote locations.

“This was the big challenge that we are also becoming more and more digital,” Kurmies further explained. “You also want to provide digital protocol templates and we simply reached our limits.â€�

Convista played a crucial role in guiding the company through the Â鶹ԭ´´ implementation process, acting as the interface between Â鶹ԭ´´ and the company while adjusting Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management to meet ONTRAS’ specific needs.

Heiko Winkler, IT manager at ONTRAS, highlighted the reliability and commitment of Convista as an implementation partner: “Convista is an exceptionally reliable and committed partner. Even in the second phase of the project, which was initially considered high-risk, their expertise and dedication ensured a successful implementation.”

Winkler noted the significant creativity applied to advising on the implementation, especially considering the initial uncertainty about its feasibility. Additionally, the company collaborated with for the technical implementation of the Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management, connector for Â鶹ԭ´´ ERP, and made several adjustments to the setup and error messages. The entire implementation took approximately a year and a half.

The company currently uses Â鶹ԭ´´ ERP Central Component and is transitioning to , having already implemented Â鶹ԭ´´ Field Service Management. Winkler noted that they strategically rely on cloud products: “Our philosophy is not cloud only, but cloud first.â€�

ONTRAS aims to advance further with smart forms and continue to expand its Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA implementation in the near future.

.

The boot camp focused on addressing and analyzing the real challenges faced by the company’s work order coordinators to optimize their daily work experience and routines.

The challenge: A fragmented, manual process

Before the boot camp, badenovaNETZE’s work order coordination was a fragmented mix of tools and processes. Coordinators were juggling Â鶹ԭ´´ software, custom programs from SmartService Solutions, and basic applications like Word and Excel to complete their tasks. The status quo resulted in a couple of challenges to address and optimize:

• Improve user experience: The existing interface was difficult to navigate, leading to user frustration and reduced productivity.
• Avoid manual processes: Coordinators had to both transfer information across multiple systems and update data manually, making routine tasks time-consuming and prone to errors.
• Reduce error rate: The repetitive, manual tasks increased the risk of data entry errors, causing delays and additional workload.
• Increase transparency: With limited visibility into work order statuses, coordinators spent a lot of time tracking down information and monitoring progress.

The solution: A hands-on transformation

The company participated in a four-day Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers boot camp, bringing together customer end users, IT teams, and partners. The focus of the boot camp was to improve the usability of the work order cockpit by transitioning from manual tasks and workarounds to an Â鶹ԭ´´ app prototype as a tangible starting point. It aimed at implementing process automation, incorporating dashboards, enhancing the user experience, and reducing error rates.

The boot camp provided badenovaNETZE with the tools and an open, agile workshop format needed to tackle these challenges. Based on this close collaboration with the company’s coordinators, the Â鶹ԭ´´ team developed customized solutions that streamlined processes and the final outcome. “The beauty of our boot camps is that we get to know and truly understand the challenges of our end users,â€� Â鶹ԭ´´ UX Designer Christina Salwitzek summarizes. “Together with the end user and from the beginning, we designed and developed a more efficient solution for this complex workflow.â€�

The objectives

badenovaNETZE faces operational challenges when managing numerous customer requests in metering, including meter replacement, installation, and removal. Together, the teams set ambitious yet achievable objectives to ensure long-term success. Operational readiness by 2025 was the top priority, with a clear goal of transitioning to an optimized, future-proof system in the first half of the new year.

To support this transition, the boot camp helped increase Â鶹ԭ´´ technology knowledge and development skills within the badenovaNETZE team. The team is now prepared to maintain, adapt, and expand the new solution as their needs evolve. “What surprised me the most is that we actually made such good progress together and that everybody was able to contribute something,â€� says Paulina Deren, order coordination advisor at badenovaNETZE.

Finally, the team established a prioritized road map—a clear, phased approach designed to guide the customer through each stage of the transformation, enabling a smooth journey from concept to realization. The Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers team included three UX designers, an Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori elements front-end developer who brought the visual designs to life, and a backend developer specializing in the Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud Application Programming Model framework to help ensure robust, scalable functionality. The team was guided by Andreas Spahn, principal technology & innovation manager from the Â鶹ԭ´´ Services team, who moderated the boot camp and facilitated collaboration. “What makes Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers so special is that we have one problem statement and we have one team to analyze today’s problem with the end user and solve it,â€� he says. “This involves experts from technology, design, and development.â€�

The experience

A core element was the creation of a user-centric and future-focused design for a new work order cockpit. The team used design thinking techniques in combination with the capabilities of Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori, Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori elements, and Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Technology Platform (Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP) to get started. Being one of Germany’s largest regional suppliers of electricity, natural gas, heat energy, and water, badenova already used Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP for integration scenarios and started using it for application development with this project.

For its intuitive, streamlined interface, the team conducted a thorough feasibility assessment to validate the proposed solution’s technical and operational viability. They then rapidly co-created and prototyped solutions in close collaboration with actual users.

The derived prototype not only simplified complex workflows but also significantly reduced manual tasks, minimized errors, and eliminated data silos. By centralizing all relevant information into a unified system, the team delivered a seamless user experience, initiating the groundwork necessary for full deployment.

The result garnered positive feedback from participants, reflecting the practicality and innovation of the solution. “Most impressive to me was the headway made,â€� Daniel Oberle, business architect at badenovaNETZE, says. “Without the Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers boot camp, we would be looking at another half a year to get to where we are just now.â€�

Real user feedback

To ensure the solution truly resonated with its users, the team conducted three on-site, moderated usability tests using a Figma prototype. Each session included two notetakers capturing live feedback directly within Figma, allowing for immediate insights and adjustments. The initial user stories were visualized using Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s storytelling tool, which enabled the team to quickly create collaborative, visual narratives without the need for drawing skills. These early concepts were then refined with Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori design stencils in Figma, streamlining the transition from rough ideas to polished prototypes.

The involvement of Â鶹ԭ´´ users during the boot camp was instrumental, providing real-time evaluation through cognitive walkthroughs. “If the user experience fits, employees are happy and enjoy using the software,â€� Teresa Mayer, UX designer at Â鶹ԭ´´, says. This hands-on, iterative process helped ensure the final design aligned closely with user expectations and needs.

This example underscores the critical role user research plays in driving successful, error-free, and beneficial product development. To strengthen its user feedback approach even further, Â鶹ԭ´´ introduced the  program. This initiative invites users to participate in remote research activities, allowing Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s product teams to get feedback along the product life cycle. Users can share their product and design experiences to help shape Â鶹ԭ´´ products to better align with their needs while also getting a preview of new features or products.

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Conclusion

The Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers boot camp proved to be a pivotal step in badenovaNETZE’s digital transformation journey. By combining cutting-edge Â鶹ԭ´´ technologies with a user-centric design approach, the team not only tackled complex operational challenges but also delivered a solution that significantly enhances efficiency and user satisfaction. The rapid progress made during the boot camp—cutting down development time by six months and projecting savings of 115 working days per year—underscores the power of collaboration and innovation.

With the project already underway and goals for 2025 set, badenovaNETZE is well-positioned to continue refining and optimizing processes with an even more engaged and satisfied workforce.

Make your voice heard by . Registration is easy and taking part in research studies is convenient. To learn more about the Â鶹ԭ´´ Fiori Makers boot camp, which includes a workshop following the design-led development process, visit our .

This story originally appeared on with the support of Suparna Chawla.

Tobias Essig is a user research advocate for Â鶹ԭ´´ Design.

TAM International is a manufacturer of drilling products and services for the oil and gas industry with headquarters in Houston, Texas, and a presence on six continents. With a lofty goal of growing tenfold over the next 10 years, the company set out to ensure its business operations were adaptable, innovative, and efficient in a world that’s always changing. To achieve this, TAM International decided to adopt a state-of-the-art ERP system that would drive transparent and efficient business operations across finance, scheduling, and manufacturing.

“Our legacy scheduling system did little to empower our ambitions, and at times it felt like we were working for it. To quickly shift gears and remain competitive in a volatile industry, we needed to modernize and adopt solutions that would work for us, not have us work for them. We needed automated workflows and reporting, quality control, and the ability to connect different parts of our business for transparent planning and execution across the entire enterprise,� explained Rebecca DeHoyos, supply chain director, TAM International.

TAM International was aware that Â鶹ԭ´´ was the gold standard for ERP in industrial manufacturing but believed that only the biggest corporations could afford it.

“We did not include Â鶹ԭ´´ in our early conversation, thinking we were too small for them. Then, an executive from the Â鶹ԭ´´ North America digital hub reached out to our CFO and presented not only the benefits of Â鶹ԭ´´, but also a convincing message backed by customer references that Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s cloud portfolio was indeed suitable for companies of all sizes. This changed everything,â€� DeHoyos said.

, located on six continents, are the engines that execute Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s digital customer engagement. The multi-disciplined and digitally skilled talent in the hubs use AI and the latest technologies to help support customers regardless of where they might be located or at which stage of their value journey with Â鶹ԭ´´ they are. Through a powerful combination of automation and expert engagement, customers can realize their digital transformation business outcomes exponentially faster and at greater convenience.

“The first contact with a new customer is critical. Our digital customer engagement teams embed AI to scale Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s industry best practices to accelerate and deepen the understanding of customer needs, concerns, and aspirations before the very first meeting,â€� said Sam Masri, global head, Â鶹ԭ´´ Digital, Customer Success. “We are delighted to have played an important role in facilitating an immediate connection to a dedicated account manager and multiple Â鶹ԭ´´ experts who addressed the challenges that TAM International had, setting a strong starting point for a successful digital transformation road map for the customer.â€�

To gain a full understanding of the customer’s fundamental business goals and the obstacles caused by the disconnection between finance, scheduling, and production, the Industries and Value and Solution Advisory teams at Â鶹ԭ´´ were engaged right from the start. Following the solution demos and the business case presentation, and were identified as the solutions of choice for TAM International.

“There is another major benefit of our partnership with Â鶹ԭ´´,â€� DeHoyos added. “Our workforce is incredibly diverse and young, with a majority sitting in the 27 to 41 age group. They are tech natives and will only work with businesses that share their passion for business success driven by technological innovation. Working with Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s ERP is a goal for many, and our relationship with Â鶹ԭ´´ has also elevated our profile, making us more relevant to this talent group.â€�

To address the challenges of manual processes, lack of accurate information, and decentralization of maintenance processes, Petrobras sought help from Â鶹ԭ´´ to implement an innovative new solution.

The Need for Transparency of Asset Management Processes and Value Chain

The company’s use of manual spreadsheets and the lack of real-time insights and transparency into the asset management process hindered its ability to make informed decisions. Additionally, regular failures and disruptions, as well as synchronization issues with supplier assets and third-party products, impacted worker morale and overall efficiency.

“We lacked real-time insights and transparency into the asset management process and value chain to make informed decisions based on real-time data,” explained Bruno Vidal, business applications consultant at Petrobras. “We were looking for a best-in-class platform that could provide a central view of our mission-critical assets, allowing our assets and data to work in harmony.”

Petrobras needed a solution that could provide real-time insights, reduce downtime, and align with its wider ERP and digital transformation strategy.

Building on Petrobras’ Ongoing Â鶹ԭ´´ Journey

Petrobras looked to due to its rich Â鶹ԭ´´ ecosystem and legacy. Building on its ongoing Â鶹ԭ´´ journey, the company saw an opportunity to enhance its Â鶹ԭ´´ footprint across the organization and implement other Â鶹ԭ´´ innovations.

“We had an Â鶹ԭ´´ legacy, a technological program to implement , and we had a strong operational demand for an asset management solution,” Vidal shared. “Together, this created a powerful business case for Â鶹ԭ´´-powered intelligent asset management solutions and tied in with our Â鶹ԭ´´â€“first approach.â€�

From Proof of Concept to Successful Pilot Implementation and Beyond

In 2020, Petrobras conducted a proof of concept to evaluate the feasibility and potential of Â鶹ԭ´´ Intelligent Asset Management. The successful execution of the solution led to the selection of the for a pilot implementation project. The BUZIOS field is the world’s largest ultra-deepwater reservoir, representing almost 16 percent of oil and gas production for Petrobras.

“Given the size of the BUZIOS field, even a small return of value has the potential to generate a huge return for the company with reduced downtime and increased efficiency,� said Vidal.

Thus, the project initially focused on a limited scope, including Â鶹ԭ´´ Asset Strategy and Performance Management for reliability assessments and Â鶹ԭ´´ Predictive Asset Insights for equipment monitoring and failure predictions. The pilot implementation project started with one unit and expanded to include all units and critical systems. such as gas compression, oil and gas production gathering, fire and gas detection, firefighting, and energy generation. These systems involved a significant amount of maintenance and reliability data.

Leveraging Machine Learning to Detect Errors and Predict Failure

In addition to the pilot implementation, Petrobras activated the machine learning engine in the Â鶹ԭ´´ solutions as a pilot project for anomaly detection and failure prediction.

“We had great results from the machine learning features, which allowed us to uncover further insight and make performance improvements,� Vidal recounted.

Thanks to the success, the solutions were later launched to five more critical systems of the oilfield, including offloading, oil, water and gas treatment, and water pumping for injection. By the end of 2023, Petrobras had moved from proof of concept through going live with 10 critical systems in all units from BUZIOS field, including uncovering machine learning benefits, as well as concluding the proof of concept for the same solutions in Petrobras’ downstream operations.

Business Benefits that Create High Value to Petrobras

As the company achieved significant operational benefits at the BUZIOS oilfield, it plans to roll out to other upstream locations, introducing solutions beyond reliability engineering. With a significant return on investment, Petrobras plans to evaluate the value returned by the new technological solution and expand its usage across its teams and other locations in the future.

“The implementation of Â鶹ԭ´´ Intelligent Asset Management has led to an improvement of our operational efficiency and increased availability of our machines,” Vidal concluded. “When we reduce failures, accurately monitor our equipment, get real-time performance data, reduce production losses, and implement a reliability culture, we reduce oil losses, inspire greater confidence in our people, and return huge value to our organization.â€�

Karin Fent is senior director of global Customer Success Digital Supply Chain.

courtesy of Petrobras

To address this challenge, Vestas, a major wind turbine manufacturer, launched a quality initiative powered by Â鶹ԭ´´ solutions and Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network.

Pillars of the Energy Transition

Faced with the climate crisis, many countries around the globe are investing heavily in zero-emission renewables. China’s 14^th Five-Year Plan is driving the market for renewable energy, as are the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the Green Deal in the European Union. In these parts of the world, wind energy is regarded as the pillar of the energy transition and is the largest source of renewable energy.

But the wind energy sector is highly competitive, experiences rapid innovation, and is prone to massive supply chain issues. Manufacturers must source raw materials, manage global logistics operations, and mitigate the risks of supplier dependency while still keeping pace with demand. They also need to be confident that all the components in their turbines meet rigorous quality standards and deliver performance and reliability. Quality control issues can result in faults, repairs, and – at worst – major failures.

As a market leader in wind turbines, Vestas Wind Systems, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, launched a large-scale quality initiative. Its 29,000 employees in 88 countries develop wind energy projects worldwide and manufacture, install, and service the turbines for them. The 85,000 turbines Vestas has installed to date generated 173 gigawatts of electricity and over 151 gigawatts under service as of September 2023. Several newly commissioned major projects will see that output increase significantly in the coming years.

“Collaboration with suppliers and partners is of crucial importance to Vestas when it comes to creating a sustainable future for the world by leading the global demand for onshore and offshore wind energy,” Adeola Abegunde, director of Technology Area Lead Digital Procurement and Supply Chain at Vestas, says.

Sourcing Quality with Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network

Today’s wind turbines are made up of more than 10,000 individual parts. Since the companies that produce these parts are based all over the world, the supply chain is highly complex. To help manage this complexity, Vestas relies on , the B2B platform used by millions of companies across 190 countries that can connect buyers with contract manufacturers and suppliers.

Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network enables Vestas to run all its procurement and supply chain collaboration processes online – even beyond company boundaries. Employees use its supply chain functions to collaborate on orders and subcontracting orders. When a supplier confirms an order and sends a shipping notification, staff at Vestas and its contract manufacturers see this information right away. Vestas employees therefore know whether raw materials or the components for an order will arrive at the contract manufacturer on time.

Projects of this scale need to run smoothly and according to plan. This is where the quality collaboration features in Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network come in. Before a supplier confirms or sends an order, it has to complete predefined quality tests and document them on the network. Vestas employees are then aware in advance of any quality issues further up the supply chain and can take corrective action. Through the network, employees can pass on changes to specifications if, for instance, one particular part had to be replaced sooner than expected and needs to be improved. If quality defects lead to incidents, the network can make these failures transparent to all partners and provide an audit trail. That helps everyone in the supply chain understand what went wrong and solve the problem.

“Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network allows Vestas to offer its trading partners a platform that makes all sorts of collaboration scenarios transparent from end to end. This means that Vestas is better able to mitigate the impact of disruptions in its global supply chain, making it more robust, future-proof, and sustainable,” Florian Seebauer, senior director of the Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network unit at Â鶹ԭ´´, says.

Reducing Supply Chain Friction

Suppliers also benefit from the network’s forecasting capabilities. Vestas can provide them with information from the planning tool so that they can prepare for changes and capacity increases. This helps suppliers plan more accurately and can minimize friction losses in the supply chain.

Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network also supports Vestas’ sustainability goals since it allows users to select and rate suppliers by sustainability criteria. When compared to electricity generated from fossil fuels, Vestas’ solutions have saved 1.9 billion tons of carbon emissions – equivalent to 88 million cars driven for a year. Vestas has established sustainability performance as a core priority across its entire value chain and introduced pioneering initiatives such as its “Circularity Road Mapâ€� for the circular economy. It is no surprise then that Vestas is ranked as one of the world’s most sustainable companies, featured regularly at the top of lists such as .

Vestas and Â鶹ԭ´´ have a long-standing relationship. Vestas has been running Â鶹ԭ´´ as its ERP system since 2007. In 2017, it adopted Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba solutions for e-procurement and Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network. Through Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Network, it now has access to a vast pool of potential trading partners. And, because the network is connected to Vestas’ ERP and the complex ordering and collaboration processes running in the background, users don’t have to switch away from the systems they are familiar with. With Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s help, Vestas is breezing into a bright future.

Top image: Borssele 3 & 4, The Netherlands, Courtesy of Vestas Wind Systems A/S

Â鶹ԭ´´ helps oil, gas, and energy companies make this transition, providing them with innovative solutions that can optimize legacy energy sources, integrate low- and no-carbon alternatives, enhance energy network resilience, and unlock growth opportunities through reinvented business models.

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In a recent webinar, “Sustainable Energy Transition for a Low Carbon Future,â€� hosted by the Oil & Gas Journal, Benjamin Beberness, vice president and global head of Oil, Gas, and Energy at Â鶹ԭ´´, shared his insights alongside other industry professionals. Together, they shed light on how businesses in the energy sector are taking action to redefine the future of energy and drive the sustainable energy transition ahead.

Transitioning to Net-Zero Carbon Energy Sources

To facilitate the energy sector’s successful transition to sustainable sources, close cooperation between technology companies and energy companies is paramount. Together, they can identify economically viable and efficient methods to deliver an optimal energy mix during this transitional period. By working in tandem, they can harness appropriate digital technologies to drive profitable operations that prioritize both the well-being of individuals and the preservation of our planet. This collaboration involves gaining comprehensive knowledge of regional regulations, staying abreast of evolving business requirements, and effectively monitoring and reporting day-to-day operations.

For example, with its unique digital twin on a blockchain, the  helps businesses gain material sourcing transparency and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data across their supply chains.

Implementing Intelligent Asset Management

Intelligent asset management plays a critical role in supporting the sustainability objectives of oil, gas, and energy companies. Industry leaders are adopting digital technologies and proven solutions to enhance their manufacturing processes, embracing cleaner fuel alternatives, and exploring optimization opportunities across their global operations.

Research from found that a 10% increase in production efficiency can lead to a 4% reduction in emission intensity, reinforcing the focus on running assets efficiently to minimize environmental impact. To determine the need for asset replacement, businesses assess factors such as vibration, heat issues, and asset life span, considering cost, safety, and ESG criteria. Integrating ESG information into asset management strategies has become an increasingly significant priority for companies.

With , channel the power advanced machine learning and analytics to help optimize asset health, performance, and risk.

Changing Business Models for Diversification

Business leaders in the energy sector understand the growing urgency to diversify their offerings, from providing services at electric vehicle charging stations to implementing low-carbon technologies in new maintenance and operations projects. Recognizing the importance of adaptability, these companies seek flexible technology platforms to revitalize their operations, expand their retail presence, and venture into renewable energy markets. Technological advancements help companies diversify offerings, accelerating the transition towards renewable energy sources.

Technology solutions, such as , can support the transition to renewable energy sources by providing companies with the capabilities needed to build, run, and manage electric vehicle charging networks all on one platform.

Driving Continuous Innovation

ESG regulations present businesses with an opportunity to reduce their ecological impact while fostering innovation to help them achieve their sustainability goals. By keeping core operations clean and scalable, companies can focus on sustainability, foster a culture of innovation, and differentiate themselves from competitors. This approach involves establishing a dedicated optimization office and leveraging technologies like automation, optimization, and artificial intelligence (AI). Facilitating intrapreneurship and engaging employees and the wider community allows for the translation of high-level sustainability objectives into practical solutions for day-to-day operations. Access to sustainability-related data is also essential, with digital solutions and technology playing a key role in collecting and analyzing data to drive sustainability goals. Implementing tools such as a green ledger system helps businesses track emissions and adapt to new regulations while inspiring collaboration and innovation.

Industry cloud solutions from Â鶹ԭ´´ sit on top of , a platform built with flexibility and choice in mind, so that its users can accelerate innovation and unlock business potential.

Identifying Key Performance Indicators for Sustainable Energy

Businesses need to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for sustainable energy. While revenue remains a significant KPI across industries, energy companies strive to achieve a balance between financial stability and emission reduction, ensuring the satisfaction of employees and shareholders alike. Crucial KPIs include the percentage of energy produced from renewable sources and embodied carbon, which refers to emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of raw material extraction, production, transportation, and construction, as well as measures around decarbonizing operations, improving building efficiency, and prioritizing safety and environmental policies in infrastructure development.

With , businesses can improve their sustainability performance by monitoring progress and gaining actionable insights from dependable sustainability data.

Realizing the Significance of Sustainable Procurement

Sustainable procurement plays a central role in any sustainability strategy. Companies proactively seek out suppliers that adhere to sustainable practices, so they can reduce scope 3 emissions, implement robust measurement systems, promote supplier diversity, and improve communication, driving a transformative shift in procurement practices. Companies, from corporate-level initiatives to individual buyers, prioritize compliance with regulatory requirements, including due diligence laws and SEC reporting. Sustainable procurement practices are seamlessly integrated into supplier risk management and qualification platforms, ensuring a comprehensive approach to sustainable sourcing.

Monitor the production, supply, and use of your energy sources across the entire supply chain with technology solutions like , available on Â鶹ԭ´´ Store.

By leveraging intelligent asset management solutions, facilitating business model diversification, driving continuous innovation, identifying KPIs, and promoting sustainable procurement, oil, gas, and energy businesses can channel the power of industry-specific solutions to ensure a secure, affordable, and sustainable future for energy.

about how innovative solutions from Â鶹ԭ´´ and our partners help oil, gas, and energy businesses fuel profitable operations while also protecting people and the planet.

Kelly Cannon is part of Content Creation & Strategy for Content Lab at Â鶹ԭ´´.

“Organizations are struggling to forecast energy costs in a volatile market and understand the impact of new trends such as e-mobility on operations and finance,â€� said Catherine Garcera, global head of Sustainability, Services Industry at Â鶹ԭ´´. “They need resilience against the current energy crisis and the ability to grow and generate profits while meeting corporate sustainability goals.â€�

Step 1: Power Up Energy Savings with Digital Twins

Lowering energy consumption and operating costs begins with a thorough understanding of an organization’s energy data. Leading-edge companies are using digital twins to capture and analyze real-time energy usage data including electricity, natural gas, and renewables. That’s the purpose behind Flexinergy, an energy management software platform developed by , an Â鶹ԭ´´ partner. The platform creates a digital version of an organization’s energy contracts and usage, allowing the customer to pre-calculate the bill. Information can include distribution costs across subsidiaries, taxes, size and location of facilities, occupancy rates, external temperatures, and more. This helps customers catch invoice mistakes, evaluate energy efficiency, and reduce consumption.

“It’s not unusual to find discrepancies between what the bill should be and the provider’s actual invoice,� said Erwin Guizouarn, CEO and founder of Evolution Energie. “Customers also use our software to better forecast energy costs in case of price fluctuations, new contracts, or supply chain disruptions.�

Guizouarn said that customers can be overcharged up to 5% on an annual basis due to billing errors. As for cost reductions, one large airport saved 17% in energy consumption.

Real-time data became particularly important for organizations during the recent energy crisis. Guizouarn said that customers can explore what-if scenarios, factoring in changeable energy prices and other parameters like lower carbon emission fuels, revised contract terms, or hedging to lower risk in case of energy price fluctuations. Ongoing alerts notify decision-makers of deviations to the plan, say if energy prices climb higher than expected, helping companies adjust strategies as needed.

Evolution Energie first began working with Â鶹ԭ´´ through its participation in the Green Tech and Sustainability cohort of , the company’s global B2B accelerator. With shared business-to-business target markets, both companies are proving the incredible power of connected data.

“Merging energy-related data with financial information from your system and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information from , you can see the impact on profitability and emissions objectives,� said Garcera. “You can adjust operations by day, week, or even season to gain efficiencies that could increase profits while meeting sustainability commitments.�

Step 2: Transition to Green Energy

Moving to green energy is another step that energy-intensive companies can take to achieve ambitious decarbonization targets. Some customers are increasingly focused on purchasing renewable energy, as well as producing green energy and investing in green assets. Here, too, a digital twin can help companies capture energy usage and resultant costs while tracking CO2 emissions from electricity, biomass, hydrogen, and other renewable sources.

“You can balance your green energy strategies against the cost of new contracts and greenhouse gas emission targets,� said Garcera. “In addition, companies need to ensure the provenance of the green energy they consume for accurate reporting against corporate sustainability objectives, supporting the brand’s image and building trust with customers and investors.�

Step 3: Realistically Explore New Energy Trends

While the vision is to consume as much green energy as possible, organizations are tempering sustainable business plans with reality. Some industries like aviation aren’t ready for full decarbonization; there’s limited availability of sustainable aviation fuel and it will take significant efforts to revamp complex infrastructure. In any case, organizations require energy strategies that combine finance, risk management, and sustainability.

“Fast-moving energy prices on top of changing sustainability regulations mean that companies have to continually monitor costs to find more efficiencies, and prove compliance with corporate commitments and industry regulations,� said Garcera. “The more you can accurately anticipate disruptions, the better you can make decisions to adapt for business resilience.�

Green Market Revolution Fueled by Informed Data

Connected data is foundational to managing energy consumption and costs. analysts predicted that by 2025, 75% of large cities and communities will form industry ecosystems with IT, architectural, engineering, and real estate firms to share data, applications, and expertise to address ESG issues. With zero-emission mandates moving apace, researchers advised organizations to continuously follow the price and performance and capability improvements in renewable energy systems and also “work with supply chain partners to improve procurement efficiencies.� As unpredictable as the next crisis may be, organizations can stay grounded with accurate data to build a resilient future.

Susan Galer is a communications director at Â鶹ԭ´´. Follow me @smgaler.

In his State of the Union address earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden both supported and chastised the oil and gas industry. On one hand, he said the U.S. would rely on these energy sources for at least the next 10 years. On the other hand, he criticized the industry for reporting “record profits,� he said.

“Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis.  I think it’s outrageous.� He also said that “Big Oil� should be investing more, to increase production and bring down prices.

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s Take

Biden was walking a fine line trying to balance the industry’s contribution to climate change, as well as its record profits last year, with the nation’s dependence on hydrocarbon fuels, not just to heat home and power automobiles, said Benjamin Beberness, Â鶹ԭ´´ vice president and global head of the Oil & Gas Industry Business Unit.

Oil is used for a myriad of products, from medicine to the bodies of electric cars. Additionally, Biden underscored the reality that although U.S. policy is supporting the growth of alternative energy such as wind and solar, they remain a sliver — albeit a growing part — of the energy supply.

“I think the U.S. government is saying: ‘We can’t let them off the hook from cleaning up what they’re doing today, but we still need them to be around because they still are going to be producing oil for us to use to make these other products, as well as to continue to provide fuel for our cars, etcetera,’â€� Beberness said.

Addressing the criticism about profits and high energy costs due to supply, Beberness blamed the vagaries of federal policy toward drilling and limiting new exploration. Market forces already have brought down the price of oil. Brent Crude, one of the two main benchmark prices for purchases of oil globally, reached a peak of $123.92 per barrel and now stands about $83 per barrel.

“There has to be some commitment from the U.S. government that we can maintain, because what [oil companies] don’t want to do is to make this huge investment in the additional production and other things and then have the US government say: ‘We’re going to put all these regulations in place.’â€�

Using technology, oil and gas companies can reduce their negative impact on the environment, Beberness said. Although natural gas is by far the cleanest of the big three — coal and oil being the other two — they all can become cleaner though asset management.

Citing a McKinsey study, Beberness said a that a 10% improvement in asset operations of a normal gas company will result in a four percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Contact:
Ilaina Jonas, Senior Director of Global Public Relations, Â鶹ԭ´´
+1 (646) 923-2834, ilaina.jonas@sap.com

The need for decarbonization has been the driving force behind policies , while the Russian invasion led to additional policies to phase out EU dependency on Russian fossil fuels.

The common solution to both crises would be to stop using fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy sources. It is therefore no surprise that renewable energies are the fastest growing source of energy, contributing half of the growth in global supplies and becoming the largest source of power by 2040.* In most regions, wind and solar are also the cheapest source of electricity generation, even without subsidies.**

Â鶹ԭ´´ure to shift to renewables has been high for decades; the current crisis around exploding and volatile energy prices demands action in even shorter time frames.

In France, utility companies are allowed to reduce energy taxes in order to limit the increase of energy prices to a maximum of four percent. In Germany,  the price cap for gas and energy — “Gas- und Strompreisbremseâ€� — has been introduced to motivate citizens toward safe energy and to shield energy billing amount for gas, electricity, and district heating for 80% of their consumption the previous year.

“Â鶹ԭ´´ works hand in hand with the German-speaking Â鶹ԭ´´ User Group and other associations to make sure newly passed legislation gets integrated into our systems so that our customers can fulfill obligations toward their end customersâ€� explains Daniela Sellmann, global vice president and head of the Utilities Industry Business Unit at Â鶹ԭ´´ SE.

This shift to renewables also requires a growing number of decentralized energy resources (DER). Renewables like solar, wind, or bioenergy are largely generated by small local generation assets, which feed directly into the distribution grid. The intermittent nature of solar and wind causes challenges for the balancing of demand and supply in the power grids.

The demand side is also changing, with industrial, commercial, and household customers increasingly generating their own energy and becoming energy “flexumers” — generators, flexibility providers, and consumers of energy.

“This causes a shift in utilities’ business models, from pure selling of energy and water to becoming a full-service provider for energy flexumers,� says Sellmann.

Digital transformation is both an answer to the challenges of the energy transition and driver of new business models and services. This has been recognized in the EU with the creation of the Digitalization of Energy Action Plan. The action plan defines measures on how modern technologies can help improve the efficient use of energy resources, ease the integration of renewables into the grid, and save costs for EU consumers and energy companies.

As nearly everything becomes “smart,â€� utilities need a strategy on how to manage the avalanche of data coming from devices and other sources and use it to feed their intelligence. At Â鶹ԭ´´, we call this the intelligent enterprise, which is enabled by integration of data and processes and innovation with industry best practices. A cornerstone for this is the Â鶹ԭ´´ Utilities Core solution.

“With Â鶹ԭ´´ Utilities Core, we provide utilities with a proven platform to reliably run their core business processes like meter-to-cash in the cloud,” says Sellmann. “We are using intelligent technologies like machine learning to further automate core processes and increase efficiency. At the same time, we enable customers to drive innovation and increase speed and agility by leveraging Â鶹ԭ´´ Business Technology Platform and the industry cloud with solutions like Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud for Energy for managing times series data from meters. Further, we leverage our partner ecosystem to fill white spaces and gaps as well as to scale spread and adoption.:

Utilities-specific innovation topics at Â鶹ԭ´´ cover the entire utilities value chain:

We are undoubtedly moving toward a cleaner and more independent energy future. One problem that remains: time.

For a more detailed view on the energy transition and the solutions Â鶹ԭ´´ provides for it, see “.â€� Learn more about how Â鶹ԭ´´ can help your company make the transition to net-zero carbon energy robust, seamless, and inclusive.

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Markus Bechmann is vice president of the Utilities industry business unit and program lead for Â鶹ԭ´´ Utilities Core at Â鶹ԭ´´.

*BP, BP Energy Outlook (2019), 7
** Michael O’boyle, Wind and Solar Are Our Cheapest Electricity Generation Sources. Now What Do We Do?, GREENTECH MEDIA, Jan. 26, 2017.

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

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

Standardizing with Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud and Â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 Â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 Â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 Â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,â€� Yatziv said. “Now with our Â鶹ԭ´´ system, we have the data presented in real time.â€�

Ready for What’s Ahead

Delek US is expecting bigger and better things from Â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 Â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 Â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 Â鶹ԭ´´.

Phillips 66 turned to Â鶹ԭ´´ to leverage solutions that can be deployed in the cloud to meet the challenges and capitalize on the opportunity of fluctuations in crude oil prices. Another challenge is to meet the significant increase in demand for refined petroleum products.

“Advanced, integrated digital systems and processes are required to drive transparency, resilience and agility of the hydrocarbon supply chain in this highly volatile market,â€� said Peter Maier, President, Industries and Customer Advisory, Â鶹ԭ´´ SE. “Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s collaboration with Phillips 66 helps to unlock and accelerate business and energy transformation opportunities for a sustainable energy transition by creating real-time visibility along the value chain.â€�

The project included new digital processes encompassing hydrocarbon value chain optimization with updated business operating models, capital project execution, business-driven analytics, integrated logistics, digital operations and maintenance and application rationalization. Changing business operations to be more sustainable is one of the benefits companies can realize through digital transformation.

“Our goal at Phillips 66 is to gain insights and capture as much value as possible from our hydrocarbon operations,� said Zhanna Golodryga, Executive Vice President, Emerging Energy and Sustainability, Phillips 66. “We want to not only maintain but increase our leadership in operational excellence across all business operations and functions.� In her previous role at Phillips 66, Golodryga led the company’s digital transformation efforts.

The new system impacts most of Phillips 66’s 13,000 employees across its North American and international locations.

Visit the . Follow Â鶹ԭ´´ on Twitter at .

Media Contact:
Julie Schneider, +1 (650) 687-2788, julie.schneider@sap.com, PT
Â鶹ԭ´´ Â鶹ԭ´´ Room; press@sap.com

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 Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
© 2022 Â鶹ԭ´´ SE. All rights reserved.
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Earlier this week, three leaks from two Nord Stream AG undersea pipes, originally built to transport Russian gas to Germany, massively polluted the Baltic Sea. A fourth was discovered Thursday. The pipeline network has been the focus of an energy battle between Russia and its European clients over the war in Ukraine. The pipelines were not actively delivering gas but could take months to repair. NATO on Thursday called the leaks an act of sabotage.

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s Take

Europe faces a severe shortage of energy that will be needed this winter to heat homes and run businesses. But as an alternative provider of energy to Europe, the U.S. gas and oil industry has seen drillable sites and license reduced. Still, there is an opportunity to wring out as much energy as possible from existing sites.

“The oil and gas sector is ramping up both in exploration where they’re allowed and in production and refinery activity,â€� said Richard Primm III, vice president of sales for Â鶹ԭ´´’s North American South market unit. “I see them spending significant amounts of capital over the next several quarters to increase U.S. production capacity.â€�

Much of the energy sector’s budget will be targeted at getting the most out of existing operations.

“What producers are thinking about right now is: ‘From a drilling perspective, how do we get the most out of that production as possible?’� Primm said. “How do we apply science and technology to our refining methodology to get the highest yield as possible, and then how do we monitor the vehicles that transport that gas? How do we apply that capital that we would otherwise spend an exploration?�

The answer is technology, which also is being applied to U.S. fracking operations — to lower the cost of laterally finding pools of natural gas. By using sensors, producers have reduced the number of vertical wells needed. “We’ve gotten really good at being able to extend those wells horizontally, not just vertically into the ground,â€� Primm said.

Much of fracking occurs on private land already permitted and without the need for licenses.

“So, if there’s a well that’s fracking right now, they are getting better and better at horizontally moving from oilfield to oilfield underground by using seismic technology and quite a few other methods, so that they don’t have to increase the number of wells that they have,â€� Primm said.

All told, capital is being deployed to wring out the oil and gas from existing wells and transporting it with the least loss as possible.

“We’re applying technology to increase efficiency as much as possible,� Primm said. “So, in the absence of availability to explore more for alternative sources underground, we’re applying capital that we would otherwise spend on exploration.�

Since taking office in January 2021, President Biden, in a series of orders, reduced drilling on federal land. Some license freezes were reversed under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which called for new oil and gas sales off the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico. But those new operations won’t exist in time to boost production over the next few months and U.S. contribution is not expected to make a great difference to allay Europe’s suffering this winter.

“We can’t replace it,â€� Primm said. “We can’t produce enough.â€�

Contact:
Ilaina Jonas, Senior Director of Global Public Relations, Â鶹ԭ´´
+1 (646) 923-2834, ilaina.jonas@sap.com

During the first few weeks of the pilot phase, Petrobras registered more than 90 incidents. Every time an employee sees a potential hazard related to any structure integrity, loss of contention, drops, or a situation that could cause a fire, they can register this safety observation in the app and a task management flow is created. Depending on the incident, the responsible area receives the notification and can take action.

The immediate value realized from the mobile app prompted the company to expand the rollout of the meaningful application built with (Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP) for Â鶹ԭ´´ Environment, Health, and Safety Management.

A state-owned, multinational corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Petrobras is one of the largest producers of oil and gas in the world, and is primarily engaged in exploring and producing oil and gas, refining, energy generation and trading. With strong expertise in ultra-deep water exploration and production, resulting from almost 50 years of developing the Brazilian offshore basins, the enterprise can be counted among the world leaders in the industry.

Safety Precautions Taken Seriously

Dealing with gas exploration is high risk and can be extremely dangerous. Having fuel — liquid and gaseous — passing through various gears and equipment powered by electricity can breed disastrous incidents. For instance, having fire hydrants that are blocked by boxes, or having a pile of rags stacked near any heat sources could cause an explosion. These instances, combined with low communication capabilities on remote sites and a lack of efficiency in reporting, often cause delays in mitigating incidents. Yet simple actions can prevent fatal catastrophes from happening.

Petrobras worked with Â鶹ԭ´´ to look for ways to shorten reporting times and more effectively support maintenance workers in the field.

Designing and Developing Along a Human-Centered Approach

The Â鶹ԭ´´ AppHaus team in Palo Alto supported this project along in order to tackle individual business challenges and collaborate with users on a future solution that addresses the company’s need in a pragmatic way with Â鶹ԭ´´ solutions. User research provides an essential foundation for the design strategy.

Petrobras aims to invest responsibly, striving to be the best energy company in value generation with a focus on sustainability, safety, and respect for people and the environment.

With a commitment to high safety standards, Petrobras partnered with Â鶹ԭ´´ and successfully went live with the Identificação de Desvios e Incidents e Anomalias (IDEIA) app pilot with field workers.

Enabled by Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP, the purpose of the IDEIA application is to record incidents in remote areas of oil extraction and refining, as well as other Petrobras sites, allowing for asynchronous recording and updating.

The asynchronous process enables workers to record an incident without the need of network connection, and once the recording device is connected to a network again, it will sync the incident to the database. Its implementation will allow for greater speed and promptness in actions and become a disruptive tool in the management of anomalies in the environment, health, and safety (EHS) area of Petrobras.

“The IDEIA solution, developed jointly by Petrobas and Â鶹ԭ´´, is helping field users to identify safety incidents in the offshore platform and Petrobas R&D Center,â€� shared Marcio Magalhes, IT general manager at Petrobras.

From Successful Pilot to Company-Wide Rollout at Petrobras

During the pilot phase in the first quarter of 2022, the app counted 214 users and 97 incidents were registered. Petrobras is now rolling out the solution across its organization and is planning to have 10,000 live users by end of 2022.

Magalhaes underscores: “We are sure it will contribute to enhancing Petrobas Safety Standards, and we plan to roll out the application to our business segments, such as Upstream, Downstream, Production Development, and Commerce & Logistics by 2022.�

Â鶹ԭ´´ BTP and Â鶹ԭ´´ Environment, Health, and Safety Management provided the technological basis for building the app, digitalizing and improving the employee workflow. With the app on hand, employees can now report anomalies in real time, no matter if they work in the field, on a production site, or offshore. This brought agility, promptness, and — most importantly — a safer working environment for everyone.

Clearly, significant progress toward the .

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Mirela Viersa is an internal strategic consultant at Â鶹ԭ´´.