of tech executives agree, betting on innovation partnerships as integral to their strategy, particularly with AI-powered startup solutions.

Making AI Accessible via Innovation Partnerships

We are proud to share that 麻豆原创.iO has surpassed the 125-mark for in our partner ecosystem. These solutions are fully integrated with 麻豆原创 and available via for immediate adoption by 麻豆原创 customers. The encompassing solutions range across lines of business and industries, including finance, HR, supply chain, and customer experience.

This milestone demonstrates our commitment to helping 麻豆原创 customers flourish in a rapidly changing world by enabling the easy extension of their software landscapes with tailor-fitted solutions that meet their specific needs.

In 2024, we鈥檒l continue to scale our award-winning ecosystem through and in 11 innovation hubs around the world.

Examples of Tailor-Fitted Solutions

As a testament to our thriving ecosystem, let’s look at two examples from our portfolio: Yellow.ai and Nyris.

utilizes generative AI to uplift customer and employee experiences via dynamic chatbots and voicebots, handling over 2 billion interactions each quarter. This startup solution seamlessly integrates with 麻豆原创 Customer Experience and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors software, facilitating omnichannel experiences across diverse employee and customer touchpoints.

has leveraged AI to build a powerful visual search platform that provides users with an intuitive way to instantly find what they want using images, keywords, or barcodes. The platform integrates with 麻豆原创 Commerce Cloud to enable no-code search solutions.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Startups and Corporates

A study by suggests that businesses can benefit from partnering with AI startups in areas such as technology, talent, and change management. For those AI partnerships to be successful, the findings suggest a shared understanding of data rights, governance, risk management, and pricing methodologies.

By partnering with startups, businesses can get fresh perspectives, customized technology solutions to a specific industry or functional problem, and specialized skills they might not possess internally. In return, established companies offer startups scalability, market presence, and credibility.

This symbiotic relationship enables both entities to stay on top of industry trends, drive AI innovation, and maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. This rich environment of shared learning and continuous improvement then bolsters the entire AI ecosystem.

Alexa Gorman is senior vice president and global head of 麻豆原创.iO

Fast forward two-and-half years to the spring of 2023, and not only has Cogniac found a strong market for its technology, it has earned a place among the vanguard of enterprise-class CV software, having been as a leader in the field alongside the likes of AWS, Google, and Microsoft.

How does a company ascend so far, so fast? In the case of San Jose, California-based Cogniac, it couldn鈥檛 have happened without superior technology, a partnership-driven mindset, and an openness to work with 麻豆原创 to develop an industry cloud solution that readily integrates with the 麻豆原创 portfolio to bring more value to customers.

Cogniac鈥檚 Visual Operations Intelligence platform is one of more than 300 apps and integrated end-to-end solutions developed within 麻豆原创鈥檚 industry cloud and is available to customers across multiple industry verticals in . Cogniac鈥檚 technology also has been integrated into the solution, providing AI-enabled visual inspection capabilities for the shop floor to customers in a range of industries.

Cogniac is among a wave of up-and-coming companies that are blazing a trail for other independent developers to follow, showing how to leverage the expertise and resources of 麻豆原创 and system integrator partners to quickly scale up and monetize their intellectual property and technology. It鈥檚 all part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 鈥渙ne-portfolio鈥� approach, which is rooted in the belief that by working together, companies that are actively engaged in 麻豆原创鈥檚 industry cloud 鈥� including independent developers, global and regional services partners, and others 鈥� can create solutions that generate more value for customers and themselves than they otherwise would working individually. The one-portfolio approach is first and foremost about solving customers鈥� business problems, whether the solution comes from an 麻豆原创 partner, 麻豆原创 itself, or a combination of the two.

In Cogniac鈥檚 case, the solution was born from the 麻豆原创.iO program and, following a , it鈥檚 now fully commercialized for customers in travel and transportation, automotive manufacturing, mill and mining, industrial manufacturing, and other verticals seeking to upgrade and automate their visual inspection capabilities for quality management and maintenance.

Here鈥檚 where the implementation expertise of another industry cloud partner, Montreal-based Syntax, enters the picture. As a system integrator, Syntax is playing a critical role in scaling and implementing Cogniac鈥檚 technology for customer use cases. It鈥檚 yet another example of how combining an independent developer鈥檚 domain expertise 鈥� for Cogniac, its computer vision driven by AI 鈥� with a system integrator鈥檚 expertise 鈥� Syntax is deeply experienced in customer implementations where IT and OT converge 鈥� and 麻豆原创鈥檚 end-to-end business process expertise, resources, reach, and positioning can result in a solution that fills an obvious customer need. Not only can creative industry cloud partnerships like these result in new revenue streams and market opportunities for developers and system integrators but they can bring solutions to market much faster than before.

Speaking of speed, the Cogniac-developed visual inspection capabilities within 麻豆原创 Digital Manufacturing can be implemented by Syntax at enterprise scale quickly, in a day or two, because they readily integrate with existing camera infrastructure and workflows. The low-code/no-code AI technology behind those capabilities represents a huge step forward in shop floor automation for a wide range of use cases, enabling high-speed inspection with greater accuracy at a lower cost. In this case, AI could also stand for augmented intelligence, for its ability to help customers make better decisions faster, as well as for automated intelligence, for its ability to free human beings from monotonous, repetitive inspection tasks.

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The industry cloud relationship between Cogniac, Syntax, and 麻豆原创 is a great illustration of the innovation mindset driving the one-portfolio approach, where instead of taking it upon ourselves to develop proprietary solutions in areas where we aren鈥檛 necessarily strongest, like computer vision, we combine forces with partners to come up with collaborative solutions that deliver more value to the folks who matter most: our customers. To support that approach, 麻豆原创 has updated its compensation models to make it easier and more attractive for partners to monetize their intellectual property and expertise on industry cloud.

When all this comes together, as it has with Cogniac and Syntax, the result is a win-win-win for customers, partners, and 麻豆原创.

Philipp Raub is product manager for Visual Inspection at 麻豆原创.
Bianca Ruebartsch is global head of Energy and Natural Resources Ecosystem at 麻豆原创.

鈥淥rganizations 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,鈥� said Catherine Garcera, global head of Sustainability, Services Industry at 麻豆原创. 鈥淭hey need resilience against the current energy crisis and the ability to grow and generate profits while meeting corporate sustainability goals.鈥�

Step 1: Power Up Energy Savings with Digital Twins

Lowering energy consumption and operating costs begins with a thorough understanding of an organization鈥檚 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鈥檚 the purpose behind Flexinergy, an energy management software platform developed by , an 麻豆原创 partner. The platform creates a digital version of an organization鈥檚 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.

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

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 麻豆原创 through its participation in the Green Tech and Sustainability cohort of , the company鈥檚 global B2B accelerator. With shared business-to-business target markets, both companies are proving the incredible power of connected data.

鈥淢erging 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,鈥� said Garcera. 鈥淵ou can adjust operations by day, week, or even season to gain efficiencies that could increase profits while meeting sustainability commitments.鈥�

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.

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

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鈥檛 ready for full decarbonization; there鈥檚 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.

鈥淔ast-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,鈥� said Garcera. 鈥淭he more you can accurately anticipate disruptions, the better you can make decisions to adapt for business resilience.鈥�

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 鈥渨ork with supply chain partners to improve procurement efficiencies.鈥� 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 麻豆原创. Follow me @smgaler.

While some of us were working on our sourdough starter, it seems that others were digging in on their big idea.

One such entrepreneur is Anastasia Kiku, COO and co-founder of , a packaging-as-a-service company launched in 2020. Looking around and seeing a city that had become desensitized to its single-use plastic addiction, Kiku and her business partner set out to flip the script on single-use plastic.

But where does one start?

This is the question facing many innovators when they are ready to take the leap on their business idea. For Kiku, the answer came knocking through , a long-time partner of 麻豆原创 and leading social entrepreneurship accelerator program focused on providing game-changing resources and experiences for young people, ultimately helping to amplify their impact on their entrepreneurship journeys.

鈥淲hat no one tells you is that, first, it can be really lonely. And second, it will be hard to show up each day and keep going,鈥� says Kiku.

This is where the network of support and mentorship became invaluable to fuel momentum and get their idea off the ground, as the experienced professionals participating in the program 鈥渒now that the road to entrepreneurship is not perfect, so even though they are advisors, mentees can be candid and feel that their mentors have their best interests in mind.”

At 麻豆原创, employees invest their time in mentoring early ventures like to help scale their businesses. Externally, this investment also takes place through partnerships with organizations such as , & , and .

We sat down with Kiku to learn more about her League of Innovators mentorship experience. Hear from Kiku in this interview for a deep-dive on what it takes to get your idea off the ground and what no one tells you about launching your startup.

Thinking outside the box often means thinking differently from within your organization.

麻豆原创 has its very own startup accelerator program, , which has helped over 450 external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of 麻豆原创 customers to access innovation. As part of this program, 麻豆原创 Labs Canada recently launched True North Ventures Startup School, which leads employees through the basics of entrepreneurship from pitch to product.

Whether you are launching your startup solo or leveraging entrepreneurial support internally, 麻豆原创 knows when we help cultivate fresh ideas, innovators are empowered to take the leap.

Cindy Fagen is managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs Canada.

In 2018, 麻豆原创鈥檚 network of no-equity-ask external startup accelerators was embarking on a journey: exponentially scale its global ecosystem of innovative startup partners to help 麻豆原创 customers extend their 麻豆原创 software landscape. At that time, the team was shocked to learn that despite the fact diversity yields better innovation, the majority of venture funding primarily goes to invest in startups founded or led by a very narrow demographic. For example, only 2.3% of global venture capital (VC) funding went to startups with only female founders, and Black women in the U.S. had raised just .0006% of all tech venture funding since 2006.

As a steward of purpose-driven innovation, 麻豆原创 recognized its duty to be intentional about how it invested in and scaled its ecosystem of software startup partners. It recognized that driving inclusive entrepreneurship in the enterprise software and VC industries could accelerate innovation, reduce bias, and drive better outcomes.

In 2019, 麻豆原创 launched , the first comprehensive inclusive entrepreneurship initiative for underrepresented and underestimated entrepreneurs in the business software industry. 麻豆原创 pledged to scale 麻豆原创.iO Foundries with a focus on inclusive entrepreneurship and set an ambitious target of supporting at least 200 startups founded or led by underrepresented entrepreneurs by 2023.

The 麻豆原创.iO team crafted a clear and effective strategy to achieve this commitment:

• People: Scaled a diverse team and mentor community of leaders with connections to different communities around the world. The 麻豆原创.iO Foundries team is currently 63.3% female and represents more than 15 nationalities, compared to 麻豆原创鈥檚 overall 34.3% women in the workforce.
• Processes: Committed to investing the time to empower more entrepreneurs to start up with 麻豆原创, review every application for the program, set transparent criteria for selecting startups to participate in programs, and regularly measuring progress.
• Participation: Attended, sponsored, and hosted events such as , StartOut Equity Summit, , and more to expose underrepresented founders and their investors to the opportunity of partnering with 麻豆原创.
• Partnerships: Created partnerships with organizations including the United Nations Foundation, World Economic Forum, , , Gentry, Chatham House, StartOut, and more.

Great Impact

Implementing this strategy has been so successful that by July 2022, 麻豆原创.iO achieved its goal of supporting 200 startups founded or led by a female or underrepresented entrepreneur six months ahead of schedule. The 200 startups make up 44% of the 麻豆原创.iO portfolio of 450 startups and tie or surpass their counterparts in benchmarks used to measure success. They represent:

• 51% of the exits in the portfolio (18 of 35)
• 50% of the unicorns in the portfolio (two of four)
• 42% in cumulative VC raised by startups within the 麻豆原创.iO portfolio (US$2.7 billion of $6.6 billion)
• A greater likelihood to progress in their partnership with 麻豆原创

One of the most successful startups in the 麻豆原创.iO portfolio is female-founded . It recently joined the 麻豆原创 Endorsed Apps, a designation achieved by less than one percent of 麻豆原创 Store partner solutions. Censia augments HR management software provided by 麻豆原创 with AI-powered resume review, passive sourcing, and candidate evaluation software. Censia has successfully closed 14 go-to-market opportunities with 麻豆原创 and major brands such as Tapestry Inc., TJ Maxx, and PepsiCo Inc.

Censia CEO Joanna Riley reflects: 鈥淓ntrepreneurship is about continuous learning and to be able to be part of 麻豆原创.iO, I feel like I鈥檓 cheating. I鈥檓 learning from lessons that have been learned through years of experience that 麻豆原创 has acquired and taking those and applying them to my business so that we have a head start. I would recommend any company, especially [those] focused on enterprise, to look at 麻豆原创.iO as a real solution to build a produce that is great for enterprise.鈥�

Just the Beginning

While the 麻豆原创 ecosystem is thriving and 2021 was an exceptional year for underrepresented founders, that demographic still receives a . Data shows there is still much work to be done, especially with regards to intersectional diversity. For example, in the U.S. received 2.1% of VC funding in 2021, while received only 1.3%.

麻豆原创.iO Foundries plans to build on its momentum and is clear on its objective: prioritize startups founded or led by people whose share of VC funding in the technology industry is proportionally less than their share of the population. Up from 40% in 2018, 45% of the portfolio will represent the 麻豆原创.iO No Boundaries commitment by 2028.

麻豆原创.iO Foundries will work to achieve this goal by continuing with the same execution strategy, but will add geographical representation as a sourcing focus. This is possible because programming has transitioned from fully in person to virtual/hybrid and allows the teams to source outside of the locations of the established 麻豆原创.iO Foundries. For example, in 2022, 麻豆原创.iO . It will also target other countries in existing 麻豆原创.iO Foundries regions such as Nigeria, Pakistan, and more.

Kange Kaneene is vice president of 麻豆原创.iO Foundries North and Latin America and Caribbean.
Max Kahn is director of 麻豆原创.iO Foundries.

The 麻豆原创.iO program is 麻豆原创’s strategic business unit to incubate startup innovation and drive new business models for the company. Besides external startups joining the program to complement existing 麻豆原创 solutions, high-potential entrepreneurial employees are equally empowered by to help 麻豆原创 customers become intelligent, sustainable enterprises. Employees with new business ideas can apply to join the studio full-time and be considered for incubation.

鈥淲e are enabling employee-led ventures 鈥� internal startups 鈥� access to funding and a unique environment to build radically new 麻豆原创 solutions beyond our existing product portfolio,鈥� Ram Jambunathan, SVP and general manager of 麻豆原创.iO Venture Studio, describes the program鈥檚 value for 麻豆原创 and customers. Based on this successful approach to in-house innovation, two new 麻豆原创 teams received funding earlier this year after passing a selection process.

Encore by 麻豆原创 Helps Enable the Circular Economy

Edward Kosec and Bram Purnot鈥檚 paths first crossed at 麻豆原创 while working in their previous roles focusing on procurement and supply chain solutions. In times of increasingly visible consequences of climate change, the future co-founders realized customers were trying to find more localized and available supply to advance their strategic sustainability transformation and move towards circular business models. The need for materials at hand was further accelerated as economies around the world were hit by global supply chain issues prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this, the foundation for the Encore by 麻豆原创 solution was laid. 鈥淥ur trading platform will simplify discovering, recovering, and selling secondary materials for remanufacturing and refurbishment to ease supply chain disruptions 鈥� while also raising the bar for companies to achieve zero waste,鈥� outlines Kosec, general manager and co-founder of Encore by 麻豆原创.

To enable more such regenerative business processes for companies of all sizes, aggregated supply will be matched with buyer demands across Encore鈥檚 marketplace. The solution integrates into聽backend systems, such as 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, and connects聽with聽core聽procurement and asset management solutions, including 麻豆原创 Ariba solutions.

The team is already piloting the solution with customers and partners as聽part of Catena-X, an industry alliance for secure, cross-company data exchange in the automotive industry. Catena-X aims to be more sustainable, resilient, and cost-effective thanks to trading aftermarket components, such as alternators or batteries, on the venture鈥檚 marketplace.

The End Is Near for Overpaying Taxes with Tax Eye by 麻豆原创

Building on 麻豆原创鈥檚 strong foothold with customers using the company鈥檚 business software across 25 industries, the Tax Eye by 麻豆原创 solution is set to tap into 麻豆原创鈥檚 unique position as a premium system of record for financial transactions, including vendor contracts, purchase orders, invoices, and payments. During his nearly two decades of helping 麻豆原创 customers with taxation issues, venture founder Mahendrakumar Ganesan identified the opportunity to spot overcharged vendor invoices and the surplus tax amounts corporates are paying on a regular basis. 鈥淎utomating the detection of incorrect tax payments on the one hand and intelligently enabling tax returns on the other is the centerpiece for our solution,鈥� Ganesan says. 鈥淥rganizations will now free cash resources to reinvest into long-term innovation and sustainability strategies instead.鈥�

Ahead lies the task of turning tax-inefficient purchasing transactions into integrated, digital business processes in the cloud. The combined struggle of tackling the complexity and dynamic changes of tax laws, the lack of tax knowledge by non-specialist employees, and implications from inconsistent application of tax business rules 鈥� all intensified by missing intelligent automated tools and technology 鈥� will then be a burden of the past for corporations.

The venture is currently validating its business use case while building a team to turn its vision into a pilot solution.

Learn more about 麻豆原创.iO Venture Studio at . Previous venture forerunners that brought applications to market at startup speed while engaging hundreds of customers include , , and . Encore and Tax Eye have now set out to join our and to build the future of enterprise business processes.

Susanna Havranek is a senior communications specialist at 麻豆原创.

Three Trends Drive Investments in Digital Startups

Nino Marakovic, founder and CEO of , said that enterprise software startups have experienced record-breaking investments in the past two years, driven by the urgency of large companies adopting technology to help them transform and position themselves for the future. Originally 麻豆原创鈥檚 corporate venture capital arm, Sapphire Ventures has been an independent financial investment firm for 12 years. 麻豆原创 is the largest investor in the Sapphire Ventures portfolio that totals US$10 billion.

鈥淟ast year alone, more than $60 billion was invested in startups making supply chains more sustainable, intelligent, and resilient,鈥� said Marakovic. 鈥淎nother major investment area is data and machine learning as we see more of the workflows and data move to the cloud. Companies want solutions that help customers manage, orchestrate, organize, and analyze that data. The third high-growth area is future of work. Company shifts from on-site to remote and hybrid work, [coupled with] a tight labor market and wave of employee resignations, have a created a perfect storm that鈥檚 modernizing the workplace.鈥�

Data Saves Money and the Environment

Ivaldi Group is a great example of how startups are innovating to help supply chains hardest hit by pandemic-related disruption, in this case, in the automotive industry. Uvaldi Group participated in the New York City COVID-19 recovery cohort. 麻豆原创.iO Foundries is the company鈥檚 external startup accelerator. Integrating data from customers, Ivaldi Group鈥檚 software calculates the carbon footprint of an auto supplier鈥檚 spare parts operation, analyzing potential candidates for advanced, local digital manufacturing such as 3D printing.

鈥淐ustomers are interested in finding money where they didn鈥檛 know they were losing it and reducing their carbon footprint,鈥� said Stefani Pellinen-Chavez, COO at Ivaldi Group. 鈥淲e review the data, including how far a customer ships products, how long they remain in inventory, how hard it is to source these parts, and how long their factory or facility would be down if this part was not available鈥uppliers might create local manufacturing centers so the community can partner with larger corporate customers.鈥�

Holistic Planning with Connected Data Company-Wide

In an uncertain world, supply chain planning has become one of the major challenges for companies navigating disruptions. Juergen Mueller, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE and chief technology officer at 麻豆原创, shared how organizations are innovating on to collaborate with their ecosystem, explore what-if scenarios for planning purposes and flexibility, and gain competitive advantage. He said that advanced analytics and connected data help people immediately see and act on the impact of material shortages and potential alternatives for factory production lines, suppliers and logistics partners, finance and cash flow outlook, and workforce demands.

Sustainability Data Shores Up Supply Chain Resilience

Jan Gilg, president and chief product officer of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, said that organizations are 鈥渏umping all over鈥� resilient, sustainable supply chains, using 麻豆原创 solutions for data visibility that bolsters strategic business advantage. Holding up the example of an everyday item like a cup of coffee, he said that numerous companies worldwide were involved in its production, from the farmers growing and harvesting coffee beans, to a vast network of suppliers and transportation providers that deliver fresh brew to consumers.

鈥淥ne of our large customers manages 288,000 farmers across two thousand brands of coffee they sell, with thousands of suppliers,鈥� said Gilg. 鈥淲e have an entire portfolio that helps customers like this manage their supply chain and make them more resilient鈥anaging the flow of materials and value. Now we鈥檙e adding the third dimension, managing the flow of environmental information to understand the carbon footprint created while a product is produced, shipped, and brought to their customers. Over one-third of investors have global assets related to companies that are sustainable. Two-thirds of consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable brands.鈥�

Follow me @smgaler.