麻豆原创 Pioneers Archives | 麻豆原创 News Center /tags/sap-pioneers/ Company & Customer Stories | 麻豆原创 Room Mon, 12 Aug 2024 20:46:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 麻豆原创 Pioneers: Using Technology for Humanity /2022/09/sap-pioneers-using-technology-for-humanity/ Wed, 07 Sep 2022 13:15:00 +0000 /?p=199247 Sindhu Gangadharan, managing director of 麻豆原创 Labs India and senior vice president of User Enablement at 麻豆原创, is among the top 50 most powerful women in business according to Fortune India.

During two decades at 麻豆原创, she rose through the ranks to become the first woman to lead 麻豆原创 Labs India. Today, Gangadharan is among the leading voices in the world of technology and is widely regarded as a “technology humanist.”

This article is part of the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

Q: What is a technology humanist, and what makes you one?

Sindhu Gangadharan
麻豆原创 Labs India MD Sindhu Gangadharan

A: I am passionate about using technology to serve people. Throughout the pandemic we witnessed the power of technology to make things better.

For example, the second COVID-19 wave took everyone in India by surprise, crippling the entire healthcare system. There was an acute shortage of medical oxygen. The reason for the shortage was not a lack of oxygen, but the inadequacy of the distribution network to get it from the point of manufacture to the hospitals. This entire supply chain was severely disrupted at multiple levels due to the sudden rise in demand across the country.

At 麻豆原创 Labs India we decided to use our greatest assets — our technology and our employees who have the finest minds in the country — to help the government. About 80% of India鈥檚 oxygen suppliers already run on 麻豆原创, so we worked together to create an oxygen supply chain dashboard — literally over one weekend!

I believe 麻豆原创 Labs India really stepped up to save lives.

What influenced you during your formative years to pursue a career in technology?

I grew up in India at a time when the tech craze was engulfing the country. I was inquisitive, I loved mathematics, and I was fascinated by the incredible possibilities of technology.

My home city, Bengaluru, was transforming into a tech center with specialized labor for global technology markets. After getting a degree in computer science, I got a job as a developer in 1999 just after the inauguration of 麻豆原创 Labs India. Later, I moved to 麻豆原创 headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, where I held several strategic and leadership positions shaping 麻豆原创鈥檚 integration product portfolio. I also became the head of Strategy for 麻豆原创 Intelligent Enterprise. This gave me a digital first mindset.

You are the first woman to lead 麻豆原创 Labs India. What can you tell us about the role?

After living and working at 麻豆原创 headquarters in Germany for 20 years, I became managing director in India. That meant a complete change in culture and environment for myself and my family, as we had become fully integrated in the German lifestyle, but the change brought new opportunities for personal growth.

麻豆原创 Labs India is the second-largest after Walldorf. The teams work on all the major solutions 鈥 from 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and 麻豆原创 HANA through 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform to the entire range of business area products. As the managing director, I oversee over 13,000 麻豆原创 employees across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Hyderabad. Many successful products and solutions such as the 麻豆原创 Asset Intelligence Network have originated from 麻豆原创 Labs India.

India is an incredibly diverse nation. How has that influenced your leadership style?

Coming from a very diverse nation, where there is no single common theme and the average person may speak three or four different languages, we tend to see things from a variety of perspectives. We are a technology-focused nation, but at the same time, we are rooted in ancient traditions and customs. I would say this ingrained diversity helps me lead with empathy.

In addition, the ratio of men to women in this business means there is automatically a gender imbalance. Often, people think male leadership traditionally means being more decisive and aggressive, whereas women leaders are more empathetic and have more patience and emotional intelligence. They believe women aren’t capable of making hard decisions, but that is obviously not the case. One of my goals is to create a balanced workplace that attracts and retains women in tech roles.

How do you define innovation? How is it helping companies in India become more efficient and sustainable in post-pandemic times?

Innovation and sustainability go hand in hand. The pace of transformation has accelerated so rapidly thanks to the cloud, which gained a much wider adoption across all industries and lines of business during the pandemic. With challenges such as climate change and the war in the Ukraine, enterprises need greater resilience. The cloud acts as a technology backbone for companies of all sizes. We know that sustainable growth is incomplete if one of the three dimensions is missing; besides the top line and the bottom line, investors and employees are also looking at the green line.

At 麻豆原创, we are not only enabling half a million companies worldwide to run more efficiently and therefore more sustainably, we are also leading by example in how we manage our own business.

You mentioned how 麻豆原创 Labs India helped create a sustainable supply chain for oxygen. What other industries or lines of business are benefiting from 麻豆原创鈥檚 innovation?

India was one of the first countries to impose a ban on single-use plastics. The Indian government is mandating full business responsibility by the end of 2023, so enterprises are looking to 麻豆原创 for guidance on how to go about it. At the same time, there is a surge in partnerships and startups to help us achieve the goal, so there is a strong collaborative aspect.

One key area is retail. India is a nation driven by consumption; we have the third-largest base of online shoppers in the world. There are 700 million active internet users with mobile devices, and this number will soon reach 1 billion. E-commerce growth is expected to scale up to $130 billion in the next years. Helping enterprises in this industry respond to consumer demand for more sustainable practices is one of our main challenges.

I鈥檓 confident we can help enterprises reduce climate impact across their value chains and embed sustainable behavior in their organizations with the right tools — in other words, use technology to benefit humanity.

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Diversity Is More Than Just Gender; Sustainability Is More Than Just Trees /2022/07/sap-pioneers-cristina-palmaka-diversity-sustainability/ Wed, 13 Jul 2022 11:15:36 +0000 /?p=197843 Cristina Palmaka became the president of 麻豆原创 Latin America and Caribbean in August 2020, after overseeing 麻豆原创 Brazil, one of the most important subsidiaries for 麻豆原创 globally.

With over three decades of experience in the industry, Palmaka has always been passionate about the power of technology to transform businesses for success and positively influence the region鈥檚 economy.

This article is part of the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

Q: You started working at a very early age. What was your first job?

Headshot: Cristina PalmakaA: When I was 16, I applied for a trainee position with Philips Electronics. I was still in high school in S茫o Paulo. I didn鈥檛 have any expectations because Philips was a big company — why would they hire me? I just entered my name and went through some interviews. But I really wanted the job, because my family needed the income. When I was selected, that was a big thing. When I was 17, I was hired as an employee. Like many young people in this region, I had to juggle my day job and going to school at night. My mother was worried that I was commuting by bus alone across the city at night.

How did this shape your work ethic and your sense of responsibility?

As a child, I lived a modest life. My parents and my grandmother came to Brazil from Poland, where their values had been shaped by the restrictions of the Second World War. At home, nothing was wasted, everything was reused. Milk came in recycled bottles, and we made our own yogurt. Our clothes were hand-me-downs from family. Books and backpacks were used with care so that others could reuse them later. We never left the water running or the lights on. There was a conscious use of resources; we had a huge sense of respect for things like energy, food, and water.

The concept of circularity has been ingrained since childhood. How does innovation and technology help drive sustainability?

Whenever I hear the word innovation, I think it means doing something that has not been done before, or applying known methods to get different results.聽 It鈥檚 about those “aha” moments in life.聽 I鈥檝e been very inspired by a young woman, Anna Luisa Beserra, a Brazilian environmental entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of a startup called Sustainable Development and Water for All (SDW). When she was 15 years old, she developed a filtering system to disinfect rainwater collected in cisterns. It鈥檚 called Aqualuz, it鈥檚 a portable water purification system that uses solar energy to make water contaminated with bacteria safe to drink. Today she has her own business that brings safe water and sanitation to some of the most arid regions of Brazil.

You are now a member of the Board of Directors of her company. And under your leadership as regional president, all the managing directors of 麻豆原创 Latin America and Caribbean are women. Was that one of your goals?

No, not all. It was a natural evolution that began during the succession planning phase for my replacement when I moved into my current position. We always start with a list of criteria we are looking for to fill a certain position. Who has the right skills, knowledge, and ability? Then it鈥檚 a process of elimination, weighing pros and cons, weighing the different skills, different backgrounds. I consider different perspectives, sometimes the difference between men and women, but I did not set out to hire women for these positions. I was looking for people who could bring something new to the table, people who are able to lead by example. Gender is just one aspect of a balanced organization.

Talk about sustainability is everywhere. Companies are trying to figure out how to address their environmental, societal, and governance (ESG) factors. How are you and your team guiding customers in that direction?

We need to learn how to articulate what’s behind those three letters: ESG. There are many things that we can each do personally. In my case, as I lead in the company, I have to educate those around me and guide those conversations with our customers. CEOs and C-level executives are telling us sustainability must be embedded into everything we do. A year and a half ago, we hired a sustainability officer that reports directly to me. We are actively looking at how customers are dealing with the ESG factors to find examples we can learn from and replicate. The oil and gas industry comes to mind, where there is immense pressure to transition to renewable energy for environmental reasons. Agribusiness is big in Latin America and also has environmental issues. Of course, this topic really accelerated during the pandemic, and in our region there is a special need around the societal factors. We鈥檙e dealing with a huge gap between the rich and the poor. We have skills shortages, workforce issues, salary in terms of equity, and so on.

What about governance?

This is a key factor. In the past when people talked about sustainability, it was about planting trees. Today, thanks to increased focus on ESG factors, you need a holistic strategy. Both global and local companies have to consider governance because they are doing business in different parts of the world and are impacted by all the regulations. Some companies are improving in the ESG area because they have to comply, others are doing it because it鈥檚 the right thing to do, and it鈥檚 embedded in their core vision and purpose. It doesn鈥檛 matter. Companies are responding to the push to do better for whatever reason. We鈥檙e seeing a lot of innovation in startups, which has a lot to do with the mindset of the new generation.

Let鈥檚 not forget, this is not about one single company. Every company, large and small, plays a role. Sustainability is becoming part of the business DNA.


Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


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An AI Love Story: Business Value from Sustainable Innovation /2022/07/sap-pioneers-dr-feiyu-xu-ai-love-story/ Wed, 06 Jul 2022 12:15:39 +0000 /?p=197701 John has loved Mary for three decades. Thirty years ago, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based program needed several minutes to understand that John was the subject and Mary was the object of the word 鈥渓ove.鈥 Today, we can translate pages of documents in milliseconds, unlock our mobile phone by looking at it, and unclog e-mail bottlenecks with ease.

This was how Dr. Feiyu Xu, global head of AI at 麻豆原创, opened her fascinating session at the , explaining how advances in high-performance computing, Big Data, and machine learning have commercialized AI, turning it into value for people and business.

This article is part of the聽麻豆原创 Pioneers聽series, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

An Inspirational Pioneer for AI

Award-winning researcher and startup founder Dr. Xu joined 麻豆原创 in 2020 to help realize the technology鈥檚 full potential for business value in both consumer and industrial sectors. Among the first generation of students to study AI, she鈥檚 undauntedly met the challenge of creating the company鈥檚 holistic strategy tackling this tremendous market opportunity. After attending her session, I spoke with her about how companies are bringing AI into the business for intelligent transformation.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 important is having an understanding of business processes and the right data so you can embed AI systematically into applications company-wide where it provides intelligence that guides better decision-making and the development of differentiated products and services to drive market growth,鈥 she said. 鈥溌槎乖 has access to that level of customer information given its broad product portfolio, deep industry expertise, and strong ecosystem of partners.鈥

Multicultural Perspectives behind Unified AI Strategy

Dr. Xu, who grew up in China and completed her AI undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Germany, credited some of her foundational career strengths to her multicultural perspective. She鈥檚 certainly applied those insights, as she鈥檚 created a worldwide team she leads from 麻豆原创 offices in Berlin.

鈥淚 bring both my Chinese heritage and the research lessons I learned from Germany to my work today,鈥 she said. 鈥淲orking with teams of AI scientists, business leaders, product managers, and customers worldwide, it鈥檚 important to have open discussions as we fulfill our responsibilities to 麻豆原创 customers. We鈥檝e been an AI pioneer, and this technology remains central to our intelligent enterprise transformation along with our customers.鈥

AI Ethics and Security Are Priorities

Noting that large-scale AI gives organizations a major competitive edge, Dr. Xu reinforced the company鈥檚 commitment to helping customers make business process improvements while staying safe and secure.

鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on customer education so they understand how to get the most from AI using 麻豆原创 software applications for automation, optimization, and forecasting across the organization,鈥 she said. 鈥淎t the same time, we adhere to a with principles for responsible use of this important technology.鈥

Real-World Value from AI

According to the latest survey, AI remains the top priority for CEOs for the third year in a row. During her session at 麻豆原创 Sapphire Orlando, Dr. Xu shared a huge list of ways that AI now contributes to the intelligent transformation of organizations. As business travel returns, AI makes expense reporting a breeze. Manufacturers are using AI to automatically identify and reorder parts before they鈥檙e damaged and can negatively impact production goals. AI-based tools will rise to any e-mail challenge, automatically routing messages to the appropriate recipients for time-saving efficiencies.

鈥淭here are so many intelligent applications for AI across business processes,鈥 said Dr. Xu. 鈥淎I helps organizations discover market trends and turn prospects into lifelong customers. In manufacturing, AI improves efficiencies from design to production. Especially during times of disruption, AI can help reduce supply chain risks with better forecasts for short- and long-term planning. Organizations can adjust operations and people strategies to scale in sync with changing market demands.鈥

Intelligence Combines Humans Plus Machines

Dr. Xu cited business results from customers in numerous industries using 麻豆原创 solutions with embedded AI. One railway transportation company achieved 99% automation rates to speed up invoicing and payments. A technology company gained 24/7 access to time-critical order information with conversational AI. A telecommunications provider filled 77% of vacant positions by automatically matching existing qualified employees with open positions.

What鈥檚 important to remember is that just like the people who program it, AI is constantly learning. analysts predicted that by next year, 60% of businesses will embrace a decision-making model that combines the power of AI and human judgment for more informed decision-making. By 2026, expected that 85% of enterprises will combine human expertise with AI, machine learning, natural language processing, and pattern recognition to augment foresight across the organization, making workers 25% more productive and effective. As for John and Mary, AI has left their love story in the dust.


Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


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A Curious and Creative Innovation Journey /2022/06/sap-pioneers-tshepo-mahloko-innovation-journey/ Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:15:01 +0000 /?p=197658 When you don鈥檛 have toys as a child, you have to figure out a way to make them yourself.聽 This was the reality for Tshepo Mahloko, head of the 麻豆原创 Co-Innovation Lab in Africa, who grew up in a small township in Africa.

There he learned that innovation was all about remaining curious, never giving up your creativity and starting where you are.聽 鈥淩egardless of the resources you have available to you, it鈥檚 important to just start,鈥 he says.

This article is part of the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Curiosity Fuels the Cat 鈥 And Sparks Innovation

 

For Mahloko and his friends, it started with having to make kites and cars from any material they found lying around their communities in order to be able to play as children.

He later developed a love for computers at an early age when his mother brought one home with her from work. Mahloko learned to use the system himself, spending countless hours studying the manual. He always knew that technology was important for his future, but even more so for the future of his community.聽 This passion is what fueled his curiosity for all things tech.

Mahloko would go on to build a software point-of-sale system with a friend to help his local town鈥檚 Spaza shops run better, something they very much needed to help ensure success with their business.

Shortly after that, he landed a job at 麻豆原创, working with partners on new innovations to improve people鈥檚 — and animals鈥 — lives. Mahloko led 麻豆原创鈥檚 participation in the initiative, which helped reduce elephant poaching to zero in the areas the technology was used.聽 He continues to work with our partners to help them build innovative solutions on the 麻豆原创 platform, doing so through a 鈥渉ack to build鈥 initiative that aims to bring these solutions to market very quickly.

From Mahloko’s perspective, Africa has a great opportunity to leapfrog when it comes to innovation because it is a country that doesn鈥檛 have many legacy systems.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e aiming to solve a problem, but you don鈥檛 have much to work with from the beginning, you tend to go back to the fundamentals,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his forces people to think outside the box and I think that works in Africa鈥檚 favor. It鈥檚 where we get our creative and innovative edge, and I love being a part of this space.鈥


Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


Jackie Montesinos Suarez is head of Communications for 麻豆原创 North America.

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Sustainability Is a Team Sport: Good for People, Planet, and Profits /2022/06/sap-pioneers-tracy-bolton-sustainability-team-sport/ Fri, 10 Jun 2022 12:15:31 +0000 /?p=197367 麻豆原创 Africa COO Tracy Bolton began her pioneering sustainability journey when she equipped her house with solar panels and installed rain tanks in her garden five years ago.

This article is part of a new series, 麻豆原创 Pioneers, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

麻豆原创 Africa COO Tracy Bolton
麻豆原创 Africa COO Tracy Bolton

Q: What prompted your journey?

A: It came about through a mix of free choice and necessity — some of it was a push, and some of it was a pull! The pull was the interest in a holistic lifestyle, where I wanted to tread lightly and leave a minimal impact on the planet. The push was a phenomenon called load shedding. Government-owned electricity providers in Africa often can鈥檛 keep up with demand, so load shedding is used to distribute demand across multiple power sources, often disrupting power supply.

Can you imagine trying to do your work, chasing targets and deadlines while plunged into darkness, with no power source for lights, laptop batteries, and internet and mobile phone signals, for hours on end, often with little or no warning?

Now, I’m about 80% off grid, which is quite ahead of the game. It鈥檚 great for me, because I don’t feel the impact of the load shedding. I can continue to work when they switch off the electricity. I have an app that tells me how much energy I鈥檝e produced, how much CO2 emissions I鈥檝e saved, and the equivalent of trees planted. I love keeping track.

What鈥檚 challenging about doing business in the region?

Africa is a vast continent, with a wealth of diversity in geography and wildlife, and people, cultures, and languages. The region is facing serious environmental challenges, including land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and extreme vulnerability to climate change. In addition, poverty across the continent is one of the most serious challenges to sustainable development, along with major issues such as infrastructure and the availability of electricity.

Three-quarters of the 759 million people around the world who don鈥檛 have access to electricity live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Education and gainful employment cannot be done in the dark. Without universal access to electricity, Africa will remain vulnerable to underdevelopment, high unemployment, a migration crisis, and instability. That鈥檚 why United Nations — to ensure access to affordable, sustainable modern energy for all — is so critical to the region.

This all contributes to the unique and often intense and personal experience of working in Africa. There are incredible highs and lows as we work to find innovative ways to overcome or sidestep these challenges.

In a on South Africa鈥檚 Hot 102.7FM radio station, you described how to build a sustainable business.

I believe embracing sustainable business is key to Africa鈥檚 economic growth. For me, sustainability is a team sport.

For a business to be both profitable and sustainable, you must put people, planet, and profit on equal footing. 麻豆原创 has two roles in helping customers achieve that goal: one is to enable enterprises to succeed on the path the choose to pursue, and the other is to act as an exemplar with its own commitment to achieve net-zero along our value chain by 2030.

In my experience, most companies want to be sustainable, but they don鈥檛 know how to do it. It starts with a strategic decision: do you want to do the bare minimum and just adhere to regulations or do you want to embed sustainability as a key strategy and use it to drive innovation? Whatever it is, 麻豆原创 provides the best tools to optimize processes, increases efficiency, and preserve energy and resources.

Data, from primary and secondary sources, is the central element. Once you start benchmarking it to track across all four pillars — people, planet, profit, and governance — you can start aligning operations as needed. You must ensure everyone buys into the change. Employees, customers, suppliers, and partners all need to be informed of your goals.聽 Consumers are demanding more sustainable products, so companies must engage all parts of the business every step of the way to understand how the product is disposed at the end of its life cycle.

How is innovation driving sustainability?

This is a topic close to my heart. I鈥檓 excited about tech projects that are transforming agribusiness in Africa. More than 30% of all food produced in the world for human consumption gets lost or wasted; in Africa, food loss occurs almost entirely in the production and distribution stages. About 90% of 聽who don鈥檛 have the kind of cold storage solutions available to large-scale producers. This means lots of produce perishes along the way.

麻豆原创 Rural Sourcing Management is a solution that was developed to connect smallholder farmers to agricultural value chains. The tool helps smallholder farmers capture, maintain, and share data about crop types, farm size, harvest prospects, farmers鈥 production, and sales transactions. It also facilitates access to various stakeholders in the broader agricultural value chain, including financial services, buyers and suppliers of seed, fertilizers, and agricultural equipment 鈥 and distribution networks.

Large enterprises are also benefiting from innovation in technology. Nigeria鈥檚 Dangote Group is a leading provider of essential daily needs from cement manufacturing to sugar and salt refining to port operations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Dangote Group is currently constructing the world鈥檚 largest single train oil refinery, which will process up to 650,000 barrels of oil per day. Its fertilizer plant is currently in its final stages at the same location as the refinery. Once completed, it will be the largest in the world, with capacity for 3 million tons of fertilizer a year, enough to meet all domestic demand. The efficiency of these projects is enabled by state-of-the-art technology such as 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.

I love the fact that we are working for a company like 麻豆原创 that has the vision and the resources to link all these disparate elements 鈥 people, planet, and profit 鈥 in truly pioneering ways and that we can be part of this incredible force for change. We鈥檝e never walked this path before, but that鈥檚 what makes our work meaningful and worthwhile!


Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


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Spotlight on Sustainable Business Innovators at 麻豆原创 /2022/06/sap-pioneers-christina-hamilton-asha-sreedhar/ Tue, 07 Jun 2022 13:20:41 +0000 /?p=197196 Digital transformation is core to business practices sweeping across organizations worldwide. That鈥檚 because imperatives like addressing climate change and diversity and inclusion require intense and targeted collaboration to solve.

From Silicon Valley to India, two innovators are helping drive 麻豆原创鈥檚 sustainable business vision, revealing how innovation emerges when we thoughtfully connect passionate people with the right information across value chains.

This article is part of a new series, 麻豆原创 Pioneers, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

Circular Economy Startup Champion

Since joining 麻豆原创 as an intern on the company鈥檚 global IT organization, Christina Hamilton has been at the forefront of digital transformation, hands-on with customers and partners to infuse leaders with a cloud mindset and help them generate full value from their software investments. Hamilton was among the original team members who helped build 麻豆原创鈥檚 premier program into an innovation powerhouse of hundreds of experts within three years to generate significant cloud subscription revenue for 麻豆原创.

Although she鈥檚 just 28 years old, Hamilton鈥檚 career odyssey has mirrored the digital transformation journey of 麻豆原创 and its customers. Now working in the heart of Silicon Valley, she heads venture operations for , a sustainable business accelerator for early stage high-potential entrepreneurs.

鈥淲e鈥檙e championing a startup culture by investing in small entrepreneurial teams inside 麻豆原创 targeting process improvements supporting sustainable business,鈥 said Hamilton. 鈥淭eams test and iterate quickly, getting solutions into the hands of customers for initial fast results that will become high-growth, high-scale, and high-adoption long term. It鈥檚 about helping companies use the transactional and supply chain data in their 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems, along with our industry expertise, to meet their business objectives.鈥

There鈥檚 nothing that energizes Hamilton more than exploring and monetizing cutting edge opportunities like the circular economy. Among Hamilton鈥檚 latest ventures was , a re-commerce solution designed to help brands refurbish and resell clothing and other consumer goods. It鈥檚 an opportunity retailers have largely missed out on.

鈥淭he circular marketplace is rapidly growing, and direct-to-consumer recycling is a super cool way to give retailers new revenue streams while addressing sustainability commitments,鈥 said Hamilton. 鈥淲orking on the next big thing is an everyday revelation for our team.鈥

Other projects include e-waste recycling solution , supply chain traceability tool , and the personalized recruitment product powered by artificial intelligence (AI), .

As much as she loves technology, Hamilton is equally passionate about people relationships. Calling herself a jack-of-all-trades, when she鈥檚 not working with internal 麻豆原创 design, marketing, and other groups, Hamilton liaises with prominent educational institutions to grow this vibrant innovation community.

鈥淔ulfilling people鈥檚 goals on a personal and professional level is one of the most enriching parts of my life,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e created a team where people bring their whole selves to everything they achieve. This has been especially important during challenging times like the pandemic.鈥

Inclusiveness Opens Doors to Career Innovation

Perseverance is the one word that best describes how Asha Sreedhar has lived her life and created success on her own terms as an autism advocate and quality associate at 麻豆原创 Labs India in Bangalore. She is the first to acknowledge how far she鈥檚 traveled — from being bullied at school to enjoying the well deserved accolades of a professional career.

Readers of the book 鈥溾 can find Sreedhar’s incredible story, while colleagues every day rely on her software testing expertise. Her responsibilities epitomize 麻豆原创鈥檚 digital transformation, which is grounded in cloud-based innovation. She credited her victory in a software testing competition at 麻豆原创 Labs India to her commitment to quality and meticulous attention to detail.

鈥淚鈥檓 a fast learner and very good on details and routine, so this is the right job for me,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 now surrounded by people who are accepting, friendly, and inclusive. The best part for me is being appreciated for my work by a strong community of colleagues and friends.鈥

Sreedhar was born in Africa and moved with her family to the U.S., where doctors diagnosed her with autism at the age of nine. She completed public school and graduated with the highest honors from a community college. When her parents moved back to India, she returned with them, and after completing the employability training program at a local non-profit organization for people with disabilities, she joined 麻豆原创 Labs India in 2015 as part of the company鈥檚 Autism at Work program.

Educating people within and beyond 麻豆原创 has become central to her life as she鈥檚 achieved her dreams. Some of Sreedhar鈥檚 proudest moments include hosting the 麻豆原创 Autism Summit and winning聽a for Outstanding Influencer.

鈥淪haring my life story with others helps people understand autism and how they can help family members achieve their dreams in the workplace,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 tell people to be open-minded and learn about autism. With the right education and support, people with autism can explore their interests and find valuable careers. Creating awareness about autism is deeply satisfying, as I鈥檓 helping others and myself move forward.鈥


Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


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Employee-Centric Experiences Are Critical to the Future of Work /2022/06/sap-pioneers-steve-hunt-employee-centric-experiences/ Tue, 07 Jun 2022 13:15:39 +0000 /?p=197195 There is no question that the pandemic caused a massive shift in the way we work — and what we expect from our jobs. Employers are stepping up to meet increased employee demands for more flexibility, better work/life balance, and benefits like mental health days, along with more perks.

For their part, employees are making their needs clear by leaving jobs that are over demanding or unfulfilling; a trend that鈥檚 being called the “Great Resignation.”

It feels like a moment of significant upheaval, but to Steve Hunt, chief expert of Technology & Work at 麻豆原创, our current workforce issues are not a surprise — he鈥檚 known it has been coming.

This article is part of a new series, 麻豆原创 Pioneers, which features innovators at 麻豆原创 who are charting new horizons in the cloud and guiding companies across the globe through exciting areas of innovation.

As an industrial organizational psychologist and a technologist who works with many different companies, Hunt understands the operational realities of businesses. This trend is the outcome of that have been moving under the ground of our society: the digitization of work and the shifting demographics of our workforce.

According to Hunt, we are seeing the outcome of an ongoing shift in the fundamentals of work, work that is now physically much easier but psychologically more difficult. As our roles in the workforce changed, the rules around that work did not adapt as fast, leading to frustration and burnout. The impact of COVID-19 was gasoline on a simmering flame. And now, companies must rethink how they design jobs and recruit, develop and engage employees.

Learn more about this topic in Hunt鈥檚 recent podcast interview with , “,” where he discusses topics that include:

  • How technology is changing the purpose of work
  • Why creating effective employee experiences is critical to building organizations that can thrive in a world of accelerating change and growing skill shortages
  • How a technology company like 麻豆原创 embraces this area of focus and how it impacts new software solutions being developed
  • The role of technology in all of this and what tools are critical in this future of work evolution

Read more stories from the 麻豆原创 Pioneers series.


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