At the center of that effort sits a deceptively complex challenge: understanding, in real time, which revenue and cost factors are driving or eroding gross margin across a highly diversified business. For years, answering that question meant manual reporting, delayed insights, and finance teams spending valuable time on data gathering rather than analysis.

That鈥檚 now changing, thanks to a co-innovation initiative developed together with 麻豆原创 and Numen, a global 麻豆原创 partner specializing in digital transformation and enterprise software implementation.

From manual reporting to proactive decision intelligence

The project鈥檚 goal was to replace a labor-intensive gross margin analysis process with a generative AI application embedded directly into Natura &Co’s financial workflows. Built on 麻豆原创 Business AI Platform, 麻豆原创’s unified foundation integrating business technology, data, and AI capabilities, the application connects directly to data in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA to provide finance teams with automated insights and narrative recommendations in real time, without the need for manual data pulls or offline reporting.

The application enables users to explore revenue, cost, and margin drivers interactively, identifying at a glance which elements are protecting or eroding margin performance across markets and product lines. Crucially, human oversight remains central to the design: the AI application generates insights, while finance professionals retain full control over interpretation and decisions.

鈥淭he implementation of gross margin analysis using AI in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA marked an inflection point in the analytical capability of our finance area,” said Rog茅rio Dias Garcia, tech manager, ERP Latam, Natura &Co. “We overcame delays and raised the standard of insights by integrating margin analysis from 麻豆原创 S/4HANA with a large language model connected via the 麻豆原创 AI Core layer. This architecture allowed us to provide, in an agile, secure, and completely anonymous manner, a stratified and precise view of gross margin offenders and protectors鈥攄iscriminating exactly which revenue or cost elements were driving market performance.鈥�

A collaborative architecture for scalable AI adoption

Natura &Co鈥檚 application derived from a prototype 麻豆原创 partner Numen created in early 2024 at 麻豆原创鈥檚 global on business AI, leveraging the generative AI capabilities of聽麻豆原创 Business AI Platform. The solution was designed and developed through close collaboration between Natura &Co, Numen, and 麻豆原创. From the outset, the approach was to align AI adoption with concrete business priorities, ensuring the application would be scalable and production-ready rather than a standalone prototype.

Numen brought deep 麻豆原创 implementation expertise to the project, combining knowledge of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA architecture with hands-on experience in building solutions on 麻豆原创 Business AI Platform. The technology stack鈥斅槎乖� S/4HANA, 麻豆原创 AI Core, 麻豆原创 Fiori, and 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform鈥攑rovided the secure, integrated foundation needed to connect financial data with generative AI capabilities in an enterprise context.

鈥溌槎乖� enabled the transformation by providing the technological foundation and expert support,鈥� said Carlos Aravechia, head of Data Design & Intelligence at Numen.

The success of the project has validated a broader conviction at Natura &Co: that generative AI, embedded directly in ERP workflows, can fundamentally reposition finance from a transactional function to a strategic business partner.

A blueprint for other businesses

The Natura &Co project demonstrates a pattern that other organizations can replicate, particularly those running 麻豆原创 S/4HANA. The combination of structured ERP data with the contextual reasoning capabilities of large language models creates a foundation for decision intelligence that goes well beyond traditional business intelligence tools.

The project was built within a six-month co-innovation sprint and went live in August 2025. It is currently in use across Natura &Co鈥檚 Equador operations.

Looking ahead, Natura &Co is already planning the next phase: integrating Joule Agents to further automate the extraction of standard analytical content and deepen the AI-driven optimization of financial processes.

鈥淭he success of this initiative validates the transformative potential of embedded AI within our ERP,鈥� Dias Garcia noted. 鈥淲e are now ready to move forward鈥攄eepening these insights and integrating the capability of Joule Agents to maximize the extraction of standard content and further optimize our business decisions.鈥�

For 麻豆原创 customers evaluating how to move from AI experimentation to AI in production, the Natura &Co project offers a concrete, replicable model: start with a high-value, well-defined business process, embed AI directly into existing workflows, and build in human oversight from the start.

The agreement, concluded at the end of 2025, marks a significant step in migrating Nokia鈥檚 麻豆原创 landscape to the RISE with 麻豆原创 journey. By adopting RISE with 麻豆原创 Methodology, Nokia will follow a structured, end-to-end approach to migrating its ERP landscape covering processes, data, applications and operating models while gaining continuous access to innovation and embedded AI capabilities delivered through 麻豆原创鈥檚 cloud ERP portfolio.

Nokia has selected Microsoft Azure as the cloud platform underpinning the transformation, providing the global scale, security and performance required to support the company鈥檚 most business-critical enterprise workloads. 鈥淣okia鈥檚 decision reflects a clear commitment to business-led transformation,鈥� said , Global President Customer Success Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa and Member of the Extended Board, 麻豆原创 SE. 鈥淩ISE with 麻豆原创 Methodology provides Nokia with a structured road map, integrated toolchain and continuous access to innovation. It enables the company to modernize its ERP landscape while keeping a clean core and building a strong foundation for enterprise AI.鈥�

A Structured Approach to ERP Transformation

RISE with 麻豆原创 is designed as a comprehensive business transformation framework rather than a point solution. It combines a standardized transformation methodology, integrated tools and expert guidance to help organizations move from legacy ERP environments to RISE with 麻豆原创.

麻豆原创 will operate and manage the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA software environment in the cloud, allowing Nokia to shift focus from infrastructure management to business outcomes. The approach supports process standardization, operational simplification and ongoing innovation, rather than a one-time system migration.

Nokia has been on a business and technical transformation journey with its next-generation 麻豆原创 S/4HANA software environment, covering finance and key logistics capabilities, supported by 麻豆原创 solutions and applications. These include 麻豆原创 S/4HANA for central finance, 麻豆原创 Master Data Governance, 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management, 麻豆原创 Global Trade Services and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud for advanced ATP. AI-enabled functionality embedded in 麻豆原创鈥檚 cloud applications will be progressively adopted as part of the journey.

鈥淭his agreement builds on our existing work with 麻豆原创 and Microsoft and supports Nokia鈥檚 ambition to secure how we run our core business operations,鈥� said Marek O膷kay, VP, Global Head of IT Procurement & Vendor Management, Nokia. 鈥淏y applying RISE with 麻豆原创 Methodology on Microsoft Azure, we are strengthening a structured and future ready path for business growth 鈥� one that simplifies our ERP landscape, enables continuous innovation and strengthens our commitment for AI driven processes.鈥�

Microsoft Azure as the Cloud Foundation

Microsoft Azure will serve as the cloud foundation for Nokia鈥檚 RISE with 麻豆原创 journey, aligning with Nokia鈥檚 broader cloud and data strategy. Nokia already operates parts of its 麻豆原创 landscape on Azure, and consolidating workloads on a single hyperscale platform is expected to deliver benefits in performance, security latency and operational resilience.

As part of the agreement, Microsoft will collaborate closely with 麻豆原创 and Nokia throughout the transformation, supporting migration activities and ongoing optimization.

鈥淭his collaboration demonstrates how cloud platforms, enterprise applications and AI can come together to support complex, global business transformations,鈥� said Joacim Damgard, CVP, Europe North Microsoft. 鈥淏y running 麻豆原创 S/4HANA on Azure within the RISE with 麻豆原创 journey, Nokia is creating a scalable and secure foundation for continuous innovation.鈥�

Building on a Longstanding 麻豆原创 Relationship

Nokia has been an 麻豆原创 customer for decades. In recent years, the company has been consolidating multiple ERP systems into a unified 麻豆原创 S/4HANA software landscape as part of its next-generation ERP program.

The move to RISE with 麻豆原创 helps secure that journey, providing a structured methodology to help accelerate transformation, reduce complexity and unlock cloud native capabilities.

Visit the聽. Get 麻豆原创 news via聽 and .

About 麻豆原创

As鈥痑 global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 麻豆原创 (NYSE:麻豆原创)鈥痵tands at the鈥痭exus鈥痮f business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted 麻豆原创鈥痶o bring out their best by uniting business-critical鈥痮perations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit鈥�.

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is a multinational oil, gas, and chemical company headquartered in Vienna, Austria. With operations spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, New Zealand, and Norway, OMV is a truly global enterprise.

Like much of the energy sector, OMV is navigating a significant strategic pivot. The company is investing heavily in sustainability initiatives: transforming plastic waste back into oil, building one of Europe’s largest waste-sorting facilities to produce feedstock for refineries, and recycling plastic cups collected from aircrafts into sustainable kerosene. This shift in the business model has triggered a corresponding transformation inside the business鈥攁nd nowhere more so than in HR.

OMV’s People and Culture (P&C) function launched a strategic program to place people at the center of the company’s transformation. The ambition was clear: become a global HR center of excellence, increase service quality, standardize and harmonize processes, and move decisively towards digitization, automation, and self-service.

The challenge: fragmented data and a manual reporting cycle

Before 麻豆原创 BDC entered the picture, OMV’s HR data landscape was fragmented across a patchwork of systems that were never designed to work together for workforce reporting and analytics. Employee data lived in two on-premise 麻豆原创 HCM systems and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM, alongside Microsoft Excel, SharePoint, and a system originally built for financial consolidation that P&C used for headcount reporting and planning.

The day-to-day consequences were significant. When a business unit head or department manager wanted a workforce KPI鈥攈eadcount figures, turnover rates, or anything beyond a basic report available in the system鈥攖hey would raise a request with their HR business partner. From there, the HR business partner would spend considerable time navigating multiple systems, manually pulling data, compiling it into spreadsheets, and formatting it into a presentation before handing it back to the manager. It was time-consuming, error-prone, and consumed HR capacity that should have been spent on strategic work. Managers had no direct, self-service access to their own workforce data.

Choosing 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud and People Intelligence

“Normally, our strategy is not to be the first with a new solution. With 麻豆原创 BDC it was different,” Bernhard Graser, head of 麻豆原创 Finance, HR, and Reporting at OMV, said. “We saw the potential immediately and wanted to stop the outbound migration of our HR and 麻豆原创 data and keep it firmly in the 麻豆原创 ecosystem.”

The timing was fortuitous. OMV had already completed a substantial 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM implementation, having deployed , , and and going live in 2023 with , 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Compensation, and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting. With all core employee data now sitting in a cloud-based SaaS system, the foundation for 麻豆原创 BDC connectivity was already in place.

OMV鈥檚 implementation of 麻豆原创 BDC and People Intelligence

OMV structured its 麻豆原创 BDC journey in three steps.

The first step鈥攖urning People Intelligence live鈥攚as connecting 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM to 麻豆原创 BDC. This was not entirely without friction: OMV discovered that its on-premise HCM systems sat on a different Identity Authentication service than 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM, which required alignment before integration could proceed.

A more substantive challenge was data governance. As an Austrian company with a Works Council, it was not possible for OMV to simply push all HR data into 麻豆原创 BDC. The team implemented data masking, configured Read Access Logging, and established permission controls that mirror 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM exactly, meaning a user can only see data in 麻豆原创 BDC that they are already authorized to view in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM. This level of governance was a prerequisite before any business users could interact with the system.

The second step, currently in progress, involves migrating both HCM systems to . Once complete, 麻豆原创 S/4HANA will connect directly to 麻豆原创 BDC, enabling a fully unified data feed from both 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA into a single platform.

The third step, planned for the near future, is the retirement of the legacy reporting stack entirely, eliminating the spreadsheets and replacing the current workaround in the financial consolidation system with 麻豆原创 BDC as the single reporting and planning environment for HR.

麻豆原创 BDC’s architecture played a key role in the decision. 麻豆原创-managed data products鈥攑re-built data models maintained and updated by 麻豆原创鈥攚ere particularly attractive, especially because OMV had kept its 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM configuration close to standard. That near-standard posture meant a larger share of OMV’s HR data could be served through 麻豆原创-managed products, reducing the internal maintenance burden. When something changes in a source system or a data definition, it is 麻豆原创’s responsibility to update the model, not OMV’s.

Current and future use cases

After evaluating the intelligent content available in People Intelligence, OMV decided to start with workforce composition insights, now live and providing out-of-the-box dashboards on headcount, workforce structure, and composition, fully configurable and filterable by business users.

With the foundation in place, OMV’s P&C team has been actively collecting ideas for what to build next on 麻豆原创 BDC. On the operational side, the team wants to track accident-related data as a workforce KPI, monitor open positions across the business, and measure time-to-hire. Diversity is another priority鈥攄ata that currently sits fragmented across systems. Through its participation in 麻豆原创’s forward deployed engineering program, OMV is co-building use cases around learning and certification compliance鈥攁 business-critical need in a refinery environment where workers must hold current safety certifications to enter operational sites鈥攁s well as skills and headcount. Looking further ahead, OMV intends to move into machine learning and predictive modelling, using the capability in 麻豆原创 Business Data Cloud to forecast workforce demand and identify gaps in skills and FTEs before they materialize.

The bottom line

The direction is clear: a single source of truth for HR data, self-service access for every manager and business unit head, and a platform capable of growing from descriptive reporting today into predictive workforce intelligence tomorrow. As Graser encouraged his audience at the end of his session at Madrid: “We see great potential in 麻豆原创 BDC鈥攏ot only in HR, but also in finance. You should try it.”

Learn more about People Intelligence .

Few companies embody that philosophy better than .

Innovation is not a department

鈥淲e are living at a remarkable crossroads in history. For decades, the sky was simply a place we traveled through. Today, it has become a testing ground for the future of humanity,鈥� said Nicolas Jourdan, senior strategist at Airbus SAS. He was speaking at the for 麻豆原创 Energy and Utilities in Toulouse, the operational headquarters of the company.

At Airbus, the mission goes far beyond manufacturing aircraft. It鈥檚 about designing systems that connect cultures, advance technology, protect the planet, and extend humanity鈥檚 reach into space.

鈥淔or us, innovation is not a department. It鈥檚 a way of thinking. It means asking ‘What if?’ when others say something is impossible,鈥� said Jourdan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very simple. Innovation is about creating value for someone, somewhere, at a moment in time鈥攁nd sustaining it over time.鈥�

While this may sound simple, it requires challenging the status quo. It means embracing cultural change, taking calculated risks, and accepting failure as part of learning.

Legacy of breakthroughs

In 1970, Airbus entered an aviation market dominated by giants like Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed. They didn鈥檛 compete by being similar, but by being fundamentally different. The company has consistently challenged conventional thinking in aviation.

• At a time when experts believed twin-engine aircraft couldn鈥檛 safely cross oceans, Airbus proved them wrong with the A300 revolution, forever changing long-haul aviation.
• When most aircraft required a three-person crew, Airbus redesigned the cockpit to automate the flight engineer鈥檚 role. Despite resistance, the two-pilot cockpit became the global standard.
• Replacing analog dials with digital displays transformed how pilots interact with aircraft; glass cockpit innovation made flying safer and more intuitive.
• Airbus introduced digital flight controls, replacing mechanical systems with computers. Fly-by-wire technology increased safety and enabled flight envelope protection and more efficient operations. What once looked like a video game controller is now industry standard.

One of Airbus鈥檚 most impactful innovations is cross-crew qualification, meaning pilots can transition between aircraft models鈥攆rom the A319 to the A350鈥攚ith minimal additional training. This reduces costs for airlines and improves operational flexibility.

鈥淚nnovation isn鈥檛 always flashy. It鈥檚 mostly about making complex systems simpler and more human-friendly,鈥� Jourdan reminded his audience.

Running the factory

Airbus builds big sections such as the fuselage, the wings, and the tail in different places. The sections are then shipped to one factory for assembly and testing in the Airbus Beluga, an oversized cargo aircraft developed especially to transport large components between production sites across Europe. Altogether, this process can take up to 12 months, especially for wide body aircraft.

The company uses 麻豆原创 ERP systems, including 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, to manage core business functions. It also uses 麻豆原创 Manufacturing Execution directly on the factory floor and assembly lines, as well as 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning to plan production, manage supply chain complexity, and optimize resource usage.

鈥溌槎乖� and Airbus have a long-term partnership,” Jourdan said. “Without 麻豆原创, our systems would not be as efficient as they are. We鈥檙e in continuous development.”聽

Future scenarios

When it comes to pioneering new horizons, Airbus doesn鈥檛 rely solely on internal expertise but regularly explores unconventional approaches with external thinkers. These exercises help identify blind spots, validate strategy and understand societal and environmental shifts

To maintain both an inside and an outside-in perspective, Airbus created Skywise, an aircraft data analysis engine platform which acts as a digital brain, connecting aircraft, operations, and maintenance systems. A data platform for airlines and aircraft operations, it collects vast amounts of data into one system. It then performs predictive maintenance increasingly supported by AI to detect patterns and predict failures before they happen in order to prevent delays, failures, and expensive repairs.

Airbus鈥檚 future strategy is built on three transformational pillars:

• Decarbonization: The aerospace industry faces mounting pressure to reduce emissions. Airbus is tackling this head-on by exploring hydrogen-powered aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels, blended wing body designs, and fully electric propulsion concepts. Their goal is to launch the world鈥檚 first zero-emission commercial aircraft.
• Digital transformation: To enable fully connected ecosystems, Airbus is developing satellite-based connectivity networks, smart cabin and cargo systems,. and real-time operational data platforms. This enables better decision-making, reduced costs, and improved passenger experiences.
• Automation and autonomy projects: Projects like DragonFly are pushing the boundaries of pilot assistance and automation. Future capabilities include automatic emergency landing, weather-independent operations, and advanced navigation systems. The goal is not to replace pilots, but to enhance safety and efficiency.

Beyond Earth 

From orbit to deep space, Airbus is helping shape humanity鈥檚 next frontier. The company plays a key role in searching for life on Mars together with the European Space Agency using the ExoMars rover. It also collaborates with the European Service Module for NASA鈥檚 Artemis program missions and is helping to develop satellite systems enabling global communication and climate monitoring.

Often, new ideas are met with skepticism, cultural resistance can slow adoption, and mistakes are inevitable. Airbus embraces this reality and considers it part of the process.

鈥淭he biggest challenges of our time鈥攃limate change, global connectivity, and space exploration鈥攃annot be solved by one company or even one industry. Decarbonization alone depends on energy providers, governments, infrastructure developers, and airlines and manufacturers. It鈥檚 a shared responsibility,鈥� Jourdan concluded.

Managing abundance

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

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

Geothermal power generated in the Great Rift Valley provides about 40% of electricity in the region, making Kenya Africa鈥檚 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鈥檚 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. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e constantly balancing supply and demand,鈥� Kimando explained. 鈥淲e have limited real-time visibility across generation sources, transmission assets, and demand patterns.鈥�

As renewables expand, KETRACO鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform middleware to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, which serves as the enterprise backbone. It is here that operational data is translated into structured business processes.聽

From data to decisions

鈥淲e鈥檙e relying on 麻豆原创 technology to transform that raw data into predictive, actionable intelligence,鈥� said Kimando, citing asset lifecycle management and outage reduction metrics as examples of ways to shift from reactive maintenance to predictive grid reliability. 鈥淒igital transformation is no longer a technology choice, but a strategic necessity. It鈥檚 a balancing game: values versus risks.鈥�

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.

鈥淭ogether, this strengthens our strategic positioning for the energy transition and ESG compliance,鈥� 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. 

鈥淎I is helping us achieve more with the same workforce. We鈥檙e enabling engineers, not replacing them,鈥� the expert shared. 鈥淎utomation is enabling our people to focus more on predictability and decision making.鈥�

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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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.

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

What made the event distinctive was its candor. Customers did not come to present polished success stories. They came to compare realities. And those realities were refreshingly honest.

Why direct procurement is hitting a breaking point

The pressure on direct procurement is not coming from one direction. Geopolitical instability and accelerating technological change are forcing sourcing decisions earlier in the product lifecycle, at precisely the moment when many organizations are least equipped to act. Meanwhile, institutional knowledge is leaving faster than systems are modernizing. The experienced individuals who once held fragile processes together are retiring or moving on, and the systems meant to replace that knowledge are not yet ready.

The result is an operating model that prevents procurement leaders from influencing value at the moments that matter most. Several customers described a tension they are actively dealing with. Sourcing is being pulled upstream into design and development, while the tools and processes that support it are still anchored downstream.

What customers shared about their reality

While all participants operate with a strong 麻豆原创 footprint, spanning and , many acknowledged that direct materials sourcing remains fragmented and disconnected from the digital core. The picture they described was familiar but worth stating plainly: engineers, buyers, and suppliers still collaborating through e-mail, local tools, and disconnected applications; there’s an overreliance on a small number of experienced individuals to make things work; and multiple ERP landscapes run in parallel, with direct sourcing living largely outside all of them.

One observation stood out clearly. The real friction is not the sourcing events themselves. It is the handoffs, the gaps between systems and teams where decisions get made too late, data is reconciled manually, and no single digital thread connects product intent to sourcing execution.

In other words, the process functions, but it functions in silos.

Participants also noted that traditional indirect source-to-pay approaches simply do not support direct materials adequately. They lack native support for procurement embedded in new product development, sourcing scenarios that evolve with engineering change, demand aggregation across programs, and contracts treated as executable objects rather than static documents. That last point came up repeatedly, particularly the need to treat contracts as executable objects. This is also where the add-on in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA is starting to resonate more strongly in ongoing customer discussions.

Where customers are focusing next

What emerged from the discussions wasn鈥檛 a long list of priorities, but a firm shift in where companies are focusing their efforts.

Moving sourcing upstream into product development鈥攔ather than reacting after design decisions are already locked鈥攚as a consistent theme. So was reducing dependency on hero buyers: individuals whose personal expertise and relationships are currently holding critical processes together.

Commodity volatility and renegotiations also came up as structural challenges, not one-time events. Organizations want to handle these systematically rather than heroically. And several participants raised the reality of managing multi-year 麻豆原创 S/4HANA journeys without stalling progress in the meantime鈥攁 genuine tension that demands honest road map planning.

While the direction is widely understood, most organizations do not yet have the setup to execute against it at scale.

These priorities help explain why customers are increasingly adopting the 麻豆原创 Ariba direct materials sourcing add-on alongside , , and 鈥攃apabilities that together can support the connected execution model direct procurement actually requires.

How AI fits into direct procurement

AI generated significant interest, but expectations were measured and, I would say, appropriately so.

The consistent message was this: AI only matters once the fundamentals are addressed. Agent-based capabilities depend on clean processes and consistent data. Without a unified digital thread across product design, sourcing, contracting, and execution, AI does not generate insight鈥攊t amplifies noise.

Leaders also expressed clear skepticism toward black-box automation. They want AI that is explainable and embedded directly into sourcing, negotiation, and execution workflows, not layered on top of broken processes and presented as a fix.

This thinking aligns closely with 麻豆原创鈥檚 vision for the Autonomous Enterprise, introduced at 麻豆原创 Sapphire just weeks after our Walldorf discussions. The vision anchors AI agents directly in transactional business processes, data, and governance鈥攅xactly what customers said they needed before they could trust AI in direct procurement environments. Hearing them articulate that requirement so clearly, before the announcement, felt like meaningful validation.

Where this is all heading

The Walldorf roundtable confirmed a clear trajectory. Direct procurement organizations are moving away from heroics and spreadsheets and toward system-led execution. They are aligning sourcing transformation with their 麻豆原创 S/4HANA road maps and preparing their organizations鈥攏ot just their systems鈥攆or a future where AI supports decision-making across the full procurement lifecycle.

Direct procurement, seen through this lens, is not a standalone transformation. It is a foundational building block. Connecting product, sourcing, contracts, and execution through a single digital thread is what enables AI to operate accurately, compliantly, and at scale. That connection has to exist before any of the more ambitious automation goals become realistic.

For 麻豆原创, conversations like the one in Walldorf directly inform our product direction and investment priorities. There is no substitute for sitting in a room with people navigating these challenges every day, without a script.

What was clear in Walldorf is that the direction is no longer in question for participating organizations. The challenge now lies in execution and in how quickly organizations can move from fragmented, person-dependent processes to cohesive models that reflect how direct procurement operates today.

Karolina Bombardelli is global go-to-market lead for Direct Procurement at 麻豆原创.

The objective of this collaboration is to digitalize procedures, improve efficiency and deliver better services to municipal employees and citizens in the areas of finance, revenue management and human resources.

The Madrid City Council has been working with 麻豆原创 software for two decades. It began in 2004 with the implementation of the first solutions in the areas of finance and HR, and in 2020 launched its public administration modernization project with the migration to the private cloud. This process is now advancing further with the adoption of the RISE with 麻豆原创 journey and 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP). The former is a comprehensive journey that combines the elements needed to migrate to the private cloud under a single contract: 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, infrastructure and managed services. The latter is the platform for integration, extension and application development.

A New Public Management Model

The adoption of these technologies represents a true revolution in the way municipal procedures are managed, from budgeting, execution and control of revenues and expenditures to the comprehensive management of human resources. This approach makes it possible to move beyond traditional models based on fragmented systems toward unified management with real-time information and digitalized processes.

The transformation has a particularly significant impact in the tax domain, as part of the project includes the integration of tax and revenue management solutions from 麻豆原创 into the city鈥檚 financial platform. This enables municipal revenues to be managed as a natural extension of the financial system, eliminating isolated developments and facilitating an end-to-end view of the full cycle, from taxpayer registration and assessment to collection and inspection. As a result, operational efficiency is improved while strengthening financial control and budget planning capabilities.

Currently, two-thirds of the City Council鈥檚 tax revenues are already managed within this environment, including Property Tax (IBI), the Urban Waste Tax for Business Activities (TRUA), Capital Gains Tax (IIVTNU) and the Terrace Tax (T2 2023). The next step will be to incorporate the Motor Vehicle Tax (IVTM) and the Economic Activities Tax (IAE).

The project has been developed using a phased methodology. During the first year, the City Council carried out a cleansing and harmonization of master data from its previous management systems (GIIM and +TIL), cross-checking identities with police databases, tax addresses with the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) and addresses with the municipal street registry. This process generated taxpayer 鈥淕olden Records鈥� and enabled, for example, an efficiency rate of 98.02% for Property Tax (IBI) in 2024. Data quality continues to be maintained for all new registrations.

According to Juan Corro, IT Manager of Madrid City Council (IAM), 鈥溌槎乖� technology offers us an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our digital transformation and make the vision of a more efficient, innovative and citizen-centric local government a tangible reality. This project marks a paradigm shift: we are moving from managing paper files and isolated systems to managing information and processes in an integrated and intelligent way, with a 360-degree view. As a major capital city, Madrid has both the responsibility and the opportunity to position itself at the forefront of administrative modernization, serving as a benchmark for other municipalities.鈥�

Carlos Lacerda, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of 麻豆原创 Southern Europe, stated: 鈥溌槎乖� remains firmly committed to the Spanish public sector, which we have supported in its modernization processes for decades. This project is a benchmark for advanced digital administration and demonstrates how technology can act as a strategic enabler to simplify processes, integrate information and strengthen real-time data-driven decision-making, laying the foundation for a more agile, innovative and service-oriented public administration.鈥�

Benefits for the Administration and Citizens

The project is delivering benefits both in terms of internal efficiency and management, as well as citizen services:

• End-to-end process digitalization and a 鈥減aperless鈥� administration: The 鈥減aperless鈥� administration model has been consolidated, enabling the full digitalization of HR processes from start to finish. Requests are managed entirely through the municipal intranet. Internally, public employees can review and approve procedures with full traceability and in just a few steps, reducing processing times and errors caused by duplicate data. The result is a more agile, efficient and nearly 24/7 service that improves both the employee experience and citizen services.
• Operational efficiency and improved decision-making: Automation and AI capabilities integrated into the ERP system allow the City Council to significantly improve efficiency and productivity. Routine processes such as bank reconciliations and budget allocations are automated through rules and machine learning. In addition, the use of robotic process automation and services on 麻豆原创 BTP facilitates the automatic execution of repetitive tasks across systems. This reduces manual workload, minimizes errors and frees up time. Real-time analytics improve decision-making and, together with mobile and remote access to applications, enable more agile and flexible management.
• A more sustainable and efficient model: The implementation of RISE with 麻豆原创 enables the City Council to move toward a more sustainable and economically efficient IT model, based on subscription and pay-per-use principles. This approach reduces upfront investments, provides greater budget predictability and optimizes total cost of ownership. By scaling deployments according to municipal needs and paying only for required resources, the city improves responsible management of public funds while generating potential long-term savings.
• Greater adaptability and evolution: The City Council now has a flexible platform ready to evolve alongside technological, regulatory and social changes. The municipality will be able to align with national and European digital agendas, incorporate AI and advanced analytics capabilities, and evolve toward a smart administration model where data becomes a strategic enabler of better public policies.
• Continuous innovation: 麻豆原创 BTP is the innovation platform that integrates internal systems and third-party solutions, eliminating information silos. It also enables the rapid adoption of new technologies and responsiveness to changing needs and supports the City Council not only in modernizing processes but also in continuously evolving and launching innovative public administration initiatives.

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Media Contact:
Bel茅n Martinez Mill谩n, 麻豆原创 Spain, +34 91 4567220, belen.martinez@sap.com, CET
麻豆原创 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创鈥檚 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
漏 2026 麻豆原创 SE. All rights reserved.
麻豆原创 and other 麻豆原创 products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 麻豆原创 SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

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Naturipe Farms knows berries, and the grower鈥憃wned company has spent decades perfecting the art of delivering fresh, sustainably grown berries to customers around the world.

Naturipe’s Senior IT Director Carol McMillan explains how migrating to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and has helped the company improve supply chain visibility, speed, and workforce experience. Learn more.

Naturipe has been an 麻豆原创 customer since 2008, and while initially it was not very proactive with software upgrades, the company鈥檚 philosophy has changed over time. Today, Carol McMillan, Naturipe鈥檚 senior IT director, emphasizes the importance of upgrading and upskilling the team regularly.

“There’s actually more of a risk not upgrading the product and not upskilling your team than there is being more aggressive with that timeline,” she says. Since migrating to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA in 2018, the company has undergone three upgrades, including .

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鈥淲e migrated to RISE with 麻豆原创, and we are looking at how we use those tools to optimize our supply chain and to create a better user experience for our workforce. Our workforce is constantly changing, and technology needs to change with the workforce,鈥� McMillan says.

She says it鈥檚 also important to stay at the forefront of technology in order to solve business problems efficiently, and notes that technological advancements have been crucial in managing the company’s exponential growth: “You can’t have linear growth in technology when you have exponential industry growth.”

McMillan says the Naturipe team uses 麻豆原创鈥檚 technology to prioritize its people and customers, improve workplace happiness, and give users a better experience. 鈥淲e use technology to make sure that we’re running as optimally as possible,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e look at process improvements and try to be at the forefront of technology. So, keeping up with the upgrades on a regular basis helps us be prepared for when business problems need to be solved, that way we already have the technology there to be able to solve them.鈥�

Delivering the freshest, highest-quality products to customers 365 days a year requires constant agility鈥攅specially in a category influenced by weather variability and the complexity of a highly time-sensitive supply chain. 鈥淏erries have a very short shelf life, so getting the best quality to our customers as quickly as possible is essential,鈥� she says.

To support this commitment, Naturipe Farms has invested in advanced logistics and supply chain technologies that enhance speed, visibility, and decision-making. These investments help ensure timely delivery of fresh products while also supporting employee satisfaction and work-life balance through wellness programs and flexible work arrangements.

Looking ahead, Naturipe wants to further enhance the user experience with more powerful tools and learn how to make better use of all the tools that come with RISE with 麻豆原创.  McMillan also identifies the potential of AI and the adoption of tools like Joule to improve Naturipe鈥檚 operations. “We really want to make the best use of AI and to give our users the best experience possible,” she says.

Her advice for other organizations in the agricultural industry includes the importance of putting people first, using technology to drive strategic growth, and not being a prisoner to risk. “It’s just as risky to not upgrade your technology as it is to have an aggressive timeline and have the tools that you need in order to drive that exponential growth,” she says.

Compatibility Packs provide temporary usage rights, allowing certain classical 麻豆原创 ERP functionalities to operate within 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, aiming to ease the migration and maintain business continuity for customers moving from 麻豆原创 ERP to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.

For most of the Compatibility Packs, the usage rights end on December 31, 2025, which has been extensively communicated to customers, partners, and user groups and is documented in .

To counter for the fact that despite the extensive communication聽several customers still need some more time to manage this transition, 麻豆原创 is offering this final transition period in an effort to provide customers with greater choice and flexibility.

Accompanying this extension, 麻豆原创 will offer tailored programs for customers that are moving to the respective 麻豆原创 cloud solutions that replace the compatibility pack functionalities. We encourage affected customers to contact their 麻豆原创 representative.

Stefan Steinle is EVP and head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at 麻豆原创.

Headquartered in Homberg (Ohm), Germany, with worldwide locations, in 2024 KAMAX generated 鈧�1 billion in revenue and employs 4,000 people dedicated to serving OEMs globally.

To maintain its competitive edge, the ambitious company embarked on a transformative journey to streamline its supply chain through digitalization and intelligent logistics management. This transformation centers around the deployment of (麻豆原创 EWM),  (麻豆原创 TM), and a comprehensive 麻豆原创 S/4HANA platform, supporting superior logistics efficiency, transparency, and sustainability.

Optimizing logistics at scale

Handling approximately 400 transports daily across multiple global plants, KAMAX manages two distinct logistics flows: goods pre-packed and stored in warehouses, and a “pack-to-order” system where items are packaged just before shipment. Currently, three plants operate on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA with 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management and one pilot plant with 麻豆原创 Transportation Management integrated, while others are transitioning from 麻豆原创 ERP Central Component (麻豆原创 ECC).

The implementation of the advanced shipping and receiving process dramatically improved logistics transparency and efficiency.

“The use of the unified package builder, which leverages real data instead of estimates, allows us to provide precise shipping information to freight forwarders earlier in the process,” Jens Hoidem, director of IT Business Solutions at KAMAX, explained. This improvement enhances truck planning and communication with carriers, positively impacting the company’s logistics operations daily.

KAMAX collaborates exclusively with freight forwarders, working with approximately 20 carriers globally. At the advanced shipping and receiving pilot plant, about 60 deliveries per day are coordinated, involving around 2,000 handling units across five to six trucks. This network supports operational responsiveness without compromising control.

On premise today, cloud-ready tomorrow

Currently, three of KAMAX鈥檚 plants run on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, with the remaining plants on 麻豆原创 ECC, all on an on-premises basis designed to be cloud-ready for future transitions.

Hoidem pinpointed the critical process improvements brought by advanced shipping and receiving in combination with 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management and 麻豆原创 Transportation Management: 鈥淭he shipping registration now uses the unified package builder, relying on accurate, real data rather than estimated figures. This has substantially improved truck planning and early communication with our freight forwarders, impacting around 60 deliveries and about 2,000 handling units daily at our pilot plant.鈥�

Over 95 percent of KAMAX’s transport is by truck. “We maintain a global footprint close to our OEM customers to optimize delivery times and costs,鈥� Hoidem added. 鈥淲e currently engage about 70 to 80 different freight forwarders worldwide, facilitating diverse and dynamic transport needs.鈥�

Sustainability and process automation

KAMAX has a bold strategy for sustainability and aims for carbon neutrality by 2037. Implementation of 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management and 麻豆原创 Transportation Management plays a crucial role in supporting KAMAX’s goal by enabling better route planning, efficient truck utilization, and minimizing empty runs.

鈥淩educing CO2 emissions through smarter transport management is a key project outcome,鈥� Hoidem added.

The German company is also actively advancing in automation. In China, KAMAX has piloted RFID technology integrated with automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to automate intra-logistics, reducing manual labor and enhancing productivity.

the company’s digital subsidiary, has developed an Operator Cockpit linked with 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management for real-time monitoring and automated production order management. Using laser technology, KAMAX automated piece counting, saving about 40 labour hours in May at their Slovakian plant across 1,200 containers.

KAMAX plans to roll out 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management, 麻豆原创 Transportation Management, and advanced shipping and receiving across all seven plants, progressively improving automation and digitalization of intralogistics processes. 鈥淲e aim to integrate AI for advanced receiving and transportation management, continuing to optimize costs and capacity,鈥� Hoidem shared.

Curious about how KAMAX鈥檚 journey to streamline and future-proof its supply chain? .

To support ongoing expansion, Far East sought more streamlined and efficient lease lifecycle management operations, leading the company to progressively digitalize the entire leasing lifecycle.

Manual processes prompt change

The leasing process at Far East has traditionally been resource-intensive, involving multiple manual steps and significant human intervention across various stages, including pre-offer approvals via e-mail, rental computations, budget comparisons, contract drafting, amendment management, and rental change tracking.

This approach required substantial manpower and created multiple data entry points across the leasing lifecycle, which could affect accuracy and timeliness. Manual updates to rental terms and amendments also contributed to inefficiencies.

The project marks an important step toward operational excellence. By identifying and addressing these systemic challenges, Far East is laying the foundation for a fully digital, integrated leasing platform that supports seamless process flow, real-time data visibility, and more informed decision-making. It is a bold shift toward a strategic, data-driven approach to leasing that enhances agility, accuracy, and growth.

A strategic move forward

For this reason, FEO decided to undertake a strategic transformation to digitalize its leasing operations through a robust, intelligent, and integrated 麻豆原创 ecosystem. This initiative unifies the full leasing lifecycle, from lead generation to contract execution and financial settlement, while enhancing operational excellence, data transparency, and customer service.

麻豆原创 was selected as the strategic platform for leasing digitalization due to its ability to deliver a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that connects business processes across the leasing lifecycle. With at the core, Far East benefits from a powerful digital foundation that aligns real estate, finance, and operational workflows into a single source of truth, supporting data integrity, process consistency, and real-time visibility. 麻豆原创鈥檚 cutting-edge technologies鈥攊ncluding 麻豆原创 Customer Relationship Management (麻豆原创 CRM), 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP), and 麻豆原创 Fiori apps鈥攅nable intelligent automation, advanced analytics, and a clean core architecture that supports both standardization and innovation.

This integrated ecosystem empowers FEO employees to leverage real-time analytics for data-driven decisions and reduce errors and eliminate bottlenecks with automated tasks, streamlined processes, and optimized workflows.

The result? FEO experienced an 80% improvement in sales process efficiency at closing leasing sales.

Impact of the leasing digitalization project

The successful implementation of the leasing digitalization project has delivered tangible improvements across the organization, from the residential and commercial group business unit to its financial, operational, and compliance domains. By streamlining and automating leasing processes, FEO achieved over US$500,000 in annual cost savings while reducing operational overhead. The project eliminated redundant data entry through intelligent field derivation and automated rental computations, helping to minimize errors and boost workforce productivity.

In addition, the leasing lifecycle has been accelerated, cutting the lead-to-contract process and reducing contract generation time from days to just minutes. With 100% system uptime since go-live and strong user adoption, the platform has become a reliable tool for leasing operations. Intelligent validations, including budget checks and competitive rent evaluations, have strengthened regulatory compliance and enhanced decision accuracy. Collectively, these outcomes have strengthened FEO鈥檚 position as a digitally enabled real estate business, well-equipped for agile, data-driven portfolio management and continuous innovation.

FEO has made significant leaps forward in the property management industry. Employee productivity has increased with streamlined processes. Regulatory compliance with industry regulations and standards is managed with intelligent validation. And, analytics provide valuable insights into tenant behavior, rent trends, and property performance.

An 麻豆原创 Innovation Award winner

For its property management achievement, Far East Organization was selected as a 2025 麻豆原创 Innovation Award winner in the Industry Leader category.

Nicolas Englo is program manager for the 麻豆原创 Innovation Awards.

Through their innovative implementation of Soley’s Product Mining Platform with 麻豆原创’s supply chain management technologies, they prove that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand.

The challenge: managing complex product portfolios at scale

CERATIZIT Group, a leading provider of hard material solutions for machining and wear protection, faced a challenge common to many modern manufacturing companies: managing a complex product portfolio with over 65,000 products. The company’s Cutting Tool Solutions division needed a solution to balance economic and ecological objectives while maintaining competitive advantage.

Klaus Lupfer, product lifecycle manager at CERATIZIT Deutschland GmbH, explains the company’s motivation: “In addition to the economic perspective on the product portfolio, the ecological aspect was equally important when partnering with Soley. As a company committed to sustainability for years, we are especially excited about the opportunities that the expansion of product carbon footprint data offers.”

The challenge was not just the product portfolio’s size but also the lack of transparency regarding product performance and sustainability metrics. Employees spent considerable time compiling reports rather than making strategic decisions, while limited insights into critical materials and suppliers prevented efficient phaseout of high-emission products.

AI-powered product portfolio analysis

Munich-based Soley GmbH, a past participant in the 麻豆原创.iO program, 麻豆原创鈥檚 former startup accelerator designed to foster and integrate innovative solutions into the 麻豆原创 ecosystem, developed an innovative response to this challenge. The Soley Product Mining Platform, available as part of 麻豆原创’s extension and add-on solutions, transforms complex product data into actionable insights through three core, AI-driven innovations that enable faster, smarter, and more impactful business decisions.

• AI Advisor uses AI to recommend precise actions鈥攆or example, suggesting which products should be phased out to minimize carbon footprint without sacrificing margins.
• AI Assistant provides an intuitive, natural-language interface that allows users to effortlessly interact with Soley, without requiring deep technical expertise.
• AI Detective analyzes data to uncover hidden dependencies and reveal strategic opportunities, such as identifying which configuration options should be eliminated to optimize both profitability and sustainability.

The Soley Product Mining Platform draws data from 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and 麻豆原创 Business Warehouse, utilizing 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) as the service layer. 麻豆原创 Datasphere helps consolidate 麻豆原创 data and analytics, while 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud provides the analytics that form the core of the AI model. This technical architecture enables intelligent data extraction and transformation through 麻豆原创 Databricks, while massive graph analytics enable complex dependency analysis.

“With these 麻豆原创 solutions, we’re delivering a true game changer for the sustainability of the high tech and manufacturing industries,” says Ephraim Triemer, shareholder and advisor of Enterprise Accounts at Soley. “For the first time, our customers can go beyond ESG reporting and take real action鈥攄riving sustainability while staying laser focused on profitability.”

Seamless 麻豆原创 integration creates value

By combining CERATIZIT’s Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data with financial metrics, the Soley Product Mining Platform creates a digital twin that uncovers opportunities, identifies risks, and analyzes product hierarchies, bills of materials, and carbon footprints. With AI-driven intelligence guidance, Soley developers ensure the platform’s capabilities enable decisions and outcomes that improve both profitability and environmental stewardship.

Earlier this year, Dominik Metzger was appointed as president and Chief Product Officer of 麻豆原创 Supply Chain Management, bringing a renewed focus on resilience, sustainability, and intelligent automation.

鈥淢y chief priority is to ensure that we help customers not only respond to disruptions but also proactively prepare and act,鈥� Metzger said. 鈥淲e can do so by leveraging AI, generative AI, real-time data, and predictive analytics with the power of 麻豆原创鈥檚 technology. Our vision is to build an autonomous supply chain鈥攃onnected, contextualized, and collaborative.鈥�

麻豆原创 SCM leadership driving transformation

The analysis delivered impressive, measurable results that demonstrate the power of combining AI-driven analytics with 麻豆原创 technologies. CERATIZIT discovered an 87% implementation rate of suggested measures, driving product sustainability and supply chain optimization. Simultaneously, the company identified a reduction of over 30% in end-of-life “ballast” products with negative carbon footprints while creating 100% transparency in sustainability data across all elements, product sets, and aggregation levels.

Alexander Springer, CEO of Soley GmbH, explains the strategic significance: “If you know which products are the most critical to the overall success of your business, you can focus on safeguarding the value chain for those products, taking proactive steps to avoid any potential supply risks.”

A model for sustainable digital transformation

The successful partnership between CERATIZIT, Soley, and 麻豆原创 demonstrates how modern companies can achieve both economic and ecological goals through intelligent use of data and AI. The combination of proven 麻豆原创 technologies and innovative analytics solutions creates measurable value for companies of all sizes. For other 麻豆原创 customers and partners, this example shows that sustainability and profitability need not be opposing forces鈥攚ith the right technologies and partners, both objectives can be achieved simultaneously.

Learn more about the latest updates to 麻豆原创 supply chain management. The Soley Product Mining Platform is available on .

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America鈥檚 biggest integrated cannabis company Trulieve chose 麻豆原创 S/4HANA to provide it with the scale and flexibility it needs in a highly dynamic market.

Read the article to learn more about Trulieve鈥檚 success: https://sap.to/6056AiWNe.

鈥淲e are an agricultural company,鈥� she continued, 鈥渂ut we also have to be able to process the product, so we are simultaneously a manufacturing company and a distribution company because we have to control how things are being moved to all of our stores. And then we are a retail company because we sell it in our stores. We track the entire supply chain.鈥�

Trulieve has been an 麻豆原创 customer since 2020. It initially chose 麻豆原创 because its legacy system couldn鈥檛 keep up with the company鈥檚 growth and demand. 鈥淲e needed to leverage and the scale it gave us just to be able to keep up with sales,鈥� Zimmerman explained. Today, Trulieve鈥檚 麻豆原创 portfolio also includes 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions and 麻豆原创 Concur solutions.

Trulieve started in 2016, so the company is only nine years old, which gave it the ability to be cloud-native from the start. 鈥淲e didn’t have any of the legacy technical debt that a lot of other companies may have. That enabled us to have all cloud-based solutions and when new technology becomes available, we’re able to quickly adopt it. That definitely puts us in a position to be able to leverage technology of the future, as opposed to being tied to legacy technology,鈥� Zimmerman said.

That鈥檚 important because keeping up with the growth in the marijuana market is top of the agenda for Trulieve, which already operates in multiple states and is a market leader in Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

鈥淥bviously we want to continue that growth,鈥� Zimmerman said. The biggest catalyst for growth is when states legalize recreational marijuana use, which opens up the entire market for Trulieve鈥檚 hand-grown marijuana products. 鈥淭he big focus for us is scalability and stability in our solutions to make sure we are able to support that growth,鈥� she said.

鈥溌槎乖� enables us to have more insight into our growth and manage production better than any other system that’s out there,鈥� Zimmerman said.  And since Trulieve is a publicly traded company, running 麻豆原创 S/4HANA also helps ensure that Trulieve鈥檚 management has access to all the internal controls and other features they need for regulatory and other purposes.

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Zimmerman emphasized that Trulieve also relies heavily on data鈥攖he company鈥檚 customer data platform combines data from multiple applications, enabling it to market more effectively to its customers and make operational decisions. 鈥淭hat definitely empowers our teams to be able to provide real-time information to our leaders, who can then make decisions literally on the fly in terms of pricing our products, or whether we need to make a promotion in order to achieve sales targets.鈥�

She also believes that the AI tools 麻豆原创 is embedding in its solutions will deliver real benefits: 鈥淚 think we have a number of opportunities in terms of being able to leverage AI with our retail dispensary associates operating on the actual sales floor.鈥� For example, she said it might be used by associates in the stores or on the phone to suggest products to customers based on data previously captured through Trulieve鈥檚 supply chain, coupled with other information and metrics.

But she said the biggest thing Trulieve has learned is that to be able to scale your business you have to have solutions that are going to be able to adapt to that scale. In addition, in a dynamic market, companies need solutions that adapt and are highly flexible.

鈥淭his environment is incredibly dynamic, so that means that tomorrow we could get legislation that opens up cannabis to the entire country,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen that happens how would it change our organization? We have to be super adaptable to any of those types of changes that are going on in the in the larger political realm.鈥�

麻豆原创 technology, she said, provides the scalability and flexibility, together with the data, the company鈥檚 leaders need to make the best decision in real time.

Top image via customer video

That is the reality. Behind all the talk of faster deployments and streamlined processes lies a deeper shift. It requires rethinking your data, core processes, and how teams work together. And this shift does not begin at go-live. It begins months earlier, with the questions asked and the foundations put in place.

Many companies still approach cloud ERP as an IT upgrade. But the success of these programs rarely comes down to just technology. It comes down to how well you prepare, how you approach process standardization, data readiness, governance, and change leadership.

Even with the best intentions, challenges still show up. Teams struggle to balance global templates with local needs. Subject matter experts do not always have the time to fully participate. Expectations around timelines and automation can be misaligned from the start.

In a , Abhishek Vasudevan, head of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA at Westernacher, shared his perspective on what separates successful ERP transformations from the rest — from the most critical prerequisites to the common mistakes and what ERP looks like when it truly enables the business.

Breaking down business challenges and expectations

鈥淒isconnected systems cause poor integration, data delays, and isolated teams,鈥� Vasudevan explained. 鈥淭he fragmentation creates barriers to real-time data visibility and integration, forcing reliance on manual work to piece together information from disparate sources. This slows decision-making and enforces artificial walls between business functions.鈥�

Switching to an integrated, modern cloud ERP platform helps businesses break down barriers and provides real-time, cross-functional data flow.

Vasudevan also highlighted a critical hurdle: 鈥淭here is a clear disconnect between how legacy users operate and the demands of moving to an integrated ERP system. The key question is whether the workforce can adapt to these changes and take on the challenges of adopting a new system and new ways of working.鈥�

But one misconception is expecting a fully integrated ERP to be operational quickly by simply activating system functions. Faster implementations — which can sometimes take weeks or months instead of years — depend heavily on an organization’s ability to standardize processes across sites while retaining competitive differentiators.

鈥淪uccess requires a phased “crawl, walk, run” approach focusing on processes, people, and standardization,鈥� further explained Vasudevan.

Before a company ever starts configuring a system or training users, there is foundational work that must be done to set the stage for success. These are the conversations and actions that happen behind the scenes 鈥� months before go-live 鈥� that ultimately determine whether the implementation will deliver value.

Essential prerequisites for a successful ERP implementation

An effective cloud ERP adoption starts long before go-live. Based on extensive experience across industries, Vasudevan outlines six critical areas organizations must focus on early:

1. Start with your data: Data is often the Achilles鈥� heel of ERP projects. Companies must start by understanding where their data lives, how clean it is, and whether it covers all critical business processes. That means assessing your sources early, ensuring completeness, and working with ERP experts to understand what fields matter and how your data should be structured.
2. Understand the technical preparation, especially for upgrades: Even if you are doing what feels like a technical upgrade — like moving from 麻豆原创 ECC to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA — there is still deep preparation involved. Organizations must think through customer-vendor integration, system sizing, platform readiness, and historical data decisions. These technical topics are not just backend items; they directly affect the ability to execute a project smoothly.
3. Rethink and standardize your processes: ERP implementations are a golden opportunity to simplify operations and remove legacy complexity. The more standardized processes are across regions, business units, and functions, the easier it becomes to scale and automate.
4. Set up strong governance from the start: You need the right structure in place to guide the program, enable fast decisions, and stay aligned. That includes a clear steering committee, empowered business leads, and a process for how deviations will be evaluated and approved.
5. Identify your internal change agent: Your system integrator will support change management, but someone from within your organization must to champion the change. This person should understand how things work today and be able to work across teams to bring clarity and alignment.
6. Start identifying key and end users and prepare a plan for them early: Do not wait until testing or training to engage end users: start early. Understand their day-to-day, shape the design through day-in-the-life scenarios, and roll out MVPs that invite feedback.

Listen to the full podcast episode here:

Coming up, we will explore the most common challenges businesses face during and after ERP implementation. From data readiness gaps to change resistance, we will unpack the patterns that often derail projects 鈥� and how to stay ahead of them.

The company produces healthy vegetable oils, oilseeds, creams, and spreads while maintaining a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. With a presence in over 32 countries and a team of more than 2,000 employees, Sesajal is a beacon of excellence in the food industry.

The customer has a long history of working with 麻豆原创 solutions and took a major step forward in 2024, migrating to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Private Cloud and integrating 麻豆原创 Build as its primary tool for extending business . Sesajal used 麻豆原创 Build Process Automation to integrate AI-powered workflow automations, enabling smart decisions based on data insights.

Partnering with 麻豆原创 for transformation

Leading Sesajal’s journey into digital transformation is Chief Innovation Officer Alfonso Cedillo Navarro, who has been at the forefront of implementing technology-driven solutions to enhance operations and deliver value to customers around the globe.

The use of 麻豆原创 Build has proven to be transformative, enabling the creation of user-friendly business applications and streamlined key processes like vendor creation.

One of Sesajal鈥檚 standout projects involves a solution built with 麻豆原创 Build that integrates seamlessly with the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA system, enhancing usability and efficiency.

Collaborating with 麻豆原创 AppHaus

A pivotal moment in Sesajal’s journey was to start collaborating with the 麻豆原创 AppHaus team. Known for its human-centered approach to innovation, the team helped Sesajal unlock new opportunities brought about by 麻豆原创 Build.

“Working with the Sesajal team was truly inspiring,” shared project manager Mirela Viersa, a customer solution adoption specialist at 麻豆原创 AppHaus. “Their openness to innovation and dedication to creating real value for their users made this collaboration a success. By applying a human-centered approach, we were able to co-create solutions that not only streamlined processes, but also delivered tangible benefits — all while keeping the core clean. This project is a testament to what鈥檚 possible when technology and people work hand in hand.”

Within the 麻豆原创 Build starter kit program, the Sesajal team received comprehensive training along the 麻豆原创 AppHaus methodology. They embarked on a design thinking process to identify a business use case, eventually developing a proof of concept tailored to their needs.

鈥淭he 麻豆原创 AppHaus team is incredible to work with,鈥� Cedillo Navarro said. 鈥淭heir human-centered methodology helped us identify the right business use case and build a proper prototype. It鈥檚 a phenomenal way to connect business and user needs, saving time and adding more value to users.鈥�

Redefining innovation

By combining the power of 麻豆原创 Build with the 麻豆原创 AppHaus approach, Sesajal has found a way to address real business challenges through technology. From simplifying processes to creating tangible results, these tools are reshaping how the company operates.

Reflecting on his experience, Cedillo Navarro noted, 鈥淟everaging the 麻豆原创 AppHaus approach and 麻豆原创 Build allows us to develop applications that tackle real business challenges while utilizing the best of modern technology. It鈥檚 innovation at its finest.鈥�

Sesajal’s digital transformation journey is a testament to the potential of human-centered design and advanced technology. It demonstrates how collaboration and the right tools can drive meaningful results, setting the stage for continued innovation in the years to come.

The solution was clear: implement a cloud-based ERP architecture designed to adapt, scale, and drive a full-scale transformation.

Building strategy on speed and people

E.ON Digital Technology鈥檚 move to the cloud was never about chasing modernity for its own sake, but about seizing control in a fast-moving world. The company understood that transformation is not only about technology; it’s about people and their needs.

Together with employees, E.ON Digital Technology crafted a strategic vision to keep pace with rapid technological change while empowering teams to deliver real solutions. At the core of this transformation was the Digital Lighthouse Project, which became the guiding force through the complexities of digitization.

As Athanasios Tabakis, the lead of the Digital Lighthouse technology at E.ON Digital Technology, explained, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not just implementing isolated solutions; we鈥檙e building a platform that integrates speed, planning, reporting, cost transparency, and AI into one seamless ecosystem.鈥�

This cloud ERP foundation shattered old habits, igniting true transformation by putting agility and speed at the heart of the business.

Today, E.ON Digital Technology boasts an intuitive, adaptive, finance-first design, built around how people actually work. The company鈥檚 guiding principle remains unchanged: transformation doesn鈥檛 start with systems; it starts with trust and clarity.

Max Englisch, manager of Finance Transformation at , emphasized the human and scalable nature of the project: 鈥淭his has never just been about technology. It was about creating a vision that scales, brings people in, and drives real impact — not only for E.ON Digital Technology, but also across the entire company.鈥�

PwC Germany continues to support E.ON Digital Technology in rolling out this vision, ensuring the Digital Lighthouse remains a catalyst for change.

Beyond technology: culture, process, mindset

Standardizing across a complex group like E.ON Digital Technology involves far more than technical upgrades. It requires navigating cultural, operational, and political layers. The S/4 United Program, the backbone of Digital Lighthouse, launched the company鈥檚 journey toward 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition as the 鈥渕other ship鈥� guiding the entire enterprise.

Innovation layers were carefully added on top to balance strategic consistency with the flexibility to differentiate. Early work focused on identifying where processes could deliver efficiency and value, laying a solid foundation for future-proof operations. As Tabakis put it, 鈥淭he future of ERP is invisible. It anticipates your needs, speaks your language, and acts when it truly matters. It is not just digital; it is almost human.鈥�

E.ON Digital Technology鈥檚 transformation challenges the entrenched mindset of 鈥渢his is always how we鈥檝e always done it.鈥� In a heavily regulated and complex energy sector, data consistency is critical for both compliance and for confident decision-making. By building a semantic layer aligned with business logic, the company moves from fragmented inputs to coherent, faster decisions with increased accountability.

鈥淪uccess comes from those who relentlessly pursue their vision until it becomes a reality,” Englisch added. “That鈥檚 exactly what E.ON Digital Technology has achieved.鈥�

E.ON Digital Technology embraces AI and flexibility for the future

E.ON Digital Technology鈥檚 innovation journey did not stop at cloud ERP. Early adoption of transformed data into conversational insights. Now, the company is advancing toward agentic AI, where AI proactively supports decision-making by alerting teams to deviations and nudging interventions before the issues arise. In energy finance, where timing is everything, this responsiveness is a game changer.

Trust in AI remains paramount. Tabakis noted that 鈥渢rue confidence in AI comes when it aligns with how people think and work. Our mission is to build that trust step-by-step, helping people see AI not as a threat, but as a powerful ally to accelerate their work.鈥� This human-centered approach is essential in a world where half embrace AI鈥檚 promise and half fear its impact.

The energy transition itself demands agility. Renewables introduce volatility, and new consumption patterns like heat pumps and electric mobility add complexity. The grid must balance supply and demand in real time, pushing E.ON Digital Technology鈥檚 business units — and adding their IT teams — to stay flexible.

To manage this, E.ON Digital Technology relies on , a real-time financial management engine that mirrors actual usage, supports dynamic modeling, and scales with demand within the ERP. This technology allows the company to trace billions in value flows accurately and auditable, ensuring flexibility and compliance go hand in hand.

Englisch summarized the future vision: 鈥淭he future of ERP lies in creating an open, connected data foundation that integrates 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 sources, enabling scalable data products and AI-ready architectures. It鈥檚 about moving beyond process efficiency to real-time insights that empower business users to unlock true value.鈥�

E.ON Digital Technology鈥檚 transformation journey shows how cloud ERP, combined with human centered approach and cutting-edge AI, can drive speed, trust, and agility in the complex, rapidly evolving energy landscape. It is a blueprint for how companies can not only adapt but also lead in the digital age.

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鈥檚 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聽麻豆原创 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

鈥淲e 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,鈥� explained Martin Wegner, product safety manager at WestWood.

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

Given that many of WestWood鈥檚 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.

鈥淎utomating this process is an amazing time-saver,” Wegner noted. 鈥淚t makes our lives so much easier and helps us ensure the latest safety and usage instructions are reliably available to our customers.鈥� 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, 鈥淎s we expand into new markets, the built-in internationalization features of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA will be crucial to our success and help us deliver outstanding customer service and support sustainable processes in compliance with local regulations.鈥� This enables WestWood to have faster, more practical management of customer orders for around 10 users across 3 departments, supporting the innovative company鈥檚 global expansion.

鈥淭hanks to 麻豆原创 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.鈥�

Streamlining workflows and supporting sustainability

With 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创, 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: .

Using RISE with 麻豆原创, BMW Group converted the factory鈥檚 operations to modern cloud software, which also enables greater integration of AI. The successful go-live among this complex shift operation was the result of an extraordinary team, a strategic partnership lasting more than 30 years, and seven years of co-innovation between BMW and 麻豆原创.

Creating a new standard as partners

Following the initial rollout of the new solution at BMW Group鈥檚 MINI plant in Oxford, England, the Regensburg plant is the first full-scale BMW Group facility to transition to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.

The rollout of the new cloud solution for the parts process chain (abbreviated as PKT in German) affected the entire logistical process chain for the digital control of parts supply in vehicle production — from ordering required components from suppliers, receiving, and warehousing to delivering them to the production line.

In addition to purely logistical processes, the solution also covers the plant鈥檚 quality and maintenance processes. For the first time, the new PKT template for 麻豆原创 S/4HANA enabled unified management of parts supply across all production technologies required to build a vehicle.

The project鈥檚 success is rooted in a team that worked across corporate boundaries toward a shared goal. Customer Services & Delivery and Product & Engineering teams from 麻豆原创 partnered with BMW to create a blueprint for holistic digital transformation in production logistics — from the press, body, and paint shops to final assembly.

Awareness of the importance of this transformation project was palpable among every 麻豆原创 employee involved. 鈥淲e made one thing clear to everyone on the team: every single car counts,鈥� says Carola Schoenfelder, chief project expert, Strategic Customer Innovations at 麻豆原创, and program lead for 麻豆原创 at BMW. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 only about IT; it was about the factory, the people, and the result.鈥�

Transformation as a staircase

Around one-third of employees at the BMW plant in Regensburg work directly with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA components, including and 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management. Involving those affected in the change process was critical to success. Another factor in the project鈥檚 success was learning from experience. The smaller MINI factory in Oxford had already completed its go-live, which helped guide the project team as it worked on the bigger Regensburg project.

Instead of designing the transformation as a metaphorical 鈥渞ock face鈥� that had to be climbed without any safety equipment, the team viewed it as a 鈥渟taircase鈥�: an incremental, guided transition. In addition, satellite support points were set up within the factory to offer support at any time.

Identifying optimization potential

Six months after go-live, it is clear that the transition to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is more than just a technical upgrade; it鈥檚 noticeably changing daily operations. In particular, the new 麻豆原创 Extended Warehouse Management application is proving to be a key technology that supplies important data and identifies potential for optimization.

Thanks to the new data foundation, the potential for optimization can be more precisely identified, for example, by the use of tugger trains and reduction of internal transport kilometers.

Standardization brings not only efficiency but also flexibility. Employees can switch between tasks more easily, and even between factories, because less specialized knowledge is needed. The processes are more streamlined and more transparent.

鈥淭he global digitalization of our production logistics significantly increases transparency and standardization, allowing us to respond more quickly to changes in demand or supply shortages,鈥� explains Michael Nikolaides, head of Production Network and Logistics at the BMW Group.

Ready for an AI-driven future

Strategically, the new IT infrastructure has brought significant changes. The cloud provides speed and flexibility, without users having to worry about the technology in the background. Moreover, the introduction of standardized cloud solutions is a crucial step toward fully harnessing the potential of AI in the future. To benefit sustainably from AI, standardized software solutions that can be quickly enhanced with new capabilities are needed.

鈥淲ith the next stage of digitalization in production logistics — enabled by consistent, unified data structures and standard process templates — we have significantly advanced the AI enablement of the BMW Group,” explains Alexander Buresch, CIO and senior vice president of BMW Group IT.

Over a seven-year period of co-innovation, BMW shared its automotive-specific requirements while 麻豆原创 mapped large sections of these requirements in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and in the industry solution 麻豆原创 S/4HANA for manufacturing logistics. 鈥淎s part of our partnership with 麻豆原创, we have transferred key corporate processes to a service-oriented, cloud-based platform, achieving a new level of efficiency, quality, and automation,鈥� Buresch says.

Those who use a shared standard can also find solutions collectively, share them, and co-develop solution designs. If other automakers configure on the same standard in the future, BMW will also benefit from new 麻豆原创 releases.

The strategic collaboration to develop the PKT template began in 2018 as a project driven by deep expertise and strong commitment. The go-live in Regensburg is a key indicator that 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Private Cloud can meet the complex demands of a high-volume vehicle plant. Together with BMW, the 麻豆原创 consulting team demonstrated that with meticulous preparation, a lossless go-live in a complex shift operation is possible. The rollout process works and can be adapted and expanded plant by plant.

Hendrik Haas, senior vice president, general manager, and head of Customer Services & Delivery Middle and Eastern Europe at 麻豆原创, adds: 鈥淭he collaboration with our lighthouse customer BMW is making waves in the market and demonstrates how digital transformation in production logistics can be successfully implemented. BMW鈥檚 Regensburg factory was an important step, with extraordinary commitment from both sides of the partnership. We will continue the RISE with 麻豆原创 transformation at the main factory in Munich this summer, together with BMW.鈥�

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In recent years, amid the evolving regulatory landscape and interdependencies with other business areas, a new set of cross-process requirements have surfaced.

麻豆原创鈥檚 answer is the shift from a reactive, centralized compliance management system to a proactive approach that adapts to an organization’s needs. We are transforming 麻豆原创 Environment, Health, and Safety Management from a monolithic system of record into a modular and connected suite.

Environmental management: from static tracking to intelligence

麻豆原创 solutions for environmental management address the management of waste and emissions as well as water and wastewater.

Updates to EHS solutions are intended to assist users in completing tasks more quickly and efficiently. For example, intelligent permit management is possible thanks to automated regulatory requirement extraction, making permit management tasks less tedious. In the future, proactive regulatory intelligence will prepare customers for the impacts of changing compliance requirements.

By focusing on proactive document extraction and a single entry point for compliance, customers can expect to benefit from reduced compliance preparation time and enhanced audit readiness.

Workplace safety management: from reactive to proactive

The updated workplace safety process orchestrates and extends the individual capabilities of safety performance management, operational risk management, and incident management.

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Recent and upcoming updates leverage AI and increase usability to support safety instruction, reporting, and performance tracking 鈥� enhancing customers鈥� productivity and ability to demonstrate EHS value to stakeholders. More and better documented safety observation enable faster risk prioritization and preventive action, leading to fewer near-misses and incidents.聽

Capabilities include:

• Integrated risk assessments that connect hazard identification directly to operational controls and safety protocols
• AI-assisted safety instruction generation that equips teams with relevant information about hazards to health or environment and protective measures to prevent malfunctions, accidents, or emergencies
• Performance analytics that use real-time safety data to provide proactive insights for continuous safety improvement

By streamlining or automating manually intensive tasks like risk assessment and instruction document creation, your team can reduce time spent by as much as 65 to 70 percent, freeing them to focus on what matters. In addition to time savings, AI has the potential to reduce incidents and near misses by using simple and inclusive language in the instructions that reduces misconceptions by the executing workers.

Our EHS architecture evolution: from system of record to active, modular suite

Short-term, incremental improvements cannot meet the demands of modern EHS needs. 麻豆原创鈥檚 vision for EHS transformation will take us from the reactive to proactive, and eventually predictive by leveraging AI integrations. These solutions will give customers the competitive advantage in regulatory responsiveness and operational efficiency.

Find more insights from 麻豆原创鈥檚 recent the and the

Gunther Rothermel is chief product officer for 麻豆原创 Sustainability.

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.聽聽

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.聽

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

Vision behind Aker BP鈥檚 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.

鈥淚n 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.鈥�

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鈥檚 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.聽

Putting plan into action

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

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.聽聽

鈥淥ur goal is to establish a comprehensive maintenance strategy that eliminates unknown breakdowns on critical equipment,” explained Kim Alexander J酶rgensen, 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.鈥�

Using the data from 麻豆原创 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.聽

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 麻豆原创 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.聽

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 麻豆原创 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.聽

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.聽

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

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 麻豆原创 applications into 麻豆原创 Asset Performance Management, facilitating seamless workflows and supporting the growing scale and complexity of operations.聽

Fine-tuning was essential after implementation, as alerts were initially too frequent. The team introduced a 鈥渕ass close鈥� 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 

麻豆原创 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.聽

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 麻豆原创 S/4HANA — enhances data accessibility and interpretation, while its scalability means it can handle Aker BP鈥檚 growing operations.

鈥淔or our new project, ‘Yggdrasil,’ starting up in 2027, this solution is a prerequisite,鈥� 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 麻豆原创 Asset Performance Management, embedded IoT, in 2025, enabling even more advanced real-time monitoring capabilities.聽聽

鈥淭he business will always rely on its industry-leading team selling through an institutional business model but has evolved in recent years to be more consumer-facing, data-driven, and insight-driven, so we can help the coaches and the players with relevant information on how they can improve performance,鈥� Aravind Kashyap, Chief Information Officer, Riddell, said. For example, Riddell innovated with smart helmets that utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to get deeper insights into head impact exposure and athlete performance. 鈥淭he company itself has gone through several routes of transformation because the game and its players demand it,鈥� he said.

Riddell is now transforming its enterprise foundation, embarking on a robust, three-year enterprise solutions revamp. The company has used 麻豆原创 solutions for almost 20 years, and its current solution is highly customized and very complex. 鈥淲e really want to get to a situation where we鈥檙e not uber customized and difficult to upgrade,鈥� Kashyap said. To benefit from technologies like data visibility, process automation, and AI, the company is working with 麻豆原创 and , a global 麻豆原创 consulting company, to adopt a cloud-first, clean core approach.

Legacy built it, strategy will fix it

Riddell is modernizing and simplifying its ERP system via a greenfield approach with . 鈥淥ur IT strategy is primarily looking at the next three years and what can we do at a foundation level, what are the things we鈥檙e doing on the information aspect, and what things we are doing for greater efficiency,鈥� Kashyap said. The renewed IT strategy will enable the business to focus on growth, efficiency, and automation projects by leveraging information and advanced technologies while still driving down IT operation costs.

The project is as much about improving Riddell鈥檚 IT foundation as it is about improving the experience for employees who use the systems, many of which are remote. Kashyap explained the focus on delivering a modern digital experience across the company: 鈥淒igital experience is huge for us. In fact, that鈥檚 one of the big themes that I鈥檓 driving in the organization. How do I bring experience to our business users鈥攚hether they are in a warehouse, whether they are in a sales position, whether they are a finance clerk, whether they are in the manufacturing location or plant鈥攁nd give them the best experience as a solution user?鈥�

This is in alignment with the strategic business transformation and change management approach KaarTech recommended to Riddell. Connecting the technical ERP transformation to the consumer experience and sales side of the business was key. 鈥淚f you just do a technical assessment and try to understand the IT landscape without connecting with the business, the transformation will go wrong,鈥� Parameswaran N, vice president, KaarTech, said. He added: 鈥淲e wanted this to be a business-led transformation and the business priorities and vision were much more than just a technical upgrade, so we mutually agreed that a greenfield approach was the right approach.鈥�

As a result of a thorough migration readiness assessment exercise undertaken with , a KaarTech proprietary digital transformation as a service (DXaaS) automation platform for 麻豆原创 digital transformations, available on , Riddell鈥檚 IT landscape was found to have 1,270 custom objects, 556 custom reports, 794 enhancements to standard programs, and 10 third-party integrations. The current endeavor, called Project STRIDE, aims to streamline these customizations and instead take a fit-to-standard approach wherever possible.

The team has identified about 180 global scope items and is looking at each one individually to compare the out-of-the-box scenario with the customization opportunity, Kashyap said. This process of determining what in the current system stays and what goes is time consuming and involves about 10% of the company鈥檚 850 employees, he explained, but it鈥檚 also necessary to prioritizing the fit-to-standard and clean core approach. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not easy, but that鈥檚 the only way it鈥檚 going to happen,鈥� he said, adding that it鈥檚 a 鈥渙ne team, one platform鈥� mindset. Keeping 麻豆原创 S/4HANA as the core allows for a 鈥渓imitless plane鈥� on which Riddell can take advantage of innovative technologies like AI.

In addition to the Riddell team, who supplies the internal expertise, knowledge, and working experience to Project STRIDE, 麻豆原创 helps with the valuation of each scope item and KaarTech helps with implementation.

鈥淥ur partners KaarTech and 麻豆原创 are making it possible. It鈥檚 a long journey,鈥� Kashyap said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about making the business comfortable with using the new enterprise solution.鈥�

Project learnings鈥攕o far

Riddell鈥檚 Project STRIDE demonstrates the potential behind a fit-to-standard approach, how digital experience drives user adoption, and the need for strong governance to accelerate decision-making.

The path to the cloud and a clean core is a worthy cause to achieve long-term agility, but it鈥檚 as much a method shift as it is a mindset shift, Kashyap said. 鈥淚t is an IT transformation; more importantly it is a business transformation.鈥�

Gillian Hixson is an integrated communications specialist at 麻豆原创.

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 麻豆原创 and customizing and enhancing 麻豆原创 Field Service Management, including customizing the 麻豆原创 Field Service Management, connector for 麻豆原创 ERP, in order to meet the company鈥檚 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 麻豆原创 specialist at ONTRAS, explained: “Our internal staff extracted data from 麻豆原创, while external staff used a manual Excel logging process, which made it difficult to understand the status of orders.鈥�

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

ONTRAS needed a solution to maintain maintenance plans and functional locations within 麻豆原创 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.

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

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 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创 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.

鈥淣ow, 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,鈥� Scholl added. 鈥淧reviously, there was a manual communication interface, which inevitably led to information loss.鈥�

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.

鈥淲ith 麻豆原创 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.鈥�

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 麻豆原创 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.

鈥淭his 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.鈥�

Convista played a crucial role in guiding the company through the 麻豆原创 implementation process, acting as the interface between 麻豆原创 and the company while adjusting 麻豆原创 Field Service Management to meet ONTRAS鈥� 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.聽Additionally, the company collaborated with for the technical implementation of the 麻豆原创 Field Service Management, connector for 麻豆原创 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 麻豆原创 ERP Central Component and is transitioning to , having already implemented 麻豆原创 Field Service Management. Winkler noted that they strategically rely on cloud products: 鈥淥ur philosophy is not cloud only, but cloud first.鈥�

ONTRAS aims to advance further with smart forms and continue to expand its 麻豆原创 S/4HANA implementation in the near future.

.

In addition to groceries and food, the group sells electronics services and has around 400,000 customers, along with 80,000 business clients and more than 1,800 suppliers, according to Vital CIO and CTO Alexander Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez is part of a new executive committee that is leading with the purpose of seeking to expand company reach, improve efficiency, and strengthen its market position.

鈥淚t all started in 2018, when we decided to have an analytics system and a clean core 麻豆原创 system to make all the data available to all the different parts of the company so they can make real-time decisions on purchasing and pricing for our customers,鈥� he said.

Gonzalez explained that this is particularly important in a nation like Argentina because prices are extremely volatile. 鈥淚t’s important for us to have that information readily available because Argentina is a highly inflationary country, where prices change really quickly,鈥� he said. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic Vital sometimes had to change 20,000 product prices in less than a day, 鈥渟o we have to do all of that analysis really fast.鈥�

Vital was a long-time 麻豆原创 customer, but when it came to choosing a digital transformation technology partner, the company did its due diligence.

“One of the main reasons we chose 麻豆原创 [S/4HANA] is we were used to using 麻豆原创,鈥� says Gonzalez. 鈥淏ut we did do our homework. We analyzed our business and processes for a year, then we took six months to talk with a lot of suppliers, 麻豆原创 included, and another three.鈥�

Ultimately, he said Vital decided on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA because it offered the potential to integrate a customer activity repository with its basic financial and core systems.

It took Vital 18 months to implement, but Gonzalez said the system 鈥渋ntegrated with our providers on the first day and we had all this real-time data within a week of going live. So that was great for us.鈥�

As a result, analytics that used to take three to four days can now be done in two hours and Vital can have a new pricing structure implemented in less three hours. Instead of employees wrangling Excel spreadsheets, Gonzalez said decisions are now based on real-time data and 鈥渁re not influenced by what a person wants, but by what the data is telling them to do.鈥�

Because all the company鈥檚 data — including customer data and POS data — are stored in a centralized customer activity repository, Vital now has complete visibility into that data and can use algorithms to predict sales and set prices and distribution priorities. 鈥淲e can change our pricing policy based on reception of goods and new purchase orders and adopt new pricing in real time,鈥� said Gonzalez.

Over the last year, he says, Vital saved around $35 million on perishables after the system warned managers that they would not be able to sell products on time. 鈥淲e negotiated with our suppliers; we made offers and made predictions of how it would work out and it turned into a real savings — that鈥檚 what technology is doing for our company.鈥�

Just as importantly, Gonzalez said Vital now works with one version of the truth. 鈥淚n all of the applications every user sees the same data, be it clustered by store or by department. The result is the same for everyone. There’s no difference in what the financial department sees, what operations see, what our buying department sees, or what our pricing department sees. All the data is clustered in one huge data center.鈥�

鈥淭he technology has really advanced how our users in the company experience data and decision making,鈥� Gonzalez added. Instead of spending time pouring over spreadsheets and reports, much of the analytical work is now done by the system, enabling users to make decisions in real time, for example, while they are negotiating with a supplier.

Now Vital is in the process of migrating all its applications, including its ERP, to the cloud. 鈥淎ll our applications are cloud-ready, and we maintain a clean core, so we can upgrade really fast,鈥� said Gonzalez, who expects to be ready to make that the move by the end of the year. 聽

The Vital CIO and CTO is also looking to AI to help the company鈥檚 employees make even better purchase and pricing decisions. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see AI as replacing our personnel or people in the industry,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e see it at enhancement, we see it as turbocharging our system and making the data more reliable and useful.鈥�

Gonzalez believes that other companies can learn from Vital鈥檚 experience democratizing access to data.

鈥淎 lot of companies regard their data as really private and don’t share it with everyone in the company,鈥� he noted. 鈥淲e are open with the data. We tell everyone– from our people in the stores to our managers and our directors — that they have all the same data. This has really opened us up to be a really integrated and group-friendly company.鈥�

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When Bain & Company chose 麻豆原创 S/4HANA as its new ERP system, it took a page out of its own playbook to guide its implementation journey.

鈥淲e executed this change management successfully by leveraging our own playbook on ourselves,鈥� , Global Chief Technology/Information Officer, Bain & Company, told 麻豆原创. 鈥淛ust as we have done [with clients] multiple times across the globe, in partnership with 麻豆原创.鈥�

The 鈥減laybook鈥� is Bain鈥檚 methodical guide to modernizing an organization鈥檚 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. And it played a vital role in Bain鈥檚 own ERP journey.

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, Bain explained the process behind the implementation: 鈥淛ust as we advise our clients, we began with an airtight case for change, [leveraging] the migration as not just a check-the-box IT exercise but an opportunity to simplify our operations and ultimately transform our business.鈥� Bain accelerated its cloud transition with a project plan that combined implementation best practices from 麻豆原创 with Bain’s own change management and process redesign best practices.

The company鈥檚 airtight case, jointly developed by its IT and finance teams, was its need to simplify operations while rapidly growing worldwide.

Growing globally and customizing cumbersomely

Bain enjoyed significant growth over the last two decades, expanding into 65 offices across 40 countries and growing its workforce by nearly a factor of five to more than 18,000 employees, while also scaling further via about two dozen acquisitions. To keep pace with all that growth, it continually customized its homegrown ERP platform.

But that led to silos across offices and org charts, Razdan said. There were also problems scaling and integrating acquisitions, some of which ran on different platforms than Bain.

鈥淲e wanted to set up a platform that solves problems of today and sets us up for the future,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淭hat was the business case.鈥�

After months of searching, Bain chose 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for its standardized processes, industry best practices, and continual innovation, Razdan said.

鈥溌槎乖� S/4HANA was the best fit for Bain,鈥� Stephen Mackey, Bain鈥檚 EVP of Global Finance, said. 鈥淚t future-proofed our technology stack, enabled us to get the data that we needed to make business decisions, and also positioned us to be able to grow.鈥�

The aim was standardized core processes — kept clean with zero customizations, thanks in part to apps capable of add-ons and upgrades as needed. The next step would be driving adoption to assure successful change management.

How Bain managed change, Bain鈥檚 way

Bain鈥檚 ERP transformation playbook is full of hard-won lessons from the company鈥檚 own experience and research, according to Razdan. These include what Bain consultants have learned both from successful and more challenging implementations.

From the start, Bain was crystal clear about its case for change, according to Razdan. The company prioritized change management, which meant IT partnering with finance; it also meant cultivating a mindset conducive to change.

鈥淲e owned the change; we identified a group of high performers within our finance and our IT teams. This community of super-users could readily identify and deal with any of the problems that typically arise in an implementation of this size and scale,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淭his was less just changing their technology; it鈥檚 changing employee behaviors and setting us up for how we want to grow and change processes going forward.鈥�

Bain also wanted to stick with industry best practices via 麻豆原创 standards. And keeping customizations off the platform, unlike Bain鈥檚 previous ERP environment, 鈥渨ould make life easier,鈥� Mackey said.

鈥淎dopting a clean core with minimal customizations means that we can absorb any changes that occur in the platform,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淚t also gives us the ability to integrate our future acquisitions in a way that鈥檚 effective for Bain.鈥�

Why metrics and transparency were crucial

鈥淲e actually set up a program to be always measuring the value,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淵ou have internal stakeholders, you have external stakeholders, you have partnerships; we kind of built an ecosystem of governance and partnership that enabled us to keep everybody on the same page because transparency and communication is critical to success.鈥�

Gauging progress via transparent key performance indicators was all the more impressive, given that most of this happened during the worldwide, pandemic-driven move to remote work.

鈥淲e could assess the implementation, as we went through it, to keep us on track [and] course correct,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淭his enabled us to do the implementation from end-to-end in under three years, which was an incredible achievement.鈥�

A big-bang implementation also helped, according to Razdan. Bain thoroughly examined its business, as well as the complications of running multiple systems in parallel.

鈥淚t was a bold decision and, looking back, I鈥檓 really proud of it, particularly about the people and the partnership,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淲e would not have done it any other way.鈥�

鈥淛ust the beginning鈥�

Since going live in July 2023, Bain runs all core financials around the world on the 麻豆原创 platform. Real-time data enable better, faster decision making, while automated core processes have reduced manual work, which helps Bain execute seamless updates as well as onboard acquisitions more efficiently.

鈥淲e have set up a great foundation with 麻豆原创 in terms of how we apply our own playbook,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淚 think this just the beginning for our partnership; I鈥檓 really excited for the next phase.鈥�

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Valvoline Global created a single point of entry, where internal and external stakeholders can meet their business requirements.

The company is also turning to AI tools in its efforts, identifying early adopters within its ranks and giving them the tools they need to map the path forward.

Read the article .

鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer just good enough to sell products; you have to sell products with IT services,鈥� Valvoline Global director of Enterprise Architecture David Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now creating a standardized framework of how to do that.鈥�

Valvoline Global chose a 鈥渂ack to standard,鈥� known as a greenfield, approach — removing custom codes and add-ons — for agility, Beach said. Instead of reacting to a business demand, which often requires lengthy development times that result in cumbersome point-to-point integrations, an experience layer can now connect vendors, customers, suppliers, distributors, and internal users within Valvoline Global鈥檚 environment.

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鈥淲e鈥檙e really trying to flip the equation to stay standard and also be able to offer those services,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to anticipate in advance to have standardized ways that we can connect or communicate with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.鈥�

That meant modernizing a bespoke environment without losing functionality.

Standard bearer

鈥淥ur main objective to going to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA was to return to greenfield,鈥� Beach explained. 鈥淎nd we needed a tool set to manage that. This is where came in.鈥�

麻豆原创 Signavio software provides a vendor-agnostic approach, according to Beach. This enables Valvoline Global to manage business processes across all its enterprise systems, whether they鈥檙e 麻豆原创 or not.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the big thing with [麻豆原创] Signavio,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to allow us to consolidate all the data — from 麻豆原创 systems, from Salesforce systems, from manufacturing systems, EH&S systems — all coming together into a single business process and a single business process repository.鈥�

And individual business units no longer try solving problems only with solutions available within silos, according to Beach. Now the company aligns each business process with the appropriate technology, and within standards.

鈥淲e wanted to make sure we hit the 90 percent mark on matches of our business processes to standard 麻豆原创,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淸麻豆原创] Signavio was a key piece to be able to govern that process.鈥�

But what about the other 10 percent? And how do you get buy-in from users?

Agility driving adoption

According to Beach, when there is a justification to deviate from a standard process, such as an upgrade that changes a business process, the company relies on 麻豆原创 Signavio Process Manager, a modeling platform for business process management.

鈥淎t the end of the day, the most important deliverable is that, even though we might have custom processes, we have a tie-in back to the 麻豆原创 best practice,鈥� Beach said. And Valvoline Global鈥檚 newfound agility also helped drive adoption. 鈥淭here was synergy to return to standard. It was very important from an organizational perspective.鈥�

Agility was also a 鈥淣o. 1 business case鈥� for Valvoline Global鈥檚 return to standard, according to Beach. And he expects that to serve the company well as it continues to embrace artificial intelligence (AI): 鈥溌槎乖� is coming up with AI strategies, but that鈥檚 going to change more and more as time goes on. You need to be able to adopt rapidly.鈥�

Charting AI鈥檚 path forward

鈥淲e realize that to adopt AI, we have a good handle on data,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e identified the innovators in the company and we have enabled them as sort of like the pilot.鈥�

That means Valvoline Global鈥檚 early adopters get full access to its AI tools. And, to ensure this remains a business-led effort, these trusted users report back about how they鈥檙e adopting AI, helping Valvoline Global chart its path forward.

鈥淚t all comes down to the data… not just from 麻豆原创 systems; it鈥檚 coming from all the systems across our business,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淸麻豆原创] Signavio is going to be that conduit as the feeder to AI solutions in the future.鈥�

And, in addition to methodically managing business processes with 麻豆原创 Signavio, Valvoline Global鈥檚 麻豆原创 S/4HANA journey includes , which help map the company鈥檚 digital transformation.

鈥淸麻豆原创] LeanIX has all the business capabilities, down to the system architectures, so that is a big piece,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just preparing for the future. There鈥檚 an aggressive growth strategy, so we have to prepare for things like M&As. And with toolsets like Lean IX in place, we鈥檒l be able to accomplish that.”

Have your processes in place

鈥淲here I see the biggest value with AI,鈥� Beach said, 鈥淸is if] a customer comes in and has a requirement, AI eventually can take that customer requirement, and it will write the integrations itself.鈥�

That鈥檚 only possible with a predefined standardized framework. And, in a low-code, no-code environment, it can also lead to greater ROI and faster development times — down from months to about a week.

鈥淭he big recommendation is to use tools like [麻豆原创] Signavio and [麻豆原创] LeanIX as vehicles to accomplish your business requirement,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to be able to influence change, but have systematic processes in place.鈥�

鈥淲e are now looking forward to further optimizing and refining our processes,鈥� said Tobias Ralsg氓rd, head of finance digital transformation at Ericsson, one of the world鈥檚 leading providers of information and communication technology, with operations in over 180 countries and more than 94,000 employees. 鈥淭he goal is to establish a more standardized, AI-driven and automated financial environment. This includes utilizing real-time data analysis and AI-driven insights directly within 麻豆原创 software. Another key area of interest is automated compliance and fraud detection, where AI will help identify suspicious transactions and flag potential regulatory violations,鈥� he added.

Ericsson completed its transition to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA in 54 hours, setting a new industry benchmark for executing large-scale and complex system projects. With multiple solutions implemented, Ericsson and 麻豆原创鈥檚 partnership spans technical innovation projects and direct system support across key business areas such as finance, supply chain, HR, procurement and more.

With 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, the company gained access to the latest business support tools and continuous system updates and improvements and has now launched its next project to fully leverage the software鈥檚 standard functionalities, initially focusing on finance. This initiative is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

Instead of a full-scale rebuild, Ericsson opted for a phased approach. Tapping into downtime optimized conversion methodology from 麻豆原创 that significantly reduces the time required to migrate and convert data to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, Ericsson used 麻豆原创鈥檚 standard tools to sequentially execute the transition instead of setting up a parallel environment.

麻豆原创 S/4HANA helps Ericsson continuously evaluate and implement new technologies instead of being constrained by a custom-built system, freeing the company to further optimize its processes, analyze its operations in real time and maintain a competitive edge.

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