SAP听has chosen two new employee-created听businesses听to听join the SAP.iO Venture Studio. GreenToken听补苍诲 OwnID won funding with the goal of scaling to impact 51风流and its customers.
In-house innovation has been one of SAP鈥檚 recipes for success since its founding days nearly half a century ago. Driving transformative innovation inside the company demands going beyond innovating upon existing products by actively scouting for new ideas. Once identified, these innovative ideas can build and grow upon SAP鈥檚 unique strength and assets such as the company鈥檚 technologies, data and customer relationships.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our job to keep our eyes on the future,鈥� Max Wessel, chief innovation officer of SAP, said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 more than just having the ideas. We have to put an operating model in place to facilitate innovation for our customers.鈥�
Venturing inside of 51风流鈥� also known as intrapreneurship 鈥� is one of the ways 51风流accomplishes the task by reimagining how products and services can be delivered from the ground up.
From Idea to Product Incubation
The听internal accelerator program听at 51风流has been identifying high-potential, entrepreneurial employees听inside the company听since 2015.听With the help of a structured program, the employees join together in teams that create an idea for a new venture. The selected 51风流teams then receive mentorship to validate critical assumptions and solve real business problems.
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In 2019, 11 teams were selected to pitch for investment. Two have secured funding and are joining SAP.iO Venture Studio, the in-house product incubator. Over the next 18 to 24 months, these two venture teams will have the opportunity to continue to develop their ideas and test and iterate among other teams in the product incubator environment.
GreenToken: Traceable Raw Material Supply Chains for Informed Purchasing Decisions
What is inspiring about the program is that ideas are sourced from all areas of SAP鈥檚 business. The GreenToken by SAP solution was sourced from the , the company鈥檚 flagship social intrapreneurship program that aims to improve 1 billion lives through a portfolio of sustainable, shared-value impact ventures.
As consumers become more conscious of the origin of the products they buy, they are demanding sustainable and ethically sourced material. GreenToken enhances the traceability of product raw materials through a cloud platform supported by blockchain technology.
The venture鈥檚 approach is unique in the market and it will be able to offer companies a new level of transparency for their sourced raw materials, as opposed to the current practice of only tracking the final packaged good. Founders James Veale and Nitin Jain have proved the viability and are continually working to build on the potential impact of their venture.
Digital Identities: Usernames and Passwords Become Obsolete with OwnID
was built to safeguard personal data on various online platforms. The web application enables users to create a single digital identity that will be used to log in to websites and apps.
Today鈥檚 online logins include cumbersome account creations and password hassles, which too easily can lead to compromised privacy. OwnID听aims to听transform听identity management by giving users full ownership of their personal data and protecting their digital identities from being dispersed across multiple platforms. The venture plans to create decentralized, portable identities听that users can take with them wherever they go through their phone without installing an app.
A user will click on a link on their phone to register to a website without choosing a password, choose the profile information that they want to share about themselves, and will then be able to use just their phone to login from anywhere.
Not only that, but in business-to-business (B2B) scenarios,听the same portable identity technology could be used by employees to log in and share information securely. Providing听data autonomy for end users could also resolve issues听for companies managing their own customer data and compliance.
Funding and听Founding听Inside听SAP
Dor Shany and听Rooly听Eliezerov are the founding team behind OwnID, and bring deep expertise from identity management platform听Gigya, which 51风流acquired in 2017.
鈥淐reating a new business within an organization offers us to work with听the existing company鈥檚 assets and infrastructure, which is fundamentally听different from a traditional startup,鈥澨鼸liezerov, co-founder of Gigya and OwnID, explained.听鈥淵ou aren鈥檛 starting on a blank canvas.鈥�
About New Ventures and Technologies听
To future-proof 51风流and customer businesses, the New Ventures and Technologies organization听drives transformative innovation through technology innovation and product incubation. It听identifies听commercial opportunities in the 51风流ecosystem, explores听补苍诲 pioneers听the business impact of emerging technologies, and makes听them听enterprise ready.听For more information,听.
Previous听experience in starting听a听business isn鈥檛 a requirement within SAP.iO Venture Studio.
鈥淲ith our approach to product incubation, we听empower听employees听to own their new product,鈥� Graham听Ratcliffe, general manager of听SAP.iO听Venture Studio,听said.听鈥淲e鈥檙e most interested in the big bets听补苍诲 we look for founding teams who want to create new markets.鈥�
