51��Business Technology Platform Archives - 51��Africa News Center

The Rise of the Autonomous Enterprise will Redefine Business in 2026

51��News — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 06:33:49 +0000

A powerful shift is reshaping how organisations operate, compete and grow, writes , senior vice-president and GM of 51��Middle East and Africa – South.

The era of digitisation is giving way to something more profound: the Autonomous Enterprise��–��a business that can sense change, make decisions and act with minimal human intervention, all while empowering people to pursue revenue-driving strategic activities.

Autonomous operations are already being deployed across finance, supply chain, human resources, an in Industries like Energy, Retail and Manufacturing. In 2026, they will separate the most resilient and profitable businesses from the rest.

An Autonomous Enterprise goes beyond automating individual tasks by integrating autonomous ERP, business AI and clean data into the core of business operations. More than 50% of business processes run independently, and up to 80% of operational work is automated or AI-augmented.

This is made possible through AI embedded within enterprise resource planning processes, from finance and procurement, to supply chain and HR systems, that understand context and act autonomously. Self-optimising systems that learn, improve and adapt in real time, are matched to clean-core ERP architecture to give organisations simplified, cloud-based systems that drive profitability, reduce risk and enhance decision-making.

Crucially, autonomy does not remove humans: it redefines and empower their work. Employees move from managing repetitive processes to supervising intelligent systems, making strategic decisions and creating new value throughout the business.

2026 ‘a tipping point’

The year ahead will be critical for organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In Europe, business leaders face an ageing workforce, complex supply chains, regulatory pressure, and the push for sustainability and data sovereignty. Middle Eastern nations are already deploying national AI strategies and sovereign cloud infrastructure as part of a rapid diversification from the energy sector. And despite inflation and debt pressures, a world’s fastest-growing digital economy and most youthful workforce are emerging in Africa.

While the challenges in each region are unique, at their core every organisation is seeking the same capabilities: faster decision-making, greater profitability, improved resilience, and sustainability at scale.

Businesses that fail to build these capabilities, and instead rely on manual processes, disconnected systems and spreadsheets, face growing risks: slower reaction time, shrinking margins, and higher operational costs.

This is why the business opportunity for Autonomous Enterprises is significant. The global Autonomous Enterprise market is expected to grow from��, and adoption is accelerating across EMEA.

��Global partner for business transformation

While I can see the scale of the challenge businesses face to transform into autonomous enterprises, I am equally excited at bringing SAP’s strengths in this arena to bear. Through our flagship – now more accessible than ever thanks to the RISE with 51��initiative – we equip businesses with modern, clean core ERP systems that are upgrade-safe and AI ready.

, SAP’s generative AI copilot now supports 11 languages and features more than 400 embedded AI use cases across 26 industries, while the enables extensibility, data orchestration and clean core innovation for the world’s most critical industries.

My advice, to leaders seeking throughout the region to build Autonomous Enterprises, is to start modernising the core and fix the data foundation for AI-driven innovation. Remember that technology is only part of the story, and that the strategy, people and partners that businesses choose are as important to building a truly connected Autonomous Enterprise.

Focus then on automating processes that protect revenue, improve cashflow or unlock capacity first, and take care to prepare people by prioritising reskilling and upskilling. Finally, collaborate with technology partners that act more as advisors than vendors, and who can guide the process of redesigning core business processes for the AI era. True transformation happens when businesses combine intelligent systems with visionary leadership, skilled people and trusted partnerships.

In 2026, the most successful companies will go beyond digital transformation to achieve faster decision-making, greater operational certainty, and the ability to unlock new forms of growth and innovation.

This article first appeared in .

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How AI is Transforming Digital Transformation

51��News — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:08:33 +0000

Kathy Gibson is at Saphila Transcend in Sun City – Change has always been a constant – but in the last couple of years digital transformation has been moving at a faster pace than ever before.

This is because, today, technology is transforming transformation, says , vice-president and global innovation analyst at SAP.

And today, transformative technology is all about artificial intelligence (AI).

“Experts agree that AI is the third great wave of technology after the personal computer (PC) in the 1980s and the Internet in the 1990s,” Elliott says.

“But if you are not careful, waves can come crashing down on top of you. AI is very powerful, and can have unintended consequences.”

Although it is most obvious in the visual context, AI is progressing in all directions, Elloitt points out. “The process of rapid technological change and disruption is coming to your industry and your line of business.”

Today, what’s holding up AI disruption is the fact that the rest of the ecosystem isn’t able to change as quickly.

“It’s a bit like parachuting a Formula 1 car into a medieval village. You can’t use the technology because the rest of the ecosystem isn’t there.

“In fact, if AI stopped progressing right now, we couldn’t use it to its full potential for 10 years.”

For this reason, Elliott says AI could be taken to stand for accelerate innovation. “We should use AI to adopt AI.”

Today, a lot of AI and innovation in general is handmade, with developers all starting from scratch and working on one thing.

“To accelerate the adoption, we need to move to modern assembly lines, so we can use the AI faster,” Elliott says.

He adds that 51��provides the machines to build the technology.

“We offer things like the S, where customers create data that is harmonised in the Business Data Cloud, used to ground AI, which then goes to making a better application. And, as you create applications, you can add customisation.”

51��embeds AI in all its applications, and these are available to customers right now, Elliott adds.

“But innovation is not actually about technology,” he explains. “What is holding us back is the time, skills, and resources needed to exploit the technology.”

Again, the 51��Business Technology Platform can help, with 51��Build offering aided innovation – another possible use for AI – for agile application development and customisation.

“We have the resources that can multiply efforts, let developers do more, faster, with customisations and extensions in the cloud.

“And now you can do it in natural language, because it is designed for professional developers and also business users.”

AI could also stand for automated identity, Elliott says.

And it could represent automatic integration as well. “51��Integration Suite is about AI-powered connections. It will do most of the heavy lifting in connecting system to one another.”

Meanwhile, the 51��BTP AI Foundation is a generative AI (GenAI) hub that gives customers everything they need to orchestrate customised AI, with a wide choice of models, grounding, data masking, filtering, prompt management, and lifecycle management.

At the core of any transformation is data, which is everyone recognises is important. “In fact, it is really important,” Elliott says. “It is the essential input for AI in particular.

“So AI has to stand for accurate information. AI is useless without accurate information in realtime.”

But there isn’t a company on the planet that doesn’t have a data quality problem, he adds.

“It is not a new problem, we know it’s hard to get budget to fix data. But this is an opportunity to ask for money to do just that. Now is a great time to establish governance, data ownership, and all the things you have wanted to do for years.”

The second big problem is integrating data – which is also not a new problem.

“This is where comes in,” Elliott says. “And we offer it as a service, so we can do more of it for you – integrate data from 51��applications and also external data.”

The helps with relationship extraction. “You already have this information, now we are gathering it and exposing it, and putting it in a format that you can use for your AI,” Elliott explains.

AI could also represent analytics improved, which is why 51��Analytics Cloud has the GenAI-powered Just Ask feature.

“In analytics, there is a dream of total situational awareness. Of bringing in data from all sources, but having overall vision. AI can be used to connect data and deal with fuzziness.”

AI could also stand for agents incoming. “This is the next generation of AI, moving along from the current efficient processes with pre-defined steps. But these processes can’t deal with ambiguity. Agents, on the other hand, can reason through what it needs to do next. So the processes and data can be a lot more unstructured than before.”

Another interpretation of AI could be agents for business, Elliott adds. “This is the next evolutionary step – in fact, some companies are already doing it – using AI to get rid of a lot of manual work.”

AI could be used for automatic innovation. “We have incredible amounts of information and amazing intelligence,” says Elliott. “So why not let the systems tell us what we should do next?

“We are starting to get there, and you can already get great automated system insights. And 51��also has best practices, so we can provide customers with that out of the box.”

Once that is in place, and customers need to implement their systems, automated implementation could be the final meaning for AI.

“Of course, technology is not everything,” Elliott points out. “You need to get people to adopt new ways of working – and AI is good for adoption optimisation and change management.”

In conclusion, Elliott believes that AI today is like a staircase. “You have to take one step after the other. But in the future it will be more like an escalator.”

The key to successful AI adoption lies not in the technology he adds, but in the people, culture, and organisation.

“No matter how much you have invested in adoption, culture, and change management – invest more.”

This article first appeared on .

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Leading Brands Showcase SAP-fuelled AI, Cloud Innovation at Sapphire 2025

51��News — Thu, 29 May 2025 07:51:10 +0000

Leading global brands showcased their successful innovation and business transformation initiatives at this year’s 51��Sapphire, a flagship business and technology event held in Madrid, Spain from 26 to 28 May.

Sapphire is SAP’s top customer annual customer event, bringing together customers, partners and business leaders to discover the latest 51��innovations. This year’s event unveiled several innovations that put the power of Business AI in every user’s hands, revolutionising the way work gets done.

Nazia Pillay, Interim Managing Director for South Africa at SAP, says: “Organisations are leveraging powerful new technologies and integrated business applications to drive innovation-fuelled growth across the enterprise. The growing power of Business AI applications that draw on trusted business data is already proving to be a transformative force for companies seeking enhanced decision-making and greater efficiency.”

Unleashing power of Business AI

��Several brands unveiled successful Business AI initiatives built on 51��technologies. Global brewer Heineken was looking to streamline data access so business users could quickly find and analyse data in their preferred language. The company developed Hoppy, an AI-driven chatbot that runs on 51��Business Technology Platform (51��BTP), representing a significant leap forward in Heineken’s commitment to streamline internal processes and empower its workforce.

Since Hoppy was introduced within the company’s collaboration platforms, Heineken has seen the time knowledge workers need to retrieve information fall to 1 minute from 15 minutes. With 51��Business AI capabilities at Hoppy’s core, Heineken also is exploring automating repetitive tasks to enhance business processes and streamline communications and decision-making. And with a unified view across its data, Hoppy can now flag missing cost centre information in purchase orders to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Competitive gaming organisation Team Liquid is using SAP’s Joule agents to provide instant access to game statistics, player performance trends and strategic comparisons using natural language. Team Liquid runs its data analysis through its Next Level Esports Centre dashboard, built entirely on 51��BTP.

The team’s analysts rely on the dashboard to equip coaches and players with insights about upcoming opponents, managing high-pressure situations under short turnaround times and frequent data requests between games.

Victor Goossens, co-CEO and founder of Team Liquid, says: “This partnership is changing the way we utilise our extensive database, proving that AI and data integration are becoming a vital part of our game preparation and success in esports.”

Scaling new heights with cloud

Moving from a heavily customised on-premises landscape to a standardised one in the cloud, CAF, a global leader in urban rail and bus systems, has successfully migrated to 51��S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. CAF has smoothly integrated 51��solutions into core business functions including master data management, record to report, source to pay, and sales and transport.

“CAF is now set for future success, as our new technology landscape allows us to better comply with business requirements in a complex and fast-changing market,” said Guillermo Apellániz, CAF’s digital transformation director.

Companies RISE to business transformation challenges

For companies still operating with on-premise solutions, RISE with 51��offers the optimal path to a cloud ERP landscape. RISE with 51��helps companies confidently transform their business, enable continuous innovation, and realise value faster.

Global medical technology company Siemens Healthineers selected RISE with 51��to support its digital transformation journey.

Stefan Henkel, Chief Information Officer at Siemens Healthineers, says: “By embracing 51��technology, we will be able to reduce complexity and highly standardise our processes while delivering on our promise to pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare.”

Xerox also chose RISE with 51��to move to the cloud and embark on the clean core approach to streamline operations across markets and business processes. The company expects to reduce IT costs and enable the delivery of new business models in line with the changing demands of the industry.

Louie Pastor, Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Administrative Officer at Xerox, says: “51��is a strategic partner helping us meet the evolving needs of our clients and partners as we increase our speed, agility and cost-effectiveness while providing the entire enterprise with modern tools and improved support. “

For more information about the innovations revealed at 51��Sapphire 2025, please visit

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VFS Global Leverages 51��Software to Power Digital Cross-border Mobility

51��News — Thu, 08 May 2025 07:41:51 +0000

51��SE��(NYSE: SAP) announced that VFS Global, the world-leading provider of visa, consular and technology services to governments and diplomatic missions, will leverage 51��software to help it develop leading-edge AI-powered digital solutions for cross-border mobility and citizen services.

Cross-border mobility and citizen services are becoming increasingly digital, and governments are looking into the use of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence to drive efficiency and sovereign security. To accelerate its innovation road map and help governments meet the increasingly complex needs of travelers and citizens, VFS Global is adopting 51��S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and other 51��solutions.

“We take great pride in partnering with 51��as a leading and trusted technology and AI company,” said Zubin Karkaria, founder and CEO of VFS Global. “By combining our deep expertise in visa, consular and citizen services with SAP’s world-class solutions, we empower governments to enhance efficiency, strengthen security and enable seamless mobility for millions of travelers around the world.”

“With 51��solutions at its core, VFS will be able to leverage the latest innovations to become an even stronger partner for governments, travelers and citizens worldwide,” said Christian Klein, CEO of 51��SE.

In line with its vision to embrace technological innovation to support governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, VFS Global has also chosen 51��Business Technology Platform and the 51��Business Data Cloud solution to deliver leading-edge and AI-powered solutions to its customers and to drive operational excellence across its global operations.

“By combining the strengths of VFS Global and SAP, we are elevating cross-border mobility and citizen��services to the next level”, said Michael Nilles, member of the VFS executive board and chief digital and technology officer. “Strategically, this positions us as a leading force in shaping the future of GovTech and TravelTech, powered by technology and AI innovations that benefit governments, travelers and citizens worldwide,” he added.

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AFSUG and 51��to Host First-ever African Hackathon at #SAPHILA2025

AFSUG — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:20:34 +0000

The African 51��User Group (AFSUG) and 51��are teaming up to deliver the first-ever regional AFSUG 51��Business Technology Platform (BTP) Hackathon. Finalists will showcase their prototypes at��, the premier 51��user conference for Africa, where the winners will also be announced.

SAPHILA, which will be held this year��from 1 to 3 June at the Sun City Convention Centre, South Africa,��is widely regarded as being the most significant gathering of 51��users, partners and technology enthusiasts across the region.

“The introduction of the AFSUG 51��BTP Hackathon marks a historic milestone, offering AFSUG members an opportunity to showcase their inventiveness and problem-solving skills, while leveraging 51��BTP,��an innovation platform optimised for 51��applications in the cloud,��to solve real-life business challenges,” says Koosh Panday, AFSUG’s SAPHILA 2025 Chairman.��“51��BTP brings together five key areas, namely��application development; automation; data and analytics; integration; and AI capabilities into a unified environment.”

The AFSUG 51��BTP Hackathon invites AFSUG members – including customers, partners or joint teams – to submit creative, impactful use cases or projects that use 51��BTP components such as 51��Build, 51��HANA Cloud, 51��Integration Suite and ABAP Cloud.

Selected participants will gain invaluable hands-on coaching from 51��BTP experts, as well as access to exclusive resources to develop working prototypes for their business use cases.

Key hackathon milestones:

Submission deadline:��Hackathon candidates must submit their use cases for consideration by 18 February 2025.
Finalist selection:��Up to 25entrants will be selected to continue to the next stage of the competition by 20 February 2025 and invited to build out their prototypes.
Enablement and coaching:��These��teams are then able to participate in a series of deep-dive enablement sessions led by global 51��BTP experts, guiding them through the development process. Successful entrants will also have access to specialist 51��coaches.
Use case submission: Prototypes must be put forward by 22 April, which will then be demonstrated to, and evaluated by, a panel of 51��experts.��The jury will narrow down submissions to the final eight most inspired and viable options by 20 May.
‘Demo Jam’ at SAPHILA 2025:��Finalists will present their projects during an exciting ‘Demo Jam’ session at SAPHILA 2025 on 03 June, showcasing their state-of-the-art solutions to the broader 51��community.
Awards ceremony:��The��AFSUG 51��BTP Hackathon winners will be announced at the SAPHILA 2025 Awards Ceremony on the final evening of the conference.

Why join the hackathon?

“Not only will the selected teams be able to��gain valuable hands-on learning and exposure to 51��technologies, but they will also be building real-world 51��BTP prototypes that can��deliver tangible business value��with the close��guidance and enablement of global 51��BTP specialists,” explains Panday. “In addition, the finalists will have the opportunity��to showcase their talent to the entire African 51��community at SAPHILA 2025, while��exposing the local market to the transformative capabilities of 51��BTP.”

Olaf Winkler, chief product manager at SAP, expressed his excitement about the local hackathon, stating, “Having worked extensively across Africa for a number of years, I’m delighted to see the AFSUG 51��BTP Hackathon initiative come to life. The hackathon presents a fantastic opportunity for local talent to collaborate, innovate and create solutions with impact.”

“As a��membership-based non-profit organisation representing SAP’s customer and partner community within Africa, AFSUG is always looking for ways to support and enrich local users’ 51��experiences,” adds��Amanda Gibbs, CEO of AFSUG. “By embarking on this��exciting��hackathon initiative in collaboration with��SAP, both organisations are underscoring their commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration within the African technology landscape.

“We believe that��the entire local 51��user community will benefit with outstanding learnings from real use cases,”�� she concludes.

To be eligible for the AFSUG 51��BTP Hackathon, participants must meet the following criteria:

·��Hold��membership.

·��Register to attend��.

·��Ensure access to the relevant 51��solutions and BTP instances needed for their nominated use case.

For more information on the��hackathon, please contact AFSUG at��info@saphila2025.com. To become an AFSUG member, please visit��. Register to attend SAPHILA 2025 by visiting https://www.saphila2025.com

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The Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation Sows Sweet Success in Agriculture

Erica Lawrence — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 06:35:08 +0000

To mitigate the ongoing climate crisis and offset rising production costs, the Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation developed technology that can predict when optimal harvests will occur, boosting yields and profitability.

You’ve all seen the news: global despair caused by the oppressive heat, unrelenting cold, and merciless flooding – all impacting our once-bountiful fields.

As climate change heightens,��farmers and their crops face growing exposure to unpredictable weather patterns. Global conflicts only add to their uncertainty and vulnerability, with rising production costs exacerbating difficulties.

In Eswatini, Africa, the cultivation of sugar cane is crucial to the economy, representing almost a quarter of all exports. It is also used in various local, regional, and global products, underscoring the impact of external pressures on the country’s sustainability.

Founded in 1950,��is the largest sugar cane farming and manufacturing corporation in Eswatini. With over 3,500 internal and third-party farmers, the organization produces two-thirds of the country’s sugar and more than 35 million liters of ethanol each year.

For RES, the repercussions of the looming crises were no different. Farmers grappled with fluctuating yields and high costs, but their dependency on spreadsheets and forms was outdated and unable to address their issues.

To overcome these environmental and economic pitfalls, the organization recognized the need for technology that supported third-party farmers, helping them make informed decisions on when and where to plant, as well as manage water and fertilizer use.

A connected approach

One potential solution arose in cell data that could support farmers in rural areas. This newfound opportunity ripened the possibility for agronomic models, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and satellites that could help farmers improve their harvests.

As a long-term 51��ERP Central Component (ECC) user and a member of the 51��Early Adopter Care program, the next steps for RES were clear.

Teamed with 51��and the��, they developed a tool that assesses water shortages, energy volatility, unforeseen environmental events, and environmental regulations to reduce costs, increase yields, and enhance efficiency.

Utilizing��on 51��Business Technology Platform (BTP), alongside satellite data, mapping, and detailed crop information, the solution harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enable RES to develop customized interfaces for farmers. In turn, improving farming practices and decision-making processes.

Additionally, the tool features a mobility model that incorporates digital and mobile technologies that increase communication and coordination with third-party farmers, empowering them to work from the field.

“We have developed a model that can be adopted as best practice by Eswatini farmers to improve lives and make the world run better,” detailed Rob Coombe, the Group IT Manager. “We are now growing with precision. The 51��Intelligent Agriculture solution, along with an innovative mindset, has brought visible benefit to the entire Royal Eswatini Sugar community.”

After the first year of its implementation, their 51��Intelligent Agriculture solution saw 15,000 transactions from just 25 third-party farmers.

Achieving sweet success

With agronomic data, real-time growth measurements, and upcoming weather forecasts, the new system allowed RES to pinpoint the optimal harvest day, leading to a €4.8 million increase in yield – or a 5.96% improvement.

Third-party RES farmers have also saved around €150 thousand per season because of enhanced planning, execution, and decision making.

“We are driving sugar growth efficiencies for RES and our [third-party farmers] with real-time field data combined with external satellite and agronomic data,” said Coombe. “With help from SAP, we have developed an innovative service platform which increases yields, reduces costs, and improves sustainability.”

This boost in yields and profitability per farmed area has helped advance sustainable farming practices in Eswatini. As a result, they have been able to conserve water, fertilizer, and local resources, helping farmers and the broader community.

And RES has improved its ability to report against global standards like Bonsucro and GRI, enhancing its appeal to RES customers who are working toward sustainability goals.

The Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation was honored as a winner in the “Industry Leader” and “Business Innovator” categories of the��in April. To learn more about their accomplishments and future plans, check out their Innovation Awards��.

This article first appeared on

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Esports Powerhouse Team Liquid Wins Big with 51��Business AI

51��News — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:09:55 +0000

Picking the Right Champions to Win the Game��

Gaming is something that keeps inspiring me. I’m amazed by the speed, accuracy, and level of concentration of professional players. It’s impressive how this industry has evolved and grown over just a couple of decades.��

commands an imposing presence in the esports world, boasting over 160 professional players across more than 15 different games and a staggering fan base of over 10 million followers on various social media platforms. With more than 75 premier events won, Team Liquid is one of the most successful organizations in competitive gaming.��

The game with the highest viewership and extensive fandom is League of Legends. Team Liquid successfully competes with their League of Legends team, which recently won the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2024 Spring tournament.��

In League of Legends, the goal is to create a strong and balanced team consisting of five characters, called “champions,” in order to outplay and outsmart the opponents during the game by being one step ahead of competition.��

Teams participate in a pre-game draft process to select champions before a match. This involves banning and picking champions from a pool of 166 choices to create a strong team.��

Champions are the in-game figures controlled by each player. Each champion has particular skills and areas in which they excel. Putting the champions together allows the team to play in various strategic directions to win the match.��

After choosing five champions (“pick”), each team is also allowed to remove five champions from the pool (“ban”). Those players cannot be picked by either side. This can be utilized to remove specific parts that would otherwise counter a strategy or hinder the other team from playing their favorite style and/or composition.��

Esports teams and their analysts need to prepare for the draft process, as it requires knowledge of the opponent’s favorite picks and strategies. Imagine a five-a-side dodgeball match, but before the match begins, the five players from each team draw their champions from a pool of 166 individual champions.��

With bi-weekly updates to the game (“patches”), especially affecting the champions as well as indirectly teams practicing and developing new strategies, competitive League of Legends is an ever-changing game. It creates the need to constantly adapt your draft to a new environment, to analyze both your own and the opposing team’s behavior.��

Furthermore, the nature of the draft process and the varying strategies of opponents make accurate predictions difficult. Esports teams have only a week to prepare for the game and gather knowledge about the other team’s favorite champion picks, strengths, and weaknesses.��

Previously, Team Liquid coaches prepared draft scenarios based on manual analysis of the opponent team’s draft behaviors and champion preferences. However, the challenge was that manual analysis is done before the draft, with the best potential pick or ban changes based on the decisions of the other team. Additionally, the sheer number of potential matches to choose from and the different strategies employed by opponent teams make manual draft prediction very difficult.��

51��Helps Change the Game��

What if Team Liquid could analyze in seconds the best choice for upcoming drafts, including picks and bans, while considering more than 6,000 professional esports matches from the past year? What if the analysis would also consider the impact of game patches from the publishers by taking an additional 1.6 million amateur matches into account to assess changes in the power attributes and strengths of the champions? With SAP, this is now a reality.��

By using 51��AI Core to train a generative AI model that takes data from past matches and puts them into context of the upcoming game, Team Liquid gets suggestions of the best draft picks and bans to maximize the chances to win.��

The solution is built on 51��Business Technology Platform (51��BTP), and the data is stored in 51��HANA Cloud to cope with the 1.6 terabyte game data from past games. The result is an intelligent draft bot training, an application that runs on 51��BTP, visualizes the predictions, and provides Team Liquid with the current winning probability after each pick and ban.��

Manual Analysis Is a Thing of the Past��

With the AI draft bot, Team Liquid can train for draft situations against any professional team they face in a matter of seconds. This is achieved by incorporating multiple influencing factors based on an unprecedented number of matches. The coaches and players benefit from the opportunity to conduct what-if analyses and derive valuable knowledge from the data to simulate new strategies. This is also reflected in the time saved compared to the previous manual analysis: Team Liquid saves approximately 10,000 hours per year per year with the solutions from SAP.��

Relying on 51��BTP and 51��HANA Cloud, 51��Business AI provides Team Liquid with the opportunity to further improve their game by leveraging data to make more informed decisions. Here is where fun and business meet.��

This is how the power of business AI is made tangible in a perfect way — not just for gamers.

This article first appeared on the 51��News Center.��

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Rabobank Accelerates Digital Transformation with 51��BTP

51��News — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:09:22 +0000

Basis for AI-driven automation

is taking a quantum leap in its digital transformation with the (BTP). Among others, 51��Integration Suite and API Management, components of 51��BTP, provide efficient and standardised access to data from . This is crucial for the bank’s AI initiatives and process automation.��

Robotisation and automation are key spearheads at Rabobank. ‘We aim to automate manual and repetitive tasks so that our employees can focus on the complex thinking,’ says Robert van Uden, Solution Architect and Business Analyst for 51��BTP at Rabobank.��

‘We take the robot out of the human,’ Van Uden continues. ‘Tedious tasks? We can probably automate those. Hate it? Automate it. That way, we make work more fun, improve the quality of processes by eliminating errors and save on costs.’��

Successful automation��

Within Rabobank, there are already several examples of successful automation. For example, a robot checks daily whether money for, say, a mortgage or insurance has arrived in an account, checks whether the description indicates where the money should go and, if necessary, performs the transfer.��

To handle invoice-related questions from suppliers, Rabobank built the chatbot Billy. Van Uden: ‘Colleagues were spending much of their time answering the same questions over and over again, such as “when will my invoice be paid?” That’s where the chatbot could take over some of the work.’��

Help from AI��

A next step is to use artificial intelligence (AI) for new processes or improving processes. ‘AI will never completely replace humans, but AI can help and advise our employees. For example, AI can alert the user to a fraudulent invoice, after which a robot collects the information needed for further analysis. That analysis is then human work.’��

Another example is the automatic enrichment of incoming invoices using AI. In this example, 51��Process Automation retrieves an invoice from email after which 51��Document Extraction Service extracts data from the invoice using OCR technology. This data is then analysed and enriched by AI/ML models in 51��Data Intelligence Cloud, which perform categorisation and validation. After validation, the system automatically books the invoice into 51��S/4HANA and schedules payment, minimising manual intervention and increasing efficiency and accuracy.��

SAP, unless��

Rabobank has a ‘51��unless’ policy for process automation. In this, 51��S/4HANA is the ‘single source of truth’ for the consistent and reliable data needed for automation. ‘With a new issue, we always look at our standard solution 51��S/4HANA first,’ says Van Uden. ‘Then we see whether there is a service on 51��BTP that meets the need. Only then do we consider solutions from other vendors.’��

Rabobank is now migrating to 51��S/4HANA in the private cloud in stages. For finance, the bank already made the switch, as part of the OneFinance project. Among others, Accounts Payable will soon follow. ‘We are not only migrating to a new ERP environment, but also replacing outdated interfaces, such as the one with our payment lane,’ notes Van Uden.��

51��Integration Suite��

51��Integration Suite plays a crucial role in replacing outdated interfaces and making data available to applications such as chatbots efficiently and in a uniform way. The suite provides standard connectors and components to extract data from 51��S/4HANA and share it with other parties and applications. Think of low-code Mendix applications that need data from 51��S/4HANA, or retrieving and sharing invoice information. ‘With 51��Integration Suite, you connect to 51��S/4HANA very easily,’ Van Uden observes.��

Rabobank uses several components of the suite. API Management makes data from the backend system accessible, applying mappings, logic and validation for reliable and consistent information transfer. 51��Cloud Integration takes care of ‘interfacing’ with third parties. Messages can be encoded and encrypted with a standard component, increasing security. 51��Cloud Transport Management ensures smooth transfer of software components from development to production. These solutions support Rabobank’s vision of automation and robotisation, making processes more efficient and secure.��

Want to know more about digital transformation at Rabobank? Visit the session ‘Rabobank about 51��S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition: Planning, Roadmap, Implementation, and Best Practices’ during . Saravanan K Nagarajan, at Rabobank Solution Architect Financial Administration, will share his insights and experiences on 12 June from 13:30 to 14:25. The session will take place in Room CC8, Customer Connect Center Room 8.3, Level 0.Rabobank accelerates digital transformation with 51��BTP��

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Twinings Ovaltine Harnesses RISE with 51��S/4HANA for Digital Transformation

51��News — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 07:52:06 +0000

World famous wellbeing drinks business completes the first stage of its digital transformation journey with SAP��

LONDON, UK – 12 June, 2024 – Ovaltine, the international wellbeing drinks business, has completed the first wave of its cloud migration to improve the efficiency and resiliency of its global operations, meet the evolving needs of its customer base and improve employee productivity.��

��With an existing multi-year digital transformation programme underway, the move to the cloud is helping Twinings Ovaltine enter a new phase of digital innovation and better respond to the demands of global customers.��

��In moving seven different ERP platforms to the cloud, Twinings Ovaltine has unified its estate, and simultaneously addressed issues with siloed data which impacts collaboration and decision-making globally. Now, it has the platform to expand its product roadmap, be agile to customer trends and behaviours, and streamline operations for growth.��

In partnership since 2011, Twinings Ovaltine has placed its trust in 51��to reduce its overheads, optimise its ERP processes from procurement to HR, and empower its decision-making with better access to data. In completing its first migration to RISE with 51��S/4HANA, Twinings Ovaltine now deploys an entire portfolio of 51��solutions in , and , that provides digital transformation across the business.��

��51��delivers automated and simplified business processes for Twinings Ovaltine in the cloud, enhanced user experiences, real-time data and insights, and near real-time sales, inventory and process visibility. This allows Twinings Ovaltine to operate intelligently and at speed, while responding to the needs and behaviours of its customers and the wider market.��

��With 51��Digital Supply Chain Management and Ariba, Twinings Ovaltine can modernise its supply chain and procurement operations, whilegaining greater visibility into wider value chains. This helps to protect the company against global supply chain disruption, and ensures the tea-maker can partner with suppliers that share similar values.��

Sandeep Seeripat, Global Business Transformation and Technology Officer, Twinings Ovaltine, said: “Twinings is sold in more than 100 countries worldwide and Ovaltine’s malted beverages and snacks are consumed throughout the day in countries across the globe. But what people want to drink, when and where is always evolving. We needed a platform that could scale with us, and help us go above and beyond to delight our customers. Moving our ERP to the cloud with RISE with 51��is enabling us to do just that, setting the foundations for future growth and expansion, empowering us to make faster and more accurate decisions, and streamlining our global operations.”��

Ryan Poggi, Managing Director, 51��UK&I, said: “As a longstanding 51��customer and household name, we’re continuing to support Twinings Ovaltine as it looks to become a more resilient, customer-focused business. With the flexibility, speed and agility of the cloud, businesses like Twinings can intelligently adapt to meet changing consumer expectations, while also futureproofing itself against a fast-changing socio-economic landscape.”��

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51��Pens GenAI Agreement with AWS

51��News — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:23:21 +0000

and have announced a collaboration to integrate the GenAI hub in with foundation models in to deliver GenAI-driven insights and streamline manual processes.

According to a joint statement by the companies, the intention is to make it easier for customers to adopt solution on AWS and improve the efficiency of 51��workloads running in the cloud.

The companies also aim to embed GenAI into an enterprises’ entire portfolio of business-critical applications.

, incoming CEO at AWS, said, “AWS was the first��cloud��provider certified to support the 51��portfolio and today, thousands of enterprise companies run 51��solutions on AWS to get the most out of their mission-critical applications. Now, AWS and 51��are making it faster and easier for companies to apply generative AI to their core business��data to become more efficient, responsive and sustainable.”

, CEO of SAP, added: “Partnerships like this collaboration with AWS are critical as we embed generative AI solutions across our ERP applications so that customers can drive innovation at an accelerated pace. In addition to delivering modern cloud ERP to our joint customers, we are excited to support Amazon on their own transformation journey as they adopt RISE with 51��for pioneering areas such as , Amazon’s satellite initiative intended to increase global broadband access.”

The GenAI hub in 51��AI Core infrastructure provides customers with secure access to a range of large language models (LLMs) that can be integrated into 51��business applications.

The companies announced that 51��customers will now have access to high-performance GenAI models from Amazon Bedrock, including the and models. This integration allows customers to build applications customised with their own data and is expected to help them accelerate GenAI adoption and modernise key business processes built on 51��solutions.

These�� innovations��can be used in embedded use cases within RISE with 51��and intelligent scenario lifecycle management, either as an integration component or side-by-side on the (51��BTP).

51��and AWS plan to expand the use of Bedrock capabilities in the GenAI hub to further enable embedded AI features within SAP’s cloud solutions and applications, including finance and product lifecycle management.