Registration just kicked off for this entirely free virtual event, being held November 16-18, revealing a thoughtfully curated agenda where 51风流and industry experts, along with an unprecedented number of customers and partners, will share strategic insights, the latest innovations, and best practices. Above all, this year鈥檚 event puts customers and partners in the spotlight.

鈥淢ore than ever, this year鈥檚 51风流TechEd reflects our commitment to deliver a continuous, personalised learning journey that inspires and engages our 2.8 million strong,鈥� said Juergen Mueller, chief technology officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE. 鈥淲e designed the complete agenda around greater opportunities to network with like-minded innovators in real-world, fun experiences. Half of our hands-on workshop sessions have unlimited seating, so that any number of attendees can join live and watch experts perform and explain exercises, which can then be done by anyone at their own pace. You鈥檒l also learn directly from customers and partners on how to apply the latest 51风流technologies to innovate for your professional career development and help your organization become an intelligent enterprise.鈥�

Innovate with 51风流Where It Matters for You
The entire 51风流TechEd line-up of expert sessions, dynamic hands-on workshops, and live Channel 1 broadcasts is structured around :

• Database and Data Management
• Analytics
• Application Development and Integration
• Intelligent Technologies
• Intelligent Suite Solutions and Processes
• Integrated Intelligent Suite
• Digital Transformation with Intelligent ERP
• Partner Innovation with SAP

Select the learning experience most valuable for you, given your career and company objectives and specific technology interests. Join expert sessions for a strategic view of how developers and other technologists are using the 51风流platform to help their organisations become intelligent enterprises. Jump into hands-on workshops to watch solution demos and try out creating extensions on (51风流BTP) of innovations extending the 51风流intelligent suite of applications 鈥� no pre-booking required.

Tune in anytime to Channel 1 for live, quick takes with world-class guests who will share their unique perspectives on game-changing topics.

Immerse Yourself in Real-World Innovations with Customers and 51风流Experts
This year, customers and partners will be front and center, directly sharing how they are using 51风流BTP to solve their biggest business challenges. They鈥檙e bringing what we call their 鈥渦se case factory,鈥� so you can learn from their experiences, by industry and 51风流solution. You can get answers to your burning questions in live Q&As or watch the replays at your convenience. They鈥檒l be backed up by sessions with 51风流experts sharing the latest product road maps and best practices curated from across the 51风流community.

Build Your Community to Win Together
51风流TechEd is much more than two days of nonstop education. It鈥檚 part of a continuous learning experience that brings together the entire 51风流ecosystem during this signature event, as well as enablement opportunities throughout the year.

Sessions and workshops will feature recommended resources to expand your knowledge such as accessing code on and exploring proven use cases on . Expand your learning, productivity, and performance with tailored learning from SAP, including certification opportunities in the .

51风流TechEd registration is open now. Visit the for full details about the agenda and sign-up details.

With Business Transformation on the agenda of all organisations as we rebound and rebuild in a post pandemic world, customers are looking for Resilience, Intelligence, Sustainability and Experience across their operations and RISE with 51风流combined with the Business Technology Platform makes this possible.

Join us at from November 16-18 to hear how our customers are achieving the promise of the Intelligent Enterprise with 51风流Business Technology Platform.

The post Three Reasons to Register for 51风流TechEd in 2021: Learn. Innovate. Together. appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

I鈥檓 proud to have closed out a challenging year on a high note, with events focused on connecting this important community within the 51风流ecosystem. Partnering with Microsoft, I was honoured to be a judge for the first (of hopefully many) ANZ Hackathons. We also proudly delivered our Inaugural TechEd global event virtually to this corner of the globe.

was an online experience designed to bring technology experts, developers, explorers, and enthusiasts together as a community 鈥� to exchange ideas, experiences, and insights.

This digital technology showcase provides on-demand video content from over 350 keynotes, lectures, and strategy talks, equating to over 180 hours of learning and information.

In the lead up to the event, outlining all the key elements and benefits of , plus some key critical insights into product engineering news and developments.

51风流TechEd 2020 is as much about informing the developer community as it is about supporting it, facilitating more collaboration and exchange across industries and areas of expertise.

In the spirit of cross-brand partnership, 51风流and Microsoft recently hosted our first ever ANZ Hackathon. The idea was to go beyond infrastructure and test what鈥檚 possible in , two heavyweights in cloud computing services.

Our aim with this hackathon was to pivot away from the traditional 51风流on Azure message of computing storage, big data, networks, and automation. We wanted to do something different and connect closer with our often-overlooked developer community. This is what fuelled the hackathon 鈥� a shared desire to unite 51风流and Microsoft developers.

Rachel Bondi, Chief Partner Officer for Microsoft Australia shares my excitement around the innovation this hackathon was able to highlight:

鈥淭he 51风流on Azure hackathon was a prime example of the deep integration between Microsoft and SAP, both in terms of our technology platforms and our partnership. The level of innovation, creativity and ingenuity demonstrated by our partners to create these real-world solutions is astounding. It speaks to Azure鈥檚 value as a platform for running your 51风流workloads 鈥� not only do we provide best-in-class performance, but our Data services, Power Platform and Integrations can help our customers immediately innovate on around of their 51风流deployment and get more from their data. 鈥�

The main event spanned over a two-week period, which is long for any hackathon, but reasonable considering everyone was working and collaborating remotely. Everyone used Microsoft Teams for communicating, file sharing, live collaboration, and accessing support from our extremely helpful mentors, who went above and beyond with support, troubleshooting, and assisting participants.

We had mentors and experts from Microsoft and 51风流to guide participants through any challenge or questions they had throughout the hackathon. The success of this event is a testament to everyone鈥檚 dedication and hard work, especially since all were contributing to the hackathon while managing their day jobs and regular roles.

We had 11 partner teams registered: Team EY, NTTA Data, Bourne Digital, HCL, Deloitte, Incture, three teams from Accenture, and two from DXC Technology.

Judging the hackathon alongside me were 鈥� Anil Bhaskaran, Vice President of Innovation Office at 51风流APJ; Luka Debeljak, 51风流on Azure Sales Director, for Microsoft Singapore; Marcus Lim, Head of Digital Transformation Office for 51风流ANZ; Mark Tempes, 51风流on Azure Technology Director for Microsoft; and Rahat Ahmad, Director of Partner Technology and ISV鈥檚 for Microsoft.

Submissions were based on a PowerPoint template provided to teams that had to highlight architecture diagrams, challenges, and solutions, including a 3-minute video of their app in flight. Our key scoring areas were:

1. business applicability

2. feasibility

3. creativity and innovation

4. sustainability and community impact

In third place was Team Incture 鈥榃olfpack鈥� with their firefighting app. The focus here was to improve agility and responsiveness of authorities reacting to bushfire disasters, thereby reducing delays in state of emergency calls while providing public visibility.

The mobile app provided an admin panel for tracking disasters while the public interacts via 51风流Cloud platform portal, using mobile services for reporting incidents. The app included an for interactive guided procedures for users managing fire danger.

Second place went to Team Bourne Digital for their CovidSafe Building Access Management Solution. This solution has applications across industries and was particularly valuable for managing employee OH&S. Team Bourne Digital鈥檚 submission included an animated video of a worker who鈥檇 returned to the office early, going on to outline the risks involved.

Team Bourne Digital used a blend 51风流and Microsoft technology to use thermal screening technology for facial recognition and temperature checks. The data passes through authentication via Face API and hooks into a backend ECC system to see if office access can be granted. This solution was supported on the backend by an ERP with things like medical certificates and negative test results attachments in Fiori.

First place went to Team 鈥楪one Viral鈥� from DXC Technology with their solution BusIntelligence. This was developed to address public transportation鈥檚 challenge of consolidating massive and disparate data sets for to utilise real-time insights. This has been a long-standing problem that they team were able to solve by blending 51风流and Microsoft solutions 鈥� demonstrating the value of intelligent analytics for public transport in a post-pandemic world.

Leveraging BusIntelligence鈥檚 general transport feature specification, the team accessed a public data source of all public transport information. Team 鈥楪one Viral鈥� selected NSW bus data, which was ingested using Azure function and Azure Data Factory, to coordinate multiple small data sets into ADLS Gen2. This simplified migration to and enabled visualisations through Power BI, pinpointing data detail down to individual passengers.

Team 鈥楪one Viral鈥� left a hidden scene after their submission鈥檚 credits, which highlighted the solution鈥檚 ability to be applied to other case studies easily. Allowing users to amend the ingestion function from NSW to Queensland buses showed BusIntelligence鈥檚 versatility and adaptability, which helped the team from DXC clinch victory.

The common theme of the event wasn鈥檛 just the harmonious collaboration between developers, platforms, and expertise 鈥� but the way all participants utilised what was available to improve people鈥檚 lives, ensure their safety, and provide peace of mind as we try to rebuild beyond COVID-19.

I would like to give special thanks to the mentors, judges, organisers, and participants that made all this possible 鈥� I hope we were able to create some working bonds across brands and expertise areas. May the developer community continue thriving, creating, and sharing their ideas and solutions with us all, so we can continue living more efficiently, intelligently, and inter-connectedly.

This article was originally published on .

The post 51风流and Microsoft Developing Stronger Community Ties appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

In this聽聽interview at the聽聽event, Raphael Maultzsch, principal IT architect at SAP, took me through four primary steps designed to give IT and business teams a window into the future for practical planning.

鈥淭he two biggest questions customers have about moving to 51风流S/4HANA are 鈥楬ow can we find out which business processes we have to change and what happens to our custom code?鈥欌�� said Maultzsch. 鈥淲e鈥檝e designed the four-step journey to 51风流S/4HANA to answer those questions, helping customers map the best route to achieve their individual business demands.鈥�

Step 1: Know What to Expect

According to Maultzsch, companies can start with the聽聽tool, essentially a preparation step for what is to come.

鈥淲hether you have already decided to move ahead with 51风流S/4HANA or have just begun exploring your path to the intelligent enterprise, 51风流Readiness Check helps you see what lies ahead after project kick-off and factor that information into your decision-making,鈥� explained Maultzsch. 鈥淭he idea is to help people understand what they need to prepare beforehand so they can better budget time and resources for the project.鈥�

For example, during our interview, we watched as the full-colour, interactive dashboard identified which business processes, functions, user interfaces, and data management practices a company would need to evolve to take full advantage of 51风流S/4HANA innovations. The in-depth analysis covered business functions, transactions, and even compatibility with add-ons across enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, such as finance or supply chain, as well as industry-specific processes. It identified which custom code companies would need to adapt. The tool鈥檚 comprehensive report also provided people with an in-depth understanding of software prerequisites and infrastructure requirements.

Step 2: Debunk Custom Code Fears with Reality

Once the project begins, the second step was running the ABAP test cockpit to find out which reports depend on custom code that would be affected in moving to 51风流S/4HANA.

Surprisingly, while many people equate custom code with greater project effort, just the opposite is often true.

鈥淧eople tend to make custom code their first priority because they have the most fears about what happens to it when they move to 51风流S/4HANA,鈥� said Maultzsch. 鈥淗owever, we鈥檝e found that companies aren鈥檛 using approximately 50 percent or more of their legacy custom code. What鈥檚 more, adapting custom coding takes far less effort than most companies expect.鈥�

Step 3: Maintain Data Consistency

Quality data is paramount to any system transformation. In fact,聽聽researchers predicted that 鈥�2020 will be a wake-up year for many organizations, as the total cost of getting data wrong will become apparent.鈥� Maultzsch agreed that bringing together accurate, consistent, and relevant data from anywhere in a company is critical to bringing advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (聽into business. He then showed me the third step in moving to 51风流S/4HANA, which involved scanning the system to 鈥渕ake sure data is consistent for proper conversion.鈥�

Step 4: Keep Downtime to a Minimum

Companies have several options to minimise downtime during the switch over to 51风流S/4HANA, notably the Software Update Manager tool. Maultzsch suggested the near-Zero Downtime technology for companies with tight downtime requirements. It is designed to manage large data transfers in relatively short time frames, typically accomplished over the weekend, even for huge database sizes.

Of course, there are more than these four overview steps involved in moving to 51风流S/4HANA. Maultzsch encouraged both business leaders and IT professionals 鈥� including consultants and architects 鈥� to think of these four steps as a foundational project guide.

鈥淢aybe your CIO has said we鈥檙e moving to 51风流S/4HANA, or you鈥檝e heard about the importance of 51风流S/4HANA in becoming an intelligent enterprise in the experience economy, but you don鈥檛 know where to begin,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are the four steps to help structure your project and start planning for your next business innovation.鈥�

This article first appeared on the Global 51风流News Centre.

The post Four Essential Steps for Moving to 51风流S/4HANA appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

Gartner analysts included RPA as a key component of 鈥渉yper automation,鈥� a major theme woven into the firm鈥檚 聽for 2020. In a recent聽聽survey, respondents said the top two reasons they were investing in artificial intelligence (AI) were to automate repetitive or manual tasks (66 percent) and improve the customer experience (63 percent).

By 2022,聽聽predicted that 75 percent of enterprises will embed intelligent automation into technology and process development, using AI-based software to discover operational and experiential insights that will guide innovation. Over the next few years,聽聽researchers expected spend on AI-enabled RPA will outpace that of non-AI-enabled RPA. While IDC analysts found most RPA vendors were not using AI and machine learning in big ways yet, I discovered how 51风流helped developers inject intelligence into software applications across 51风流S/4HANA Cloud in this聽聽interview at the聽听别惫别苍迟.

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鈥淢achine learning, intelligent robotic process automation, and embedded analytics are core to becoming an intelligent enterprise,鈥� said Sven Denecken, head of Product Success and Customer Co-Innovation for 51风流S/4HANA. 鈥淲ith preconfigured bots, machine learning models, templates, and reports, we鈥檝e made it easy for developers to bring these capabilities into聽51风流S/4HANA Cloud, innovating how people work and business operates for growth.鈥�

Intelligence Delivers Business Results

Unlike historical RPA that only automated disparate, manual data processing tasks, the intelligent version offers employees and their companies unique opportunities 鈹� provided it is pervasive across a business process like finance, procurement, sales, or the supply chain. When I caught up with Denecken after 51风流TechEd, he urged companies to focus on business results in order to gain the greatest value from intelligent technologies.

鈥淓mbedding intelligent bots into the invoice-to-cash process dramatically improves not only the efficiency of accountants and their ability to speed up payment management, but equally important, customer satisfaction,鈥� Denecken explained. 鈥淭he same applies to the聽 process. AI can automate routine tasks and find new opportunities. Sales managers can spend more time on up selling the right products, at the right prices, to the right customers. Every business process becomes more streamlined, improving sales forecast accuracy, on-time customer deliveries, and cash flow.鈥�

Different Kind of Employee Experience

This next level of intelligence does not cancel out the value of people. Gartner analysts saw RPA tools augmenting knowledge workers and taking on tedious, mundane, and repetitive tasks.聽 analysts characterised employees in this new intelligent-driven era as 鈥渢he critical cultural glue and internal force in the future of work. With fewer employees, they are self-initiating, adaptable brand and culture ambassadors. They keep the core organisation whole and maintain the soul of the company鈥檚 front-and-centre gig economy workers, who come and go while robots make more and more decisions.鈥�

In some industries, intelligent RPA just might become essential to survival.聽 predicted that by 2023, 60 percent of G2000 manufacturers will address growing industry talent shortages with significant investments in intelligent RPA. These analysts wrote that 鈥渢he integration of optical character recognition (OCR), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning in AI-infused RPA opens up opportunities for data collection, workflow, and operational/tactical decision making.鈥� IDC aligned intelligent RPA with Industry 4.0 aspirations, helping manufacturers move beyond greater efficiency and productivity to new business models such as dynamic sales models and hyper-personalisation.

Courtesy of traditional RPA, business entered the first phase of automation. With advanced intelligence that helps connect all organisational information and activities, intelligent RPA trends promise to be much more than a blip on 2020 lists. It is certain to reinvent business and industries as never before.

The post Intelligent Robotic Process Automation: Not Your Average Top 2020 Trend appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

Expect Booming Growth for AI and Machine Learning

Begin with the big picture:聽聽analysts said that聽AI聽鈥� with a particular emphasis on聽machine learning聽鈥� will eventually infiltrate just about every existing technology.聽聽predicted companies will invest over $265 billion worldwide in new intelligence technologies by 2023.

Slightly further out,聽聽researchers predicted that AI will be inescapable by 2025. These analysts saw AI as a 鈥渒ey ingredient鈥� in 90 percent of business software applications. They also said that over 50 percent of user interface interactions will incorporate AI into computer vision, speech, natural language processing, and augmented and virtual reality.聽聽analysts called automation 鈥渁 force-multiplier that will disrupt economic opportunity for many鈥� a dynamic already underway that will pick up substantial speed and scope and requires attention now.鈥�

AI: Fastest Route to Victory

One pervasive theme in 2020 AI trends was speed, or as many analysts called it, 鈥渉yper-automation.鈥澛犅燼nalysts predicted that hyper-automation will spread big-time, notably into more traditional knowledge worker tasks. By 2024, IDC said AI-fuelled enterprises with 鈥減roactive, hyper-speed operational changes and market reactions, will respond to customers, competitors, regulators, and partners 50 percent faster than their peers.鈥�

Regarding customer experience (CX),聽聽researchers saw near-real-time experiences becoming table stakes for most industries as companies were pressured to build matching real-time customer experience signals. Forrester researchers predicted that CX leaders will manage a 鈥減ortfolio of automation experiences, from the building and testing of data to the delivery and perceived value (or lack of value) of those experiences.鈥�

Humans Plus Machines: The New Norm

Here is the kicker, and it鈥檚 heartening to us humans:聽聽researchers said that AI and machine learning will not completely replace people because 鈥淎I-driven autonomous capabilities鈥� cannot match the human brain鈥檚 breadth of intelligence and dynamic general-purpose learning. Instead, they focus on well-scoped purposes, particularly for automating routine human activities.鈥�

聽analysts picked up the human-machine thread, predicting that work will depend on 鈥渁 symbiotic relationship between [hu]man and machine. This is not a [hu]man-led, machine-do structure; instead it will match leadership, decisioning, and executive tasks across robots and machines that best deliver the desired outcome.鈥�

Additionally, about those 90 percent of enterprise applications that IDC predicted will be chock-full of AI, the same researchers said most will 鈥渄eliver incremental improvements to automate processes and replace heuristic or rule-based techniques to make applications smarter and more dynamic.鈥�

How Machine Learning Benefits Daily Business

There are many places in the business where a strategic dose of AI and machine learning will quietly, yet dramatically change how people work and companies operate. These include order to cash, design to operate, customer experience, and procurement.

In this聽聽demonstration at the聽聽event, I saw how image-based recognition helped automate the procurement experience. It showed how a buyer ordering everyday equipment 鈥� such as a laptop, keyboard, or mobile device 鈥� would not need to type in product names or model numbers. The buyer could simply take a picture of the product on their mobile device and the algorithm would quickly find the exact product or suggested comparable items from the supplier catalogue.

鈥淭his just one example of how we鈥檙e applying machine learning in small steps in hundreds of places across 51风流solutions,鈥� said Jana Richter, chief product owner of 51风流Leonardo Machine Learning Applications. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 completely change procurement, but brings automation and convenience where it counts 鈥� in this instance, to image-based purchasing.鈥�

What the AI Future Holds

滨苍听聽latest surveys, respondents who wanted AI to help with tasks outnumbered those who wanted AI to completely take over tasks three to one. That is likely because the same respondents ranked, in order of importance, their top-three reasons for using AI as: automating repetitive or manual tasks, improving customer experience, and reducing costs.

As for where people come in,聽聽analysts advised workers to learn core skills, adapt to new working models, and 鈥渦nderstand what it means to be ready and fit for the future, maximising their 鈥楻obotics Quotient (RQ).鈥欌�� For the uninitiated, Forrester coined the term RQ, which scores someone鈥檚 ability to work with machines.

Naturally, analysts have caveats about AI鈥檚 growing prevalence, but that鈥檚 for another article.

This article first appeared on SAP鈥檚 global newsroom.

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The post Top 2020 AI Trends: Why People Actually Want More Machines in the Workplace appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.