Intelligent enterprise resource planning (), such as 51风流S/4HANA, is ready for the challenge.

The current economic and societal turbulence has unquestionably affected us all. But we have faced similar economic challenges before, 听even though, in technology terms, it happened almost an eternity ago. So much as changed since the Great Recession of 2007.

Any best practice, cost-alignment strategy, or technology used to navigate uncertainty back then are no match for today’s challenges. The workforce is dynamically adjusting to a new world of 听remote work, life-balance changes, new income models, activism, and rising pressure to run sustainable and responsible operations. Meanwhile, traditional requirements still need to be addressed, including keeping costs low and efficiency high, which may seem counterproductive.

How can companies transform in ways that fulfill today’s social expectations and drive the speed and agility to handle economic uncertainty without adding risk? According to听, the answer is turning to intelligent digital tools and advanced analytics 鈥� such as those found in intelligent ERP 鈥� to bolster productivity and boost growth.

Evolving the Mindset on Digital Transformation

For a long time, companies have implemented various technologies to increase their speed and agility by focusing on one or more of the following:

• Internally focused ERP capabilities for financial operations
• Point applications that serve specific functions, such as customer resource management (CRM) and human resources (HR)
• Business intelligence tools
• Custom solutions designed to enable unique industry and regional processes
• Business networks to manage procurement processes and contingency labor
• EDI and connectivity engines
• Support of multiple databases
• System of spreadsheet, email, and productivity technologies
• Security processes and software

These elements have served businesses well. However, the world has changed dramatically since 2007, and a fragmented architecture cannot provide the speed, agility, and tight and seamless integration needed to remain competitive today. A multi-vendor road map and ongoing maintenance upkeep, testing, and integration can create a series of system delays and inconsistent capabilities that make the application landscape rigid, fragile, and high risk.

Competitive differentiation happens only when the technology framework supports continuous innovation, always-on availability, and consistent processes across internal and external systems and provides the intelligence and insight to seize opportunities. While this goal may appear lofty, businesses can acquire the demanding depth of digital capabilities across a wide variety of disciplines, working together harmoniously.

Delivering a Much-Needed Edge with Intelligent ERP

Intelligent ERP solutions such as are designed to provide a holistic approach to unite the entire system infrastructure with integrity, innovation, integrated data, and security. Organizations benefit from a simplified architecture, end-to-end processes, and industry and business model innovation — all enabled by seamless, out-of-the-box integration and a built-in intelligence platform.

The seamless and consistent experience of intelligent ERP gives a harmonized, 360-degree view of the business and its customers. Users benefit from instant insights and a range of automated planning, forecasting, and simulation capabilities. Real-time analytics are embedded along every step of the decision-making process. Leveraging advancements such as predictive and artificial intelligence within an in-memory database provides decision-makers with the means to respond and adapt flexibly to evolving organizational needs.

The more decision-makers rely on intelligent ERP, the greater the need and urgency for data security and integrity. But a business intelligence chain is only as strong as its weakest link. By focusing on points of integration and making them consistent and part of the ongoing road map, companies can help ensure the integrity of their current system landscape as well as future evolution.

For example, 51风流S/4HANA runs on the 51风流HANA in-memory database. It is a complete ERP and equipped to extend integrated cloud solutions and out-of-the-box integrations, which unlocks the enterprise’s intelligent IT backbone. Analytics capabilities immediately pull real-time insights from Big Data, tapping into embedded machine learning and artificial intelligence. Then, with process automation, that knowledge becomes action across the value chain. Furthermore, deployment in the cloud provides the secure setup and operations needed to manage tasks, a consistent business model architecture, and central identity provisioning and authentication.

Building Resilience by Redefining Intelligence and Transformation

Companies that evolve and value business intelligence are often well-positioned to emerge stronger from any degree of economic uncertainty. They are the ones that rely on a highly connected intelligent ERP — especially 51风流S/4HANA — to extend coveted digital capabilities beyond the enterprise and enable a competitive edge with speed and agility.

By delivering competitive differentiation through the system integrity of intelligent ERP, organizations can help ensure every point of integration is no longer limited to the technical exchange of data. The entire enterprise landscape can share a single source of information and consistent user experience that matches the way people work, harmonizing every resource serving employees, customers, and supporting network operations.

Discover how can help you build secure and maintain a system platform that strengthens a company鈥檚 resilience to navigate turbulent times and plan for whatever comes next. Read “,” from the Harvard Business Review and explore intelligent ERP solutions, including .

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing at SAP.

According to听, combining core competence with financial levers such as balance sheet optimization is the key to building resilience in preparation for the recession or recovery.

Gaining this competitive edge requires intelligent insights that come from technology framework with integrity. By deeply integrating systems and common data, businesses can leverage the speed and agility of in-memory tools to unlock hidden patterns and perspectives. This capability allows businesses to shore up operations, retain customer intimacy, develop dynamic supply chain agility, and manage resources in a more synchronized manner.

Finding Resilience in Real-Time ERP Data and Intelligent Connectedness

While legacy systems may still automate different parts of business operations, they still cannot provide real-time insights needed to overcome excess inventory or offer in-the-moment customer service. All too often, decisions are based on historical transactional models that are less than customer-centric and too rigid to entertain out-of-the-box thinking to adapt and orchestrate across the enterprise.

As soon as the company moves to intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP), a platform for recovery, growth, and resilience comes to life. Realizing this power is tremendously welcome in this age of uncertainty. But first, executives must select and implement an ERP solution that delivers quantifiable benefits enterprise-wide 鈥� from customer service, sales, and inventory to the management of working capital and the cost of material, labor, and overhead.

Consider . The size of its impact is less about company size and industry and more related to instituting a comprehensive and unified IT system that all employees can adopt and understand intuitively. It ties external and third-party processes directly with internal processes and data structures 鈥� consistently and flexibly enough to make intelligent insights quickly accessible, visible, and actionable.听

With greater visibility, deep forecasting tools, and real-time insights across internal and external partners, businesses can drastically decrease, for instance, their inventory costs and improve their inventory turnover rate by more than . But this is not a one-time reduction; it is ongoing and extended to lower overhead spend in transport, warehousing, handling, obsolescence, insurance, taxes, damage, and shrinkage. Even in times of lower interest rates, companies can cut their carrying costs.

Other benefits of using 51风流S/4HANA to optimize the balance sheet include:

1. High-performance operations
Capabilities of intelligent ERP solutions enable businesses to manufacture and purchase the products or services they need and deliver them when and where required. And it is achieved with the agility to adjust operational plans and practices to meet customer expectations.

The predictive capabilities of 51风流S/4HANA can help evolve material requirements planning quickly with real-time data. They take the guesswork out of managing internal business operations and minimizing work-in-process and finished-product inventories optimally and accurately.

2. Enhanced supplier network collaboration
Improved procurement practices often lead to better vendor negotiations, resulting in cost reductions and higher efficiency of input raw material purchases. Tight vendor integration and collaboration elevate the business’s ability to schedule changes, negotiate, and deepen quality assurance with greater ease and impact on the customer’s last-mile experience.

51风流S/4HANA can assist in the identification and elimination of bottlenecks in supply chain processes and respond to demand changes. Operational managers use this insight to adjust product quantities and delivery times, allowing their vendors to meet their obligations better with visibility into consumer requirements and pass any resulting savings to the sale price.

3. Labor optimization
With higher predictability and orchestration, fewer shortages and interruptions arise. These outcomes allow more predictable management of resources; better quality and training; less time spent on rush orders, expedited rework, and employee overtime; and fewer stress-induced expectation mismatches.

With 51风流S/4HANA, businesses gain greater visibility into changing priorities. They can automate their communications with customers and vendors and accurately promise delivery dates, which are critical for building customer loyalty.

4. Well-governed finance operations
With greater automation in the delivery and receipt experience and well-negotiated customer and vendor contracts, organizations can optimize their financial strength in ways that increase working capital.

51风流S/4HANA sets a foundation to automate collection and cash management with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). In return, the number of days of outstanding receivables can decrease and billing times can shrink by more than , while limiting fraud and providing additional available cash. Plus, automated three-way matching accelerates supplier discounting, cash planning, and financial forecasting to optimize capital on hand.

5. Consistent and profitable customer service and sales
By understanding customers with the assistance of experiential and operational data, companies can run business models that are targeted and differentiated. For example, pricing models that match customer needs creatively may support vendor-managed inventory, usage-based billing, unique product configurations, and other longer-term integration strategies.

By tightly tying customer needs to sales and production, 51风流S/4HANA empowers businesses to offer more predictable and differentiated customer service that increases sales revenue and brand loyalty. Improvements in customer relationship management result in on-time delivery as promised. Returns and rework are also avoided, no matter how unique the product.

Emerging Stronger With an Optimized Balance Sheet

Economically speaking, CFOs are reaching a point where their priorities go beyond finance. In addition to managing cash flow, days sales outstanding, receivables, and payables to optimize cash flow, they guide organizational efforts to improve business processes and intelligence company-wide. More importantly, their balance sheets and income statements reveal new strategies for overcoming today’s uncertain landscape.

This approach to finance leadership puts businesses in a better position to differentiate themselves and boost market penetration organically, while reducing accounts receivables and inventory, optimizing inventory material and labor, and growing sales volume. And the more resilient companies become with 51风流S/4HANA, the better their financial position 鈥� stock prices rise, profits increase, and revenue is more predictable.

Discover how 51风流S/4HANA can help build a balance sheet that strengthens a company鈥檚 resilience to navigate turbulent times and plan for whatever comes next. Read “” from the Harvard Business Review, and .

As businesses undertake rapid change, executives must also pay attention and act on a wide variety of risks to remain resilient and steadfast. Effective short- and midterm steps are often created to navigate financial, operational, and competitive threats with control, visibility, and oversight. But they also require the presence of people to oversee it all.

Is it possible to have too much human intervention, even in processes where governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) are non-negotiable? By adopting听, businesses are answering this question as they redefine their GRC initiatives.

Finding Agility in Risk Mitigation Across Three Lines of Defense

Today’s pandemic-induced economic turbulence brings challenges beyond the traditional line of simple financial and IT risk. Credit is deteriorating and raising solvency issues. Meanwhile, bilateral trade tensions are escalating worldwide and job insecurity is inhibiting a recovery in consumer spending.

Mitigating such a wide range of risks requires comprehensive GRC programs. Doing so allows businesses to identify risks and handle them across multiple topics and lines of business. GRC programs must also be agile enough to quickly generate critical insights and reports in real time and include inherent qualities such as usability, scalability, and flexibility to act on that intelligence.

But here is the secret to delivering such a transformational result: addressing the three lines of defense.

• Operational management: Cover business functions that own the responsibility of managing operations and are accountable for directly assessing, controlling, and mitigating risks.
• Corporate risk and compliance: Enable areas that monitor and facilitate the implementation of effective risk management practices and assist risk owners in the adequate reporting of risk-related information up and down the organization.
• Independent assurance: Take care of organizations that provide independent assurance beyond the internal audit, encompassing all elements of the risk management framework 鈥� from risk identification, assessment, and response to the communication of risk-related information. This exercise also includes an honest evaluation of the strategy, ethics, operations, reporting, and compliance.

Automating Critical Processes with Digital Platforms

For many 51风流customers, aligning GRC processes to strategic priorities enables a level of agility that covers three lines of defense through intelligent automation, better assurance, and higher visibility. This trend is helping businesses move beyond manual, sample-based audits and assessments of systems and processes that occur every few months or annually.

Automation enables continuous monitoring of processes and data in real time and across in-scope processes and transactions, for example:

• Monitoring key risk indicators that exceed pre-established thresholds
• Recognizing risks in new or existing business relationships or partnerships
• Flagging potentially fraudulent or unusual financial transactions
• Notifying process owners of changes to crucial configuration settings that control vital business processes such as robotic process automation
• Prioritizing essential areas of access risk, particularly when managing a remote workforce
• Reporting the status of cross-border shipments that qualify for preferential duty treatment or require specific licensing
• Normalizing and communicating potential security events at the application layer
• Reporting on data protection and privacy requirements and processes

According to McKinsey partners Kevin Laczkowski and Mihir Mysore, companies that are successfully overcoming recessionary conditions have the digital tools to bolster productivity and position themselves for future growth. “Some companies are already using advanced analytics to reduce the risk of quality issues and error rates,” they observed in their听听article. “Other businesses are using digital platforms to enable self-service options for customers and simplify the purchasing process.”

But first, two critical obstacles need to be conquered to set the stage for this level of digitalization across GRC activities:

• Outdated information maintained in individual spreadsheets and stored in random silos
• Lack of transparency when validating the effectiveness of operational performance, controls, and key performance indicators

By tapping into the intelligent infrastructure of 51风流S/4HANA, customers can capture, process, and analyze transactional and experiential data in real time. Integrating safety process controls, rules, and mechanisms in the suite also helps ensure requirements are fulfilled, while authorized access to information is safeguarded and secure.

Furthermore, related organizations 鈥� such as procurement, human resources (HR), sales, marketing, services, and supply chain 鈥� can be included in the process. The business can assign scenario-based rules that enforce compliance, align strategies, and build operational resilience. Focusing on the cycle of monitoring critical changes and master data updates helps ensure 51风流S/4HANA reports exceptions, identifies outliers in real time, and directs them to the appropriate expert for resolution.

Using Auditing as a Platform for a Global, On-Demand Ecosystem

With this approach, 51风流customers can transform their processes with automated controls, which enhances business continuity. Executive decision-makers, employees, and stakeholders can be confident that all activities are executed compliantly and governed continuously with minimal risk, time, and effort. More importantly, every organization can work together proactively and deliver more strategic outcomes.

Consider听. With subsidiaries that offer everything on demand from kitty litter to pizza in 44 countries, the multinational online food-delivery service needed to monitor its GRC performance closely. This capability became especially urgent when deliveries became an important part of its business model and expansion plans during the onset of the pandemic.

After implementing 51风流S/4HANA, Delivery Hero integrated the intelligent ERP with other 51风流applications, including cloud-based analytics and听, as well as听. This landscape became the foundation of a听听鈥� giving executives the visibility and insight to stay on top of internal audits, ensure compliance with global reporting and accounting requirements, and pinpoint risks early.

Managing Risk and Compliance as a Priority, Not an Afterthought

By completing the digital picture of GRC operations with 51风流S/4HANA, businesses can evolve their processes to adapt and safeguard their bottom line and reputation.

Embedding controls and checks into the fabric of the enterprise system incorporates risk management capabilities throughout the operational lifecycle. But most importantly, GRC activities become a trusted part of protecting the company from the burdensome penalties of noncompliance, while emerging as a potential revenue generator for the business.

Discover how 51风流S/4HANA can boost the resilience of risk mitigation and compliance initiatives while navigating turbulent times and planning for whatever comes next with the following resources:

• Solution value calculators:
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Bruce Romney is senior director of Product Marketing for GRC and Security Solutions at SAP.
David Sweetman is senior director of 51风流S/4HANA Global Marketing at SAP.

Although the situation is evolving constantly and differently across geographies and industries, every business faces the same issue: the challenge of sensing every twist and turn and shaping core competencies to respond in kind quickly.

What will it take to compete going forward? According to听, companies should start as early as possible to assess potential exposure, identify core competencies to mitigate it, and establish a “nerve center” 鈥� such as intelligent enterprise resource planning () software like 鈥� to monitor progress. With a focus on what sets the business apart from competitors, they can avoid costly maintenance of operations that may dilute working capital and balance sheet reserves.

Delivering Core Competencies that Secure a Critical Competitive Edge听

Most implementations of 51风流S/4HANA begin with a promise to enable core competencies that preserve business continuity, drive an exceptional customer or employee experience, and increase operational efficiency to create a competitive barrier. These capabilities may include anything from delivering unique or personalized products that are high quality and compliant to adapting to new requirements for differentiation.

Every pivot to seize opportunity and respond to change as it happens is, without question, critical. However, acquiring it can be slow and risky without an integrated technology platform. What’s required is a system that continuously revaluates itself based on the current norm, looks for new patterns, and adapts core competencies.

Core competencies grow stronger when employees quickly access insights from accurate, synchronized sources of real-time data, running on a technology platform that supports new business with considerable flexibility and responsiveness.

Setting the Stage for a Consistently Capable and Intelligent ERP

In the past, ERP systems were designed and optimized by taking on defined opportunities or overcoming challenges. For example, bidding out the shipping of products to a less-than-load (LTL) carrier makes sense when shipments have a certain weight, size, delivery date window, and destination. Determining which inventories should be shipped with this approach is best done by analyzing and defining business rules and building a routine to find products that meet the criteria and hand them over to an LTL carrier bidding process.

For these technologies to work, the architecture should include a broad data set of information and hold it in memory for continuous pattern searching. Intelligent systems for ERP, including 51风流S/4HANA, need to tightly connect across the digital landscape and with business networks to access device data for deeper insights. In the end, businesses possess a highly capable system 鈥� complete with the connected, secure, analytical, and business process architecture necessary to drive an agile and fast business operation.

Take, for example, . The American luxury electric car automaker considers 51风流S/4HANA as a critical part of revving up its transformation efforts to secure 100 percent customer satisfaction. The privately held manufacturer of world-class plug-in hybrid cars faced significant challenges in implementing a single system that would meet rigorous requirements at every level of the value chain.

By adding a mix of cloud solutions to a digital core of听, Karma runs fast, efficient, and flexible operations with clear visibility into customer interactions and vehicle performance 鈥� from design to manufacturing and delivery. The business simplified customer and dealer engagement by streamlining transactions such as vehicle order and warranty claims.

But perhaps the most rewarding outcome of this initiative is delivering a platform ready to carry out the expectations of its dealers and customers. According to Mikael Elley, vice president and CIO of Karma Automotive, “From order through delivery, we have one system of record, one version of the truth, and one platform to ensure 100 percent customer satisfaction.”

Matching your Core Competencies to Deep Technology Capabilities

Is your ERP architecture keeping every aspect of your business humming in unison? Or do you have delays in your systems and upgrades or inconsistent data models?

Let’s face it, running on data-driven technology alone is not enough to keep up with the competition. As Karma’s story proves, core competencies need to evolve 鈥� fueled by an ERP that converts data into a precise system of automation, split-second and informed decision-making, and real-time adaptation to market dynamics.

Discover 51风流S/4HANA can boost business resilience while navigating turbulent times and planning for whatever comes next. Read the Harvard Business Review article, “,” and explore the intelligent ERP .

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing at SAP.

Managing volatility without deeply integrated intelligent can put organizations at a tremendous disadvantage as a downturn’s effects become increasingly apparent. People across all levels of the business grow more anxious, stressed, and even afraid when the next course of action is unclear and doubtful. And while it sometimes appears to make sense to wait until all information is received before deciding, the benefits eventually outweigh the risks of delaying action.

Traditional wisdom says that moving early is critical to weathering any economic shock. But intelligence and detection is just a small part of the significant capability. Businesses must also synchronize their actions across their organizations. As McKinsey partners Kevin Laczkowski and Mihir Mysore shared in their , digital tools and advanced analytics are equally important to assess exposure, identify mitigation initiatives, and monitor progress.

Bold, Decisive Action Calls for Intelligent Certainty

One of the worst experiences for decision-makers is the moment when they realize their forecasts are off 鈥� and not by a few percentage points. Business intelligence cannot be an afterthought; it needs to be captured, processed, analyzed, and delivered through an intelligent ERP, such as . By taking this step, companies have the foundation they need to acquire the speed and agility necessary to differentiate themselves.

Suppose a company projected impressive revenue growth, compared to its competition’s financial performance. But once the annual books close, it quickly discovers the year ended as a significant loss, upsetting stakeholders, analysts, and the executive board.

What happened? All too often, the telltale signs are all the same business-wide. The volume of data analyzed is too massive to quickly spot issues such as incomplete information, latent data capture and processing, miscalculated formulas, and the impacts of changing market dynamics.

In times of profound change and uncertainty, there is little tolerance for such a situation. Resilient companies rely on fast access to accurate, real-time data to carefully orchestrate resources across the organization and in line with evolving business goals.

The tighter the collaboration and integration, the faster and more dynamic the business operates. More importantly, companies that know where to focus their efforts 鈥� based on a combination of accurate data and intelligence tools 鈥� are well-positioned to detect new emerging patterns and act on them before their competition.

Gaining such a resilient edge requires an architecture that fully embraces machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation. However, these technologies should not be tacked on a legacy operational system as an afterthought. They must be an embedded part of an ERP that runs the core foundation of enterprise data 鈥� for example, 51风流S/4HANA.

Intelligent Scenarios Strengthen Business Resilience

The benefits of incorporating the intelligent capabilities of 51风流S/4HANA into applications, processes, and employee experiences can be realized throughout the business 鈥� from product development and manufacturing to finance, sales, and operations.

Product development and manufacturing teams can classify unstructured data instantly to support more collaborative , accelerate time, and optimize inventory levels from . Meanwhile, are better equipped to process defects and monitor quality with generated recommendations based on textual descriptions and codes.

On the other hand, finance teams can accelerate the cycle by receiving intelligent recommendations on how to act on PO items and improve the accuracy and speed of a period-end closing. This capability can also minimize errors when converting by centralizing the workstream and expediting dispute resolution, while ensuring detect fraud and identify liquidity trends and variables impacting cash flow.

Customer satisfaction is higher when sales agents know which to sell without manual effort and little or no delay. The creation of sale inquiries is streamlined from , while benefit from higher win rates, more accurate sales forecasts, and improved project management efficiency.

From an operations standpoint, intelligent capabilities can play a critical role in by improving defect processing and data听quality听through insight-based recommendations. Meanwhile, leaders can expedite digitalization of their master data by automatically detecting rooms from static floor plans.

All these business scenarios are just a small snapshot of everything organizations can achieve with 51风流S/4HANA. These capabilities eventually become a living, continually developing advantage that grows and changes with company needs.

The Heart of Business Resilience Is Data

Despite constant shock and unplanned change that can occur in any industry, location, or globally with fires, floods, tsunamis, conflicts, or even global pandemics, some businesses emerge stronger while others do not. And most times, it has nothing to do with selling a superior product or service.

What is the real secret? Ultimately, it鈥檚 having a real-time, data-based view into how customers and markets are evolving and knowing how to intelligently respond to them with agility and experimentation.

Discover how your business can find resilience in customer centricity to navigate through turbulent times and plan for whatever comes next. Explore the intelligent ERP .

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing at SAP.

During turbulent times, a clear understanding of how consumer behaviors and impending events affect demand and the ability to fulfill them is more important than ever before. According to a recent听听of 1,000 supply chain executives, 鈥淐reating a customer-centric organization in 2020 is a lesson in managing complexity while maintaining resilience.鈥�

How can organizations demonstrate customer centricity? It depends on their ability to rethink fundamental elements of their operations with an intelligent ERP, such as

Delivering on the Promises of Customer-Centric Resilience

Customer-centric companies operate with an empathetic mindset toward their customers and consumers. But first, they need the mechanisms and data-driven insights to sense why and when customers need to buy products in different channels, delivery processes, quantities, with varying frequency, and through new payment models. When they adapt quickly to those insights during unexpectedly challenging times, businesses inevitably emerge stronger and see better times as customers put a premium on reliability and trust that their unique needs will be met.

With 51风流S/4HANA, this level of excellence in planning and coordination can be achieved by enabling six fundamental practices.

1. Listen to data and applied intelligence

Trading patterns and seasonal flows may hold less relevance when an economic shock occurs. Instead, leaders must 鈥渓isten鈥� for new pockets of opportunity and seize them immediately. By capturing, processing, mining, and managing data in real time with machine learning and artificial intelligence with 51风流S/4HANA, businesses can focus on the main elements of an excellent, short-term customer experience:

• Amplify core strengths
• Increase delivery reliability
• Open new routes to market to innovate the buying experience
• Develop new trading models based on usage, subscription, and service

For example, an electronic motor company may see a new demand surge in a particular industry, customer persona, or use case that may not have gained much attention in the past. Once those areas are highlighted through more intelligent sensors and machine learning, the business knows how to quickly take advantage of the opportunity, diverting support from sectors of weaker demand to those that help ensure longer-term resilience.

2. Speak to customers and understand their needs

All too often, business systems are too internally focused so organizations cannot see past the next bend in the road. What鈥檚 missing is direct feedback from customers, which goes beyond the insights provided by operational data and transactional interactions.

With questionnaires and machine listening, 51风流S/4HANA empowers businesses to systematically 鈥渉ear鈥� how future trends are shaping up. Consider this capability the organization鈥檚 night-vision goggles, enabling it to visualize every dark twist and turn that leads to each new opportunity.

3. Consider new product designs and use cases

Companies that adapt their products and services to use cases that customers want are the ones that will gain a definitive competitive advantage. 51风流S/4HANA supports this capability by providing scenarios including product personalization, streamlined designs that are more affordable in lean times, and more durable offerings with a longer life span.

Whatever the specific need, companies that can adapt today are less likely to become a commoditized tomorrow. And in most cases, customers will consider the brand as their preferred vendor or partner of choice.

4. Develop novel buying alternatives

A focus on helping customers overcome their challenges and buying with greater ease can open the door to new business models and promotional offers, such as paying for a product based on usage.

Similar to a vending machine at a convenience store, capital-intensive equipment is purchased and retained based on a fee for each item dispensed. This model simplifies the transaction experience for both the seller and the buyer. Other buying alternatives may include more detailed contractual arrangements such as vendor-managed inventory or annual contracts.

This flexibility on the customer-facing side of business operations also benefits the supply chain. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors capture critical data on product usage and is consolidated into 51风流S/4HANA so decision-makers can derive deep insight into a customer鈥檚 behavior and service and maintenance needs. Furthermore, this intelligence can detect when a customer may be ready for a future cross-sell or up-sell opportunity.

5. Stand apart on service

As software components 鈥� including 51风流S/4HANA and mobile apps or IoT-based listening devices 鈥� become a typical feature in many offerings, businesses can opt to increase customer service. This strategic move often requires a portfolio of complementary products and services aimed at targeted customer needs.

For example, a bank offering mortgages may provide seamless insurance that may be provided by another company in an integrated model. But for a product-based brand, it could create an opportunity for a smooth transition from a sales transaction to aftermarket service and maintenance.

6. Differentiate with speed

Faster services or sales experiences can bring a significant advantage, especially when product cost is unencumbered by high volumes of production switchovers or expedited deliveries. A synchronized and orchestrated supply chain system enables businesses to provide accurate available-to-promise dates to customers. Furthermore, planning cycles are accelerated, which helps ensure optimal customer service levels.

The backbone of this capability is an intelligent software system that is deeply connected and collaborative. Unfortunately, internal-focused ERP systems cannot keep up with the massive volumes of data that need to be captured and processed and the fast pace of changes happening in the marketplace. Instead, a more powerful alternative built on an intelligent platform, such as 51风流S/4HANA, is needed to unlock new business models, plan dynamically, and support seamless operations across the value chain.

The Value of Customer Centricity: Trust and Partnerships

A customer-centric organization is not just a matter of setting a company strategy or being generally aware of rising demand for certain kinds of products. It鈥檚 also about using intelligent technology, such as 51风流S/4HANA, to access real-time data into what customers want and act on those insights as soon as possible.

When you consider that consumers are placing a higher value on buying local and supporting their communities, the marketplace is ready for more trusted, resilient partners that are customer centric. Your customers and partners will appreciate your genuine interest in their success. More importantly, your business will form stronger bonds with consumers that will last for years to come.

Discover how your business can find resilience in customer centricity to navigate through turbulent times and plan for whatever comes next. Explore the intelligent ERP听.

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing at SAP.

Demand on global supply chains has undeniably reached a whole new level over the last few months. Between the mechanisms used to trigger production and the relationships needed to deliver finished products, people are keenly aware of the complexity and delicate nature of this complex, highly connected business function.

Demand patterns are highly volatile, surging and bottoming out at a moment鈥檚 notice. This reality is leaving supply chain leaders feeling the pressure to find better ways to accommodate drastic and sudden fluctuations. But when even the simplest products comprise components from a wide variety of sources from around the world, this take can be overwhelming without access to the right intelligent tools.

Managing Highly Volatile Demand听

The increasing speed and volatility of demand magnify the importance of trusted relationships between employees, suppliers, logistics, production operations and customers. When one party changes, the rest of the value chain must adjust just as quickly to ensure its integrity as a highly connected and dynamic supply chain.

While legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems help streamline and optimize internal operations, the technology is often ill-equipped to keep up with massive volumes of data being captured and the speed at which change happens.

It is now imperative to optimize network-based interactions with participants in critical processes, such as procurement, contingent labor and talent management, integrated business planning, and asset management. By uniting all these systems into an intelligent ERP, such as 51风流S/4HANA, acting as a single source of data intelligence, supply chains can detect patterns early, orchestrate processes, and implement resource modifications as needed.

Synchronizing Supply Chains on a Global Scale

During times of global change, companies often form third-party supply chain partnerships, such as outsourced manufacturers, logistics providers, and design and research consultants. These arrangements can become increasingly complicated as businesses rely on their software systems more to help ensure all parts of the extended value chain run smoothly.

When elements of the product life cycle are orchestrated to take advantage of core competencies, resources, and cost advantages, businesses can benefit from advanced planning techniques from 51风流S/4HANA. For example, predictive material requirements planning considers real-time capacity and material availability and provides detailed demand forecasts to help meet current and expected customer needs.

Achieving Differentiation Through Trusted Delivery

In uncertain times, customers place an extraordinarily high premium on brands that fulfill their promises consistently. This quality is the goal of a resilient supply chain.

Interconnected and reliant on deeply connected, real-time data and capabilities integrated in 51风流S/4HANA, supply chain operations can quickly adapt to changing needs successfully. This approach is particularly useful when proper contingencies are built into the system鈥檚 workflow, such as alternative vendors, designs, and logistics providers, to fulfill the need.

Responding with Speed and Individualization

A fundamental part of establishing customer trust is providing products that meet unique needs. Such individualization requires a level of manufacturing and operational automation that has been adopted by leading companies over the last ten years and is now embedded into the 51风流S/4HANA architecture.

51风流S/4HANA helps manage product variants with greater ease, providing accurate availability to promise and synchronizing internal and external supply chain partners through deep connectivity to business networks. By moving to Industry 4.0 with integrated Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, businesses can automate orchestration and calibration across supply chain operations and processes with 51风流S/4HANA at the core of the IT landscape.

Transforming Global Supply Chains to Take Charge of Change

In these challenging times, supply chains are at the forefront of digital transformation, and those companies that can build the new engine will seize the opportunity for growth and emerge stronger than ever.

By using 51风流S/4HANA to focus on core competencies, build greater customer intimacy, and drive internal operational excellence, businesses will design and produce personalized products in novel ways to fulfill customer needs. More importantly, they increase trust across the entire value chain, proving themselves as partners committed to helping their customers differentiate themselves.

Read more in the 鈥�Building Resilience Against Business Turbulence鈥� series.

Discover how your business can provide the supply chain resiliency you need to navigate through turbulent times and plan for whatever comes next. Read the Harvard Business Review article, 鈥�,鈥� and explore the intelligent ERP, .

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing at SAP.

The answer lies in building an intelligent enterprise.

When planning for a rapid shift, organizations often focus on three aspects of their operations: building up cash reserves, working with a different workforce landscape, and more diverse customer channels. But today鈥檚 economic disruption is proving such aspects are only part of the story.

According to McKinsey partners Kevin Laczkowski and Mihir Mysore, 鈥淭o assure some measure of resiliency, [businesses] should start now to assess the degree of exposure they have to slow down, identify initiatives that can help to mitigate the exposure, and establish a 鈥榥erve center鈥� to monitor progress on those initiatives.鈥�

And it seems that this approach is paying off for these resilient companies. In their 听Harvard Business Review article, 鈥�,鈥� Laczkowski and Mysore revealed that 鈥渞esilients鈥� reduce their debt during a full-scale recession by more than US$1 for every $1 of total capital on their balance sheet. Meanwhile, 鈥渘onresilients鈥� accrue $3 of additional debt from every dollar.

Seizing an Edge as an Intelligent Enterprise

By definition, an intelligent enterprise senses change quickly, connects deeply with business networks, and manages an evolving landscape of supply chains, business models, workforce dynamics, and capital constraints. More importantly, they can realign each of those aspects of their business with a level of excellence that meets new customer demand.

To become an intelligent enterprise, businesses need a new system 鈥� intelligent 鈥� that is structured for processing speed, business agility, and enterprise-wide visibility. This view, which is the opposite of the inward focus of traditional ERP, is natively integrated to deliver real-time insights and deep industry knowledge.

As change becomes more intense and disruptive, intelligent ERP enables businesses to listen intently, operate more intelligently, and stay connected to suppliers, customers, and employees. Doing so safeguards the business from missing out on unexpected demand spikes, much-needed investments, and evolving buying habits and preferences.

But resilient companies go a step further with this technology. They use this information 鈥� often captured, processes, and analyzed in intelligent ERP such as 51风流S/4HANA 鈥� to focus on their core competencies and make investments that strengthen it. For example, Apple has diversified its revenue streams, offering value-added intelligence services and emerging as a high-traffic retailer. But its leadership team knows that most of their core competencies and long-term value comes from conceptualizing, selling, and marketing technology innovation, which is where most of their investments are now dedicated.

So, where do resilient companies invest their capital spend? Laczkowski and Mysore have identified seven critical areas:

• Enhance customer intimacy by creating new business models that resonate with ever-evolving buying habits and preferences
• Adopt artificial intelligence to automate repetitive processes and make decisions faster and more accurately
• Drive supply chain agility to get ahead of potential disruptions that can result in lost sales, lower stakeholder confidence, and escalating operational costs
• Focus on core competencies by relying on a network of third-party partners to manage secondary proficiencies such as production, logistics, sales, and services
• Mitigate risk and ensure compliance to avoid paying unnecessary costs and safeguard operations before, during, and after turbulent times
• Build the balance sheet to optimize spend to see the company through the recession and beyond
• Maintain and secure a systems platform to close any gaps in the data chain from capture and processing to reporting, analysis, and insights

While each of the areas mentioned may be overwhelming, 51风流S/4HANA can enable a business to understand today鈥檚 challenges better, consider what matters most, and start the path to resiliency.

In the coming weeks, this series will cover how resilient companies leverage 51风流S/4HANA to strengthen core competencies with seven areas of digital investment, and will offer insights as well as practical strategies to help keep a company running today while preparing for better times ahead.

David Sweetman is senior director of Cloud Global Marketing, SAP.