In the third quarter of 2023 alone, our customers spanned all shapes, sizes, and industries 鈥� including consumer products, biotechnology, and the public sector 鈥� and proved how much momentum is behind the cloud revolution.鈥�� 

Whether simplifying business operations, adopting innovative solutions, or leading broader cloud transformations, it鈥檚 clear that today鈥檚 top enterprises see 51风流as a premier partner in driving positive outcomes and lasting change. This is, in no small part, because the future of technology 鈥� which includes things like generative artificial intelligence (AI) 鈥� is all about data. And 51风流knows data.

We are powering today鈥檚 鈥� and tomorrow鈥檚 鈥� leading businesses with offerings like GROW with SAP, our public cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) offering for midsize companies; , a comprehensive solution built to help unleash the power of business data; (51风流BTP), a foundation for continued innovation; and much more.

From net-new growth companies embracing GROW with SAP to large municipalities going live on RISE with SAP, thousands of organizations continue to turn to 51风流to help power their digital transformations. Some organizations that kicked off their digital transformations this quarter include:

• Northstar Clean Technologies, a Canadian-based clean technology company focused on the sustainable recovery and reprocessing of asphalt shingles, selected GROW with SAP. As an emerging innovator in sustainable processing, Northstar Clean Technologies expects that 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, public edition will help streamline its current business processes, as well as serve as a foundational ERP that can support its growth and scale with it.
• Leanin鈥� Tree, which ships more than 20 million greeting cards per year featuring original artwork by independent artists from around the world, selected 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, public edition and 51风流Datasphere, among other solutions. Through GROW with SAP, Leanin鈥� Tree will be migrating from 51风流ERP Central Component (51风流ECC) and is aiming to fully transform and optimize its financial processes while adopting an 鈥渙ut-of-the-box鈥� approach that incorporates 51风流best practices.
• PureTech Scientific, which was formerly Chemours Glycolic Acid Division and is a global leader in organic synthesis of ultra-high purity alpha hydroxy acids for the life sciences and specialty chemical industries, selected GROW with SAP, among other 51风流solutions. Through 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, PureTech Scientific is aiming to adopt a cloud ERP that can not only meet the requirements of today, but of the future. GROW with 51风流enables PureTech Scientific to have a solution that is ready-to-run while also offering scalability, the delivery of continuous innovation, and support of PureTech Scientific鈥檚 growth ambitions.
• Phoenix Global, a provider of steel mill services to steel producers worldwide, selected GROW with SAP. By adopting 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, public edition through GROW with SAP, Phoenix Global is aiming to get a ready-to-run cloud ERP that can deliver the latest best practices and continuous innovation. Through SAP, Phoenix Global is aiming to accelerate its digital transformation and further improve its operational processes.
• Graybar, a leading North American distributor of electrical, communications, data networking, and industrial products, selected RISE with SAP. By using SAP, Graybar expects to simplify its processes, improve its efficiency, and enhance its customer service capabilities.

We鈥檙e also seeing many customers harness the power of their data with solutions like 51风流Datasphere and 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, which can create reliable and authentic sustainability data. Some customers that chose other 51风流solutions in Q3 include:

• Adobe, a global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions, will be leveraging 51风流Datasphere and 51风流HANA Cloud within 51风流Business Technology Platform to help optimize its data strategy while also improving efficiency and business value by reducing complexity and cost.
• Fluence Energy, which is a global market leader in energy storage solutions and services and optimization software for renewables and storage, selected the RISE with 51风流solution and 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, among other solutions. By using SAP, Fluence Energy is aiming to scale faster, gain better visibility into its supply chain, and improve overall efficiency.

And it鈥檚 not just customers starting their journey with SAP: Q3 also saw a number of organizations go live on their 51风流solutions, an incredible step towards realizing value from their transformation. Some examples include:

• The City of Vancouver, located in British Columbia, Canada, went live on 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, private edition via RISE with SAP. By using 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, the City of Vancouver expects to be able to adopt innovation quicker, in addition to simplifying its digital landscape and improving overall efficiency.
• Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people, went live on 51风流Ariba solutions, including 51风流Business Network. In addition to creating a globally connected platform that allows its suppliers and buyers to collaborate, 51风流Ariba solutions are helping Gilead Sciences streamline its global procurement process.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and we鈥檙e not done yet. We鈥檙e continuing to invest in the innovations that will deliver growth, value, and success to our customers around the world 鈥� and that will continue to support our customers鈥� transformations here in North America.

Lloyd Adams is president of 51风流North America.

I was recently given the opportunity to answer some challenging questions about the public cloud from a child, a customer, and an analyst expert in the space. Thankfully, because GROW with 51风流is both simple and robust, it鈥檚 possible to explain it both in terms that a seven-year-old can understand and that will excite even the most demanding customer or analyst.

A few donut and unicorn analogies later, we established GROW with 51风流to be a tool that will be a growth catalyst for many midmarket organizations on their cloud journeys. But don鈥檛 take my word for it, you be the .

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Rapid Deployment and Cost Efficiency Accelerates Growth

Simply put, GROW with 51风流offers midsize organizations a rapid-deployment model that helps them implement and recognize value from their investments much quicker than expected. In my conversation with the most challenging stakeholder — the seven-year-old, of course — I used a tree house analogy.

Her parents could work with an architect to design a top-of-the-line tree house, fully customized with everything she desires. They could buy all the materials and have a contractor oversee the project. After many months, they would have a beautiful tree house unlike any other in the neighborhood. They鈥檇 also have a steep price tag. Or, they could purchase a tree house kit that includes a basic design, the necessary materials, and clear instructions that anyone could follow. Her parents could invest a bit more budget to make minor tweaks, but could largely rely on the kit for the project. The second approach is much faster and less expensive, while still taking advantage of best practices in tree house construction.

GROW with 51风流is like that tree house kit: it eliminates the lengthy and costly implementation processes typically associated with business transformation projects. As a cloud-based solution, it also reduces the need for extensive IT infrastructure and maintenance costs. Midmarket organizations can access 51风流technology, receive regular updates, and scale their operations without significant capital investments.

With its accelerated deployment and cost efficiency, GROW with 51风流lets midmarket organizations focus on growth and innovation while minimizing financial burdens.

Scalability and Flexibility Is the Path to Success

One of the key strengths of GROW with 51风流is its ability to address the growth challenges faced by midmarket organizations. This was a topic that I was challenged on by Adam Wasylyshyn, CIO of , an innovative medical device company improving the lives of people with diabetes and other conditions through its Omnipod delivery system. Insulet is an 51风流cloud customer that was formerly in this midmarket space before its rapid growth. He asked me bluntly: why is making the move to 51风流right for midmarket organizations?

The answer is scalability and flexibility. What we see time and again is that as midsize companies expand their operations and seize new opportunities, they often encounter unforeseen operational complexities that hinder their progress. Moving to the cloud, and specifically GROW with SAP, provides a robust, scalable, and flexible platform that accommodates growth, whether through expansion, acquisitions, or diversification of product lines. This scalability gives midmarket organizations a competitive edge by allowing them to adapt swiftly to market demands while maintaining operational efficiency.

Comprehensive Business Management Right Out of the Box

GROW with 51风流is specifically designed to address the challenges many midmarket organizations face when managing the different facets of a growing business. It combines a comprehensive suite of integrated modules covering critical functions like finance, sales, marketing, procurement, and HR into a single platform. These modules, based on industry best practices, give midsize enterprises access to powerful tools to streamline operations, eliminate data silos, and get the holistic view of their business that many organizations struggle with.

Most importantly, it gives these organizations agility, predictability, speed, and the ability to scale. This is something I spoke at length about with , founder of Cloud Wars, co-founder of the Acceleration Economy, and a top analyst in our field. This eyes-wide-open approach empowers decision-makers with real-time insights, allows them to efficiently allocate resources, and fosters collaboration across departments. As a result, midmarket organizations can make informed decisions, drive productivity, and better deliver on their business goals.

I鈥檓 excited about GROW with 51风流because I truly believe it is a game-changer for midmarket organizations, offering the tools they need to unlock their true growth potential and compete on an equal footing with larger enterprises. As midmarket businesses continue to seek sustainable growth and a competitive advantage, GROW with 51风流stands as a transformative solution that propels organizations toward success in today’s dynamic business landscape.

Lloyd Adams is president of 51风流North America.

Yet we know that the principle is not enough. Talking about it is not enough. Good intentions are not enough. Doing the actual work to define and measure equity across the organization — and to correct if and where necessary: that is what鈥檚 required.

At SAP, we are constantly looking at ways to do that work, and we have spent a lot of time focusing specifically on fair pay. 51风流Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha has written about our multi-year journey tackling this issue, as well as how we鈥檙e ensuring the results of our efforts are transparent. That visibility is critical to empowering all of our employees worldwide.

As part of that journey and our commitment to visibility, our organization recently took steps to measure our progress on fair pay. Here is what we found.

An Inside Look Into Pay at SAP

As Supriya outlined, our organization undertook a global statistical analysis in mid-2022 — an analysis that will now be conducted annually — to examine pay against comparable roles.聽 The analysis found that our employees are paid fairly for equal work in more than 99% of cases.

But our team wanted to go deeper. So, we commissioned an additional U.S.-focused study, which refined the lens to focus on groups where we knew industry-wide systemic barriers to equal pay were more likely to exist. We were thrilled to find similar results.

This research aimed to determine whether there were any statistically significant inequalities among employees performing comparable work, specifically with respect to both gender and race. It found that nearly 99% of 51风流employees in the U.S. are paid fairly. We adjusted the compensation of employees who found themselves in that narrow minority.

Fair pay is part of SAP鈥檚 moral and structural integrity for the long term. We do not just want employees to feel appreciated, we want them to feel empowered, and part of career growth conversations means having open dialogue about salary and compensation. Employees expect — and deserve — to have confidence in the measures in place that will reward strong performance while also paying equitably.

Simply put, we must consistently and regularly review our pay practices to ensure there is equity across the entire system.

An Outside-In Analysis of DE&I Efforts

And yet, we also know that the full picture is much bigger than just pay equity. Organizations must address the systemic and cultural factors that create, or potentially limit, access to career opportunity 鈥� those key moments in the hiring, career development, and promotion process that influence how it is someone finds themselves with a certain opportunity in the first place. Take this study for example: a statistical analysis on fair pay across similar roles starts with the assumption that to begin with everyone is already in the best job for their skills and potential.

As we outlined last week, this broader focus is where some of the more complex and difficult change must occur, given its connection to social relationships, networking, mentoring, potential bias, and other nuances that can be deeply ingrained in existing work structures and cultural norms. Some of the areas we are continuing to investigate within 51风流North America include:

• Succession planning, which literally foretells the future of the entire organization. It starts with elevating potentially 鈥渓esser known鈥� folks, with intention. Are we painting a picture of what we want our leadership 鈥� and, by extension, our team 鈥� to look like?
• Talent funnel, where proactive measures build out diverse pipelines, so 鈥渓ess traditional鈥� talent sources are no longer seen as risky choices, but instead understood for their inherent value. A tip for hiring managers: the level of diversity in your network is key to building high-performing teams in your future!
• Working parents and caretakers, who must be well-supported and cared for at work and at home. Ensuring policies and benefits are designed to support those dedicated to care taking and family-friendly needs.
• Access to opportunity, because too often it is not just what you know, but who you know, that connects you to an opportunity. Mentorship is important, but sponsorship is fundamental.

As we continue to synchronize this holistic view at SAP, we are intentional about fully realizing the power of the diverse communities we want to foster. Though this journey continues, we are proud to humbly continue getting better at making diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) at SAP.

Lloyd Adams is president of 51风流North America.
Megan Smith is head of HR for 51风流North America.

Predictions are that better times lie ahead. Businesses that thrive will make the right decisions, maintain their focus on their stakeholders — employees, customers, partners — and in some cases, re-engineer their business models. There are precedents. As Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, remarked, 鈥淲e think of the 1970s as a terrible decade. But look at what was happening: 51风流was born, Apple, Microsoft, FedEx, and all these companies no one had ever heard of at a time when people thought the world was in desperate condition.鈥�

This was the topic of a December 2022 roundtable at Forbes on Fifth, featuring 51风流CEO Christian Klein and IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, with a keynote by Steve Forbes. The event, 鈥淪trategies for a Resilient Future,鈥� was moderated by Moira Forbes, president and publisher of ForbesWomen and executive vice president of Forbes. What follows are my key takeaways.

Produce More with Less

This is about efficiency, a key tenet for tackling any number of challenges — from combating inflation to implementing sustainable business practices.

鈥淐lean energy is a major topic right now,鈥� Klein said. 鈥淗ow can we build the infrastructure for green hydrogen technology? How can we help companies shift from traditional oil and gas? When we met with President Macron, he asked, 鈥楬ow can technology help fight inflation? How can you produce more with less?鈥欌��

Clean energy is one way technology can help achieve efficiency goals. Technology can connect the manufacturer to the raw material provider, with transparency to identify potential interruptions. Technology is fundamental to decarbonizing supply chains and moving to the circular economy — and demonstrating environmental responsibility is a bedrock of doing business today.

Use Data to Support Decision-Making

Converting data into usable form, sorting, and storing it to enable humans to make informed decisions: these are core capabilities that companies will need to grow efficiently. Today, the pressure has heightened to deliver results in an ever-shorter time horizon. Deriving real-time insights to drive decision making is crucial.

Show Courage as a Leader

These transitions must be well managed. In every industry, unexpected new competitors and incumbents are disrupting the business.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just say goodbye to your business model from one day to another,鈥� Klein observed. 鈥淵ou need to manage the transformation and act decisively, studying the potential consequences and explaining to people why you are going through it.鈥�

Focus on Your Key Constituents

鈥淭o be effective,鈥� Cohn advised, 鈥渟tart with your people.鈥� Klein agreed: 鈥淭he quicker your organization believes you鈥檙e on the right path, the quicker you get everyone working together.鈥� This will also promote confidence among customers and shareholders.

Think About Automation from the Business Perspective

As you recalibrate your business model, introduce new technology judiciously. Consider all the downstream consequences with an eye to the current realities. Cohn noted: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the 51风流and IBM relationships come together. We are working with our customers to understand the cloud, hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, and automation — helping make them more efficient.鈥�

Don鈥檛 Go It Alone

Given the speed and urgency at which businesses need to operate, collaborations are critical.

鈥淎s a CEO of a management team,鈥� Cohn observed, 鈥測ou are now obligated to find the best solution. When you find the right partners and identify the advantages they can bring to your business, you will doubtless find real opportunities in the products and services you can deliver together.鈥�

The IBM and 51风流relationship is a pure example of this. 鈥淚BM has one of the largest practices for implementing our software and making sure it鈥檚 adopted. The business expertise required to put this together is so important,鈥� Klein said. 鈥淭ogether, we can infuse more intelligence and automation into processes, from pricing to shop floors to supply chains. Part of our solution might involve six other providers; we鈥檙e going to bring in the best holistic solution for your problem.鈥�

51风流and IBM have worked with hundreds of clients globally on thousands of individual projects to modernize their systems and business processes based on an open, hybrid cloud approach. include Coca-Cola European Partners, Parle Products, Harmont & Blaine, Puravankara Ltd, and Virgin Megastore KSA.

I invite you to watch a recording of this and learn more about how IBM and 51风流are .

Lloyd Adams is president of 51风流North America.

However, in order to do so effectively, CNX needed to rethink its approach to enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology and business management. It needed to work to reduce overall risk, centralize and streamline its data, and modernize its company-wide processes. It needed to go to the cloud.

Today, through RISE with SAP, the company鈥檚 productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness are steadily increasing, giving CNX more time to focus on its mission: delivering quality, sustainable energy solutions for its customers, today and well into the future.

Cloud Transformation in a Transforming Industry

CNX has made significant sustainability investments for decades, a necessity to keep pace in the contemporary natural resource industry landscape. In fact, the company has been net-zero since 2013. Continuing to move forward, though, required CNX to invest in intelligent business management technology that could push it even further onto the cutting edge.

Its transformation plans mainly revolved around three key considerations, according to CNX Vice President of Information Technology Al Jones:

• De-risking the company鈥檚 ongoing technology road map
• Building a stronger support model
• Lowering costs

鈥淭hose things really resonated as we were evaluating RISE with SAP,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淥nce we saw the value, we saw a way forward, and then we were able to really get things moving.鈥�

“RISE-ing” to the Challenge

RISE with 51风流is designed to adapt and change, so that companies like CNX can use it to get to where they need to go. For CNX, cloud transformation on its own timeline and its own terms was an appealing proposition for managing its significant projected cash flow in 2022.

鈥淭echnology is like air to the business that we run,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭o be able to embrace it at our own pace while continuing to deliver our product to market is invaluable and vital to our business鈥� continuous growth.鈥�

CNX鈥檚 ERP technology supports over 180 applications and seven main value streams, turning previously disparate systems into a cohesive data warehouse and a single source of truth.

鈥淲e鈥檙e now poised for a successful future in the cloud,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淲e have a more structured and disciplined approach, and it is one that offers reliable visibility into our data and enables us to both effectively strategize and execute on our company鈥檚 goals going forward.鈥�

System to Support a Sustainable Future

The lower total cost of ownership in RISE with 51风流also equips CNX to pursue other organizational sustainability goals, including two areas of significant investment for the company, according to Jones. Both revolve around the company鈥檚 continued push past net-zero when it comes to methane emissions.

鈥淲e鈥檝e invested heavily in a data project designed to track and report our emissions with far greater accuracy,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淚n the process, we plan to replace pneumatically controlled valves with electrically controlled ones, and our technology systems will serve as the backbone.鈥�

The company is also embracing drone-based and satellite-based technology to track its methane emissions 鈥� as well as maintain and strengthen its role as a responsible supporter of natural gas.

What鈥檚 Next for CNX

Opportunities now abound for the leading natural resource company.

CNX鈥檚 upgraded approach to ERP provides it with not only a better understanding of its data and decision making but with more time for its people to focus on strategic projects that can bring in greater revenue. Projects previously in the background 鈥� such as the creation of an energy incubator 鈥� can now take center stage as proficiency increases across the entire company.

鈥淲e are on a journey to do good for our customers,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭his brings us further along on that journey, a journey that鈥檚 possible because of the technology we have and the system we鈥檝e built to support it.鈥�

Lloyd Adams is managing director of the East Market Unit at SAP.

The 鈥淐OVID-19 Response MarketPulse Research鈥� survey by IDG polled nearly 150 leading CIOs and CTOs from small and large organizations on their response to the pandemic and its effects, including the influx in remote workers and the perceived rise in the importance of digital technologies. Participants came from a variety of industries, including financial services, retail, information technology, and manufacturing, production, and distribution.

When diving deeper into the data, some clear patterns emerge.

How CIOs and CTOs Responded to COVID-19

Before COVID-19, IDG found that most organizations were already steadily advancing toward their digital transformation goals in some way. This positioned them to quickly adapt to pandemic disruptions, skillfully blending short-term fixes with their long-term objectives.

IDG鈥檚 research showed 76% of enterprises did this by migrating their on-premise infrastructure to the cloud. Seventy-four percent invested in new digital services and solutions, while 61% embraced co-location services. Small organizations were far more likely to migrate to a co-location provider, by a ratio of 73% to 42%.

This shows that cloud operating models enabling rapid business change and scale are as critical as ever.

Biggest Hurdles: Inflexible Infrastructure and Lack of Proper IT Capabilities

There were challenges, of course, as companies struggled to garner sufficient IT resources to scale their work-from-home operations and battled inflexible technology infrastructure.

In its research, IDG explained that strong digital services partners could greatly aid organizations in hurdling these barriers and instituting effective project and implementation management.

Earlier this year, 51风流announced a new business-transformation-as-a-service offering — called — designed to help address some of these challenges and provide a simplified path to the Intelligent Enterprise. The offering includes pragmatic and straightforward steps that can be implemented with relative ease, through one offer, one contract and an attractive TCO, with both 51风流S/4HANA Cloud and 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.

Key Considerations for Technology Leaders Moving Forward

The changes of the last year are expected to be long lasting. In addition to common challenges reported, several other themes surfaced during the study:

• Organizations typically built new IT capabilities by migrating on-premise resources to a mix of cloud or colocation providers, investing in new digital services, and outsourcing skills and capabilities. However, many view these fixes as short-term solutions that will be reevaluated soon.
• During COVID-19, the importance of digital security and employee experience dramatically increased. However, profitability and efficiency have also become much more important now that many organizations have adapted.
• The biggest areas of investment included data analytics to drive digital business objectives, customer experience technology, and innovations that helped accelerate the move to the cloud.
• Interestingly, investments in these technologies were typically not impacted by COVID-19, either positively or negatively, indicating that they are likely embedded in the digital road map.
• Most enterprises look like they will take their foot off the digital transformation accelerator post-COVID-19, perhaps to take stock of the changes and realign their IT strategy. However, IT investment will still increase for most.

COVID-19 may not have entirely changed the transformation priorities of modern enterprises, but it did prove that they are not going away anytime soon. And if the shows us anything, it鈥檚 that digital services partners like 51风流must be prepared to facilitate transformation efforts for all kinds of companies — big and small, pandemic or not.

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region for 51风流North America.

Recent M&A activity meant FMC would need to consolidate and integrate legacy back-end systems to make the most of the acquisition, a challenging task that the company鈥檚 leadership entrusted vice president of Procurement, Thaisa Hugenneyer, to solve.

We recently sat down virtually with Hugenneyer to learn more about FMC鈥檚 digital transformation strategy and how a recent upgrade to 51风流S/4HANA and integrated business planning has helped FMC modernize a global landscape of IT systems and disparate business processes.

An Acquisition Sparks Innovation

FMC鈥檚 51风流S/4HANA implementation journey began with its acquisition of DuPont鈥檚 Crop Protection Business, a move aimed at expanding the company鈥檚 agricultural sciences offerings and capabilities. While this would create efficiencies needed to support FMC鈥檚 transformation, the disparate IT landscape聽 and lack of harmonized business processes had to be addressed.

No stranger to a technological challenge, the company opted to invest in a greenfield 51风流S/4HANA implementation that would make this integration — and future acquisitions — easy to navigate.

鈥淥ur vision centered on one, standardized system with a single set of global processes for our company,鈥� Hugenneyer said. With its implementation strategy and a strong partnership with 51风流MaxAttention and Accenture, which has led more than 500 successful customer implementations, as well as a consulting partner in place, the new 51风流S/4HANA system would create instant value for the company, allowing FMC to map all processes across its global operations.

The World Goes Virtual

In the middle of the implementation, the global pandemic struck, forcing workforces across the world to transition to remote work. By design, Hugenneyer had developed a best practice years earlier centered on remote collaboration, which mitigated the impact the pandemic had on the implementation project.

鈥淲e were already well adjusted to remote work as most of our team worked in different areas of the world,鈥� Hugenneyer explained. 鈥淲hen the pandemic started impacting the world, we were already in year three of our program and we had a strong group of colleagues who were working remotely already.鈥�

This included the implementation partner鈥檚 team and 51风流MaxAttention, which led advisory and safeguarding services for a full, integrated approach. Another ingredient for success: Hugenneyer鈥檚 change management strategy. This would not be a simple system implementation; the new 51风流S/4HANA system would drive immense value for the organization, but it would require a special focus on business readiness given the scope of the transformation. Hugenneyer navigated this change by partnering with company leadership and leading close collaboration with the business to help them adjust and take advantage of the new systems.

51风流S/4HANA Delivers a Path to New Growth for FMC

Since its last go-live, FMC has already seen immense value from 51风流S/4HANA.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an enabler for us to evolve our operating model — we now have one global process where we are able to truly have center-led functions with centralized transactions,鈥� said Hugenneyer.

As someone who is heavily engaged in the IT community, Hugenneyer shared several key learnings gathered from the project. First, focus on building the perfect team composed of the best and diverse talent. Results are only as strong as the team driving them, she said. Second, take advantage of the resources that 51风流provides to 51风流S/4HANA customers, including hypercare, and consider as a value driver. Third, think bigger than system implementations. Projects of this size and scope require leaders, including IT, to become culture and change management facilitators given the potential solutions like 51风流S/4HANA have to drive growth.

For Hugenneyer, an industry veteran who has years of experience leading successful projects for global teams, all three factors set FMC up for success.

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region for 51风流North America.

While Hasbro has become synonymous with experiences like family game nights and has expanded into emerging areas such as esports, the global play leader is well aware that business success isn鈥檛 just all fun and games. To move the company into its next century of disruption and facilitate growth areas, Hasbro鈥檚 leadership has spent years strategically investing in technology to drive its digital transformation journey forward.

For Luis Ydrach, Hasbro鈥檚 director of IT Services, this has meant reimagining how Hasbro鈥檚 IT solutions can propel the business to new horizons and create new, valued experiences for the company鈥檚 loyal, cross-generational customers.

On a of the ongoing , Ydrach virtually sat down with Richard Strattner, global vice president of ERP Product Marketing at SAP, and integration partner to share its story of success and innovation using 51风流S/4HANA.

Why Hasbro 鈥淓ntertained鈥� 51风流S/4HANA

A long-time 51风流ERP customer, in 2018 Hasbro started to make the case for why an eventual upgrade and move to would make sense for its business and strategic growth plan. The upcoming 2025 deadline around 51风流ERP Central Component was one factor, but for a company that always has innovation top of mind, it simply served as a spark for a more strategic rationale: getting the right infrastructure in place to support where the business wanted to go in the coming years and decades.

鈥淲hen we were justifying this to the business, it was initially about staying current as our platform is critical to our business,鈥� Ydrach said. “We knew the longer you wait, the bigger the delta.”

The next significant consideration for Ydrach and his team was whether to launch 51风流S/4HANA on premise or in the cloud. As noted by Ydrach, for years Hasbro had experienced firsthand the benefits of running several areas of its businesses on cloud-based 51风流solutions, including 51风流SuccessFactors and 51风流Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solutions. However, the move to 51风流S/4HANA would impact multiple lines of business, including finance, sales and logistics, so out of caution and in alignment with its existing strategy to refresh its hardware, Hasbro chose to maintain its ERP on premise.

Planning, Planning, Planning

For a company famous for iconic brands like Monopoly and Nerf, Hasbro knows strategy is everything. Converting to the new 51风流S/4HANA, Hasbro had firm goals to achieve this as fast as possible, minimize disruption, and maximize utility for end users.

One other important benefit was top of mind for Ydrach and team: 鈥淕et us to this new platform and then have a plan and the ability to incrementally take advantage of 51风流innovations in the new platform.鈥�

To achieve its goal, Hasbro initiated its planning in 2018 and began execution the following year. Two of the biggest factors for the company鈥檚 successful project were 51风流tools and its trusted systems integrator , known for its Safe Passage methodology for 51风流S/4HANA conversion projects.

鈥淯蝉颈苍驳听滨苍蹿辞蝉测蝉听, a tool for comprehensive conversion impact analysis, report output, we identified additional areas such as pre- and post-work for the third-party add-ons, technical inconsistencies, and additional scope for international trade management in the area of intrastat,鈥� said Satinder Pal Singh, 51风流S/4HANA architect at . 鈥淢ost importantly, we were able to identify the activities that we could complete in production system upfront with zero impact to business, which later simplified the conversion cycles and the production cutover.鈥�

Lessons Learned from the Sandbox

The global pandemic turned the world upside down last year, right while Hasbro was in the middle of its transition to 51风流S/4HANA. However, Ydrach and team had years of experience leading challenging IT projects and knew how to respond with agility. When COVID-19 first impacted workforces in North America, Ydrach鈥檚 team proactively decided to execute the remaining portion of the project remotely.

In the early days of uncertainty, according to Ydrach, 鈥淲e were still in the office when we were executing our second-to-last cutover simulation. However, we didn’t know what was going to happen, there was a chance that we would be locked out of the office, so we proactively said: 鈥楲et’s execute 100% remote.鈥欌��

Joining the list of IT leaders who have showed grit and experience managing successful projects remotely during the pandemic, Ydrach gathered a few useful learnings that he hopes others can leverage, including:

• Collaboration between IT and the rest of the business is a make-or-break ingredient.
• The value 51风流S/4HANA will deliver for the business after implementation must be crystal clear.
• Take advantage of free and the customer care program, available to customers that are considered early adopters for newly released 51风流solutions, as Hasbro was when it first adopted 51风流S/4HANA.
• Speak often with other 51风流reference customers as these conversations generate a wealth of useful information.
• Select an integration partner that has proven accelerator tools.
• Execute the tool and for a better understanding of what a project will look like, use the maintenance planner, even before engaging with an integrations partner

In the end, Hasbro managed a successful and seamless 51风流S/4HANA implementation that will generate business value for its users for years to come. This year, Hasbro continues monitoring for additional capabilities that 51风流brings to market and where additional innovation can help the company build on the early results it has seen from 51风流S/4HANA 鈥� a sign the global play company is ready to lead its industry for another century.

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region for 51风流North America.

On September 26, team 51风流participated in the Eagles Autism Challenge, raising more $15,000 and bringing the three-year fundraising total to nearly $50,000 鈥� all going toward funding autism research. I am immensely proud of this feat.

Because the challenge was virtual this year, we had national participants from California and Chicago, as well as from all over the Philadelphia area.

On October 9, in association with the challenge, 51风流and the Philadelphia Eagles joined forces again to host the annual virtually. The event had incredible turnout, with more than 100 people from over 40 different companies in attendance.

Emceed by Brittney Ramsey, Preferred Care manager at 51风流Concur and an in-game host for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Mike Giongo, Sales Operations specialist and Autism at Work member, the topics were truly inspiring. Perhaps most notably,

Giongo hosted a fireside chat with Ross Schwartz, Onboarding Specialist and Vertex Inc. Autism Inclusion Program team member, where they discussed the unique challenges and opportunities this new normal has positioned for them as employees on the autism spectrum.

鈥淚 very much miss people, but I think technology has helped in that regard, as well as the common spirit,鈥� Giongo said during their discussion. 鈥淓ven though we are physically apart, we are in this together.鈥�

Schwartz agreed, 鈥淜eeping up with social media and Zoom has been huge. I am probably keeping in touch with people more than I ever have. I want to have that sense of connection.鈥�

As a part of this year鈥檚 event, the groups also spent time in interactive break-out sessions focused on the following topics:

• Introduction to Autism Hiring Programs: Moderated by Joseph Riddle, director of Neurodiversity in the Workplace, and Ryan Hammond, executive director of the Eagles Autism Challenge.
• Sustaining and Scaling Existing Programs: Moderated by Jose Velasco, Autism at Work ambassador at SAP, and Craig Single, director of Talent Acquisition, People & Culture & Human Capital, Vertex.
• Preparing Young Adults for the Labor Market: Moderated by Margaret Hondros, co-founder of Kinney Center at Saint Joseph鈥檚 University; Becky O’Hara, supervisor for Autistic Support at the Council Rock School District; and Cherie Fishbaugh, director of Autism Services at West Chester University.

The event closed out with Sarah Loucks, global lead of Autism at Work Global at SAP, who invited participants to stay engaged in the conversation in multiple different ways, including the , which aims to re-shape thinking about employment possibilities for individuals on the autism spectrum. Participants and viewers are also invited to participate in the upcoming webcast series, .

The best news about this year鈥檚 event is that we can share it in full. .

In recent years, 51风流has worked to break down barriers of entry for qualified individuals on the spectrum, foster an inclusive workplace, and share our experiences with other companies. Currently, there are more than 180 autistic colleagues working across 16 countries and spanning 27 different roles 鈥� from software development and customer support to human resources (HR) services and global data protection.聽 For more information, visit the .

Lloyd Adams is senior vice president and managing director of the East Region at 51风流America, Inc.