That’s because business transformation is about far more than simply digital transformation. It’s about the adoption of new technology and the implementation of the best people, processes, and operations – so you can quickly adapt to evolving challenges and opportunities. More so, it’s about learning to embrace data throughout every step of the process. Data drives outcomes and ensures you can meet changing customer needs while continuing to drive innovation and future growth.

The business transformation success story of our partners at the National Hockey League (NHL) is an amazing example of this, as its relationship with data has helped reinvigorate the sports league’s position in the global marketplace. Dave Lehanski, EVP of Business Innovation and Development for the NHL, recently spoke with Scott Russell, member of the Executive Board of 51·çÁ÷SE, Customer Success, at 51·çÁ÷Business Innovation Day to share the NHL’s story.

A Brand-New Outlook on On-Ice Action

Since working with 51·çÁ÷in 2015, the NHL has undergone a total reinvention of its data capabilities – transforming the way players, coaches, and fans interact with data in the process.

“Unlike other sports, hockey is not defined by discrete events during games,” Lehanski said. “That makes it harder for us to tell full stories, because there are fewer stoppages throughout the competition. That’s why we need live, in-game data. It helps us tell stories as they are unfolding.”

Data helps the NHL tell better stories – with things like NHL Edge, its puck and player tracking technology – because it works across multiple levels.

“Coaches and players were hesitant [when we first tried it],” Lehanski said. “Analytics can be imposing to those on the ice when they are first introduced. But now that they’ve seen what is possible, the data has really built trust – and helped change operations entirely – across general managers’ offices, scouting departments, and entire organizations.”

The NHL is also using data with a focus on sustainability, specifically to gain a better understanding of energy utilization, water consumption, waste, and recycling across all NHL club venues. That’s why the league recently built the NHL Venue Metrics platform using . It enables them to measure those data points and clearly understand environmental impacts. In turn, they can set goals – while scoring goals – that set them up for the future.

What’s Next

If businesses today intend to continue growing and competing in their industries, they must take steps to become more resilient and responsive. The NHL has done that, and it’s a perfect example of what it looks like to let new technology drive transformation. As analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and machine learning tools continue to advance, it will be vital for enterprises like the NHL to continue finding ways to innovate – to ensure that they’ll always be top-shelf.

This reality isn’t slowing federal organizations down; instead, many digital leaders are feeling galvanized by the art of the possible. If technology modernization is necessary – and imminent – what can be done differently with this transformation to make systems easier to migrate, more efficient to use, and — most importantly — to better support agencies in accomplishing their missions?

At the recent in Washington, D.C., two federal agencies that are actively reimagining financial reporting and business processes shared their plans – and lessons learned – on their journeys to 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA.

Director of Business Integration at the , Martin Quinlan, and chief enterprise architect at the , Adrian Carter, have decades of collective experience navigating digital change management initiatives, including the execution of complex system and data migrations. As long-term users and advocates of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology, and some of the earliest adopters of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA in the federal government, here are their top insights.

Understand and Balance Priorities

Federal agencies are complex ecosystems, containing multiple component organizations and delivering a broad range of programs and services, impacting a wide variety of individuals, businesses, and institutions. What an agency itself is looking for from a system might be completely different than what the end user wants. Therefore it’s critical to understand the needs of each audience, and to balance these competing needs to derive the greatest value from the system.

For example, security is naturally a top priority for federal agencies, but the consumerization of IT means that many stakeholders also value an intuitive user interface for ease of adoption and operational efficiency. Moreover, migrating separate federal bureaus to a single ERP like 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA means replacing systems and customizations that users have become attached to over the years.

As Quinlan points out, migrating to a unified system is an absolute game-changer, but a fair amount of compromise is also necessary in order to make it happen.

“The different bureaus are really separate, so pulling everybody together was a huge deal for us. We replaced 86 systems with one, and that required compromise because at first nobody wanted to give up any of those systems. But after bringing all the bureaus together and taking the time to make those compromises, we were ultimately able to get it done.”

The impact of these compromises, says Quinlan, is a system and applications that benefit all stakeholders, including universal search, real-time reporting, updated user interface, and task-based security. “What does get the business excited is the value that we can bring.”

Strategic, Deliberate Migrations are Critical for Success

Federal agencies are well aware of the myriad benefits of cloud migration, including increased operational agility and an enhanced capacity for innovation. Unlike many of their corporate counterparts, however, federal agencies must contend with particularly strict budgetary constraints, as well as the need to remain vigilant to constantly evolving legislative mandates.

According to Carter, being strategic and deliberate throughout all phases of the migration process can go a long way toward preventing unexpected challenges as the project moves forward. This includes prioritizing standardization, designing a system that is thoughtful of the end user, and above all ensuring that the migration aligns with all of the agency’s various objectives. In his own experience, Carter has found that early missteps surrounding funding and acquisition in particular have a tendency to result in frustrating bottlenecks down the line.

“One of the things that I stressed from my team is that I wanted to get our funding and acquisition strategy in place. I’ve seen too many of these projects go forward, and then by year three or year four, you’re suddenly looking for money. So it was important to show that we had our funding and acquisition strategy aligned with our technical road map before doing anything.”

Learn from Experience — and Each Other

Both the DOI and the USDA have been working with ERP tools from 51·çÁ÷for more than a decade, and that experience has revealed the importance of learning from past experience and – more importantly – using those lessons to anticipate future obstacles to modernization. By knowing what to expect ahead of time, you have a better idea of which obstacles might consume the most time and effort, and therefore have the opportunity to plan accordingly.

Both Quinlan and Carter have found that prioritizing standardization can be particularly helpful, as it establishes a road map and best practices for overcoming challenges that are unique to federal agencies. Meeting obligations surrounding data, for example, can be difficult when new requirements are being passed down regularly with emerging legislation and government policy. As Carter noted, having a shared standard and processes for data collection and management puts agencies in a better position to leverage the data that they already have, and ultimately to become more efficient at meeting new requirements.

Finally, the value derived from building strong relationships and learning from one another on the path toward innovation is significant. Over the years, federal organizations have made an effort to work together with companies like SAP, and being able to share insights continues to benefit both the development and implementation of intelligent ERP solutions.

Going forward, continuing to capitalize on what has been learned through experience and from collaboration across agencies and 51·çÁ÷will further enhance the ability of federal agencies to enact positive change through digital transformation.

For their part, employees are making their needs clear by leaving jobs that are over demanding or unfulfilling; a trend that’s being called the “Great Resignation.”

It feels like a moment of significant upheaval, but to Steve Hunt, chief expert of Technology & Work at SAP, our current workforce issues are not a surprise — he’s known it has been coming.

As an industrial organizational psychologist and a technologist who works with many different companies, Hunt understands the operational realities of businesses. This trend is the outcome of that have been moving under the ground of our society: the digitization of work and the shifting demographics of our workforce.

According to Hunt, we are seeing the outcome of an ongoing shift in the fundamentals of work, work that is now physically much easier but psychologically more difficult. As our roles in the workforce changed, the rules around that work did not adapt as fast, leading to frustration and burnout. The impact of COVID-19 was gasoline on a simmering flame. And now, companies must rethink how they design jobs and recruit, develop and engage employees.

Learn more about this topic in Hunt’s recent podcast interview with , “,” where he discusses topics that include:

• How technology is changing the purpose of work
• Why creating effective employee experiences is critical to building organizations that can thrive in a world of accelerating change and growing skill shortages
• How a technology company like 51·çÁ÷embraces this area of focus and how it impacts new software solutions being developed
• The role of technology in all of this and what tools are critical in this future of work evolution

Read more stories from the 51·çÁ÷Pioneers series.

Today, we are furthering that commitment through a new program with Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab. The Newport News, Va.-based after-school instructional hub is dedicated to learning driven by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and grounded in team building and collaboration. At the lab, students of all ages, abilities, and disciplines learn valuable skills by designing creative solutions to real-world problems.

“SAP’s support for Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab will not only boost a love for learning,” said Mia Joe, the lab’s director, “it will also make a generational impact on workforce development by providing more access to specialized educational resources and more opportunity for children during early and impressionable developmental stages.”

The alliance is yet another logical outgrowth of , a community for youth all over the world who are passionate about innovation and technology — and who want to influence the way our digital world will take shape. 51·çÁ÷works with colleagues, ambassadors, and a global network of diverse institutions to provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice their skills every day, all around the world.

At — the result of a collaboration among Newport News Shipbuilding, Old Dominion University, and the City of Newport News — SAP’s participation will lead to:

• Integration of 51·çÁ÷Young Thinkers learning modules that encourage creative learning and social innovation
• Professionals from all participating organizations teaching workshops for K-12 and adult learners
• Increased collaboration on curriculum offerings and industry-led design thinking activities

The program officially got rolling with a kick-off event in Newport News last month, highlighting a day in the life of the lab’s students and allowing them to create a game that was presented to 51·çÁ÷executives.

“Meeting the instructor and the kids in this program was a powerful testament to the good that can be accomplished in our community,” said 51·çÁ÷Regulated Industries Chief Operating Officer Scott Thatcher. “The night was energetic and engaging, and it was thrilling to see the kids so locked in.”

This is only the beginning of the relationship between 51·çÁ÷and Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab, but Thatcher is eagerly anticipating the children’s continued growth, whether it be in coding skills or social skills.

“It was incredible getting to meet the people directly involved in this initiative and to see those in the community show up and invest of themselves,” he said. “This is going to have a real lifelong impact on these kids and their confidence, and I can’t wait to watch it happen.”

Enabling climate action through technology is top of mind for customers in industries around the globe, but the topic was particularly remarkable to the gathering of North American utility organizations at the annual conference in San Diego on October 17-19. These are organizations that not only face the emergency environmental situations intensified by climate change, like hurricanes and fires, but are also daily witnesses to energy consumption and, increasingly, adoption of more sustainable energy sources.

It’s no surprise then that sustainability was a key track at the conference, addressing head-on the challenges that North American utilities face as they grow and innovate against the looming presence of climate change. With keynotes from world-renowned experts and boots-on-the-ground insight – 90% of the track sessions were led by customers – here are the top takeaways on how sustainability is shaping the utilities industry.

Technology Is the Most Critical Tool to Combat Climate Challenges

While utilities have been responding to the impact of climate challenges for decades, the last few years have made the challenge acute: more intense natural disasters, the swift adoption of electric vehicles, and even the overnight shift to remote work. All of these have a significant impact on the energy grid – and when coupled with an escalation of regulation around sustainability, utilities are working under incredible market complexity.

The response, from industry experts and utility managers alike, was clear: to manage these challenges, companies need to gather, track, and understand their data. And the only way to do that is through and smart software.

“The most important thing is the ability to measure: to know where you started and where you’re going to, where the journey ends,” said Brian Roach, managing director of Regulated Industries at SAP. “What we’re seeing now is a lot of investment in the understanding of, say, your carbon footprint and having a predictable and consistent means of measuring that.”

The Singular Impact of the Electric Vehicle

For the past century, the energy industry has looked more or less the same. But factors are colluding to upend that stasis, and none more so than the electric vehicle. Elon Musk recently went on record in order to power the transition to electric vehicles. That is a tall order for utilities. It’s also an amazing opportunity to define new approaches in the ecosystem and create new business, particularly when it comes to taking advantage of off-cycle electrical demand.

“This is where smart technology must be applied: determining when you charge, what the right time of day is, what the rates are, the priorities of what gets charged first,” said Tony Posawatz, president and CEO of Invictus iCAR LLC, in the opening keynote. “This is where some of the horsepower that exists in the industry will come to bear.”

The Opportunity Is Now to Transform the Industry

Despite the clear external pressures – regulations, customer expectations and demand, the fast-evolving climate crisis – the tone was one of optimism and excitement. This is a turning point for the industry, and organizations are eager to rise to the challenge.

“I’ve been in this industry for decades, and for the first 10 years or so it was pretty stable; there wasn’t a lot of significant change. But right now, we are in a transformative state. I see it as a huge opportunity for us to be the ones who formulate what the future of utilities looks like,” said Michael O’Donnell, regional vice president of Utilities for SAP, in the opening keynote. “For me, it couldn’t be a more exciting time. You call it disruption; I call it opportunity for us to shape this and change the future.”

Mallory Kuno works within Communications at SAP.

There is also an urgency to modernize, as citizens expect a more consumer-like experience from their governments — for example, when renewing a license online, using a mobile app to pay for parking, or filing for unemployment services from home.

But compared to their peers in the private sector, the cloud migration path for governments is murkier, particularly when it comes to navigating strict security and compliance requirements. Yet many organizations have successfully made the transition by using the power of cloud processes to derive new insights, automate business processes, and spark innovation — all without compromising security.

(51·çÁ÷NS2) is a wholly owned subsidiary of 51·çÁ÷founded with the mission of securely delivering 51·çÁ÷solutions to organizations that support the country’s most critical workloads. At a moment when the need to digitally transform has never been more important for government organizations, Harish Luthra, president of 51·çÁ÷NS2 Cloud, shares some of the process and decisions that customers go through on their path to a successful cloud migration.

Understanding the Drivers

There are significant budgetary, operational, and regulatory hurdles that government agencies have to manage through as part of a cloud migration, but the benefits realized from a faster and nimbler IT system justify the effort. While each organization has its own unique motivations for a move to the cloud, these benefits underpin every decision:

• Faster, more precise decision-making: Cloud solutions enable advanced analytics, which helps agencies understand their data and make smarter decisions in real time. The impact of this for federal data sets cannot be understated: consider a federal agency customer that uses 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors to keep track of more than 10 million completed trainings annually for more than 600,000 employees.
• Simpler interfaces and better collaboration: Integrating many – sometimes dozens – of siloed systems into a single interface allows means simpler processes and a more holistic understanding of programs. This integration also supports a benefit that is becoming increasingly critical as agencies contend with an extended remote workforce: the cloud promotes easier collaboration for team members, whether they’re in the office or in the field.
• Enhanced security: Despite concerns about losing total control of data, the cloud actually enables innovation in security. For instance, cloud can serve as a platform for automated cybersecurity patching, which rapidly corrects any flaws in an agency’s software coding.

“The public sector has a responsibility to keep data secure,” Luthra said. “In the cloud, government can do just that, all the while gaining modern insights to fuel decision-making and service provision.”

Navigating Specific Requirements

For government agencies, the question of security is at the heart of every IT project. To help pave the way to broader cloud adoption and more nimble IT projects, the federal government launched a program to create a standardized approach to security for the cloud. The  (FedRAMP)  provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Using a “do once, use many times” framework, FedRAMP saves time and costs by enabling rapid procurement of information systems and services, eliminates duplicate assessment efforts, and ensures consistent application of information security standards across all government organizations.

51·çÁ÷NS2 offers a suite of FedRAMP-certified cloud solutions, allowing U.S. customers across government and regulated industries to benefit from 51·çÁ÷innovation and technology. The newly rebranded FedRAMP environment 51·çÁ÷NS2 Cloud Intelligent Enterprise includes a suite of intelligent applications and experience management (XM) tools for managing operational transactions, human resources (HR) and people management, analytics, and other innovative capabilities. The solutions include 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll and the .

According to Luthra, “Government agencies need a simple way to access critical information to make informed decisions. With machine learning technology and embedded artificial intelligence, customers can discover, analyze, plan, and predict in one experience across all devices.”

Finding Value in the Cloud

Once an organization has pushed through the questions of value and compliance to begin a cloud journey, the impact is swift. The U.S. Navy is an important example of this. After adopting a cloud-first policy in early 2017, the organization underwent one of the government’s largest cloud migrations, consolidating more than 20 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems under an accelerated timeline.

As Brandon Wehler, technical director for Enterprise Business Solutions at the Department of Defense, , their move to the cloud was driven by the need to address performance improvement and ease of use of its aging on-premise infrastructure, and to improve data quality and accessibility as well as auditability and compliance. But the migration process was daunting: With over 700 servers and a data footprint in the petabytes, the move took months of planning and data restructuring.

Today’s Navy ERP is modern and scalable, allowing for simpler use and faster response times. The organization saw an immediate benefit from its cloud environment as its navigated the onset of COVID-19 earlier this year. There were no impacts to the user community or availability of systems, which likely would have occurred in the old environment. Most importantly, the Navy is now set up for continued modernization and scalability as next-generation cloud technology advances and matures, and to bring more pieces of its organization into the ERP system, to enhance its overall financial and auditable accountability.

As the Navy’s story illustrates, a cloud migration is the start – a driver – of ongoing flexibility, security, and modernity. Luthra summarized it this way: “For government organizations, the real impact of a cloud migration isn’t the faster and more flexible execution of an on-premise system, but the realization of possibilities that can be accomplished, and accomplished securely, within this nimbler and evolving infrastructure.”

Learn more about how 51·çÁ÷NS2 achieved FedRAMP certification for 51·çÁ÷Analytics Cloud and the roadmap for bringing future cloud solutions into the FedRAMP portfolio. .