Naturipe has been an 51风流customer since 2008, and while initially it was not very proactive with software upgrades, the company鈥檚 philosophy has changed over time. Today, Carol McMillan, Naturipe鈥檚 senior IT director, emphasizes the importance of upgrading and upskilling the team regularly.

“There’s actually more of a risk not upgrading the product and not upskilling your team than there is being more aggressive with that timeline,” she says. Since migrating to 51风流S/4HANA in 2018, the company has undergone three upgrades, including .

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

鈥淲e migrated to RISE with SAP, and we are looking at how we use those tools to optimize our supply chain and to create a better user experience for our workforce. Our workforce is constantly changing, and technology needs to change with the workforce,鈥� McMillan says.

She says it鈥檚 also important to stay at the forefront of technology in order to solve business problems efficiently, and notes that technological advancements have been crucial in managing the company’s exponential growth: “You can’t have linear growth in technology when you have exponential industry growth.”

McMillan says the Naturipe team uses SAP鈥檚 technology to prioritize its people and customers, improve workplace happiness, and give users a better experience. 鈥淲e use technology to make sure that we’re running as optimally as possible,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e look at process improvements and try to be at the forefront of technology. So, keeping up with the upgrades on a regular basis helps us be prepared for when business problems need to be solved, that way we already have the technology there to be able to solve them.鈥�

Delivering the freshest, highest-quality products to customers 365 days a year requires constant agility鈥攅specially in a category influenced by weather variability and the complexity of a highly time-sensitive supply chain. 鈥淏erries have a very short shelf life, so getting the best quality to our customers as quickly as possible is essential,鈥� she says.

To support this commitment, Naturipe Farms has invested in advanced logistics and supply chain technologies that enhance speed, visibility, and decision-making. These investments help ensure timely delivery of fresh products while also supporting employee satisfaction and work-life balance through wellness programs and flexible work arrangements.

Looking ahead, Naturipe wants to further enhance the user experience with more powerful tools and learn how to make better use of all the tools that come with RISE with SAP.  McMillan also identifies the potential of AI and the adoption of tools like Joule to improve Naturipe鈥檚 operations. “We really want to make the best use of AI and to give our users the best experience possible,” she says.

Her advice for other organizations in the agricultural industry includes the importance of putting people first, using technology to drive strategic growth, and not being a prisoner to risk. “It’s just as risky to not upgrade your technology as it is to have an aggressive timeline and have the tools that you need in order to drive that exponential growth,” she says.

The divide between the digital skills young people possess and the needs of employers is a big challenge and contributes to a high youth unemployment rate, particularly in the Global South. The 51风流Educate to Employ initiative is set up as a digital pathway through Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA), a public-private-youth ecosystem from UNICEF鈥檚 Generation Unlimited. The program aims to address this challenge and enable young people鈥檚 skills for a digital economy.

Nearly 90 percent of the 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world today, are in low-and middle-income countries. An estimated 22 percent do not have jobs and are not in education or training.

Globally, young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. Edmond Shange is one of the many young people who have faced difficulties navigating the employment market right out of high school. 鈥淚n South Africa there’s not a lot of opportunities when it comes to the employment sector,鈥� the 27-year-old shared.

Making copies of a CV or resume and going to a potential employer to drop them off costs money, something in very short supply among South Africa鈥檚 unemployed youth. Despite this, Shange says that as many as 300 young people often queue up to drop off their CVs at a potential employer. 鈥淚 faced a lot of challenges trying to apply for jobs,鈥� he said. “It’s very tough for young people like me.鈥�

Shange is not alone. 鈥淚n Africa over 70 percent of the population are young people and another 4 million join the job market every single year competing for less than half a million new jobs,鈥� said Nadi Albino, deputy director at UNICEF鈥檚 Generation Unlimited.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Youth unemployment and the lack of digital skills are a global problem, though it’s particularly acute among those who live in the Global South. While the fast-changing global economy demands increasingly specialized expertise, many young people are not learning the skills they need to get these jobs.  

The search for virtual upskilling to improve his digital skills led Shange to the Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA), a public-private-youth ecosystem supported by UNICEF鈥檚 Generational Unlimited, which offers opportunities for young people to learn, earn, and create impact. On his pathway to employment, Shange was introduced to 51风流Educate to Employ, an initiative delivered to YOMA through the implementing partner Umuzi. The curriculum for 51风流Educate to Employ involves 700 hours of targeted training focused on building soft skills and technical expertise.

After completing the course, Shange feels much more confident with his skills. As a result, he has recently secured an internship as a software developer at a startup gaming company based at Wits University Tshimologong Precinct.

Whether young people are educated, trained, or employed has significant implications for their overall well-being and ability to promote future economic growth, development, and sociopolitical stability. Unfortunately, most traditional education systems do not address the emerging youth digital skills gap.

This realization was one of the driving forces behind the creation of 51风流Educate to Employ.

鈥�51风流Educate to Employ was created to support young people who are neither in education nor employment, providing them with training, certification, and guidance to access roles within the 51风流ecosystem,鈥� explained Eugene Ho who leads SAP鈥檚 global CSR flagship skilling programs targeted at youths in need. 鈥淭hrough its tailored curriculum, the initiative has successfully helped candidates with only high-school qualifications.鈥�

鈥淭he 51风流Educate to Employ initiative provides young people with the tools, skills, and resources that they need to get employed or to employ,鈥� Albino added in an interview with SAP. 鈥淲e have to go back to making sure that these education systems work and that they work in tandem with where the world is going.鈥�

To meet industry needs, 51风流Educate to Employ curricula has been designed for three critical roles within the 51风流ecosystem: consultant associate, developer associate, and support associate. The curriculum taps into educational content from industry-leading organizations such as Coursera, Accenture, EY, and 51风流Learning.  

51风流CEO Christian Klein is the chair of the Generation Unlimited Board.  

鈥淭he YOMA online platform alone has had over 600,000 registrations,” Albino confirmed. “A measure of success is how the ecosystem has enabled over 5 million opportunities to learn, earn, and create impact worldwide in the past two years. We are now beginning to see young people getting into jobs.鈥�

Shange鈥檚 journey with YOMA and 51风流Educate to Employ started in the living room of his grandmother’s house, a place where community has always taken center stage. 鈥淚 look up to my grandmother; she has done a lot for the community,” he said. “I hope that I could do the same — help people in the tech field create more jobs for people that are in need and just be creative.鈥�

A permanent full-time job would enable Shange to feed and look after his family, and to continue helping others in his community the same way he was helped. In his community, Shange says he is seen as something of a role model.

鈥淚 want young people to know that it’s possible [to get a job],” he said. “Keep applying and also don’t lose hope when you see something’s not working. Some things do take time, so give it your best and make sure that you see it through.鈥�

Today, 51风流extended its founding partnership with Generation Unlimited for four more years, 2026-2029, with a commitment of US$2 million.

Top image via video
UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, organization, product or service

To ensure that patients globally receive required medications and treatment on time, the management of manufacturing and distribution must be ultra-efficient, agile, and responsive.

With patient safety on the line and high-quality expectations, there is no room for error. 

One company that has mastered this balancing act is Ireland-based , a high-growth, diversified healthcare services company that provides distribution services for pharmaceutical products. The company works closely with manufacturers to offer third-party logistics (3PL) and fourth-party logistics (4PL) services to remain true to its mission of securing patient access to pharmaceutical products.

In the last decade, UniPhar has witnessed unprecedented growth and today delivers pharmaceutical products to more than 160 countries.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

51风流and UniPhar: A 15-Year Partnership

UniPhar has grown organically and through acquisitions, and during this time its 51风流enterprise resource planning (ERP) landscape had become highly customized.

Two years ago, UniPhar鈥檚 board gave its Chief Enterprise Architect Piotr Wojdowski a mandate 鈥渢o rework the company鈥檚 digital core鈥� and deliver a digital transformation to unlock future growth while still safeguarding the highest of standards in the manufacturing and distribution chain.

In the quest to find a software partner for its digital transformation, Wojdowski says UniPhar needed 鈥渁 partner and a software that is reliable and best in class鈥� to strengthen and future-proof the company鈥檚 ability to deliver on its mission of securing patient access to pharmaceutical products.

Wojdowski explains that there is an element of social responsibility to UniPhar鈥檚 mission. The patient requiring the pharmaceutical products or services 鈥渃ould be somebody鈥檚 relatives, it could be somebody鈥檚 mother, or it could be somebody鈥檚 son,鈥� making it even more important that the selected digital transformation software and partner was not only best in class but also reliable and trustworthy. 

鈥淣ot only had 51风流proved itself to be a trusted and reliable partner for UniPhar for 15 years,鈥� Wojdowski explains, but 51风流鈥渋s a standard in the health services sector, making integration of other services easier.鈥�

51风流Advances UniPhar鈥檚 Technology and Talent

UniPhar’s goals are to grow horizontally, expand, and scale on demand. , , and play a pivotal part by, on the one hand, standardizing IT processes across the group and, on the other, managing distribution and inventories across different warehouses with 51风流EWM state-of-the-art warehouse management software, while using 51风流Datasphere for data management.

In a nutshell, says Wojdowski, 鈥渢he 51风流technology stack allows us to effectively advance our program quickly,鈥� using to build applications and extend 51风流solutions. 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) acts as an accelerator to move to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, helping UniPhar transform with confidence and speed using proven migration tools and enabling integration across applications.

SAP, and especially 51风流BTP, is not only a technology enabler but also allows UniPhar 鈥渢o innovate and attract the top talent as an organization because people want to come to work in an environment that is innovative, that allows you to try things, and that allows you to experiment,鈥� Wojdowski says.

Laying Foundations with 51风流Today for Tomorrow鈥檚 AI

UniPhar is currently in the implementation process and Wojdowski has a keen eye on the future, noting that 鈥渆venting, observability, and telemetry鈥� will form the basis of future artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements.

Data is critical in the pharmaceutical industry, he explains, and UniPhar 鈥渉as terabytes and terabytes of data that we are not physically able to analyze because it’s complex and massive.鈥� The plan is to migrate the data to a central repository and in the future 鈥減lug into an AI system to track patterns, track customer behaviors, track market trends, and react accordingly.鈥�

Make a Challenge a Proof-of-Concept

51风流solutions are enabling UniPhar to innovate and step into the future on its own terms, with standardized processes, best practices, and foundations for AI technology that can scale and strengthen UniPhar鈥檚 mission to improve patient access to pharmaceutical services and products across the globe.

Wojdowski says 51风流seems to have a solution for every business requirement, but even though 鈥測ou may have to customize and change things that 51风流provides out of the box, at the end of the day it’s a full enterprise suite and you can run 51风流end-to-end if you wish.鈥�

And Wojdowski鈥檚 advice for other companies planning a digital transformation? Challenges can become proofs of concept 鈥� there is no need to accept that something cannot be done. 鈥淏e brave, be daring, and ask questions. Challenge your partners and challenge yourself,鈥� he concludes.

The company has expanded its international operations in recent years through organic growth and acquisitions, says Roca Group Digital Transformation Director Jacques Nieuwland. 鈥淲e have had the challenges of most industries in the last years,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y job is to help Roca leverage technology to support the different strategic objectives of the company, which are growth, innovation, operational excellence, and sustainability.鈥�

Global Supply Chain

鈥淲e have a global supply chain for some of our components, so we need to plan in a more agile way,鈥� Nieuwland says. 鈥淲e need to update our planning and we need to be able to put in some buffers to have a resilient supply chain.鈥�

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Nieuwland says technology helps by giving Roca greater visibility into its supply chain. 鈥淓verybody collaborates against the same processes with the same data. We include our own value chain and also the value chain of our suppliers and customers,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd this enhanced visibility allows us to optimize the whole value chain and to take the right decisions.鈥�

51风流is the backbone of the company鈥檚 application landscape, he says: 鈥淲e perform our core processes, which include order processing, reordering planning, and many others via 51风流solutions. It helps us because it gives us a structure of processes, of data, and of reports that allow us to understand our business, to replicate it, to scale it, and to continuously improve it.鈥�

Roca uses the solution to help it anticipate the demand for specific products and adjust production accordingly. That way, Nieuwland says, 鈥渨e are able to give an excellent service and to optimize stocks.鈥�

Long-Term Partnership

Nieuwland says Roca Group chose 51风流to be its technology partner because of its long-term relationship with 51风流and because 51风流is a leader in many of the solutions Roca needed. 鈥淲e have a long history of collaboration and have been successful. [鈥 We trust the technology, the digital supply chain solution, [and] the business network solution. We like to work with leading solutions 鈥� we trust them.鈥�

Earlier this year Roca selected and is preparing to go live with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud at the beginning of 2025 for the next phase of its digital transformation 鈥� a move that Nieuwland believes will enable even more innovation. 鈥淲e have chosen the cloud-based solution because 51风流innovates first on the cloud-based solution and we want to leverage that innovation,鈥� he says.

He adds that the integration of SAP鈥檚 generative AI copilot into SAP鈥檚 cloud ERP will also fuel innovation and productivity. 鈥淲e think there is huge potential to increase our productivity,鈥� he says. More generally, he says SAP鈥檚 cutting-edge technology will help Roca improve its service to customers and interact better with them, as well as help the company achieve operational excellence including, for example, reducing waste and improving sustainability.

Sustainability

On sustainability, Nieuwland says Roca Group is studying scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions. It has already set yearly targets for the reduction of CO2 and wants to be carbon neutral by 2045. More generally, he says Roca鈥檚 goal is to deliver 鈥渢he best bathroom experience for customers worldwide.鈥�

Asked what other manufacturers can learn from Roca鈥檚 experience, he says: 鈥淚t’s very important to start with a business problem, a business challenge, and put technology at the service of generating business value. Then it’s very important to work in cross-functional teams. So, this is not about buying hundreds of solutions to solve isolated problems. We need to think on a bigger scale and to work together to find the best solution to our challenges and use few solutions and have an enterprise architecture that support our goals.鈥�

The partnership has continued to this day with a mission to make great wines and spirits that bring people together. Now, the company has over 2,000 hectares of vines under cultivation in 12 wine-growing regions of Spain, Chile, and Mexico, where the producer deploys sustainable agricultural techniques to bring indigenous vines back into production.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Running a Responsible Business

鈥淔or us, everything revolves around sustainability,鈥� said Elisabet Braza Valle, head of 51风流Supply Chain and Finance at Gonz谩lez Byass, during an interview at 51风流Sapphire Barcelona. 鈥淥ur goal is to be a reference in the wine sector and also in the field of sustainability, and we鈥檙e using technology to do that.鈥�

Valle explained that digitalization is helping to drive efficiency by improving processes and that people are already noticing a more expeditious service. 鈥淎ll the processes are connected,鈥� she said. 鈥淐lients notice that we are preparing their packages and managing their invoices faster than before. That鈥檚 because, thanks to SAP, we have all the data in the same place.鈥�

In addition to its core 51风流ERP system, Gonz谩lez Byass recently implemented , a solution that helps enterprises calculate extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations and define corporate commitments to optimize material choices. It鈥檚 also designed to help address all the requirements of the new plastic taxes in Europe.

To help promote a more circular economy, for example, Spanish law mandates an indirect tax levied on plastic in packaging. Calculating the taxable amount is particularly complex and burdensome. Companies must know how much non-recycled plastic is in the non-reusable plastic packaging contained in the shipments they receive. This information should be furnished by the suppliers that now find themselves in a challenging situation as they did not have to comply with this type of requirement before. Collected data must be reliable and verifiable to ensure accuracy when sharing with customers or if it should be questioned by the Spanish tax authorities.

鈥淪AP鈥檚 solution not only helps us comply with the law, but it also helps us manage our materials more efficiently,鈥� said Valle, who believes one of the greatest assets of the solution is the visibility it provides into the company鈥檚 supplier landscape. 鈥淲e are encouraging all of our suppliers to commit to being more sustainable, and we assess them every year. We also work together to improve our environmental behavior.鈥�

Valle cited several examples of collaborative engagement, such as reducing the weight of glass bottles and using recyclable packaging materials. The company has already substituted some materials with more sustainable alternatives and is buying cardboard boxes and wood sourced from certified forests.

鈥淲e have all the information about our materials in 51风流Responsible Design and Production, so we can see how much plastic we are using and how much of it is recycled. That determines the amount of tax we pay,鈥� Valle explained. 

All these improvements are part of the company鈥檚 People and Planet program that is designed to ensure a nature-friendly, energy-efficient foundation for future generations. The efforts are paying off.

Simplifying a Complex Landscape

According to its sustainability report for 2022, Gonz谩lez Byass already reuses or recycles 99% of the waste it generates and 79% of the energy it consumes comes from renewable sources. Water conservation efforts include using rainwater for irrigation, underground irrigation, and satellite-controlled irrigation.

Gonz谩lez Byass has already reduced carbon emissions by 20% and is committed to a 55% reduction by 2030. Besides managing its own regulatory obligations in Spain, the company must also be compliant with other regulations in the EU and the UK that impact its business. For example, recycling glass packaging waste is mandatory in all EU Member States. In Spain, this process is driven by Ecovidrio, a non-profit entity managing the Collective System of Extended Producer Responsibility (SCRAP).

鈥淥ne of our next projects is to set up Ecovidrio in the 51风流Responsible Design and Production solution, where we manage all our tax declarations and reports,鈥� Valle said. 鈥淎nother critical report is the declaration for the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Technology is helping us become a global reference in the sector because now we鈥檝e integrated all relevant information needed for compliance.鈥�

Four of its wineries have received the Wineries for Climate Protection certification, the first of such credentials specific to the wine industry targeting environmental sustainability. The certification recognizes sustainability activities in wineries in four key areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, managing water, reducing waste, and increasing energy efficiency.

Valle is confident that with the aid of technology Gonz谩lez Byass will not only be a leader and a reference in the sector, but, most importantly, it will secure its place as an exceptional winemaker for posterity. After all, since its most iconic wine , it鈥檚 a good thing Gonz谩lez Byass is doing everything to continue producing the best wines and spirits for future connoisseurs. 

鈥淥ur mission is to help the customer be fast-moving,鈥� Takuya Sakai, general manager of Hitachi High-Tech Corporation鈥檚 Digital Transformation Business Group, said in after appearing in an 51风流TechEd keynote last year. 鈥淎nd our corporate vision is a simplified customer process.鈥�

So, in the name of speed and simplicity, Hitachi High-Tech did more than just modify its solution architecture; the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. opted for a greenfield 51风流S/4HANA transformation. That meant designing and building a new environment customized for its specific needs.

And it did so via an ambitious digital experience program with the goal of helping to simplify its customers鈥� high-tech processes across nano-technology, analytical and medical, as well as other business categories.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Jumping into the Greenfield

Hitachi High-Tech had run 51风流ERP as the backbone of its global business since the 1990s, enabling decades of smooth operation and implementation, as well as allowing regions to tailor development to their specific needs. But it also resulted in about 9,000 add-ons 鈥� coding added over the decades to enable bespoke functionality 鈥� from reports and input screens to complex manufacturing-related processes.

Add-ons can help users customize software for specific tasks. But, especially over time, they can become unwieldy, hindering the organization鈥檚 agility and adaptability.

鈥淎fter our digital experience project, we made the decision to jump into a greenfield so that we don鈥檛 transfer all that from our legacy system to our new 51风流S/4HANA platform,鈥� Sakai said. 鈥淲e changed processes, and we changed technologies.鈥�

Indeed, the jump into a greenfield 鈥� implementing a new system on a virtual blank canvas, without migrating pre-existing data, customizations, and more 鈥� helped Hitachi High-Tech slash its 9,000 legacy add-ons to a mere 800 add-ons, according to Sakai. And Hitachi High-Tech developed most of those new add-ons side-by-side via 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP); not altering code helped minimize modifications, which safeguarded stability, agility, and speed.

And, Hitachi High-Tech stopped add-on development completely on 51风流S/4HANA, according to Sakai.

How Two Tiers Equal One Clean Core

In its greenfield, Hitachi High-Tech built a two-tier model: one tier featured 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for the company鈥檚 small and midsize sales offices overseas, allowing them to use relatively simple ERP tools, while the other tier runs 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition for Hitachi High-Tech鈥檚 larger domestic manufacturing.

鈥淪ide-by-side development on 51风流BTP…allows for faster upgrades,鈥� , 鈥済iving our people more immediate access to improved functionality.鈥�

Moving operations from an increasingly customized 鈥� and, therefore, cumbersome 鈥� legacy system to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud offered flexibility, speed, and security, . This can be useful when demand surges, for example, or for offering more frequent upgrades.

But the two tiers still need to exchange data. That鈥檚 where 51风流BTP fits.

鈥淲e have to integrate two ERPs, so that鈥檚 why we set up 51风流BTP between the two tiers,鈥� . 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to keep our 51风流S/4HANA core clean…so we use 51风流BTP as a business hub and a development foundation.鈥�

Building a Simple, Smart Digital Process

鈥淯sing 51风流BTP, we can build a simple, smart digital process without touching our 51风流S/4HANA core,鈥� Sakai said, echoing what he shared during his 51风流TechEd keynote appearance. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 very, very powerful because we can introduce new functions to the user…and we believe 51风流BTP is very important for accelerating our business.鈥�

Sakai appeared at 51风流TechEd to tell the story of Hitachi High-Tech鈥檚 greenfield transformation, during which employees had to adapt to new process, screens, and reporting. They ended up with every office digitally connected, which proved to be a tremendous benefit.

And that type of business case is 鈥渢he most important thing鈥� in a transformation, according to Sakai.

鈥�51风流is not just a software company, but also something like transformation company,鈥� Sakai said. 鈥淥f course,鈥� he added with a smile, 鈥渢he system also is very important.鈥�

But as the Red Cross pointed out in a , global warming poses a bigger danger than the novel coronavirus, with U.S. President Joe Biden calling climate change 鈥渢he number one issue facing humanity鈥� and 鈥渢he existential threat of our time.鈥�

鈥淏oth are systemic shocks,鈥� explained Celine Herweijer, partner at PwC UK and Global Climate Change Leader, during a panel discussion on sustainability hosted by SAP. 鈥淲e knew a pandemic would be coming at some point. We absolutely know climate change is around the corner. What we have to do to solve for climate change, unfortunately, is much more complex and just as urgent. We have to half global emissions in the next 10 years, which means radically transforming every sector of our global economy. It鈥檚 very complex and very urgent.鈥�

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

鈥淭he changing climate is no longer an abstract issue,鈥� shared Richard Munang from the United Nations (UN) Environment Program, 鈥淚n October 2020, the United in Science Report pointed to the fact that climate change has not stopped for COVID-19. That means if nothing is done, the world is going to move toward an apocalypse.鈥�

With such an unsettling scenario, many wonder why there isn鈥檛 more concern about the issue globally. Mike Barry, strategic adviser and director at Mikebarryeco, explained that this happens 鈥渂ecause it’s always been about something that’s going to happen in the future鈥攆ive, 10, 15 years from now. It’s somebody else’s problem.鈥�

He suggested that the devastating impact of wild weather events around the world in the last 12 months has suddenly made the problem 鈥渞eal to people.鈥�

But it鈥檚 not all doom and gloom.

As Herweijer pointed out, 鈥淲e鈥檙e currently in the middle of the fastest period of innovation ever,鈥� with technology impacting virtually every organization. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, Big Data, and analytics offer us the tools to act on climate change across industries and regions.

Increasingly, companies are committing to reach while financial investors work to decarbonize their portfolios. As the software industry leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, 51风流is helping organizations reinvent how to achieve their own sustainability targets through its Climate 21 initiative. The recently launched application is already giving companies the ability to manage the green line of individual products, delivering greater transparency to consumers who can now know the exact environmental impact of each of their purchases.

Watch the full version of Reality Check:

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Here, meet the finalists in the Operational Excellence category.

The Hasso Plattner Founders鈥� Award is the highest
employee recognition at SAP, awarded annually by the CEO
to an individual or a team.

Finalist: Monitor of Monitors

Some challenges turn out to be a steppingstone to something great. For one of the eight finalist teams, identifying and resolving problems in cloud services was just such a challenge.

Out of their own need, the Global Cloud Services (GCS) team came up with an idea on how to reduce the time and effort to monitor and correlate outages and service issues within cloud services.

鈥淲hen you have an outage, every minute matters, every minute costs money,鈥� Anthony Sanchez, vice president of Global Cloud Services, recalls. 鈥淏y identifying problems faster and sooner we resolve that problem, saving our customer money as well as SAP.鈥�

Over the course of four months, the team worked around the clock and developed the Monitor of Monitors 鈥� or MoM as they affectionately call it. This acronym is quite fitting as it illustrates what the innovation is about: like a mother looking out for the health and wellbeing of her children, GCS鈥檚 Monitor of Monitors oversees the health of the 51风流suite of cloud services.

What started out as a team of five people, quickly grew to dozens of people who supported and contributed to the vision.

鈥淲e all love working on this project and think that love is contagious,鈥� Sanchez explains.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Cloud Health at Your Fingertips

How does it work? Monitor of Monitors enables an exchange of information that is centralized and transparent. Through the tool, engineering, operations, support, and leadership teams all have the health of SAP鈥檚 cloud at their fingertips. This enables them to react more quickly to events that pose a risk to customers. By doing so, Monitor of Monitors helps 51风流to operate the cloud more reliably and efficiently.

When asked, why he thinks his team should win the award, Sanchez鈥檚 response is quick and on point: 鈥淢onitor of Monitors is a tool that everyone can use; it isn鈥檛 a niche, and it has value for everyone in SAP.鈥�

Anyone can get access to and start using it within minutes. In fact, numerous teams within the company already use the tool. As he says proudly: 鈥淢onitor of Monitors fosters the spirit of 鈥極ne SAP.鈥� It encourages us all to work together as members of the 51风流family.鈥�

Finalist Fast Facts

• Submission Title: The Monitor of Monitors (MoM)
• Team: Anthony Sanchez, Gabor Kaszonyi, Daniel Koller, Alexander Julian Danek, Gregory Melasecca-Jr, J贸zsef Kert茅sz, Yu Chen, Vittalraya Shenoy Adige, Marcus Mrozowski, Birk Bohne
• Number of employees: The team started as five and grew to 16 volunteers, with participation from dozens of people across SAP.
• Achievement: Massively reduced Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) from over 60 minutes to five minutes. Consolidated the number of dashboards from hundreds, to one, decreased Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR) of multi-LoB outages to their lowest in more than two years.
• Impact: Everyone in 51风流can use Monitor of Monitors, within minutes, to improve their cloud efficiency, bring value to their teams, and most importantly provide value, reliability, and assurance to SAP鈥檚 customers.

Finalist: Deploy with Confidence

Accelerating the transformation to the cloud is an important pillar in the 51风流strategy. The innovators behind this team have set themselves a mission: with their solutions, they want to speed up and revolutionize this movement. 鈥淐onfidence in the delivery process is more relevant than ever, considering that modern cloud-native applications are inherently distributed, introducing immense challenges,鈥� explains Sarah Mueller, cloud engineering ambassador from the team. The Deploy with Confidence approach automates delivery, testing, and operational activities. This helps to increase developer productivity and reduce error rates to support the highest quality. Every cloud release to customers is done in a fully automated fashion. 51风流 are engineered by constantly incorporating customer feedback. Results are delivered to the customer daily.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

More Value for the Customer

The idea for Deploy with Confidence originated in a new cloud application project in which the team was involved. While delivering their software to the customer, Mueller and her team realized that they had the potential to improve the process and make it more valuable for the customer 鈥� Deploy with Confidence was born.

With their innovation, the Deploy with Confidence team 鈥渆nables the transformation of on-premise organizations to the cloud,鈥� Mueller explains.

People smiled at their idea at first, but they kept hearing that it would not work out. The team knew that they could make it possible. That experience led to a key learning for Mueller and her colleagues, which is to never stop, even if others tell you that you will never be able to solve a problem. With 51风流Cloud ALM, the team has recorded their largest success so far, transforming an organization with more than 200 developers to the cloud. It is currently the largest application being engineered on 51风流Cloud Platform, delivering to customers daily.

For Mueller and her team one thing is certain: 鈥淒eploy with Confidence is a key element for SAP鈥檚 goal to accelerating the transition to the cloud.鈥�

The tool is already available and used within 51风流and several frontrunner applications are now spreading across SAP. When asked why Mueller thinks her team should win the award, she responds with confidence: 鈥淲e set ourselves a goal that seemed unachievable and, in the end, we revolutionized the way 51风流delivers cloud software.鈥�

Finalist Fast Facts

• Submission Title: Deploy with Confidence
• Team: Sarah Mueller, Semjon Kopp, Jonas Breuer, Joerg Bastian, Damian Maring, Thomas Stein, Andreas Loebel, Philipp Thiele, Timon Schuele, Hans Schulz
• Number of employees: Team of 10 plus many contributors
• Achievement: Deploy with Confidence revolutionized the way 51风流delivers cloud software proven by applications like 51风流Cloud ALM and 51风流Subscription Billing
• Impact: Deploy with Confidence accelerates SAP鈥檚 cloud transformation and enables cloud applications to deliver innovations daily.