Svenja Mueller, Author at 51风流News Center Company & Customer Stories | Press Room Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:09:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 51风流AppHaus Network to Onboard New Partners in North America /2024/03/sap-apphaus-network-new-partners-in-north-america/ Thu, 07 Mar 2024 13:15:00 +0000 /?p=223119 51风流plans to establish additional partner-driven locations for the 51风流AppHaus Network in North America and is seeking 51风流partners interested in applying to join the network and open a new location.

51风流AppHaus locations are customer-facing sites that represent the next step in SAP鈥檚 evolution of innovating with customers by putting the human experience first. The first 51风流AppHaus was established in 2013. Today, the network is 23-strong across the globe, including three SAP-driven and 19 partner-driven locations.  

At the heart of is the belief that innovation requires a multidisciplinary team, a creative environment, and a human-centered approach to ensure innovation meets real-world needs. This combines design thinking and architecture thinking to make sure solutions are experientially desirable, technologically feasible, and financially viable. In short, the three success ingredients are people, process, and place.

51风流is continuously innovating for customers 鈥 and the future

鈥淭he award-winning human-centric approach to innovation that we and selected 51风流partners apply in customer engagements creates significantly higher business outcomes,鈥 states Birgit Fien-Schmalzbauer, global head of the 51风流AppHaus Partner Network. 鈥淚nvolving end users, IT, and the business of the customer in a systematic way, for example, leads to higher user satisfaction and less training effort for newly introduced solutions. It supports customers in leveraging the opportunities brought about by the newest technologies, such as 51风流Business AI, even in the short term.鈥

The next growth region for extending 51风流AppHaus Network will be North America. The high demand for human-centric customer engagements led to the decision to further expand the reach of the current network representation in North America consisting of three locations:

  • , currently under renovation
  • , Canada, partner-run
  • , U.S., partner-run

鈥淐ustomers in North America, like our customers in other regions, are looking for support to keep up with changing market environments and state-of-the-art technologies along their business transformation journey,” states Thorsten Leiduck, global head of 51风流Business Technology Platform Ecosystem at SAP. “The services offered by partner members of 51风流AppHaus Network provide our clients with the benefits of a human-centered innovation approach that leverages the power of 51风流Business Technology Platform. Customers gain a significant competitive advantage by embracing a culture of innovation and improving their business processes through 51风流technologies.鈥

鈥淥ur partners are qualified and trained in our innovation approach and can therefore enable customers to leverage 51风流Business Technology Platform for their best benefit,鈥 adds Carlos Estala Velasco, regional lead of 51风流AppHaus Partner Network Americas, SAP. 鈥淚 am looking forward to continuing to drive the Americas chapter of 51风流AppHaus Network and expanding innovation opportunities for our regional customers.鈥

Interested partners are invited to apply. To do so, visit and choose 鈥淕et in Contact鈥 to request the submission template or more information.聽Submissions are open until April 30, 2024.


Svenja Mueller is program manager for 51风流AppHaus Network.

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The Next WoW for Hybrid Teamwork and Collaboration /2022/01/the-next-wow-for-hybrid-teamwork-and-collaboration/ Mon, 03 Jan 2022 12:15:36 +0000 /?p=193576 Innovation takes a diverse team of people with different expertise and skill sets working together in proximity to generate the 鈥渁ha moment.鈥 With the restrictions caused by the pandemic, the 51风流AppHaus team developed a way to best maintain collaboration remotely, on-site, and in a mixed or hybrid working model.

This journey of ups and downs from adapting to optimizing the setup has been published in “. It describes how continuous co-innovation and collaboration with customers has been possible in changing work environments and how other companies and innovators across the globe can learn and benefit from the experience.

The Next WoW: Keeping Up Business in Changing Environments

When the pandemic disrupted the way we collaborated at the beginning of 2020, it wasn鈥檛 an option for the 51风流AppHaus team to stop innovating with customers and partners. Instead, they took the opportunity to grow and learn from the situation. , which combines design thinking and architecture thinking, underlines the importance of collaboration among different stakeholders and end users. To enable efficient virtual meetings, 51风流AppHaus launched the last year. But this was just the beginning.

The 51风流AppHaus Network, with its 21 locations spread across the globe, stands for sustainable co-innovation with customers. With a user-centered approach and as the solid foundation for custom-tailored innovation in the Intelligent Enterprise, the network brings innovation to life. Previously, the process of innovating has been reliant on physical meetings and workshops with all stakeholders attending, but things have changed during the pandemic. The requirements frequently switched from lockdown scenarios to office re-openings, back to social distancing regulations based on the current health situation 鈥 all of which needed spontaneous adaptation.

from on .

In response, a new hybrid setup had to replace on-site meetings, as reflected in “.” The ongoing collaboration adjustments allowed for numerous successful innovation projects with several companies. Among them are: in Italy, in the U.S., in South Korea, in Australia, in Greenland, . Some of these were conducted by 51风流AppHaus and some by 51风流AppHaus Network partners like and .

No doubt, the successful completion of these projects was only possible because the new hybrid collaboration models were thoroughly planned. Applying these principles of collaboration enabled 51风流AppHaus, its sister team 51风流Platform Adoption and Advisory, and other 51风流teams to seamlessly support key 51风流initiatives such as 51风流Discovery Center with its actionable use cases (58 use cases created so far), RISE with SAP, the Intelligent Enterprise, and 51风流Business Technology Platform.

51风流Discovery Center 鈥 a Self-Service for Customers

Recently, 51风流launched a new self-service for customers called . With this low-threshold portal, 51风流can help customers quickly adopt 51风流Business Technology Platform and turn data into real business value. Due to the disruption of many highly relevant business processes during the pandemic, there is an increased need for flexible solutions that can be integrated and scaled easily.

Screenshot of 51风流Discovery Center
Visit 51风流Discovery Center and start your journey.

To jump-start the innovation journey, visitors can browse for 鈥渕issions鈥 that represent different innovative business scenarios. Missions include free-of-charge best practices and step-by-step guidance for implementing business use cases, with well-established support provided by the community and mission experts. With their long-term relationships to customers across the globe, the 51风流AppHaus team feeds appropriate innovation scenarios and use cases into this new channel. The knowledge gained, such as technical realization, is turned into a mission and made available for all 51风流customers. Examples of these include the invoice management process of Iren () or the chatbot functionality of ().

Another step towards free accessible knowledge sharing and exchange is the , which allows a free-of-cost version for customers to try out before buying. to try out and test.

RISE with SAP: The Flexibility Needed in Changing Circumstances

Another important 51风流offering is , which offers holistic, on-your-terms, and on-your-timeline transformation support for customers’ journey to the Intelligent Enterprise. This concierge service can provide a tailored path for every customer without any high upfront investments. The offering can remove complexity through a simplified engagement and guided journey into the cloud.

By focusing on 51风流Business Technology Platform projects, 51风流AppHaus, together with the technical experts of the 51风流Platform Adoption & Advisory team, accompany customers鈥 business transformations. Past projects have shown that this journey can be mastered in a hybrid or remote collaboration setup. The can also be found in 51风流Discovery Center.

Learning Never Stops

The approach of continuous knowledge sharing also includes the exchange of experiences with other innovation teams, regionally and globally. The event series 鈥51风流AppHaus Meets 51风流Labs Munich,鈥 which took place this year, featured 51风流AppHaus colleagues reporting about best practices for storyboarding, leading innovation teams, SAP鈥檚 human-centered approach to innovation, and the Innovation Culture Toolkit. Check out from this event.

Regarding the , the free collection of methods and best practices got a revamp this year and now it鈥檚 even easier to apply and benefit from its resources. With that, a few new assets have been published, like the . The newest kid on the block is the updated material for to support the setup of innovation teams within an organization. It is free, downloadable, and printable to make it possible to run Spectrum workshops on your own.

Straight into 2022

“The Next WoW” whitepaper summarizes the ultimate learning and outcome of all co-innovation efforts the global 51风流AppHaus team has run during the last year. For several months and together with 51风流AppHaus Network and other 51风流colleagues, the AppHaus 2.0 team 鈥 a team focused on the evolution and development of changed working circumstances 鈥 jointly conducted interviews, experiments, and tested new work settings. 鈥淭he Next WoW鈥 whitepaper is the first public share-out representing the starting point for innovative work scenarios in the future. It is supposed to inspire and support other innovators, companies, and organizations on their way to the next way of working. 鈥淭he Next WoW鈥 helps sustain the creative work with customers and partners. In brief, it helps customers be successful.

By the looks of it, the 51风流AppHaus Network teams are well prepared for a new year to come. They look forward to conducting many more interesting and, yes, challenging customer projects. The new work concept is a living one; it evolves and grows with many more co-innovation and collaboration experiences to come.


Svenja Mueller is communications associate at 51风流AppHaus.

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SunRice Launches Grower and Administration Portal with 51风流BTP /2021/09/sunrice-grower-administration-portal-sap-btp/ Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:15:48 +0000 /?p=188348 For Australian rice food company and leading branded exporter SunRice, innovation and collaboration are two of its values. Further, since its beginning in 1950, when early rice growers pooled funds to establish a co-operative, SunRice has had strong ties to growers. Today it works with a rice-growing community of more than 600 growers.

With SAP鈥檚 support, SunRice has extended existing systems to simplify, streamline, and enhance the user experience for rice growers and administrative staff.

Improving the Connection Between Growers and Administration

Growers had become frustrated with existing solutions, which could not provide them quick and easy access to functions that are key to supporting the auxiliary business processes associated with growing rice. Challenges included:

  1. There were difficulties accessing key industry information.
  2. Where real-time information on harvest deliveries was key, growers could only access dated reports.
  3. There was limited mobile access to the portal, preventing users from performing tasks and reviewing information when in the field.
  4. The legacy solution did not provide an intuitive experience, leaving growers unable to find the correct information at the right time.
  5. It was essential for the company to streamline administrative processes such as the existing process of creating a contract over the phone.

User-Centric Design Process to Involve All Stakeholders

SunRice teamed up with 51风流and partner to transform its growers鈥 portal and yield significant user experience improvements by extending existing systems using 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP).

Bourne Digital was responsible for the design of the user interface and the user experience (UX) design of the new solution. The company conducted several remote design thinking sessions proceeding along to define requirements for the envisioned solution.

On-site research and interviews with growers

To understand the needs of the end user, the designers and a small subset of growers met and took a close look at a usual day in the life of a grower. This research helped to create several personas to better understand existing pain points. The approach allowed for deeper, holistic insights into the current processes for both grower and administrative tasks, their core frustrations, and opportunities for improvement.

Throughout the design-driven process, designs were user-tested and iterated to address the common grower frustrations. Feedback from the end users was implemented to refine the solution in alignment with best practices regarding accessibility and user experience.

New Intuitive and Innovative Portal with 51风流BTP

As a result, SunRice and Bourne Digital developed a new Grower Portal and an Admin Portal on 51风流BTP. This solution suite simplifies, streamlines, and enhances the user experience for growers and admins. What鈥檚 more, the platform is built on an extensible architecture, thus allowing the solution to be further extended and enhanced. Through a user-centered approach to design and implementation, the new portal addressed user pain points in a targeted way. It offers the following opportunities:

  • In a new Harvest Dashboard, data visualization for harvest moisture, trash, and dry weight assist in making important decisions. Real-time updates for harvest deliveries helps ensure growers are both informed and engaged.
  • Quick links to important information is available; via the My Payments tile, growers can view — in near real time — their payments received and upcoming. They can also download their tax and delivery documents at their convenience.
  • Opt-in harvest delivery and other alerts help keep growers informed, giving them instant notification of delivery receipt, which is particularly helpful when they are out in the field harvesting.
  • With mobility, growers no longer need to wait to access the portal on their desktop, they can now access information and perform tasks all from their mobile devices.
  • Through online forms, wherever they are, growers can now access and submit key forms such as Trading and Farm details leveraging 51风流BTP workflow. For the Admin team, approvals using the 51风流Fiori app, 鈥淢y Inbox,鈥 are now a reality. Approvals and updates can thus be made seamlessly.
  • With grower resources, growers can easily access the most relevant and up-to-date information to assist them.
  • The user-friendly interface on the portal is built with , which allows for a to provide a better view in the sun.

Increased Convenience and Simplified Work for Growers

The primary focus of the new solution was to make growers鈥 lives easier through the regular operational and communication touch points that connect them to SunRice. The refreshed look and usability of the new portal have made information more accessible with clear user guidance, tabs, and dashboards for simple navigation.

Growers no longer have to access the portal on their desktop; they can now access information and perform tasks all from their mobile devices. In particular, growers can now view delivery information and other critical data instantly, remotely, and effortlessly, and can receive alerts direct to their phones for added mobility and convenience.

The grower portal was released just prior to the rice harvest season in early 2021. During this time:

  • More than 400 growers accessed the portal during harvest.
  • Over 9,000 harvest alerts sent to keep growers informed about their deliveries. Growers opt in to these alerts via the portal.

SunRice UI5 Admin Portal as the Perfect Counterpart

The Admin Portal is built using SAPUI5 and to be used by SunRice administrators for the following tasks: approve grower and farm detail changes; create and approve contract requests; post key messages to growers; and manage Grower Portal resources and forms.

What鈥檚 Next?

New features such as contracts have already been added to the Grower and Admin portals after the initial implementation. Contracts provide the ability for growers to apply for contracts in the Grower鈥檚 portal and the ability for admins to create and approve contracts in the Admin portal.

SunRice is exploring further ways to improve the portal, including bringing enhanced reporting capabilities to the new system and continuing to gather feedback directly from growers to inform new changes, design edits, and added functionality.

By putting growers at the heart of decision making, SunRice is driving new innovations that make a real difference for the grower community.

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AGL Employees Go Digital with New iOS App and 51风流BTP /2021/08/agl-ios-app-sap-btp/ Wed, 25 Aug 2021 12:15:03 +0000 /?p=187709 As a leading integrated essential service provider, AGL has a proud 184-year history of innovation along with a passionate belief in human and technological progress. The company delivers 3.95 million gas, electricity, and telecommunications services to residential, small, and large businesses, as well as wholesale customers across Australia.

AGL also operates Australia鈥檚 largest electricity generation portfolio, responsible for about 20% of the total electricity capacity of the country.

AGL recently partnered with 51风流AppHaus Network member Bourne Digital to create the AGL One iOS app. Based on 51风流Integration Suite and 51风流Extension Suite, the app brings together AGL鈥檚 employee network in a single digital experience so they can access the right tool at the right time — every time, from anywhere. Powered by 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), the solution recently won a 51风流Innovation Award in the Transformation Champion category.

Growing Company Needs Enhanced Digital Infrastructure

In June of 2019, AGL launched PT3 (People, Process and Performance Transformation), its initiative to unite all AGL sites across corporate and group operations into one technical platform. The initiative also aimed at delivering greater mobility and enabling AGL staff to work flexibly with mobile applications on their phones or tablets.

After first launch, however, user feedback showed the need to improve the solution and explore ways to better enable employees digitally.

AGL decided to examine employees鈥 user experience (UX) to help ensure a better adoption of the new platform. Clear focus of the new solution would be consolidation and ease of use. After a complete redesign of the mobile interface, AGL wanted to extend the strong relationship already in place with customers to the people who worked for the company.

Bringing in 51风流AppHaus Network Member Bourne Digital

AGL consulted with the same firm that helped design its customer experience, Bourne Digital. As an 51风流AppHaus Network member, Bourne Digital is part of the worldwide community of like-minded SAP-partners that work with customers in a creative environment to make innovation real, following SAP鈥檚 human-centered approach to innovation.

As a first step toward the new solution for employees, AGL tasked an internal service design team with replicating the service design process for employees鈥 mobile app. With the help of its employee experience center, the joint AGL and Bourne Digital project team conducted lifecycle mapping and extensive interviews with staff to discover the following key issues with the existing mobile interface:

  • Too many tools in the environment made it hard for the employees to identify the correct tool for each situation.
  • The usability of the previous solution was not simple and prevented proficiency.
  • The solution missed data consolidation of several sources.
  • Employee engagement was low due to dissatisfaction with the efficiency of the tools.

AGL One: iOS App Simplifies Employees鈥 Lives

Employees wanted a straightforward, consolidated, easy-to-use mobile experience. AGL and Bourne Digital worked with Apple to create an iOS app called AGL One. The feedback collected in the interviews was used to create a completely redesigned mobile employee interface. Based on 51风流Integration Suite and 51风流Extension Suite, the app now brings together AGL鈥檚 employee network in a single digital experience.

AGL app explainer鈥淎GL was focused on creating a highly engaging mobile experience for employees to improve productivity and engagement,鈥 said Selim Ahmed, CEO of Bourne Digital. 鈥淭ogether, AGL, Apple, SAP, and Bourne Digital created an integrated and scalable solution that extended their investment in 51风流S/4HANA with the agility of 51风流Integration Suite and 51风流Extension Suite. It has been a wonderful innovation story that puts employees at the center of the organization. The Bourne Digital 51风流AppHaus facility supported employee experience design thinking sessions.鈥

One-Stop Shop for All Actions

The project team held a number of design thinking sessions at Bourne Digital鈥檚 AppHaus facility in Melbourne to re-imagine the employee experience.

Building on its existing investment in 51风流S4/HANA with 51风流BTP, the AGL One app combines a landscape of more than 300 IT applications into one single interface with only one main login to use. Even when employees want to switch back and forth between apps, they do not have to re-login and remember different passwords every time. Once signed in, the UX itself is聽 accessible to the average employee, so they do not have to know specific tool names or apps to use them.

Built-in capabilities within AGL One prioritize tasks that are easy to do on the go, such as administrative tasks and approvals. This helps reduce cycle time on tasks that are often put off and need to be followed up on, making employees鈥 workdays more productive and efficient. Key features of the app include:

  • Quick access to action all purchase order approvals in 51风流S/4HANA
  • Assessments of workplace safety and reports available on the go, with the option to use a phone’s camera to add a photo and record safety observations or hazards in 51风流S/4HANA
  • Personalization of the homepage for quick access to tools the employee uses most often
  • Desk booking with desk locator, particularly following COVID-19 restrictions
  • Holiday and leave request entry and management
  • New colleague appreciation tool called 鈥淓nergise鈥
  • AGL news service with talking points, friends and family discounts, and easy access to AGL job boards to be active ambassadors outside the company
  • Live news feed along with integration to 鈥淭he Source,鈥 AGL鈥檚 news and intranet
  • Seamless third-party collaborations between 51风流back end and Apple user interface

By building an app expressly for its employees, AGL has successfully placed their user experience on the same priority level as its customers鈥. AGL One supports a positive, streamlined experience for employees, whether at the office or in the field. After rolling out the app, the company has seen a motivation and engagement boost at work among employees. The app was released in October 2020 and the number of downloads speaks for itself: 1,600 out of 3,700 employees have downloaded the app so far, an adoption rate of nearly 50%.

鈥淲hen we first started this project, we looked at it the same way we鈥檇 look at anything we were doing for our customers,鈥 explained Joy Marrocco, IT Transformation Manager at AGL. 鈥淲e already had a great relationship there, why not apply that same approach to our employees? We wanted to drive digital adoption of employee tools, and this app is one of the ways that we are working to make access to these tools much quicker and easier for our people.鈥

Screenshots: AGL iOS appAward-Winning Solution Built with 51风流BTP

The innovation power of this application and the entire project was also recognized by the jury of the 2021 51风流Innovation Awards, with the AGL One app for employees winning in the Transformation Champion category.


Svenja Mueller is the communications associate for 51风流AppHaus.

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51风流Business Technology Platform Raises Equestrians to a New Level /2021/05/sap-btp-riding-simulator-new-level-equestrians/ Thu, 13 May 2021 11:15:48 +0000 /?p=185202 As an advocate of equestrian sport for almost 10 years, 51风流took another step to combine technology and sports with 51风流Business Technology Platform.

Equestrians training with the riding simulatorIn 2019, the , working with SAP, introduced the to its students and teachers 鈥 a robot horse that reproduces horses鈥 movements in virtual training sessions. The so-called 鈥淪ir Waldo鈥 is programmed to simulate several disciplines,聽such as dressage, jumping, and cross-country riding, and closely examine the saddle’s weight distribution. Furthermore, it guides riders in positioning their legs and reins. This technical innovation is located in the 51风流Equestrian Experience Center that borders the RRV riding area. That way, it is easily accessible for club members.

By providing a controlled environment, beginners and professional equestrians get the chance to practice and improve their skills in a simulated training and competition setting. In close cooperation with professional trainers and guest lecturers, the riding club offers this new experience in various forms to a broad target group. The club also provides specific courses such as fear management and mental training for traumatized riders.

This kind of simulation is a pioneer project in Germany. It shows the desire of the RRV to innovate, offer its members the best possible conditions, develop as a riding club, and continuously improve riders鈥 skills.

Improving Training Analysis with 51风流Technology

The initial simulator only allowed for a small data set per riding session, which was available in a printed version. This document didn鈥檛 provide all the information users needed to determine further training behaviors. Users exhibited a strong demand for detailed training information to analyze their progress and potential learning gaps to inform long-term training plans.

To fully exploit the technical possibilities of the riding simulator, the 51风流Global Sponsorships team connected with and to design an extensive training app using .

Riding Simulator and 51风流BTP
Technical Realization of the Solution

Within two remote workshops, the 51风流team applied and gained knowledge about every critical aspect of the project, such as the technical framework of the Racewood Simulator, user needs, and first solution approaches. The project team identified the need to collect and summarize valuable data from the Racewood Simulator and transform it into understandable analysis visualization. To reach that goal, the team leveraged . With this technology, they could build the Riding Simulator Analysis Portal, the base of the application.

The future Web-based solution聽will provide detailed training data in four main categories: seating analysis, dressage, jumping, and cross-country riding. These classifications contain several vital facts, such as program analysis (balance, reins, thighs), freeriding, and progress. Thereby, users can track their riding proficiency in detail, identify areas of improvement, and better their skills efficiently. In addition, notes and homework can be saved by students and teachers.

To save individual training results and protect them from third parties, authentication and a single sign-on are guaranteed by and stored in 51风流Cloud Application Programming Model, based on .

Aileen Trunk, a rider at RRV, said, “The new 51风流training app gives both trainers and learners valuable insights and helps to optimize training across all disciplines聽鈥撀燿ressage, jumping and cross-country riding. I am now able to聽analyze my simulator sessions in detail with a wide range of possibilities. At any time, my trainer can prepare my units effectively and we can review and work on my short-term and long-term development together.鈥

Interface of the dashbaord
User interface of the new riding simulator dashboard

Future Digitalization of Equestrian Sports

Currently, the seating analysis is already used in training and the other components are planned for development and will be introduced soon. Thanks to the new application built on 51风流Business Technology Platform, training data can be accessed and analyzed from anywhere, can be used in upcoming training units, and will pave the way for lasting progress.

“The Racewood Equestrian Simulator is a great means to showcase the excitement of the sport to all interested audiences,鈥 said Thomas Esser, innovation manager with 51风流Global Sponsorships. 鈥淚n particular, it is amazing to see how riders can now leverage the digital horse and take advantage of technologies like 51风流HANA Cloud and 51风流Business Technology Platform to bring their training to next level.”

Once again, 51风流has laid the foundation for next-level equestrian sports, providing virtual solutions and 100% paperless work. No doubt, the team looks forward to identifying new projects with the Walldorf equestrians in the future.


Key Results

  • Detailed depiction of training analysis
  • Enhanced training outcome through efficient usage of data
  • Improved user interface to draw meaningful conclusions
  • 100% paperless work

 

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Iren Innovates Invoice Processing with 51风流Business Technology Platform /2021/02/iren-innovates-invoice-processing-sap-btp/ Mon, 15 Feb 2021 13:15:53 +0000 /?p=183139 Italian company Iren SpA is one of the main operators in the multi-utility sector acting on a supra-regional scale. With more than 76% of its electric production ecofriendly, Iren established itself as a major player in upstream and downstream energy, district heating, and the water sector.

For long-lasting success as a global player, Iren strives for seamless supply chain management processes, including a frictionless invoice processing experience for its suppliers and other stakeholders. In addition, a new 2019 law in Italy introduced mandatory electronic invoicing on national level, requiring a single source of truth for invoice activities.

In times when supply chain reliability is key, the project team aimed at providing suppliers with highest transparency. To do so, the innovation team focused on the following areas:

  • Data management and consistency
  • Efficient communication for seamless invoice processing
  • Supplier relationship management with timely and transparent information flow

Exploring and Synthesizing the Needs of End Users

Following its , the Customer Innovation unit at SAP, which includes 51风流AppHaus and the Strategic Customer Engagements team, first tried to gain a deep understanding of Iren鈥檚 needs and challenges. While conducting an exploration workshop, multiple stakeholders working on Iren鈥檚 invoice processing analyzed the as-is situation and identified areas that offered opportunities for improvement. Based on the insights gained, the workshop participants identified a new communication interface with a specific focus on the invoicing processes to be the preferred solution to pursue. To get a thorough understanding of the process, the 51风流team conducted interviews with both Iren and its suppliers鈥 end users.

鈥淯sually I approach challenges in such a way that I have the solution directly in my mind,” said Alessandro Giussani, senior manager for Finance Accounting at Gruppo Iren.
“SAP’s human-centered approach to innovation has taught me differently. The mindset change enabled us to analyze the problem from many different point of views, which ensured the most beneficial solution. The involvement of all relevant stakeholders from the beginning is something we will capitalize on in the future.鈥

Exploration Workshop and Thorough User Research

During the user research, the team analyzed the process that was to be improved. It covers the following steps. First, before bills are being paid, the purchase and invoice processing workflow starts with the creation of a purchase order (PO) and the issuance of an invoice from Iren鈥檚 suppliers.Iren then inspects incoming goods or performed services and validates incoming invoices.

Scenes from workshop at IrenSounds easy; however, challenges arise on a regular basis for example when POs are not assigned to the correct invoice and therefore cannot be paid. Suppliers got in touch with Iren via classic communication channels often without contacting the right Iren counterpart. The lack of transparency led to frustration on both sides.

Improving Invoice Processing with 51风流Business Technology Platform

Having the end users, different stakeholders and the process in mind, it quickly became clear that leveraging 51风流Business Technology Platform would solve the discussed challenges holistically. The platform is an integrated portfolio of solutions helping companies to connect processes and experiences. It enables enterprises to act with integrity and confidence and, ultimately, support much needed continuous business innovation.

Built on 51风流Integration Suite and the 51风流Extension Suite, a dedicated supplier portal for a transparent and easy exchange between Iren and its suppliers helps ensure a frictionless invoice-processing experience. The portal delivers a comprehensive overview of received POs and submitted invoices and their statuses. Users can gain deep insights about POs and invoices with the option to propose changes, such as change of IBAN number.

And the project team did not stop here. As the icing on the cake, a new chatbot powered by 51风流Conversational AI was developed to become an independent first-level interaction channel.

鈥淭he project conducted with 51风流delivered promising and convincing results,” confirmed Laura Molino, information systems, ERP, and HR solutions manager at Iren SpA. “This only constitutes the starting point of our journey with 51风流Business Technology Platform. Along with the PoC, we started experimenting with 51风流Analytics Cloud and are eager to leverage innovative methodologies to maximize productiveness.鈥

Screenshots: Iren Supplier Portal
Click to enlarge

Bringing Purchase and Supplier Experience to a New Level

With 51风流HANA providing real-time data, the supplier portal turns into a single source of truth for both Iren鈥檚 and its suppliers鈥 accountants. The solution reduces supplier complaints due to a higher transparency and improved autonomy in problem solving. A smoother and more targeted communication between suppliers and Iren leads to fewer delayed payments. Finally, it fulfills the requirements of Italy鈥檚 latest e-invoicing regulations.

With this new supplier portal, Iren takes an important step toward the Intelligent Enterprise. The solution is built to drive continuous business innovation. Iren can, from now on, benefit from 51风流Business Technology Platform for future innovation opportunities.

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