鈥淲ith one integrated platform that connects data from farmers through processing, warehouses, and retail, we are transforming the traditional food chain from supplier-driven to demand-driven,鈥� said Karthik Jayaraman, co-founder and managing director at WayCool. 鈥淲e selected because it is a flexible, cloud-based foundation for our growing business. provides a single source of truth company-wide and across our ecosystem, helping us produce and deliver the delicious food that consumers want on their table.鈥�  

The company has already reduced food wastage by up to 96% while improving the average income of farmers by over 13%.

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Data Insights Align Food Supply with Demand

Putting predictability and farming in the same sentence might seem like a stretch in a world rocked by disruptions like extreme weather and geopolitical conflicts. However, WayCool orchestrates a groundbreaking collaborative effort. It starts with farmers who produce the fruits, vegetables, and other staples that feed the Indian population and extends to partners, warehouse operations, distribution, and retailers.

鈥淪haring information with our partners in procurement who run processing and warehouse facilities, along with transportation logistics and retail, we can align supply with the right pricing for greater efficiencies and governance that produces the highest quality products,鈥� said Avinash Kasinathan, chief technology officer at WayCool. 鈥淒ata transparency also means that farmers can base field production on actual market demand and consumption.鈥�

Farmer Income Grows with Data-Driven Strategy

WayCool鈥檚 ability to trace products from farm to end consumer provides the company and its ecosystem with forecasting and planning insights based on real-time customer feedback and market demands. Using this connected data, WayCool makes recommendations to farmers on what fruits and vegetables to grow for the highest yields and uptake at the best prices.

Fourth-generation farmer Hari Prasad, located in a village called Karnataka on the outskirts of East Bangalore, is one of the over 200,000 farmers that WayCool provides with detailed cultivation plans.

鈥淯nlike traditional farming, WayCool recommends what to plant, when, and where, letting us know up front what they鈥檒l purchase at fair prices based on harvest time frames and factoring in staggered market demands,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to worry about whether or not we鈥檒l sell our yield, and we can calculate continuous earnings in a more predictable and consistent manner.鈥� 

Although farmers may have smaller yields, harvesting crops on a more consistent basis throughout the year levels out supply and demand spikes and downturns. If crop prices fall one week and rise the next, farmers can average out major risks with a steadier stream of income over time.

AI-Based Technologies Reduce Waste and Boost Crop Yields

WayCool has infused AI capabilities across its digitalized supply chain to increase quality yield and decrease waste. AI is built into the recommendation engine that tells retailers which products on their shelves will sell faster according to store location demographics. In the field, farmers use AI-based image recognition to quickly identify plant diseases and set up treatment plans. Internet of Things (IoT)-based sensors in the soil send farmers alerts on weather patterns to guide more cost-efficient and sustainable irrigation decisions. The company is exploring generative AI use cases as well.

Sustainable Agriculture Vision for the World

For WayCool and its partners, sustainable business encompasses the full range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. Digitalization has an important role, for example, in regenerative farming practices. Farmers can use data-driven insights to produce stronger seeds for biodiversity, growing crops that are more climate-resilient and use less water and fertilizer in healthier soil.

Looking ahead, Jayaraman is eager to bring WayCool鈥檚 digitalized business model from India to other regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

鈥淭he food supply chain is a huge global market, yet agribusiness is one of the least digitized industries,鈥� said Jayaraman. 鈥淲e鈥檝e experienced how technology is revolutionizing food chains in India, and we鈥檙e excited about bringing people in other parts of the world greater access to affordable, quality food for the next generation of sustainable agriculture.鈥�

Following a series of issued during the past decade, the has now mandated e-invoicing for all B2G (business-to-government) procurements. The same requirements are expected to include B2B transactions in Europe as well. So far, over 100 countries including Italy, Germany, Poland, Greece, France, and Romania have enacted mandatory e-invoicing legislation, as have numerous others in Latin America and Asia.

Cloud-Based Platform Collaboration Supports E-Invoicing Compliance

There鈥檚 no big mystery behind the e-invoicing push. In-country regulators and policymakers see digitalization as crucial to improve fraud detection, simplify VAT reporting, and gain a measure of transparency. While e-invoicing mandates from governments add a layer of complexity for buyers and suppliers, cloud-based platforms have become the norm to automate and simplify collaboration.

One example is , where buyers and suppliers can manage procurement and invoicing activities with their trusted ecosystem.

鈥淎s governments add e-invoicing mandates, we鈥檙e committed to help organizations by providing capabilities for regulatory consistency,鈥� Lorraine Yao, director of Product Marketing for 51风流Business Network, said. 鈥淒igitalization automates the flow of accurate information from order placement, shipping confirmation, and delivery through e-invoicing that鈥檚 connected directly to the company鈥檚 ERP system. Organizations can replace manual verification with automation based on real-time updates that speed up accurate processing, order fulfillment, and timely payments.鈥�

Buyers and Suppliers Reap Benefits of Connected Network

Yao said that organizations transact US$5.3 trillion in annual commerce on 51风流Business Network, totaling 746 million B2B transactions each year. Business results to date have been impressive.

After centralizing automated supplier invoicing and collaboration on 51风流Business Network, the procurement team at a U.S.-based clothing and accessories retailer saved time with quick access to spend details and reporting analytics. With fresh insights, the strategic sourcing team can identify savings opportunities and expediently act on emerging trends.

A multinational infrastructure and renewable energy company based in Europe moved to 51风流Business Network as part of its company-wide procurement transformation. Replacing manual processes with automated machine-to-machine transactions has reduced errors, increased efficiencies, and provided the procurement team with real-time insights across the supply chain for more informed decisions.

Global Business Transformation from E-Invoicing

E-invoicing is yet another advancement slated to leave legacy tax collection behind. In an survey, 61% of tax professionals agreed that e-invoicing will have a significant impact on their tax management process in the next 24 months. Researchers expect e-invoicing 鈥渢o fuse compliance and invoice management into one extended process鈥s VAT and GST (goods and services tax) protocols grow鈥his essentially means that every company conducting business in the global market will have to interact with these e-invoicing protocols.鈥� It鈥檚 no wonder that e-invoicing mandates are spreading rapidly as countries including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore adopt the EU model, adapting requirements to their specific needs.聽

E-Invoicing Boosts Sustainability

Much more than surface automation measures, e-invoicing also contributes to what the calls the twin transition, meaning digital and green transformation. After all, when companies use less physical material such as paper, printing, and postage, along with fewer resources routing and archiving data, they can save energy.

鈥淏uyers can quickly process information and data contained in electronic invoices and feed them directly into a company’s payment and accounting systems,鈥� Yao said. 鈥淥ur 51风流Business Network customers find that procurement teams spend less time retrieving information and more time modeling strategic decisions. They can easily collaborate between internal groups and external suppliers, reducing inquiries and speeding up approvals while improving compliance.鈥�

Broadened Positive Impact of Digitalization

Although e-invoicing is a government mandate in a growing number of countries, leaders in many organizations have realized that digitalization has broader business benefits. analysts predict that by mid-2025, 70% of global businesses will use embedded financing to collect and make payments. This includes services like invoice transmissions.

鈥淒igitalization gives both buyers and suppliers transparency to see e-invoice status, saving time and improving efficiencies,鈥� Yao said. 鈥淗aving immediate visibility to relevant procurement data in one dashboard, accounts payable teams can make the most of early-payment discounts and better manage working capital. This also improves cash flow for suppliers who receive timely payments. 51风流is committed to help companies manage procurement end-to-end, including e-invoicing to meet country-specific mandates, and build trading partner relationships for business growth.鈥�

Susan Galer is a communications director at SAP. Follow her @smgaler.

In this article, I explore how forward-thinking businesses can integrate guidance plans into their software strategies to advance the transformation of their digital supply chain in a fast-paced business environment.

Embracing the Digital Supply Chain Revolution

Traditional supply chain models have undergone a significant transformation through the integration of digital technology. Now, companies have access to real-time data, advanced analytics, and automation, facilitating informed decision-making processes. A digital supply chain boosts efficiency, cuts costs, and mitigates risks. However, a potent software solution is just part of the equation. Comprehensive innovation requires continuous upskilling of the workforce, a clear vision, and ongoing transformation.

Yet, businesses face challenges throughout the entire software lifecycle. Supply chain professionals juggle day-to-day tasks, envision the future, and manage critical steps. This demands strategic foresight and product expertise, a challenge many customers grapple with.

A reliable helping hand, like , can become invaluable. This advanced plan can aid in digitizing the supply chain, offering guidance for implementing and optimizing 51风流Best Practices. The goal? Helping businesses extract maximum value from technology investments.

Here are a few key aspects that the 51风流Preferred Success plan can offer customers in their digital supply chain journey.

A Personalized Plan

Imagine collaborating with your organization’s personal squad of 51风流wizards. They’re not just experts; they’re partners that can craft a tailor-made plan for your digital supply chain ambitions. It’s like having a strategic road map exclusively for you, helping to ensure every move aligns with your business objectives. Say goodbye to uncertainty headaches because the how, what, and when can be crystal clear. This clarity is crucial as your project partner wraps up and reliance shifts to your in-house supply chain and IT teams. 51风流Preferred Success helps eliminate any uncertainty by providing a guide to help navigate the digital landscape seamlessly.

Tailored Guidance

Your 51风流Preferred Success counterpart can step into the role of your personalized guide, helping to deliver tailored advice and best practices precisely when you need them. It can go beyond just implementing 51风流solutions; it’s about harmonizing them with tried-and-true best practices. What sets this apart is the proactive nature of the guidance. Think of it as a well-orchestrated symphony of checks and advisories by your customer success partner and delivered by our seasoned experts.

Accelerated Adoption and Continuous Improvement

The 51风流Preferred Success plan is meticulously designed to help fast-track the adoption of 51风流solutions and facilitate a quicker time-to-value. In the digital era where agility and speed reign supreme, there’s no room for guessing or waiting 鈥� it’s full speed ahead. And this isn’t a one-time sprint; it’s a commitment to continuous improvement, learning, and the refinement of your processes over time, well after your first go-live.

Technology evolves rapidly, and 51风流Preferred Success can become your compass to stay ahead of the curve. How often have you heard customers wondering, “Are we aware of the latest capabilities or features? Should we be doing more with our solution?” The guidance embedded in the plan strategically helps in answering those questions. It’s about thriving in an ever-evolving digital landscape, not just avoiding obsolescence.

Data-Driven Insights for Feature Adoption

51风流Preferred Success can take the lead in leveraging the robust data and analytics capabilities within 51风流solutions. This can give you actionable insights and helps guide you towards the most relevant features for your business.

Determining which features are truly relevant and whether they make sense for your business can be a puzzle. Add the frequent releases of new features in the cloud and staying in the loop and it becomes more challenging. 51风流Preferred Success can act as your data-driven guide, helping to align features with business objectives so that you use only those enhancing effectiveness.

Access to Experts

There comes a point where the brilliance of your supply chain teams and IT experts might need a little extra support. 51风流Preferred Success can provide access to 51风流experts that help navigate challenges effectively. With 51风流Preferred Success, you can get dedicated time with the precise subject-matter expert needed to help address your concerns and seek guidance.

Risk Mitigation

With 51风流Preferred Success, risk mitigation in digital transformation can take center stage. You can benefit from enhanced incident handling in service-level agreements, which can significantly reduce risks during implementation and post go-live. Consider it your proactive protection for a smooth journey through the complexities of digital evolution.

Seamless Transformation with 51风流Preferred Success

Digitalization is not just a choice but a necessity. 51风流Preferred Success emerges as a guiding light for businesses keen on transforming their supply chain operations. Its advanced assistance can enable seamless transformations, enhanced guidance, and expertise, all while helping to alleviate stress and empower your supply chain and IT teams.

And there鈥檚 a commercial model. Imagine 51风流Preferred Success is like a subscription to your favorite streaming service, with no hourly charges and no paperwork for guidance or ad-hoc questions. Your supply chain subscription covers everything, enabling a stress-free focus on the transformation journey without administrative complexities.

 or contact your local 51风流representative to learn more about 51风流Preferred Success for supply chain management solutions from SAP.

Kiron Satyavarapu is global solution owner for 51风流Preferred Success at SAP.

One example is Technologies, Canada鈥檚 leading life sciences research company that sees itself as a company of scientists helping scientists. Based in Vancouver, STEMCELL has a 30-year history of growth in developing and manufacturing products and services that help other industrial and academic scientists innovate in the areas of stem cell, immunology, cancer, regenerative medicine, and cellular therapy research. STEMCELL has staff in 20 countries and sells a constantly expanding portfolio of over 2,500 products, including cell culture media, cell separation technologies, instruments, and accessories, as well as education and services. Reducing the time to market for new products is crucial to the company鈥檚 mission of pursuing life sciences discoveries leading to the next generation of healthcare treatments.

鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking for ways to accelerate time to market for new products and adapt our technology environment to meet the evolving needs of our internal stakeholders and external customers,鈥� said John Lilleyman, CIO at STEMCELL. 鈥淎dvanced discoveries in areas like precision medicine are bringing new hope to patients and their families. At the same time, we have to comply with increasingly stringent global mandates for sustainable packaging and product safety.鈥�

Faster Innovation with 51风流S/4HANA

Since STEMCELL went live with , the biotech leader has been intent on using the latest innovations from 51风流to help speed up product testing. Speaking during a session held at this year鈥檚 , Lilleyman shared the company鈥檚 strategy for effective and fully automated software with SAP.

鈥淲e鈥檙e particularly excited about the cloud-first innovations from , which will help us deliver a more sustainable solution, continuously meet security and compliance requirements, and set us up for success with future upgrades,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith a new test-automation strategy, we can make sure that testing is an accelerator and not a bottleneck to change.鈥�

Automation Expedites Rigorous Product Testing

STEMCELL doesn鈥檛 create end-user patient therapies. Rather, the company develops the products and solutions that help other life sciences researchers innovate for new therapeutic discoveries. To develop these solutions for other scientists, STEMCELL performs rigorous product quality testing to comply with the and other global regulatory frameworks and guidelines.

Replacing manual testing with a highly automated process has generated significant results for the company. To date, STEMCELL has reduced the time required to complete 51风流system validation for GxP 鈥済ood practice鈥� guidelines and regulations by 86%, test quote-to-cash scenarios by 97%, and execute a full regression cycle by 98%.

鈥淚nstead of taking the better part of a month or more, most of the testing is now completed in a handful of days or less,鈥� said Lilleyman. 鈥淭his is a tremendous accelerator for our business and our teams. We鈥檒l be able to take advantage of enhancements in 51风流solutions faster. It will continue to pay dividends every day, week, month, and year as we move forward, expanding our footprint in new product markets and locations.鈥�

Digital Helps Fast-Track Global Expansion

Averaging 20% annual growth, STEMCELL has made digitalization central to its strategy for bringing products to market faster and more sustainably. Lilleyman said that speeding up testing in compliance with global mandates will help the company as it expands worldwide.

鈥淐loud-based automation at all stages of testing helps move us towards continuous compliance in a continuously changing market,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s we continue to expand our inventory for testing, we鈥檒l be able to accelerate upcoming projects as we open up in different environments. We can have a library with a simple checklist to set up a new entity where we can test end-to-end. We can shift the testing burden away from business users to release innovations faster with completed testing.鈥�

He looked ahead to greater benefits from further automation, including on-demand validation reports for updated system testing and quality controls. Speedier testing from STEMCELL is making the lives of researchers easier by accelerating the release of the tools they need to in turn deliver advanced, patient-centric therapeutic discoveries for a healthier world.

Susan Galer is a communications director. Follow me @smgaler.

After a decade-long stretch of relative stability in procurement, the disruptions from the past several years have forced businesses to reevaluate their sourcing strategies. Disciplines that had fallen by the wayside during this quiet period became more important than ever in a newly chaotic environment. Category management is one of the strategies now resurfacing to help organizations address many of the challenges that have plagued supply chains across the globe.

We鈥檝e seen the overall procurement function having its moment as companies begin to realize how implementing a cohesive, efficient spend strategy can positively impact business goals. Category managers, specifically, can expect to see the breadth of their responsibilities widening soon 鈥� if they haven鈥檛 already. They will be expected to identify risks and assist with creating and maintaining supplier relationships to help meet sustainability and diversity goals as category management and supplier management come closer together.

Here at SAP, we鈥檝e already heard from business leaders that category management is an essential part of a modern spend strategy. by Economist Impact, sponsored by SAP, highlights category management as a key driver of digital transformation in procurement.

Businesses need to implement a scalable category management strategy to neutralize risks, increase cost savings, and deliver value to stakeholders. Digitizing category management is crucial to replace manual processes, which frees up procurement teams to focus on strategy creation and implementation.

On the Horizon: A New Way to Drive Category Management

In the coming months, 51风流plans to roll out a new category management solution that enables businesses to better manage categories, define strategic frameworks, and execute important initiatives that strengthen strategic impact and agility across the source-to-pay process. Our vision is to deliver the following:

One unified platform with in-depth insights
A unified platform that seamlessly integrates with sourcing, supplier, and risk management systems can provide intelligent insights about past spend and market activity to guide future outcomes. Currently, category managers do not have access to a single view of procurement activities. Access to one centralized space would allow for big-picture strategy development without the time sink of a largely manual workload.

Consistent, high-quality data
Consolidating category naming conventions and using uniform, company-wide classifications for goods and services will help provide high-quality data for analysis, eliminating confusing, varied naming schemes. Access to quality data, organized by subcategories, suppliers, and regions, can result in improved compliance and segmentation accuracy. Until now, mapping purchased goods and services to a category has historically been a manual process using data from multiple sources, often including internal and third-party solutions and databases.

Powerful frameworks for strategy development
Category managers will soon have access to several strategy development frameworks to help with everything from evaluating market dynamics for a chosen category to providing automatic suggestions of opportunities and consolidation for categories. Industry frameworks that assist with risk assessment and cost structure will provide actionable insights that identify risks and drive savings. The need for consistent frameworks to create and execute initiatives has gone unanswered, until now.

The ability to set goals and track initiatives quickly
A reliable way to track progress is essential to measuring the success of organizational goals and initiatives. Businesses will be able to reliably monitor the status of sustainability and supplier diversity metrics to measure the achievement of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals in a particular category. Currently, organizations that use multiple platforms are facing a disjointed view of progress towards measurable targets and cannot reliably track compliance to strategy, especially not category-specific compliance.

Resilience and flexibility
Organizations will soon have the necessary tools to map the supply chain, analyze industry-specific data, create 鈥渨hat-if鈥� models with sample strategies, and ultimately bridge the gap between procurement teams and business planning.聽Today鈥檚 global supply markets are chaotic, fluctuating spaces. Category managers are constrained by the time required to gather and analyze data, preventing them from influencing strategy and delivering value.

It鈥檚 Time to Take Category Management Digital

We know digitalization is the future of an unshakeable procurement strategy. Replacing disparate business processes with automated solutions and updated processes based on industry best practices can only lead to better time management and more strategic decisions. Today, we are seeing businesses addressing this need for digitization in category management one small fix at a time. However, as of now, there remains a need for one unified solution that can empower category managers to influence each element of their business goals, without spreading them too thin.

A category management solution will allow teams to automate category management, classify entries consistently, and analyze the valuable data without losing sight of critical outcomes. When software takes care of those requirements, managers can have more free time to provide guidance, lead, and execute initiatives that maximize value and minimize costs.

Stay Tuned for More

Stay tuned to learn more in the coming months about how SAP鈥檚 new solution, 51风流Category Management, can help organizations completely transform their category management strategy. about 51风流Category Management and learn how you can get started.

Salvatore Lombardo is senior vice president, chief product officer, and head of Engineering for 51风流Procurement.

In 2020, the EU identified green hydrogen as a cornerstone of a climate-neutral energy system to be in place by 2050. At that time, hydrogen accounted for consumption and was primarily used to produce chemical products, such as plastics and fertilizers. Ninety-six percent of this hydrogen was produced with natural gas, resulting in significant amounts of CO2 emissions.

The other aspect driving this strategy is the need to reduce the dependency on imported fossil fuels. Diversification and access to new forms of renewable energy such as hydrogen will make the region more resilient.

The European Commission resolved to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen and import 10 million tons by 2030. While green energy can be produced anywhere, countries with high availability of solar and wind energy such as Brazil offer more favorable conditions for efficient and affordable production. With its hydroelectric plants and policies favoring renewable energy as a substitute for fossil fuels, Brazil is a promising candidate for strategic green fuel trade partnerships with Europe.

However, Brazilian companies trading green hydrogen nationally and exporting it to regions such as the European Union must provide transparent proof of origin based on certification schemes.

The Public-Private Partnership between 51风流and GIZ

In order to validate the general requirements and develop concepts for a software to support the green hydrogen certification for Brazil and Germany, 51风流has formed a public-private partnership with the (GIZ). To help Brazilian suppliers prove their hydrogen is truly green, the project will evaluate and summarize certification rules and test digital solutions as well.

鈥淭his cooperation aims to promote sustainable hydrogen projects in developing and emerging countries,鈥� said Sabine Bendiek, chief people and operating officer and member of the Executive Board at 51风流SE, after signing a Letter of Intent (LoI) outlining the understanding between all parties. The LoI was later countersigned by GIZ Brazil at a delegation ceremony attended by the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck.

“One of SAP鈥檚 first collaborative aspirations with GIZ is to develop a pilot project to digitize the hydrogen certification processes for Brazilian companies. We鈥檙e excited to work with GIZ on this project, which will eventually allow certification data to be exchanged and evaluated along the value chain in a tamperproof, cost-efficient, and traceable manner,鈥� said Bendiek.

The GreenToken by 51风流solution, for example, can provide supply chain transparency right back to the origin of any material using a blockchain based chain of custody for trust based on recognized standards such as ISCC PLUS, ISCC EU, and REDcert2. This unique digital twin on a blockchain approach can provide transparency into ESG (environmental, social, and governance) facts such as commodity origin, child labor, and recycled and/or sustainability status across company borders.

Building the Green Hydrogen Economy

鈥淏razil has the ideal conditions to become a global player in this area, including the infrastructure needed to create a relevant domestic market and become a major exporter of green hydrogen. This makes Brazil an excellent partner for countries like Germany that intend to import green hydrogen,鈥� said Dr. Markus Francke, GIZ vice country director in Brazil. 鈥淎s Brazilian hydrogen companies are looking to sell their products in domestic, European, and other markets, this project will help prepare them for the requirements of region-specific certification processes.鈥�

Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the results of the partnership are expected to benefit small and medium enterprises as well as large companies in Brazil.

While decarbonizing the economy, the development of a green hydrogen industry in parallel can boost economic growth and resilience, creating local jobs in countries that produce green hydrogen such as Brazil. The new partnership between 51风流and GIZ will contribute significantly to developing the hydrogen economy in Brazil by creating the necessary proof points through reliable certification for Brazil, Germany, and 鈥� and through its compliance to European directives 鈥� the European Union Member States.

鈥淲e want to make life better day in and day out. We create products with characteristics that make the final consumer product really special,鈥� said Thomas Meinel, senior vice president and head of Indirect Procurement at Evonik Industries. 鈥淲e鈥檙e farming salmons with a more sustainable feeding alternative for the climate and our environment. We supported the development and production of the first mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 by supplying the lipid nanoparticles that transport these gene-based vaccines to the right target site in the human body.鈥�

Digital Is Foundation of Business Resilience

After hearing Meinel speak at the recent in Madrid, Spain, I reached out to Dr. Marko Lange, product manager for 51风流Chemicals, for his thoughts on industry modernization.

In a disrupted world rocked by geopolitical conflicts and resultant soaring prices and shortages, he said that Evonik Industries stands out for its foresight in business modernization, bringing in and other 51风流solutions.

鈥淓RP is a hot topic again in the chemical industry because an ERP platform supports business resiliency across supply chains and operations in turbulent times like these,鈥� said Dr. Lange. 鈥淎 next-generation ERP system provides insights, simulations, and decision support to help you understand disruptive impacts on your business and effectively respond. It is a real companion to operating your business, detailing granular, real-time information about what鈥檚 happening and the consequences.鈥�

Procurement Is Strategic Business Partner

Digitalization has transformed how every department at Evonik Industries operates. At the conference, Meinel shared how procurement was the next step in his company鈥檚 digital journey.

鈥�In a rapidly changing world with new business models, procurement is increasingly part of make or buy decisions to take advantage of greater opportunities,鈥� said Meinel. 鈥淪ourcing managers still need classic procurement skills because they are responsible for a company鈥檚 global strategy. But they also need to work from anywhere, interacting effectively with teams on collaborative platforms with internal colleagues and external suppliers. Cloud-based platforms provide many more scouting possibilities to discover future suppliers.鈥�

Managing the procurement experience in a digitalized word requires different capabilities from people as they assume new responsibilities. Meinel said that sourcing managers at Evonik Industries were strategic relationship managers who continually innovated, not just on elements like pricing, but working as part of a team to negotiate and strengthen supplier relationships.

鈥淒igitalization will change what procurement does and how we do it,鈥� said Meinel. 鈥淲e are buying more digital products along with products that have been digitally enhanced. For example, the pumps we purchase use significantly more digital data, which changes how people work, what skill sets they need, their capabilities, and managerial expectations.鈥�

Connected Procurement Data Boosts Efficiencies

Similar to organizations in many industries that are deeply impacted by mergers and acquisitions, Evonik Industries needed real-time data visibility into contract management for daily activities, as well as accurate auditing.

鈥淓verything we do has to be connected, which is the objective of going digital, to make process efficiencies end-to-end,鈥� said Meinel. 鈥淲ith and , we can transform procurement, integrating data across systems as we create, sign, store, and manage contracts that often travel between departments and locations around the world.鈥�

People Are as Strong as Their Network

Meinel said that digitalization is profoundly changing how the company鈥檚 procurement professionals function on a daily basis. Robotics speed up purchase order creation and artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled algorithms produce forecasts, while people apply human judgment to handle exceptions and contribute to other higher value tasks. Instead of working in isolation, procurement teams are analyzing and using data to build a stronger global network of decision-making. After implementing 51风流Ariba solutions, Meinel said that Evonik Industries gained significant employee productivity efficiencies and met objectives for cash flow savings. Automating tedious, repetitive tasks frees up procurement to stay on top of fast-changing market conditions, including finding new suppliers in case of unexpected disruptions.

鈥淚鈥檓 convinced the future of procurement will be one of constant change,鈥� said Meinel. 鈥淟ifelong learning needs to be part of the culture beyond designated trainings. People don鈥檛 care what system they use. They want efficient processes and to be seamlessly connected. What matters is the user experience. Our digital business core is 51风流S/4HANA, helping us become an agile, intelligent network able to manage constant change.鈥�

Follow me @smgaler.

Empower Employees with the Technology They Want

Global challenges have made it clear mobile is the only way through and forward. The pressing need to help customers run at their best beyond geographical constraints, combined with the modern workforce鈥檚 growing dismay at outdated work tools, gave rise to a growing mobile adoption worldwide. But adopting mobile apps isn’t without challenges.

The 51风流team took a hard look at existing solutions. Florian Heretsch, vice president and head of Mobile Experience & Engineering at SAP, explained that the team鈥檚 goal is simple: to create native mobile apps that users love to use and require zero training time to master. 鈥淓very business app from 51风流also does what people expect of any social media or weather app. We have holistically looked into what people really need to get their work done: a simple and beautiful experience, the latest cross-device native features, and the fastest, most intuitive technology available,鈥� he said. The results are a new mobile app suite crafted with partners including Apple and Scandit.

Christian Floerkemeier, vice president of Product, CTO, and co-founder of Scandit, added to the importance of user experience: 鈥淲ith employee expectations increasing, user centricity is key. Smart data capture, such as automating the scanning of items, empowers workers by shifting tedious work to technology. This helps reduce errors, saves time, and increases job satisfaction while workers can also be upskilled by having the right data delivered to them in real time to make informed decisions.鈥�

Take Digitalization to New Heights

But good looks alone won鈥檛 do the trick. 鈥淎n enterprise mobile experience requires a thorough understanding of specific industry and business process requirements, deeply below what鈥檚 visible on the user interface. ,鈥� said Philipp Herzig, senior vice president and head of Intelligent Enterprise & Cross Architecture at SAP.

Indeed, modern enterprises require more than an elegant look and feel to fulfill their commitment to helping customers become efficient and sustainable. Beneath the fancy packaging, mobile devices and solutions bring digitalization to a whole new level. The Bechtle team 鈥� Christian Deppisch, Josephine Leschik, and Martin Ullrich 鈥� explain how system integration increases efficiency: 鈥淪ystem and process integration with mobile devices means the job becomes much simpler for employees and a great reduction in mistakes, which in turn improves the quality of deliverables and quickens business processes. As a result, operational efforts and costs can be greatly reduced.鈥�

Tackle Industry Challenges Head-On

For service and maintenance workers, following assigned tasks ensures both customer satisfaction and their own safety. In some environments, one mistake or a skipped step can be life-threatening.

Gregor Bender, managing director of Evora IT Solutions GmbH, shared how the 51风流Service and Asset Manager mobile app and other mobile solutions help Evora and its customers stay on top of their game. 鈥淩elevant information that supports technicians in their on-site decision-making is digitalized, stored in the 51风流system, and integrated into the maintenance processes. This means that technicians can get their job done easier, faster, and much safer, “Bender said. “By allowing remote collaboration, critical industry challenges like transferring knowledge to the next generation of technicians are furthermore supported.鈥�

鈥淭he right mobile solutions are crucial to enhancing both service quality and efficiency,鈥� said Stephan Niewoehner, head of Mobile Innovation, and Henning Pohlhausen, consultant for Mobile Applications at CLAAS. CLAAS provides its service technicians with one central app to guide their processes and tasks as well. 鈥淓specially for many of our colleagues who work in the field, a native, offline app is a tremendous help in their daily business, as they can quickly gather information required for their job, schedule them in an efficient manner, and single-handedly document details of each job,鈥� he added. Alongside the native mobile apps in the production and warehouse area, CLAAS鈥檚 Digital Service Manager app helps ensure accurate service delivery and contributes to building a sustainable supply chain by replacing traditional paper processes with an easy-to-use mobile one.

There鈥檚 still a lot to do to truly transform the modern enterprise, but with a network of like-minded customers and strong partnerships, 51风流is continuing its mobile innovations in optimism.

Cecilia Lo is part of Mobile Experience & Engineering at SAP.

Increasing regulations are also sparking digital innovation across life sciences. For example, organizations are required to share updated supply chain data with trusted partners for compliance with the final phased-in regulations of the . Initially passed in 2013, the latest batch of requirements from this act will require pharmacies, wholesalers, and manufacturers to track and report drug shipments for legitimacy between authorized trading partners. That鈥檚 where Spherity Credentialing Service CARO comes in, an app that provides updated information proving a dispenser鈥檚 trading partner status.

鈥淲hen a pharmacist in a tiny dispensary in North Dakota has suspicions about a received drug shipment, they send a verification request to a global pharmaceutical manufacturer that has numerous wholesalers in between them and the pharmacy,鈥� said Dr. Oliver Nuernberg, chief product owner of Life Sciences at SAP. 鈥淎utomating the credentialing process builds transparency and trust between indirect partners, immediately surfacing the pharmacy鈥檚 credentials as an authorized trading partner. This saves time and costs with greater information accuracy and fewer delays, strengthening an organization鈥檚 ability to meet DSCSA regulations.鈥�

Available on , Spherity Credentialing Service CARO is integrated with聽, a cloud-based network solution that helps organizations comply with other provisions of the U.S.聽DSCSA. For example, drug traceability is another U.S. DSCSA mandate. Pharmaceutical manufacturers can also use the information hub to help law enforcement trace drug shipments by serial numbers, supporting audits that help keep counterfeit medications out of the supply chain.

Intelligent Automation Strengthens Health of Drug Supply Chain

Spherity functions as a digitally encrypted wallet that captures and stores a dispenser鈥檚, or any other trading partner鈥檚, verified identity data, including address, notarized documents such as articles of incorporation, as well as updated U.S. state and DEA license information. By digitizing previously manual data collection and distribution tasks between systems, the app eliminates historical time lags that often resulted in outdated information.

鈥淚n the past, information about trading partner status was manually imported on a monthly basis from spreadsheets provided by third parties. An order might come from a wholesaler or dispenser whose license expired or was revoked weeks or even months ago,鈥� said Nuernberg. 鈥淓lectronic credentialing surfaces accurate information much faster, helping organizations automatically prove compliance with regulations, including license type as required to dispense various drugs.鈥�

Once a pharmacy鈥檚 identity is verified in their digital wallet, pharmaceutical companies would also be informed on an ongoing basis if the state or federal agency didn鈥檛 renew that license or revoked it for any reason.

Verified Partner Identity for Supply Chain Safety

Verifying a dispenser鈥檚 identity isn鈥檛 as easy as it sounds. Drug supply chains are complex, involving manufacturers, wholesale distributors, re-packagers, and logistics companies long before the goods reach pharmacies for dispensing. Having an app that automatically verifies a dispenser鈥檚 identity in real or near real time is designed to support regulatory compliance and help make drug supply chains more secure. Anticipating the 2023 regulations, some global pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers have been testing the app with measurable results.

鈥淯sing the app, organizations have told us that they can securely and more easily verify trading partners and generate audit-ready records,鈥� said Georg J眉rgens, manager of Industry Solutions at Spherity. 鈥淲ith electronic interactions, they can trust that a trading partner is legitimate because due diligence has been conducted that proves identity. The app is easy to get up and running and has already increased efficiencies.鈥�

J眉rgens added that the app鈥檚 interoperability with different systems is designed to help meet regulatory mandates around electronic data sharing, easing collaboration between trusted partners along the clinical supply chain.

Digitalized Business Innovation

Eliminating counterfeit drugs in the legitimate supply chain is just the beginning of what鈥檚 possible in a fully digitalized life sciences supply chain. Pharmaceutical companies will be able to bring in and ramp up new, trusted suppliers faster. Intelligence will only grow with greater automation for business and patient value.

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But rising to the challenge of today’s marketplace 鈥� especially increasing raw material and energy prices, margin pressure, supply chain complexity, and regulatory requirements 鈥� requires much more than Industry 4.0 initiatives focused on efficiency and price reduction. From operational performance to customer experience, companies must integrate data from across the enterprise into a single source to form sound decisions that make sustainability profitable and profitability sustainable.

Such a transformation is undoubtedly technology intensive, but the key enablers are also unassailably human. Understanding this reality, many chemical companies rely on the portfolio, provided by the Business Transformation Services group at SAP, to help transform their operations and gain a competitive edge amid fast global changes.

Turning Challenges into Great Opportunities

Competitively addressing turbulence depends on the ability to view transformation through the lens of six fundamental challenges:

R&D Pressure across the Product Portfolio
The imperative to resist margin shrinkage, mitigate risks, increase ROI, and boost growth calls for innovative products and services that offer business value and foster close partnerships with customers. By pushing forward the adoption of advanced technologies to drive global R&D, supplier, and customer collaborations and joint ventures, businesses can prevent commoditization.

The Need for Vertical Integration
Evolving production facilities with a balance of high efficiency, global scale, flexibility, and intelligent responsiveness allows supply chains to weigh the synergistic benefits of integrated manufacturing plants or industrial parks against the flexibility of smaller plants. As a result, businesses can leverage new opportunities with disruptive business models, such as making raw materials instead of buying them and producing semi-finished or even finished goods.

Global Supply Chain Complexity
Global supply chains must be secure enough to mitigate volatile market conditions, such as global health emergencies, rising prices for raw materials and energy, and other factors that impact economic conditions. Companies can gain this advantage by establishing commercial and logistical transparency to support optimization and global planning of demand, sales, and operations.

Hidden Advantages of Business Networks
Business cannot stay competitive in a complex ecosystem alone. They must also scale and optimize their supply chain globally with business networks, such as the Catena-X Automotive Network. Doing so empowers suppliers, contract and toll manufacturers, joint ventures, and customers to collaborate openly and create new prospects for co-innovating better products and services, improving value chain efficiency, and fueling long-term growth.

Compliance and Sustainability Urgency
A primary objective for any chemical business is ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Yet, B2B customers also favor suppliers that help meet their own environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates. Sustainable businesses and innovations provide balance between these two expectations, creating a highly sought-after competitive edge by gearing products and services towards a circular economy.

Business Agility
The industry鈥檚 dynamic and fast-changing environment of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures is creating tremendous complexity and pressure for permanent change and adaptation. Chemical companies need to balance industry-wide globalization and centralization while increasing business agility.

Chemical companies with a digital strategy encompassing all these topics can address industry challenges and seize on market trends in a disruptive manner. Through , businesses can gain new opportunities and capabilities never previously considered possible 鈥� including increased speed and efficiency, process automation, and data transparency.

Seizing the Moment with Advisory Expertise

From the perspective of 51风流Advisory Services, digitalization is not just another IT term but also a critical business priority. The more intelligent and sustainable a company becomes, the more agile, flexible, and integrated its value chain becomes.

Advisory experts from 51风流can enable chemical companies to turn their fundamental challenges into opportunities with a well-structured, business-driven design. This approach elaborates on the steps of the digital transformation journey 鈥� leading to a road map for future architecture design. Each phase of the road map follows an ideal sequence of digital innovation, technology adoption, and industry best practices and leverages the highest value for the company in the short term.

51风流Advisory Services help organizations evaluate and act on the sentiments of their customers, partners, and employees and improve their environmental impact. Chemical companies can then be well positioned to keep their workforce engaged, increase organizational agility, and deliver the products and services customers need and trust. Furthermore, they can control their varied sources and categories of spending with outstanding finance and operational efficiency and real-time enterprise insight.

Essentially, chemical companies that work with 51风流advisory experts can realize their potential as . They can make confident decisions and drive continuous innovation to adapt, innovate, and overcome challenges while making responsible choices that help reduce waste and emissions and drive long-term growth.

This business model is accomplished with intelligent technologies, including business networks, a business technology platform, cloud-based infrastructures, and solutions for business process management, experience management, industry cloud, and sustainability management. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, data platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, predictive analytics, and virtual as well as augmented realities (VR/AR) are embedded in the intelligent technologies to drive end-to-end business processes and decision-making across enterprise domains.

Bringing to Life an Intelligent and Sustainable Network

The pressures on the chemicals industry may be relentless, with shocks coming in from all directions. However, this doesn’t mean businesses cannot find great opportunities in this volatile environment. With the right approach to digitalization, they can transform, innovate, and collaborate across the value chain to build upward momentum and better serve customers as an intelligent and sustainable network.

Learn more about the and how 51风流can help guide the innovation needed to overcome them. Read the series 鈥� on 51风流Community.

Ornulf Rexin is chief business consultant of Chemicals and Life Sciences for Business Transformation Services at SAP.

These were among the innovations that Michael Schmidt, cofounder and executive board member of , shared when he spoke at a recent SAP-sponsored event with customers and other partners about the transformational opportunities facing the life sciences industry.

鈥淢oving manufacturing to the point-of-care will disrupt the traditional pharmaceutical supply chain with the patient on the first floor and the manufacturing facility in the basement,鈥� said Schmidt. 鈥淲ith production downstairs, you鈥檝e reduced your physical supply chain to an elevator, limiting costly risks from transportation delays or patient no-shows and disrupting packaging norms. Self-contained production facilities for vaccines are another innovation, supporting the fundamental right to people鈥檚 health in developing countries.鈥�

Headquartered in Switzerland, Tenthpin is a global management consulting firm focused on life sciences companies worldwide. Drawing from his firm鈥檚 experience working with pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, medical device manufacturers, clinical researchers, and other clients, Schmidt shared an intriguing look into what happens when life sciences ecosystems are driven by health outcomes and market demands shift from patient treatment to prevention, diagnostics, and cure.

Cloud-Based Collaboration Is Central to Outcome-Driven Healthcare

disruptions 鈥� with positive results 鈥� are a symptom of the transformational journey that every life sciences organization is undergoing. In an environment where health outcomes matter most, life sciences companies are moving business models towards value-based care, conducting research and evaluating drugs and treatments based on comparative effectiveness and risk-based pricing. In this context, California鈥檚 decision to make its own insulin shows the dramatic impact across healthcare value chains as power shifts to governments and payers intent on reducing costs.

Talking during the 51风流life sciences event, Schmidt saw cloud-based platforms as critical to bringing experts together for faster innovation and mentioned COVID-19 vaccine development as an example of competitors working together towards a shared objective to save lives.

鈥淟ife sciences organizations are collaborating to connect data across a patient-centric value chain for early engagement of partners in areas like research and manufacturing,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e believe there will be more opportunity-driven collaborations in the future. For example, the supply chain changes fundamentally with compressed timeframes between research, production, and delivery. You want to be set up from an organizational perspective to allow for more strategic ad hoc and cross-industry collaborations such as ramping up new facilities to adapt your manufacturing footprint in response to ongoing disruptions.鈥�

Data Sharing for Human-Centered Healthcare

As the healthcare industry explores advanced therapies, personalized treatments, and services, there鈥檚 a shift from traditional batch to continuous manufacturing. New technologies provide greater access to real-time patient data for developing more effective drugs with improvements in the patient experience and health results. However, these market ramp-ups stress existing business and treatment models.

鈥淧ersonalized treatments mean that organizations suddenly get much closer to patients,鈥� said Schmidt. 鈥淭he human health experience is all about connecting a tremendous amount data 鈥� which room of the house you were in when you took the medication and what you had for breakfast. Technology allows us to collect, analyze, and reuse detailed data.鈥�

Schmidt urged companies to consider the next evolution of systems, investing in data governance and data quality now for automation and other innovations built on cloud-based platforms.

鈥淭he life sciences value chain of tomorrow is data-driven and patient-centric, putting technology at the heart of industry transformation,鈥� said Schmidt. 鈥淥nce you have a stable system core, you鈥檒l be well-positioned for the future growth of markets such as cell and gene therapies for personalized treatment regimens.鈥�

The Next Treatment Innovation Is One Elevator Ride Away

Organizations in the life sciences industry face numerous other challenges such as imminent patent expirations and increasingly complex regulations, including waste reduction. But technology has a major role in all areas, for instance, speeding up the development of advanced treatments and regulatory approvals so innovations reach patients faster. Schmidt advised companies to connect digital transformation plans to high-end strategic innovations expected years down the road, as well as tomorrow.

鈥淭he life sciences industry is at a crossroads, and we need to reimagine its future,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he next disruptors are companies that may have a portfolio of investments, or are partnering with different networks, using external manufacturing and other innovations, creating competitive IP in new ways. There鈥檚 a significant opportunity for established and startup entrants that are collaborating with connected data to better understand how human body works and prevent and cure disease.鈥�

California鈥檚 trailblazing efforts to manufacture a drug is just one way that the life sciences industry is getting a healthy makeover. Let鈥檚 hope industry leaders heed the call to collaborate in new ways for more life-saving innovations.

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Delivering sugar to the table has its own challenges. One company that has been hitting the mark decade after decade is U.S. Sugar, a family business located in the center of Florida. One of the largest agricultural operations in the state, the company owns 230,000 acres of land where sugarcane farming and refining operations run 24/7.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been growing sugarcane for 90 years, and we鈥檝e been innovative from the start,鈥� says Carl Stringer, a company executive who has a dual task as vice president of IT and Employee Benefits at U.S. Sugar. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been an early adopter of high-tech in our operations, thanks to our 270-square-mile area of a privately owned Wi-Fi network.”

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Technology

U.S. Sugar is operating in a volatile market. The company supplies about 10% of the of sugar produced in the United States annually 鈥� a commodity whose price can vary depending on weather conditions, agricultural supply cycles, government policies, and currency rates.

Today, all commodity businesses are facing numerous challenges, from climate change and carbon emissions to COVID-19 lockdowns, along with operational risks in their supply chains. That鈥檚 why digitalizing, automating, and increasing efficiencies across the business are crucial to their success. Soft commodities like sugar, meaning that it is grown rather than mined, face additional challenges that are specific to agricultural businesses. Climate is one of them.

鈥淲e aim to process the freshest cane in the world, so we must always harvest at the optimal time. That requires complete flexibility,鈥� explains Stringer. 鈥淥ur growing season can include hurricanes, unexpected frosts, and flooding.鈥�

The company relies on technology to maintain agility in every aspect of their business. U.S. Sugar is a longtime member of the 51风流Agribusiness Industry Advisory Council. Stringer is deeply appreciative of the collaborative engagement. 鈥�51风流knows that agriculture is underserved by technology,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had to develop many apps simply because there鈥檚 a lack of digital farming tools. Being part of the council allows us to shape the technology based on our needs and our expertise in agriculture.鈥�

Together with SAP, U.S. Sugar and other members of the council are integrating key agricultural processes such as planting, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) elements of their supply chain such as automatic ordering through direct links to suppliers.

Digitalization is an enabler for efficient and sustainable farming processes. 鈥淔arming is still far behind when it comes to digital capabilities,鈥� says Stringer, whose goal is to increase efficiency in all areas to balance the huge costs of fuel, labor, and soil amendments that are typical for the industry. That鈥檚 why 51风流technology is a key enabler when it comes to automation, quality management, and the management of assets including the company鈥檚 800 vehicles.

Environment

One of company鈥檚 main challenges is educating the public about the sustainability of their operations. Conservationists around the world are concerned about sugarcane farming because, in some countries, sugar mills produce wastewater, emissions, and solid waste that impact the environment. Also, there are questions as to whether the energy needed to produce sugarcane is high in comparison to other crops such as potatoes or wheat.

Fortunately, the U.S. Sugar mill and refinery in Clewiston, Florida, is a zero-discharge facility with no water or waste leaving the property. Florida鈥檚 sugar industry has been a trailblazer in sustainable best practices as it relates to environmental restoration. U.S. Sugar often stands as a model for its sustainable practices, with a proven track record of more than 90 years farming the land around Lake Okeechobee.

鈥淲e are keenly committed to preserving the natural beauty of the Everglades,鈥� says Stringer. 鈥淐lean water is fundamental to this ecosystem and to our farming business. Every drop of water flowing off our land is measured and regulated and cleaned. In fact, we go beyond meeting regulations, ensuring that our environment is the cleanest it鈥檚 been in our lifetimes. The water today is as clean as rainwater.鈥�

The best way to counter misperception is to educate and inform. The company regularly conducts tours of its operations, inviting schools, local community residents, and other interested parties to visit and see for themselves. Thousands of Floridians tour U.S. Sugar鈥檚 farming operations each year.

U.S. Sugar is also self-sufficient when it comes to energy. Cane stalk waste is repurposed to generate steam and electricity, replacing the need for purchased electricity or fossil fuels to power its sugar processing facilities. The company has even rebuilt a historic steam-powered locomotive to transport cane and visitors around its operations. All farming and factory operations run on sophisticated machinery that is 100% integrated into the business. This enables U.S. Sugar to manage water, crop, and postharvest logistics more holistically, which in turn allows the company to compete more effectively in the face of volatile worldwide commodities prices.

鈥淭echnology is a key enabler because it delivers deep insights into all business and operational areas,鈥� says the head of IT. 鈥淲e can respond in real time thanks to the intelligent integration of sensors, control systems, and dashboards.鈥�

Philanthropy

Besides caring for the environment, Stringer points out that the way to remain relevant in the future is to build the necessary skill set today. The company employs around 2,000 people who have their own special stake in the company: they own it along with two other primary stakeholders, the and the Mott Children鈥檚 Health Center.

Charles Stewart Mott, the industrialist and philanthropist, established his foundation in 1926 to support non-profit educational organizations around the country. Today, the foundation funds numerous educational and environmental efforts to promote a just, equitable, and sustainable society.

The good work does not stop there. U.S. Sugar is currently exploring ways to become even more efficient through circular production models. One is to make better use of bagasse, the dry, pulpy, fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane stalks to extract their juice, and the soil matter that is extracted from the cane during the clarification process, commonly known as mill mud. These two elements are comingled in a proprietary method and then returned to the cane fields as an efficient and eco-friendly compost. Bagasse can also be聽burned as fuel in the sugarcane mill or used as a source of cellulose for manufacturing animal feeds.

As someone responsible for people and IT, Stringer sees beyond the monetary value of digitalization. It increases user satisfaction and engagement, decreases resistance to change, and strengthens the relationship between IT and the business. Connecting people and technology and caring for the environment is what enables U.S. Sugar to remain faithful to its tradition of innovating for a sustainable future.

Royal Greenland is one of the world鈥檚 leading groups in the seafood market and a long-standing partner of Greenland鈥檚 fishing community. The government-owned company employs more than 2,500 people, has a fleet of deep-sea and coastal trawlers, and operates 37 fish processing plants and ship bases around the world鈥檚 largest island. It runs around 50 production facilities in Greenland, Canada, and Germany, conducting sales activities on all continents. Royal Greenland is committed to bringing wild-caught, high-quality seafood from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean to consumers. As a member of the聽, Royal Greenland has a strong focus on driving sustainable practices for fisheries.

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Video by Angela Klose

Starting Point: High Sustainability Standards, Paper Forms, and Manual Effort

Deeply rooted in its Nordic island, Royal Greenland knows the importance of offering sustainably sourced seafood so consumers can be sure they are not supporting excessive or illegal fishing that threatens fragile marine ecosystems. What鈥檚 more, the company is committed to making it as simple as possible for fishermen to sell their catch for the best possible price. Earning Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for sustainable fishing is critical to both of these ambitions, but to get it requires extensive documentation that wild-capture fish were caught following strict sustainability guidelines.

To document and duly report on all fishery supply chain processes requires an ongoing dialogue with local suppliers and individual fishermen. At the same time, the company has to ensure that all fishing activities are registered and carried out in full compliance and communicated to the appropriate authorities. Only a few years ago, the company had about 70,000 purchase orders filled out on paper and signed by fishermen in frosty weather 鈥� only to be digitalized later manually.

So,听Royal Greenland aimed to holistically digitalize the process of bringing fish into factories and tie聽this together with a full quality control and registration process.

Joint Digital Journey Strengthens Partnerships with Local Fishermen

For this complex digitalization endeavor, Royal Greenland worked with 听尘别尘产别谤 . Together, they created聽user-friendly iOS-based apps on聽 (51风流BTP) to help simplify聽the company鈥檚聽supplier relationship with local fishermen, streamline the procurement process, and contribute to global sustainability goals. These apps聽enable fishermen to submit their catch data in a fast and聽simple way.

“We try to digitize the process of bringing the fish into the factories and tie this together with the entire quality control and registration process,” said Lars Bo Hassinggaard, corporate IT manager, Royal Greenland A/S. “We have developed apps for all these scenarios, and we use this platform strategically to build a close partnership with the local catchers.”

Holistic Solution from Three iOS-Based Apps and 51风流BTP

Even for people with limited smartphone experience, the intuitive solution requires no onboarding. It enables local fishermen to register their catches and secure documentation, which can then also be used by municipalities to secure transparent and sustainable fishery. Empowered through mobile devices with seamless access to 51风流data and processes, 2,200 fishermen now have access to the technology and can register relevant data on the go. The more than 70,000 purchase orders per year could be converted to digital documentation. Today, three iOS-based apps help the fishing community and Royal Greenland staff alike:

1. Intuitive native iPhone app for the fishing community: This app allows the fishing community to enter catch information in a simple way and digitally submit legally required signatures right from the dock. It also validates relevant licenses for specific species when reporting data from catch fields.
2. iPad app for the landing staff: To support the continuous flow of data between fishermen and Royal Greenland, a second iOS-based native iPad app lets landing staff register information on catch texture, quality, temperature, and weight, which is automatically delivered to back-end enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
3. Web-based app for the procurement staff: Back-office procurement staff have a Web-based app in which they can approve the procurements based on data from the first two apps. With this information, they create purchase orders, which are automatically shared with the relevant fishermen.

Continuing the Innovation Journey

The enterprise continues to explore new ways to support local fishermen and their families while growing the business. Tools could also be added to help give fishermen and women a total view of their finances, help them set budgets, and build up savings. Royal Greenland is also looking to establish an information portal for fishermen to connect with the company as well as an e-commerce platform for buying and selling fishing equipment. In any case, the openness and extensibility of 51风流Business Technology Platform can offer many opportunities for further growth.

At the end of the day, prosperity for fishermen means prosperity for Royal Greenland. 鈥淩oyal Greenland鈥檚 success is based on supporting people, planet, and profit鈥�, said Hassinggaard. 鈥淭hese groundbreaking apps are strengthening supplier loyalty, optimizing internal processes, and helping boost fishermen income as well as our bottom line.鈥�

To find out more about how Royal Greenland is using mobile technology and 51风流Business Technology Platform, check out this .

In a wide-ranging study sponsored by SAP, Economist Impact looked at this ongoing transformation, interviewing 430 C-level executives between January and February 2022. The interviews went beyond conversations with procurement leaders. The team also spoke with their peers across functions and reporting lines, offering a more nuanced perspective on the future of procurement and where leaders should focus their efforts.

The resulting report, 鈥�,鈥� reveals how events in recent years have elevated expectations for the role of procurement within the business.

鈥淭he importance of procurement in supporting changing business strategies, managing risks and costs, and ensuring continued access to key resources and inputs has magnified given the disruptions that have roiled the globe over the last two years,鈥� the report states. It cites , geopolitical developments, and shifts in consumer behavior as key catalysts for the disruption.

Reimagining Procurement as a Value Center

Given current global economic conditions, it鈥檚 not surprising that business leaders consider cost control an imperative. In fact, according to the Economist Impact survey, more companies will focus on maximizing cost savings (39.8%) to bring value to their businesses 鈥� the strategy of choice for chief procurement officers (45.1%).

The second-most-selected strategy in the top three to deliver increased value to procurement is reducing risk (37.9%), an issue that has grown in importance due to the dependence of the U.S. and Western Europe on Asian manufacturing.

Additionally, the Economist Impact survey offers hints about other directions procurement leaders are taking as they look to increase business value. These include a shift away from just-in-time inventories, an evolving focus on category management, and movement toward decentralized or hybrid operating models.

Just-In-Time Gives Ground to Inventory Management

In the Economist Impact report, the third-most-selected strategy for driving value through procurement was inventory management (19.3%). It points out that this mostly applies to developed economies like Japan, the U.S., and Western Europe.

鈥淪upply chain disruptions in the wake of COVID-19 have helped puncture the glittering promise of the existing 鈥榡ust-in-time鈥� philosophy that allowed companies to reduce waste by minimizing or eliminating superfluous inventory,鈥� the report offers.

In its analysis, Economist Impact observes that managing inventory through long-term strategies like nearshoring or backup supply chains enables companies to protect their operations from future supply shocks. That said, it finds that nearshoring has not yet taken off as a strategy because of high expenses, limited access to labor, and significant lead times to relocate factories.

In terms of building up inventory to hedge against disruptions, the report finds industries that depend on reliable and available supplies 鈥� like healthcare (30.8%) and manufacturing (26.2%) 鈥� are more likely to have an increased focus on inventory management.

An Evolving Focus on Category Management

According to the Economist Impact report, category management has emerged as the second-biggest driver of digital transformation and the fourth focus area for procurement value (18.6%). The report attributes this to the 鈥渋ncreased use of digital technologies like smart contracting platforms that leverage sophisticated indices for identifying risks and opportunities.鈥�

鈥淐ategory management is undergoing a subtle evolution thanks to the increased use of digital technologies like smart contracting platforms that leverage sophisticated indices for identifying risks and opportunities,鈥� the report observes.

Procurement Takes Center Stage as Operating Models Change

In an interesting turn of events, the Economist Impact survey reveals a two-way trend in how businesses are choosing to operate their procurement functions. 鈥淲hile four in ten companies are seeing procurement move towards increased centralization or a center-led model, half are going the other way, seeing increased decentralization or a move towards a hybrid model.鈥�

This is having an impact on staffing, including staff increases and the use of the external workforce. And changes in the operating model are expected to continue. According to the Economist Impact survey, three in ten (31.2%) companies list it as a priority item on their agenda, just below supply chain risk (34.4%). It concludes, 鈥減rocurement is going to be central to changes in organizational models over the next one to two years, given its centrality in all business operations.鈥�

Procurement Powered by Digitalization

Through interviews and extensive research, the Economist Impact report provides a forward-looking snapshot of procurement and the impact of digitalization on this key business function. and .

Baber Farooq is head of Market Strategy, Procurement and External Workforce, for Marketing and Solutions at SAP.

Logistics Problems Are a Drag

As such, many exhibitors traveled to Lower Saxony鈥檚 capital city with mixed feelings this year. Would industry professionals return in droves? And how would business develop?

The industry association VDMA says Germany鈥檚 machine manufacturers are enjoying a 鈥渧ery large order backlog.鈥� But in an interview with the German Press Agency (DPA), Gunther Kegel, president of the German electro and digital industry association ZVEI, warned of the impacts of COVID-19-related shutdowns in China. The weeks-long break will 鈥渟end a shock through global supply chains whose consequences will only be seen in six to eight weeks鈥� time. There鈥檚 still quite a bit in store for us,鈥� he said.

Currently, experts cannot predict how long the worldwide logistics problems will last, making it all the more important to make supply chains as robust as possible and prepared to mitigate risks in the long term. Resilience and sustainability were among the most-discussed themes at Hannover Messe and were a particular focus of the technology companies that had a presence at the show.

Vertical and Horizontal Integration

At the Hanover show, 51风流concentrated on showcases and product presentations for the discrete and process industries聽鈥� and on showing how Industry 4.0 processes pave the way toward becoming customer-centric, robust, sustainable enterprises.

鈥淚ndustry 4.0 empowers sustainable business processes and robust supply chains by connecting the dots,鈥� said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, 51风流Product Engineering. At the vertical level, for example, machine data is being linked with business processes. Horizontal integration along 鈥渄esign to operate鈥� supports improvements in the production of goods, for example, helping to avoid waste, he said.

Using the example of producing bottled milkshakes, 51风流demonstrated what this can look like in a specific use case at its Live Forum. In the presentation, the company showed how the 51风流system examines the sustainability of the various product components, including packaging, and points out the potential consequences based on the current product features.

A plastic cap, for example, can incur additional fees in product distribution in many countries. Insights like this are very helpful for companies that want to make their manufacturing processes more sustainable and implement more responsible product designs.

The Live Forum also served as the stage for a number of customer presentations from industrial practice聽鈥� for example, to illustrate how digitalization and business transformation are virtually two sides of the same coin in times of Industry 4.0.

Sascha Rowohl, head of IT at Schwarz Production, showed how the Schwarz Group of retailers (Lidl, Kaufland) implemented its digital coffee roasting facility in just 18 months with SAP鈥檚 help. The fully automated factory was designed as a greenfield project and is slated to expand its production capacity to around 50,000 tons of coffee by the end of this year. That accounts for around 10% of all coffee produced in Germany聽鈥� all of which is sold in the group鈥檚 own stores.

Among other solutions, Schwarz Group implemented , , 51风流Intelligent Asset Management, and 51风流Analytics Cloud as part of this project. Connectors link the solutions with the group鈥檚 51风流ERP system. According to Rowohl, the Schwarz Group intends to digitalize more factories for other product groups step by step. An interesting aspect of these plans: the group has established a new business unit with Prezero, a disposal company, which gives the group the ability to extend its value chain from production all the way to waste recovery.

Art and a Big Show

Tangible examples like the presentation of the digital coffee roasting facility attracted considerable interest among the trade show audience. After a halting start in the morning of the first day of the show, the exhibition halls slowly began to fill up. The Meta Cube at the entrance to SAP鈥檚 booth was a real eye-catcher: a cube filled with colors and artificial light, in which a robotic arm from KUKA wrote IT terms 鈥� such as 鈥淏usiness Transformation鈥� 鈥� on a transparent mirror. This installation was certainly the most photographed motif in hall 4.

Another big audience draw was the theater area (鈥淕ate to Walldorf鈥�), where visitors could observe the interaction between machine processes and software controls in a live stream. The scenarios were set up in Building 21 of SAP鈥檚 headquarters and were transmitted virtually to SAP鈥檚 booth at the Hanover trade show. 51风流employees in Walldorf explained the presented sequences step by step, while hosts at the 51风流stand took questions from the audience after the presentation.

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Selected partners complemented SAP鈥檚 exhibition with their presence at the company鈥檚 booth in hall 4. One of them was Catena-X, an open ecosystem where business partners from all areas of the automotive industry聽鈥� including smaller suppliers聽鈥� will be able to contribute in the future. The goal of this project is to seize the opportunities of digital transformation with the help of a standardized, connected data infrastructure along future value chains. According to Dr. Florian Patzer from Fraunhofer 鈥� like SAP, one of the driving forces in the network聽鈥� 11 application areas have already been defined, including maintenance, quality management, and sustainability.

As the pressure for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) accountability continues to build among customers and stakeholders, oil and gas providers have little choice but to address their complicated relationship with . The sector currently accounts for approximately 9% of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to聽. Plus, customer consumption of refined fuels comprises another 33% of global emissions.

The struggle over emissions reduction is unquestionably the proverbial elephant in the (board)room. Yet, at the same time, executives are also concerned about intensifying demand among regulators, activists, investors, and banking institutions for measurable proof and documentation of their progress. In fact, 37% of industry players, surveyed by聽, are already planning to address increasing ESG standards by implementing capabilities to centrally store carbon data within the next two years.

Navigating a Pivotal Transition with Clarity and Trust

Transitioning to cleaner forms of fuel is a worthy investment into the future of humankind. But it鈥檚 also challenging how executives manage their information.

The process changes, business model adjustments, and diversification opportunities needed to abate emissions depend on critical factors, ranging from geography, regulations, and carbon pricing to the availability of renewable technology and reliable infrastructure. And in most cases, this information is buried in a massive variety of operational, administrative, and contractual documentation, including land-lease agreements, invoices, maintenance records, land files, well files, pipeline records, offshore assets, and inspection records.

Traditional approaches to sorting, classifying, and analyzing stacks of paperwork are too impractical for any business that thrives on efficiency, speed, and cash-flow optimization. Whether managed through a manual process or legacy technology, data and content volumes inevitably reach a point where information is siloed, easy to lose, and challenging to access. Moreover, considering how widely dispersed the workforce is currently, this form of document management only inhibits cross-channel intelligence, limits productivity, and increases costs.

It seems that most oil and gas companies are getting the message loud and clear: more than 65% are increasing their investment in enterprise software solutions and cloud migrations, as indicated by IDC research. In return, document workflows are digitalized and document processing is automated 鈥� all hallmarks of intelligent enterprise content management (ECM).

Integrated, cloud-based 51风流enterprise content management solutions by OpenText are well-designed for the continuous change of content volume that companies experience. They can help streamline workflows by unifying business processes and integrating suppliers into daily workflows. Furthermore, with the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, organizations can capture, organize, and analyze data at a moment鈥檚 notice to make asset-related predictions and recommendations and remain compliant with ESG requirements.

For example, individual departments, business functions, locations, and facilities can collaborate more closely by fluidly exchanging guidance and analytics-based insights more efficiently. Managers can also streamline processes to produce new, easier-to-consume content with greater visibility into user access patterns. But most important is the ability to trust the intelligence, make decisions confidently, and communicate progress effectively, since all enterprise information is derived directly from an up-to-date repository of documentation.

Spreading Growing Intelligence Enterprise-Wide

The future may seem uncertain, but one thing is unambiguous: the oil and gas industry has a vital role to play in our world for many, many years to come. But now it鈥檚 time to take the next step in the transformation journey by digitalizing one of the most critical areas of the back office, ECM.

And why not? Most companies are already underway by adopting new ways to automate their operations in the field and plant. And by extending that mindset to become fully aware of the benefits of 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText, the balance between profitability, public trust, and positive ESG outcomes can become easier to achieve.

Ready to learn how 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText can help turn your oil and gas business into a provider that leads the industry toward a more sustainable future for everyone? Read the info sheet, 鈥�.鈥�

Unfortunately, this concern is becoming all too real for the industry. D2C sales in the United States alone grew 45.5% in 2020, and analysts from聽聽expect this trend to further expand over 14% year-over-year until 2023. Such actions include popular beverage brands that have launched pantry-oriented and snack-good Web shops to ship their products straight to people鈥檚 homes. Even fashion brands are seizing the moment by dramatically streamlining their retail-partner ecosystem to focus more resources on their brand e-commerce channels.

While their suppliers have certainly increased their investments in digital commerce, distribution businesses are far from standing still. In , many surveyed distributors indicated, anecdotally, an intention to invest time and resources to make e-commerce programs more comprehensive and customer-friendly to satisfy customer expectations for online engagement and convenience.

However, to be truly successful, businesses must first bridge a gaping hole in their strategy that can become a liability for their e-commerce vision 鈥� a paradigm of isolated legacy systems, spreadsheets, and clipboards.

Changing Digital Priorities for a Competitive Edge

With efficiency, productivity, and brand awareness at the top of their agenda, distributors also face considerable labor shortages, rising expenses, delayed logistics services, and clogged supply chains. This perfect storm of challenges is alarming enough that department heads demand access to real-time insights to get ahead of every ebb and flow in their operations productively, transparently, and intelligently.

This call for better data, more readily available information, and clear insights is well-founded. According to , one-third of wholesale distribution companies drive higher employee productivity and reduce manual processes when all forms of content are unified enterprise-wide on a single platform.

For many distributors, the platform that delivers on that promise is an integrated enterprise content management (ECM) solution called the 51风流Extended Enterprise Content Management (51风流Extended ECM) application by OpenText. Digitalizing processes allows organizations to take advantage of modern technologies 鈥� such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning 鈥� to capture, organize, and analyze massive volumes of data and derive much-needed insights. In return, they are better positioned to聽deliver a positive customer experience and ensure customer loyalty while boosting business productivity, performance, and聽compliance.

Distributors can also perpetually link their data to appropriate documents, transactions, sources, and workflows and embed machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities into existing applications to automatically process and analyze all that information. Furthermore, their workforce, supply network, and other stakeholder organizations can leverage insights in a collaborative workspace and manage and share critical records in a secure cloud environment.

With all these advantages of 51风流enterprise content management solutions by OpenText, distributors can close the gap in their e-commerce strategies and provide offerings that their nontraditional competitors 鈥� primarily manufacturers 鈥� cannot. They include value-add services ranging from buy-hold-sell distribution, product consulting, kitting and assembly, rentals, and logistics services to audit and risk management, product as a service, maintenance providers, and financing options.

For example, a spare parts distributor could assemble and customize hoses for a specific machine used by individual customers. Meanwhile, those in the grocery segment may cut fresh vegetables and create packaged salads per the customer鈥檚 requirements. Whatever differentiating service, the industry can evolve fast enough to drive customer stickiness and long-term profitability with a repository of real-time enterprise data and information.

Building a Future as an Anytime, Anywhere Distributor

While some wholesale distribution companies may have been slow to embrace e-commerce, it鈥檚 not too late if they learn from the mistakes and successes of early adopters. And one of the lessons is the importance of smooth information sharing and workflows when improving efficiencies across key business areas and functions such as procurement, inventory, operations and supply chain, accounting, and finance.

Now, with 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText, distributors can deliver an e-commerce experience that goes beyond products and focuses on providing the kind of customer value that helps them stand out in a D2C world.

Ready to learn how 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText can turn your wholesale distribution business into a provider that fulfills customer needs and remains profitable? Read the info sheet, 鈥�.鈥�

The challenges may have been brewing for years, but they now monopolize retailers’ ability to fend off store closures, bankruptcies, and dwindling margins. For example, cited margins in apparel have been trending down five percentage points between 2015 and 2021. Meanwhile, reported that 42% of surveyed retail CFOs expect to restructure or reorganize as fallout from the pandemic persists.

How can retailers overcome this high-stakes landscape to move ahead of the competition and grow? According to , the answer is adopting a new paradigm that integrates the complete content life cycle within business processes.

Outpacing Market Changes with Greater Efficiency

With supply chains facing scarce labor at ports, driver shortages, rising warehouse expenses, and higher prices, retailers are experiencing significant challenges in stocking all the product they need to satisfy skyrocketing demand. This situation is becoming so dire that some brands are warning industry analysts to expect lackluster cost management and sales growth due to shipping delays and the possibility of waning demand when inventory finally arrives.

Without a doubt, retailers have no other option right now but to actively find every advantage to respond to changing market needs and consumer demand as nimbly and quickly as possible. They must come to terms with the fact that operations that were inefficient before the pandemic will only become more ineffective months or even years later. Otherwise, they risk losing customer loyalty to competitors or, worse yet, joining an extensive list of industry-wide bankruptcies.

The first step toward steering the supply chain towards greater efficiency is technology-led operations that use 51风流enterprise content management (ECM) solutions by OpenText to help digitalize and connect content, data, and processes.

Retailers can capitalize on unstructured content 鈥� such as promotions, customer communications, invoices, product descriptions, and sensor data 鈥� by collecting them into one source and routing the information to the right person and location. Furthermore, data processing can be automated 鈥� from capture to sorting and classification 鈥� and information can be shared across the entire value chain with greater ease.

But perhaps the most profound impact of 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText is how employees can become more empowered to engage with customers more consistently and responsively. By simplifying how back-office departments, physical stores, and e-commerce channels leverage information, retailers are well positioned to take advantage of customer trends with less friction, including:

• Putting customers first across the value chain: Provide omnichannel interactions with a curated assortment that does not leave customers overwhelmed.
• Serving the “segment of one”: Personalize the consumer experience with purpose, differentiating through value-added services and digital capabilities that meet unique needs and preferences.
• Implementing digital supply chains: Support a circular supply chain 鈥� from suppliers’ facilities to consumers’ homes and back 鈥� by designing out waste and extending the product lifetime.
• Redefining the store experience: Connect the digital and physical spaces to fulfill any customer request and empower store associates to bring value to every consumer interaction.
• Innovating new business models: Expand service offerings and continuous engagement with your consumers with sustainable outcomes and higher brand loyalty.

Just think: how could your retail business benefit from these trends if every single one of your employees could access a connected ecosystem of content, processes, and data? That鈥檚 the power of 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText.

Redefining Retail for an Evolving, Consumer-Driven World

Ubiquitous access to information has shifted power from the retailer to the consumer, increasing pressure on retailers to invest in innovative business models and new ways of creating value for their ecosystem.

Now, retailers must take their turn by leveraging their customer and operational content with enterprise content management technology that is consistent, complete, and personalized. Those that excel in this area will win over consumers with reliable and profitable outcomes that consumers expect 鈥� no matter which channel they use.

Ready to learn how 51风流enterprise content management solutions by OpenText can turn your retail business into a provider that fulfills customer needs and remains profitable? Read the info sheet, “.”

Every business involved in the consumer products value chain 鈥� including raw material suppliers, ingredient producers, manufacturers, logistics providers, retailers, and wholesale distributors 鈥� has made great strides in digitalizing its internal operations. Yet, a lack of data exchange across the entire network could intensify delays and inefficiencies as resources or products move from one part of the supply chain to the other.

Moving Supplies with Better Transparency and Insight

According to , consumer products companies are beginning to get the message: 39% of surveyed industry players expect to increase spending on integrated enterprise content management (ECM) applications in 2021. Moreover, nearly half of them expect this digital investment to be a key contributor to operational performance (43%) and employee productivity (44%) 鈥� two factors that can significantly ease today鈥檚 consumer goods supply strain.

During the pandemic, most consumer products companies adopted point solutions while maintaining a preexisting infrastructure of isolated legacy systems and spreadsheets for critical functions. However, this setup 鈥� which, at the time, was a response to changing consumer behaviors and employee needs 鈥� is missing the connectedness, intelligence, and transparency necessary to align operational capacity with surging demand.

Many businesses now realize that standardized information sharing is a critical first step toward strengthening much-needed resiliency, efficiency, and control. It allows internal and external supply chain participants to exchange consumer expectations insight, communicate actionable next steps, and scale operations as one ecosystem.

With cloud-based 51风流enterprise content management solutions by OpenText, the entire supply chain can connect all this information so stakeholders can access curated content anytime, anywhere, and across the business. Plus, the inclusion of embedded artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enables the technology to automatically capture, organize, and analyze massive amounts of data to support higher productivity.

Along with supply chain operations, 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText can improve adjacent departments 鈥� such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, and trade promotion management 鈥� that directly impact overall customer satisfaction. These back-office functions can use real-time supply chain information, coupled with insights into emerging customer demand and financial constraints, to reduce the pressure of supply challenges. For example, they can shape product allocation to minimize waste and optimize existing production capacity by adjusting consumer segmentation, evolving product portfolios, and innovating business models 鈥� all while offering a consistent brand experience.

Satisfying Consumers Better Despite Shortages

While conditions on the supply side may not ease until ports add capacity and companies can keep up with growing demand, it鈥檚 never too soon to unify the business network with smooth information sharing and workflows. Otherwise, brands risk ignoring revenue growth opportunities while wrestling with supply chain disruptions.

51风流ECM solutions by OpenText can help relieve consumer products companies from making that trade-off. Now, their employees and stakeholders can make highly informed, data-driven decisions that help satisfy consumer demand 鈥� even as the stakes increase during peak buying seasons.

Find out how personalized communications and a complete understanding of your sellers and consumers can lead to unique and differentiating brand value. Read the info sheet, 鈥�.鈥�

In this exclusive conversation, Zauke talks about the powerful localized process revolution happening behind every digital-first business.

Q: How does the localization of enterprise software applications factor into some of the biggest business challenges companies face in 2022?

A: What鈥檚 exciting is how digitalization 鈥� driven by local government regulations and transformation agendas, rising expectations for sustainability, and technology innovation 鈥� is transforming business models.

Post-pandemic, companies are continuing to source materials from suppliers in different locations to minimize supply chain disruptions. They鈥檙e exploring local production of important products like semi-conductor chips, computer processors, and the ingredients of livesaving medicines. They鈥檙e expanding to the cloud with subscription-based services and growing partner ecosystems.

At the same time, organizations need to prove compliance with increasing and global electronic document exchange regulations such as e-invoicing and tax reporting, as well as local regulations for documenting travel expenses, time management, payroll, and procurement spend. In certain countries, tax reporting timeframes are speeding up from quarterly or yearly to monthly, weekly, or even real time. In addition, some of our customers have to report on worker learning activities. Global workforce management regulations are also changing regarding data protection and privacy. Meantime, local sustainability reporting mandates are on the rise. Companies need to show how they are minimizing their greenhouse gas footprint across product life cycles and operations.

Can you share some examples of how 51风流has helped companies meet these challenges?

With local versions of 51风流solutions, we help global companies gain business value from their investments and meet country-specific mandates. For example, the world’s largest of printing ink and pigments sped up accounts payable by 30% and reduced invoice processing cycle time by 10% using . A facilities management service provider in the Middle East with over 8,800 employees reduced payroll processing times by 98% to meet local mandates and gain business efficiencies. What previously took three days to complete is now accomplished in just 45 minutes.

With the rise of cloud services like subscription- and consumption-based business models, many organizations have turned to . One global media company is using the solution as part of its digital transformation. After replacing legacy systems in North America, APAC, LATAM, and EMEA, it improved revenue recognition and cash reconciliation processes along with the customer experience.

To go global with local versions in 67 countries, our localization services helped support a global cleaning solution provider鈥檚 HR transformation with 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, which will serve 14,500 employees worldwide.

Sustainability is a top priority for enterprises worldwide, which is why 51风流has developed a comprehensive portfolio of solutions designed to help companies achieve zero emissions, zero waste, and zero inequality. One example is that helps our customers monitor and embed circular economy practices into business processes to meet local sustainability regulations. This solution uses 51风流Document Reporting and Compliance to meet local extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations, tax declarations, and other corporate commitments.

How can companies stay on top of highly changeable and increasingly stringent local mandates and regulations?

Business leaders need to comply with a raft of increasing local regulatory mandates by country. That鈥檚 why, as part of all 51风流solutions, global and local versions, including 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, 51风流Ariba solutions, and 51风流Concur solutions, we provide updates as regulations change.

For resilience in this fast-changing environment, organizations are reinventing how they approach business practice standards. This is especially the case for high-growth organizations that need to scale quickly as they expand worldwide. Leaders have realized they need an integrated view of business processes company-wide 鈥� including finance, sustainability, human experience, supply chain, expenses, and procurement 鈥� so they can apply them appropriately across multiple locations for safe and secure operations.

How do localization services from 51风流Enterprise Adoption align with SAP鈥檚 vision for intelligent, networked, sustainable enterprises?

Customers rely on 51风流to digitalize their business processes, supporting their expansion to new countries and market opportunities while enabling the success of their business locally and globally, their employees, and sustainability commitments that benefit society at-large. Localized, integrated business processes are central to our vision to help every company become an intelligent, networked, sustainable enterprise. The ability to comply with local regulations and standards is fundamental to resilient, high-performing, and sustainable business in the new normal.

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While the concept of the paperless workplace is nothing new, the opportunity to achieve this vision is quickly approaching as businesses advance their transformation strategies. Over the past year, companies have invested in software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud-enabled systems, new methodologies such as process automation, and network-wide collaboration to keep employees productive, update suppliers, and deliver on customer expectations.

Now, some organizations are looking to go even further in their business transformation journey by digitalizing and integrating content with a comprehensive enterprise platform.

According to an IDC whitepaper sponsored by 51风流and OpenText, 鈥�,鈥� implementing solutions 鈥� such as聽聽鈥� can quickly yield a 288% three-year ROI. And at the center of this effective transformation is fast and efficient document migration, intake, processing, and auditing with fewer errors and higher productivity.

Capturing US$7 Million in Revenue Growth

The benefits of content digitalization, integration, and automation with enterprise content management can be combined to increase revenue by more than $7 million per year. By increasing efficiency, reducing errors, and accelerating processes, organizations surveyed by IDC reported an average gain of 4,794 productive hours each 鈥� a 21% increase in gross user productivity.

This improvement allowed respondents to avoid the hiring of 2.6 full-time employees to accomplish equivalent workloads, resulting in approximately $178,000 in enhanced user productivity value per organization. Additionally, enhanced interdepartmental document sharing and the automation of manual processes boosted profitability even further by driving $3.82 million in savings per one million documents.

Migrating Documents with More Efficiency

Migrating millions of documents that have been created, managed, and stored on paper to digital is a daunting task during any change initiative, especially when moving to a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, such as . However, document-related migration is not just a one-time effort; it鈥檚 a project that can happen as regularly as organizations continue to evolve throughout their digital transformation.

Interviewed organizations that use solutions for enterprise content management cited considerable migration efficiencies and cost reductions. For example, some respondents required 24% fewer full-time employees to complete migration projects, from 128.6 to 97.3 on average. The duration of the migration was also shortened from 12.2 months to only seven months, a 43% improvement. As a result of these efficiencies gain, the cost of document-related migration became 24% more affordable.

As one manufacturing executive noted, 鈥淒oing data migration is easier if you minimize the number of applications. 51风流ECM solutions by OpenText helped us put building blocks in place. Our knowledge has increased, and the learning curve is less steep. We know more about what is required country to country.鈥�

Decreasing Invoice Errors

When the volume of paper invoices increases, manual processes become too time-consuming and risk-prone to maintain. For one of the survey participants, the lack of history tracking, trend analysis, and currency distinction led to 鈧�300,000 lost on paying invoices because the organization missed out on receiving discounts upwards of two percent. And in some cases, IDC reported that many respondents also paid interest and penalties on late payments that they could have avoided.

After automating invoicing tasks with enterprise content management, organizations realized a 35% drop in delayed payments and paid 36% less on penalties and interest. The system immediately validates and approves incoming invoices, improving overall invoice performance and decreasing errors by 43% on average.

A participating executive from an industrial chemicals company remarked on the tremendous value of digitalizing invoice management: 鈥淔rom the moment the organization moved toward less touching, it saw a 70% improvement over paper.鈥�

Boosting Organizational Efficiency

As digital transformation becomes synonymous with business growth, executives must consistently consider new capabilities and enhancements to improve their operations, employees鈥� lives, desired outcomes, and customer experiences. In fact, this mindset is bringing forth a new focus on business efficiency and resiliency.

From invoice intake and processing, accounts payable, and auditing teams to areas outside of finance, solutions for enterprise content management can have an impressive impact on organizational efficiency, ranging from 24% to 41%. This outcome is largely due to allowing multiple users to obtain documents with greater ease. Organizations can work independently of an office location and still have secure access to content from a single centralized environment.

In return, users who work from remote locations can work more effectively, which is a tremendous benefit for businesses with most of their workforce still working from home and in the field. Companies can support employees from more geographic regions and across all process streams and operational areas 鈥� all without shuttling physical documents back and forth in e-mail.

In addition, since their content is archived and stored in a centralized process and database, organizations can stay compliant with regulatory and business requirements with minimal or no effort. A surveyed healthcare executive noted this advantage鈥檚 value: 鈥淲e can see content now, whereas the older way we had to search. We can now look at transactional records, so compliance is handled on the schedule.鈥�

Gaining the Full Potential of Content Management

The deeper companies transform into digital-first enterprises, the closer they get to operate at a level of efficiency, intelligence, and speed that rivals their competitors. And the first place to gain that edge is best found in digitalization through enterprise content management that removes the complexity of siloed information, spreadsheets, data extractions, and manipulations.

Explore the calculated cost savings and business benefits of 51风流enterprise content management solutions by OpenText, which support enterprise content management. Read the IDC whitepaper, 鈥�,鈥� commissioned by 51风流and Open Text.

Leaders from two high-performing organizations in ANZ recently shared their experiences with digitalization during a hosted by Des Fisher, innovation principal at 51风流ANZ. Here is a sampling of the far-ranging thoughts on the sustainable business realities behind innovating on cloud-based digital platforms.

Digitalization Is a Mindset and Tech Transformation

For Australian-based Stockland, digitalization involved transforming people鈥檚 mindsets along with systems company-wide. As one of the largest diversified real estate groups in Australia, the company owns, develops, and manages a large portfolio of retail town centers, workplace and logistics assets, residential communities, and retirement living villages. It鈥檚 replaced over 100 disparate, legacy software systems with 51风流software, including and , as well as embedded artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

鈥淲e now have a single source of the truth,鈥� said Tiernan O’Rourke, CFO at Stockland. 鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely convinced that in time we鈥檒l look back and say that was one of the best things we did in the 70-year history of the company鈥ur digitization journey shows that unless you鈥檙e on the journey you鈥檙e going to struggle in business, not only in Australia, but globally.鈥�

Stockland began by defining digitalization in the company鈥檚 own terms. The digital platform was designed to strike a balance between achieving three objectives: organizational risk, governance, and business growth.

鈥淲e first looked at what digitization meant to us and came at it by putting the company on the core 51风流platform,鈥� said O鈥橰ourke. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a tactile industry of property, bricks, and mortar. Getting people鈥檚 minds away from physical to digital was鈥ne of the biggest obstacles to overcome.鈥�

Digital Backbone Drives Innovation

Oil and gas provider OMV New Zealand recently won an 51风流Innovation Award for its groundbreaking digitalization that included digital twins and augmented reality (AR) in onshore and offshore inspections. Replacing paper-heavy processes with digitalized and integrated workflows based on the latest mobile solutions and wearable technologies will help OMV improve decision-making, performance, and efficiencies in inspections and maintenance. Its integrated workflow management relies on 51风流S/4HANA, , , and HoloLens 2.

鈥淭he use of automation and AI-driven technologies for creating intelligent digital twins is a key enabler for global scalability and accelerates creating the digital backbone of the company during digital transformation. Enhancing this technology with an augmented reality experience including mark-up annotations provides a solid basis for data insights, data-driven decision-making, and performance optimization,鈥� said Farid Akbari, functional lead for Digital Transformation at OMV New Zealand. 鈥淭his innovation project will change the way we are working and enable us to position ourselves among digital front-runners within our industry.鈥�

Digital Platforms Are Core to Supplier Relationships

Acknowledging that no business does business alone, O鈥橰ourke said that Stockland鈥檚 deep supplier relationship management strategy is foundational to customer centricity.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 partner with best-in-breed, like-minded companies to help deliver premium services to customers, you won鈥檛 win,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have 14% market share in residential business鈥ecause we evaluate every step of the customer journey, including supplier choice鈥ou can鈥檛 know your suppliers unless you have deep relationships and are collaborating with them at a very granular level鈥ollaboration is an absolute threshold issue in business today.鈥�

Close Gap Between DX and Business Realities

When asked about some of the biggest digital transformation challenges, Akbari discussed the gap between innovation aspirations and reality. He pointed out that while everyone wants simplicity, getting there means answering difficult questions.

鈥淲e asked ourselves if we had the right organization in place to achieve digital maturity,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淥ther questions were about managing resistance to change and how to actively support the change management process with tools that were changing the way we work鈥e asked how to build and retain skills over time as innovations like blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing continue [to emerge].鈥�

Akbari also warned organizations not to neglect core details such as infrastructure capabilities, technology integration, and resultant business process changes.

鈥淥ften the business comes up with a good idea, but we鈥檙e not ready yet,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or example, AR had to be integrated into the environment鈥ou also have to consider operational maturity鈥s a global gas and oil company, we have different maturity levels of all assets and have to map where we are for each asset and how we will achieve that automation level.鈥�

Sustainability Is Much More Than Climate Change

While ESG (environmental, social, and governance) demands tend to emphasize climate change, O’Rourke urged companies to consider all aspects of sustainability, including diversity.

鈥淓veryone talks about climate change, but that鈥檚 just about the environment. To do business successfully鈥ou鈥檙e going to have to be very balanced in the E, S, and G of ESG,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone is focused on net zero carbon, and rightly so. But we can鈥檛 do that in isolation鈥e have to jump on [behavior change] proactively to get suppliers to work with us in a way allows us to operate effectively. On the diversity side, business has been playing lip service for so long and needs to get serious about focusing on this change.鈥�

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鈥淲e have seen significant growth this quarter with companies around the world continuing to prioritize improving their spend management operations,鈥� said John Wookey, president of 51风流Intelligent Spend and Business Network. 鈥淏y modernizing and digitalizing critical business processes across procurement and external workforce management, our customers are gaining visibility and insights that enable them to control costs, reduce risk and drive innovation and growth for their businesses.鈥�

Highlights from the quarter include:

Alcon Vision, the Fort Worth, Texas鈥揵ased company, is a global leader in eye care, specializing in surgical medical devices and nonsurgical vision care products. Alcon selected 51风流Ariba solutions for sourcing and procurement for direct and indirect materials. The company also selected the Qualtrics XM for Suppliers solution to help build stronger and more collaborative relationships with suppliers. With a new and improved intuitive source-to-pay experience, Alcon aims to foster simplicity, speed and user-friendly buying services with increased data transparency and compliance.

Refrigeration and air conditioning technology manufacturer BITZER SE has implemented the 51风流Ariba Buying solution with guided buying capability to help streamline and digitalize its procurement operations. With the 51风流Ariba solution, BITZER, based in Sindelfingen, Germany, aims to drive a more efficient, paperless, transparent process from sourcing to payment as it expands globally.

The Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) selected 51风流Ariba solutions for sourcing, contracts, buying and invoicing, and commerce automation to modernize its statewide procurement system with a cloud-based solution. DMS plans to standardize and automate procurement processes across the State of Florida, increase spend visibility and control, and enhance savings statewide.

Aligned with its innovation and sustainability strategy, Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V., one of the largest financial holdings companies in Mexico, continues its procurement transformation with the renewal of 51风流Ariba solutions. By further digitalizing its procurement processes and strengthening its supply lifecycle management automation, Banorte will help improve the experience of more than 21,000 suppliers while enhancing process efficiency and spend compliance.

Molson Coors made a strategic investment in 51风流Ariba solutions to help modernize its global procurement operations, building on its implementation of the 51风流Ariba Contracts solution and adding the 51风流Ariba Buying and Invoicing solution with commerce automation capabilities. With the new solutions integrated with its multiple ERP infrastructure, the company, headquartered in Golden, Colorado, and Montreal, Canada, intends to standardize on best practices from source to pay, improve efficiency in supplier relationship management and minimize risk.

Promigas SA ESP, a leading Colombian provider of natural gas, has selected 51风流Ariba solutions for digital procurement as it continued its transformation journey with SAP. Building on its existing transportation management system based on 51风流S/4HANA, Promigas will adopt the cloud-based 51风流Ariba solutions to help standardize and automate its procurement processes, increase purchasing efficiencies and reduce costs and risks.

Roca Sanitario SA, a global leader in bathroom equipment, selected 51风流Ariba solutions for strategic sourcing, buying, commerce automation and supply chain collaboration. The Spanish company will adopt the digital to help improve, standardize and automate spend management processes across the organization. The company expects to increase visibility into spend and supplier performance to optimize costs and operational efficiencies.

For more information, visit the聽51风流News Center. Follow 51风流on Twitter at聽.

About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 51风流system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

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According to a survey commissioned by London-based , almost half of UK businesses (49%), were not prepared to transition to remote working when the pandemic hit, and 39% were not even using technology that supported remote working when the lockdown was announced. Gearing up was an issue: 48% of firms have had to invest in new computer programs since the outbreak, 72% in new hardware.

At the same time, logistics leaders were blindsided by COVID-19, even though they are used to dealing with interruptions such as shipment delays or demand spikes. Disruptions caused by the pandemic have exposed many gaps in logistics operations; supply chain leaders are now scrambling to overhaul processes to manage upheavals.

But for intelligent companies, it was mostly business as usual, thanks to digitalization, which according to , is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities.

Serving Customers

For example, COVID-19 has changed the way we shop for food. It is no surprise that grocery stores have done particularly well during the pandemic 鈥� everyone needs to eat and stock up on dry goods. What is surprising is the change in buying habits: people are spending less time in stores, there is less human contact, and stores have become more transactional. People are also more conscious about sustainability in the food chain.

Daniel Lundh, co-founder of , Sweden鈥檚 first fully digital unmanned grocery chain, has a tech tale to tell.

The company started as a chain of self-service stores in rural areas stocking about 500 items typically found in a grocery store. The business is based on innovative technology solutions like machine learning to drive replenishment. Store entry, goods scanning, and payment are all done using an app. Through the app, LIFVS has access to all customer data, enabling personalization and tailor-made communication. Only by tracking everything with data analytics can the company customize highly personalized journeys for every individual.

The entrepreneur, who sees his company as more of a tech startup than a grocery retailer, says LIFVS already had the right business model in place at the start of the pandemic. Then it was just a matter of opening a new store every second week to meet mounting demand. The trend is continuing.

Meeting Demand

How do companies ensure the right products make it to the shelves in the first place?

Companies like solve this challenge with an app. Fisherman on the North Sea are now able to cast their nets based upon what is currently in demand in far off markets like Japan. According to a published by The Nature Conservancy, supply chains involving seafood are uniquely complex, especially those that are based on wild-caught fish, which face higher uncertainty and risk than farm-raised chains due to ever-changing environmental and biological conditions.

That makes it hard to match supply to demand. To help optimize the process and improve regulatory compliance, Royal Greenland implemented . This cloud-based solution has helped advance the company鈥檚 forecasting and planning capabilities and improve data transparency by establishing a common, integrated platform for sales and operations.

The company is also digitalizing the process of bringing the fish into factories and implementing registration and quality control procedures with apps.

Delivering the Goods

Trucking is also benefiting from digitalization. When lockdowns forced office closures, digital trucking company was able to set up home offices for 3,000 support staff within weeks. This enabled the company to focus on what really mattered: delivering food and medical supplies across Europe as COVID-19 surged.

For Girteka, digital technology is the foundation for everything, from teaching people new skills to meeting customer expectations and becoming more sustainable. Having fully integrated and automated systems and processes has relieved the workforce of repetitive tasks and enabled them to take tighter control of operations. Instead of scaling back transformation efforts during the pandemic, Girteka went ahead with plans to digitize the entire business and grow.

Martynas Sarapinas, CIO and Executive Board member at Girteka Logistics, stated in an that becoming an intelligent enterprise requires an end-to-end digital solution. While the crisis is forcing businesses to reevaluate supply chains and business models, Sarapinas is secure in the knowledge that his company has the digital foundation to meet any customer expectations in the future.

Freight transport is yet another key link in the supply chain. To avoid potential delays, smart companies such as have modernized their systems reducing downtime from an average of 12,000 hours per year to less than 60. If trains do stop in their tracks, a satellite-based solution from Ovinto provides instantaneous alerts so corrective measures can be taken immediately.

These are just a few examples of how digitalization is enabling companies to react quickly to disruptions without breaking stride. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, but the evidence suggests that companies with digital processes are most likely to adapt and thrive.

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Celebrated climate researcher, author, and expert on climate change Professor Hans-Joachim (John) Schellnhuber stands out as a that calls the shots the way he sees them. As founding director of the and former chair of the , Schellnhuber is an independent global authority on climate change and, at 70, has no career ladder to climb or political ax to grind.

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51风流recently invited Schellnhuber to a virtual event and discussion on the topic of climate change and sustainability. Sustainable business practices are for its own operations, and those of its customers. A聽2019 company-wide survey showed that 94 percent of the more than 100,000 51风流employees agree that sustainability is an important business objective.

Software Code Rules, But Nations and Industry Must Act

51风流employees are proud that the business software they deliver can help reduce carbon emissions 鈥� touches an 51风流system. While software code rules the world, it will take the will of nations and industry action to reverse the destructive path along which climate change is already progressing.

This is both a tall order and not a topic for weak stomachs. Schellnhuber began with a ray of hope, announcing results from a soon-to-be-published scientific paper in Nature Communications: During the first half of 2020, there was an 8.8 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions globally.

Now for the sobering news: The world would have to reduce its carbon emission by around seven percent every year for the next 30 years in order to keep global warming below the 1.5-degree Celsius limit set by the . Considering the world is currently at 1.1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, keeping to that goal is virtually impossible, Schellnhuber says.

Even in a pitch-black room, Schellnhuber will always find a light switch. 鈥淩educing emissions by seven percent every year is almost unthinkable, but we have the money and the technology to do it,鈥� the self-professed agnostic says. For example, consumers can reduce their CO₂ footprints by sourcing energy from renewable sources, eating less beef, and taking the train instead of the plane, he suggested.

The Promise of a 鈥淐yborganic Age鈥�

The most important factor driving global warming is not the energy industry, agriculture, or transportation. According to Schellnhuber, it is the building industry. Some 40 percent of CO₂ emissions results from the construction and operation of homes, offices, skyscrapers, airports, train stations, and other structures. If conventional materials like steel and concrete continue to be used in construction until 2050, this will use up most of the CO₂ budget incorporated into the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

As a 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥� for throttling CO₂ emissions, Schellnhuber suggests switching to building with wood instead of cement, steel, and concrete, which are extremely energy-intensive in their life cycles by comparison. Wood is more sustainable, because it sequesters CO₂ for centuries and acts like a pump, with replanted trees extracting carbon continuously from the atmosphere, he explains. Combining wood construction with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) could enable autonomous operation of buildings to optimize energy efficiency.

Schellnhuber is calling for a revolution in architecture, the combination of construction with organic materials and intelligence through digitalization to launch the 鈥淐yborganic Age.鈥� Climate scientists like him are pointing to real opportunities to alter the current course of climate change.

It is up to consumers and policy makers to take them seriously and adopt needed changes.

Now more than ever, they are rethinking the fundamentals of their business to fuel new sources of revenue and profit growth, rather than being left behind.

However, such efforts cannot just focus on designing better products, boosting operational efficiency, and maximizing business productivity. By 2025, it is estimated that more than 50 percent of the revenue of industrial manufacturing companies will come from services delivered around, and based on, highly customized, digitalized products. These services will span from simple break-fix services and value-add services to complex models such as equipment or outcome as a service and data monetization.

How can industrial manufacturing businesses build their digital muscle to deliver the personalized solutions that customers want and are willing to pay a premium for? Most customers find that the 51风流Model Company service for Industrial Manufacturing & Components is an excellent way to get started.

What is 51风流Model Company for Industrial Manufacturing & Components?

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51风流Model Company for Industrial Manufacturing & Components is one of a portfolio of interoperable model company services, covering more than 25 lines of business and industries. The prebuilt reference solution provides a strong focus on end-to-end processes based on proven best practices gained through a decades-long history of success with industrial manufacturers all over the world.

Based on the next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP), 51风流S/4HANA, the service sets a foundation for a digital core that is needed to adopt most of today’s intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and enterprise predictive analytics. It supports general business requirements as well as industry-specific scenarios. For example, there is a strong focus on configure to order, engineer to order with project execution 鈥� which spans across business areas from sales and distribution to procurement 鈥� production, extended warehousing, order settlement, and service management.

Delivered with business content accelerators, 51风流Model Company for Industrial Manufacturing & Components enables businesses to adopt new expertise, processes, and best practices throughout their initiatives 鈥� from discovery and exploration to implementation and optimization. The accelerators include a diverse set of tools, including business process flows, demo scripts, and configuration documentation, which are available in 51风流Solution Manager 7.2. The demo scripts contain a detailed description of every process step as well as use cases and master data, allowing users to reference the potential of proven industry-specific processes.

A 10-day business process workshop is available for a deep dive into the model company content. Undivided access to 51风流experts can help businesses better understand which processes and scenarios enabled by 51风流Model Company for Industrial Manufacturing & Components are relevant and smoothly hand over the content to their implementation teams.

Build Your Digital Muscle Confidently with Fast Innovation

Whether undergoing a new implementation of migrating or converting existing business systems to a new deployment environment, 51风流Model Company for Industrial Manufacturing & Components is designed to help companies accelerate projects while reducing potential risks.

The preconfigured nature of the model company service helps ensure that digital investments meet the needs of business without customization. This fit-to-standard approach allows businesses to assess system capabilities early on, paving the way for fast implementation of value-adding business applications that leverage and enhance proven best practices.

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Anita Heinrich is a senior consultant for 51风流Innovative Business Solutions.

One way in which a company can innovate and scale its business is through digitalization, moving from a solely on-premise business to a cloud-based intelligent enterprise. To support companies, 51风流provides a fast and flexible path to the cloud, driving the implementation of innovative business processes. And the cloud extension policy from 51风流can help achieve this while allowing businesses to seamlessly move to the cloud at their own pace.

Whether to optimize human resources (HR) procedures, business-to-business transactions or other enterprise-wide processes, the cloud extension policy allows customers to move their on-premise processes onto a hybrid cloud solution. This offers customers the opportunity to flexibly adapt their landscape to changing business requirements. Benefits of this policy include optimization and automation of certain processes in order to become more efficient, the creation of data-driven insights to help improve business outcomes, and the acceleration of speed to value.

One 51风流customer, a large player in the Australian energy and natural resources industry, was able to undergo a digital transformation while optimizing costs by purchasing a cloud extension of 51风流Ariba software. This enabled the company to facilitate data-driven insights to make conscious purchase decisions and to optimize cost control as well as spend and risk management.

With the company鈥檚 move to the cloud, triggered by its quest for digitalization and innovation, some of its supplier relationship management (SRM) users were no longer needed. Therefore, by leveraging the cloud extension policy, it was able to terminate redundant SRM users and reallocate on-premise maintenance payments to the cloud. This process optimized its resource allocation to unlock value for its business. Additionally, the new hybrid solution was fully integrated between cloud and on-premise applications, offering seamless delivery and support as well as full control over the application landscape. Not only did the customer receive the opportunity to reduce its total cost of ownership, it can now access solutions from anywhere on any device, thereby getting the best of both worlds in its landscape.

With this integrated approach, customers gain the flexibility, choice, and efficiencies needed to innovate for growth across their entire business. See further recent examples of .

To take advantage of the cloud extension policy, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• The cloud solution must be eligible for the hybrid cloud strategy. A .
• The terminated licenses must be in the scope of the extension policy. Typically, all on-premise licenses covered with 51风流Enterprise Support, 51风流Standard Support or 51风流Product Support for Large Enterprises are in scope.
• The transaction assumes an expanded investment with cloud solutions from SAP, given the substantial added value from this new hybrid scenario.

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51风流offers the cloud extension model for public cloud solutions, and also provides a model for 51风流HANA Enterprise Cloud service subscriptions as well as the on-premise extension model. This allows customers to evolve their existing on-premise software with solutions from 51风流HANA Enterprise Cloud or other solutions from the on-premise 51风流portfolio. More .

Thomas Spandl is senior vice president and head of M-GTM at SAP.

What it comes down to is the delivery of outcomes that they can benefit from and never achieve anywhere else.

Essentially, providing experiences is the outcome of a long transition from commoditizing goods to delivering services as a competitive differentiator and revenue source. In 1997, the first introduced this concept by using birthday celebrations as an example. Back in the day, people would bake birthday cakes from scratch. Then came cake mixes and the arrival of bakeries at local grocery stores. Now, the whole process has been outsourced completely 鈥� including the celebration 鈥� to restaurants.

Businesses must focus on designing experiences that are engaging and valuable enough to command a fee. Think about Zipcar, Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb 鈥� the whole concept of experience as a service is becoming a way of life. Customers are no longer just renting a house, for example, to vacation in Italy. They are also taking cooking lessons in Tuscany, tasting wine in the Loire Valley, and heading to the French countryside to learn the art of cheese-making.

Unlocking the Economics of Experience with the Right Technology Foundation

An experience-focused business model may not be easy to create, establish, and run at first, but users demand it. I would even dare to say that users have long outgrown traditional IT infrastructures and business models. In return, businesses need a better way to keep up with user expectations while cutting through the complexity of innovating and implementing new digital capabilities on top of current IT software landscapes.

For businesses that do succeed in this landscape of value-generating experiences fueled by hyper-digitalization and continuous innovation, the secret often lies in how quickly companies use data and technology to create new experiences on a single platform. It is what allows them to tightly connect processes and ecosystems to improve customer experiences and streamline operations. They even actively use data and analytics for strategic ends while identifying risks and predicting business outcomes when there is still time to do something about them. 51风流calls this the .

Business leaders realize that these capabilities lead to timely, confident decisions that boost workforce productivity and customer loyalty. In the same way, they also see significant opportunities, inspiring them to continuously invent new approaches and implement them rapidly in order to gain a greater competitive advantage.

Take, for example, a company that uses the full portfolio of the Business Technology Platform from 51风流鈥� everything from database and data management, application development, and integration to analytics and intelligent technology. All capabilities already work in concert, enabling the fastest way to innovate. This approach not only accelerates how data becomes business value, but it also bridges the gap between on-premise and cloud environments to give customers a choice of deployment options and enable them to transition at their own pace. The portfolio leverages existing digital investments while attaining a new level of intelligence to innovate and extend new business models, processes, and experiences on top of the platform.

A business technology platform sets the foundation needed to enhance cognitive, virtual, and physical experiences now and in the future. When it comes to competing in the experience economy, this is excellent news. Businesses can now give users everything they need to make better decisions, exploit information and applications to learn faster, and gain real-time, real-life insight to think and reason more critically.

Isabell Petzelt is global vice president of Customer Innovation and Strategy, Technology and Innovation, SAP.