Industry innovation has been a fascinating topic over the last few years. It鈥檚 impossible to ignore how companies create new offerings and experiences that dramatically shift how an industry 鈥� or in some cases, multiple industries 鈥� operates and how people live. Such groundbreaking changes are usually built with an appreciation of existing data and technologies and through a desire to do things better in terms of product safety, supply chain optimization, and business finances.

I鈥檝e been very fortunate to experience the power of such industry innovation through the Customer Innovation & Maintenance team as part of the Customer Solution Support & Innovation organization at SAP. For years, we have worked with various organizations to navigate existing crises, address emerging challenges, and deliver new opportunities for the world. In this article, I will discuss three of our latest projects.

Saving People鈥檚 Lives by Reducing Counterfeit Drugs

One prime example of our efforts is tackling a global menace that impacts the entire world: counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Many falsified or substandard medicines contain dangerous ingredients, such as heavy metals, highway paint, and rat poison, that worsen people鈥檚 health conditions and create new diseases. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than yearly from these snake oil cures.

For years, governments have initiated legislation and regulations to criminalize and control the production and distribution of counterfeit drugs. However, my team discovered that the lack of a rigorous, universal network makes it difficult to curtail the problem often hidden within complex supply chains and sophisticated packaging.

Based on input from 51风流customers in the life sciences industry and working with 51风流industry experts on this international challenge, we developed . The industry network hub enables pharmaceutical firms to share product information for traceability and verification across the supply network and with government regulators. Running on and leveraging 51风流Blockchain Business Services, it is the first public-cloud, industry-specific business network used by more than 45 pharmaceutical firms, over 1,500 trading partners, and 80% of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.

But our contribution to the fight against counterfeit drugs is far from over. We are working toward adding aid workers from organizations 鈥� such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders 鈥� to the hub so they can verify critical medicines and vaccines on the fly in low- to middle-income countries. This innovation is accomplished by integrating the hub into the application.

Accelerating the Development of Lifesaving Therapies

Another barrier to delivering large quantities of medical therapies quickly, efficiently, and safely is the structure of the traditional clinical supply chain. During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain resilience was highlighted as a critical requirement for providing lifesaving vaccines, prophylactics, and therapies created through industry-wide collaboration and a patient-centric focus.

To accelerate clinical R&D and time to value, my team worked with Roche, Tenthpin, and more than 25 additional customers and vendors connected to the pharmaceutical sector. Together, we reimagined clinical supply operations and brought to life a digital transformation of the entire life sciences ecosystem by developing the solution.

This next-generation cloud solution enables faster clinical supply cycle times, fewer inventory overages, and better-informed decision-making by providing accurate insights into forecasted demand and clinical site stock levels. It is also a milestone in the industry鈥檚 adoption of the cloud, facilitating end-to-end process operations and visibility to plan, source, manufacture, distribute, and reconcile supplies for clinical R&D. In addition, the solution helps address the blinding and randomization needs of clinical trials during the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and shipment of clinical supplies to hospitals and clinics.

Meeting Financing Needs to Boost Growth

In addition to counterfeit drugs and the need for resilience, supply chain volatility and turbulence is providing the impetus for innovation. This reality is prompting capital investments including end-to-end due diligence and product tracing services; machines and plant setups that improve environmental impacts; and networks for finding, vetting, and onboarding new suppliers quickly.

Incorporating all these innovations into business operations 鈥� regardless of ecosystem size and geographic reach 鈥� requires money that many companies may not have immediately on hand. But to meet those finance needs, businesses and banks need to connect with each other smoothly, quickly, and securely without introducing more work and complexity to finance and treasury processes.

By delivering the solution, we play a key role in increasing the reliability of relationships between companies and their banks. Built on top of 51风流Business Technology Platform, the solution creates a multi-bank, digital channel between each party鈥檚 enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to embed Electronic Banking Internet Communication Standard (EBICS) and SWIFT connectivity into the remote data transfer of payment transactions.

In return, treasury operations can be refined and simplified by updating payment status and cash positions in real time across business and bank ERP systems. 51风流Multi-Bank Connectivity can automate manual, error-prone steps associated with the execution and reconciliation of payments, order-to-cash applications, and order entry documents 鈥� helping to increase control, efficiency, and transparency.

Helping the World Run Better 鈥� One Innovation at a Time

The news headlines running across our screens every day prove that industry innovation is far from done. Unfortunately, no person, organization, or business carries the ultimate wisdom to solve every problem single-handedly. But if industry practitioners, business and technology experts, thought leaders, and inspired problem-solvers collaborate toward a common goal, a better future can be possible for everyone.

It is this vision that guides my leadership of Customer Solution Support & Innovation. My team of experts continuously looks for opportunities to do better for our customers, business, and global neighbors. And with the feedback and knowledge shared during every interaction, we look forward to working side by side with our customers and partners to provide the digital capabilities they need to make the world a better place 鈥� today and in the future.

Andreas Heckmann is executive vice president of Product Engineering and head of Customer Solution Support and Innovation at SAP. Follow him on and .

Those in supply chain and logistics have made significant adjustments to help ensure that every segment — including healthcare — has continued to move forward as efficiently and effectively as possible.

AmerisourceBergen, a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical products to nearly 100% of hospitals in the U.S., recently joined Cloud Wars Host and Creator Bob Evans and Magnus Meier, global head and vice president of Wholesale Distribution at SAP, for a to discuss these fundamental changes.

During the session, Jeff Denton, vice president of Global Secure Supply Chain at AmerisourceBergen, discussed the vital role healthcare distributors play to get life-saving drugs to those who need them most and how the company has managed to ethically balance supplier and customer needs.

New Normal: Customer-Centric, Patient-Focused Business

Wholesale distributors across all sub-segments have managed to keep the supply chain moving forward despite numerous hurdles on a global scale. However, distributors of today can no longer simply focus on moving products through the supply chain. The entire industry has shifted to take on new responsibilities that address the latest regulatory requirements and heightened customer expectations.

To address these growing concerns, wholesale distributors — especially those in the healthcare distribution segment — are now focused on 鈥渄oing business with a purpose,鈥� as Meier perfectly described it. By operating with a purpose, this helps ensure the supply chain is safe and secure. It also protects the integrity of the products and provides peace of mind to hospitals, pharmacies, and patients.

In the , Denton describes how creating healthier futures starts with protecting the health of people and our planet. 聽As a purpose-driven industry leader with a global footprint, AmerisourceBergen has an obligation to champion global sustainability and corporate responsibility. This includes processing more than $2.5 billion in saleable product returns annually, allowing products that would otherwise have been removed and destroyed to be reintroduced into the supply chain. This is good for AmerisourceBergen along with its customers, patients, and manufacturers across the entire supply chain.

To Thrive, Distributors Require Collaboration and Innovation

To address the new concerns and increased responsibility of the distribution industry, AmerisourceBergen approached 51风流to co-innovate and create a cross-industry solution centered around meeting the latest regulatory requirements. The result was a new and innovative solution that allows products to be tracked and traced across the entire supply chain:

The collaboration also allowed AmerisourceBergen and other industry leaders to streamline communication across the entire supply chain, from suppliers through to the pharmacies and hospitals. This supports business continuity through not only an individual enterprise but the entire business network. 聽With this technology, the AmerisourceBergen team can 鈥�seamlessly match digital data to physical data,鈥� which aids in counterfeit prevention and sustainability efforts.

Data and Purpose Will Drive the Industry Forward

AmerisourceBergen is focused on what the future holds, shifting focus beyond simply reacting to regulatory requirements to understanding the use cases for all of the new data obtained through track and trace technology.

Without the consortium brought about by AmerisourceBergen and SAP, these industry-specific outcomes and supply chain alignment may not have been possible. Moving forward, collaboration and innovation will be key aspects of the industry and areas in which distributors can add immense value to the supply chain.

New advancements, technology, and cross-industry collaborations must continue to drive solutions that keep up with the latest regulatory requirements and consumer needs.

Vaccines require certain storage conditions to maintain their effectiveness. To ensure they remain effective despite , logistics service providers need robust processes, trained personnel, proper facilities and equipment, and a robust delivery network to cope with the staggering volume of shipments.

And this is where we at 51风流are ready to support.

Moderna is a clinical stage biotechnology company that pioneers messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients. One of them is mRNA-1273, a vaccine candidate against COVID-19. Moderna is running 51风流Digital Supply Chain solutions to help with the serialization and distribution of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

is helping Moderna to comply with international legislation intended to prevent counterfeit medicines to reach patients. The application provides a corporate serialization repository, serial number management, and regulatory reporting capabilities. To enable collaboration with its supply chain partners, namely contract manufacturers and wholesalers, Moderna leverages 51风流Information Collaboration Hub for Life Sciences, a public cloud network that enables collaboration for pharmaceutical supply chain trading partners.

It uses a digital network built on 51风流Cloud Platform and enables trading partners to exchange large amounts of serialization and associated traceability data. To comply with U.S. legislation that includes the verification of pharmaceutical product packs in case of returns or apparently suspect products, the network includes a blockchain-based verification repository to help eliminate counterfeit products along the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Manufacturers push data into blockchain using Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) messages, a global standard for creating and sharing visibility event data, both within and across enterprises. Wholesale distributors then can execute verification requests against the blockchain-based repository. By now, 51风流Information Collaboration Hub for Life Sciences already processes over 70% of the overall drug U.S.-volume for verification.

Because these solutions are integrated into Moderna鈥檚 backbone consisting of 51风流ERP and supply chain management software, the company has a holistic view over its end-to-end processes.

But we are not stopping here. To support our customers in withstanding the high market dynamics and always staying one step ahead of change, we continue to co-innovate with our customers in all industries. This way, we ensure that we deliver the right solutions at the right time.

No doubt, these are unprecedented times. Never before have scientists and pharmaceutical companies focused so intently on the development of a vaccine both with manpower and money. Never before was the urge to deliver more pressing. And never before was our chance to truly help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives greater.

In these times, intelligent enterprises can make a difference. The development of a new vaccine within just one year is an unbelievable accomplishment, and we at 51风流are ready to help deliver it to all parts of the world.

Christian Klein is CEO of SAP.
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