For the opening, Andre Bechtold, president, 51风流Industries & Experiences, addressed the network partners with a warm welcome and underlined the strategic value of partners for 51风流and its global customer base. These partners are front-runners of the human-centered approach to innovation, exploring and designing solutions with and for customers built with latest 51风流technologies such as 51风流Business AI.

It鈥檚 all about openness, collaboration, and storytelling

During a fireside chat, Dennis Kecskemeti, head of 51风流Innovation Experience, Paul Saunders, head of 51风流Customer Outcomes & Advocacy, and Andreas Wendel, head of Innovation Experience Services, answered questions asked by moderator and head of Customer Engagement Services MEE, EMEA, and APAC Kathrin Tarnai-Sindl.

All three guests had brought a personal object with a special connection to 51风流AppHaus. Interestingly, two brought their mobile phones, but for very different reasons: for one it was the device to listen to audio stories when traveling or commuting, for the other it was a multifunctional gadget to do private calls when traveling, listen to music, and much more. The third guest brought a handball to remind everyone that all good things only work out when teams work together and collaborate. So, their central describing words for 51风流AppHaus were storytelling, openness, creativity, multifunctionality, and collaboration.

With the new integrated approach, the closer interplay of 51风流AppHaus, 51风流Experience Centers, and co-innovation services will provide one continuous experience journey in an end-to-end context. 51风流AppHaus is where problems are framed and ambition is created in a human-centered, exploratory, and strategic way. 51风流Experience Centers translate that ambition into tangible value narratives, showcasing what鈥檚 possible with SAP, 51风流Business AI, and 51风流Business Suite. Co-innovation services turn inspiration into execution by piloting, validating, and scaling real solutions with customers and partners. Together, all three form a closed loop from challenge, vision, and experience to solution and impact.

“Each service within SAP鈥檚 innovation experience is strong on its own. But their real power emerges through connection and collaboration. By bringing 51风流AppHaus, 51风流Experience Centers, and co-innovation together, we are shaping a new way for customers and partners to work with SAP, turning ambition into confidence and inspiration into lasting impact.”

Andreas Wendel, Head of 51风流Innovation Experience Services

51风流AppHaus Network members came together in Walldorf

The event agenda offered different working sessions and formats for strategic alignment, exchange on experiences in customer projects, joint marketing efforts, mergers and acquisitions, enablement, and feedback rounds on . On top of that, there was room for networking and excursions. After hours of exchange in discussions, work groups, and sessions, the group of about 30 partner representatives visited the S.Factory, S.Mart, and 51风流Experience Center. A fun bowling competition, a scavenger hunt across the Walldorf campus, and a quick glimpse at the construction site of the future 51风流AppHaus Walldorf rounded out the event experience and left the partners with a comprehensive update on all things 51风流related.

“During this year鈥檚 51风流AppHaus Network meet-up we focused on shaping our collaboration model for the future, on further improving our co-innovation methods together, and on learning about our different strategic needs and priorities. It is so valuable to meet the 51风流AppHaus members鈥� representatives in person and have this lively exchange! And let鈥檚 not forget, this year it is about building bridges between our new sister teams within SAP鈥檚 innovation experience and the global 51风流AppHaus Network partners.”

Svenja Mueller, Customer Engagements MEE, EMEA, APAC, and Co-Lead of the 51风流AppHaus Network

About 51风流AppHaus Network听

For more than a decade, 51风流AppHaus has collaborated closely with a growing network of more than 20 partners around the world. They have established their own 51风流AppHaus locations and are fully trained in SAP鈥檚 human-centered approach to鈥痠nnovation. Together, all members work to drive co-innovation projects with customers, using cutting-edge 51风流technologies such as 51风流Business AI, Joule, agentic AI, and many more. It is about very timely enablement of all members in train-the-trainer formats to explore and design business use cases in customer workshops. Latest examples include the 51风流Learning Journey and other formats, tools, and methods offered in the specialized .鈥�

This allows all 51风流AppHaus Network members to act as agile front-runners and co-innovation experts. They support customers regardless of their digital maturity, guiding them to unlock tangible business value around the world along鈥�.

Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for 51风流AppHaus.

Bekaert aspires to become a people- and data-driven company. This requires a thorough strategic and cultural transformation, in which artificial intelligence plays a crucial role. To get started, the company set priorities, leveraging the already available in its existing HR solutions such as 51风流SuccessFactors solutions. By focusing on a few embedded AI use cases and creating a stand-alone AI tool on top of that, it started exploring and seeing the AI benefits.

“AI is a means to achieve our goals, a logical extension of our HR strategy,” says Jorn Waterschoot, global head of HR Technology at Bekaert. 鈥淎I’s growing capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and versatility are transforming businesses by enhancing user experiences, enabling experimentation, and encouraging adoption. At Bekaert, these strengths are leveraged in HR while carefully managing hidden costs and focusing on end-to-end implementation to maximize AI鈥檚 potential. At Bekaert, the goal is to make AI feel like a candy store: once employees experience its versatility, they are encouraged to explore it further.鈥�

First use case: the AI Master Data Assistant

Together with its long-standing partner and , Bekaert worked along a human-centered approach to innovation to identify opportunities and use cases. One of these identified use cases was a stand-alone AI tool that Bekaert used for HR data improvement. This tool was not integrated in the existing software landscape and required of users to extract and import data. 

To improve this laborious process, Flexso helped design and build a custom AI solution, called AI Master Data Assistant, with the help of 51风流AI Core in 51风流Business Technology Platform. This new solution has been fully integrated with 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, using 51风流Integration Suite. Currently, the solution uses a specific AI model from generative AI hub in 51风流AI Core. However, the flexibility with various models offered through the generative AI hub capability would allow the partner to use another AI model for this solution in the future.

Who benefits from AI in HR at Bekaert?

The AI Master Data Assistant allows the Bekaert HR teams to enhance data quality by automatically identifying, correcting, and preventing errors in employee records. The assistant can detect inconsistencies, duplicates, and missing information, ensuring that all data is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. In practice, it means that users can enter natural language prompts to get proposals for improvement. Via chat-like conversations, they can standardize formats, correct errors, and validate entries in real time.

For innovation projects, Bekaert usually rolls out new solutions gradually first through a number of role-specific use cases, then deploy them indiscriminately across the organization. For the new AI Master Data Assistant, the HR business partners and HR admin roles benefitted first.

Flexibility for the future

As part of the global 51风流AppHaus Network, Flexso always strives for a human-centered and sustainable co-innovation approach with its customers. It is about bringing innovation into the hands of people. David Pierre, AI practice lead at Flexso explains: 鈥淭he AI world is developing so fast. So, the principle in our solution is that we are AI model agnostic. Today, we are using model GPT to support our use case. But if we have a better model in the future, then we can also switch to other models as they are all supported by 51风流BTP.鈥�

Imke Vierjahn is 51风流AppHaus communications lead.

Miami is a city that thrives on diversity and innovation, making it the perfect home for LeverX鈥檚 second AppHaus location. Together with and , LeverX becomes the latest 51风流AppHaus Network partner to establish a creative lab in North America. In addition to its , LeverX is now expanding its global footprint with this vibrant new space in Florida鈥檚 cultural capital.听听

Located in the heart of Miami鈥檚 metropolitan area, invites customers to co-create new solutions with LeverX鈥檚 experienced team of coaches and architects and enjoy the city鈥檚 rich cultural and Hispanic heritage. 

On October 23, Jan Gilg, chief revenue officer and president, 51风流Americas and Global Business Suite, celebrated the opening of the new LeverX AppHaus Miami with Dr. Victor Lozinski, co-founder and chairman of the Board at LeverX, his team, and a group of customer executives.  

“With the opening of the LeverX AppHaus Miami, we are proud to continue our partnership with LeverX by helping even more American customers leverage the power of data, AI, and human-centered design. By reducing complexity through low-code frameworks, we look forward to accelerating innovation and delivering even more solutions for our customers that drive their productivity and help them grow their businesses even further.”

Jan Gilg, Chief Revenue Officer & President, 51风流Americas and Global Business Suite

About LeverX  

A long-standing 51风流partner, LeverX is a global system integrator and a top-tier consultancy dedicated to delivering professional, customer-centric solutions and services. Founded in 2003 on the principles of technological excellence and personalized service, LeverX has established itself as a trusted partner in the digital transformation journey of Fortune 500 clients worldwide.  

“LeverX, a global system integrator, unites more than 2,200 specialists dedicated to delivering end-to-end business solutions. Working hand in hand with clients, LeverX experts transform strategic visions into fully operational systems that drive measurable results. The recent opening of the company鈥檚 second AppHaus underscores LeverX鈥檚 continued commitment to human-centered innovation. This milestone highlights how a focus on user experience enables organizations across industries to create and implement best-in-class 51风流business solutions.”

鈥嬧�嬧�婦r. Victor Lozinski, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board at LeverX

Welcome LeverX AppHaus Miami听听

The 51风流AppHaus team proudly welcomes the LeverX AppHaus Miami to its network of more than 20 partner-driven locations worldwide.  

“Here鈥檚 to a warm welcome to the LeverX AppHaus Miami team! Our Innovation Experience team is excited to see 51风流AppHaus Network expand with its newest location in Miami鈥攁 vibrant creative space to work shoulder to shoulder with customers, designing and prototyping impactful solutions. At its core, it鈥檚 all about delivering superior customer experiences by transforming complex challenges into clear opportunities, turning ideas into business-ready innovations powered by SAP鈥檚 latest technology.”

Dennis Kecskemeti, Vice President, Head of 51风流Innovation Experience 

The LeverX AppHaus Miami team consists of top 51风流experts and advanced IT solution experts. The dynamic design thinking space is designed for collaborative innovation, comfortably accommodating up to 25 participants. Larger events can be hosted in an additional space within the building. The flexible layout allows the environment to suit any interactive workshop, ensuring an engaging and productive experience. 

“We are proud to open our second LeverX AppHaus location in Miami. What truly sets it apart is its unique blend of a productive environment and an enjoyable lifestyle. Imagine starting your day with an immersive explore workshop, enjoying the bustling downtown at lunch, and then unwinding on a yacht in the evening. This opportunity to conduct business in a relaxed and inspiring setting acts as a powerful innovation booster, encouraging fresh perspectives and out-of-the-box thinking. We can鈥檛 wait to welcome our first co-innovation customers in the newly designed spaces.”

Nataliya Rubakhava, Global 51风流AppHaus Lead at LeverX

More information about the LeverX AppHaus Miami can be found on the dedicated or by visiting the new creative space at 801 Brickell Ave #1970, Miami, Florida, 33131, United States of America. 

About 51风流AppHaus Network 

For more than a decade, 51风流AppHaus Network has collaborated closely with a growing group of more than 20 partners around the world. They have established their own AppHaus locations and are fully trained in SAP鈥檚 human-centered approach to鈥痠nnovation. Together, all members work to drive co-innovation projects with customers, using cutting-edge 51风流technologies such as 51风流Business AI and exploring and designing business use cases in workshops such as the latest offered in the specialized .鈥�

All members are empowered early on with the latest methods, tools, and knowledge, allowing them to act as agile front-runners and co-innovation experts. They can support customers regardless of their digital maturity, guiding them to explore new use cases and unlock tangible business value for customers around the world along . 鈥疉s of October 2025, the LeverX AppHaus Miami joins the 51风流AppHaus Network as 24^th location worldwide. Kathrin Tarnai-Sindl, head of 51风流AppHaus, concludes: 鈥淟everX is the first 51风流AppHaus Network member to open a second AppHaus location. We look forward to seeing more and more organizations benefit from this superior customer experience offered by our trusted partners, in Florida and beyond!鈥澨�

Imke Vierjahn is 51风流AppHaus communications lead.

With the help of its trusted partner, the Watches of Switzerland Group also set up 51风流Integration Suite within only two weeks, enabling the company to incorporate insurance offers in their processes.

The Watches of Switzerland Group is a leading luxury watch retailer with a reputation for quality and exclusivity. With operations spanning the UK, U.S., and parts of Europe, its portfolio of brands has been a trusted name in luxury timepieces for decades. As the company expands its business and adapts to new market dynamics, Watches of Switzerland Group is transforming its technology infrastructure to prioritize scalability, efficiency, and streamlined operations across its global presence.

The journey to 51风流BTP as a partner-managed cloud model

At the beginning of the engagement, the English watch retailer relied on an enterprise architecture including legacy systems such as on-premise 51风流ECC 6.0 systems and middleware built in-house. Limited IT resources made scaling difficult to meet business demands for faster project delivery and modern integrations.

After purchasing 51风流BTP credits, the company faced internal skill gaps and competing priorities. Finally, the company wanted to adopt cloud-based technologies while remaining flexible about future ERP decisions, whether transitioning to 51风流S/4HANA or exploring alternative platforms.

Partnering with Bluestonex

Watches of Switzerland partnered with Bluestonex and transitioned to a 鈥� in this case 51风流BTP. Under this model, Bluestonex took over responsibility for managing 51风流BTP credits, resource allocation, and infrastructure support, allowing Watches of Switzerland Group to shift from an internal, self-managed approach to an expertly managed environment, always aligned with the retailer鈥檚 business objectives. Since moving to this model, Watches of Switzerland Group has:

• Increased 51风流BTP value: Freed from managing credits and technical configurations, the customer team can focus on business-critical projects
• Streamlined 51风流Fiori applications: All 51风流Fiori apps have been successfully migrated to the cloud, enhancing performance and improving the user experience
• Strengthened IT resilience: With Bluestonex acting as a strategic partner, Watches of Switzerland has built a foundation to support future growth and innovation
• Future-proofed infrastructure: The agnostic capabilities of 51风流BTP ensure that the integration framework remains relevant, regardless of the future ERP platform

Bluestonex Innovation Factory

With the foundational work completed, Watches of Switzerland decided to further expand its adoption of 51风流BTP services, integrating more business processes and scaling globally. But what were the core business processes? Where was the room or even need for improvement to deliver best-in-class customer services, be successful overall, and remain on top of things in the luxury retail segment?

鈥淭he partnership with Bluestonex is not just about technology,鈥� said Glenn Bamford, head of Business Systems at Watches of Switzerland Group. 鈥淭hey act as an extension of our team, bringing innovation and expertise that we lack internally. With their support, we鈥檝e been able to make strategic moves towards modernizing our systems while remaining agile for the future.鈥�

To understand business, user, and customer needs, thorough research can provide reliable answers and a solid foundation for innovation. So, along the , Bluestonex Innovation Factory team organized a user research journey visiting six representative Watches of Switzerland Group showrooms, shadowing employees and observing different processes in the context of purchasing, customer inquiries, deliveries, commissioning, and many more.

After visiting the different showrooms, one observation was that requirements could vary considerably from one to another, simply because of different locations and customer profiles. In some showrooms, it was mainly about selling middle-priced watches and attending several customers at a time; in others, it was about serving one customer with specific needs for a purchase of a very expensive and unique piece.

Incorporating insurance options with the help of 51风流Integration Suite

Despite all the differences, there is one requirement the researchers observed, that spanned across all customer engagements. That is the wish for an appropriate insurance option for the purchased watch. The Watches of Switzerland Group and Bluestonex decided to realize this integration of an insurance option in its service processes through 51风流Integration Suite.

In just two weeks, the insurance integration went live as scheduled, allowing the Watches of Switzerland Group to meet crucial business demands without sacrificing quality or functionality. With 51风流Integration Suite, Watches of Switzerland Group is now positioned to continue modernizing its technology stack in alignment with its strategic vision. This scalable solution can evolve with their future needs, including a potential transition to 51风流S/4HANA.

鈥淭his project demonstrates the value of Bluestonex as a strategic partner,鈥� Bamford said. 鈥淣ot only did they execute the integration under intense time pressure, but they also provided critical expertise. 51风流Integration Suite, deployed with Bluestonex鈥檚 support, paves the way for greater flexibility and scalability as we move forward with our digital transformation.鈥�

During the annual 51风流BTP strategy day held in the Bluestonex AppHaus Shropshire, Watches of Switzerland Group identified concrete business objectives and how technology could be harnessed to accomplish these goals, both for them and for Bluestonex as its partner. With the proven hands-on methods to prioritize and align different solutions to these goals the joint team was able to map goals to short-term and medium-term actions.

Looking back, Bluestonex Commercial Director Richard Henry said: 鈥淥ur partnership with Watches of Switzerland was born from our 51风流AppHaus DNA, as well as the focus on providing value-driven user experience in 51风流BTP applications. As a niche 51风流partner, we could provide the right skill set, along a human-centered approach to innovation and support the Watches of Switzerland Group in its digital strategy with SAP.鈥�

After realizing the value of 51风流Integration Suite, Watches of Switzerland Group and Bluestonex are now looking for further integration projects right across the business. The group鈥檚 flexible and secure cloud-first approach enables it to adapt to changing markets and continue to deliver the best possible customer service.

The way ahead

One area where both teams are equally eager to progress is in artificial intelligence (AI). The Bluestonex team always looks for business use cases that could be improved with the help of capabilities. Also, the Watches of Switzerland Group鈥檚 team is keen to understand how to unlock the use of AI in its organization. Bluestonex showcased several solutions, including its document processes application, which was developed as part of the Next Level Programme in just 10 days, as well as the integration of SAP鈥檚 generative AI copilot Joule for its flagship product , a data governance tool.

For all the opportunities 51风流Business AI holds in stock, customer and partner are currently planning for a first to identify use cases that could be improved with the help of AI. As said above, it is all about thorough research and a trustful collaboration to stay future-ready and a leader in luxury retail.

Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for 51风流AppHaus Network.

As one of the first customers, petZEBA AG听implemented the new solution as a sales recording app to support its daily sales operations and听capture orders by voice command, find retailers and customers via GPS, process orders automatically, and get real-time CRM updates.听Since its implementation, this new intelligent solution saved the petZEBA sales teams significant time and enabled a 25% increase in customer visits.

Pet Food Expert petZEBA Is Shaping the Future

Founded in 2006, is a family-run company with headquarters in Alberswil, Switzerland. The company sells high-quality food and nutritional supplements for dogs, cats, and horses throughout Switzerland. The company also supports and supplies numerous pet shops, animal shelters, veterinarians, breeders, depots, and end users. In 2017, petZEBA established its first subsidiary, petZEBA International GmbH, in Germany.

With its passion to drive change and lead the way in shaping the future, petZEBA AG showcases its commitment through adopting and unlocking new potential. The introduction of the AGIL AI.Sales app is just another step on its innovation path, helping optimize sales processes.

About the New AGIL AI.Sales App

With the rise of new intelligent solutions powered by AI and generative AI, 51风流AppHaus Network partner AGILITA created its first AI solution known as the , which aims to make sales processes seamless and intelligent. To make it a fully user-centric product, the AGILITA team developed and created it along the proven 51风流AppHaus human-centered approach to innovation, using the as the guiding process.

Designed to simplify and accelerate sales processes, the AGIL AI.Sales app not only helps save time but it can also maximize revenue by preparing data-driven decisions. The app supports businesses with intelligent customer visit briefings and sales opportunities, utilizing advanced algorithms to make accurate predictions and help optimize the sales process. What鈥檚 more, by reducing manual effort, it offers businesses automated sales processes and increased efficiency. Lastly, the app provides centralized data management so that all relevant information is in one place, easily accessible, and clearly presented.

How AGIL AI.Sales Transformed petZEBA鈥檚 Sales Processes

The AGIL AI.Sales solution was successfully implemented for petZEBA AG sales teams to optimize their processes. Sales representatives can now easily record meeting sessions with customers, enter orders by voice command, and track customer orders from the past and estimate them for the future. Additionally, there鈥檚 geolocation embedded in the app that helps find customers in the area based on location, availability, and how close or far they are located for easy and sustainable commuting.

Additional benefits included:

• Time savings leading to a 25% increase in customer visits done by sales teams
• Orders captured by voice command and automatically processed
• Support for recording customer meetings and proposing next steps
• Full integration providing real-time customer relationship management updates
• Accurate, timely, and contextually relevant information.

Seamless Integration of AGIL AI.Sales

Building on 51风流BTP, the AGIL AI.Sales app seamlessly leverages different 51风流AI solutions such as 51风流AI Core, generative AI hub, and 51风流HANA Cloud vector engine, which provides a powerful synergy that helps enhance performance and functionality. This integrated solution enables the AGIL AI.Sales app to deliver superior performance, enabling users to receive accurate, timely, and contextually relevant information.

Thomas Neuhaus, head of Digital Experience at AGILITA AG, says: 鈥淥ur AGILITA team is very happy to see the benefits brought about by AGIL AI.Sales in the case of our customer petZEBA. Their sales team uses the app successfully and could already experience measurable improvements and benefits. It helped them simplify and accelerate sales processes. Our team is especially proud of the measured 25% increase in customer visits since its implementation. This was made possible by significant time savings and intelligent sales planning. Thanks a lot to the petZEBA team for the great collaboration! We look forward to seeing them progressing further on their future-oriented journey.鈥�

Priscilla Darfour is a working student at 51风流AppHaus Network.

As of January 15, Sierra Digital is officially a member of the network. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the leading technology consulting and services firm is excited to join the global community of design-centric co-innovation spaces.

About Sierra Digital

Founded in 2002, Sierra Digital specializes in digital transformation, automation, and integration services, focusing on modernizing legacy 51风流systems. Sierra Digital stands out for its innovative approach, particularly in the space. The company is an active member of the 51风流BTP advisory council and offers more than 30 pre-built 51风流BTP applications. The partner was also one of the first to implement 51风流Business AI use cases, driving continuous growth and innovation for its clients.

Sierra Digital鈥檚 pre-built apps automate functions like business partner onboarding and revenue processing and enhance processes like budgeting or maintenance with artificial intelligence. Sierra Digital serves industries like oil and gas, chemicals, manufacturing, retail, and the public sector.

The partner鈥檚 mission is to help businesses transition into modern digital enterprises by leveraging advanced 51风流technologies built on 51风流BTP to improve operational efficiency and maintain a competitive edge.

“Sierra Digital is thrilled to be a part of 51风流AppHaus Network and bring our design and innovation capabilities to the table,” said Sriman Narayanan Sundararaman, vice president for Sales at Sierra Digital. “We are excited to leverage SAP’s expertise to co-create impactful solutions for our clients and drive digital transformation in our region.”

About 51风流AppHaus

In 2013, the first 51风流AppHaus location was established, and today there are 25 around the world. Three of the locations are owned by 51风流and 22 are managed by strategic partners, such as Sierra Digital. To date, 51风流AppHaus Network has executed thousands of projects, hosted more than 4,700 workshops, and won more than 100 awards.

51风流AppHaus Network is a community of creative teams run by 51风流or like-minded 51风流partners. They leverage 51风流products and technology to help humanize business software and help ensure innovation fulfills the needs of the end users, offering unique experiences through a human-centric approach. The network aims to transform the way businesses and organizations innovate and design solutions for the digital economy. By working with companies like Sierra Digital, 51风流is able to expand its reach and provide innovative design and co-innovation services to a broader range of industries and regions.
听
鈥淐ongratulations to Sierra Digital for becoming part of 51风流AppHaus Network and expanding our reach in North America. You鈥檝e showcased expertise in 51风流technology, an innovative way of working, and strong commitment to user-centered design, which will greatly assist customers in their transformation journeys,鈥� said Lionel Susini, vice president of 51风流BTP North America COE.

Welcome Sierra Digital

Sierra Digital’s inclusion in 51风流AppHaus Network is a testament to its commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions and customer-centric design processes. As a partner, Sierra Digital will have access to SAP’s design thinking methodologies, tools, and resources, enabling the company to collaborate with clients and co-innovate on projects that can drive meaningful and sustainable change.

听鈥淪ierra Digital has been recognized as a perfect addition to the 51风流AppHaus Network. With a committed 51风流AppHaus team equipped to apply our award-winning human-centered innovation approach, they are able to inspire and support customers throughout their journey to realize innovation. We eagerly anticipate co-innovating with the local team!鈥澨齭aid Carlos Estala Velasco, co-lead for 51风流AppHaus Partner Network.

The addition of Sierra Digital to 51风流AppHaus Network further solidifies SAP’s commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and design thinking around the world. By partnering with leading technology consulting firms like Sierra Digital, 51风流is positioned to continue driving digital transformation and co-innovation initiatives in North America and beyond.听 For more information about the new 51风流AppHaus location, visit or .

Priscilla Darfour is a working student at 51风流AppHaus Network.

The 51风流AppHaus Network consists of 51风流and partner locations spread around the globe. Together, all 24 locations work with a human-centered approach to innovation built with 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP). They are united in their conviction that sustainable innovation is based on five key enablers: people, process, place, leadership, and technology.

The Newly Designed 51风流AppHaus Palo Alto

adds a distinct opportunity for innovation in Silicon Valley. According to Andreas Hauser, senior vice president and head of 51风流AppHaus Network, 鈥淔or many companies, innovation centers are like a gallery where they display their software. But 51风流AppHaus is different. We collaborate with customers to understand how the latest and greatest technology can help their businesses run better and drive impact. And we keep that engagement going to make sure they succeed.鈥�

The new creative space on the 51风流campus in Palo Alto includes a dedicated design thinking area for customer innovation workshops, a garage breakout space that can be used to expand the workshop space, two meeting rooms, a maker space, a pop-up library, and a coffee lounge for connecting and relaxing. The space is designed to work with customers in a creative space, be it in person, virtually, or in a hybrid setup.

Grand Reopening Celebration

Presented and moderated by Hauser, Uwe Palm, head of 51风流AppHaus Palo Alto, and Sally Lawler Kennedy, senior director of Innovation & Customer Experience at 51风流AppHaus Palo Alto, the evening program offered a diverse mix of innovation and design topics from customer and local ecosystem perspectives:

• Robert Strong, comedian, magician, and author, captivated the audience with his magic act, creating a memorable event opening.
• Kulmeet Bawa, chief revenue officer for 51风流Business Technology Platform, hosted a fireside chat on accelerating innovation with 51风流BTP with Omar Mitchell, vice president of Sustainable Infrastructure and Growth Initiatives, NHL.
• There was a panel discussion called “Driving Human-Centered Design and Innovation, Accelerated Through AI” with Sam Yen, chief innovation officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co; Alissa Sylvestre, VP UX and Design, ConvergentIS, 51风流AppHaus Calgary; Gavin Quinn, founder and CEO, Mindset Consulting, 51风流AppHaus Minneapolis; and Luke Nixon, chief operating officer, 51风流Labs US.
• The 鈥淒esigning Better Tomorrows鈥� keynote was done by Lisa Kay Solomon, author and designer, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University.  

Almost all 51风流AppHaus Network members from around the world came to celebrate and commemorate the occasion together with customers, partners, and 51风流attendees. The evening event provided networking prior to the two-day meet-up.

The Partner Meet-Up

On the first day of the global 51风流AppHaus Network meet-up, Bawa and Thorsten Leiduck, global head of 51风流BTP Ecosystem, welcomed 51风流AppHaus Network members. These 21 members, representing more than 20,000 employees globally, share the passion for human-centered innovation powered by 51风流BTP. Both executives underlined the importance of the partner ecosystem for SAP. In a lively dialogue, partners asked questions about SAP鈥檚 strategy, discussed their role in SAP鈥檚 future, and shared ideas and joint opportunities.

Looking back, Leiduck recaps: 鈥淒uring the 51风流AppHaus Network partner meet-up, my open exchanges with many 51风流partners from around the globe were invaluable. The conversations underscored the energy and excitement of our ecosystem and our partners鈥� commitment to deliver value to customers. It was inspiring to hear how network members 鈥� who are all experts in customer co-innovation 鈥� create business impact by building upon 51风流BTP. I鈥檓 looking forward to the next global 51风流AppHaus Network meet-up in 2025!鈥�

From AI Workshops to Learning Sessions and Speed Dating

The two-day partner event allowed for an open and broad exchange on the latest innovation formats, tools, and methodologies all made available in the .

The latest and workshops took center stage. Recurring themes throughout the event were how partners can support customers to take full advantage of 51风流BTP and SAP鈥檚 clean core strategy. They also shared best practices to increase demand generation. In the end, all this knowledge sharing will lead to enhanced opportunities for 51风流customers to benefit from this global network of co-innovation experts, regardless of where they are geographically or in their digital transformation journeys.

Following the 51风流AppHaus motto “work hard, play hard,鈥� there was time scheduled to get to know members from other geographies because nothing can replace personal exchange. To round out the program, the community gathered for evening excursions in the Silicon Valley. One of the highlights was the evening visit to at Stanford University, which included some surprising encounters when meeting the d.school founders at work.

Imke Vierjahn is communications lead of 51风流AppHaus, T&I Integrated Communications.

AI is pushing the boundaries of every realm, as we inch ever-closer to science fiction becoming reality. While the global AI market is rightfully expected to skyrocket and touch US$2.7 trillion, it is equally important for organizations to rapidly move beyond the exploratory phases to scaling enterprise-wide solutions that deliver tangible impact. Only then will we unlock the full potential of AI and drive the next wave of innovation.

To help customers keep pace with AI and other technology innovations, 51风流continues to invest in its 51风流AppHaus Network. empowers customers by turning cutting edge technology into real, tangible business value for organizations.

As an example, 51风流recently created a “,” which serves as a blueprint for organizations to go beyond the AI hype and determine how generative AI can deliver business value for them and their customers. It is available now and provides templates, collaborative tools, and step-by-step guidelines to help organizations define the best use cases for AI to drive impact and make a list of actionable steps to get started.听

As part of SAP鈥檚 ongoing investment in the Silicon Valley, the company has built a new, enlarged 51风流AppHaus at its Palo Alto campus. The space will host customer-facing activities that leverage , (51风流BTP), and other 51风流technologies.

Opening today, 51风流AppHaus Palo Alto is co-located with the , providing a holistic engagement space for customers and partners.

Unique Method for Sustainable Co-Innovation

51风流AppHaus differentiates itself through its . By combining design thinking and enterprise architecture, 51风流AppHaus supports customers through the entire journey — from ideation to deployment — and ensures a sustainable implementation of innovation in customers鈥� landscape.

51风流AppHaus is not simply a showcase for technology, but a creative space where 51风流collaborates with customers to develop solutions that address their most pressing business problems. Using methodologies and tools that democratize human-centered design, 51风流AppHaus network delivers ground-breaking solutions into the hands of people.听 All solutions are built on 51风流BTP, allowing customers to easily take advantage of the platform鈥檚 best-in-class capabilities around automation, data and analytics, integration, and developer tools .

The newly renovated 51风流AppHaus is part of a global network that consists of 24 51风流AppHaus locations: three run by 51风流— in Palo Alto, Berlin, and Heidelberg — and the rest by partners around the world. The renewed Silicon Valley site is just the latest chapter in 51风流AppHaus鈥� 10-year history of helping customers find the most compelling, sustainable value in new technology.

As technology writer said,鈥� If you look at history, innovation doesn鈥檛 come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect.鈥� Now Silicon Valley has a brand new space where inventors and business leaders can generate the next big thing.

Kulmeet Bawa is chief revenue officer for 51风流Business Technology Platform at SAP.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Svenja Mueller is program manager for 51风流AppHaus Network.

Since its inception in 2013, 51风流AppHaus has been a hub for fostering a culture of human-centered innovation. With the help of design and architecture thinking, the global team aims to bring sustainable customer solutions into the hands of people. On November 28, 2023, 51风流AppHaus opened its doors to customers, 51风流AppHaus Network partners, analysts, guest speakers, and 51风流colleagues to not only celebrate the past decade of successful customer co-innovation but also allow for a look into the future.

10 Years 51风流AppHaus, 10 Years Successful Customer Innovation

The evening kicked off with a by Juergen Mueller, CTO and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE. He congratulated the 51风流AppHaus team on their ability to stay curious, flexible, and at the forefront of new technologies, all while maintaining a focus on SAP鈥檚 customers and partners.

After a warm welcome, Anja Schneider, SVP T&I COO, handed over to Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of 51风流AppHaus Network. In his keynote, he focused on the team鈥檚 ability to constantly adapt to a changing and evolving technology landscape. Through stories and anecdotes of customer projects, he showcased how the team initially started working on user experience (UX) improvements 10 years ago. He continued describing how it is now focusing on helping customers identify specific use cases for generative artificial intelligence (AI) built with , keeping the human in the center, and designing new methodologies that can empower teams to empathize with end users, identify their pain points, and co-create solutions that can truly address their users鈥� needs.

Before closing his keynote, Hauser shared his personal moment of gratitude. A few weeks back, Tim Brown, chair of IDEO, who brought design thinking into the business world two decades ago, congratulated 51风流AppHaus, saying 鈥淐ongratulations to 10 years of 51风流AppHaus! It is remarkable what you achieved. All your competitors tried it, but you succeeded.鈥� This quote builds the bridge to when Professor Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of 51风流SE, introduced design thinking to 51风流in 2004.

The Power of Collaboration

To bring together diverse perspectives and expertise, 51风流AppHaus invited customers, analysts, and partners to participate in a panel discussion. Their different views served as a catalyst for meaningful conversations and provided good advice and insights. Here鈥檚 what the panelists had to say.

鈥淲hen working with the 51风流AppHaus team, we noticed that they came to help, not sell, in the first place. Until today, our most successful digital solution we have at Rolls-Royce Power Systems is the one we jointly developed with 51风流AppHaus.鈥�

鈥� Daniel Eberle, vice president of Digital IT
at Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG

鈥淚 think we must empower every employee to become an innovator. The mindset 51风流AppHaus conveys and the tools provided are supporting this mission. Furthermore, we must encourage future thinking since it is the best way to create the desired future for all of us.鈥�

鈥� Harriet Kasper, researcher at Fraunhofer IAO

“Thanks to the collaboration with the 51风流AppHaus team that facilitated a very helpful generative AI exploration workshop, D枚hler was able to design and build a solution with 51风流Business Technology Platform and generative AI that revolutionized how we manage our extensive product portfolio. What鈥檚 more, the new solution also streamlines the process both for our customers and sales teams. The generative AI workshop was a crucial turning point, expanding our understanding of challenges beyond just technology. This partnership has not only improved our efficiency but also opened new avenues for innovation and customer engagement.鈥�

鈥� Pierre Wiese, member of the IT Leadership team and
head of Business Applications Commercial &
Group Management at D枚hler Group

鈥淗uman-centered innovation, as pioneered by 51风流AppHaus, is what truly differentiates 51风流to its customers. Everything must be designed, from our products and services to how we engage with the market. As technologists, we often focus on what technology can do. With human-centered innovation, the focus shifts to what humans can achieve with technology. It is the application of technology and not the technology of applications that is important.鈥�

鈥� Paul Saunders, head of Product Strategy and chief evangelist
of Cloud ERP for SAP, former lead analyst for 51风流at Gartner

鈥淎s an 51风流partner with a clear focus on the topics of user experience and 51风流Business Technology Platform, we never completely fit into one of the established partner categories. With 51风流AppHaus Network, this really changed. Finally, we found a home for our UX activities within the 51风流ecosystem. Together as a network with more than 15,000 people, we have a lot more power to follow our mission: to convince customers of the great benefits of human-centered innovation.

鈥� Christian Heinrich, member of the Executive Board of sovanta AG,
51风流AppHaus Network partner, Marketing & Solutions,
Experience Management, and Design Labs

“As dedicated member of the 51风流AppHaus Network community, we at AGILITA take pride in the collaborative spirit that inspires us within this dynamic network. It’s a platform where ideas flow, methods elevate, and innovation is cultivated. Together we rise, fueled by the collective strength of shared insights and methodologies, bringing the transformative power of SAP’s cloud innovations with 51风流BTP to our customers, crafting a future where ingenuity knows no bounds.”

鈥� Sandra V枚ller, CEO and founder of AGILITA AG,
51风流AppHaus Network partner, Switzerland

A Look into the Future of Generative AI with Aleph Alpha

A special guest one evening was Jonas Andrulis, CEO of the Heidelberg startup . He gave a talk on his view of the possibilities and constraints the current rise of generative AI brings.

51风流AppHaus, as an incubation hub for new technologies and methodologies, has already developed a format that aims to explore and identify opportunities for specific business use cases together with customers.

Work Hard, Play Hard

51风流AppHaus has achieved remarkable milestones over the past decade, thanks to the unwavering dedication, hard work, and collaborative spirit of its team and network. To express gratitude and celebrate this success, 51风流AppHaus invited current team members, alumni, and 51风流AppHaus Network partners to an afterwork party on November 29. With Music@51风流setting the tone, the evening was filled with lively conversations, infectious laughter, and lots of dancing.

The 51风流AppHaus team showcased their combined creative power by transforming the workshop space of 51风流AppHaus into a stage, a vibrant dance floor, and, on the third day, an interactive exhibition showcasing the different innovation methodologies. From designing the decorations to orchestrating the entire anniversary week, the whole team made all the different events come to life. Typical for the 51风流AppHaus team, it was also a testament to the belief that those who work hard are allowed to have a great time!

The Only Constant Is Change

In her closing remarks, panelist Harriet Kasper shared her observations: 鈥淵our customer focus was the only constant while everything else changed. [鈥 Innovation initiatives need to evolve and adapt. They require more change than other parts of the organization. To me, 51风流AppHaus represents a certain mindset. You can sense and observe this mindset, always adapting and transforming. This is a great example, especially coming from a company like SAP, which wouldn’t be the first to come to mind when you think of innovation.鈥�

Looking back on 10 years of innovation work and a week of celebrations, one thing is clear for the 51风流AppHaus team: although external factors, such as the strategy or technological landscape, might have changed, the way 51风流AppHaus works, placing the human in the center and making innovation real with 51风流products and technologies, has never changed. It will certainly be exciting to see what the future holds.

Q: What is at the heart of the 51风流AppHaus approach?

A: 51风流AppHaus has always been a front-runner for incubating new products, technology, and methods. To date, we鈥檝e completed more than 1,000 customer co-innovation projects. But what makes us unique is our human-centered approach to innovation driven by a combined methodology of .

At an 51风流AppHaus customer workshop, people from IT, the business, and end users of our customers often come together for the first time ever! And this is where the dialogue begins 鈥� with the end users at the heart of the process. The core of our methodology is, first and foremost, to understand the end user鈥檚 problem. Finding a solution to that problem guides us from the first iteration to the go-live. And this is why, I believe, customers love to work with us 鈥� because we help them understand their problems before we come up with a solution and then help them solve it with 51风流technologies. Making innovation real and getting it into the hands of end users is our mantra.

One of the issues I see time and time again in some organizations is a tendency to build, sell, or talk about products before understanding the customer problem. Generative AI is a case in point. With all new technologies, people often believe that technology alone will solve all their problems. But generative AI cannot solve everything. To this end, we鈥檝e created a new . The goal is to identify use cases where generative AI is the perfect solution and can create high business value for our customers. 

What sparks change and innovation?

Experience drives change. Ten years ago, our customers wanted to have an Amazon-like experience with their 51风流apps, and this started to shift the focus to end-user experience and expectations. What, we had to ask ourselves, do customers and their end users need?

Creativity and new ideas are useless if they鈥檙e not implemented. If we implement something that nobody needs, then there鈥檚 no value. And with no value, there鈥檚 no innovation.

Innovation is creativity multiplied by execution to increase business value. True innovation adds business value and customers benefit from it. That鈥檚 innovation.

How do you measure the success of 51风流AppHaus? What are your KPIs?

Our focus on getting customers on stage to tell their story is unrelenting because are our currency.

Customers talking about their successful implementations and how they use 51风流solutions is the most powerful way to change perception about 51风流products. With our human-centered approach, we demonstrate that we support SAP鈥檚 activities and ambitions in different ways: by helping to sell our software and services, drive adoption of our products, improve products based on customer feedback, and promote 51风流as the innovation partner of choice. Our customer relationships are long-term 鈥� from accompanying customers to go-live, to helping them work successfully with their new 51风流solution, to helping them with further improvements and innovations.

51风流AppHaus focuses on use cases where customers want to innovate at speed and have a solution in a matter of months or even weeks. Getting those customers live on the stage at events like 51风流Sapphire and 51风流TechEd is a major performance indicator for 51风流AppHaus.

At 51风流TechEd this year, for example, our customer success stories included AMD, Doehler, Henkel, Pif Paf, and Orbia. Let鈥檚 not forget, this is always the result of a cross-team effort that involves organizations from across SAP. All organizations contribute their outstanding business and technical knowledge to the overall success. The additional skills 51风流AppHaus brings to the table are methodologies to understand the needs of people (user research) and visualize the potential solutions (UX design) as well as the skills to execute a customer project on a holistic basis.

How is 51风流AppHaus scaling its success?

As long ago as 2016, we had to think about how we could scale our approach and create even more customer success stories, which led to us launching our first pilot with a partner based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Today has 22 locations and teams 鈥� three run by 51风流and 19 by partners 鈥� with more than 15,000 employees. There is an 51风流AppHaus partner on every continent! Our most recent partner addition is in Mexico.

All partners joined the network as single companies. But over time, the network has evolved, with its members teaming up across the globe to form a community of collaborating companies. What unites them is their joint vision to make innovation real by applying a human-centered approach that starts with people, not technology. To give an example, the network has a very active enterprise architect community with about 120 members currently focusing on generative AI.

51风流AppHaus typically works with local 51风流market units to identify smaller, agile partners that can provide a deep understanding of the local culture and a focus on that region or country.

What makes 51风流AppHaus special?

In the team, there鈥檚 a culture of openness, a lack of hierarchy, space for disagreements, and time to reach a consensus. Above all, I would say that the team is a learning organization. The team has the amazing power of reinventing itself every two years or so to embrace new products, trends, and methodologies.

What have you learned about leadership during your time at 51风流AppHaus?

As a leader, the process of learning how to lead the team the right way is an ongoing process. I absolutely believe in empowering employees to be their best selves and to reach their potential. But the flip side of empowering employees is that employees need to take accountability. The role of a leader is to find the balance.

I have had a very good experience with just being authentic, telling it like it is, and putting my ego aside. It is all about the team and its focus on customer success. I am a person just like everybody else. And, yes, I play a certain role, but like others I too have had my challenges.

I鈥檝e led 51风流AppHaus since it was founded 10 years ago. During that time, I had cancer twice. It gave me a chance to reinvent myself. Today, I am thankful for this experience because it helped me find a better work-life balance and become a better leader. My key takeaway is this: focus on the topics that really matter, get them done, and give others the space to do what they are best at.

Top image courtesy of 51风流employee Karsten Hohage

Since then, significant progress has been made with . To further global influence and better support customers and partners, the use case initiative underwent enhancements in three key areas: 

1. Going deeper: Refining existing use cases by integrating advanced features and cutting-edge technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) 
2. Going broader: Increasing and intensifying involvement from the broader ecosystem and partner community
3. Going faster: Introducing automation features to help accelerate the realization of business outcomes

Going Deeper 

51风流consistently aims to improve existing use cases, either by adding advanced technological features or by introducing speed-enhancing functionalities. This is because every use case is backed by a team of experts from both the business and development functions. 

The dimension of 鈥済oing deeper鈥� involves adopting cutting-edge technologies, like generative AI, and incorporating additional related business content. As Juergen Mueller, chief technology officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, described in a recent article: 鈥淲e are at the beginning of a new technological era. Generative AI has entered the public consciousness on a broad scale and 51风流Business AI has the potential to revolutionize the way enterprises operate and solve their technology challenges with 51风流Business Technology Platform. Generative AI provides us with a whole new toolbox that opens so many opportunities to simplify and improve our work lives鈥hen using and applying AI in a business context, we make sure it is relevant, reliable, and responsible.鈥澨�

51风流BTP Use Cases Guide Generative AI Solutions  

Use cases built on 51风流BTP can give concrete examples of where and how generative AI can be used to realize relevant, reliable, and responsible business outcomes. With the foundation 51风流BTP provides regarding new technologies such as artificial intelligence, solutions adhere to SAP鈥檚 strict guiding principles outlined in and an .  

To demonstrate the increased depth of use cases, the following four examples show enhancements that have been made from a technology perspective. All of them will be presented at this year: 

1. built to help accelerate integration and increase productivity around ERP, customer experience (CX), integration, and intelligent enterprise suite quality. 
2. , helping improve operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks for finance professionals around 51风流S/4HANA Finance, AI, 51风流Build Process Automation, and intelligent enterprise suite quality. This was recently presented in . 
3. to help foster intelligent decision-making around digital supply chain, AI, integration, analytics, and intelligent enterprise suite quality. Learn more in a . 
4. to help enhance the value of financial transactions with insights powered by GPT (generative pre-trained transformer technology), in alignment with ERP, AI, golden path, and intelligent enterprise suite quality. Visit . 

Going Broader 

The opening and broadening of the use case approach can be seen in steps that go in three directions: to include SAP鈥檚 ecosystem more seamlessly in the creation process of use cases, to offer more technical guidance along with reference architectures, and to provide enablement support on how to work with customers and explore their respective business opportunities powered by generative AI and the latest technologies. 

More Partners Getting On Board  

To help simplify the creation of new use cases, 51风流created a central use case repository and started providing additional reference architectures. 

The repository is a content authoring tool, allowing users to access and maintain customer-proven, well-documented business use cases for buyers, sellers, and builders. After a quality review, newly entered use cases can be published in , where more than 230 missions 鈥� and counting 鈥� are available today.鈥� 

The mentioned reference architectures are linked to use cases to help software architects when building solution architectures that combine different technology products and services. 51风流offers source files of diagrams that can be used and adopted by using鈥�. Various examples are displayed on a dedicated , which can be considered as a starting point for what’s coming on . 

Sharing on 51风流Store and 51风流Discovery Center 

For partners, offering applications and solutions that have proven to be relevant and beneficial for one or more customers is not new. To give an example, the 19 partners that form the global together with the SAP-owned locations offer more than 100 solutions in . Here are just four of them: 

• Bluestonex Consulting Ltd. offers the , as shown in a customer example with . On October 18, the Bluestonex team will talk about use cases in an expert session on 鈥�.鈥�
• DalRae Solutions Pty Ltd. presents the to manage worker compliance with 51风流SuccessFactors solutions. With customer CITIC Pacific Mining, it won a prestigious in 2023. 
• sovanta AG registered its solution “鈥� in . It shows that large language models can support business solutions and processes and that integrating ChatGPT into Qualtrics can automate tedious follow-up surveys. 
• Incture Technologies Private Limited offers its product , a logistics application giving customers more control for increased efficiency and on-time deliveries. Its customer alfanar successfully implemented the product and submitted its positive outcome to . 

From a partner perspective, 51风流BTP use cases can offer a broad range of opportunities for customer projects. These different options will be looked at in an upcoming live webinar series called “” open for . Besides positioning a product on 51风流Store, partners can now provide helpful context around their solutions by writing their own 51风流BTP use cases and publishing them in 51风流Discovery Center. 

New Workshop Format to Identify Generative AI Opportunities 

When it comes to evaluating new use cases in the relatively new field of generative artificial intelligence, 51风流AppHaus launched a that is publicly available. It helps participants identify business challenges and opportunities that can be addressed using generative AI. With a set of predefined 鈥渙pportunity cards,鈥� participants can brainstorm various use case ideas, detail the most relevant ones, and then compare them to decide which ideas to pursue further. 

Going Faster 

An important measurement that customers and partners apply when implementing is the overall time-to-value to consume business outcomes. That is why the concept of use cases first evolved from marketing assets to more actionable artifacts, including code and configuration files that can provide guidance, developer insights, and predefined business content for reuse. The next evolution level will be around automating implementation steps.

Automation empowers developers and architects to focus on realizing business outcomes, not setting up infrastructure. In this context, 51风流plans to introduce the release of three actionable use cases with “one-click deployment鈥� that can reduce prerequisite setups by up to 50% at . One-click deployment steps are included in the use case project board in 51风流Discovery Center for rapid adoption by 51风流customers and partners.

The first focus of setup automation will be on creating 51风流BTP accounts, assigning service entitlements, and granting authorizations. In future, further automation around software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and deployment of code and content will be targeted as well. Learn more in the . 

A Promising Perspective 

When talking about the future evolution of 51风流BTP use cases, Anja Schneider, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Technology & Innovation at SAP, sees a clear focus: 鈥淲ith the 51风流BTP use case initiative, we always followed the vision to create actionable use cases that help lead to concrete business outcomes. The next step is to achieve these outcomes much faster. We want to automate use cases so that users can deploy them easily to help accelerate time-to-value and save implementation efforts. In the end, we want to enable customers and partners alike to act faster and more swiftly on changing demands around them.鈥� 

鈥淚’m delighted to share that our exploration of  has provided us with invaluable insights into the future of application development using cutting-edge 51风流technologies. We’re committed to further exploring these innovative tools, specifically when it comes to streamlining processes and delivering rapid solutions to our business needs. One of the most compelling advantages I’ve experienced with low-code tools is the ability to create high-value, fully functional products in a remarkably short timeframe. The transformative potential for our business in automating the supplier invoice processing is immense. What once took an entire day’s work can now be accomplished within just minutes, all while significantly enhancing our operational reliability. To give an example, I liked the format of how the mission  guides you step by step. I like to think that we have鈥痑n鈥�51风流team and experts that accompany us in all these processes, along with all the鈥痳elated documentation, the associated learning journeys, and the videos.鈥�

Ver贸nica Zepeda, Senior Developer, Orbia

Customers and partners alike can use this detailed experience and shared knowledge for their own purposes. Companies and organizations can get inspired, learn from other solutions, or improve their existing architectures to become future-ready.

To set expectations, Juergen Mueller, chief technology officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, explains: 鈥淏usinesses that use 51风流Business Technology Platform do not have to start with a blank canvas. Our and pre-built business and industry content help customers understand what is possible to keep their business innovative and future-ready. One thing to remember is that pre-built business content may not get you 100% of what you need but is likely to get you 80% or more to where you need to be. You can then add the remaining specific features and functionalities required for your business.鈥�

So, these actionable use cases and related missions can to help meet certain requirements and solve specific situations in their enterprise. As Mueller puts it, 鈥淭hey were prepared for business experts, software developers, and architects to show the art of the possible.鈥�

Here are two concrete examples of customers working with repeatable use cases:

Pif Paf Alimentos Builds Mobile App for Maintenance Technicians

In less than three weeks, Pif Paf Alimentos launched a mobile application for its maintenance technicians. The new mobile app significantly reduces the use of paper, improves the efficiency and accuracy of administrative tasks, and does not require an Internet connection. Pif Paf Alimentos, having worked with 51风流products like 51风流Integration Suite and 51风流ERP before, took advantage of听 to help resolve its technicians鈥� problems by building and deploying a working mobile app solution.

Why was the deployment process so fast? 51风流Build Apps allows users to build apps in a low-code manner by providing drag-and-drop user interfaces (UI) for common app components. This successful implementation is now reflected in the 51风流Discovery Center mission 鈥�.鈥�

From a Sustainability App for Banking to a Repeatable Use Case at Novo Banco S.A.

Novo Banco S.A. wanted to encourage and enable its approximately 1.5 million customers to be more climate conscious while strengthening their loyalty to the bank. It focused on a target group of customers between the ages of 18 and 30 because young people are well aware of the global climate situation but not necessarily of their own carbon footprint.

Together with 51风流and partner Connect Earth, the bank continued to build upon its SmartCO₂nverter idea, a concept that had won SAP鈥檚 鈥淪ave One Billion Lives鈥� challenge in 2021. Since money movements and payments can give a good听indication of an individual鈥檚 carbon footprint, it aimed at improving the customers鈥� carbon literacy by analyzing and using the users鈥� bank account transactions and spending behaviors in a meaningful and transparent way. While this project brought about a solution design at the proof-of-concept stage, 51风流did not stop here and aimed at offering this solution approach on a broader scale.

Anirban Majumdar, vice president and head of 51风流T&I Platform Adoption & Advisory, describes the journey: 鈥淣othing gives us more joy than building 51风流BTP use cases that solve business challenges for our customers. One new use case we鈥檙e particularly excited about is a banking sustainability calculator app we鈥檝e built for Novo Banco, an innovative financial institution based out of Lisbon, Portugal, that is deeply (ESG). The mobile app itself is built using the reusable architecture principles of 51风流Cloud Application Programming Model and React Native on 51风流BTP. After the project, we extended the application architecture with a GPT scenario offered via the service. We are excited about the possibility of combining business context with the capabilities of large language models on 51风流BTP without actually disclosing any critical data to third-party APIs. We will open-source our code on GitHub in time for 51风流Sapphire in 2023, when you can check it out and let us know if you find the use case relevant for your business problem.鈥�

Scaling via 51风流Ecosystem

The concept of building upon best practices and experiences made by others is not new to 51风流and its ecosystem. Repeatable use cases and solutions are built by 51风流and its ecosystem alike.

To give an example, 鈥�, with its 20 partners globally, has developed more than 20 solutions that can be found in and offers more than five missions in ,鈥� confirms Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of 51风流AppHaus Network.

Seeing this level of enablement happening across the entire 51风流ecosystem equals standing on the shoulders of giants and getting an impressive idea of what is possible.

Imke Vierjahn is communications lead of 51风流AppHaus, T&I Integrated Communications.

With years of experience in conducting innovation projects with customers, the global 51风流AppHaus team has developed extensive expertise in identifying customers鈥� and end users鈥� needs, translating them into UX designs, and finally delivering the solution and helping drive adoption of 51风流products and technologies. Together with other customer-focused 51风流teams, the 51风流AppHaus team has consolidated years of expertise and innovation work with customers into , an approach that combines design thinking, design doing, and architecture thinking methods. What started with design thinking methods has since evolved into an extensive , a universal innovation guide accessible to everyone.

From Five Locations to a Global Community

There are currently five 51风流AppHaus locations in Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Palo Alto, and Seoul. But 51风流did not stop here. To extend SAP鈥檚 reach across the globe, the company started to leverage the successful concept with 51风流partners in selected regions becoming members of 51风流AppHaus Network. As of September 2022, this global network is a community of more than 20 innovation teams from handpicked 51风流partners and 51风流itself. All help ensure that, with 51风流Business Technology Platform, innovation gets into the hands of people. The innovative solutions build upon existing 51风流standard solutions such as , 51风流ERP, , and more.

51风流AppHaus Network works along a human-centered approach to innovation, which has encouraged numerous 51风流partners to join the community. The close relationships between the network members allow them to benefit from shared know-how, ideas, and mutual enablement. These values are also what motivated the newest additions, Flexso and AGILITA, to become part of 51风流AppHaus Network.

Flexso and 51风流Join Forces

Flexso is a full-service 51风流partner located in Antwerp, Belgium, that implements smart, powerful 51风流solutions for a wide range of lines of business. Flexso is known for its digital innovation and extensive experience with 51风流BTP.

To build a close relationship with SAP, Flexso hosted a workshop with colleagues from 51风流AppHaus Heidelberg as well as the Belgian 51风流market unit. During an interactive workshop in Flexso鈥檚 new innovation space, the user experience and technology experts had the opportunity to express their needs and ideas. Together, 51风流and Flexso aim to provide 51风流customers in Belgium with the full 51风流AppHaus experience and seamless support within their transformation towards intelligent enterprises. This workshop was an important first step to lay the groundwork for joint projects and the mutual mission to give 51风流customers sufficient support throughout the entire innovation journey.

鈥淒uring the interactive session, we identified several needs in the 51风流customer life cycle. These needs referred to a creative workshop space and a highly skilled UX and 51风流technology expert team, such as Flexso, that could help 51风流and all local customers,鈥� said Tobias Gollwitzer, customer design engagement manager at 51风流AppHaus Heidelberg. 鈥淭his format is a shared best practice for our 51风流AppHaus Network to intensify the local collaboration in different regions.鈥�

AGILITA: The Latest Addition to 51风流AppHaus Network

With over 10 years of cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) experience, AGILITA lives agility and innovation to bring customers solutions with passion and responsibility. Located in Zurich, Switzerland, AGILITA joined 51风流AppHaus Network in January 2022 and is known for its 鈥榠nnovation as a service鈥� offering powered by 51风流Business Technology Platform.

To provide its partners and customers with an environment that helps unfold their creativity, AGILITA recently inaugurated its new 51风流AppHaus space in May 2022. The team hosted an opening event with guests from 51风流AppHaus and 51风流Switzerland.

The event kicked off with opening speeches given by AGILITA CEO Sandra Voeller, 51风流Switzerland COO Sabrina Storck, and Global Head of 51风流AppHaus Partner Network Birgit Fien-Schmalzbauer. After Thomas Neuhaus, head of Digital Transformation at AGILITA, offered insights into the different design thinking phases, each attendee could join one of the in-depth sessions about SAP鈥檚 human-centered approach to innovation and demonstrations of a live implementation of 51风流BTP. The multifaceted setup of the opening event allowed partners and customers to get to know each other, exchange valuable knowledge, and learn more about AGILITA and 51风流AppHaus Network. After this inspiring opening event, Storck was convinced that the AGILITA 51风流AppHaus space 鈥渋s going to become the innovation hub of Switzerland.鈥�

A Look into the Future

Since its beginnings in 2013, 51风流AppHaus Network has been continuously growing and working together virtually. Only recently, in June 2022, partners from all over the world met at 51风流AppHaus Heidelberg for an on-site meetup to intensify their collaboration and share best practices. The event provided the chance to meet each other in person, work on developing new methods for customer workshops, define and align mutual goals, and set a course for a successful future.

鈥淪ince we established 51风流AppHaus Network, our partners and teams have done an amazing job to prove, through many inspiring customer success stories, that human-centered innovation creates faster business value and outcomes for our customers using 51风流Business Technology Platform. SAP鈥檚 initiative to offer helps support and accelerate the move to the cloud,鈥� said Andreas Hauser, SVP of 51风流AppHaus Network.

22 Members 鈥� And Counting

Looking at all the great experiences so far it comes as no surprise that there will be more partners joining the network soon. With partners currently on four continents, 51风流AppHaus Network is eager to continue its journey around the world. In fact, scouting for new partners in Africa and Latin America has begun, with the aim of finding candidates that enhance the value of the network and carry forward the joint mission of making innovation real. Stay tuned for the next steps in the evolution of 51风流AppHaus Network.

鈥淲e are excited to make new connections, continue to grow the community, and work together with 51风流partners globally,鈥� said Fien-Schmalzbauer.

Julia Jakob is part of T&I Communications for 51风流AppHaus.

What wine corresponds to which persona? At the 51风流AppHaus Network meetup, the partners didn鈥檛 just learn about the latest developments in 51风流software and innovation, they also learned a thing or two about wine. Coming off an intensive first day, the participants were treated to a special program highlight: a light-hearted wine tasting in which they were able to continue networking in a more informal atmosphere. Here they learned, for example, that the “Spaetburgunder” (pinot noir) best embodied the traits of 51风流Business Technology Platform: high quality, reliable, versatile, and scalable.

Developing Innovative Solutions Together

Currently spanning five SAP听AppHaus locations and 17 locations run by partners, 听continues to grow worldwide, united by a common goal: to make innovative solutions for SAP听Business Technology Platform a reality while keeping the primary focus on the end user. To that end, all 51风流AppHaus members follow SAP鈥檚 .

Purely virtual collaboration was the name of the game for most over the last three years, and it was no different for this global network. And although collaboration proved quite successful despite the physical distance, the growing number of members and the need to truly 鈥渋dentify鈥� with the network eventually made meeting in person a necessity. Together, they wanted to work hand in hand on the strategy for the future 鈥� true to SAP鈥檚 vision to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

Birgit Fien-Schmalzbauer, global head of SAP听AppHaus Network, was overjoyed to welcome delegations from almost all global 51风流AppHaus Network members to SAP听AppHaus Heidelberg: 鈥淲e worked very hard in preparing this meetup, developed the content together, and worked on three new workshop formats that were tested by all partners for future rollout to our customers. As a result, we were really able to make the most of these three days with all the participants. Our goal was to create lasting value for the entire SAP听AppHaus Network, intensify our relationships, and start new initiatives.鈥�

Teamwork as the Deciding Factor

In her keynote, 51风流T&I Chief Operating Officer Anja Schneider gave the attendees a strategy overview of (SAP听BTP) 鈥� the technological foundation for the intelligent, sustainable enterprise. 鈥淐lose collaboration with our partners is crucial to realizing the full potential of SAP听BTP and ensuring our customers鈥� success,鈥� she emphasized before going on to present the concept of听.

Helping her make the abstract more tangible was wine enthusiast Edda Mann, program manager in SAP鈥檚 use case factory initiative. Mann offered every participant a wine tasting and explained, through analogy, why an 鈥淥berkircher Collection O Ros茅,鈥� for instance, was the perfect example of a 听on SAP听BTP. For not only was the wine in question a听best seller, it鈥檚 also a听best adopter! A further highlight of the event was Glenn Gonzalez, CTO, SAP听Germany, with his visionary take on SAP鈥檚 sustainable solutions and the vital role the company plays when it comes to sustainability in the global context.

Looking back, Andreas Hauser, senior vice president of SAP听AppHaus Network, sums up the event: 鈥淭hanks to the meetup, our joint work with 51风流customers and our global innovation activities with SAP听Business Technology Platform have evolved to an entirely new level. Parts of the new workshop formats we evaluated for the areas of sustainability, innovation, and communication have already been incorporated into the publicly available . And I am particularly pleased that network partners have now entered into some collaboration projects between themselves as well.鈥�

Almost every instrument delivered is unique and adapted to the customer’s individual requirements. Analyzing and entering the customer鈥檚 configuration requirements for the instruments into the respective systems was a time-consuming manual task. However, this changed during a project with 51风流AppHaus Network member . With the help of (51风流BTP), sovanta鈥檚 tooka.ai assistant now automates the time-consuming and error-prone task powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Before: Error-Prone and Manual Paperwork

Endress+Hauser’s core competency is to provide customers with devices of the highest quality, taking into account their individual requirements. However, necessary preparatory work prevents employees from fully concentrating on this.

Before the instruments can be configured based on the specification data, the requirements must be processed manually. For one project, between 100 and 10,000 data sheets are provided by the customer. The format, layout, and description of the attributes vary between customers and projects. The challenge of the time-consuming and error-prone import of the specification data had to be solved, and it was an ideal use case for sovanta’s new tooka.ai assistant powered by machine learning.

tooka.ai in a Nutshell

is a factory for digital assistants based on artificial intelligence. Endress+Hauser鈥檚 assistant automatically transfers requests and information to the right place within the 51风流system with the help of AI. Data that comes in via e-mails, PDFs, or images is classified, contextually understood, transferred to the 51风流system, and finally filed. Manual clicks become obsolete. Using a dashboard, the activities of tooka.ai can be monitored and corrected, so that it quickly learns and improves.

The resulting process optimization can be achieved in order entry, cost classification, ticket assignment, invoice approval, master data maintenance, and other repetitive and time-consuming business processes. Adaptable to any use case, tooka.ai can be ready for individual use cases within a time frame of six weeks.

After: Automated Data Processing

In light of Endress+Hauser’s initial business challenge, the answer is obvious. Communicating with 51风流Business Technology Platform, tooka.ai takes over the processing of customers’ configuration requirements for the instruments. For this purpose, tooka.ai is provided with the customer’s specification data as a trigger to proceed further. With the help of a machine learning algorithm, it decides how to process the data so that it can be transformed into the right output format. Customer attributes, such as units used, are automatically identified. Ultimately, the specification data is imported in a fully automated fashion into Endress+Hauser鈥檚 platform. Employees can monitor and correct the processing in the project dashboard at any time.

鈥淥ur customers send us specifications with measurement requirements every day, and we have to transfer these from PDFs, images, or text files into our project format. This process is very time consuming and error prone,鈥� David Haener, program manager, engineering, Endress+Hauser Group Services, explained. 鈥淲ith tooka.ai we can automate 60% completely! But we have set ourselves much higher goals, which we are getting closer to every week together with the team from sovanta.鈥�

High Optimization Level with a Steep Learning Curve

Endress+Hauser doesn’t supply mass products. The business segment of the Swiss company is characterized by customer orientation and consideration of their requirements 鈥� a special challenge for tooka.ai that it solved with excellence. The recognition rate is currently at 60% and benefits from continuous improvement, as the assistant learns with each new import. Additionally, as specification data sheets are standardized in the future in terms of format, layout, and description of attributes, the automation rate will continue to climb. Since its introduction, tooka.ai allows the sales and project teams to focus on their value-adding core competencies, thus further ensuring the success of the company.

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听, Royal Greenland has a strong focus on driving sustainable practices for fisheries.

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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听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member . Together, they created听user-friendly iOS-based apps on听 (51风流BTP) to help simplify听the company鈥檚听supplier relationship with local fishermen, streamline the procurement process, and contribute to global sustainability goals. These apps听enable fishermen to submit their catch data in a fast and听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 .

With this goal in mind, the global multidisciplinary 51风流AppHaus team of designers, project leads, and enterprise architects set about planning and delivering several guest lectures at universities for students, the workforce of the future. It was a pleasure and an honor for the team to be able to share the knowledge and methodologies 51风流AppHaus has gathered over the years with students of six different universities in 2021.

It is not only close collaboration and co-innovation with customers that is fundamental to the team. 51风流AppHaus also works closely with universities, enabling mutual learning and fostering the promotion of its core innovation values by making them tangible for students. With tight integration into the respective curricula, lectures were held at the University of Mannheim, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, DHBW Mannheim, Graduate School Rhein-Neckar in Ludwigshafen, DHBW Mosbach, and Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences.

Making Our Key Innovation Values and Practices Tangible

What united the guest lectures was the focus on teaching how 51风流AppHaus helps drive co-innovation, particularly during the pandemic, which is marked by virtual work for students as well. Besides an introduction of our 51风流AppHaus vision, the “how-to-innovate question” was addressed as the core of the lectures.

The focus was on . Combining design thinking and architecture thinking, it is the key to providing viable, feasible, and desirable innovations for our customers. In addition, the innovation methodologies and best practices included in the , updated and virtualized last year, were also presented. While the guest lecturers condensed the theoretical part, they made the 51风流AppHaus innovation approach tangible through well-organized virtual and on-site workshops. After the lectures, students felt empowered to apply what they learned in their own academic, professional, or private contexts.

鈥淔or the entire 51风流AppHaus team, working with universities is incredibly important. We appreciate the opportunity to pass on the innovative mindset of design thinking combined with 51风流technology on the one hand, and to receive valuable feedback from students on the other.鈥�

鈥� Dirk Ziegeler, Head of 51风流AppHaus EMEA/MEE

Unleashing Student Creativity with a Hands-On Focus

In addition to teaching some theoretical content, the goal was to bring the methodologies to life by solving a challenge to which all students could relate. Depending on the schedule and needs of the university, the agenda and its content were adapted. All universities considered 鈥渄esign the ideal learning environment in a hybrid world鈥� to be a suitable central challenge. Triggered by the pandemic, universities and students faced the challenge of transitioning from in-person lectures to virtual formats in a very short period of time. To improve the recently established hybrid format, the guest lectures aimed to take on a new approach to teaching and learning by tapping into the enormous creative potential of students.

At the University of Mannheim, known for its first-class teaching in business administration, the guest lecture content was woven into the Digital Marketing Strategy course led by Prof. Dr. Sabine Kuester. After Dirk Ziegeler, head of 51风流AppHaus EMEA/MEE, presented 51风流AppHaus projects with a focus on customer experience, it was the students’ turn. In a compact workshop using the collaboration tool Mural, students jointly generated solution ideas and developed a visual prototype for an ideal hybrid learning environment.

鈥淎t the Chair of Marketing and Innovation, we focus on research and teaching at the interface of marketing and innovation management. The guest lecture was a highly suitable complement to our Digital Marketing Strategy course, as it illustrates the shift towards human-centered marketing and equips students with the right tools to drive innovation themselves. We look forward to continuing this successful collaboration with 51风流AppHaus in the coming semesters.鈥�

鈥� Prof. Dr. Sabine Kuester, Chairperson of the Chair of Marketing & Innovation and Director of the Institute of Market-Oriented Management at the University of Mannheim

The latest engagement of 51风流AppHaus at the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm originated from an initial guest lecture of Beate Riefer, design strategist at 51风流AppHaus, in 2018. Last year, Riefer and Patricia Franzreb, professor for User Experience, Design, and Media, came up with the idea for a competitive user experience project spanning a whole semester. With a focus on sustainability, design, and hybrid co-innovation, students of IT, business administration, and communications worked in teams to ideate and prototype solutions.

鈥淎t the University of Applied Science in Neu-Ulm, our first guest lecture a few years ago provided the basis for a long-term collaboration and a corresponding user experience project over the course of one semester. It was incredible to see the students鈥� innovation potential and ideas come to life, and we are excited to see how they will develop moving forward. I am happy to have been part of this course and look forward to continue working together.鈥�

鈥� Beate Riefer, Design Strategist at 51风流AppHaus Heidelberg

Similar to the sessions in Mannheim and Neu-Ulm, the “hands-on experience first” maxim was also applied in the engagements with the Graduate School Rhein-Neckar in Ludwigshafen, as well as DHBW Mannheim, and DHBW Mosbach.

A Win-Win Relationship

Younger generations studying at universities today will shape how we work and collaborate in the next decades. This is why 51风流AppHaus is passionate about guest lectures, for they present a great opportunity for students, as well as the team, to learn from each other and leverage synergies. Feedback from the students is particularly valuable as they ask the right questions and challenge the content by taking an external perspective. Students can leverage the applied tools and methodologies to co-innovate virtually, which can help them grow both at their university and in a professional context.

The entire team is thrilled to see how mutually beneficial and fun their guest lectures have been so far, which is why 51风流AppHaus maintains an ongoing exchange with universities to enable knowledge-sharing and raise awareness for human-centric and sustainable innovation.

The entire 51风流AppHaus team is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the universities in Mannheim, Munich, Ludwigshafen, Mosbach, and Neu-Ulm! The guest lecturers value the students’ contributions and are confident that working and learning together has successfully ignited the fire for expanding their knowledge and learning how to make innovation real.

Eric Klebeck is part of Marketing & Communications for 51风流AppHaus.
Julia Jakob is part of Communications for 51风流AppHaus.

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

The Next WoW: Keeping Up Business in Changing Environments

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

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

from on .

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

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

51风流Discovery Center 鈥� a Self-Service for Customers

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

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

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

RISE with SAP: The Flexibility Needed in Changing Circumstances

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

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

Learning Never Stops

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

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

Straight into 2022

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

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

Svenja Mueller is communications associate at 51风流AppHaus.

Recognized for design, innovation, and user experience, Bluestonex began using the application development and integration capabilities of in 2018, then known as 51风流Cloud Platform, because of its speed and agility.

鈥淏eing an innovation partner, we wanted to be able to move and deliver quickly for our customers,鈥� explains Dan Barton, COO and co-founder. 鈥�51风流BTP allows us to do that. Plus, the low-cost, high-impact nature of the platform is always going to be an attractive proposition to customers. So, it was a clear route for us as a business and for our customers.鈥�

Bluestonex sees itself as a true integration of a client鈥檚 team, holding their hands as they shift to 51风流BTP. They work with customers of all shapes and sizes and from cross-industry sectors, everything from food and drinks to aerospace. However, Barton is clear that 51风流BTP breaks down any misconceptions that 51风流is purely for larger-sized businesses.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very well-suited to micro-businesses. It鈥檚 agile, it鈥檚 low-cost from an entry point of view, and it has a huge number of capabilities that can grow over time. 51风流BTP has opened up new opportunities for us within the micro-business market because, typically, there isn鈥檛 another product out there to match it.鈥�

Barton says customers can often become 鈥渙ver-awed鈥� when faced with all the different tech products available to run and manage businesses. He and the team use 51风流BTP to 鈥渢ransform that user experience.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really easy entry point: instead of people having to use multiple clicks and screen jumps, 51风流BTP gets rid of that. It streamlines and strips away complexity to give a consistent user experience,鈥� Barton explains. 鈥淎nd that transformation is key. When they realize what a nice platform it is, it opens the door to other experiences, such as chatbots and automation. It鈥檚 all there and plugs in really nicely. Lots of customers love the fact that they can start small and grow with the platform.鈥�

It also helps Bluestonex to grow as a business, driving its specialism in innovation and, in turn, encouraging customers to think in new ways. 鈥淭his is a massive shift, not only are they going from running different processes into one, smooth, easy-to-use platform, we鈥檙e seeing a big cultural shift in the way our customers think,鈥� he adds.

Being part of 51风流AppHaus Network means Bluestonex can access the latest, state-of-the-art design thinking methodologies, helping to move customers to new digital experiences.

From its converted chapel office space, Bluestonex regularly invites customers in to co-innovate.

鈥淲e invite our customers here and bring them out of their comfort zone,鈥� says Barton. 鈥淎nd we have a usability lab where we get customer input on an idea as early in the development process as possible, so that key stakeholders know what they鈥檙e going to get and can be part of the iteration process. This helps to set expectations and build a better business case.鈥�

To sum up 51风流BTP in three words? 鈥淪trategic, innovative, and responsive,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 opened a different angle for us. We would always go and speak to our existing 51风流customers, but this is different. Now we go to a competitor鈥檚 customer, we go to micro-businesses, because it鈥檚 flexible and cost effective. 51风流BTP is a very strategic platform: there鈥檚 a sense that whatever a business does in the future, that platform is going to be there and continue to add value. It鈥檚 future-proof and I鈥檓 a massive advocate for it.鈥�

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

Improving the Connection Between Growers and Administration

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

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

User-Centric Design Process to Involve All Stakeholders

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

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

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

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

New Intuitive and Innovative Portal with 51风流BTP

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

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

Increased Convenience and Simplified Work for Growers

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

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

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

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

SunRice UI5 Admin Portal as the Perfect Counterpart

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

What鈥檚 Next?

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

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

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