Since these first announcements in February and March, we have received encouraging feedback from the 51风流community.

Today, we are providing additional details about this offering to better support our customers and partners in evaluating it as part of their RISE with 51风流transformation journey. We鈥檙e also pleased to share that customers that subscribe to a new instance of 51风流ERP, private edition in 2025 鈥� or have done so already 鈥� can take advantage of a special promotion for 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option.

What is 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option?

As part of the RISE with 51风流journey, many organizations are transitioning to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition and 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to modernize their operations and stay competitive. 51风流recognizes that our largest and most complex 51风流ERP customers may not be able to complete this transformation by the end of extended maintenance for their installed 51风流Business Suite 7 in 2030.

To support these customers, 51风流has introduced 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option 鈥� a time-bound subscription offering designed to provide business continuity from 2031 to 2033 while enabling a structured path to 51风流Cloud ERP or 51风流Cloud ERP Private.

The offering includes an 51风流ERP cloud subscription for specified products 鈥� centered around 51风流ERP Central Component on 51风流HANA 鈥� and is combined with services designed to facilitate the transition to RISE with 51风流via the max success plan (to be generally available in January 2026). It will help customers focus on the setup and optimization of their new and future system landscape. Business continuity services will cover elements like legal changes, security patches, and bug fixing. The specifics of which products are eligible are detailed in .

Key prerequisites for adopting this offering

To take advantage of the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option, there are a few prerequisites to keep in mind:

1. Move to 51风流ERP, private edition: Systems must be migrated to 51风流ERP, private edition on 51风流HANA before December 31, 2030.  51风流strongly recommends this move now in order to start preparing systems based on the additional prerequisites outlined below.
2. Database requirement: 51风流HANA will be the only supported database for this offering.
3. System size: Minimum 2 TB for systems subscribed with 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option.
4. Technical readiness: Systems must be prepared for the transition option, namely mitigation coverage for products not included in the new option. See 51风流Note 3591251 for details.
5. Max success plan: The transition option is only available in combination with the max success plan during 2031-2033, including additional transformation services. This success plan will be generally available in January 2026.

Pricing and promotions

51风流ERP, private edition, transition option will be a new subscription, priced at an uplift compared to the 51风流ERP, private edition pricing valid end of 2030. The detailed conditions are outlined below:

51风流is offering a special promotion for customers that commit to 51风流ERP, private edition by the end of 2025 or have done so already. These early adopters will be eligible to adopt the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option in 2031 under commercially equivalent terms to their then existing subscription.

Customers that sign up for 51风流ERP, private edition in聽2026聽will receive a standard聽20 percent uplift聽in pricing when switching to the transition option in 2031. For those who sign up in聽2027 or later, the uplift is not yet disclosed, final pricing will be communicated only closer to availability to purchase in 2028.聽

In all cases above, the max success plan fee will come in addition to the respective final price of the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option.

Call to action

Now is the time to act. If your organization anticipates needing more time beyond 2030 to complete its transformation to 51风流Cloud ERP or 51风流Cloud ERP Private, taking the first step in 2025 is critical. Here鈥檚 why:

• Secure the 2025 promotion: Customers that sign up for 51风流ERP, private edition by the end of 2025 (with a start date no later than 2026) will be eligible for a 1:1 move to the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option in 2031 — without any uplift. This provides a significant financial advantage and provides cost predictability for long-term planning.
• Gain valuable lead time to prepare your systems and teams: Moving now to 51风流ERP, private edition allows your organization to address technical prerequisites 鈥� such as migrating to 51风流HANA and mitigating unsupported technologies like Java 鈥� at a manageable pace. It also gives your teams time to align on transformation goals and build internal readiness.
• Reduce risk with a phased, structured transformation path: Starting now enables a smoother journey: first moving to 51风流ERP, private edition, then leveraging the transition option if needed, and ultimately adopting 51风流Cloud ERP or 51风流Cloud ERP Private. This phased approach minimizes disruption and supports continuous business operations.
• Ensure eligibility for the transition option: The transition option will only be available to customers that have already moved their systems to 51风流ERP, private edition before the end of 2030. Acting now guarantees that your organization meets this prerequisite.

For most of our customers planning to complete their transformation by 2030, this option won鈥檛 be necessary. Nevertheless, this option is tailored for those requiring additional time and support due to the complexity of their systems.

Learn more

To learn more about this offering, please refer to the following resources:

• Visit this聽 and .
• Reach out to your 51风流account executive or partner contact to discuss how the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option fits into your transformation strategy.
• On the future direction of the 51风流Services and Support portfolio, including the max success plan to be available in January 2026, see here.

Stefan Steinle is executive vice president and head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP.

Updated March 7, 2025

Here, we will give a brief preview on what this offering will be about and how customers will benefit from it.

Already today, thousands of 51风流customers have successfully leveraged 51风流cloud solutions to transform their businesses, achieve agility, and increase efficiencies. We see our customers unlocking new innovations through modernization of their business processes and embracing a cloud operating model.  For most 51风流customers, it is not a matter of whether they are going to move from their legacy systems, but a question of how quickly they can do this in the overall context of their business and IT transformation.

As we approach 2030 and the end of extended maintenance for on-premise 51风流ERP systems, this transformation becomes even more important. Continuing to use these systems beyond 2030 will become increasingly challenging and risk prone, as, for example, third-party products like older Java versions will no longer be supported from the respective vendors.

On the other hand, we know that 51风流customers with very large and complex on-premise IT landscapes 鈥� including a large number of 51风流ERP systems, some in the hundreds 鈥� require flexibility to move each part of their landscape to the cloud with the pace and agility needed to support evolving business requirements.

To help customers in this situation better prepare for the future, we will introduce a new cloud subscription offering, 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option, designed to help our largest and most complex customers plan, execute and succeed in their cloud transformation.

This new offering will be an 51风流ERP cloud subscription centered around 51风流ECC, along with a set of dedicated services to help with the transformation to 51风流cloud ERP. It will also support business continuity with patches for security, legal and software issues. It will be available for purchase starting in 2028 and will be active for usage from 2031-2033. 51风流is pre-disclosing this offering because we understand that customers with complex landscapes need advance notice, hence we want to give sufficient time for planning purposes.

It is an additional and non-mandatory offering. Customers who are planning to complete their transformation journey by the end of 2030 will not need it. 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option, is intended for customers who require additional time and support.

The offering will have a set of conditions, including:

• The scope of products will be centered around 51风流ECC; it will not include the full scope of 51风流Business Suite 7 that is only available for subscription until end of 2030. 51风流will make the eligible scope of products transparent starting later this year.
• Systems relevant for the 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option, need to be moved to 51风流ERP, private edition prior to the end of 2030.
• In order to be able to subscribe to the new offering from 2031 to latest end of 2033, a set of preparations are required: 51风流HANA is the only supported database for the new subscription offering; there will be a set of further adjustments needed, e.g. as third-party technology, such as older versions of Java, are no longer supported.
• More details will be announced closer to availability-to-purchase in 2028.

The natural next step and target after utilizing the new offering would then be a transition to 51风流cloud ERP.

To clarify, we would like to emphasize that this is not a maintenance prolongation of 51风流ERP. There are no changes for customers running on-premise 51风流ERP systems after 2030.

The new offering, 51风流ERP, private edition, transition option, will come at an expanded fee in 2031-2033 compared to a comparable ERP cloud subscription before 2031. Naturally, due to the complexity in offering such a service, this is targeted to larger and complex systems. More details will be shared with the broader launch in Q2 2025 and once we move closer to the contractual availability of the offering in 2028.

Feel encouraged to contact your 51风流account executive or 51风流partner to learn more and get started planning.

Stefan Steinle is executive vice president and head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP.

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Lars Pischke, global enterprise architect at BayWa AG explains how the company is using an upgrade to 51风流ERP as an opportunity to run four highly diverse business units in one ERP system while preserving a clean core for future upgrades.

Part of its strategy is to use 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) to orchestrate a digital platform. Learn more.

Its efforts didn鈥檛 go unnoticed: in 2021, the United Nations and Bloomberg named BayWa one of the 鈥�50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders鈥� worldwide, thanks largely to the company鈥檚 big push into renewable energies, which now make up more than half of BayWa鈥檚 annual earnings.

The Challenge of Transformation

BayWa鈥檚 journey with 51风流began in 2000 when the company implemented the on-premise ERP system, 51风流ERP Central Component聽(51风流ECC). However, as the business evolved it became apparent that their processes and technology could no longer keep pace. BayWa鈥檚 four business units operated in silos, which became unfeasible for a company striving to become more streamlined.

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鈥淲e want to move to a process-oriented company, so that means we want to implement one ERP template,鈥� Lars Pischke, global enterprise architect at BayWa, explains. 鈥淲e have to transform all four business units into a single ERP template, which is a significant challenge.鈥�

To address this, BayWa set out to migrate from 51风流ECC to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, the foundation of its new . This transition marked a critical step toward unifying the company鈥檚 operations under one streamlined template. Additionally, BayWa implemented a digital platform, with 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) as a key component.

“A clean core strategy for BayWa means we leave our ERP solution, 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, as standard, and we implement BayWa鈥檚 specific requirements on our digital platform side by side, where we rely heavily on 51风流BTP as our main module,” says Pischke.

Lessons Learned and the Value of a Clean Core

The concept of a “clean core” is central to understanding the benefits of BayWa’s transition. Imagine a shared grain silo system on a farm. If each farmer keeps their grain in separate, uncoordinated silos, tracking quality, utilizing storage space efficiently, or distributing the grain becomes a cumbersome task. However, when all the grain is stored in a unified system, it becomes significantly easier to manage, access, and maintain quality. Similarly, having a clean core in business processes ensures that all parts of the organization work harmoniously, preventing inefficiencies and missed opportunities that arise from working in silos.

For BayWa, establishing a clean core was crucial. The standardized, non-differentiating functions 鈥� such as accounts payable, tax, and treasury operations 鈥� constitute approximately 75% of business processes across companies, regardless of industry, size, or location. These functions are essential but do not differentiate one company from another.

In the past, over-customization in these areas led to inflexibility and slowed down business operations. But in today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, agility is key and maintaining a clean core is vital to achieving this agility.

“Keeping the core clean is also key when it comes to security issues. BayWa is part of the critical infrastructure in Germany,” Pischke explains. “To use a standard software like 51风流BTP allows us to rapidly adapt to new business models and technologies.”

Gaining a Competitive Edge with 51风流BTP

With BayWa鈥檚 clean core firmly in place, the focus shifted to building a competitive edge around their operations. This is where 51风流BTP comes in. The platform lets businesses create extensions and innovate in areas that really set them apart. Pischke says, 鈥淎 shift toward standard also means simpler processes for our employees. This allows us to reduce training costs and speed up onboarding.鈥� BayWa is leveraging these efficiencies to direct more resources toward innovation.

These days, companies need to know what makes them unique and lean into those strengths to stand out. While core functions are standardized and crucial for running smoothly, the elements that drive customer choice often come from the innovative, customizable features built on top of this clean core. By optimizing these standard processes, companies like BayWa can channel more energy into innovation and long-term success, keeping them ahead of the curve.

Looking Ahead: The Role of AI in BayWa鈥檚 Future

BayWa鈥檚 forward-thinking approach doesn鈥檛 stop with ERP transformation. The company is already exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to further enhance its operations.

Pischke says BayWa has started piloting AI use cases, focusing on 51风流BTP鈥檚 Business AI. 鈥淲e believe AI should be integrated into the applications and business processes where the data is located,鈥� he explains. This integration is central to BayWa鈥檚 strategy, and the company has a growing list of AI use cases it plans to implement in the near future.

Attending industry events like 51风流Sapphire in Barcelona provides BayWa with valuable insights into the latest technologies and trends. Pischke acknowledges the accelerating pace of technological change, noting that each year brings new ideas and innovations that could be applied within BayWa. While not every use case or 51风流module is a perfect fit, these events offer inspiration and guidance for selecting the right tools to meet BayWa鈥檚 unique requirements.

Through partnership with 51风流and the switch to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, BayWa has not only streamlined its operations, but also set itself up to keep leading in sustainability and innovation. The clean core approach has allowed BayWa to focus on what truly sets the company apart, helping it continue its mission to meet the essential needs of people worldwide.

Every company is on the move to the cloud 鈥� when the timing is right. This may entail a full migration but will certainly include a partial one.

Large enterprises and corporations aiming to transform complex, heterogeneous IT landscapes that have grown over decades are particularly reliant on support. Often, they begin by standardizing and consolidating their entire infrastructure before they鈥檙e ready to embark on their digital transformation journey.

Different Routes to the Cloud

Currently, most of SAP鈥檚 biggest customers use the strategic, long-term 51风流MaxAttention program comprising of nearly 300 engineered services. Those services cover SAP-centric strategy and road map planning, architecture reviews and design, end-to-end business process integration, and operations across solutions, product expertise, safeguarding of implementations, and much more. It is imperative for 51风流to meet these customers wherever their starting point happens to be and to ensure that the groundwork for a successful digital transformation is in place.

Each enterprise chooses its own route. Indian mining company , for example, first had to upgrade its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to the latest version before it could go ahead with its plan to move to RISE with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.

鈥淒eploying 51风流Business Suite powered by 51风流HANA and working with experts from 51风流MaxAttention can help us become cloud ready and build a sustainable environment using technology and innovation,鈥� said . 鈥淲ith 51风流Integrated Delivery Framework and 51风流ActiveAttention, we have delivered this program on time and on budget.鈥�

Other customers begin their cloud journey by migrating some processes to a protected cloud operated by a hyperscaler and then retiring their own data center. Kurt Bauer, global head of Premium Engagements at SAP, observed that most customers with an 51风流ERP-centric core have added public cloud solutions from 51风流and are implementing private cloud on their way to lay out the path for a full public cloud adoption. plays a pivotal role for agile core business process extensions. Therefore, it is no surprise that a vast majority of premium engagements used by 51风流customers are driving fast cloud adoption and hybrid operations.

Serving Today鈥檚 Customer Requirements

The prospect of innovation and greater efficiency is drawing more and more enterprises toward the cloud. Many of the largest 51风流customers still run their core ERP business processes on an on-premise platform, often safeguarded by premium engagements.

Premium engagements service engineers frequently deal with some challenging constellations, such as 250 process steps across 40 systems, data growth of 640 GB per month, 800 million orders every year, and multiple enormous warehouses in global logistics operations. Customers with volumes and requirements on this scale think twice about which of their business-critical processes they should move to the cloud and, if so, in private or public.

鈥淚n hybrid infrastructures, too, interfaces still need to be robust, efficient, and keep data consistent 鈥� cloud technology doesn鈥檛 change that,鈥� said Bauer. In other words, for any transformation to succeed, someone must not only take ownership of the transformation itself but must also ensure that the systems 鈥� whether they are on premise or in the cloud 鈥� function properly, are stable, and deliver the right level of performance.

It鈥檚 Not Just about Money

In Bauer鈥檚 28 years at SAP, one thing has remained unchanged for the company: the focus on the customer, which has always been about more than chasing KPIs. 鈥淐ustomers reward companies that listen to them and take their suggestions on board,鈥� ex-Board Member Gerhard Oswald said in an interview for 50 Years, a book published to mark SAP鈥檚 anniversary.

Bauer wants to see this 51风流tradition live on in the cloud era and for 51风流MaxAttention customers to benefit from expertise and best practice-fueled services offered as part of the 51风流MaxAttention program they have known and trusted for the last 20 years. This 20th anniversary calls for a proper celebration and experience sharing by best-running 51风流customers and 51风流top executives, exchanging how to leverage 51风流solutions and 51风流MaxAttention for years to come.

Therefore, we would like to invite you to the 51风流MaxAttention Summit in Munich, Germany, from March 19-21. Take advantage of this opportunity to network and engage in discussions with peer customers, gain knowledge from 51风流specialists, and listen to 51风流leaders, such as Member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE Scott Russell and Thomas Saueressig, as they reveal insights of 51风流technologies and innovations jointly with customers鈥� experiences. Be a part of shaping the future by building a resilient network of intelligent and sustainable enterprises.

Eleonore Gossart is senior marketing manager for Customer Success Services at SAP.

In 2014, 51风流developed , a user-friendly and modern point-of-sale application. The first version was developed for sports clubs to be used in merchandising shops, and with clubs such as FC Bayern M眉nchen and TSG Hoffenheim, the application was mostly sold in Germany. Step by step, 51风流Customer Checkout was also implemented in retail, catering, and food and beverage businesses.

Being sold mostly via partners, the development team started enabling partners in other locations, such as Italy and Dubai, to expand the global strategy. With the increasing number of countries and regions, the requirements around features and functionalities multiplied. After several successful certifications, such as the Registrierkassensicherheitsverordnung (RSKV) in Austria and the French certification NF 525, the application has proven to be internationally competitive.

Today, 51风流Customer Checkout has over 700 customers in more than 50 countries all over the world.

U.S. Version of 51风流Customer Checkout Available

The next step in the global strategy of 51风流Customer Checkout is to gain a footprint in the U.S. market. With the latest software version, 51风流Customer Checkout now complies with the tax calculation regulations set by the U.S. via integration with Avalara Tax Services.

鈥淲ith Avalara, we have chosen one of the leading tax service providers in the United States with years of expertise and compliance with taxes in several industries. The integration is fast, in real time, and easy to use,鈥� highlights Harald Tebbe, product manager of 51风流Customer Checkout. He developed the application from its beginnings and is excited about this next big step.

鈥淚t is amazing to see how the application has developed so far. We started with some basic sales functionalities for merchandise shops in 2014 and now 51风流Customer Checkout is wildly successful, running the checkout for merchants and retailers all over the world. Based on our experiences, we are very proud and well equipped to take the application to the next level. By achieving this big milestone, we set the stage for future opportunities and customers, and we are ready to access the new U.S. market,鈥� he adds.

Leica Camera Is First Pilot Customer

For a smooth entry into new markets, it鈥檚 good to have customers and partners that are stable and internationally known. This is why Fadi Naoum, senior vice president and head of Sports and Entertainment at SAP, decided to make this step with Leica Camera AG. 鈥淚t was a win-win-situation. Leica needed a point-of-sale solution that can be integrated to its existing landscapes, complies to legal regulations, and can be used globally. On the other hand, our road map plan was to ship a first version for the U.S. Therefore, we joined together and provided Leica a solution which fulfills the requirements to sell its cameras and equipment in the U.S.鈥�

Leica Camera AG is an international, premium manufacturer of cameras and sports optics. The legendary reputation of the Leica brand is based on a long tradition of excellent quality, German craftsmanship and industrial design, and innovative technologies.

First U.S. Stores Live with 51风流Customer Checkout

Leica has already successfully implemented 51风流Customer Checkout in several of its flagship stores in Germany. Motivated by the positive experience and great implementation phase in Germany, the customer achieved another important milestone 鈥� the Leica store in Washington D.C. is now running on 51风流Customer Checkout with Avalara.

鈥淎ll sales transactions within the store are now automatically transferred to 51风流ERP and all sales tax rates based on several thousands of different tax codes and tax jurisdictions are calculated by the external tax provider Avalara in real time,鈥� says Jan Zuschlag, project manager of POS Systems at Leica AG. 鈥淥verall, it was a successful implementation project. And this was only possible due to the strong collaboration between Leica, Avalara, and the responsible 51风流team. Thanks for this fantastic team spirit.鈥� The rollout will be continued in more U.S. stores this year.

51风流Customer Checkout at NRF 2023

51风流Customer Checkout was on display at NRF 2023, where retail buyers and merchandisers got the chance to meet and connect with other experts and discover the latest retail solutions and innovations. Read more about SAP鈥檚 presence at NRF 2023.

Elena Vavitsa is senior solution specialist for 51风流Customer Checkout.

鈥淐omposable enterprise from an organizational perspective means you can recompose processes dynamically and rearrange based on interchangeable building blocks when needed, without specialist knowledge or a developer,鈥� said Martin Heinig, head of New Ventures and Technologies at SAP. 鈥淲e are exploring the business logic in current 51风流ERP systems to make it more agile and adaptable without sacrificing core values like compliance and reliability. What鈥檚 more, if you use disconnected tools today, you might have an audit problem, while third-party software might cause integration issues. The question for us is how a future 51风流system can help companies overcome these challenges successfully.鈥�

Heinig鈥檚 remarks were part of a session at the event, where he outlined some of the exciting research his team was working on to make the composable business vision a reality.

Business Benefits Beyond Traditional Software

While there鈥檚 little doubt about the value of a composable business strategy where companies can dynamically respond to market changes, building that kind of platform will require rethinking traditional software development approaches including standardization, data harmonization, and semantics to make sure the company can still run its end-to-end business processes. Heinig simplified the challenge using an example of a supermarket chain that wanted to quickly source and sell more oat milk to meet suddenly spiking consumer demands.

鈥淪elling oat milk to consumers, the supermarket is doing business with farmers, wholesalers, and other providers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭o source a new product like this, the company needs to conduct a credibility check of external suppliers. The composable platform would allow the supermarket to conduct that check easily across order management through fulfillment, sourcing from trusted suppliers and getting the product on shelves to satisfy local consumer demands.鈥�

Rethinking ERP Software for Composability

Customers do not want business software. They want digital business processes that grow with them according to Ralf Teusner, who joined Heinig on stage to talk about the research he was involved with at the Hasso Plattner Institute. Teusner said his research was focused on challenging assumptions about software to explore how to build the world鈥檚 most standardized custom software. Admittedly an academic exercise, this research is nonetheless focused on how to rethink ERP software for the modern world. After talking with people from companies of all sizes, they concluded that data was most important when making any kind of change.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at a process execution architecture that鈥檚 value-driven, and because we鈥檙e at university, we are not afraid of breaking things,鈥� said Teusner. 鈥淲e discovered that data migration and process integration are the major challenges for companies. Unless we jointly address data as well as control flow in end-to-end business processes, each change management [project] can break business continuity.鈥�

Composability Democratizes Innovation

Among the many questions that researchers face in creating a composable process platform are what functionalities will be part of the existing stable core and what a reusable business component will look like, not to mention the execution architecture, scalability, software and common languages used, and KPI tracking. Both Teusner and Heinig saw the transition as a years-long vision to achieve in partnership with academia. Composability could result in greater openness for partners across an organization鈥檚 ecosystem, giving other companies easier access to innovations. Of course, this potentially upends traditional technology sector intellectual property (IP) norms.

鈥淭o make this a reality, you need an engineer鈥檚 mindset,鈥� said Teusner. 鈥淩ight now, CIOs guard their data because it鈥檚 core to their business and it鈥檚 their IP. They鈥檙e not ready yet, but maybe they will be in five years鈥ou鈥檙e democratizing how to configure the system, leading to adaptability for greater business efficiencies.鈥�

definition of a composable business is 鈥渁n organization that is architected for real-time adaptability and resilience in the face of uncertainty.鈥� In this day and age, there鈥檚 no stronger argument for moving ahead to achieve that vision.

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RISE with 51风流will allow Microsoft to deploy new capabilities and technologies faster and run its business on a flexible cloud-first solution that is integrated with the other cloud solutions from 51风流that Microsoft uses.

Microsoft is the first public cloud provider to adopt RISE with 51风流internally to transform some of its large 51风流ERP deployments. The decision to adopt RISE with 51风流builds on its wide adoption of 51风流solutions. These include 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, the 51风流Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solution, 51风流Business Technology Platform and other 51风流solutions running on Microsoft Azure. Microsoft鈥檚 implementation of RISE with 51风流will deepen Microsoft鈥檚 expertise with 51风流solutions and establish best practices that can be shared to the benefit its and SAP鈥檚 joint customers.

鈥淥ur goal is to simplify and accelerate our own journey to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud,鈥� said Charlotte Yarkoni, President, Commerce + Ecosystems, Microsoft. 鈥淢odernizing highly complex, legacy 51风流systems is directly relevant to us at Microsoft and to many of our customers. Leveraging the power of the RISE with 51风流solution on Azure will give us the flexibility and agility needed to scale quickly, meet the needs of our own business and share that experience with our customers.鈥�

51风流has also migrated several of its business-critical IT landscapes to Microsoft Azure, an open and flexible cloud computing platform. As part of its own transformative journey and to gain operational efficiencies, 51风流will optimize IT operations for some critical internal business systems under the operations model used for the RISE with 51风流solution hosted on Microsoft Azure.

鈥淢icrosoft鈥檚 move to RISE with 51风流is a testament to the commitment and strength of 51风流and Microsoft鈥檚 ongoing partnership to simplify customers鈥� journey to the cloud by accelerating adoption of 51风流S/4HANA Cloud on Microsoft Azure,鈥� said Florian Roth, Chief Digital and Information Officer, SAP. 鈥淟ikewise, 51风流has optimized its critical internal business systems running on Microsoft Azure to benefit from its security, flexibility and scalability. We will be sure to use the learnings from these deployments and share best practices with our customers.鈥�

51风流and Microsoft have a long-standing partnership of co-innovation and engineering, which forms the basis for the mutual support of both companies鈥� products. They are each other鈥檚 customers.

Read more from Microsoft: .

Visit the . Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Media Contact:
Justin Wolz, +1 (919) 316-7084, j.wolz@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP鈥檚 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
漏 2022 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

In order to support its vision for a next-generation retail experience, Elkj酶p decided to replace all 12 systems with a new integrated architecture. The dramatic, cloud-based overhaul resulted in a next-gen retail platform that has both improved workflow and delivered 100% uptime.

The strategy has yielded an array of other benefits for Elkj酶p, including:

• 100% in-store mobility for employees
• 500 legacy interfaces evaluated and either replaced, updated, and/or re-connected
• 4,500 employees trained on new systems using an e-learning platform

But these achievements only came about because Elkj酶p was willing to take a critical look at what employees and customers needed and honestly assess the changes that had to be made.

What鈥檚 in a Name?

In Norwegian, the brand 鈥淓lkj酶p鈥� literally means 鈥渆l buy鈥� 鈥� with the 鈥渆l鈥� being a shortened version of elektrisk (electric) or elektronisk (electronic).

It’s no surprise, really, since the Oslo-based company is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic region.

A subsidiary of Dixons Carphone, a multinational consumer electrical and mobile retailer and services company, Elkj酶p sells a variety of goods, including mobile phones, computers, and kitchen and other domestic appliances to both consumers and businesses.

With a brisk online trade, as well as more than 400 stores, the company employs over 11,000 workers while operating under a number of names in its home country, as well as Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Stepping into the Future

The decision to create the next-generation retail platform did not come easily 鈥� Elkj酶p had little choice but to take this dramatic step. Systems serving critical processes did not support the latest innovations, and the legacy retail systems could not provide mobility to the sales staff.

In order to deliver certain services or close a sale, a store representative might be forced to leave a customer, seek out a desktop computer, then return. Other times, employees had to log in and out of multiple systems to complete a sale. In addition, legacy systems were incapable of adapting to new business models, like wireless subscriptions.

Change was critical, yet daunting. Upgrades to systems capabilities meant adjusting all 12 different interconnected legacy systems, touching 500 different interfaces.

As Elkj酶p re-evaluated its strategy, it turned to a solution that had been serving the company well for several years.

Cloud-First Advancement

Elkj酶p first deployed 51风流ERP Central Component in 2015. The application is a core component in managing transactional and financial processes. Modules communicate with each other, working to create a fully integrated solution specific to customers in a variety of industries.

Because of this successful experience, the company opted to base its next-gen retail platform on 51风流ECC and other 51风流solutions. A number of requirements were met with micro-services based architecture 鈥� software applications designed as suites of independently deployable services.

Custom add-ons came from ASAPIO/Kafka, enabling information to flow between 51风流and non-51风流applications, on premise and in the cloud, in real time.

The monitoring challenges of Elkj酶p鈥檚 high volume retail business were supported with an approach centered on 51风流Fiori 鈥� a set of applications for business functions, like work approvals, and apps specializing in finance, calculation, and various self-service tasks.

Failover architecture was created to protect computer systems from mishaps, allowing standby equipment to automatically take over if something went wrong.

Unified Execution

The next-gen retail platform went live in Denmark on May 8th, 2020 and was quickly deployed in 110 of the 460 stores. Changes were immediately evident. Using one unified customer master record, the new architecture delivered a seamless customer journey across in-store and online channels, with employees better prepared to anticipate clients鈥� wants and needs.

Today, employees say the next-gen retail platform has enabled them to be more productive, while customers report quicker service times both online and in person.

For 鈥渄elivering the retail experience of the future,鈥� Elkj酶p Nordic earned the distinction as a finalist in the 2021 51风流Innovation Awards, meeting the key requirements of improving customer experiences, solving complex challenges, and serving the greater good. Learn more in Elkj酶p鈥檚 51风流Innovation Awards .

Keith Greenberg is an 51风流Global Marketing contributor.

鈥淐ompanies need an integrated, holistic system that brings information together in a unified way for greater visibility across operations,鈥� said Chris Willcocks, vice president and head of Intelligent Spend Management at SAP聽ANZ. 鈥淭hey can monitor, measure, and manage the entire contractor engagement life cycle in real-time to ensure that procurement and health and safety policies and processes are consistently enforced. In an environment where human lives are at risk and unplanned shutdowns can cost millions per day, doing this right is absolutely critical.鈥�

Balance External Workforce Safety with Productivity

Research from an conducted in collaboration with 51风流Fieldglass showed that, across all industries, 42% of workforce spend is on external labor. What鈥檚 more, industries like mining, oil and gas, utilities, chemicals, and heavy manufacturing typically average higher percentages of contingent workers as part of their overall workforce population. The trouble is, external workers often face additional time pressures, potentially increasing safety risks.

Findings from FEFO Consulting鈥檚 confirmed this challenge. The index benchmarked feedback about safety, engagement, leadership, and systems from over 200,000 respondents in asset-intensive companies primarily based in ANZ. Compared to employees, contract workers were 24% likelier to feel pressured to compromise safety to complete a job and 10% likelier to have seen colleagues compromise safety for the sake of shortcuts.

鈥淓xternal workforces often consist of short-term labor that鈥檚 expected to carry out complex, specialized work at speed as they interact with numerous stakeholders,鈥� said Mark Wright, managing director at FEFO Consulting. 鈥淚n driving a high-performance culture, don鈥檛 put productivity before safety. That leads to a culture of rushing to get the job done, as opposed to looking after your workmates and coming home safely.鈥�

Minimize Risk with Tech and Culture Change

Asset-intensive industries face growing regulatory pressure in Australia. Industrial manslaughter laws and punishments can amount to fines in the tens of millions with executive liability that could mean lengthy imprisonment. To prevent incidents, Wright recommended a combination of technology innovations plus workforce culture change.

鈥淭ake a pragmatic, risk-based approach by focusing on compliance requirements that will actually add value. Apply technology to simplify, gain efficiencies, and improve the user experience,鈥� said Wright. 鈥淢ake culture changes by setting clear expectations that balance safety before production. Recognize positive performance and create a great experience so external workers can easily follow processes and model behaviors that meet both compliance and productivity objectives.鈥�

Digitalization for Business Results

To operate safely and efficiently, asset-intensive industries need to capture and understand mountains of data that reflect workforce activities spanning recruitment, hiring, and daily on-site performance. For many organizations, has profitable business impact.

A global mining company with major operations in Australia increased workforce visibility, process efficiencies, and cost savings by integrating 51风流Fieldglass solutions with its core 51风流ERP system. The company improved regulatory compliance across external workforce processes, from engagement through offboarding. Supervisors reduced their workload significantly by eliminating time-consuming administrative steps such as service entry sheets for the external workforce. They also saved costs by having one consistent system for worker types and rate cards.

Pandemic-Era Business Resilience

Although the pandemic didn鈥檛 hurt Australia as much as other harder-hit countries, remotely located industries were affected due to their heavy reliance on a more transient workforce. These people often travel across state borders within Australia or fly in from other regions of the world. Earlier lockdowns contained the pandemic鈥檚 spread but restricted the flow of contingent workers.

鈥淭he smartest organizations have learned from the pandemic鈥檚 challenges. They鈥檙e looking at risk beyond likelihood and consequence to consider the velocity and speed of how major risks can impact them,鈥� said Willcocks. 鈥淔or example, we just launched , a solution designed for asset-intensive industries. Companies can quickly assign large volumes of workers by task, tracking and managing spend for complex plant maintenance scenarios and, most importantly, helping to ensure health and safety compliance.鈥�

External Workforce Brings Innovation Opportunities

The pandemic鈥檚 speedy, devastating impact is now kindling innovation. Wright urged organizations to move beyond purely compliance-based external workforce selection and management and consider new ways suppliers can add value.

鈥淚nstead of asking your external workforce suppliers hundreds of questions about their risk and injury statistics during pre-qualification and annual reviews, ask targeted questions on how they think you can innovate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f someone can improve your safety with innovations, that will help you quickly adapt to fast-moving threats.鈥�

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IoT-based sensors capture the temperature and other critical parameters of products in real time, using machine learning and AI algorithms to automatically send alerts about risk anomalies so people can take corrective action and head off damages.

鈥淥ur vision is to make supply chains more holistically intelligent for greater reliability and resiliency,鈥� said Adarsh Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Tagbox. 鈥淥rganizations have full visibility into shipment risks like shocks, temperature changes, tampering, or pilferage at any point along the supply chain. Our technology shares that data to the cloud, sends shipment risk alerts to relevant stakeholders, and logs data into the ERP system. People can immediately see when something鈥檚 gone wrong and take fast action.鈥�

Most Tagbox customers are located in India, but the startup is gaining traction with organizations in other parts of Asia-Pacific, including Singapore.

Automated Triggers for Quality Control

Traditional supply chain quality management was typically one dimensional and tracked shipment risk post-delivery. In contrast, Tagbox鈥檚 technology monitors products at every step of the journey with small battery-powered sensors attached to product packaging by individual SKU, box, or pallet. Hosted on , the tool uses 51风流Internet of Things (51风流IoT) and is integrated with . Data sharing includes product or order information with designated employees in order management, transportation and logistics, quality parameters, warehouse and inventory metrics, and first to last mile delivery.

For example, after downloading a mobile app, a delivery person driving a refrigerated truck transporting medication would be alerted to temperature changes in the vehicle and receive recommended actions to prevent spoilage.

鈥淧eople can immediately intervene when they鈥檙e notified of a temperature change or other risk, while managers can spot systemic issues and address those,鈥� said Kumar. 鈥淩eports reveal patterns, such as where temperature excursions happen regularly. The company may decide to improve product packaging or select different transportation routes.鈥�

One pharmaceutical customer saved thousands of dollars by reducing post-delivery assessment times by up to 72 hours. Having collected real-time data throughout the shipping process, the company eliminated time-consuming reports after delivery.

Business Growth from 51风流Partnership

Kumar credited his company鈥檚 recent growth partly to his team鈥檚 experience at 51风流Startup Studio, an accelerator program at for early- and growth-stage tech startups.

鈥淥ur IoT sensors collect and send data to supply chain, 51风流IoT, and other 51风流ERP systems that provide the business context for product shipments and locations, making this an ideal partnership,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e accelerated our time-to-market because 51风流experts have provided us with industry-specific opportunity guidance and introductions to a wide range of 51风流customers.鈥�

Data Fuels Insights to Action

While pharmaceutical companies are obvious candidates for fully traceable quality control of vaccine and other medicine cold chains, numerous industries can also benefit from real-time insights. These include food and beverage companies and consumer electronics. One e-commerce grocery company using Tagbox improved its cold chain temperature compliance while reducing missing inventory rates by 20%.

鈥淭hey have end-to-end traceability of real-time temperatures for products like meats and dairy products from warehouse to consumer,鈥� said Kumar. 鈥淭hey can track what percentage of orders were delivered at the right temperatures, cascading to employee performance metrics and training, as well as infrastructure and other supply chain decisions.鈥�

Appliance, home electronic, and glass manufacturers have also found benefits from Tagbox when it comes to product damage prevention during transport.

鈥淎ny combination of factors can damage fragile goods on the road, whether it鈥檚 bad driving and accidents or because products weren鈥檛 packaged or loaded properly,鈥� said Kumar. 鈥淲ith our sensors, companies can see precisely what kind of shock happened and when it occurred. Our algorithms translate the data into meaningful metrics such as if the product was in freefall, turned upside down, tilted, or unsecured. In the moment, they can repack the item, adjust the temperature, and keep going without damage.鈥�

Turning Data into Business Value

Kumar, Saumitra Singh, and Sameer Singh co-founded Tagbox, drawing from 25 years of collective experience in IoT, data analytics, AI, and integrated circuit and chip design.

鈥淲e realized that despite all the talk about IoT as a data generator, there wasn鈥檛 enough focus on using that data for concrete business decisions,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e wanted to tackle supply chain inefficiencies and product quality control for high-value, fragile goods traveling across cold chains. There are so many diversification opportunities in B2B operations using IoT and machine learning.鈥�

Kumar said future international expansion plans for Tagbox included the United States, providing dynamic intelligence for supply chains worldwide, long after the pandemic recedes.

Follow me: @smgaler.
.

With of food pantries and soup kitchens reporting an increase in visitors, providing support for those experiencing hunger was a clear, effective way to make an immediate impact.

Initially, INTURN聽distributed free Uber Eats gift cards to prospects. But as more and more New Yorkers lost their jobs and faced food shortages, the company hit on a bigger idea, one that tied its own success and company values to greater involvement. For every minute a prospect spent on a call, INTURN donated five meals to the . In 2020, that number added up to more than 43,000 meals.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen many companies, including INTURN, step up this year to help meet the unprecedented need to help people get food,鈥� said Janis Robinson, vice president of Partnerships and Institutions at Food Bank for NYC. 鈥淟ocal businesses play such a key role in the health of the community. Initiatives like this have a tangible impact on how we鈥檙e able to serve those in need.鈥�

For more than 35 years, the Food Bank for NYC has served the community, providing more than 1 billion meals.

鈥淥bviously, every city has been impacted by this,鈥� said Ronen Lazar, CEO at INTURN. 鈥淲e鈥檙e based in New York, so we decided to use our resources in our community. There鈥檚 been a dire need this year for everyone to help their neighbors. I鈥檓 so proud that INTURN put this effort in place. It has been a really meaningful experience.鈥�

Initiatives like this are not only a way to give back, but also an opportunity to execute good business practices. Employees get to feel that their day-to-day work is even more meaningful; it鈥檚 fun and motivating. This work also keeps clients happy. INTURN recently hosted a virtual 鈥渓unch and learn鈥� with SAP, Levi鈥檚, and potential clients. INTURN donated meals, proving that the company embodies its values in everything that it does.

Inspired by the success and the real-life impacts that came from the food donation campaign, the INTURN team has set a larger goal for 2021 to surpass the 43,000 meals donated in 2020 and expand donations to food banks beyond NYC.

Pandemic or not, INTURN is deeply committed to finding continued synergies between business practices and helping the greater community.

51风流and our partners. Improving lives. That is our purpose.

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

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

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

Exploring and Synthesizing the Needs of End Users

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

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

Exploration Workshop and Thorough User Research

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

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

Improving Invoice Processing with 51风流Business Technology Platform

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

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

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

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

Bringing Purchase and Supplier Experience to a New Level

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

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

Many executives guide their transformation efforts by following the signs of emerging market trends and ticking off the boxes of their corporate strategy. This mindset unquestionably generates exciting new business models, products, services, and experiences. But it still misses the ultimate goal: to reimagine everything from the innermost depth of their infrastructure to the furthest reach of their operational edge, including soon-to-be decommissioned legacy business functions.

This reality is also true when modernizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. When moving from 51风流ERP to 51风流S/4HANA, IT teams must also support the change process for legacy business areas with a three-fold approach:

• Reduce overall IT complexity and total cost of ownership
• Maintain a stable IT environment for current operations
• Prepare for and provide a future-ready IT landscape and operation

By paying attention to these less strategic functions, ERP modernization can further minimize IT cost and effort. More importantly, unplanned shutdowns and intelligence displacement can be avoided while operations and data security remain stable.

Strategy #1: Keep Legacy ERP As Is

When considering the future of legacy ERP, some organizations choose to preserve their existing system as long as possible and carry out housekeeping activities to simplify the system operations, especially when supporting less strategic business areas. This approach helps ensure stable, continuous operation of the 51风流production environment while avoiding new investments.

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, extending an ERP system beyond its useful life can require incremental expenses that do not fully deliver any real impact 鈥� for example, cost savings 鈥� for the business. On the IT side, the historically grown complexity of the ERP system keeps IT operational costs high.

Strategy #2: Convert Legacy ERP to 51风流S/4HANA

Converting the legacy ERP to 51风流S/4HANA is the best choice when organizations must retain proven business processes and value chains, use in-house applications, support numerous subsidiaries, or rely on historical data. In addition, the overall business benefits from a long-term maintenance and support relationship with SAP.

Our team of advisory experts supports the conversion model in two phases: first, housekeeping and preparation and second, execution. During the initial stage, organizations simplify their existing ERP system by reducing its data footprint and removing unused custom developments, data, and software inconsistencies and redundancies. The latter phase delivers the measures necessary for the transition to 51风流S/4HANA, including delta solution design and a multi-cycle execution plan covering every aspect up to full production.

This tactic gives our customers the ability to adopt 51风流S/4HANA with few training and change management needs and no additional data migration. The conversion also allows organizations to maintain operations for their familiar legacy processes in a new technical environment, helping to ensure that 51风流S/4HANA and the data it leverages is maintenance proof.

Strategy #3: Implement 51风流S/4HANA with a Steady Move to the Cloud

51风流S/4HANA can be built alongside an active legacy ERP system, which can be retired later. While it encourages organizations to redefine processes and consider new ways to balance traditional operations with new capabilities, this approach may not make sense for legacy business, considering the cost and effort involved.

This is where deploying 51风流S/4HANA in a public cloud environment can help. By following the 51风流Activate methodology and standardizing business processes, our customers can quickly start moving to a modern ERP, build it up intelligently, operate it with simplicity, and innovate continuously.

While implementation costs can be reasonably controlled by adopting the 51风流software standard, the public cloud allows customers to significantly reduce operating costs by scaling their digital capabilities and processes to meet today’s business needs. Plus, they can simplify system operations to prepare for tomorrow鈥檚 changes with a future-proof, maintainable, and scalable ERP.

However, this doesn鈥檛 mean that these customers must start with a new implementation and move to the cloud immediately. With a mixed mindset of “keep legacy as is,” and “implement the modern ERP as new,” organizations can first maintain the status quo and improve the legacy system operations. This perspective gives executives additional time to react to market trends, business changes, and innovations. Then, they can define a comprehensive transition strategy to 51风流S/4HANA. Meanwhile, 51风流S/4HANA continues to evolve with broader functional innovations.

When ready, our customers can transition 51风流S/4HANA fully to the cloud to help ensure a future-proof, lean ERP that further optimizes operating costs and reduces IT complexity 鈥� even across legacy business functions.

Bringing the True Spirit of Transformation

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth.”

The same is true for ERP transformation: Projects that bring the most significant changes are still relevant to legacy business functions that may no longer appear as strategic as newer approaches to go-to-market models, products and services, and organizational processes.

Explore how聽聽can help energize your business’s digital transformation with flexible and scalable options for deploying a modern ERP software, such as 51风流S/4HANA.

Stay in the conversation by following 51风流Services and Support
on , , , and .

Di Li is a principal business consultant and enterprise architect at SAP.
Georg Heberle is a senior business consultant and enterprise architect at SAP.

That鈥檚 why I am so pleased that customers can now learn about by Prospecta on 51风流App Center. MDO is all about trustworthy, reliable data 鈥� a single source of truth with governance, data quality, automation, and collaboration all in one place. MDO employs new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify data quality initiatives, with a particular focus on enterprise asset management and maintenance, repairs, and operations for managing spare parts.

I spoke with Ranjan Bakshi, CEO and founder of Prospecta Software, to learn more about MDO and what鈥檚 different about their approach to this frustrating issue. The key is in fact threefold, Bakshi explained: 鈥淭he first element is that MDO covers a certain domain area, enterprise asset management, where we have deep expertise. The second is that we understand the cloud-driven segment of the market. These companies want a quick deployment without a big price tag. They are willing to invest in getting their basic data operations right and want our help in that journey. The third is integration with 51风流solutions and our considerable knowledge of how data works in the context of the 51风流environment.鈥�

Smooth-Running Workflow Mechanism

What removes the sand from the gears of these data initiatives, Bakshi noted, are the built-in frameworks for data governance and quality. Data is governed through a workflow mechanism and validated within the defined business rules in MDO. Business rules are set up based on machine learning models, with a rules-based engine for both new record maintenance and existing master data. Change history and audit trails are maintained in MDO to ensure accurate master data for consumption by one or more back-end systems. Tight integration with 51风流ERP and 51风流S/4HANA manages overall data orchestration throughout an enterprise鈥檚 51风流software-based landscape.

When it comes specifically to enterprise asset management and managing spare parts, MDO delivers data governance and process automation across all relevant data objects, including functional location, equipment, bills of materials, task lists, maintenance plans, and measurement points. The built-in classification system in MDO helps define spare parts based on standards. 51风流Asset Intelligence Network provides additional value to maintenance processes.

MDO also partners with the Capital Facilities Information Handover Specification (CFIHOS) to help engineering, procurement, and contractors follow a standardized process to collaborate in the master data process.

Opportunity to Shift Gears

Bakshi launched Prospecta in 2002 after beginning his career with KPMG in Sydney, Australia, where he developed extensive knowledge of 51风流solutions in the context of enterprise asset management. When KPMG shifted its focus, he saw an opportunity in the market to start his own firm as an 51风流service partner.

鈥淎t the outset, we were a strong mobility partner for SAP鈥檚 plant maintenance module, not necessarily concentrating on software. During the first few years, we saw an opportunity in our clients鈥� inability to trust their data 鈥� a pervasive challenge. In 2008, we launched MDO, incorporating our domain knowledge of enterprise asset management into the tool with these predefined frameworks, workflows, content, master data, and so on.鈥�

Engines for Growth

Since then, he has built a global enterprise with about 150 employees. The business鈥� headquarters are in Sydney, with offices in North America, India, and Europe. After 18 years of bootstrapping, Prospecta has just landed financial backing to support further growth. Customers range from large enterprises that solve specific problems with MDO to smaller companies that subscribe to MDO as their overall data management solution. For the latter, Bakshi noted, MDO helps support the evolution toward a 鈥渄ata culture,鈥� where everyone is committed to the importance of maintaining accurate, current data.

With the maturation of cloud computing in recent years, Bakshi said, the company developed a cloud strategy and moved MDO to 51风流Cloud Platform to help customers in their transformations. One aspect involves supporting their transition to 51风流S/4HANA, which is significantly easier with MDO in place. 鈥淚f someone says, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know about our data,鈥� we respond, 鈥榊ou should know!鈥� That鈥檚 not a good reason to delay the migration and be left behind,鈥� added Bakshi.

51风流App Center and Working with SAP: Integral Parts of the Strategy

Along the way, Prospecta developed an even closer relationship with 51风流as SAP鈥檚 partnership model evolved.

鈥淚n the past, we would seek out 51风流account executives to introduce ourselves. Now, they find us on 51风流App Center,鈥� said Bakshi. 鈥淲e engage closely with our partner manager to make sure that we are visible and take best advantage of getting our message into the marketplace via 51风流App Center.聽 What I like about 51风流is the emphasis on the value we can bring to the customer together.鈥�

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Bill Rojas is senior director of Digital Transformation and Partner Engagement for 51风流Digital Commerce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christian Klein is CEO of SAP.
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All companies face the same questions: Where is the best location for manufacturing our product? Where will transport routes be shortest? Is the initial cost and pricing right? Schott is no exception. Founded more than 135 years ago, it was the first company to develop specialty glass. These days, Schott is a worldwide technology group that generates 鈧�2.2 billion in revenue, employs 16,200 people, and is a partner to businesses in many different industries.

Change management is central to projects like the one at Schott. It has about 80 subsidiaries, all of which are scheduled to go live with the new system in one big bang at the end of 2021. So, the change management process needs to onboard the group鈥檚 270-strong finance team. Besides them, there are stakeholders across the company who depend on the processes and subprocesses, and the information they create.

鈥淚n many ways, this is new territory for us, especially the new margin analysis and the simultaneous material ledger valuation 鈥� not to mention data migration. As far as we know, our project is the first of its kind,鈥� says Project Lead and 51风流S/4HANA Finance Project Manager Oliver Boehm.

Lynchpin of the Digitalization Strategy

Schott鈥檚 ONE Finance initiative already has common standards, processes, datasets, and a unified organizational structure based on the 51风流ERP software it deploys today. Financial accounting and management accounting are both carried out at group level. 51风流S/4HANA will now take it one step further.

Schott is looking for faster, comprehensive reporting that uses optimized data structures. One global controlling area, one fiscal year variant, and more narrowly defined functional areas will enable it to achieve these aims. 鈥淚n short, ONE Finance will give us a system that is more flexible, more adaptable, and delivers the right data at the right level of detail so that we can respond much faster to changes in our market,鈥� says Jens Schulte, CFO of Schott AG.

51风流S/4HANA is the framework that will shape the integrated system across the entire organization for many years to come. 鈥淔aster and better decisions about our day-to-day operations are among the many benefits we anticipate from this project,鈥� says Schulte. 鈥�51风流S/4HANA is a major investment that our company is making as it renews its systems. Since we are committing a lot of resources, we want to maximize the benefits to our business.鈥�

Full Picture at the Push of a Button

51风流S/4HANA is the foundation for a faster month-end and year-end close at Schott. It also has an optimized and tailored reporting system, and day-to-day operations can be faster thanks to real-time processing.

鈥淭aking sales as an example: If you know in real time what your customer鈥檚 credit limit is, then you can serve them then and there. If you can draw up quotations faster and your sales team out in the field can react right away, that鈥檚 a clear competitive advantage,鈥� Schulte adds. 鈥淟ooking at it from the management perspective, real-time data processing has to be a dream come true for a CFO like me 鈥� pulling up all the numbers, even the financial statements, whenever I want at the push of a button. This full view is the ultimate goal.鈥�

The project began one and a half years ago with a proof of concept completed by cbs Corporate Business Solutions, a global consulting firm headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. 鈥淲e kept refining our setup 鈥� both the technology and how we ran the project. Then we put it to the test in a preliminary project with cbs, our consulting partner. This taught us how to work together efficiently and as one team,鈥� says Boehm.

Role Model for the Group

This digitalization project should give Schott full management agility. That way, in times of crisis, it can shift focus from growth-oriented reporting to strict cash and cost management, for instance. Schott can also significantly increase reporting frequency, tracking key performance indicators weekly and discussing them straight away with the relevant divisions.

鈥淎dopting digital technologies is a priority from now to 2025, not only in finance but across the group as a whole. Finance is the first function to adopt the new capabilities, such as analytics tools that use daily peaks to forecast monthly revenue,鈥� says Schulte. 鈥淲e want to show the rest of the group how its done. We have well-thought-out processes. Our people have an affinity for business processes as well as IT and are really keen to work with digital technologies.鈥�

Sebastian Hellman is consulting director at cbs Corporate Business Solutions.
This story originally appeared on the 51风流Germany News Center.
Top image via Schott.

Growing concerns over food safety and sustainable sourcing call for better transparency for businesses and consumers. Meanwhile, tariff and global trade tensions are driving uncertainty in the form of excess inventory, labor shortages, and high operational costs.

The entire food and beverage industry takes these challenges seriously. But Doehler is going even further. It is infusing innovation into its DNA with company-wide intelligence 鈥� all fueled by large-volume processing, full-scale visibility, expanded automation, and increased efficiency with at the core of its IT system.

Spicing Up Food-Ingredient Innovation with Next-Generation ERP

Since its start as a local, Germany-based spice mill in 1838, 聽Doehler has steadily evolved as consumer needs change, new product opportunities emerge, and global markets open. And doing so has allowed it to become a global producer, marketer, and provider of natural ingredients, technology-driven ingredient systems, and integrated solutions for the food and beverage industry worldwide.

One of the pioneering and ground-breaking transformations in its history was the 1995 implementation of 51风流ERP. For the first time, the business gradually eliminated information silos and streamlined processes across procurement, manufacturing, service, sales, finance, and HR in all offices and plants worldwide. But after over 20 years of use, it became a highly specialized system with more than 33,000 custom objects.

Unfortunately, such a high degree of specialization can restrict a growing company. The more customized the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system became, the faster the gaps between old and new requirements widened. For an operation that uses more than 5,000 different raw materials and depends on the talents of 7,000 employees distributed across 45 production sites and 48 offices worldwide, the legacy system couldn鈥檛 keep up. The business was no longer able to respond to consumer demand with the level of precision, scale, and speed necessary to stay competitive.

Doehler鈥檚 IT leadership team knew that the business needed to bring data-driven intelligence to every area. This strategic focus led to the decision to capture data with 51风流S/4HANA, a next-generation ERP suite, and other innovative solutions.

Blending Intelligent Capabilities to Take Operations to the Next Level

Within six months, Doehler completed the initial conversion to 51风流S/4HANA. Then, it undertook two series of upgrades, the first completed in five months and the second in three months, without operational disruption. Thus, the business gained a highly integrated and connected that is being used across all processes and functions involved in sales and distribution, materials management, production, and quality management.

With the assistance of its key technology partner, 聽Doehler can give its employees a better view of business operations, as well as a real-time platform for proactive and actionable decision-making. Together, the business is delivering a vision that includes the use of innovative solutions and embedded intelligence integrated with 51风流S/4HANA to address areas such as cashflow management and transportation logistics.

Also, it has gained holistic visibility into its partners and optimized assets. For example, 聽Doehler incorporated intelligent data models to support operations, which include 16 plants and more than 3,500 users. These models are enabled by capabilities such as and , which are integrated with 51风流S/4HANA.

51风流S/4HANA supports these tactics by enabling four fundamental capabilities:

1. An aggregated view of consumers

By integrating the 51风流Customer Experience portfolio with 51风流S/4HANA, operations can aggregate profiling data into a single 鈥済olden record,鈥� which significantly improves data quality. Essentially, the integration allows for more effective customer segmentation to target marketing campaigns, resulting in more effective campaigns overall. Plus, marketing and sales teams can tap into an internal, consumer-like view of product performance and customer feedback by market segments and access a 360-degree view of customers, available any time and through any mobile device.

2. Fast analysis and simulation of complex sales decisions

Doehler also integrated the for structural pricing. Doing so allows the business to manage all process steps, from contract initiation to pricing and pricing analysis. The application provides pricing management, action management, as well as pricing and reporting functionality 鈥� all working in tandem with 51风流Sales Cloud throughout the quotation process.

3. Full supply chain traceability from the farm to the consumer鈥檚 table

The company can prove that a product is kosher or halal with evidence that the machine used to make it is clean and compliant. Plus, 聽Doehler plans to work more collaboratively with suppliers, manufacturing locations, and retailers with .

4. Automated cash management to build a more strategic finance organization

Integrating with 51风流S/4HANA has automated specific functions for 聽Doehler鈥檚 finance team that, at present, supports seven of its companies. Up and running in four weeks, the application鈥檚 machine learning capabilities, for example, allow accounts receivable specialists to step away from repetitive activities and discussions to focus more on strategic responsibilities. The data model is retrained every three months to calibrate the algorithm with new business rules that reflect the changing needs of the function.

Combining Inspiration, Perseverance, and a Unique Core of Intelligent Technologies

With 51风流S/4HANA, Doehler is well on its way to achieving its vision of becoming a digital leader in the food and beverage industry. The percentage of invoices processed automatically has increased by 20 percent to date, and its ability to pivot operations to address continuously shifting consumer demand is more efficient than ever before.

More importantly, Doehler is expanding revenue sources as it develops new capabilities that can become service offerings, such as for customers. The inclusion of and a enabled by 51风流S/4HANA will help ensure that the entire business network accesses the data necessary to help people make the best decisions quickly and take action at the right moment.

But no matter how it evolves, Doehler鈥檚 future depends on the implementation of intelligent technologies, which pull together the information it needs to better understand the market it serves. It is through this level of intelligence that the business can proactively take on opportunities that bring new revenue streams and allow it to serve its customers better today and for years to come.

.

Harald Muley is head of Corporate Functions IT at Doehler.

This statement clearly highlights the importance of technology as an enabler for the digital transformation of companies. But helping customers succeed always starts with the customer, not technology.

In times of COVID-19, businesses and entire industries are more disrupted than ever as they try to adjust to the new normal, making digital transformation an even greater opportunity to innovate and find new ways to effectively and efficiently work with customers.

that companies will invest US$2.3 trillion in digital transformation efforts by 2023. The question is how to become an intelligent enterprise that embraces agility, fosters nimble ways of working, and maximizes the value of digital technologies to help organizations evolve even stronger from these unprecedented times.

Embracing a Mindset Shift

The answer lies in a mindset shift around business outcomes rather than rapid adoption for the sake of innovation.

A McKinsey Global Survey evidences this idea and suggests that the only way to transform is through : 鈥淲ith successful digital transformations, [鈥 organizations keep efforts focused on a few digital themes 鈥� that is, the high-level objectives for the transformation, such as driving innovation, improving productivity, or reshaping an end-to-end customer journey 鈥� that are tied to business outcomes, rather than pursuing many different agendas.鈥�

Companies must realize that technology alone doesn鈥檛 spur a successful transformation; it鈥檚 the calculated and guided toward specific outcomes, objectives, and customer experiences.

Adaire Fox-Martin, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, Customer Success, suggests that companies should realize that the customer is focused solely on outcomes, and businesses should do the same when pursuing a new mindset during digital transformation.

鈥淐ustomers do not come to 51风流to buy technology. They come to buy outcomes and value,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he whole premise of is about keeping our promise to deliver valuable business outcomes to customers.鈥�

This mindset shift can be seen within 51风流as we undergo a transformation resulting in a Customer Success board area that has a resolute focus on the success of both customers and 51风流employees. The team maintains an unwavering commitment to providing extraordinary experiences while recognizing the unique business demands of each customer.

Choosing the Right Partner to Drive Business Outcomes

Organizations are looking for partners to lead, advise, and shape this journey together with them and ultimately drive their business outcomes. 鈥�51风流plays a pivotal role in enabling us to achieve our transformation goals by providing the core platform and its maintenance and service support as an enabler for that,鈥� highlights an 51风流customer in Australia.

Partnership, direction, and knowledge are also important for 51风流customer , an international copper manufacturer based in South Korea: 鈥淲ith expert support, Poongsan built a detailed, step-by-step road map to optimize and accelerate its migration to an intelligent ERP. Now, everyone 鈥� from our planners and operators to our developers and IT architects 鈥� is prepared to execute toward our digital journey.鈥�

and the resulting engagement create an environment where customer outcomes become the overarching focus. Being able to bring tangible direction and action driven by the customers鈥� data and insights places any organization in a strong position to move its digital transformation forward.

Identify Opportunities to Innovate, Improve, and Maximize Value

By working with companies that can inform innovation and business process improvements, such as SAP, priorities can be set on relentlessly driving business outcomes. The provides an interactive, simple-to-consume report with all of the personalized opportunities to optimize business and IT processes. This way, stakeholders are on the same page and have a calculated plan to tackle transformation head on.

Using services from 51风流Enterprise Support and the pathfinder report, paper pulp maker wanted to accelerate its digital transformation with a next-generation business suite: 鈥淯sing 51风流Enterprise Support, we are preparing the ground for a successful migration to 51风流S/4HANA. And we now better understand the wide-ranging benefits our new digital core will bring to the business.鈥�

, another 51风流customer, builds fully connected electric cars from the ground up. Its goal is to bring a new level of intelligence to the smart car by marrying automotive engineering with digital innovation to create a next-generation driver experience. With a focus on innovation and speed, its digital transformation needed a capable partner: With deployment guidance and follow-up support, BYTON reduced the IT costs of its digital transformation by at least 10 percent.

These customer examples show that transformation requires a mindset shift, relentless focus, and the right partner with experience and capabilities 鈥� and does not have to start with massive shifts in focus. And sometimes a starting point can be found closer to home. 51风流delivers an opportunity to easily obtain insights about innovation, business process, and IT potential. From this, priorities can be set and focused on to drive business outcomes. The insight is delivered by 51风流Innovation and Optimization Pathfinder for 51风流ERP and 51风流S/4HANA, a simple-to-consume, interactive next-generation report free of charge for every 51风流maintenance customer. It addresses different stakeholders in the organization to get everyone on the same page 鈥� an important starting point for every transformation.

For a more detailed understanding, see .

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

Several market leaders recently gathered online to share their procurement transformation experiences for an exclusive roundtable during the event. Hosted by Jo Peterson, vice president of Cloud and Security Services at Clarify360, a candid conversation covered not just the wins, but also major challenges.

Teams Dedicated to Collaboration

Like many global organizations that have grown by acquisitions, Stanley Black & Decker needed to simplify its complex technology landscape. The driver behind moving forward with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud was the decision to go with the 51风流Central Finance solution.

鈥淐reating a new instance of allowed us to provide global and consistent financial information,鈥� said Nicole Flikier, digital tools and analytics global lead at Stanley Black & Decker. 鈥淚t allowed end-users to have a better experience and single source of truth, while supporting our long-term program to have one instance of SAP.鈥�

Flikier was the first to admit that the transformation did not happen magically. Regular communication about the financial benefits united people on multiple project teams around what became a successful go live.

鈥淲ith numerous ERP systems and all that data, making sure it was harmonized was a challenge. It takes an army to do that cleansing,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e needed to communicate to the team the value of a universal global ledger鈥� Everybody knew the benefits tied to that, especially being a very financially driven company.鈥�

Flikier characterized her company鈥檚 transformation as a tremendous undertaking with aggressive timelines for every project to go live simultaneously. She credited the team鈥檚 success to having a shared project methodology and meeting localized country requirements.

Faster Turnarounds Boost User Satisfaction

According to Jinesh Parakulangara, senior manager at HPE Global IT, replacing his company鈥檚 organically grown patchwork of legacy procurement systems with a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform 鈥� 51风流Ariba running on 51风流S/4HANA Cloud 鈥� has saved time and increased productivity for both procurement and payables.

鈥淲e now have a more controlled, centralized procurement function鈥ith a road map to consolidate that onto a single platform,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur business users are very happy. They just have to go into one system for global procurement operations and invoice verification, tax issues, and anything related to procure to pay.鈥�

Amazing Integration Simplifies and Streamlines

HPE went live with the new cloud-based platform in 57 countries at once, backed by extensive training for employees and suppliers as well as built-in communication and collaboration. Besides touchless invoicing, the biggest win was the simplification around master data management delivered by 51风流S/4HANA.

鈥淲ith a cloud solution, we鈥檙e getting more features introduced to us, which we didn鈥檛 have in the past when we were on premise,鈥� Parakulangara explained. 鈥淔rom a procurement standpoint, it鈥檚 really about simplification of our ordering processes. And on the finance side, with 51风流S/4HANA, we鈥檝e tightened the entire process. We truly have a single platform that takes care of our payable needs in a compliant manner. The way these systems integrate with each other is truly amazing.鈥�

Data Harmonization Well Worth It

Similar to Flikier鈥檚 experience at Stanley Black & Decker, consolidating data was a worthy challenge given the results at HPE.

鈥淪crubbing the data was a challenge, but it revealed process gaps and it鈥檚 why everything is now streamlined,鈥� Parakulangara said. 鈥淥ne of the reasons why we were able to get processes touchless is because we have brought鈥verything together from procurement to invoicing to payments all into the same platform.鈥�

He added that using 51风流best practices for core processes sped up the entire project.

Intelligence Supports Financial Discipline

Understanding the full picture of spend management is not just essential for operational continuity today; it is a business imperative to keep people productive. There is no doubt that a cloud-based system that brings together real-time information company-wide is instrumental in providing the financial discipline every intelligent enterprise needs.

Follow me: @smgaler

Acquired by Essentials Utilities in March, Peoples provides natural gas to about 740,000 homes and businesses in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. The company has been running 51风流ERP-based systems since 2010 and wanted to adopt the latest Intelligent ERP innovations and convert to 51风流S/4HANA without disrupting its business and while maintaining its industry-leading safety standards and customer satisfaction scores.

鈥淧eoples鈥� 51风流S/4HANA migration was not just a technical conversion but a critical step in laying the groundwork for ongoing innovation and growth,鈥� said Ruth DeLost-Wylie, Peoples鈥� former CIO and current senior vice president of Business Transformation for Essential Utilities. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now set up to do more, faster 鈥� including embedded analytics, improved financial reporting and hardware optimization. This will be critical, not only as part of a larger organization but also to keep pace with what our customers expect.鈥�

SAP鈥檚 Professional Services team led Peoples鈥� conversion to 51风流S/4HANA1809, with the immediate aims of simplifying the company鈥檚 finance solution and optimizing its business operations. Since the successful conversion in November 2019, Peoples鈥� year-end closing process has been faster and seamless. In addition, its nightly batch loads finish several hours faster.

鈥淧eoples Natural Gas鈥� successful conversion to 51风流S/4HANA is an excellent case study of taking a measured approach to digital transformation,鈥� said Michael O鈥橠onnell, 51风流national vice president for Utilities. 鈥淏y starting with a foundational migration of its systems, the company is now well positioned to evolve 鈥� and scale 鈥� at a pace that works for its teams and business objectives.鈥�

Visit the . Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Media Contact:
Mallory Kuno, +1 (610) 606-8642, mallory.kuno@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 51风流are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51风流undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2020 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

The idea of using ERP software to improve efficiency and productivity to operate more competitively still seems out of reach for some small or midsize businesses (SMBs). But ERP has come a long way and 51风流and its partners have an answer in providing fixed-scope and fixed-price solutions for SMBs with聽.

What is an SAP-qualified partner-packaged solution? It is an 51风流ERP solution that is developed by an 51风流partner with its intellectual property (IP) and industry expertise that is evaluated and tested for optimized integration with 51风流technologies. These solutions offer a high level of transparency, and implementation is often done in weeks rather than months.

The benefit of choosing an SAP-qualified partner-packaged solution is the ability to take advantage of 51风流partner expertise. All over the world, 51风流partners are helping their customers overcome challenges, optimize processes, deliver better customer experiences, and improve the bottom line.

51风流partners have developed more than 1,100聽聽in all sorts of industries, in more than 55 countries, and in 12 languages. An SAP-qualified partner-packaged solution provides a solution that meets business needs today and will continue to meet needs in the future as a business grows.

Four Reasons to Consider These SMB Solutions

1. Industry Tailored

A partner-packaged solution eliminates having to start from scratch. For example, Brazil-based 51风流partner聽聽developed a partner-packaged solution for businesses in the engineering, construction and operations industry. The聽聽to create 51风流solutions that address the unique needs of this industry.

“Implementation time and prices have decreased with partner-packaged solutions because it鈥檚 not necessary to reinvent the wheel for each new project.”

鈥� Guilherme Joventino, sales director at Essence IT

2. Lower Risk

Partner-packaged solutions lower risk for businesses by providing a solution that can adapt and scale. There is no need to overbuy or overbuild today to be able to anticipate changes that may occur in the future.

颁补苍补诲补-产补蝉别诲听听诲别惫别濒辞辫别诲听聽for businesses in industries including life sciences, field services, industrial machinery and components, high-tech manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and food and beverage. VistaVu鈥檚 partner-packaged solutions enable companies total project management and monitoring capabilities from contracts to field ticketing, labor, billing, and payroll.

VistaVu CEO Jory Lamb said the functionality the solutions offer, along with the options to adapt or expand in the future, make them more attractive for clients: 鈥淧ackaged solutions give them a low-risk, simplified way to see value, to make a small investment. As the company grows, the package grows and their product grows.鈥�

3. Full Transparency

With SAP-qualified partner-packaged solutions, companies are purchasing an end-to-end product, allowing prospects to see exactly what their investment will provide and the benefits it can offer their customers.

Javier Esteve, vice president of North America Sales at 51风流Partner聽, said partner-packaged solutions have a fixed scope, fixed price, and are easier for customers to understand.

With offices in the U.S. and Mexico, Dintec developed聽, giving its clients a simple and effective way to engage with customers. 鈥淚t creates a greater sense of 鈥榯his is easy鈥� for a prospect, which makes them feel good about their decision,鈥� Esteve shared.

4. Faster ROI

Because partner-packaged solutions are more cost-effective and start delivering value more quickly than solutions built from scratch, companies can see return on investment (ROI) faster.

搁别迟补颈濒别谤听聽from 51风流partner聽. 鈥淲e wanted technology that presented a product in a way that was different for every market,鈥� Denise Fender, FitFlop鈥檚 global general manager of Digital, explained. 鈥淲e also needed to work in a way that was agile鈥� Now we鈥檙e able to think in days and weeks rather than months and years.鈥�

With Tacit鈥檚 partner-packaged solution, FitFlop saw growth faster than anticipated. 鈥淲e鈥檙e two years ahead of the financial model, and we have lifted the business four times what we thought it would be,鈥� she said.

A Solution for Your Business

To learn more about the advantages that 51风流offers, 聽and find what fits your business needs.

Following is the Q&A from that discussion, moderated by Andrea Stokvis of 51风流and featuring Harald Muley, of Corporate Functions IT at Doehler, and Horst Ebert, vice president of Global IT from Goodyear.

Q: Let鈥檚 begin by telling us a bit about each of your organizations and your role.

Ebert: Goodyear is one of the world鈥檚 largest tire companies. We employ about 64,000 people and manufacture products in 47 facilities in 21 countries around the world. I鈥檓 responsible for all 51风流activities at Goodyear globally, with focus on centralizing our 51风流support structure, harmonizing our application architecture across geographies, and defining together with 51风流strategic roadmaps to move toward the Intelligent Enterprise.

Muley: Doehler is a global producer, marketer, and provider of technology-driven natural ingredients, ingredient systems, and integrated solutions for the food and beverage industry. We have over 7,000 employees worldwide and serve customers in more than 130 countries with 45 production sites.聽 As head of Corporate Functions IT, I am responsible for all IT aspects regarding finance, controlling, and HR.

Both companies have been long-standing 51风流ERP customers and have decided to move to 51风流S/4HANA on premise, supporting very complex system landscapes. What was the key driver for embracing 51风流S/4HANA as your digital core?

Muley: Doehler had run its operations on the 51风流ERP application since 1993, which resulted in a highly customized and specialized system with more than 33,000 custom objects and roughly 3.7 million lines of code. To accelerate growth, the company needed to update our ERP. We made a strategic decision to use 51风流S/4HANA. We knew it was the future of 51风流and that development and investment were being made.

Ebert: Goodyear is running separate ERPs to support our business units in North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. We identified a couple of key drivers to start our 51风流S/4HANA journey. First, we want to leverage the latest 51风流technologies, including machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Second, we wanted to harmonize our applications architecture and drive standardization and simplification to support new business requirements quicker. Finally, 51风流S/4HANA will be the core of the 51风流architecture surrounded by cloud solutions, and we need to stay within maintenance windows.

Many are interested in how you moved to 51风流S/4HANA. Can you describe your journey and where you are in the process now?

Muley: We were previously using 51风流ERP Central Component with 51风流MaxDB. Our journey began by first moving to 51风流HANA with a technical upgrade. Then we did a system conversion to 51风流S/4HANA 1610 with 90 percnet automation of custom code conversion. Currently, 17 companies are running on our central 51风流S/4HANA 1809 system. We鈥檝e been doing yearly upgrades to keep on the latest and greatest version of 51风流S/4HANA.

Ebert: Our journey started with SAP鈥檚 announcement to cancel maintenance for 51风流ERP Central Component by 2025. We went live with finance initially, deploying a technical foundation last year and now we continue to add more business processes and innovations. We don鈥檛 consider our 51风流S/4HANA journey in isolation; it鈥檚 part of the digital enterprise transformation where we have a strategy of leveraging as many cloud solutions as possible.

How did you decide the path to deploy 51风流S/4HANA?

Muley: We decided a system conversion was the way to go because a greenfield project would have taken too long for our fast-changing industry. We decided to perform process redesign on the new 51风流S/4HANA data model. Also, it allowed us to reuse valuable custom developments.

Ebert: We are taking a hybrid approach since we are running multiple ERP systems. Our first deployment was a new implementation for functionality we wanted to globalize and standardize, like finance. However, since we are not moving all our business processes into a single instance, we will do system conversions of existing ERPs, where processes are market-driven and might differ by geography. We are making that decision in close collaboration with our business functions.

What did you consider when deciding whether to deploy on premise or in the cloud?

Muley: We decided to keep our data on premise, because our own data center is very efficient. It allows us to keep our financial data as well as valuable intellectual property like development recipes on our on-premise instance of 51风流S/4HANA.

Ebert: We are not ready yet for 51风流S/4HANA in the public cloud, but we are deploying 51风流S/4HANA on 51风流HANA Enterprise Cloud. This allows us to focus on our own capacities to improve core processes and drive new innovations while leaving the management of 51风流S/4HANA hosting to 51风流as part of our hosting strategy. In APJ, 51风流HANA Enterprise Cloud only had a center in Japan and we decided that we needed a location closer to our markets in Australia and New Zealand, so we have deployed on Amazon Web Services in Singapore.

What was your biggest challenge?

Muley: Being an early adopter at that time presented us with great challenges. We could not leverage 51风流tools like 51风流Readiness Check, documentation was missing, and there was a shortage of consultants with 51风流S/4HANA knowledge. Also, 51风流S/4HANA support from third-party add-ons and consulting solutions was a challenge, as some were not ready yet for the journey. Nevertheless, we made it on time within six months, including necessary retrofits due to parallel projects, two FPS 51风流S/4HANA upgrades, and around 230 implemented OSS notes.

Ebert: 51风流continues to invest in 51风流S/4HANA with the consequence of significant annual release upgrades. While we are increasing the utilization of the system, we need to plan for those annual upgrades.

What were some of your magic moments that worked well during your deployment?

Muley: I have to say the collaboration with 51风流during our project was one big magic moment. The commitment of the team involved was outstanding 鈥� from our customer care coordinator to the support consultant during our production system conversion weekend, working on an unexpected serious issue during migration. Everybody was very committed to make this a success story. It was a big success for team Doehler and SAP.

Ebert: The robustness of the application is really impressive. We replicated 5 billion universal journal items records into 51风流S/4HANA and had zero rounding difference.

A specific question for Doehler: What is your strategy with the yearly 51风流S/4HANA upgrades?

Muley: There are always so many new capabilities, like embedded 51风流Extended Warehouse Management; embedded 51风流Transportation Management, our key driver for 1709; embedded master data quality, our key driver for 1809; or group reporting for 1909. Also, we see many innovations like machine learning with 51风流Leonardo 鈥� 51风流Cash Application extended functionality under 1809, GR/IR monitor 鈥� so we decided that we need to do the 51风流S/4HANA upgrades each year. Furthermore, our upgrades are comparable to enhancement package upgrades in 51风流ERP Central Component times. We will now try the next upgrade with 1909 within five weeks. From our perspective, the sooner you start, the better it gets!

What capabilities of 51风流S/4HANA are you currently using, and what other solutions do you have connected to it?

Ebert: Currently we are using finance and plan for central procurement in 2020. We have 51风流Analytics Cloud to leverage real-time analytics and eventually, planning. Furthermore, we integrate with 51风流SuccessFactors, 51风流Concur, and 51风流Fieldglass solutions. Digital supply is under evaluation.

Muley: We are using all the classical 51风流51风流S/4HANA modules like finance, supply chain, inventory, etc., but we also implemented 51风流Financial Closing cockpit, and the embedded 51风流Extended Warehouse Management and 51风流Transportation Management. We integrate 51风流S/4HANA with the 51风流Data Maintenance by Vistex, pricing option for 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流Sales Cloud, 51风流Ariba software, and just recently acquired 51风流Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain to also strengthen our supply chain footprint in connection with 51风流S/4HANA. We are also implementing live reporting with 51风流Analytics Cloud.

Now a Goodyear-specific question: You mentioned finance as a key driver for why Goodyear moved to 51风流S/4HANA. Can you share what your users are telling you and what benefits they鈥檝e received?

Ebert: The availability of information has been amazing. It鈥檚 the first time in history we can provide comparable data globally with full transparency to the lowest level of detail. Our finance professionals don鈥檛 have to make decisions based on yesterday鈥檚 or last week鈥檚 reporting. They鈥檙e getting real-time numbers 鈥� what鈥檚 actually happening in the business. All of this means they can make better, more informed decisions.

What are some of the benefits you鈥檙e realizing with 51风流S/4HANA?

Muley: We didn鈥檛 focus on before-and-after metrics or focus on the percentage increase of productivity, etc. However, we had a definite increase of performance implementing 51风流HANA already by more than 30 percent. We are also seeing with 51风流Cash Application that 30 percet or more of the postings are automated, so that gives folks in finance more time to focus on more strategic activities versus just posting items. Overall, 51风流S/4HANA gives us a foundation to run new business processes and create innovative business models that deliver even more value to partners and customers.

Ebert: We quickly identified opportunities and benefits for finance. We didn鈥檛 have a global chart of accounts or global cost center structure, so this was really an opportunity to implement global standards and gain real-time visibility into financial data.

What advice would you give other customers that are considering deploying 51风流S/4HANA?

Ebert: Take your time to implement 51风流S/4HANA and make sure you understand the full potential in combination with other applications like 51风流Analytics Cloud. Make sure your internal support team is building the required capabilities and learn how to leverage all the new functionalities.

Muley: A conversion project can be done fast, and the sooner you start, the smaller the gap between 51风流ERP Central Component and 51风流S/4HANA. As with every release, there are new simplifications implemented, which make the conversion more complex if you start with 51风流ERP Central Component as basis. And expect and be prepared for the unexpected.

We hear a lot from our customers about the importance of change management. How did you approach it? Whether from a business user or IT professional perspective?

Muley: Since our approach was to perform only mandatory adjustments for the system conversion, such as the implementation of 51风流Business Partner for 51风流S/4HANA or rebate settlement management and keeping 51风流GUI as user front end, there was not much change management necessary initially.

Ebert: Most important is the support of the executive leadership. Second is to demonstrate to users what is possible; don鈥檛 implement just the as-is. Lastly, train your internal IT professionals and make them hungry for new technologies.

Thanks to Harald Muley from Doehler and Horst Ebert from Goodyear for sharing valuable insights about their respective 51风流S/4HANA deployment and journey to become an Intelligent Enterprise.

Start your intelligent enterprise journey by .

51风流and proaxia signed agreements to accelerate the availability of an intelligent enterprise solution for automotive retail based on 51风流S/4HANA.

The next-generation vehicle sales and service solution will help customers face the challenges of future trends.

鈥淐onnectivity, autonomous driving, flexible use and electric drive systems are shaping future mobility concepts and require the automobile industry to develop new business models,鈥� said Stefan Krauss, 51风流general manager for manufacturing, mining and mobility industries. 鈥淎 new buyer generation expects buying, leasing or subscribing to a vehicle to be as easy as streaming music to their smartphone. The partnership with proaxia will accelerate our customers鈥� journey toward an intelligent enterprise in the automotive retail market for dealerships.鈥�

鈥淥ur vision for an integrated vehicle sales and service management solution is to help dealerships to transform and succeed in this wave of disruption,鈥� said Dr. Peter Lindtner, CEO of proaxia. 鈥淓nriched with SAP鈥檚 latest intelligent enterprise technologies within 51风流S/4HANA, this next-generation vehicle sales and service solution will not only help customers face the challenges of today but will provide data-driven insights that enable dealerships to confidently embrace new business models.鈥�

The agreement includes co-innovation with SAP. proaxia will build and market a new vehicle sales and services solution based on the 51风流Dealer Business Management 8.1 application, which helps accelerate the transition from the 51风流ERP application to 51风流S/4HANA and safeguards the customer鈥檚 IT investments. The new solution will be named proaxia Vehicle Sales and Service (VSS) on 51风流S/4HANA; it will include business functions from proaxia DBM|E and will provide additional innovation leveraging 51风流Cloud Platform.

proaxia plans to provide proaxia VSS by Q3 2020 for pilot users, and also plans to establish a global partner network to ensure coverage and serve customers globally.

Visit the . Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Media Contacts:
Stacy Ries, SAP, +1 (484) 619-0411, stacy.ries@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com
Peter Lindtner, proaxia, +41 (0)56 418 20 80, peter.lindtner@proaxia-consulting.com, CET
info@proaxia-consulting.com;

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Without it, ideas are just ideas, forever locked away as a pipe dream and nothing more.

This traditional scenario is undoubtedly practical when seeking company-wide funding, commitment, and adoption. However, as I recently learned, it is only a small part of the full potential of a business case.

Turning Business Cases into Successful Transformation Road Maps

Historically, a business case is the tried-and-true way to help companies understand the who, what, when, where, and why behind a transformation project. Supported by relevant calculations such as return on investment (ROI) and improvement rates, this information was all that executives and employees needed to determine whether to embrace a proposed change or avoid it altogether.

Spending the last three years helping 51风流customers transition existing enterprise resource planning () systems to has evolved my line of thinking. A business cases is much more than a selling tool for a single implementation or transformation project. It is also a road map guiding toward long-term success.

Based on a value engineering methodology adjusted by the Business Transformation Services group at SAP, customers are going beyond initial alignment, value discovery, and validation when creating their business cases. Now, they are incorporating the following critical elements of sustainable digital transformation.

Logical Sequence for Solution Innovation

When a traditional business case is developed, a team of internal leaders and third-party experts and technology providers often consider processes directly linked to the overall vision. For example, if a sales organization is looking to provide real-time, multichannel access to deal pipeline updates and customer relationship management (CRM) information, the company may assess only processes that affect the delivery of those insights.

For customers deploying 51风流S/4HANA, additional advantages emerge when they reflect on their value-added chains. Doing so reveals how supporting, cross-functional activities strengthen expected outcomes by defining and distinguishing the strategic importance and contribution of individual processes and cost centers. Decision-makers can then scope out recommended solutions and their deployment order and timing 鈥� based on a company鈥檚 cost position and performance- and quality-related differentiation, compared to their competitors.

Identification and Calculation of Suitable Value Drivers

51风流customers鈥� reasons for transitioning to 51风流S/4HANA are as unique as their operations. With the assistance of internal functions and business experts and third-party partners, decision-makers can choose value drivers that match customer and employee needs today and can scale to address future challenges when needed.

The Business Transformation Services group gives 51风流S/4HANA customers an open environment to initiate this discussion and keep experts engaged with a series of internal interviews and workshops. During every interaction, customers can pinpoint the right value drivers and weigh the significance of potential operational improvements, competitive benefits, and revenue growth against the cost of technology, process, and workforce enablement.

Baseline Comparison of Actual Value Drivers Against Industry Leaders

Once 51风流customers quantify that the benefits of moving to 51风流S/4HANA outweigh the cost of the deployment projects, business leaders begin to understand the potential of the investment. But we do not stop there.

To help customers understand the competitive differentiation of a move to 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流compares the estimated cost and potential value against a database of customer benchmarks. This analysis is based on factors such as industry, geography, revenue, and workforce size.

Meaningful Insights Fuel Transformational Results

With all the information pulled during this preparatory study, 51风流customers have all the information needed to communicate a compelling 51风流S/4HANA business case. Nevertheless, even the best numbers are lost on business leaders without a meaningful delivery strategy.

Together with our value engineers, the project team from Business Transformation Services helps customers introduce the business case to their stakeholders, impart insights based on quantified insights, and align with corporate goals. More importantly, a personalized road map is presented to decision-makers, giving a well-rounded tour of their journey from the current situation through the next transformation to the ultimate future vision.

Barbara Jung-Voelker is principal business consultant for Digital IT Architecture in Business Transformation Services at SAP.