The initiative aims to activate procurement spend as a means to support Ukrainian suppliers in rebuilding their businesses. Beyond sourcing for quality goods and services, 51ˇçÁ÷has a focus on integrating ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles into decision-making as is standard with its procurement policy.

It highlights SAP’s commitment not only to sourcing products from Ukraine, but also to promoting social change.

Built-In Sustainability 

In implementing the initiative to attract more suppliers from Ukraine, 51ˇçÁ÷initially focused on the IT sector and conducted a rigorous selection process. So far, suppliers, including industry leaders like Softserve, Unicsoft, and Luxoft, have been selected. SAP’s commitment extends beyond services to include product areas, where notable Ukrainian companies producing innovative environmentally sustainable products have been discovered.

At 51ˇçÁ÷Spend Connect Live in Vienna, Austria, held in October 2023, Ukrainian manufacturers Rekava, Mol’far Tea, and Releaf Paper showcased their sustainable and innovative products. Rekava, for example, specializes in producing biodegradable candles made from recycled coffee grounds, while Mol’far focuses on minimalism and ethical environmental practices in tea production. Releaf Paper is the world’s first manufacturer of paper made from fallen leaves, promoting sustainable products such as paper bags. By supporting these unique Ukrainian companies, 51ˇçÁ÷is not only contributing to the economic reconstruction of the country, but also sustainability efforts.

One of SAP’s tier one suppliers, ABC Premium, has taken an important step by offering Rekava candles within its purchasing catalog, available to 51ˇçÁ÷employees on the 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba Buying solution.

Strong Alliances for Reconstruction

At the outset of the project, the NGO Impact Ukraine helped 51ˇçÁ÷connect with Ukrainian suppliers. It focuses on microfinance, procurement, and recruitment from Ukraine. The collaboration is facilitated by the voluntary engagement of professionals from the technology, healthcare, and finance sectors. With Impact Ukraine’s support, 51ˇçÁ÷and other organizations can further advance their goals regarding procurement from Ukraine.

SAP’s commitment to promoting innovation, sustainability, and economic growth through partnerships with Ukrainian companies not only fulfills its aspirations for procurement with purpose, but also contributes to making the world a better place.

Helping the World Run Better 

The “Source from Ukraine” initiative builds on global efforts to integrate social enterprises and diverse suppliers into 51ˇçÁ÷purchasing opportunities. Beyond SAP’s own internal purchasing efforts, the 51ˇçÁ÷Corporate Social Responsibility (51ˇçÁ÷CSR) team is also investing in social and sustainable procurement ecosystems alongside public, private, and social sector partners like the European Commission, Deloitte, World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, and Social Enterprise World Forum’s People and Planet First verification.

Consider that US$5.3 trillion in annual commerce is transacted on . If we can help create a small shift in procurement spend to organizations prioritizing people and planet like Releaf Paper, we could collectively increase investment in sustainable development in a way that is not possible through corporate philanthropy alone. To join our efforts, please e-mail: csr-global@sap.com.

Elena Parker is chief revenue officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network, MEE, at SAP.

The tech team at took the company’s purpose – building a better working world – to heart. Supported by , a global initiative to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2030, the team made it their mission to use technology to help solve a problem: to connect countless refugees landing in Poland with the resources they need to survive. The result, the , was live within six urgent weeks.

Responding to a Need

“It was winter, and women and children were standing in long queues for necessities like milk, diapers, and blankets,” Diksha de Sousa, 51ˇçÁ÷Core Tech at EY, recalled. “And we thought a platform can make this simpler. Resources were available – donations were streaming into NGOs working all over Poland – but organizations had no centralized database or way to share what they had available and where.” So de Sousa’s team mobilized.

The development process would not be typical; this need was dire and immediate. It was about saving lives. When they reached out to other EY groups for support, the response, de Sousa said, “was overwhelming. I think we had the UX design in three days.” The EY development team worked at a breakneck pace to create the app while coordinating with NGOs on the ground in Poland and working with the marketing teams who would mobilize the app through the power of social media.

Harnessing New Technology to Deliver Impactful Solutions

“We needed automation, we needed workflow technology, and, last but not least, we needed the stable backend,” so that the NGOs could upload all their data and ensure it would be stored safely, explained Oktavian Wagner, EY’s head of CT Innovation, Technology, and Architecture. And, since no one on the development team could write in Polish or Ukrainian, they also needed translation capabilities. 51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform (51ˇçÁ÷BTP) was a natural fit, not only because EY was already running close to a thousand 51ˇçÁ÷instances but also because, as Wagner explained, “we share the same vision: using technology to create a better world.”

With 51ˇçÁ÷Build solutions, a low-code app development and automation portfolio, and with the support of 51ˇçÁ÷Business Accelerator Hub, the EY team brought the new EY ERA from ideation to execution in record time. While the technology was crucial, Axel Janz, global head of 51ˇçÁ÷Products and Innovations at EY, said having live, personal support from 51ˇçÁ÷was invaluable. “At the end of the day, the people make the difference,” Janz said.

Also crucial to EY’s whirlwind development process was a laser focus on user experience. “You want to make sure that the application is stable, that it’s fast, that it’s scalable, that it’s safe, but also that it’s easy to use – concentrating on what we call the workflow of the end user,” Wagner said. The end user in this case was refugees. “They don’t want to see a commercial. They don’t want to see what else we’re doing at EY. They don’t even want to see and touch the technology. They just want to use it.”

A Targeted Tool with Global Potential

EY ERA has 162 registered humanitarian aid distribution centers in 53 cities in Poland and more than 15,000 users, refugees who can find the necessities they need to care for their families. The app’s impact is already reaching beyond the borders of Poland and the ongoing crisis for Ukrainian refugees. EY ERA has also been deployed in response to Australian wildfires and is ready to adapt to other natural disasters or humanitarian crises. Whatever the future brings, EY is committed to deploying new technology to serve people in need and to build a better working world for all of us.

Interested in more stories that feature organizations creating innovative solutions to make a positive impact? Check out:

• : Swiss independent organization Essen fĂźr Alle (Food for All) is better supporting its commitment to address food insecurity and hunger with a scalable and efficient solution in the cloud from SAP.
• : EY created a digital platform for financial aid applications with 51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is VP and global innovation evangelist at SAP.

Did you know that in 2022 of the overall workforce of large tech companies, and within that only 25% of women held technical roles? Empowering women with education and employment opportunities can help bridge this gap and often is the catalyst for dreams and aspirations to take shape. 51ˇçÁ÷is committed to promoting equitable access to education and employment, fostering future skills development, and driving innovation for a better future.

One of our 51ˇçÁ÷Corporate Social Responsibility partnerships that we are incredibly proud of is our partnership with , the first nonprofit, tuition-free, American, accredited, online university dedicated to global access to higher education. Established in 2009, it provides virtual learning for over 126,000 students worldwide, with over 16,000 refugees as part of its student population. It serves students believing that higher education is a fundamental right for all.

Last year, in honor of SAP’s 50^th anniversary, 51ˇçÁ÷funded 100 scholarships, with 50 associate’s degrees and 50 bachelor’s degrees in computer science or business administration, for refugees and displaced youth aged 18 to 30 worldwide. 51ˇçÁ÷CSR also partnered with the 51ˇçÁ÷Learning organization to support specifically for Ukrainian refugees and aligned with University of the People and Teach for Afghanistan to fund scholarships for student teachers in Afghanistan seeking their master’s of education degrees. Beyond scholarships, 51ˇçÁ÷established a pilot, one-on-one, virtual mentorship program, where 51ˇçÁ÷employees provide career mentorship for students seeking advice and guidance.

Each scholarship funded by 51ˇçÁ÷supports a refugee student on their education journey with University of the People. To honor Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight a few stories of some inspiring refugee women from University of the People who show that education is the tool they used for a hopeful tomorrow.

Let’s start with Kateryna Glubochenko, who proves that education can transform lives, even in the toughest of circumstances.

Kateryna is a University of the People student from Ukraine who recently graduated with her master’s in education.

In the weeks following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kateryna wrote this message: “I am paralyzed with fear. This is our sixth day in a bomb shelter. Air raids happen every hour. Russian troops are only 50 kilometers from my city. I can’t yet leave my home because I’m pregnant and have no way to leave the city. Studying is the only way to calm down, and I still believe I will survive all this. Studying at University of the People is hope for me now.”

Thanks to University of the People’s entirely virtual online experience providing students access to education from anywhere in the world, Kateryna decided to continue her studies despite the ongoing warfare in her hometown. Luckily, Kateryna could travel to Moldova with her 10-year-old son a few weeks later but had to leave the rest of her family behind. Her husband joined the fight against Russia and her parents were too elderly to make the long trip on foot. From Moldova, Kateryna and her son took a train to Poland and then traveled to Spain to stay with a distant relative.

A few months after arriving in Spain, Kateryna gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and, shortly afterward, completed her master’s degree in education. Kateryna’s strength and commitment to completing her degree in challenging circumstances is incredibly inspiring. After the fighting in her hometown stopped, Kateryna returned to Ukraine with her two sons and reunited with her husband and parents.

In June 2022, in honor of World Refugee Day, Kateryna joined SAP’s hosted by Alexandra van der Ploeg, head of 51ˇçÁ÷Corporate Social Responsibility. On the panel, Kateryna talked about what she hopes to do with her new degree.

“Before the war, I believed I could be a curriculum reformer, helping Ukraine advance its education system. I wanted to help advance our economics curriculum because I’m an economics teacher,” she said. “Now, I hope to be part of rebuilding the Ukrainian education system. I believe we can make our educational system more student-oriented and help Ukrainian students flourish. It might take many years to rebuild our educational system, but I want to take part in this process, and my degree will help me become a specialist and help my country.”

In a recent update, Kateryna used her master’s degree to help her get a job working online for a Ukrainian university and is on her way to making her dreams a reality.

Another inspiring University of the People student is Asima, based in Afghanistan. Asima is from Kunduz, a northern Afghan city. In late July 2021, she was displaced to the Afghan capital, Kabul, to seek safety from the conflict between the government and the Taliban. Things took an unexpected turn on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban took over Kabul. Life changed drastically for Asima and her family. Women’s access to education, which had expanded over the last two decades within the country, ended abruptly.

Throughout these changes, University of the People continued to support Afghans seeking degrees, particularly girls and other marginalized groups. The university has provided around 2,000 scholarships to Afghan women since the Taliban’s return to power so they could continue their studies safely.

“When I heard about the scholarships from the University of the People to Afghan women, I quickly applied. Women must empower themselves through education. We are too strong to be frightened. Therefore, I will continue my education,” Asima said. “When I entered the University of the People learning module for the first time, I was thrilled. I couldn’t express my joy and happiness at that moment. University of the People is a fantastic university where I’m in touch with people from different parts of the world for the same purpose of educating. That is where I feel near to my dreams. Thanks to the University of the People, that has become a light on the darkest day of my life!”

As Women’s History Month ends, we proudly tell stories of women at the University of the People who are using their education to build hopeful futures. We look forward to bringing stories of inspiration and empowerment and powering equitable access to education and employment for students everywhere. To learn more about corporate social responsibility at 51ˇçÁ÷and our partnership with University of the People, .

Julia Donovan is a corporate social responsibility specialist at SAP.

But one year ago, things were very different. Only six years old, Ksusha, her mother Nadiia, and older sister Yaroslava were displaced and living as refugees in Poland after fleeing their home in , Ukraine, to escape the escalating war. Now safe as a result of the UK government’s visa sponsorship program, their lives have begun to stabilize with new friendships, language lessons, and cultural support as they integrate into British daily life.

Gilly Smith, the woman who compassionately opened her home for Nadiia and her daughters, says she is grateful to have the space available to be able to host the family, who in turn have added a new dimension to her life. “It’s lovely when the girls come home,” says Smith, who works for 51ˇçÁ÷as a partner delivery manager for solutions from . “They see immediately if I’ve got my headset on as to whether or not they can be noisy or come in and give me a big hug and tell me about their day.”

“I had a really quiet life before,” says Smith, thinking back to when it was just her, her husband, and the two dogs at home. “Now there’s a lot of activity.” She pauses to lean in, tilts her head, and shares a gem of insight gleaned from her experience: “In the same way that working within a team you need diversity and different ideas, it’s the same in a home life. It’s great having different ages in the same house. It’s energizing.”

“We Need to Do This”

In her 51ˇçÁ÷role, Smith works with 51ˇçÁ÷partners in many countries to deliver success to customers. In her global team, where she is the regional lead for Europe, colleagues work from locations as varied as Australia, Ireland, and Fair Isle in Shetland. She values the open, direct communication that she has with 51ˇçÁ÷partners, which she says makes her work very enriching. “This is the best job at SAP. It’s a fabulous job because I’m working with partners.”

Born in New Zealand, Smith says her intercultural experiences have mostly centered on Western Europe. So, it was a feeling of profound empathy that prompted her to help displaced families from Ukraine. “What motivated me was hearing on the news about this, particularly women and children fleeing, and I just thought if I had a daughter, I would want somebody to look after them, to at least house them and make sure they had food.”

Her husband felt the same. During the pandemic, the couple had made the decision to move to the countryside in preparation for eventual retirement. A tax incentive from the government sweetened the deal and they felt very fortunate to find a spacious, bright house in rural Somerset – which they now wanted to share with a displaced family. “There was really no discussion about it. We just looked at each other and said, ‘We need to do this. We’ve got the space.’”

Bureaucracy and Hugs

The initial step to enroll as a sponsor in Homes for Ukraine was as easy as ticking a box. But Smith and her husband almost abandoned the process many times due to cumbersome bureaucratic forms with no support. For example, Smith had to find someone from Ukraine to sponsor, which meant combing endless social media profiles for a faint connection. “You’re reading these absolutely tragic stories. It was really depressing,” recalls Smith. She finally found a young woman named Nadiia with two daughters, ages five and eleven, who wanted to be near Yeovil, a town near Smith. “I think I’ve found somebody,” Smith told her husband.

However, government forms that required documents in Ukrainian nearly jeopardized the match. “It was just the most terrible form I’ve ever tried to fill in. It was so stressful, I burst into tears.” On March 27, 2022, they submitted the required information.

And then they waited…and waited. There were no updates from the authorities for three months. She and her husband began to lose hope of bringing Nadiia and her daughters to the UK. “In early June, we were saying, ‘It’s not happening. She’s not going to come,’ because this process was just so painful.”

When the UK government finally issued their visas, the family hastily boarded a cheap flight to the UK, arriving on June 9.

Smith recalls the joy of greeting the family in person when they arrived at her home. “The eldest girl ran out and just came and gave me a great big bear hug, which was lovely. The little girl was hiding behind her mother. She was very shy.” Muffin and Biscuit came to the rescue with love and affection. “The little girls absolutely adore the dogs. We were like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a family.’”

Ballet, Birthdays, and Rainbows

Smith enrolled the girls in local schools and helped them with school uniforms. “The little one, I especially felt sorry for her because she didn’t know anybody and initially had no English. She just stood in the middle of the playground and would say, ‘Hello, I’m Ksusha.’” To help her integrate with local children, Smith helped Nadiia enroll Ksusha in ballet class and Rainbows, part of . “Now she comes home and I ask, ‘How was your day at school?’ And she says, ‘It was very good, thank you.’”

As Yaroslava’s twelfth birthday neared, the adults were unsure how to celebrate. She was making new friends, but the thought of her birthday without her long-time friends from Ukraine made Yaroslava not want to celebrate. Eventually, she was persuaded to invite her new friends and her birthday party was a memorable success.

Building Independence

Aside from the challenges of the application process, Smith is very positive about how the UK government has supported the integration of Ukrainian families into communities and schools. Nadiia is studying English and has made tremendous progress. She re-established contact with a friend from the Ukraine who is now in the UK. A long-time family friend, Oleksii, joined her in December and together they are trying to build a new life with jobs and independent housing.

“I really want to see them both get jobs because that will enable them in due course to have their own place for their lives,” says Smith, who in her spare time enjoys helping them learn English. “We get on very well, but it’s never quite the same as having your own place.”

One aspect of our support is our technology itself. Since the start of the war, we have provided software support and cloud services worth more than EUR 30 million to Ukrainian customers free of charge. We are extending this fee waiver through the first quarter of 2023 and will also provide about 1,000 software licenses free of charge to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. In order to ensure essential supplies could reach Ukraine when the war began, we also provided open access to , which matches business buyers with qualified suppliers from around the world. We will extend this access into 2023. On the 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network, we added a “Support Ukraine” button that lets suppliers easily declare their readiness to provide aid and makes it simple for buyers to quickly find sources of supplies. To date, more than 10,000 suppliers have declared their readiness to help and more than 75% of posts requesting aid have received responses.

We’ve also partnered with organizations on the ground. We’ve donated our market-leading cloud-based procurement solutions to Enkidu Global, an NGO that has teamed up with State Enterprise “Medical Procurement of Ukraine” (SE MPU) to ensure fast and efficient procurement of medical supplies for millions of Ukrainians in need. Enkidu used our solutions, including 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network, to create a centralized platform enabling SE MPU to quickly find suppliers to deliver urgently needed essential goods.

Donations, including those from employees, have been an important aspect of our response. In total, 51ˇçÁ÷has donated more than EUR 4.2m to support Ukraine, in cooperation with organizations including UNICEF, UNHCR and the German Red Cross.

51ˇçÁ÷is equally committed to Ukraine’s economic recovery. In close partnership with the Ukrainian government, we have supported initiatives intended to develop the country’s technology industry. We’re working as a partner with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine to make rapid recovery and development possible through innovation and digitalization.

As we look ahead to a new year, our hearts and hopes remain with the people of Ukraine and our commitment remains steadfast. Ěý

“There is no end to the hardship and suffering of the people on the ground, where the confrontations with violence, loss, and destruction increase daily. The displacement of the civilian population has reached unprecedented proportions and the need for humanitarian aid is becoming more urgent and greater,” the GRC writes on its . The relief organization estimates that 13Ěýmillion people are stranded in areas directly affected by the fighting. They lack food, drinking water, and medical care.

Attacks on healthcare facilities, personnel, and infrastructure have only exacerbated the situation, undermining relief efforts and depriving people of urgently needed care. According to the , 300 attacks on healthcare resources were reported between February 24 and June 15. It is also estimated that more than 10,000 civilians have been injured since the war began.

Ukrainian health authorities and many local and international relief organizations are doing everything they can to ensure that those affected continue to receive medical assistance. The biggest challenge is having medicine and medical supplies available where it’s needed.

Connecting Suppliers and Buyers

Mathias Fritzsche, who, together with Martin Fassunge, heads the Software Donations working group in SAP’s Ukraine Task Force, says: “51ˇçÁ÷wants to support Ukraine with software solutions. War means chaos and destruction, and with it the shattering of supply chains. Our SAPĚýAriba Procurement solutions can help rebuild those supply chains.”

As part of this initiative, 51ˇçÁ÷is making its SAPĚýAriba Discovery solution (now 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network Discovery) available to companies and organizations free of charge until the end of 2022. The solution can help buyers connect with millions of companies in 190 countries across the globe via 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network. “It works in the same way as a dating platform: suppliers and buyers can log on to SAP’s huge business network to find suitable matches,” Fritzsche explains. “What’s more, we’ve added a new toggle button called “Support Ukraine,” which aid agencies can use to search specifically for urgently required goods.”

In the first 15 hours after it went live, more than 300 suppliers offered their help via the solution. This number has since increased to more than 4,600. To date, these suppliers have delivered over €130Ěýmillion worth of humanitarian goods, including 300,000 first aid kits, torniquets to stop heavy bleeding, and more.

Ordering System for the Ukrainian Ministry of Health

The start of the war spelled the end of “business as usual” for the State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine (MPU), the only national agency that ensures centralized procurement of quality medicines and medical devices for the state funds, too. With many of its national suppliers no longer available, the MPU was forced to find a new approach, as tenders can no longer take place the way they used to or are not fast enough in cases where urgent help is required.

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The not-for-profit aid organization contacted 51ˇçÁ÷in March, seeking IT support for federal procurement authorities, and brought the partners together. Founded by Ukrainian volunteers in Switzerland, Enkidu supports the procurement and supply of medicine to war-torn Ukraine as well as facilitates the donations process for global institutional donors through its platform. In addition to using the SAPĚýAriba Discovery solution to post its sourcing needs, the MPU also needed a catalog solution to search for and compare specific medical supplies.

Fritzsche made some inquiries: “On a Friday evening, we asked colleagues for help, and they did not let us down. Around five consultants sprang into action right away. In less than three weeks, we were able to implement and install a catalog solution for the MPU based on the guided buying capability. It’s similar to the cloud-based 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba solution that 51ˇçÁ÷employees use when they order a new notebook or cellphone, for example.”

For the MPU, 51ˇçÁ÷experts uploaded the corresponding catalogs from suppliers of medical products, set up authorizations for users, and tailored the solution to the ministry’s needs. The built-in invoicing process, for example, is an important feature, enabling benevolent suppliers to deduct donations from their taxes.

“I am particularly pleased about our collaboration with Enkidu because it makes it easier for us to help the Ukrainian people swiftly and efficiently. The network approach also provides greater opportunities to speed the rebuilding of Ukraine,” Fassunge adds.

The first order transacted via the ordering platform was for 400 vacuum-assisted closure machines and 10,000 disposable negative pressure therapy kits, valued at over US$1 million. Negative pressure therapy provides better healing of wounds, requires fewer dressing changes, and minimizes the risk of infection. The order was funded by the Ukrainian Embassy in London. In the first two weeks of using the solution, the MPU triggered several orders totaling more than €2.5 million, no doubt saving countless lives.

The dots, as Sahling refers to them, are the individuals and organizations working tirelessly every day to transport desperately needed medical supplies into Ukraine and fly back vulnerable Ukrainian civilians, often wounded and traumatized, to safe countries in Central Europe.

Ukraine Air Rescue () connects private pilots and other volunteers with physicians, medical centers, pharmacies, and aid organizations to arrange supply flights to Ukraine’s borders with Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. Over 250 pilots from Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and elsewhere have signed up to help. The volunteers have completed more than 20 humanitarian flights so far.

“Our aircraft get medical supplies and urgent medicines to the places they’re needed fast,” says Sahling. “Requests come to us directly from hospitals and aid organizations in Ukraine and we deliver specifically to them. We also receive confirmation that the goods have arrived safely.”

On their return journeys, the aircrafts transport vulnerable people to safety, including mothers and children, the wounded, and disabled. Volunteers make sure that suitable accommodations are available for the refugees when they arrive at their destination.

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Video by Norbert Steinhauser

Transporting the Wounded and Vulnerable

An avid pilot, Sahling has flown several missions to airports in Poland since Ukraine Air Rescue was founded and has witnessed the impact of the war on civilians. On May 11, he co-piloted one of three UAR-sponsored planes to RzeszĂłw-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland to deliver medical supplies and pick up a family of four who had recently escaped the besieged city of Mariupol. Sergey, 64, had been buried in rubble when a Russian vacuum bomb destroyed the apartment building he lived in. He lost his wife and nine-year old grandson in the explosion. When rescue workers dug him out, one arm and a leg were crushed. He was rushed to hospitals in Mariupol and then Donetsk, but to save his life, doctors had to remove his right leg. His left arm was broken several times.

On his arrival in Germany, he was met by Semion Iomdin, a volunteer with the humanitarian organization Mrija Bergstrasse in Heppenheim, Germany. The flight reunited nine family members from three generations who are receiving medical attention in Germany. Iomdin thinks Ukraine Air Rescue fills an important need for refugee transport to safe countries. “Transport by land to a country like Germany takes up to 20 hours and requires quite a lot of logistics effort,” he says. “The flight only takes a few hours, so we contact UAR when we need to transport families that have suffered major injuries or trauma and time-to-treatment is a major factor.”

Ukraine Air Rescue also works with the German-Ukrainian aid association (Blue-Yellow Cross), , and other organizations to supply hospitals in and around Ukraine. For example, a Ukrainian patient lying in a hospital in Iași, Romania, was diagnosed with sepsis but had a high resistance to antibiotics. UAR supported Pharmacists Without Borders by organizing the flight of a concentrated antibiotic from Ireland to Romania, enabling it to be administered to the patient within hours.

51ˇçÁ÷Employees Help Ukraine

Ukraine Air Rescue has united 51ˇçÁ÷colleagues, partners, customers, and others in a common purpose. All bring their own special talents and strengths to the cause and are reinforcing the network into a resilient fabric. “I know how important it is to have a wave of people supporting in the background,” Sahling says.

For example, Peter Horsch, who is responsible for the partners in the 51ˇçÁ÷Retail team, heard about UAR from a friend and signed up as a pilot through the website. Sahling got in touch with him, and it turned out that they both work at SAP. Horsch has flown to Poland three times now. He can transport up to seven people in his Cessna 414. He says: “51ˇçÁ÷is a very altruistic corporation that not only supports financially in times of crisis, for example through the , but also encourages employees to donate their time to charitable organizations.” Through UAR, Horsch experiences many aspects that are also deeply rooted in SAP’s corporate culture, like solidarity, mutual support, commitment, and the willingness to build bridges: “Everyone makes a small contribution and gets involved where their strengths lie.”

Other examples include Sahling’s manager, Andreas Hauke, chief information security officer for 51ˇçÁ÷Customer Experience, who volunteers his expertise to keep the organization’s website secure. Uliana Caceres, senior developer for 51ˇçÁ÷Customer Experience, helped establish a cooperation between UAR and (Munich helps Ukraine) to send 600 liters of insulin to Lviv. She also helps bridge the language barrier in support of UAR’s transport logistics. Michal Tabakowski and Pawel Wiacek, 51ˇçÁ÷employees in Poland, volunteer with local NGO (Laboratory of Peace) to organize the logistics for Ukrainian refugees traveling on UAR’s return flights. And Anouk Vastert from 51ˇçÁ÷in the Netherlands helped by sourcing tourniquets from the U.S. to help save lives in Ukraine.

The Power of Connections

The humanitarian crisis has unleashed the power of personal and professional connections in the tech industry, as people collaborate across companies with single purpose. ServiceNow is supporting the aid organizations Blau Gelbes Kreuz e.V. and UAR with a ServiceNow platform-based application that maps all process steps of the relief operations, developed within only a few weeks. Sascha Wildgrube is a senior technical consultant at ServiceNow. Together with a core team and many supporters, he is developing an application that manages the processes from the requests of the Ukrainian hospitals; to the procurement and dispatch of medical supplies, including transport documents; to the return transport of the passengers in need of help and accommodation in Germany.

“We started immediately and implemented the most important processes,” Wildgrube says. “Our goal was to give NGOs a better alternative to email, chats, and spreadsheets for planning and coordination, thus enabling them to carry out their work in a structured, fast and compliant manner.”

He estimates about 200 person-days have already been invested in the application so far, with time donated by ServiceNow and Teiva Systems employees and by paid time allocated by ServiceNow. “It’s just good what we’re doing,” says Wildgrube. “Normally, our solutions help companies work efficiently and save costs. This time, we’re using it to help people who have been wounded in war to survive.”

One of the keys to providing effective humanitarian aid to these refugees is to make it easier for public and private organizations providing humanitarian help to find the supplies they need quickly and efficiently.

To help ensure essential supplies are reaching Ukrainian refugees, 51ˇçÁ÷is continuing to provide open access to its business network tool , and has reconfigured the tool to help meet this urgent need effectively and efficiently. Now, with a simple click on the “Support Ukraine“ toggle button, suppliers can update their profiles on 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network to declare their readiness to provide humanitarian aid.

Similarly, any supporting organization facing shortages can post their immediate sourcing needs and find suppliers ready to meet their requirements for humanitarian aid. Organizations looking for aid can now flag their posts to indicate they need donated supplies versus seeking to purchase. 51ˇçÁ÷hopes this will help to facilitate faster connections between buyers in need and suppliers that can deliver with urgency and quality

During this time of pressing need, 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba Discovery can help buyers connect with millions of companies in 190 nations on 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network — free to post, free to respond.

In the first 15 hours after it went live, 301 suppliers offered help via the platform. To date, this number has increased to more than 2,500.

“Supply chains have become even more fragile due to the war in Ukraine,” said Tony Harris, senior vice president and head of Marketing & Solutions for 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network. “With continued open access to 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba Discovery, we hope to make it easier for organizations in need to connect with suppliers who can help on our network. We are encouraged by the positive response we’re already seeing from suppliers looking to assist Ukraine during this time.”

The move to speed access to humanitarian supplies represents a continuation of SAP’s policy to help facilitate the pairing of buyers and suppliers during times of exceptional need. 51ˇçÁ÷previously opened access to 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba Discovery during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic helping, for example, a construction company seeking beds for an emergency hospital it was building in New York City to be matched with a supplier within just 30 minutes.

For more information, please visit the  p˛š˛ľąđ.

We continue to believe that coordinated inter-governmental sanctions offer the best way to end the war in Ukraine, and we have implemented them without exception. In line with our responsibilities as an employer and provider of business-critical software, we have also gone beyond sanctions. For example, we halted sales in Russia and Belarus and are in the process of shutting down all cloud operations in Russia.

Today we are announcing further steps toward an orderly exit from our operations in Russia, where we have operated for more than 30 years and have built an excellent team. As we wind down our operations, we will focus on responsibly managing the impact on these employees.

Cloud ServicesĚý

The data in data centers belongs to customers, not to SAP. As part of our cloud shutdown, we have therefore given non-sanctioned companies in Russia the choice to have their data deleted, sent to them, or migrated to a data center outside of Russia. For those Russian companies who choose the migration path, we will not renew their contract upon expiration of the current subscription term.

On-Premise Products

We’re also announcing our intent to exit the support and maintenance of our on-premise products in Russia. We are evaluating multiple options to execute this decision, each of which will ensure we continue to honor our obligations to non-sanctioned customers. It is also important to note that regardless of any 51ˇçÁ÷decision, existing customers in Russia using on-premise software will still be able to use their products.

Humanitarian Aid

Meanwhile our support for the people of Ukraine continues. We recently announced an additional contribution of €700,000 to support refugees in the region, bringing our total contribution to €3.7 million so far. Additionally, 51ˇçÁ÷software contributions are supporting relief efforts. We recently donated 51ˇçÁ÷Ariba solutions to an NGO working with the State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine, which will allow the speedy purchasing of medical goods for the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine. We also enabled suppliers on 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network to declare their readiness to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Some 2,500 companies have already taken this opportunity and offered their assistance through the platform.

Our hearts and hopes are with the people of Ukraine. More than anything, we want this war to end. Until then, 51ˇçÁ÷will continue to help those affected and encourage the restoration of peace.

Jobs, Support and Learning Opportunities Available Across Several Countries

The initiative aims to attract, match and retain qualified refugees from Ukraine with suitable job opportunities at 51ˇçÁ÷in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.

As part of the program, 51ˇçÁ÷has launched a dedicated landing page online to highlight relevant vacancies to refugees from Ukraine, answer frequently asked questions and provide the possibility to register interest in a special talent pool without uploading all relevant documents. This is to make the recruitment process as fast and as easy as possible for applicants.

Available roles include software engineering, sales, presales, consulting and support functions, such as HR and finance. Fixed contract opportunities and part-time job sharing in Germany are also possible.

As part of SAP’s “Pledge to Flex” initiative, its employees can work flexibly. If offered a role, Ukrainian employees who have been displaced by the ongoing conflict will benefit from a host of services. They include buddy support with a fellow Ukrainian employee, mental health support, dedicated learning and language courses, childcare support (in some countries) and advanced payment options for newly hired talent.

“All 51ˇçÁ÷employees around the world have been saddened by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and are increasingly seeking ways to help,” said Cawa Younosi, Project Leader and Head of People Germany at SAP. “We have lots of vacancies that will match the skills of some of those fleeing the tragedy. By doing what we can to accelerate the recruitment process, we can begin to offer these people security and support as part of the 51ˇçÁ÷family.”

This is the latest in a line of support mechanisms 51ˇçÁ÷has launched to assist with the humanitarian crisis. Its employees have already helped to offer around 4,000 refugees from Ukraine shelter in neighboring countries. In other support measures, 51ˇçÁ÷is using its technology to help multinational organizations across a range of aid efforts. One focus is ensuring aid groups and healthcare workers can get supplies. On March 9, 51ˇçÁ÷enabled suppliers on 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network to declare their readiness to provide humanitarian aid, with some 1,500 having already done so. 51ˇçÁ÷is also helping the Ukrainian government order supplies for hospitals so that they can get urgently needed equipment as quickly and easily as possible.

Those interested in taking advantage of the initiative are being asked to visit .

Visit the . Follow 51ˇçÁ÷on Twitter at .

Media Contact:
Bjoern Emde, +49 6227 7-55107, b.emde@sap.com, CET
51ˇçÁ÷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’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
Š 2022 51ˇçÁ÷SE. All rights reserved.
51ˇçÁ÷and other 51ˇçÁ÷products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51ˇçÁ÷SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

On March 2, we stopped all sales in Russia and then Belarus. We have immediately implemented all international sanctions without exception, and are in constant contact with our government counterparts to remain aligned with their strategies to end this war. We appreciate the resolve and intelligence with which governments have come together on coordinated sanctions and welcome the announcement of new international sanctions expected soon.

Beyond implementing sanctions and stopping all sales, we are actively shutting down our cloud operations in Russia. We have received questions about SAP’s ability to shut down all existing products for Russian customers. There are customers in Russia that have bought and deployed their 51ˇçÁ÷products on premise and run these products within their own internal IT departments. This means that regardless of any 51ˇçÁ÷decision not to provide support or engagement of any kind, these customers are still able to continue using these products independently of SAP.

To address the humanitarian and refugee needs on the ground, we are using our technology to help multi-national organizations across a range of aid efforts. One focus is ensuring aid groups and healthcare workers can get supplies. On March 9, we enabled suppliers on 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network to declare their readiness to provide humanitarian aid; some 1,500 have already done so. We’re also helping the Ukrainian government order supplies for hospitals so that they can get urgently needed equipment as quickly and easily as possible.

Technology is just one of the resources we’re offering. Total donations from 51ˇçÁ÷and our employees have surpassed €3 million and continue to grow. Over 4,000 employees have offered housing and other aid to refugees. We’re also providing 51ˇçÁ÷office space to store donations such as medicine and food.

We stand with the global community in its efforts to stop this unjust war in Ukraine and we remain committed to supporting efforts to restore peace.

Updated April 12: We’ve received some questions about our approach to shutting down our cloud operations in Russia. In providing cloud services, 51ˇçÁ÷legally acts as a data processor, which means that the customer data within our cloud services always belongs to the customer, never to SAP. This is true for both Russia-based businesses and for multi-national companies working within Russia. With our decision to shut down cloud operations in Russia, we are contractually obliged to provide all non-sanctioned customers legally-compliant options for how their data should be handled — these customers can choose to have their data deleted, sent to them or migrated to cloud operations located outside of Russia. Customers with whom business is prohibited by sanctions were not given these options.

Economic sanctions are an important mechanism in the efforts to restore peace. We are in constant exchange with governments around the world, have every confidence in their guidance, and fully support the actions taken so far. We are stopping business in Russia and Belarus aligned with sanctions and, in addition, pausing all sales of 51ˇçÁ÷services and products in Russia and Belarus.

With hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes, finding and providing shelter quickly is crucial. We have allocated an initial €1 million in humanitarian support for the people of Ukraine and are working with national Red Cross organizations, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and other organizations to offer our technology to support their efforts.

For example, our software solutions can help organizations register refugees, coordinate volunteer efforts, and procure humanitarian goods. Additionally, we are working with Qualtrics to help non-profits and regional governments understand the most pressing needs of the people they serve and route them with accommodations and essential supplies on the ground. We have also offered to convert our office space at locations across Europe into warehousing and accommodation for refugees.

The safety and protection of our colleagues in the region is of the utmost importance. For those colleagues who chose to leave Ukraine, we are providing financial and logistical support to try to make this incredibly difficult step as easy as possible.

The 51ˇçÁ÷family stands with everyone affected and horrified by the events in Ukraine. There are no winners in war, and we join others in calling for the restoration of peace.

Updated March 9: We have suspended sales in Russia and Belarus. We stand with the people of Ukraine and condemn the war.

Christian Klein is CEO of 51ˇçÁ÷SE.