SAP
DIGITAL REPORT 2021
SAP: The Jazz of Digital Transformation IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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SAP: The Jazz of Digital Transformation
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www.s a p . com
SAP
SAP’s Lars Friedrich, Andreas Spahn and Maria Fay on the balance between innovation and structure powering its approach to digital transformation
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AP’s regional customer success team - Lars Friedrich, Andreas Spahn and Maria Fay - takes care of innovations in strategic cus-
tomer engagements for middle and eastern Europe. Friedrich has a musical analogy for what the team set out to achieve: “We act as innovation brokers, and 04
we look upon the incubation and innovation team as a Jazz combo. We help customers to become digital sprinters and build sound innovation capabilities with the power of SAP’s innovation ecosystem “From a Jazz point of view, it’s about bringing the tracks together to build up a full song at the end. That’s what we encourage our customers to do - finding the right beat to adopt innovation phase by phase and step by step.” That musical metaphor also underlies the philosophy that they believe companies must adopt to achieve digital transformation. “It’s not just about KPIs, but rather the whole symphony. You can’t simply use technology to make every process perfect, but you can make sure that everything that you do inside of the process makes sense. And then, once the process has been properly structured and the people are enabled, the technology can come in.”
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The Business Innovation Framework for SAP S/4HANA is the structure under which such transformation occurs. Increasingly, companies are digitally transforming their core businesses, but achieving that is highly complex. “Many customers have built highly customised applications over the years. It’s a very complicated landscape that they have, and then, on top of that, they are considering: ‘how can I get from my old enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to a new ERP like 06
S/4HANA?’ Then there’s the question
E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Lars Friedrich Title: Innovation & Technology Director Industry: Computer Software Lars Friedrich is a business and technology director at SAP, integrating digital into all aspects of the customer strategy from digital organization mindset shift, tech-driven business process innovation, and unleash the power of data and network. Lars supports customers across industries to become digital sprinters, improve their business performance, and to build sound innovation capabilities. He empowers the SAP innovation ecosystem to rethink products and processes for the digital age. With his international experience in Japan, Finland, and South America, he learned the tools to synergize the core competency of the organization and inject speed into the operating model.
of all the new technologies like machine
SAP is not content to simply bring cus-
learning or robotic process automation
tomers up to the modern digital standard,
that everyone is talking about and figur-
but goes further to identify technologies
ing out what that means to the company.”
coming down the track. “What we do
To cut through that fog, SAP has
is help the customer to identify which
developed a systematic and structured
technologies can add additional value
approach to help customers identify
on top of the standard offering, and
which digital technologies in SAP’s vast
technologies that are on the horizon. The
portfolio could add additional value to
next generation of business software
their core businesses. “We have a lot of
that our colleagues from New Ventures
different tools and methodologies from
and Technologies are exploring right
design thinking to SAP Activate, which
now includes brain computer interaction,
is our very own SAP methodology for
gaze control of software or homo-
business transformation in terms of ERP.
morphic encryption and further
We also have a huge portfolio of intel-
emerging technologies.”
ligent technologies, and that is important because when we talk to customers,
While that lies in the future, Fay points to a number of concrete examples
they really want to know what robotic process automation, or machine learning, or even blockchain means to their business.” The innovation ecosystem encompasses a broad range of partners, including its venture arm SAP.iO for new product incubation. “We have many different experts across industries and business units that are all there to support the innovation journey of a customer. The whole ecosystem is very unique in the market, and really differentiates us from other competitors.”
“ Companies like SAP quite clearly have a full sustainability strategy, but the question is how to reach out to the midsized and older companies” — Lars Friedrich, Innovation & Technology Director, SAP www.s a p . com
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SAP
regarding how technology can help improve business processes. “In the supply chain area it’s possible, based on historical data and machine learning, to predict how long it takes to process and ship the sales order. That, of course, allows customers to better plan their processes and in general improves customer relationships in the supply chain.” Other examples in the supply chain space include IoT sensors to monitor products in certain conditions. “You can track temperature, humidity, vibration, 08
“ SAP has a strong internal ecosystem of various teams coming together in the jazz orchestra – from technology foresight to startup scouting” — Dr Maria Fay, Senior Innovation Architect (Middle & Eastern Europe), SAP
impact and so on. That is critical in industries like pharmaceuticals or consumer
One of the elements that sets SAP
products where it’s better to learn as
apart from the crowd is its partner eco-
soon as possible if there is any damage.”
system, which informs and interacts
Such examples cleave closely to
with the business innovation framework.
SAP’s ambition with its customers’ digital
SAP and its partners, together with
transformations, as Spahn explains: “It
customers, accelerate innovation
makes sense to streamline your core
adoption, providing the governance,
processes, but, at the same time, you
methodologies and technologies for the
must identify where advanced technolo-
situation at hand. “SAP is an ecosystem-
gies could add additional value to your
oriented cooperative with over 21,000
business processes. Where do you
industry, technology, start-up partners
need to skill up your people or future
and research institutes. We believe that
proof your workforce in order to not lose
the collaboration with partners is key
ground on your competitors in the race?
for our customers,” says Friedrich. “We
It’s important to address the two worlds
integrate and take advantage of a per-
at once.”
forming ecosystem to solve customers’
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E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Dr Maria Fay Title: Senior Innovation Architect (Middle & Eastern Europe)
Industry: Computer Software
Dr. Maria Fay is a Senior Innovation Architect at SAP, leading engagements with strategic customers in Middle & Eastern Europe to create value and improve processes with next-generation technologies. With over 10 years of international experience in technology and business consulting, she develops new methodologies and services and is a lecturer on digital business models. Having earned her PhD investigating the relationship between big data analytics and business value, Maria is passionate about the future that new technologies from machine learning to quantum computing can bring. www.s a p . com
SAP
digitalization shift. We onboard partners into niche areas to gain trust and once we have identified a backlog of use cases we hand-over delivery to certificated providers.” Apart from the partner ecosystem, “SAP also has a strong internal ecosystem of various teams coming together in the jazz orchestra – from technology foresight to startup scouting,” as Fay explains. “SAP’s Innovation Center Network is working with visionary startups leveraging 10
SAP’s business cloud platform, one
E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Andreas Spahn Title: Senior Innovation & Technology Manager Industry: Computer Software Andreas Spahn is a business innovation and technology consultant who is passionate about solving business problems using digital technologies. Self-driven strategist and innovation broker who is extremely well connected within SAP’s innovation ecosystem. Andreas supports customers across industries to optimize their business processes and to navigate through the uncertainty of innovation, from ideation to implementation of the innovative (custom) solutions. He knows how to play the garnet, from Design Thinking, Business Model Development, Lean Startup, agile Project Management (PMI certified), all the way to Scrum. Beyond realizing innovation projects, he set up a strategic partnership with global industry players, like Schaeffler.
“ Reducing the innovation budget in the long term can have a major impact on competitive capabilities in the future” — Andreas Spahn, Senior Innovation & Technology Manager, SAP services and networks. All those elements are crucial to ensure customers are leveraging the latest knowledge data model and technologies to build
and achievements. “
products and support customers on
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
their transformations. Another team
has naturally affected SAP, just as it has
has expertise in the context of sustain-
its customers. Consequently, SAP is
ability and developed an Impact Lab for
offering solutions and services to help
Sustainability – a format to apply hori-
out. “One of many examples is called
zon-thinking of environmental, human,
the business operation self-healing
economic and social factors into cus-
service,” says Fay. “It’s a comprehensive
tomer organisation, and identify sweet
out-of-the-box AI platform to support
spots for new business opportunities
automation in the business operations.
and co-innovation. More and more we
In other words, if allows fast deployment
are opening up internal formats for our
of various use cases from restoring
customers, like the SAP One Billion
unplanned outages to interactive sales
Lives program, which empowers social
order issues resolution.” Spahn points
entrepreneurship with SAP products,
out that while the natural instinct in such www.s a p . com
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SAP
challenging times is to cut innovation
Sustainability is of ever-increasing
budgets and focus on what is necessary
importance in the business world, and
to survive, this can be self-defeating.
the efficiencies digital transformation
“Reducing the innovation budget in the
unlocks go a long way to helping out. “Big
long term can have a major impact on
companies like SAP quite clearly have
competitive capabilities in the future.
a full sustainability strategy, but the
After all, it’s the digital maturity level
question is how to reach out to the
of a company that is a good indicator of
midsized and older companies,” says
the level of resilience to coping with
Friedrich. “They also need to look into
these situations.”
what sustainability actually is and how
The team emphasises that the key
they could set up their enterprise to
benefits of the digital transformations
achieve it. That’s why we’re setting up
SAP enables are not just monetary.
a framework for sustainability called ‘the
Digital Transformation CLICK TO WATCH
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3:17
13 sustainable enterprise’. That answers
of its USPs, as Rettig explains. “As
the questions of how a company can use
a company in Germany, we have local
digital technologies to operate in a more
SAP experts within a global organisation,
efficient, and more sustainable manner.”
and our mission is to drive the intelligent enterprise. That involves a focus on
NAGARRO ES
SAP and enterprise resource planning
“Nagarro ES is an SAP full service
to build an enterprise architecture that
provider, meaning we implement, and
works for the company involved.”
consult our customers on SAP software.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has
We’re also part of a global company
accelerated efforts towards digitalisa-
which focuses on technology not only
tion, specifically cloud solutions, as
with regards to SAP, but beyond,” says
Manuel Sedlak, Teamlead SAP Cloud
Julia Rettig, Director Marketing at
Services, explains. “We’re seeing the
Nagarro ES. The company’s expertise
companies we work with jump into digi-
when it comes to SAP products is one
talisation. Almost every customer we’ve www.s a p . com
SAP
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worked with in the last year has thought
Nagarro works closely with its cus-
about whether it’s now time to jump
tomers and SAP as part of a triangular
to S4/HANA, and whether that should
relationship to get the best out of its
be an on-premise or cloud solution.”
SAP implementations. Sedlak gives as
Nagarro had first hand experience of
an example its work with a customer.
the efficacy of S4/HANA cloud, and the
“We were asked to be the implementa-
flexibility it offers, having used it for the
tion partner, but having a relationship
past four years. “We were one the first
between ourselves, the customer and
customers in the world to use S/4HANA
SAP is really important for the overall
cloud. That’s why we decided to bring
success of the project.” That triangu-
this to market, and with this approach,
lar relationship is reinforced by quick
we were able to find new customers
responses should a problem arise. “We
with whom to discuss the cloud suc-
identified a problem with a sales order
cess story.”
that couldn’t be deleted from within the
“ We look upon the incubation and innovation team as a Jazz combo” — Lars Friedrich, Innovation & Technology Director, SAP
about a new configuration platform, for instance, that is in development and will potentially go live from the begin15
ning of 2021.” Rettig sees Nagarro’s full service, independent approach as standing it system,” says Sedlak. ”We raised a ticket
in good stead for the future. “Customers
and I was in direct contact with the cus-
want to participate in all the latest
tomer success manager on SAP’s side.
technologies, but they need to do the
Within half an hour, we were able to find
homework. That’s where we come in,
a solution, so it took just 30 minutes from
because we not only have the cloud
reporting that incident to having a resolu-
perspective, but also do on premises
tion from SAP.”
projects. For us as a partner, it’s impor-
The extent of the relationship between
tant to consult our customers with an
SAP and Nagarro has meant the two can
open mind. We don’t want to push them
exchange ideas. “As a partner, it’s really
into a corner where they don’t belong.
great to have a tight connection with
That’s why we’ll continue to take a holis-
SAP,” says Sedlak. “We are currently dis-
tic view with our customers.”
cussing some products with SAP which are coming next year. We are talking www.s a p . com
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