Every 57 seconds, a new car rolls off the assembly line at the BMW Group’s plant in Regensburg, Germany. But the factory does more than just build highly desirable automobiles; it is also pioneering the company’s cloud transformation to SAP S/4HANA.

Using RISE with SAP, BMW Group converted the factory’s operations to modern cloud software, which also enables greater integration of AI. The successful go-live among this complex shift operation was the result of an extraordinary team, a strategic partnership lasting more than 30 years, and seven years of co-innovation between BMW and SAP.

Creating a new standard as partners

Following the initial rollout of the new solution at BMW Group’s MINI plant in Oxford, England, the Regensburg plant is the first full-scale BMW Group facility to transition to SAP S/4HANA.

The rollout of the new cloud solution for the parts process chain (abbreviated as PKT in German) affected the entire logistical process chain for the digital control of parts supply in vehicle production — from ordering required components from suppliers, receiving, and warehousing to delivering them to the production line.

In addition to purely logistical processes, the solution also covers the plant’s quality and maintenance processes. For the first time, the new PKT template for SAP S/4HANA enabled unified management of parts supply across all production technologies required to build a vehicle.

The project’s success is rooted in a team that worked across corporate boundaries toward a shared goal. Customer Services & Delivery and Product & Engineering teams from SAP partnered with BMW to create a blueprint for holistic digital transformation in production logistics — from the press, body, and paint shops to final assembly.

Awareness of the importance of this transformation project was palpable among every SAP employee involved. “We made one thing clear to everyone on the team: every single car counts,” says Carola Schoenfelder, chief project expert, Strategic Customer Innovations at SAP, and program lead for SAP at BMW. “It wasn’t only about IT; it was about the factory, the people, and the result.”

Transformation as a staircase

Around one-third of employees at the BMW plant in Regensburg work directly with SAP S/4HANA components, including SAP Transportation Management and SAP Extended Warehouse Management. Involving those affected in the change process was critical to success. Another factor in the project’s success was learning from experience. The smaller MINI factory in Oxford had already completed its go-live, which helped guide the project team as it worked on the bigger Regensburg project.

Instead of designing the transformation as a metaphorical “rock face” that had to be climbed without any safety equipment, the team viewed it as a “staircase”: an incremental, guided transition. In addition, satellite support points were set up within the factory to offer support at any time.

Identifying optimization potential

Six months after go-live, it is clear that the transition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is more than just a technical upgrade; it’s noticeably changing daily operations. In particular, the new SAP Extended Warehouse Management application is proving to be a key technology that supplies important data and identifies potential for optimization.

Thanks to the new data foundation, the potential for optimization can be more precisely identified, for example, by the use of tugger trains and reduction of internal transport kilometers.

Standardization brings not only efficiency but also flexibility. Employees can switch between tasks more easily, and even between factories, because less specialized knowledge is needed. The processes are more streamlined and more transparent.

“The global digitalization of our production logistics significantly increases transparency and standardization, allowing us to respond more quickly to changes in demand or supply shortages,” explains Michael Nikolaides, head of Production Network and Logistics at the BMW Group.

Ready for an AI-driven future

Strategically, the new IT infrastructure has brought significant changes. The cloud provides speed and flexibility, without users having to worry about the technology in the background. Moreover, the introduction of standardized cloud solutions is a crucial step toward fully harnessing the potential of AI in the future. To benefit sustainably from AI, standardized software solutions that can be quickly enhanced with new capabilities are needed.

“With the next stage of digitalization in production logistics — enabled by consistent, unified data structures and standard process templates — we have significantly advanced the AI enablement of the BMW Group,” explains Alexander Buresch, CIO and senior vice president of BMW Group IT.

Over a seven-year period of co-innovation, BMW shared its automotive-specific requirements while SAP mapped large sections of these requirements in SAP S/4HANA and in the industry solution SAP S/4HANA for manufacturing logistics. “As part of our partnership with SAP, we have transferred key corporate processes to a service-oriented, cloud-based platform, achieving a new level of efficiency, quality, and automation,” Buresch says.

Those who use a shared standard can also find solutions collectively, share them, and co-develop solution designs. If other automakers configure on the same standard in the future, BMW will also benefit from new SAP releases.

The strategic collaboration to develop the PKT template began in 2018 as a project driven by deep expertise and strong commitment. The go-live in Regensburg is a key indicator that SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud can meet the complex demands of a high-volume vehicle plant. Together with BMW, the SAP consulting team demonstrated that with meticulous preparation, a lossless go-live in a complex shift operation is possible. The rollout process works and can be adapted and expanded plant by plant.

Hendrik Haas, senior vice president, general manager, and head of Customer Services & Delivery Middle and Eastern Europe at SAP, adds: “The collaboration with our lighthouse customer BMW is making waves in the market and demonstrates how digital transformation in production logistics can be successfully implemented. BMW’s Regensburg factory was an important step, with extraordinary commitment from both sides of the partnership. We will continue the RISE with SAP transformation at the main factory in Munich this summer, together with BMW.”

Top image courtesy of BMW Group.

The demand for supply chain resilience and agility has never been higher. Procurement and supply chain functions have evolved beyond mere cost management, becoming increasingly crucial to customer satisfaction, regulatory compliance, and overall business objectives. To navigate this complex environment, companies need comprehensive B2B solutions that foster collaboration and drive efficiency for both themselves and their trading partners.

In a previous article, I explored how SAP Business Network can deliver measurable value for buyer organizations by accelerating order cycles, improving efficiency, and generating significant ROI. Now, I’m turning my attention to the other side of the equation: the suppliers.

A recent IDC white paper sponsored by SAP, The Business Value of SAP Business Network — For Selling Organizations, sheds light on how business networks can help organizations meet key goals by improving efficiency, reducing costs, and driving innovation. Let’s delve into the findings and explore how SAP Business Network can transform the supplier experience.

Cutting costs through visibility and information sharing

Technology plays a critical role in the buyer-supplier relationship. Traditional collaboration tools, designed to bring buyers and sellers together, are increasingly limited in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape. To meet new demands, organizations are turning to modern business networks that enable more efficient ways to collaborate with partners.

These networks offer greater convenience, speed, and a broad selection of products and services, transforming how businesses sell products and manage their end-to-end supply chain. To succeed, teams need meaningful visibility into supply chain activity. Discovering opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and deliver business value requires access to real insights across key metrics. Business networks make this possible by enabling end-to-end tracking of orders, shipments, and inventory. This transparency also contributes to stronger collaboration with customers, allowing teams to respond quickly to changes in demand, optimize inventory levels, and maintain more reliable and accurate forecasts.

These benefits can be realized through automation capabilities contained within the platform, bringing further cost savings. For one customer using SAP Business Network, automated order processing eliminated manual checks and data entry, significantly reducing costs. While manually processed orders cost around $30 each, automated orders cost them less than a dollar.

Beyond order processing, automation and data visibility also improved demand forecasting. Users reported a 19% increase in forecast accuracy, which helped reduce stockouts, overproduction, and production waste. These improvements not only delivered operational efficiencies but also contributed to higher renewal rates and new business opportunities.

Driving value while staying efficient

Automation through SAP Business Network helps companies reduce manual tasks, saving employees’ time and resources while improving accuracy, efficiency, and compliance. These process improvements can also enhance employee performance, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks that drive better business outcomes.

Tasks like customer support see major benefits from efficiency gains through business network automation. Structured data ensures deeper integration with other systems, allowing employees to quickly access complete storefront and portfolio data to respond to customer inquiries faster. Business networks can also provide better visibility and near-real-time data, leading to faster, more accurate responses to customer needs and boosting customer satisfaction by nearly 37%. These improvements help reduce product turn-times and allow companies to deliver products promptly, benefiting both employees and customers.

SAP Business Network customers also saw invoice approvals and shipping notices processed 50% and 48% faster with automation compared to manual methods. This also led to a 21% increase in on-time document delivery, reaching 91% overall, highlighting the significant impact of SAP Business Network on operational efficiency.

With fewer errors, faster payments, and enhanced visibility into financial data, automation through SAP Business Network helps procurement teams do more than streamline operations. It can empower them to deliver the added value that companies have been searching for.

Strengthening and streamlining business development efforts

Strong visibility helps teams understand customer needs and use a data-driven approach to identify new opportunities more quickly. Business networks can even help boost a supplier’s profile as well, with certification and trust ratings that help bring in more business. These metrics can help translate new opportunities into bigger picture products and solutions.

Process automation and accelerated payments inherently increase customer value by responding to their needs faster. At the same time, they give organizations additional time to reach and maintain more customers to drive growth through new agreements that could allow them to scale further. SAP Business Network helped customers accelerate their go-to-market speed by 20%, reducing the time from product development to market launch.

Businesses using SAP Business Network also report that the effects of speeding up and simplifying the selling processes were crucial to overall business success, showing a 36.8% increase in customer satisfaction and a 53.8% improvement in sales administration efficiency. The total annual revenue gain through these means added up to $2 million per organization.

Leveraging SAP Business Network as a supplier

As companies search for solutions that enable them to build resilient, agile, and sustainable supply chains, business networks have emerged as a powerful tool to meet performance goals, improve efficiency, and comply with regulatory requirements.

SAP Business Network takes this a step further by integrating with both traditional and emerging supply chain management applications. By enabling suppliers to grow their customer base and build stronger relationships through increased visibility and trust, SAP Business Network helps empower suppliers to operate more strategically and competitively in today’s digital economy.

The benefits highlighted in this research complement the buyer-side advantages explored in my previous article, underscoring the holistic value that SAP Business Network can bring to the entire supply chain ecosystem. As we continue to navigate the complexities of modern procurement and supply chain management, platforms like SAP Business Network will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of business collaboration and efficiency.

Tony Harris is SVP and chief marketing and solutions officer of SAP Business Network.

Organizations rely on cloud solutions from SAP to power their most critical business processes. Yet too many IT teams find themselves caught in an endless cycle of maintenance, monitoring, and firefighting, leaving little room for the strategic work that truly moves business forward. SAP Cloud Application Services can change this equation.

Cloud solutions promise simplicity: turn them on, and they just work. But behind every successful cloud transformation lies a complex web of operational challenges. Businesses adopting cloud solutions, whether public or private, still need to address topics such as testing, application performance, security, monitoring, integrations, service and change requests, and issue resolution.

The reality? Cloud solutions eliminate hardware and infrastructure concerns, but the day-to-day operational workload remains. Without proper management, businesses face risks such as downtime, inefficiencies, and an inability to scale.

SAP Cloud Application Services can help put an end to this struggle. The offerings of expert-managed services are designed to help run, optimize, and innovate cloud applications—giving businesses the tools to help unlock the full potential of their business, human capital, and technology investments.

Why cloud application management matters

When businesses run on cloud solutions from SAP, our 24×7 cloud operations can provide more than just monitoring. We can also help to actively prevent issues before they impact your operations and to respond rapidly when minutes matter. Problems can not only be fixed but also anticipated—that’s the beauty of SAP Cloud Application Services.

Offered through an outcome-based, modular subscription model, the offerings can deliver hands-on support for smooth cloud operations. For IT teams, this can mean more time to focus on strategic innovation and business transformation, instead of being overwhelmed by routine maintenance. They can leverage SAP’s deep solution expertise to help ensure continuous security updates, proactive monitoring, intelligent automation, and data-driven optimization.

More importantly, SAP Cloud Application Services can help resolve key challenges associated with cloud-based operations, such as:

• Expert-supported application management: Comprehensive cloud application management from SAP helps ensure stable and reliable operations and business continuity across the cloud landscape.
• Interconnectivity and integration: Data and processes can flow with greater reliability and speed across cloud environments without losing business context.
• Intelligent monitoring and performance optimization: Cloud applications can work together in ways that proactively prevent downtime and performance bottlenecks.
• Issue resolution and incident management: Technical issues can be swiftly identified and resolved early.
• An AI-first approach: The fusion of built-in AI and cloud application management can enable companies to focus more resources on solving business challenges effectively.
• Security and compliance: Security, compliance, and governance standards can be maintained consistently and with confidence.
• Automated testing: Regression, performance, or integration testing can be automated to help make innovation less burdensome for IT teams and the overall business.

Where more freedom drives a more strategic focus

All over the world, companies, such as Atem Distribuidora de Petróleo S.A. (Atem), are already opening the door to integrated, automated operations in the cloud with SAP Cloud Application Services.

“The unified engagement between the SAP Cloud Application Services offerings and our partner helped us deliver our upgrade of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition in a very short timeframe,” shares Nayara Araujo, IT systems manager at Atem Distribuidora de Petróleo S.A. “This project is key to our innovation plan and will enable us to continuously enhance our software landscape for many years to come.”

The close relationship that Araujo describes led to a cloud environment that’s reducing the company’s energy consumption by 80% and data footprint by 87.5%. Business operations have also been improved—for example, monthly financial closing time has fallen by 40%.

Atem’s success underscores the importance of having a single point of accountability, supported by:

• Predictable costs: Annual service packages are transparent, fixed-price, and outcome-based.
• Guaranteed performance: The offerings are backed by contractually binding service-level agreements and 24×7 global support.
• Embedded AI and automation: Intelligent monitoring, proactive issue resolution, and continuous improvements are included.
• Continuous innovation: Cloud applications are aligned with the organization’s goals and SAP’s evolving road map.
• Comprehensive governance: SAP manages everything from monitoring to security and compliance.

Atem didn’t need to deal with multiple vendors. Instead, SAP’s and the partner’s expertise, global support, and standardized service delivery were immediately accessible through one channel. This advantage led to 25% faster upgrades, 30% better usability, and 100% AI readiness.

With cloud success comes AI-driven innovation

Cloud success is more than increased uptime; it’s also about unlocking what’s next. With AI redefining everything in our world, businesses need clean, connected, and continuously managed data and AI-ready, intelligent, and scalable IT environments more than ever.

SAP Cloud Application Services can transform cloud operations into a foundation for AI-driven innovation. With intelligent monitoring, automation, and built-in AI capabilities, businesses can accelerate AI adoption, improve critical business KPIs, and scale dynamically with confidence, control, and continuous innovation.

Take the next step toward a smarter, AI-powered future today. Learn how SAP Cloud Application Services can maximize your cloud investment and contact your local service account executive to get started.

Arndt-Alexander Boehnert is global vice president for SAP Cloud Application Services at SAP.
Stefan Krampen is lead architect for SAP Cloud Application Services at SAP.