At 14, Coco Yoshizawa of Japan recently became the youngest medalist at the 2024 Summer Olympics, using a skill she mastered during primary school to bring her to the podium. Coco and her peers are proving on an international stage that it is never too early to accomplish incredible feats. The Olympic Games are not the only place we can look to for young, driven leaders.

A recent global study by We Are Family Foundation (WAFF), produced in part with support from SAP, introduced the complexity of incorporating intergenerational collaboration into projects, highlighting how youth in particular face a lack of opportunities to lead and contribute. Young people are often left out of the conversation when it comes to the world’s unprecedented challenges, despite offering a unique and personal perspective on shaping the future.

People under the age of 30 make up more than half of the world’s population. Why block these important voices?

Laalitya Acharya is an impact entrepreneur who invented an AI-driven device to detect water contamination in seconds. In parallel, she founded an organization aimed at finding the intersection of research, advocacy, and policy work through summits discussing action to scale clean water solutions. She continued as an active activist on the topic of closing the water gap by attending events like COP28 as a We Are Family Foundation delegate — all before the age of 20.

Age has not stopped either of these accomplished youth from taking action. In fact, in most cases, being young can be an asset. Young people embody the qualities needed to lead in an increasingly unpredictable and technology-driven time — from the determination to be a leader in one’s athletic field to enacting meaningful change on climate issues.

In honor of International Youth Day 2024, here are three reasons we should never let age become an obstacle to actualize powerful ideas.

1. Young Entrepreneurs Offer Fresh Perspectives

Young impact entrepreneurs like Laalitya are governed by their life experiences and insights, shaped by a rapidly changing global landscape and unprecedented access to technology. Laalitya’s innovation, for example, was born out of a family trip to India, where she was inspired to research solutions when she was personally affected by contaminated water. With an interest in AI, she wanted to find a unique way to blend technology with advocacy to change the “mold of what we think about as water advocacy.”

When given the opportunity, youth can bring groundbreaking ideas and challenge traditional engagement models at the corporate and policy levels. Companies like SAP are leveraging these unique insights with initiatives like Youth to the Table, in which they enable young leaders to rethink the status quo in conversations with key partners at events like COP and The World Economic Forum.

2. Young Innovators Show a Strong Sense of Resilience and Adaptability

In an era characterized by constant change, from the onset of COVID-19 to the developments in AI, young people have an intrinsic ability to navigate uncertainty and apply a dynamic approach. While the entrepreneurial journey is rarely easy, tech-driven acceleration adds a level of urgency that forces them to remain scrappy and leverage the resources available to them in the moment. 

Renata Koch Alvarenga, a young activist from Brazil, understood the power of accessibility when she founded EmoderaClima at 22. The initiative looks to tackle the climate crisis through the lens of gender equality in the Global South, providing an online database with multilingual educational content to empower young people impacted by climate change in Latin America. As she looks to make resources accessible to all, she is required to adapt to the ever-changing business and policy setting in Brazil. Young people like Renata leverage resources like technology to adapt to difficult environments, a testament to their unique strengths as leaders.

3. Young People Emphasize the Importance of Community

Technology has not only given young impact entrepreneurs activists a louder voice than ever, it gives them a community at their fingertips. Whether it was the community they were born into or the community they’ve created, young people are more likely to support the causes and people they care about than former generations. Per a study on young changemakers by The Possibilists in partnership with SAP, 92% of respondents are motivated by the opportunity to do something for their community.

Young people know how to mobilize for their cause or community. Innovators like Larissa Napoli (27), who is the coordinator and member of the Quebrada Agroecológica, a project that promotes water security and agroecology in several Brazilian communities, are fueled by a sense of dedication. Much like the 70% of gen-Z were involved in social or political causes in 2021, she and her colleagues started locally and scaled their initiative through the power of digital channels. Their passion translates into meaningful action that can influence key decision-makers.

SAP believes in the power of collaborating with young impact entrepreneurs and innovators. Through partnerships with ChangemakerXchange, Generation Unlimited, The Possibilists, and We Are Family Foundation, we gather insights and promote initiatives that enact inclusive change. From bringing youth delegates to COP28 to introducing young changemakers at SAP events, we aim to give young innovators a valued voice.

If you are interested in learning more on how to close the intergenerational gap, We Are Family Foundation’s study offers interesting insights on the competitive advantages of working with young leaders.

We invite you to join us in this work; let’s inspire future solutions through meaningful solutions that erase age as an obstacle and ensure everyone’s opinion is valued.

Selina Henn is Strategy and Operations associate for Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced Xerox Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: XRX) has chosen multiple SAP solutions to transform its enterprise architecture as part of its multi-year Reinvention.

Xerox’s Reinvention involves aligning its resources to improve and stabilize its core print businesses, increase productivity and efficiency, and focus on its emerging digital services and IT services capabilities to improve business outcomes for its clients.

Moving to the Cloud to Achieve a Clean Core

In choosing the RISE with SAP solution to move to the cloud, Xerox is embarking on the clean core approach to streamline operations across markets and business processes. By selecting SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Xerox expects to reduce IT costs, standardize global processes in connection with the creation of a global business services organization and significantly simplify its application landscape, enabling the delivery of new business models in line with the changing demands of the industry.

“By shifting to the cloud with SAP solutions, Xerox is streamlining operations, becoming easier to do business with and within, and positioning itself to be a services-led, software-enabled organization,” said Louie Pastor, executive vice president, chief transformation and administrative officer at Xerox. “SAP is a strategic partner helping us meet the evolving needs of our clients and partners as we increase our speed, agility and cost-effectiveness while providing the entire enterprise with modern tools and improved support. As we continue our Reinvention, this partnership underscores Xerox’s dedication to enabling client and partner success across the hybrid workplace.”

Single Platform of Truth

Some of the other cloud solutions chosen by Xerox include SAP Business AI, the SAP Customer Experience portfolio, SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) and supply management solutions from SAP. Bringing several innovative cloud solutions together on SAP BTP provides Xerox with an integrated platform across functions such as finance, supply chain and sales. This will allow the company to have real-time insights with live drill-downs to operational transactions, creating greater agility and flexibility to add new offerings, while increasing automation, simplification and cost reduction throughout its operations. SAP Business AI will initially be deployed for business integrity screening, and additional use cases will be explored in the coming months to deliver further benefits for the business.

Xerox will also tap into digital supply chain solutions from SAP to optimize its supply chain and mitigate risks by improving inventory visibility across the nearly 145 countries in which it operates, extending analytics across the business for better data-driven decision-making.

“We are proud that Xerox has decided to leverage the power of SAP’s solutions to drive its reinvention.” said Dominik Asam, chief financial officer and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “Through its selection of RISE with SAP, Xerox will implement new business models to enhance client experiences and begin integrating SAP Business AI to drive its business forward. This will enable the company to build on its strong history and introduce a new era of workplace innovation for its clients.”

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP at @SAPNews.

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WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today launched new cloud capabilities for SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) solutions. In a strategic co-innovation with Hilti AG, a leading global provider of products and services for the construction industry, SAP is helping customers connect their business data to both engineering and research and development departments, enabling businesses to be more efficient and save money.

The new capabilities of SAP PLM solutions include native connectivity with SAP cloud ERP solutions and supply chain management solutions from SAP. This connectivity enables businesses to deliver the right product at the right time at the right price by providing end-to-end visibility and control across the entire value chain. By smoothly linking product data with business processes, companies can efficiently organize product information, streamline workflows and foster cross-functional collaboration, ultimately enhancing their ability to meet market demands. Leveraging partnerships with DSC Software AG, Cideon and others, the solution also integrates with third-party product data management and computer-aided design tools, shrinking implementation times.

“Integration is critical for companies modernizing their manufacturing strategies and operational processes,” said Dominik Metzger, head of engineering for SAP Digital Supply Chain. “Collaborating with Hilti not only demonstrates their trust in our product lifecycle management solutions but also allows us to shape the future of cloud-native SAP PLM offerings.”

A centralized repository for product data management is embedded directly into the SAP PLM portfolio, serving as a single source of truth. This simplifies data organization, minimizes errors and accelerates time to market by fostering effective teamwork across various stakeholders.

“By leveraging cloud-native SAP PLM solutions, we are not only enhancing our product development processes for customer-specific products, but we are making construction better,” said Johann Stadler, head of large projects IT for Hilti.

Hilti, operating in over 120 countries, has been at the forefront of innovation with a comprehensive range of construction products. The company has embarked on its next phase of digital transformation by adopting SAP PLM to bring unprecedented levels of efficiency and transparency to its product development processes, providing customers specifically engineered and on-demand prefabricated products.

Learn more about cloud-native SAP PLM solutions here or watch the SAP PLM Keynote 2024.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP at @SAPNews.

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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 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
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Fratelli Branca Distillerie is the maker of Fernet-Branca, a uniquely flavorful bitter liquor with a legendary backstory that galvanizes its revered status as Argentina’s unofficial drink. Whether served neat or con coca (with soda), Argentinians simply can’t get enough of this iconic liquor and consume the most of all Fernet-Branca produced globally. In addition, Fernet-Branca’s loyal following in the international bartending community has boosted its popularity as the go-to drink at shift handover: the “bartender’s handshake.”

Fernet-Branca originated in Italy in 1845 as the creation of herbalist Bernardino Branca, who intended it as a medicinal digestif. Produced from a secret recipe of herbs, flowers, roots, and spices – thought to include saffron, rhubarb, myrrh, and artichoke – the drink remains popular for its many curative properties.

While the strong bitterness and unique flavor is arguably an acquired taste for most, sales of Fernet-Branca remain robust for global producer Fratelli Branca Distillerie, headquartered in Italy with production plants in both Italy and Argentina and from there they export to other countries.

Gaston Vega, director of IT at Fratelli Branca Distillerie in Argentina, summarizes the brand’s success: “In the last three years, counting until 2023, Fratelli Branca has been exceeding the sales level every year – meaning that each year of the last three, from 2021 to 2023, was a record.”

But with such success comes pressure to meet rising demand. For many years, Fratelli Branca in Argentina relied on a patchwork of outdated tools and time-consuming manual methods for its customer relationship management (CRM). To become a world-class, sales-driven organization, Fratelli Branca needed to carry out a digital transformation to modernize and automate its CRM processes for improved efficiency. But first, it urgently required an internal champion who could devote time to investigate the technology market and introduce new digital solutions. Vega, who had only recently joined the company in 2022 after many years in the consumer products industry, came to a disquieting realization: “In the mass consumption sector, the truth is we were quite behind,” he says. “There were many opportunities for automation, digitalization, and technology modernization.”

Valuing a Tradition of Continuous Innovation

For more than 175 years, Fratelli Branca has honored the company motto “Novare serbando” – a Latin phrase that means to keep innovating while respecting tradition. This commitment to continuous innovation is evident in the broad portfolio of premium beverages that the company produces, including many brand-name brandies, liquors, vermouths, vodkas, and whiskies.

Now it was time for the sales organization to champion this commitment to innovation through its digital transformation. Would the team be ready for a new way of working? Yes, Vega says: “When I raised the idea of implementing a CRM, I had the unconditional and absolute support of the sales director and the entire commercial area.”

With key stakeholders in agreement, Fratelli Branca evaluated a range of CRM solutions on the market. It chose SAP based on best performance, value, and ease of integration with the organization’s existing SAP enterprise resource planning software. “SAP Customer Experience solutions won in that bid for different reasons: first, we liked the application better, for cost, for different reasons,” Vega says, explaining that “basically, the need arose from automation. Many very manual processes were being done here. The sales order system was obsolete, almost unsupported. That was why we looked for an application like this.”

The sales team participated in the demo sessions and asked detailed questions to gain an in-depth understanding of how the new SAP solution could enhance productivity. “It is an application that they really liked from the first moment,” Vega says. “They thought it was super agile, super versatile, and that it was going to bring them many benefits. Reducing their manual and administrative tasks meant that they gained productive time. So, that’s a very big benefit.”

SAP Sales Cloud: Optimizing Each Customer Interaction for Improved Profitability

SAP Sales Cloud is an advanced CRM solution that helps sales-driven organizations maximize customer interactions and profit margins simultaneously. Using a data-driven approach, the solution expedites a comprehensive strategy to help optimize sales, customer service, and marketing operations. The integration of AI features can enable sales representatives to turn data into actionable insights to help enhance customer engagement, drive customer retention, and ultimately increase sales.

SAP Sales Cloud’s success can also be attributed to its versatility and adaptability; it can be seamlessly integrated into an organization’s existing IT infrastructure without interrupting routine workflow.

Dynamic and Strong Support Drives Project Success

To ensure project success, Fratelli Branca chose global consultancy Avvale, an SAP partner with a proven track record in helping clients accelerate value from digital transformation of core technologies. The work chemistry with Avvale was an important consideration, Vega says: “We have a great dynamic with them. They are people who understood very well what we needed and did not try to go a different path. They recommended things to us; we adopted them. So, that was the first milestone.”

Also, SAP continued to monitor the project’s progress, so Fratelli Branca was never alone or stuck for answers. “SAP obviously sold us the product, it sold the licenses, but it never stopped accompanying us in the implementation,” Vega says. 

With a strong team and stakeholder support, the implementation of SAP Sales Cloud, including the SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement platform, proceeded quickly, so that within five months, Fratelli Branca was ready to introduce the new CRM solution to the sales team. The implementation team knew that selecting highly motivated key users would be necessary to ensure acceptance and spur adoption. “When you bring a new tool that no one knows about, finding the key user who is your internal partner is essential,” Vega says. “Luckily, we had that commitment on the side of the key users.”

Real-Time Data Access with Mobile-Ready Solution

With a host of powerful capabilities for sales teams, SAP Sales Cloud offers a mobile-ready solution to help meet the needs of a remote and traveling workforce, meaning that salespeople can have immediate access to critical data and analytics from anywhere. For the sales team at Fratelli Branca, access to real-time information while in the field has been a game-changer.

With sales coverage responsibility for the entirety of Argentina – from rugged Patagonia in the south to the wine-growing region of Cuyo in the west and the sunny wetlands of the Argentine Littoral in the northeast – Fratelli Branca’s sales team is on the go to meet customers, take sales orders, check invoices, and monitor sales progress. Now equipped with tablet computers and mobile phones, the team is achieving new levels of efficiency, as they can better perform their work in the field. “[It’s] everything that a CRM gives you and in a super agile way,” Vega says. “Imagine that we went from almost prehistory to modernity.”

Fratelli Branca continues to evolve its use of the new digital solution to further automate sales processes and eliminate onerous manual and repetitive tasks. One of the features it plans to implement is a survey module that can save photographs at the point of sales – usually a bar or restaurant – and gather important sales-related information about pricing and competitor data.

Overall, Vega describes the adoption of SAP Sales Cloud as “super positive, with always good positive comments. The truth is that I never had a complaint.” He notes that previously the “sales team was manual and today they are digitalized; you clearly notice that the sales team and the directors value precisely this greater efficiency [from] having digitized certain processes.”