WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced that Ericsson, a world leader in 5G and communications technologies and services, has selected the SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP) solution to drive further operational efficiencies in its global supply chain network.
Stand up to disruption with connected processes and fast, flexible planning
Supporting networks with more than 2.5 billion subscribers in more than 180 countries, and with 40% of the world’s mobile traffic outside China carried over its networks, Ericsson needed a technological foundation to provide for a single source of truth for its entire planning and logistics process.
The cloud-based SAP IBP solution integrates business planning capabilities across various business functions, improves the ability of companies to anticipate supply-chain risks and offers mitigating solutions. With SAP IBP, Ericsson will be able to navigate complex planning requirements while improving response times of sales, operations, resources, and inventory planning. This will empower Ericsson to further focus on driving innovation and improving cost efficiencies.
The ability to predict and meet demand in an agile manner is crucial for companies to achieve several business objectives. Choosing SAP IBP is part of a long-time SAP and Ericsson partnership, in which SAP has supported Ericsson’s vision of providing limitless connectivity for the world.
“Agility, resilience and trust are critical for global leaders like Ericsson to achieve supply-chain resilience and meet customers’ needs,” said Dominik Metzger, head of the SAP Digital Supply Chain organization. “Ericsson and SAP have had a strong collaboration over the years, and its choice of SAP IBP allows us to support it in further digitalizing its supply chain to cement its position as one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies.”
Recently, SAP partnered with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team to upshift its IT infrastructure and become future-proof. Together with SAP, the team will tap into cloud solutions, infrastructure, and services that will enable them to thrive on and off the track.
Formula One is a technologically innovative form of motorsport, where each car features over 300 sensors onboard that generates 1.5 terabytes of data in a single race weekend – data that needs to be analyzed to detect potential performance enhancements and reliability and safety concerns.
But until the late 1960s, Formula One cars were designed on traditional drawing boards by engineers using retractable pencils and a set of French curves. This is not dissimilar to the tech industry, where for decades the value cases for investing in technology were architected for customers by busloads of engineers armed with Excel spreadsheets.
Cloud computing changed not only what technology to buy, but also how businesses engage with their vendors when making investment decisions. Enabled by new technologies like mobility and artificial intelligence (AI), customers now expect immediate responses, exponentially faster time-to-value, immersive experiences, and flexible and intuitive engagements powered by robust low-touch and self-service capabilities. Not surprisingly, industry research shows that four out of five B2B customers will want to be engaged digitally by 2025.
SAP executes digital customer engagement via digital hubs located on six continents. The hubs are home to highly collaborative teams of diverse, digitally skilled talent that can deliver comprehensive, virtual customer engagement services. Like an F1 team, digital hubs use cutting-edge technologies to help drive accelerated business outcomes for customers with great customer experience, incredible innovation speed, and optimal levels of productivity achieved through data-driven, surgically precise execution.
Speed of Execution: Embracing Flexibility and Adaptability
Formula One teams operate in a relentless pursuit of speed, continuously refining their strategies to gain a competitive edge. Similarly, the ability to deploy teams to serve SAP customers virtually with the latest digital innovations allows us to reach more businesses faster at precisely the time they need us, no matter where in the world they might be and which stage of their digital transformation journey they are at.
Step into the future with SAP digital hubs, where innovation meets opportunity
Digital customer engagement can allow us to close the feedback loop across thousands of customers around the globe at velocity, helping to shorten their time to value from years to months and from months to weeks. In 2023, SAP digital hubs supported more than 22,000 digital customer engagements across the globe, setting these customers up for successful digital transformation journeys at unprecedented speed.
Speed matters and the race is on. The ability to recognize what a customer needs to grow and to work with partners that can quickly address these needs has foundationally elevated the need for digital customer engagements.
Precision in Execution: Leveraging Data and Technology for Optimal Performance
In Formula One, every aspect – from car design to the race strategy – hinges on harnessing and analyzing terabytes of data, often in real time. Similarly, in an increasingly competitive business environment, embracing precision through technological innovation allows organizations to balance accelerating their digital transformation decisions and optimizing profitability. The balance can be struck only through an almost unreasonable obsession with measuring and executing on fact-based insights.
At SAP digital hubs, we can track key value metrics across the entire customer journey, be it for demand campaigns, customer value propositions, personalized digital asset performance, the adoption of new productivity-driving tools, and so on. We do this not only to understand what’s most relevant to our customers but also to track the effectiveness of what we do and how we do it in the context of what our customers need.
Customer Experience: Focusing on Value, Personalization, and Great Experiences
In Formula One, success is not solely measured by speed. The sport thrives on delivering a captivating experience tailored to engage multifaceted fans from a multitude of angles, making sure everyone gets value from the event. The same is true in the digital business world.
SAP’s digital hubs virtualize and leverage SAP’s rich heritage of industry best practices and benchmarks to help personalize the customer journey, bringing customer stakeholders in alignment with one another and delivering on SAP’s value promises across geographies, cultures, and industries through immersive and memorable experiences. SAP digital hubs can accomplish this across the entire customer journey with SAP – from the time we create awareness, to customer onboarding, to supporting customers with valuable solution and industry expertise, until we help customers realize the full value of the SAP solutions they adopt.
AI-Powered, Human-Led Approach: Focusing on Digitally Native and Digitally Skilled Talent
In Formula One, decisions pivot on data. But it’s the team that uses their experiences to apply that data and simulate different scenarios to discover new ways to drive superior outcomes. Similarly, while data and AI technologies fuel decisions and actions in SAP digital hubs, it’s human ingenuity that leverages the tech and data and elevates customer outcomes.
Just like the F1 teams, our hubs attract and employ only the best of the best, offering a high-energy working environment that thrives on intricate collaboration. The individuals who join us can gain immediate cross-role and cross-geography exposure, enabling them to become productive members of the team in record time. Continuous learning and pointed diversity, with gender parity in half of our digital hubs today, form the backbone of our digital culture, where everyone is treated with respect, skills are constantly honed, and different roles are seamlessly orchestrated to present a unified customer experience.
The rules change, and we have to as well. Every pit stop and each customer touchpoint is a chance to pivot in real time, refine, and go faster, helping SAP customers and shareholders gain more value at exponential velocity and great volumes. This is the “3V” promise of SAP digital hubs and this is how we win the race!
Sam Masri is global head of Digital Hub, Customer Success at SAP SE.
Hera Group, a prominent multi-utility company in the Italian market, has chosen the RISE with SAP offering to streamline its business processes and drive sustainability. As the first among the big players in the industry to adopt this solution, Hera Group aims to leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance operational efficiency, simplify data management, and accelerate […]
Join Susen Poppe and more of our SAP HANA Cloud product experts for insights into the latest enhancements introduced to SAP HANA Cloud in the first quarter of 2024.
Use the bookmarks below to easily navigate through the video:
00:00 Introduction
02:20 General update
06:59 SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine & Spatial Clustering
24:14 SAP HANA Cloud ABAP Adapter for Smart Data Access (SDA)
33:54 SAP HANA Cloud Terraform and Management APIs
45:27 SAP HANA Cloud Database modeling
57:26 Further contents
👉Read Thomas Hammer’s blogpost discussing the innovations here: https://sap.to/6051ZwTyB
👉You can download the slide deck here: https://sap.to/6052ZwTy8
👉Learn more about SAP HANA Cloud: https://sap.to/6052PGhAs
👉Join our SAP HANA on-premises and cloud database community to always stay up to date: https://sap.to/6057OHRwv
👉Are you looking for a crisp summary of the release highlights? Take a look at our teaser trailer: https://sap.to/6056ZwTyw
👉 Dive deeper into SAP HANA Cloud updates via our #whatsnewinsaphanacloud tag: https://sap.to/6058ZwTyj
👉 Register for our webinar to learn more about the SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine: https://sap.to/6059ZwTyd
Recently, Thomson Reuters, a global content and technology company, announced that three of its ONESOURCE solutions for SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud have achieved the status of SAP Endorsed Apps and are now available for online purchase on the SAP Store. SAP Endorsed Apps are premium certified by SAP and have undergone additional security […]
In an era defined by digital transformation, the convergence of SAP in cloud technology stands as a guiding light of innovation. Today, as Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s telecommunications giant, embarks on a transformative journey with RISE with SAP, the telecommunications landscape undergoes a profound shift towards cloud-centric operations. For Deutsche Telekom, the imperative to modernize and […]
Although women comprise about 35% of the workforce at SAP, when it comes to shaping AI it seems they are punching above their weight.
Here, five SAP employees share about their roles, motivations, and tips for anyone wanting to step into AI. The women – Khawla Mallat, Camila Lombana Diaz, Xin Chen, Nadine Hoffmann, and Puntis Palazzolo – span four countries and three areas: Data Science Engineering, Product Management, and AI Ethics.
SAP Business AI: Revolutionary technology, real-world results
Dr. Khawla Mallat, Security and Quantum Exploration Team, SAP France
“Be ready to be challenged all times,” says Mallat, if you want to build a career in AI.
Unlike most data scientists at SAP, Mallat does not work directly on the product but is firmly anchored in researching and addressing “some of the technical challenges related to AI, namely fairness, explainability, privacy, and security.”
Photo courtesy of Khawla Mallat
Prior to joining SAP two years ago, Mallat was confronted with the unintended prejudices of face analysis systems. Certain demographic groups, explains Mallat, used to be inadvertently omitted or underrepresented in the underlying data sets, leading to shortcomings in the face analysis capabilities. Such cases highlight the broader issue of bias in other AI applications. In areas like HR, she continues, removing personal details in data sets might seem to solve the bias issues, but AI can still infer these details. This leads to potentially biased outcomes and the lack of explainability in AI models makes identification of such biases difficult. Letting data sets like this take root and grow into powerful data models not subject to scrutiny will only magnify the inherent bias or discrimination.
Today Mallat’s passion for addressing such unfairness aligns well with her role of identifying the inherent risks of AI, educating teams about them, and defining technological solutions to mitigate them.
“We need to adopt an interdisplinary approach to AI, with experts from ethics, legal compliance, and domain experts, for example, and abstract ourselves from the role of data scientists to succeed,” says Mallat.
“I love working in AI,” she continues. “Everything is progressing at an incredible pace so if you want to work in AI, you have to have a certain thirst for knowledge. And, regardless of your role, you must take AI ethics – regulations and regulatory frameworks – seriously because these have huge implications not only for SAP but for individuals and societies in general.”
AI Ethics
Camila Lombana Diaz, Responsible AI, Germany
“AI is a mirror of our capacities as humans. And the biggest responsibility for those working in AI is, what do we want to see in that mirror?” explains Lombana Diaz, AI ethics research expert in the AI Ethics/Responsible AI team located in the SAP Business AI growth area.
Lombana Diaz’s responsibilities include maturing and applying the SAP AI Global Ethics policy, creating and delivering enablement content, defining AI personas and processes, and giving guidance to make responsible AI an operational reality for development, as exemplified in SAP’s AI ethics handbook.
Photo courtesy of Camila Lombana Diaz
When she joined SAP eight years ago, initially as a UX designer and then a strategic designer, machine learning and AI were core topics. But it became increasingly clear to her that “understanding the human implications of AI for a responsible and ethical AI demands a human-centric perspective.”
Even though SAP is committed to the ethical development of AI – developers must now complete AI ethics assessment tasks and a steering committee scrutinizes all high-risk use cases – Lombana Diaz emphasizes the need to remain focused on the inherent risks and unintentional harms that AI may present. Part of her role is an ongoing assessment of the technology, identifying risks and limitations and communicating them to different teams.
As AI continues to evolve at speed, so do the roles. Lombana Diaz is passionate about seeing AI beyond the confines of a technology-centric perspective. “AI is now an omnipresent technology shaping our daily lives; hence, we need individuals working in the field who challenge AI technology to be community centric. AI ethics is a space for experimental, open, curious, collaborative, and human-centered individuals,” and, she concludes, “the time to step into AI and build a career is now because, unlike the technology, the business of AI, the legal and ethical aspects, are still being shaped.”
Data Science Engineering
Dr. Xin Chen, SAP HANA Machine Learning, China
“I have always enjoyed working at SAP since joining nine years ago. I like the work environment and the colleagues here and I really want to encourage others to join us here in AI,” says Chen, data science researcher on the SAP HANA Machine Learning team.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Xin Chen
The team works on a toolbox providing different kinds of machine learning algorithms for regression, classification, clustering, and so on for the SAP HANA predictive analysis library.
Part of Chen’s role is investigating research papers on the latest machine learning algorithms and, together with the team, deciding which algorithms would be beneficial to customers. Once the machine learning algorithms are implemented, Chen and the team evaluate feedback from customers and deliver enhancements.
Recently Chen and her team researched machine learning algorithms investigating notions of fairness. “Fairness is a very hot topic just now,” she says. “In mathematics, there are different notions of fairness, but it is still a complex and evolving topic.”
And Chen’s advice to would-be AI developers? “Critical thinking will become even more important to understand what solutions to offer, to make judgements on your own innovations, and to know if the generated output is right or wrong,” she says, reflecting on how this skill will become ever more important for future AI developers.
Product Management
Nadine Hoffmann, SAP Business AI, Germany
“I translate and I want to fascinate,” says Hoffmann, global AI product manager in the SAP Business AI growth area.
Even after more than 20 years at SAP, disruptive ideas and mindset shifts still energize Hoffmann. To be an expert in new technologies, and to be energized and enthused by the constant volume and speed of them, is critical to being successful in the AI product management teams of today because product management is the glue between partners, customers, the field, and development.
Photo courtesy of Nadine Hoffmann
“On the one hand,” says Hoffmann, “SAP has data scientists, software engineers, and researchers taking our software to the next level. And on the other, there are experts defining the legal and ethical guardrails.” Product management must be fluent in both “technical software speak” and “customer speak” to understand desires, pain points, and business processes.
Pivoting between these and aligning customer speak with technical software speak is akin to being a translator, Hoffmann says. Our software will only meet the requirements of customers if there is a common understanding between the teams responsible for the technological development, the legal teams responsible for ethical and legal compliance, and the customer.
Regardless of the latest innovation, Hoffmann says success in product management is “not only about convincing teams and partners about the ease and positiveness of a technology, but also infusing them with a fascination about it so that they become passionate advocates and are intrinsically motivated to find out more by themselves.”
Data Science Engineering
Puntis Palazzolo, AI Strategist & Ethics Lead, SAP SuccessFactors, U.S.
“The ethical challenges presented by AI have transcended the scope of individual enterprises, extending beyond entities like SAP. It is crucial that we collaborate with others to collectively address AI’s emerging concerns,” says Palazzolo, who leads the SAP SuccessFactors Data Science team.
The team acts as a consulting service on AI use cases for product teams in SAP SuccessFactors, analyzing the problem, developing code and algorithms, and building proof-of-concepts. Successful AI use cases are then integrated into SAP SuccessFactors solutions.
Photo courtesy of Puntis Palazzolo
Much of the data in SAP SuccessFactors solutions is sensitive customer data. With the dramatic increase in generative AI use cases, safeguarding customer data must take precedence, Palazzolo says. “Generative AI is a powerful technology that introduces new challenges, such as hallucinations and automated decision-making. In high-risk sectors like HR, we need to explain how we reach certain decisions, especially when we are impacting people’s lives.”
Palazzolo joined SAP 11 years ago and has been based in Palo Alto, California, since 2013, where she represents SAP on MLCommons – a collaboration of academia and companies, such as Google and NVIDIA, dedicated to developing safe practices and industry-standard benchmarks to improve AI models.
Her advice to current and would-be AI practitioners? Follow your passion, be ethical, and make your voice heard while we still have time.
“Legislators alone cannot write AI regulations for us because they do not have a full understanding of its complexities,” she says. “We cannot solve all the problems by ourselves, but we must make our voices heard to shape the future of AI.”
Discover the Latest Innovations with Thomas Hammer, our Lead Product Manager, as he unveils the key features and highlights of the SAP HANA Cloud’s Q1 2024 release.
Chapter Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:30 SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine
01:10 Integrate remote ABAP CDS views
01:50 Migration Support for XSA Service Instances
02:30 APIs for entire SAP HANA Cloud landscapes
03:01 Integration with Terraform software
👉 To learn more about SAP HANA Cloud, please visit: https://sap.to/6053PBGCV
👉 Join our SAP HANA on-premises and cloud database community to stay up to date: https://sap.to/6057kSwuX
👉 Dive deeper into SAP HANA Cloud updates via our #whatsnewinsaphanacloud tag: https://blogs.sap.com/tag/whatsnewinsaphanacloud/
👉 Register for our webinar to learn more about the SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine: https://events.sap.com/eur/2024-0404-sap-hana-vector-engine-webinar-global/en/home
See the power of business AI in customer service with the SAP CX AI Toolkit. Learn how to leverage generative AI to streamline query resolution and optimize agent productivity. From smart insights to role specific tools, see how the toolkit equips service professionals to resolve cases faster and deliver on your brand promise.
Chapter Highlights:
00:00 – Intro
00:24 – Empower Your Service Agent with Business AI
00:58 – Demo: Troubleshooting Made Easy
01:28 – Efficiency Boost for Service Teams
01:49 – Demo: Generate a case overview with Business AI
02:30 – Conclusion
For service cloud video: https://sap.to/6053kJpid
For CX AI toolkit: https://sap.to/6055kJpi5
