Worldwide, women-owned businesses foster equality and economic development that helps lift communities, reduce poverty, improve environmental sustainability, elevate diversified consumer choices and voices, and contribute to more balanced, equitable, and holistic decision-making on broader issues.

It has been challenging, though, for women entrepreneurs and their businesses to be visible in the global marketplace. Equally, it had been difficult for buyers dedicated to diversity and inclusion to identify best-in-class women-owned suppliers.

Not-for-profit WEConnect International, with help from SAP partner Premikati Inc. and SAP experts, worked to develop a solution to expedite and simplify connecting member-buyers with member-suppliers and vice versa while reducing barriers and opening doors for women entrepreneurs to the international value chains.

Connecting US$4 Trillion in Purchasing Power with Women-Owned Businesses

Women own 33% of all privately held businesses worldwide but earn only 1% of the total spend. Many organizations have a clear mandate and mission to seek out women-owned companies. Still, organizations have no easy means of discovering qualified women-owned suppliers in the vast international marketplace. Similarly, women-owned businesses have no clear path to a seat at the table in the conventional system dominated by legacy corporate giants and complex, often rigid government agencies.

WEConnect, helmed by CEO and co-founder Elizabeth Vazquez, stepped in with a vision to bridge the gap with a solution connecting a formidable member-buyer network with a collective annual purchasing power of $4 trillion with women-owned businesses in 135 countries.

A Solution to Lower the Barriers to Supplier Onboarding

Vazquez realized the original WEConnect solution did not allow suppliers and buyers to find each other easily, it was cumbersome for suppliers to apply for certification, and the staff had problems registering and certifying global businesses because the solution only supported one language, English. A new solution had to eliminate those barriers and provide targeted, comprehensive, user-friendly searching for buyers while integrating seamlessly with buyers’ existing technology.

As a lean nonprofit with no IT department, WEConnect relied on the expertise of Premikati, a wholly women-owned business, and SAP, a member-buyer, to design and build WECommunity, the organization’s new, mobile-enabled solution, which helps deliver on its mission to drive revenue to women-owned suppliers around the world. “We wanted to go straight to, what platform is the most commonly used amongst our member buyers for managing their suppliers?” Vazquez recounts. “And it was an obvious decision that SAP was the go-to platform for most of our member-buyers. They use some form of SAP or multiple SAP offerings.”

Improved Search Increases Supplier Onboarding

WECommunity is a trusted self-service solution that allows “buyers and suppliers to find each other efficiently and effectively,” Vazquez explains. In addition to accomplishing that essential goal, WECommunity makes the organization’s robust network of worldwide member-buyers available in 10 of the most common languages among members. The mobile-optimized solution also includes a portal that enables women supplier members to easily register their businesses and initiate requests for certification using just their smartphones.

All the improvements, including added security features, have driven a 95% increase in certified and registered women-owned businesses in the WEConnect database. WECommunity’s streamlined, user-friendly functionality has also made WEConnect more appealing to buyers, and the organization has seen a 91% increase in membership.

100% Increase in Spending on Women-Owned Businesses

Since the launch, WECommunity-tracked spending with women-owned businesses outside the U.S. has doubled, from $4 billion to $8 billion, and the impact of those dollars has rippled far beyond the pockets of business owners. “I am obsessed with moving as much money into the hands of women as quickly as possible because of how they reinvest in their employees, families, and communities,” Vazquez says. Proving her point: in 2021 alone, the certified women-owned businesses in WEConnect’s network created 24,000 new jobs.

Preparing for a Future of Innovation

WEConnect, a 2023 SAP Innovation Award winner, looks forward to scaling its solution to accommodate more suppliers and buyers while continuing to leverage data analytics to empower women-owned businesses. But WEConnect won’t stop there – AI and machine learning are next for added efficiencies, accuracy, and automation as the organization and its membership expand. Vazquez explains that the organization is actively conversing with SAP and other member-buyers: “How do we all collaborate? How do we use AI and machine learning to find the women suppliers of the world, get them up to speed on what it takes to compete for larger contracts, and make it easier for them to connect with buyers?”

With boundless ambition and limitless imagination, the future is bright for women-owned businesses and the families and communities they support.

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate for SAP BTP at SAP.

The excitement of football fans in Europe and around the world for the European championship this summer is high, as Germany takes on the role of host for the second time in the history of the tournament.

While fans enjoy action-packed games, the service in the stadiums also plays a crucial role. Food and drinks are an important part of the stadium experience, and smooth processes are essential for this. Fans want to get their favorite snacks and drinks quickly so they don’t miss a minute of the game. Efficient service not only ensures satisfied visitors but also contributes to the overall mood and atmosphere in the stadium.

This means that the behind-the-scenes systems for orders and payments must function flawlessly. Fast and reliable checkout systems are essential to avoid long queues and serve fans in the shortest possible time. A smooth transaction process helps fans enjoy the action on the field without interruptions.

SAP Technology Drives Smooth Processes at the Stadiums

SAP is also part of the action. SAP Customer Checkout, an integrated point-of-sale application for the gastronomy and retail industry, helps ensure that the fans’ catering runs smoothly and efficiently. The application is in use at four venues of the championship: Munich, Stuttgart, Duesseldorf, and Cologne, where it has already proven to be effective at numerous events.

The application is designed to serve a large number of fans in the shortest possible time, even during high visitor traffic periods. Its efficiency has been successfully demonstrated not only in football stadiums but also at large international events such as EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The payment flexibility in SAP Customer Checkout can also be a great advantage, allowing international visitors in particular to pay with Alipay, Apple Pay, or other options.

Caterers at the Venues Rely on SAP

The catering providers in Stuttgart, Duesseldorf, Cologne, and Munich already use SAP Customer Checkout and are delighted with the results. Michael Fichtner, CIO of FC Bayern Munich Digital & Media Lab, says: “We have been relying on SAP Customer Checkout at the Allianz Arena in Munich for years and appreciate the speed, reliability, and variety of payment methods available. We are also expecting numerous international visitors during the European championship and trust that SAP Customer Checkout will ensure smooth processes.”

The use of SAP Customer Checkout at the 2024 tournament is also a significant milestone for SAP. “We are excited to be part of the European championship, the biggest football event of the year in Germany, and to optimize processes for fans, cashiers, and caterers with SAP Customer Checkout,” says Fadi Naoum, senior vice president at SAP Sports and Entertainment.

This article first appeared on the German SAP News Center.

WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that SKF, one of the world’s leading makers of innovative and sustainable solutions for bearings and rotating equipment, has selected the RISE with SAP solution to future-proof its global operations, simplify its IT infrastructure and leverage innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

By choosing to move to the cloud, SKF will be better equipped to manage its business operations, adapt to new sustainability policies and regulatory changes and enable green ledger capabilities for carbon accounting.

“Transitioning from a traditional on-premise setup to the cloud demonstrates our commitment to operational efficiency,” SKF Head of Global Digital Services Pedro de Freitas said. “By integrating the existing SAP S/4HANA software into its advanced cloud strategy, SKF will be able to boost critical business sectors, including finance, parts supply, warehousing, supply chain and manufacturing. Moving to the cloud is a choice that is aligned with SKF’s philosophy of pushing the boundaries and supporting progress toward a sustainable future.”

According to SKF, roughly 20% of global energy goes to overcoming friction. Swedish-based SKF provides products at the center of multiple industries to reduce friction and maintain optimal temperature and speed to have efficient production output. Its products are used across industries that include transport, agriculture and food and beverage.

By transitioning to SAP S/4HANA Cloud through RISE with SAP, SKF will take advantage of a smooth, secure migration of their on-premise ERP to the cloud while being able to make data-driven business decisions with real-time operational insights and embedded intelligence. Relevant, reliable and responsible business AI will be built directly into SKF’s processes and aligned with internal AI strategies.

“With our AI- and cloud-driven solutions, we help our customers to become more efficient, resilient and sustainable,” said Emmanuel Raptopoulos, president of SAP Europe Middle East and Africa. “We have had a strong collaboration for many years, and we will continue working closely with SKF to identify new innovative solutions and opportunities for streamlining processes.”

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

Media Contacts:
Ulrika Wass, +46 73 827 1074, ulrika.wass@sap.com, CET
Lesa Plingen, +49 622 776 9000, lesa.plingen@sap.com, CET
SAP Press Room; press@sap.com

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