Without a doubt, the world of work has dramatically transformed over the past several years, with generative AI initiating the latest wave of change for organizations around the world. In a more complex and less homogenous business landscape, top-down HR processes of the past no longer meet the rising demands of employees for flexible career paths, intuitive work processes, and two-way communication – not to mention the growing skills gaps and talent shortages that keep leaders up at night.
Leaders need to embrace generative AI as a way to address these challenges with talent intelligence and advanced analytics. According to Gartner, 26% of CEOs rank the talent shortage as the top damaging factor to business outlook, and 76% of HR leaders agree they will be lagging in organizational success if they don’t adopt and implement generative AI in the next 12 to 24 months.
Adopt the latest in HR innovation with SAP SuccessFactors solutions
At SAP, we have a proven track record of providing HCM solutions in the cloud for leading organizations around the globe. Our customers trust us to not only manage their sensitive employee data and payroll, but to help them understand their workforces as they prepare for the skills they need in the future.
The SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite provides truly global HR cloud software with powerful AI capabilities to help organizations meet the challenges of today and innovate for tomorrow. Our more than 10,000 customers – from startups and midmarket companies to large enterprises – use our solutions to help bring out the best in their people by harnessing the power of AI to elevate every experience, guide every people decision, and connect HR across every aspect of the business. We do this with:
Core HR and payroll: A single source of truth is key for any organization to enable insight into the entirety of its workforce: employees, contingent workers, and dynamic teams. The SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite can provide localized support for over 100 countries and territories and cloud payroll for 50 countries and territories, plus additional modular solutions for time, benefits, and HR service delivery.
Talent and learning: Skills gaps and talent shortages have been persistent challenges that continue to exist across all industries. Addressing them starts with an understanding of skills that currently exist, followed by pathways for employees to find new opportunities, learn new skills, and access mentors and feedback. The talent intelligence hub across SAP SuccessFactors solutions uses AI to continuously help organizations and employees understand their skills and match people with personalized career pathways.
A modern user experience: Every person has unique needs and preferences – in how they work, how they communicate, and what’s required for their role. Along with a refreshed, modern user experience, we’ve built in generative AI capabilities throughout our solutions to help people work smarter. And with Joule, SAP’s copilot, they can quickly complete HR tasks and get conversational responses to their questions.
HR connected to ERP, finance, and more: Having access to people data connected across the business is critical to building agility, speed, and resilience within an organization. With the power of the broader SAP portfolio, organizations can improve end-to-end business processes across the entire business. This is also complemented with our partner ecosystem, which includes over 350 apps for HR.
We firmly believe that when organizations invest in their people – in their passions and potential – they return the investment over and over. And with the rapid acceleration of AI, it’s more important than ever to build pathways to employee growth, including new ways to upskill, reskill, and discover opportunities that align with a person’s skills, interests, and aspirations.
SAP Business AI, a groundbreaking collaboration between SAP and NVIDIA, is poised to revolutionize the way enterprises harness the power of data and generative AI across SAP’s extensive portfolio of cloud solutions and applications. The partnership aims to deliver scalable, business-specific generative AI capabilities within the Joule copilot from SAP and throughout SAP’s ecosystem, all […]
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, and Taulia, an SAP company and leading working capital management solutions provider, have announced a groundbreaking partnership to make embedded finance accessible to businesses worldwide via SAP business applications. The recently unveiled collaboration will seamlessly integrate Visa’s digital payments technology into Taulia Virtual Cards, a solution that works […]
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.”
WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, has chosen the RISE with SAP solution to accelerate its journey to the cloud.
RISE with SAP: Improve compliance and build business resilience in a managed cloud offering
Deutsche Telekom is the first enterprise to implement RISE with SAP through SAP’s recently expanded partnership with T-Systems as a premium supplier of RISE with SAP, marking a significant milestone in the relationship between SAP and Deutsche Telekom.
As Europe’s largest telecommunications provider, with more than 252 million mobile customers, 25 million fixed-network lines and 22 million broadband lines, Deutsche Telekom operates in more than 50 countries. Aligned with the company’s vision to be the leading digital telecommunications provider in the world, Deutsche Telekom has chosen RISE with SAP to transform a major part of its ERP landscape to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. As a premium supplier of RISE with SAP, T-Systems will migrate, consolidate and manage more than 300 systems into the public and private cloud using T-Systems’ Future Cloud Infrastructure (FCI) and select hyperscalers. This is designed to enable customers to meet all German and European data protection requirements, as well as to benefit from tailored migration and orchestration of complex landscapes.
Peter Leukert, chief information officer of Deutsche Telekom, said, “SAP is a trusted and important partner for Deutsche Telekom in both reliably running core business processes and accelerating innovation in the cloud. Through RISE with SAP, we can drive business transformation and take our partnership to new heights. With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Deutsche Telekom will be able to drive efficiency across key business functions such as logistics, procurement and finance.”
“Deutsche Telekom’s decision to select RISE with SAP to migrate and streamline more than 300 of their systems to the cloud marks an important milestone in their business transformation and continues a long history of our two companies innovating together for our customers,” said Scott Russell, member of the executive board of SAP SE, customer success. “This investment by Deutsche Telekom will give them new capabilities, drive greater efficiencies, and allow them to access key insights from across their enterprise so they can adjust to changing market conditions and seize new opportunities faster than they could before. We look forward to supporting Deutsche Telekom in this exciting new era of their cloud transformation.”
As a premium supplier of RISE with SAP, T-Systems offers “Thrive with T-Systems,” a collection of end-to-end transformation services that includes consulting, migration, implementation and operation of RISE with SAP and support for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 26 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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In an ever-changing global landscape, businesses must be prepared to navigate shifts and changes while keeping their operations running smoothly. Recent years have seen a series of events that have underscored the critical importance of resilient supply chains. Rather than being caught off guard by these challenges, companies need to equip themselves with the right tools and strategies to not only adapt but thrive in uncertain times. Collaboration within a business network has emerged as a key solution for addressing these challenges and increasing resilience.
Supply chain resiliency has become a critical factor for businesses across industries. According to a recent IDC white paper, sponsored by SAP, titled “Enabling an Adaptive Supply Chain: Multi-Enterprise Business Networks and Supplier Collaboration,”* companies must develop a new level of resilience in their supply chains. This involves adapting operating models and gaining a true end-to-end understanding of supply chains. Outdated approaches to communicating and transacting with trading partners lead to issues related to visibility, compliance, and efficiency. SAP Business Network can provide a modern approach to digitally connecting people, processes, and systems with trading partners, revolutionizing supply chain collaboration. It can enable companies to adapt to changes more quickly and easily, ultimately helping them to meet customer expectations and comply with regulations.
SAP Business Network: A Solution for Visibility, Efficiency, and Compliance
In today’s complex business landscape, companies face numerous challenges that impede visibility, efficiency, and compliance. Outdated tools, siloed systems, and point-to-point connections often result in broken connections and fragmented insights into the supply chain. Collaborating with contract manufacturers or subcontractors becomes difficult, and identifying new or alternate sources of supply quickly is a challenge. Moreover, complying with new or existing regulations can be a daunting task.
To address these challenges, SAP Business Network offers a solution that can enable companies to overcome these obstacles and achieve their goals. It can provide a range of capabilities to help enhance visibility, efficiency, and compliance across the supply chain, and helps them be more resilient.
The largest and most comprehensive business network, trusted by millions of companies around the world
One of the key features of SAP Business Network is its ability to enable digital document and data exchange with trading partners based on automated business rules. This includes the seamless routing of various line of business documents, such as invoices and orders, as well as shipping confirmations, work orders, and quality notifications. By automating business rules and supporting multi-party scenarios, such as working with contract manufacturers or subcontractors, the network can improve efficiency and streamline processes as well as help ensure compliance with regulations. Additionally, SAP Business Network can support onboarding and system-to-system integration, helping to ensure seamless connectivity with various communication standards like EDI, cXML, and Peppol. It also offers interoperability with third-party systems and networks, working to further enhance the connectivity and integration capabilities.
The network can also provide intuitive dashboards and apps that can offer visibility into the status of orders and shipments. This helps companies track and trace batches and serial numbers, facilitating the resolution of quality issues in products when they occur. By leveraging these dashboards and apps, businesses can proactively manage their operations, improve decision-making, and enhance overall efficiency.
Furthermore, SAP Business Network includes a trading partner directory that allows suppliers to create and manage company profiles. These profiles can be viewed by buying companies, providing them with valuable insights into potential suppliers. The directory also incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings from EcoVadis, enabling buying companies to choose suppliers aligned with their sustainability goals. Additionally, the trading partner directory enables buyers to search for suppliers, facilitating the identification of new or alternate sources of supply. This capability can not only enhance supply chain resilience but can also present opportunities for cost savings, diversification, and innovation.
According to a recent IDC MarketScape report, SAP is recognized as a leader in the worldwide multi-enterprise supply chain commerce network market.** The scale and reach of the network, with annual commerce reaching US$5.3 trillion and 746 million B2B transactions in 2023, make it a valuable tool for helping expand supplier bases and enter new markets.
Supply Chain Collaboration in Action
SAP Business Network is trusted by millions of companies across 190 countries. One of these companies is Vestas, a leading wind turbine manufacturer. Vestas has implemented SAP Business Network and SAP Ariba solutions to address quality control issues and streamline its complex global supply chain. With over 10,000 individual parts sourced from suppliers worldwide, Vestas relies on the B2B platform of SAP Business Network to collaborate with suppliers, track orders, and ensure quality standards are met. The network allows Vestas to conduct quality tests, document them, and take corrective action if needed. It also provides transparency and an audit trail in case of quality defects or incidents. By leveraging SAP solutions, Vestas has improved supply chain efficiency, reduced friction losses, and advanced its sustainability goals.
Another customer that has benefited from SAP Business Network is Richemont, a global luxury goods company. Richemont has utilized the network to establish seamless collaboration with suppliers and partners, streamlining its supply chain operations. By leveraging real-time data exchange and visibility provided by SAP Business Network, Richemont has been able to proactively manage inventory, optimize production planning, and respond swiftly to market demands. This has significantly enhanced the company’s supply chain resilience and enabled it to deliver exceptional luxury products to customers with efficiency and agility.
These success stories highlight the power of collaboration and technology in building resilient supply chains. SAP Business Network can provide the platform for companies to connect, collaborate, and exchange critical data, enabling them to navigate disruptions with resilience.
Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Your Supply Chain
In a world where disruptions are expected and circumstances tend to change, building resilience in supply chains is crucial for the success of businesses. The ability to adapt and thrive in the face of uncertainty requires collaboration, transparency, and efficiency. SAP Business Network offers a comprehensive solution that can enable companies to achieve these goals.
Ryan, a global tax service and software provider, has announced a strategic integration with SAP Concur Solutions. This major milestone highlights the continued evolution of digital transformation in corporate financial operations. In a business climate where precision and efficiency are paramount, the integration between Ryan and SAP Concur Solutions heralds a new era of automated […]
NTT DATA Business Solutions AG clinched the SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2024 for its exceptional performance in cloud technology. The accolade serves as a testament to the company’s commitment to driving innovation and delivering robust cloud-based solutions that propel digital transformation. The SAP MEE Partner Excellence Award is more than just a trophy […]
In an age where artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping enterprise technology, SAP is stepping up to the challenge. It has unveiled a suite of data innovations designed to arm businesses with the tools necessary to turn vast data reserves into actionable insights, strategic growth, and enhanced operational efficiency. The latest enhancements within the SAP Datasphere […]
LAS VEGAS— SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced new product and partnership milestones that reimagine travel and expense management experiences and offer new capabilities powered by generative AI.
Connect travel, expense and invoice management for today visibility and control
These announcements were made at SAP Concur Fusion 2024, the flagship conference for SAP Concur users and experts, from March 19-21 in Las Vegas.
AI is only as good as the quality and breadth of the data it draws upon. SAP Concur is one of the global market leaders in travel and expense solutions with more than 92 million end users booking travel and/or processing expenses.
SAP debuted new business AI capabilities in SAP Concur solutions to help customers save time and improve accuracy when managing business travel and expenses:
Concur Request: Now uses generative AI to provide intelligent cost estimates for trip planning.
ExpenseIt solution: Customers can upload receipt images to ExpenseIt web, where it taps AI to automatically create a new expense with several key fields prepopulated. Plus, ExpenseIt now itemizes hotel folios using generative AI.
Generative AI search: A new capability within Concur Support allows SAP Concur customers to type questions in natural language and get quick answers using generative AI without having to submit a support ticket.
The evolution of Concur Travel, featuring a consumer-grade user experience, now offers new content and features:
Hotel and rail content: New direct integrations to American Express GBT, BCD, CWT RoomIt, FCTG and HRS designed to enhance the traveler’s shopping experience by providing more options, clarity and transparency. Additionally, users can search, book and purchase UK rail content.
Microsoft Teams integration: Travelers can share a reservation from their Concur Travel trip list to a Microsoft Teams chat, so that coworkers can book the same trip.
Sustainability-based travel decisions: Through an integration with Thrust Carbon, one of the travel industry’s leading independent sustainability intelligence platforms, evolution of Concur Travel users can view and sort the greenhouse gas emissions of each flight segment, as well as rail and car rental options, and browse hotel providers by emissions, certifications and sustainability scores.
The new, reimagined Concur Expense experience is AI-powered, optimized for mobile and already being used by early adopter customers. In the new experience, expense reports are automatically created and easily managed thanks to the following capabilities and a new partnership with Mastercard:
Automatic expense entry, itemization, and categorization with ExpenseIt
Timeline view of expenses
Intelligent notifications such as missing receipts, missing attendees or expense reports ready for submission
Attendee suggestion based on expense type and amount
Automated expense creation for Mastercard transactions
To learn more about announcements at SAP Concur Fusion or to join the virtual event, visit here.
