They say “good things take time,” but sometimes it’s wise to not wait too long and take matters into your own hands. This is especially true when those “matters” have the power to determine business risks or give you a competitive edge, such as plastic regulation.

The world has been waiting for a global plastics treaty since 2022, when representatives from 175 nations agreed on a mandate to create a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. While progress has been made during the five rounds of negotiations to date, a final treaty has yet to be agreed. With negotiations set to continue, SAP has collaborated with Earth Action to launch the “Shift into Gear” report, inciting companies not to wait but to start preparing now to meet global plastics legislation.

It’s not just a reporting duty

Plastics regulation isn’t new. It has rapidly spread across the globe like a rising tide, driven by the urgency to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and curb the plastic waste that is choking both marine and land-based ecosystems. Companies now face the growing tide of extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations and pay plastic taxes in certain jurisdictions. Globally, the corporate liabilities linked to plastic usage are projected to exceed US$20 billion by 2030.

In this shifting landscape, SAP and Earth Action argue that plastic and data management are no longer reporting duties only, but fundamental business imperatives. Companies that fail to navigate these waters may find themselves sinking under the weight of financial liabilities, whereas those that prepare, comply with regulations, and leverage digital solutions will ride the wave, standing to gain a competitive advantage.

Disparate EPR regulations make compliance onerous and expensive

Originally designed to fund waste management, EPR regulations are now focused on the eco-design and recyclability of items. Complications for corporations arise from the variety of different EPR regulations across different territories. The report describes how one consumer goods company operating in over 180 countries can face a minefield of 30 to 50 different EPR policies, which could cost in the region of 0.5%-1% of final product revenue. For multinational corporations, this can add up to millions of euros of risk—or opportunity.

Avoidance isn’t a viable option. Non-compliance comes with significant financial risks including fines, litigation, and potential clean-up costs. Reputational risk linked to consumer protection violations, false advertising, and environmental damage is also a factor that could result in revenue loss and a decline in investor confidence.

SAP joins forces to lobby for standardization

SAP is working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, calling for industry alignment on packaging data. Together, we are pioneering a project to enable standardized data to be exchanged throughout supply chains. This can allow businesses to access and analyze materials from a variety of suppliers to empower the design of more sustainable and recyclable packaging, which can minimize waste and reduce EPR fees and plastic taxes.

Negotiations to finalize the global plastics treaty are expected to resume with delegates due to convene for INC 5.2 in 2025.

Companies should not delay

The report is clear. Companies must not wait for a finalized treaty before taking action. With a myriad of national and regional regulations already in existence, including the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), there is already work to do. Delaying compliance may leave companies lagging behind and unable to meet existing and upcoming regulations, leading to the financial and reputational risks already mentioned. Under the PPWR, for example, the penalties for non-compliance are not just theoretical—they are a looming reality. Each EU member state can impose sanctions that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, ranging from hefty fines to sales bans or mandatory product recalls because of non-compliant packaging. In other words, the clock is ticking and the consequences of inaction could hit harder than anticipated.

Early adopters stand to benefit from their experience and will be better prepared for the shifting regulatory field when the treaty enters into force. By proactively implementing robust data management solutions and streamlining their reporting processes, they can start to make gains in terms of circularity and sustainability. In doing so, they will obtain an unprecedented view of their plastic material flows, allowing them to unlock efficiencies and reduce risk.

Data management is critical

Contrary to an often referred to argument put forward by treaty detractors, the data organizations require for compliance does exist and can be found within existing enterprise systems. Companies should look to their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and financial reporting platforms. These are treasure troves, filled with procurement records, supplier data, and waste management information—key assets for reporting purposes.

Businesses should also coordinate with their suppliers and customers with a view to data sharing for resource optimization and to scale efficiencies.

Data management systems like SAP Responsible Design and Production help companies collect and use data by aggregating it from third-party systems. It can not only allow sustainability managers to accurately calculate fees and taxes but can give them a lifecycle view of indirect taxation costs and, by considering downstream recyclability and recycled content, the environmental impact of design choices. The solution can also allow users to experiment with switching materials, products, and altering supply chains, providing them with the information they need for agile decision-making.

Prepare for an ambitious treaty

Corporations must invest in their enterprise systems to leverage data and collaborate with their supply chain to meet upcoming legislation and avoid risks and penalties of non-compliance. The sooner they start, the better their competitive advantage. By utilizing data management systems to collect robust data and collaborate with supply chains, they will be equipped to thrive in the era of plastic regulation, limiting their costs, achieving sustainability targets, and complying with evolving regulations.

Read the full Shift into Gear report here.

Darren West is global head of Circular Economy Solutions at SAP.

When Joseph Weizenbaum created the world’s first chatbot in 1966, user reactions alarmed the MIT professor.

People were confiding their deepest thoughts to the chatbot and experts predicted that within a few years, conversations with chatbots would be indistinguishable from those with humans. It certainly took more than just a few years, but here we are at the edge of another stage of AI evolution.

Evolution of AI agents

Artificial intelligence has evolved significantly since 1966, advancing from basic rule-based systems to highly autonomous decision-making systems.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, rule-based chatbots relied on predefined keyword responses but lacked the ability to adapt to complex queries. By the 2010s, intelligent virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri enhanced user interactions and introduced AI into everyday life through smart home integrations. In the 2020s, task-specific AI agents began to emerge, each tailored to perform specialized tasks. For instance, AI-driven personal finance assistants can analyze spending patterns and suggest savings plans, while AI-powered content moderation tools scan social media platforms to identify harmful content.

Looking ahead, autonomous AI systems are rapidly advancing. Multi-agent systems, composed of multiple independent agents, can collaborate to achieve a complex workflow beyond the ability of an individual agent. Tasks are coordinated between agents, as opposed to individual agents that often require human coordination and intervention between tasks. For example, in manufacturing, AI agents can independently optimize production lines, while in healthcare, AI systems are assisting in surgery by making real-time adjustments during procedures. Autonomous systems are also being deployed in logistics to manage inventory and optimize warehouse operations without human intervention.

Expanding capabilities of agents

Today, AI agents are like super-efficient digital teammates — smart systems equipped to perform tasks autonomously, learning from experience and adapting along the way.

Today’s agents have core capabilities like these:

• Planning: Agents go beyond executing single actions; they orchestrate processes, breaking down complex problems and mapping out efficient, step-by-step approaches.
• Reflection: Unlike traditional software, agents reflect their actions in real time and learn from mistakes. They self-correct and iteratively reason through the problem until they find the best solution. This capability allows them to handle more irregular, complex challenges, makes them more effective over time.
• Tool Usage: AI agents can use external tools — like calculators, APIs, databases, and even other AI models — to expand their capabilities, broadening the scope of tasks they can accomplish.
• Collaboration and Multi-Agent Interactions: Agents aren’t limited to working solo. They thrive in cooperative ecosystems, coordinating with other specialized agents and humans, leveraging their unique expertise to achieve a shared goal.

Why is AI agent innovation accelerating at this moment?

The answer lies in the remarkable advancements in foundation models. These models allow AI to handle complex data and produce outputs like code, text, or media that are tailored to specific tasks. They enable systems to think through problems deeply and autonomously, mirroring human cognitive processes.

For instance, the latest reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 and o3 are game changers. They do not just perform tasks; they use real-time computing power to “think” and generate human-like outcomes. And the progress is mind-blowing: o3 scored over 80 percent on a human-like reasoning test while its predecessor, GPT-4o, scored only two percent on the same test just one year earlier.

With such rapid advances, AI agents are getting better at automating and enhancing business decisions, truly pushing the limits of what autonomous systems can achieve.

What makes SAP unique in this space?

SAP Business Suite offers a unique advantage in the era of agentic AI. It is not just a collection of solutions; it’s a powerhouse for transformation that boosts continuous innovation. Here’s the simple breakdown:

• Applications: With SAP Business Suite, cloud ERP applications, SAP Business AI, and SAP Business Data Cloud come together to deliver exceptional business value — all powered by SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). In this way, SAP’s business applications and technology platform aren’t siloed tools; they integrate processes end-to-end. This integration ensures that every action taken within these applications is based on trusted, business-critical data at its source.
• Data: All the data, whether from SAP or other systems, is collected and unified in SAP Business Data Cloud. This makes it a single, trustworthy source that breaks down data-silos and fuels advanced AI-driven insights. Because AI is only as good as the data you feed into it.
• AI: Joule helps employees coordinate intelligent agents to work together, breaking down barriers between functions and enabling real-time, company-wide improvements. Unlike others who might use AI in limited areas, SAP integrates AI throughout your entire organization, enhancing efficiency and resilience on a large scale.

SAP is in a unique position to turn AI agent technology into business value given the breadth of applications and data we offer, allowing automation of tasks along all key business processes. Our domain knowledge is grounded in real-world business data and our process know-how is maintained in SAP Signavio and SAP Knowledge Graph. Bringing it all together, our unified entry point with our AI co-pilot Joule enables us to use AI agents to automate processes and augment decision-making.

Joule agents are collaboration experts

Thanks to our fully integrated approach, we are designing a system of collaborative Joule agents that work within and across the suite to support every business function, solving complex challenges and driving cross-enterprise productivity. Businesses don’t need hundreds of AI agents, just the right ones with the right skills, grounded in the right data, with the right guidance from SAP’s end-to-end business processes.

Joule agents are available in all parts of the business, delivered out of the box with Joule and SAP’s suite of applications. This enables the transformation of entire business processes — end to end.

Agentic AI represents a transformative leap in business technology. By bringing together structured data management, seamless system integration, and advanced task automation, AI agents empower teams to operate with efficiency, accuracy, and agility.

SAP is taking the necessary steps for the next era of enterprise management by embedding systems of AI agents into SAP applications, fueled by context-rich business data, helping customers to realize the full potential of SAP Business AI.

Watch the video: How Joule Agents Work

AI and SAP Signavio solutions: The evolution to an agile, sustainable, and resilient enterprise requires transformation

As a cornerstone of our Business Transformation Management portfolio, SAP Signavio solutions help empower companies to view transformation not as an isolated project, but as an ongoing capability. With SAP Signavio solutions, companies can constantly analyze, improve, and monitor their processes, therefore establishing continuous loops of value realization.

By harnessing the power of generative AI, the SAP Signavio portfolio is poised to help organizations drive efficiency, enhance the user experience, and reduce barriers to entry for expert disciplines such as process mining and modeling. At the same time, new generative AI and copilot capabilities enable organizations to further accelerate the time to accrue value while working to the best of their potential.

Through this intuitive and user-friendly approach, users across an organization can receive rapid insights and recommendations that can accelerate and inform decisions, with questions asked in natural language serving as a starting point.

Text to process

What if, when building your process models, you didn’t have to start from scratch? On March 3, 2025—following the integration to SAP’s co-pilot Joule; the release of the SAP Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process analyzer capability; the release of text to insights and text to widget features, which are available via a beta program; and the introduction of the SAP Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process recommender and performance indicators recommender—SAP Signavio released the process modeler, text to process capability.

The SAP Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process modeler, text to process capability can quickly transform textual descriptions into Business Process Model Notation (BPMN) diagrams—the standard language of process modeling. In other words, this new capability can simplify and expedite process modeling, helping customers accelerate the initial creation of process diagrams and potentially redefine the way companies document their processes.

Reduced process modeling time

Process modeling for an enterprise can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually when factoring in the time it takes to collect inputs, then create or update hundreds of process models.

By leveraging the SAP Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process modeler, text to process capability, the time taken in building models can be reduced significantly, helping to accelerate the initial phase of creation and allow users more time to fine-tune and perfect their models.

Support for non-technical users

By simply describing processes in plain language, non-technical users can also contribute to process modeling and improvement, as the process modeler, text to process capability can then translate these descriptions into technical process models.

This means organizations can quickly tailor and implement processes through text prompting, making process modeling ever more accessible and inclusive.

Enhanced collaboration

The AI-assisted capability can enhance collaboration by simplifying complex process descriptions and turning them into visual models. This helps improve cross-team collaboration by helping ensure a common understanding of what elements constitute a specific process model, reducing uncertainty and potential miscommunication.

The simplification of process descriptions and development of visual models also helps make model editing more flexible and responsive, which in turn helps ensure the continuous improvement of models, supported by the ability to save and refine them in SAP Signavio Process Manager.

AI for the world of process

The process modeler, text to process capability is the latest example of how SAP Business AI in SAP Signavio solutions is designed for the process world, helping everyday business users as well as process modelers and experts contribute to process analysis and improvement simply by using everyday language to interact with SAP Signavio solutions.

To discover how you can drive faster time to value and transform your business more effectively with generative AI as part of the SAP Signavio portfolio, join our on-demand webcast and find out more about the new generation of AI-enabled business transformation management solutions.​

Lucas de Boer is global marketing program lead for SAP Signavio.

In a recent GigaOm benchmark study, SAP Build demonstrated its ability to significantly accelerate application development while reducing costs and efficiently managing production deployments.

The study revealed that SAP Build achieved a remarkable 3x increase in speed of development and a 59 percent reduction in development effort compared to traditional custom development methods. These findings underscore the potential of SAP Build in streamlining development processes and enhancing developer productivity.

The benchmark study evaluated SAP Build and custom development approaches across critical dimensions, including development time, cost, and ease of use. The methodology involved a hands-on assessment and analysis of deploying applications using both methods. SAP Build, a comprehensive platform for business application development and automation, showcased its ability to empower organizations to create enterprise-grade applications through its integrated suite of pro-code, low-code and AI capabilities from its Joule for developers integration.

Key findings from the study include:

• 3x faster project delivery: Projects reach completion in less than half the traditional timeframe through streamlined development workflows, automated service implementation, and integrated testing capabilities.
• 30% boost in development tasks using AI-assistance: The integrated AI assistant streamlined operations and tasks to provide broad value across the development process, with outstanding results at data modeling and synthetic data creation.

These results highlight the substantial business value achieved with SAP Build. By accelerating development timelines, reducing costs, and enhancing developer productivity, it enables organizations to deliver business-critical applications faster and more efficiently. This translates to quicker time-to-market, improved agility, and increased competitiveness.

During the hands-on assessment, GigaOm analysts identified capabilities and characteristics that stand out and support SAP Build advantages when compared to the custom development method:

• Unified development environment: SAP Build provides a cohesive developer experience integrating coding, testing, and deployment tools, streamlining the development process.
• AI assistance: SAP’s AI copilot Joule offers code suggestions, query optimization, and problem-solving support, reducing coding time and improving code quality.
• Pre-built integrations: Out-of-the-box integrations with SAP business applications and third-party services simplify complex system integrations.
• Visual modeling tools: Intuitive interfaces for data modeling and business process design enable rapid prototyping and reduce coding requirements.
• SAP Cloud Application Programming Model: The architectural foundation of SAP Build application development automatically implements enterprise-grade development standards and best practices, enforcing consistent patterns for security, scalability, and compliance.

According to GigaOm’s field analyst: “For teams seeking to improve their development processes, SAP Build offers a practical and efficient solution to address common challenges, such as lengthy development cycles and skill gaps. Its unified environment and automation features allow practitioners to focus on delivering business value, rather than managing technical overhead.”

GigaOm’s benchmark confirms that SAP Build can accelerate development timelines and reduce effort compared to traditional custom development methods. By combining a unified development environment, AI assistance, and pre-built enterprise integrations, SAP Build empowers development teams to deliver secure, scalable applications faster and more efficiently.

To explore these findings in depth, read the full benchmark study here and watch the webinar, “SAP Build vs. Custom Development: Comparing Benefits and TCO,” where we dive into GigaOm’s methodology, discuss the outcomes, and answer questions on transforming your development strategy.

Sid Misra is vice president of Product Marketing for SAP Build at SAP.

SAP recently released SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 FPS03, packed with new AI, automation capabilities, and usability improvements to transform business operations.

These powerful capabilities help reduce manual effort and empower smarter decision-making while helping businesses stay ahead of the competition. 

Exploring AI-assisted capabilities 

In the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 FPS03 release, innovative AI capabilities continue to be shipped at a fast pace. They help businesses improve employee productivity, assist in decision-making, and provide predictive insights, in order to better adapt to changing demands and better compete in an unpredictable environment. 

New AI capabilities include: 

• AI-assisted journal upload: This capability simplifies the process of creating journal entries by using generative AI technologies. It is designed to assist accountants in managing large backlogs of period-end journal entries, which are often required for transactions executed outside the accounting system, temporary postings, settlements, accruals, and provisions. By leveraging AI technologies, this feature enhances efficiency and accuracy in managing journal entries, ultimately benefiting accountants and financial departments. 
• Predictive labor demand planning: Labor demand planning now enables the prediction of planned durations for picking and packing processes, enhancing the efficiency of resource and workload planning. By utilizing historical workload data, the capability provides accurate predictions for task durations, eliminating the need for extensive preprocessing or reliance on engineered labor standards. This feature allows warehouses to optimize labour allocation and reduce inefficiencies by predicting the time required for tasks such as picking, packing, and outbound deliveries. 
• AI-based explanation of detailed scheduling optimizer results: Production planners often struggle to quickly understand the detailed scheduling optimizer results, as they are intricate and can lack clear explanations. This complexity can leave planners uncertain about the decisions made by the optimizer, making it challenging to address exceptions efficiently. SAP’s AI assistant now includes a capability that offers explanations for detailed scheduling optimizer planning results. Production planners can ask questions in natural language through a chat interface, allowing them to intuitively grasp what occurred during the scheduling process. This helps them to focus on any exceptions. 
• AI assisted in-house service initiation: Repair shops receive a significant amount of paperwork. Manually converting this paper-based information into the SAP system is labor-intensive and prone to errors, which can lead to data loss, especially under tight deadlines. The AI assisted in-house service initiation leverages the Document Information Extraction service to capture incoming paper documents. The SAP system automatically extracts the necessary data and creates a list of repair objects for the corresponding in-house service. Repair staff then reviews the generated order and continues processing it to completion.

Additions to SAP’s unified copilot Joule

After having released many transactional and navigational use cases with S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition FPS02, we continue our journey with releasing Joule support in these areas: 

• Dispute management for contract accounting: Transactional capabilities for dispute resolution and payment resolution
• Revenue accounting and reporting: Transactional capabilities to manage revenue accounting items, manage revenue contracts, revenue contract schedule, combine revenue contracts, and reconcile revenue contracts 
• Sales: Transactional capabilities to perform single or mass changes to sales order fields, provide issue resolution for sales order fulfilment issues, create sales documents with reference, and fetch billing document information 
• Service: Transactional capabilities to fetch service confirmation details, reference objects, release service orders and service order items, cancel service confirmations, and complete service confirmations 
• Asset management: Transactional capabilities to display maintenance orders, maintenance notifications, and maintenance jobs, and perform activities on jobs 
• Enterprise portfolio and project management: Transactional capabilities to display or change a project work breakdown structure (WBS) element, or network in project builder 
• Procurement: Transactional capabilities to create purchase requisitions with or without material or service items, show a list of materials or suppliers, update the delivery date for all schedule line items in one or more purchase orders, show the details of purchase order items and workflow approver emails, process invoice reminders
• Product lifecycle management: Transactional capabilities to fetch details of bills of material and navigate to the Maintain Bill of Material app, and fetch details of change records
• Convergent invoicing: Transactional capabilities to display clarification cases, billing plans, invoicing documents, and billing requests 

Additional innovations across functional areas

The latest release features a wealth of new enhancements to improve business processes across procurement, finance, manufacturing, R&D, and service and asset management. The enhancements include:

Procurement

Mass change of price scales in central purchase contracts enables procurement professionals to efficiently perform mass changes on central purchase contracts by uploading or downloading scale values for item condition types using Microsoft Excel. 

Finance

• Improved data integration and flexibility for planning in manage financial plan data app: To continuously optimize the integration between SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, a new framework in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enables users to efficiently configure and schedule jobs for financial plan data to be integrated from SAP Analytics Cloud into SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
• Hedging of subsidiary exposures by treasury center (balance sheet FX risk) aggregates the balance sheet exposures of subsidiaries on treasury center level and performs hedging of the net exposure centrally without any additional internal transactions. 

Manufacturing

• Manage production models materials app: The production model provides a joint view of the manufacturing bill of material (MBOM) and the shop floor routing to facilitate hand-in-hand definition of the MBOM components and shop floor production steps, supported by a 3D visual of the header material of the MBOM. 
• Check optimization log app: Increased transparency for production planners is available through insights into status indicators, runtime metric, cost, and solution quality metrics. 

R&D

• Project cost overview and project cost line items apps to include service transactions: Project cost and revenue transparency for the service business managed projects is possible by analyzing service contract items and service order items assigned to WBS elements.
• Standard contents for dangerous goods regulations allow users to continuously consume up-to-date compliance requirements for dangerous goods management by benefiting from a simplified process to receive fast and frequent updates of dangerous goods regulations. 

Service Management

Service hierarchy with collective accounting: Enhance commercial flexibility in creating bundled service offerings by grouping of service order items into service hierarchy and by consolidating financial reporting and revenue recognition. 

Asset Management

• Manage maintenance orders simplifies the management of maintenance orders. With this new SAP Fiori app, the planner can display a comprehensive list view of maintenance orders, create maintenance orders, and process individual orders. 
• “As-found” data recording in performance maintenance job: Improve recording of asset reliability data by recording the as-found condition of the maintained asset in a proactive maintenance job without an assigned maintenance notification.

SAP is resolutely at the forefront of the AI revolution, embedding ever more capabilities in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. We redefine how businesses run and how people work, and this is only the beginning. We are working on new agentic capabilities soon available via Joule, underpinned by our recent launch of SAP Business Data Cloud. 

With the FPS03 release, our aim is to equip businesses with new capabilities to increase their level of automation, improve their users’ experience, boost their efficiency, and uncover new business opportunities.  

To see these innovations in action, make sure to join our upcoming webinar, which will deep dive into the new AI functionalities and other innovations introduced here. You can also learn more about our recent innovations by reading: What’s New in SAP S/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 FPS03.

Maura Hameroff is senior vice president of Cloud ERP Product Marketing at SAP.

WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today shared that one year since Ericsson implemented SAP S/4HANA, the company has reduced project costs by 30 percent and is now looking to leverage AI-driven analytics.

“We are now looking forward to further optimizing and refining our processes,” said Tobias Ralsgård, head of finance digital transformation at Ericsson, one of the world’s leading providers of information and communication technology, with operations in over 180 countries and more than 94,000 employees. “The goal is to establish a more standardized, AI-driven and automated financial environment. This includes utilizing real-time data analysis and AI-driven insights directly within SAP software. Another key area of interest is automated compliance and fraud detection, where AI will help identify suspicious transactions and flag potential regulatory violations,” he added.

Ericsson completed its transition to SAP S/4HANA in 54 hours, setting a new industry benchmark for executing large-scale and complex system projects. With multiple solutions implemented, Ericsson and SAP’s partnership spans technical innovation projects and direct system support across key business areas such as finance, supply chain, HR, procurement and more.

With SAP S/4HANA, the company gained access to the latest business support tools and continuous system updates and improvements and has now launched its next project to fully leverage the software’s standard functionalities, initially focusing on finance. This initiative is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

Instead of a full-scale rebuild, Ericsson opted for a phased approach. Tapping into downtime optimized conversion methodology from SAP that significantly reduces the time required to migrate and convert data to SAP S/4HANA, Ericsson used SAP’s standard tools to sequentially execute the transition instead of setting up a parallel environment.

SAP S/4HANA helps Ericsson continuously evaluate and implement new technologies instead of being constrained by a custom-built system, freeing the company to further optimize its processes, analyze its operations in real time and maintain a competitive edge.

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International Women’s Day offers an opportunity to recognize the achievements of women worldwide, reflect on their historical contributions, and share inspiring stories of strength and resilience.

There is as much to celebrate today as there is from our shared past. Women’s entrepreneurship is growing, with 38 percent of micro, small, and midsize enterprises being women-owned and 10 million women-owned businesses operating in developing countries.

One of SAP’s industry-leading, strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) focus areas is powering equitable access to economic opportunity and employment, in alignment with our vision of helping the world run better and improving people’s lives.

Through our immersive and virtual pro bono consulting programs, SAP employees collaborate with hundreds of impact-driven businesses that are putting people and planet first. Many of these businesses are inspiring women-founded and led enterprises that create long-term, sustainable impact for their communities by directly empowering economic opportunities and employment for many. This has a ripple effect, as it not only directly benefits the impact business or individuals, but it also can lead to poverty alleviation, higher income potential, and stable living environments for those individuals, their families, and the communities they live in and contribute back to.

By sharing their experience and expertise with these impact businesses, our employees can deliver on the promise of our CSR strategy while growing in their leadership competencies and driving positive change for future generations.

SAP Social Sabbatical is one of our flagship pro bono consulting programs that enables employees to share their knowledge and skills with impact businesses across the globe. Created in partnership with our long-time strategic partner Pyxera Global, employees are placed on highly diverse teams and dedicate their professional expertise during a unique, immersive one-month assignment solving concrete strategic challenges for client organizations.

In 2023, one of the program’s assignments was in Jakarta, Indonesia, and partnered with an impact business called TORAJAMELO. TORAJAMELO is a slow fashion brand addressing the issue of migration from rural communities, particularly for women, and supporting job creation in these communities. They focus on reviving rural economies with sustainable weaving, creating an ecosystem for more than 1,200 women weavers that improves their ability to self-support through financial stability and connect back to their culture, while also promoting sustainable fashion.

In partnership with TORAJAMELO, the SAP team drove research and development of a lifestyle rating system for their online fashion cooperative, with recommendations for brand recognition and a dedicated sales channel for artisanal products. Their work supported TORAJAMELO’s long-term social and environmental impact for their customers and beneficiaries, and greatly impacted the employee consultants themselves, personally and professionally.

For SAP participant Bibiana Becker, the sabbatical reinforced many of her existing worldviews: “The world is interconnected, and we need to help each other and provide those who lack it with access to education and sustainability knowledge. The women who lead TORAJAMELO are strong, resilient, and hard-working. TORAJAMELO is saving lives.”

One of these women, TORAJAMELO CEO Aparna Bhatnagar Saxena, shares why doing work that directly impacts the lives of women is so meaningful.

“I am able to work directly on the economic enablement of women, minimizing negative damage on the environment and focusing on revamping our education systems,” she said. “I am a firm believer for a fairer and more prosperous world. Women belong in all decision-making areas of work and life, and all they need is exposure and a platform to develop their skills and capture the opportunities.”

When asked if there were any unexpected benefits of working with her SAP pro bono team, Aparna shared, “We found champions who cared about what we are doing.”

The opportunity to work with TORAJAMELO opened a wider worldly perspective for the SAP team. Sergio Pascual Logarzo noted how his experience working with them personally and professionally impacted him.

“Their dedication and commitment to advancing this cause has been a source of daily inspiration,” he confirmed. “By working with people of different backgrounds, both SAP colleagues and external stakeholders, I gained a new perspective on cultural and social dynamics, learning to see solutions from a more inclusive angle.”

Another incredible women-led organization that SAP pro bono consultants partnered with last year, among others, was the host organization, Maide Mutfak, in Istanbul, Turkey. Maide is a kitchen incubator that provides both access to production facilities and business consulting, and catering services that emphasize sustainability and inclusivity. The organization empowers local food entrepreneurs and reduces their costs while providing employment and development opportunities to nearby disadvantaged communities, including many women facing socio-economic challenges.

The SAP team built a strategic business plan for Maide, including a powerful messaging framework and business development road maps.

Reflecting on her experience working alongside Maide and the new skills she now brings to her daily work, SAP participant Charmel Bence shared, “Our host client was very welcoming and appreciated every effort we made to understand their business and their challenges. It was very humbling to get to know them and witness their passion, commitment, and perseverance to succeed. Working with Maide has affirmed the need to first seek to understand. Take time to actively listen and walk in their shoes.”

Pro bono consulting at SAP is truly an innovation exchange, with the impact businesses adopting new ways of tackling their challenges as they scale and make an even greater impact, and SAP employees being exposed to sustainable business models and bringing new or expanded ways of thinking to their teams at SAP.

“This experience deeply reinforced my belief in the importance of equitable inclusion while expanding my understanding of the challenges faced by under-resourced food entrepreneurs,” shared SAP participant Danielle Zhang. “Seeing firsthand the systemic barriers they encounter — whether access to funding, industry knowledge, or market opportunities — has made me even more aware of the critical role we play in leveling the playing field. True inclusion isn’t just about providing resources, it’s about creating an ecosystem of support, mentorship, and community that empowers diverse entrepreneurs to thrive.”

Collaboration with impact businesses, including those that are women-founded and led, and those that directly support women through pro bono consulting underscores the power of the collective, and the multiplier effect of impact. Working together, corporations and impact businesses are both made stronger through the reciprocal sharing of skills and talents and the shared safety to step outside of comfort zones and gain new perspectives.

With over 11 million impact businesses operating worldwide, this exchange brings business value back to SAP and scales the important work of these organizations, driving further economic and employment opportunity out to the communities they serve.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, the experiences from employees and the inspirational host clients they worked with are a reminder of the extraordinary achievements of women worldwide and the importance of continued efforts to empower their endeavors. These initiatives represent another undeniable way that SAP is helping the world run better and improving people’s lives, one community at a time.

Julia Donovan is program manager of SAP Social Sabbatical for SAP CSR at SAP.

SAP Regional Partner Excellence Awards locally recognize partner success in sales, innovation, technology, services, and solution areas within each region.

As part of SAP’s portfolio of prestigious partner recognition programs, in-region winners are announced at local kick-off events at the beginning of each year. Recognized for the value they deliver, these partners transform customer businesses for future success by harnessing cloud technology. To inspire continued innovation and to serve as a testament of their top performance, SAP proudly recognizes these partners in front of their peers for their exceptional customer impact.

Recipients of these prestigious awards are selected from SAP’s wide-ranging partner base. Regional representatives designate a steering committee to review, vet, and rank achievements using system-generated data on key metrics aligned with SAP’s communicated business strategies.

Congratulations to the 2025 winners for this esteemed recognition!

SAP Regional Awards for Partner Excellence in 2025

Recipients by Region

Middle and Eastern Europe (MEE) 

• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Cloud Performance: All for One Group SE 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for GROW with SAP: Cpro Industry Projects & Solutions GmbH 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Store: SYNCPILOT S.P.S.A. GmbH 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions: Open Text Software GmbH 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Advisor and Integrator: Accenture ASG 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Cloud Delivery: NTT DATA Business Solutions AG 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Cloud Competence: KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft 
• SAP MEE Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Customer Value: NTT DATA Business Solutions AG 

Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 

• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Intelligent Spend and Business Network: ADP Consultores  
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Customer Experience: NTT DATA Business Solutions (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP SuccessFactors Solutions: DBR Consultoria e Tecnologia Ltda. (Delaware Consulting) (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Business Technology Platform: SEIDOR (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition: SEIDOR (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Digital Supply Chain: Exed Consulting (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud: MIGNOW (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions: msg global solutions 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Store, SAP Endorsed Apps: DataXtream 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Delivery Quality: Numen IT Solucoes em Tecnologia Ltda. (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Customer Loyalty: MQA Business Consultants S.A. 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Global Strategic Services Partners: IBM de Chile S.A.C. 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Digital Demand Generation: Cast group (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Business One: Ramo (Brazil) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Top Performance: BCI Consulting SRL (North) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Partner-Driven Business: Infocenter (South) 
• SAP LAC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Innovation: Numen IT Solucoes em Tecnologia Ltda. (Brazil) 

North America 

• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Total Indirect Contribution: NTT DATA Business Solutions 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Business, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition: Syntax 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Net-New Customer Acquisition: NTT DATA Business Solutions 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Marketing: Answerthink 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Customer Success Stories: Syntax 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Service Growth with Indirect Customers: Syntax 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Post-Sales: NTT DATA Business Solutions 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Emerging Indirect Partner: The Silicon Partners Inc. 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Line-of-Business Performance: Analysis Prime 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions, Revenue: OpenText 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions, Growth: Smart Energy Water 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Store, Revenue: Icertis 
• SAP North America Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Store, Growth: Thomson Reuters 

Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) 

• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for RISE with SAP, Overall Contribution: Accenture 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for RISE with SAP, High-Growth Contribution: IBM 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Indirect Business: Deloitte 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition: Deloitte 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Certification: EY 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Special Recognition: KPMG 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Business AI: Accenture 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Line of Business: Accenture 
• SAP EMEA Award for Service Partner Excellence 2025 for Cloud Adoption: Capgemini 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Cloud Delivery Excellence: Inetum 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Overall Cloud Achievement: SEIDOR 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Overall Cloud Achievement, New Partner: KaarTech 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Corporate Social Responsibility: NTT DATA Business Solutions 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions, Achievement: Implico 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions, Growth: Tricentis 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions, Highest Bookings: OpenText 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Store, Validated and Spotlight Performance: Phenom 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP SuccessFactors Solutions: Inetum 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Digital Supply Chain: Delaware 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Customer Experience: KPS 
• SAP EMEA Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Intelligent Spend and Business Network: NTT DATA Business Solutions 

Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) and Greater China (GC) 

• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Overall Value-Added Reseller: SGN Software Private Limited 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Global Strategic Services Partner: Accenture 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Multi-Cloud Champion: PwC 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Regional Strategic Services Partner: FPT 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Hyperscaler: Amazon Web Services 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Midmarket: NTT DATA 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for New Cloud Partner: KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Partner-Led Business: NTT DATA 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for RISE with SAP: Accenture 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for GROW with SAP: NTT DATA 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP SuccessFactors Solutions: Deloitte 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Intelligent Spend and Business Network: Accenture 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Customer Experience: NTT DATA 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for SAP Business Technology Platform: Deloitte 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Managed Service Provider: Accenture 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Innovation: Docusign 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Business AI, Global Strategic Services Partner: PwC 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Business AI: JSOL Corporation 
• SAP APJ Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Solution Extensions: OpenText 
• SAP GC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Best Cloud Partner, Mainland China: Hand Enterprise Solutions Company Ltd.  
• SAP GC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Best Cloud Partner, Taiwan: IBM Consulting Taiwan 
• SAP GC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Best Cloud Partner, Hong Kong: IVC Solutions Limited 
• SAP GC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for Global Strategic Services Provider: Deloitte 
• SAP GC Award for Partner Excellence 2025 for GROW with SAP: BosCloud Jiangsu Science and Technology Co. Ltd.

Leticia Ramirez is a regional partner awards manager at SAP.

The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) in HR has only grown louder over the past year. 2024 was “the year of AI,” when organizations began exploring AI’s potential to streamline processes, accelerate talent acquisition, and fuel skills-based talent management. As we step into 2025, the focus is shifting from considering how AI can drive efficiencies to embracing AI to enable organizations to enhance their people strategies and future-proof organizational goals. 

AI is no longer just a tool for automation but is becoming a cornerstone of HR transformation and needs to be placed at the center of talent management strategies. Organizations are now prioritizing AI-driven talent intelligence to strengthen decision-making, build more dynamic, skills-based workforces, and ensure employees are equipped with the right skills for the future. This shift reflects a growing interest in understanding how AI can empower workforces to adapt, grow, and thrive.

As AI continues to reshape the world of work, organizations are examining how to maximize its impact on delivering meaningful outcomes for their people and business. HR leaders are moving beyond traditional approaches for hiring, employee development, and talent management—embracing AI to power skills-based strategies that align talent decisions to evolving business needs. Grundfos, one of the world’s leading pump and water solutions companies, sees digital HR solutions as key to becoming a skills-based organization, enabling data-driven decisions to support its business outcomes. “We are excited and engaged about the potential of the talent intelligence hub in SAP SuccessFactors solutions,” shares Søren Nielsen, Grundfos’ business architect of HR Technology. “By shifting our focus from job descriptions to skills and embracing intelligent technologies such as AI, we can help inspire our people to grasp new opportunities and address skills shortages in clever ways.”

Recent research findings show that while organizations are beginning to adopt AI for HR, employees have mixed feelings about its role. While many recognize its potential to improve hiring processes, personalize career development, and create tailored learning journeys, there remain concerns about bias, security, and ethical implications. To build trust, organizations must take a responsible approach to AI, ensuring transparency, governance, and fairness measures are at the core of their AI strategy. A few ways organizations can foster credibility with their people include offering training and resources to understand the fundamentals of AI, providing opportunities for employees to work with AI in practical settings, and offering clear communication around how AI works and the expected impact it will have on an employee’s experience.

As businesses strive to stay competitive, it’s critical for HR leaders to understand how to unlock the full potential of AI. Organizations that proactively integrate AI into their talent management strategies will be better positioned to create more agile, future-ready workforces. A top priority in 2025 will be ensuring HR teams have the right knowledge, tools, and resources to effectively leverage AI to deliver impactful results, enabling their businesses and people to stay ahead.

Interested in learning more about how AI can enhance your people strategies and unlock new potential for your workforce? Hear from experts to learn about the future of AI for talent management, explore our latest research insights, and see an engaging demo of the latest AI-driven innovations in SAP SuccessFactors solutions.