SAP has once again been named a Strategic Leader in the 2024 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Cloud HR. The report provides a multi-dimensional model to help organizations compare and choose the best cloud HR and learning tech provider in the European market to meet their business needs.

Vendors named Strategic Leaders have strong market performance and customer advocacy, provide a rich suite of capability across a broad scope of features, and have the sophistication to meet the needs of complex enterprise-scale customers.   

“Optimizing people processes at scale is more critical than ever for a modern business. Skills, employee experience, and talent agility all represent significant challenges for HR, and now AI is redefining how HR works and enables them. With its continued innovation, as well as global reach and market presence, SAP continues to maintain its position as a Strategic Leader in the 2024 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Cloud HR.”

– David Wilson, founder and CEO, Fosway Group

This recognition reflects SAP’s commitment to continuous innovation for our customers of all sizes. As change and innovation surge across industries, organizations today face a myriad of HR-related challenges, such as growing skill gaps and talent shortages, changing regulations and compliance risks, evolving employee expectations, and more.

SAP is helping customers stay ahead of the curve and address these challenges head-on by leveraging AI to drive organizational agility at scale and lead with an employee-first mindset.   

The SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite provides global HR cloud software with powerful AI capabilities to help organizations meet the business demands of today and innovate for tomorrow. More than 10,000 customers worldwide — from startups and midmarket companies to large enterprises — use our solutions to elevate every experience, guide every people decision, and connect HR across every aspect of the business.

Customers like Helvetia, STADA, and Gestamp Servicios S.A. are leveraging SAP SuccessFactors solutions to drive their HR transformations and are realizing the value of SAP solutions across their workforces and organizations.  

Helvetia

With more than 12,000 employees across six countries, talent management posed a challenge for Helvetia. By replacing disparate systems with a single HR portal based on SAP SuccessFactors solutions, the company is increasing transparency, boosting efficiency, and improving the employee experience.

“With unified, digital HR processes in place, we’re transforming the way we engage with our people, delivering an experience that meets their needs and expectations,” said Jochen Hübner, head of HR Operations, Helvetia Switzerland. 

STADA

STADA recognized that it needed to transform to a more centralized operating structure. Putting its people at the heart of this transformation, the company decided to prioritize the implementation of a new global HR system built on SAP SuccessFactors solutions. The global implementation of SAP SuccessFactors began delivering value for STADA almost immediately. Within four months of the introduction of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central in 45 countries and 16 languages, STADA’s leadership team already regarded it as a vital decision-making tool.

“Our standard report on employee numbers versus our staffing plans comes directly from Employee Central,” said Dr. Thomas Mattes, head of Global Culture & People Analytics and Digital Experience, STADA. “Those numbers drive our business decisions because we know they are correct.” 

Gestamp Servicios S.A.

By replacing 200 HR systems with SAP SuccessFactors software, Gestamp’s entire business, not just HR, has access to one global system of record for employee data. Management can quickly consult more-detailed organizational charts and gain a comprehensive view of employees’ locations, skills, and performance.

“SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central is the heart of talent management at Gestamp,” shared María José de Francisco, HRIS Manager, Gestamp. “Having one source of core employee data lets us unleash the capabilities of our talent solutions to help our people thrive.” 

Looking ahead, we are continuing to invest in critical areas like AI, skills, learning and talent development, and core HR and payroll to help customers solve some of their biggest challenges and stay at the forefront of their industries.

We look forward to announcing more exciting innovations across the SAP SuccessFactors HCM suite at SuccessConnect, being held in Lisbon and virtually October 28-30, 2024.

Lara Albert is global vice president of Product Marketing for SAP SuccessFactors at SAP.

Since last year’s SAP Customer Experience LIVE event, we’ve introduced over 600 features, driving AI innovation and long-lasting success for our customers. At this year’s event, our customers shared their AI and CX success stories, showcasing how they’re winning customer loyalty in today’s competitive market.

While we have more exciting innovations to share, we’ve dedicated this event to celebrating our customers’ achievements.

AI Meets CX: Personalized, Engaging Experiences

In a fast-paced market, delivering the right message at the right time is crucial. When AI meets CX, businesses can create personalized, engaging experiences at every touchpoint. But these seamless experiences require a blend of people, processes, and technology, supported by integrated data.

Intelligent Customer Journeys with Business AI

At SAP CX LIVE in 2024, Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, emphasized the transformation of customer experience through business AI, moving from reactive to proactive engagement and AI-driven insights. Companies like the San Jose Sharks are leveraging AI to drive personalized experiences and exceptional customer value.

San Jose Sharks: MVP Experiences

The San Jose Sharks are embracing digitalization and AI to create MVP experiences throughout the customer journey. By integrating vast amounts of data from various sources such as hockey games, concerts, food, and merchandising, they form a holistic view of their customers. The Sharks’ use of SAP CX solutions, including SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement, SAP Sales Cloud, SAP CX AI Toolkit, SAP Customer Data Platform, and SAP Customer Data Cloud, significantly enhanced customer engagement. This strategic approach led to impressive results, with season membership renewal rates increasing to 87% and open rates soaring from 26% to 80%.

Online Metals: AI as a Game Changer

Greg Raece, president of Online Metals, believes that AI will revolutionize the company’s sales approach. With a diverse customer base ranging from hobbyists to Fortune 500 companies, Online Metals is constantly evolving to meet emerging trends and ensure customers receive the right materials quickly and hassle-free. Raece firmly believes that AI will change the way Online Metals sells to customers. To better engage customers and enhance its online merchandising and sales strategies, Online Metals has joined forces with SAP. Using SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Emarsys Customer Enagement, it successfully increased conversions, average order value, and website traffic.

Unleash Potential with a Harmonized Suite

Captivating customer experiences require visibility into the back office, front office, and everywhere in between. Companies like Universal Destinations & Experiences benefit from the seamless integration of SAP CX solutions with existing ERP systems, helping to enhance overall customer experience.

Universal Destinations & Experiences: Omnichannel Excellence

For Universal Destinations & Experiences, making people happy is priority number one.
When planning its new resort in Beijing, China, Universal wanted to focus on the full guest journey – before, during, and after their visit. It needed a scalable platform with true omnichannel capabilities to support its diverse business, including theme parks, food, and retail. By leveraging SAP S/4HANA with SAP Commerce Cloud, Universal is creating a seamless and immersive experience for millions of guests, allowing them to live out their movie dreams.

Nokia: Elevating Wireless Technology

Nokia, once known for its iconic phones, now leads in telecommunications innovation and is partnering with NASA to further advance wireless technology. To ensure efficiency and accuracy in delivering complex solutions, Nokia digitized its order management processes. By integrating SAP S/4HANA with SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Order Management Services, Nokia achieved faster deliveries, precise invoicing, and seamless billing, securing a competitive edge and driving ongoing success.

MACO Group: Efficient Sales Transformation

With thousands of global customers and 25,000 products associated with 40,000 components, door and window seller MACO Group has a wealth of data. The construction industry has been disrupted by global events, prompting MACO to digitize its operations for more efficient and effective sales. MACO’s transformation involved combining its SAP S/4HANA and CRM capabilities with SAP Sales Cloud, enabling it to move faster and with greater accuracy.

New Strategic Partnerships

SAP CX solutions continue to help add value and bring business AI to life through innovative collaboration and integration. At SAP CX LIVE in 2024, we announced two new partnerships with Gainsight and ChannelEngine.

By integrating SAP Sales Cloud with Gainsight, companies can unify data and intelligence for a comprehensive customer view and a seamless journey. With human-first AI capabilities, automation, and standardized workflows, Gainsight and SAP customers can dedicate more time to clients and less to administrative tasks. Learn more.

The integration between ChannelEngine and SAP Order Management Services can enable merchants to increase revenue and profitability by automating and optimizing third-party marketplace operations. SAP users can now effortlessly activate over 950 new sales channels and expand into global markets. Learn more.

A Future-Ready CX with SAP

SAP customers are rapidly leveraging AI-powered solutions to create superior customer experiences, improve operational efficiency, and drive business growth. By integrating SAP into their operations, they are driving innovation and achieving measurable success. 

Our approach is simple yet powerful: connected, insightful, adaptive, and industry-tailored. By prioritizing responsible innovation, especially in handling customer data and interactions, we can ensure our AI solutions are built on trust, privacy, ethics, and security. I’m proud that SAP is integral to our customers’ achievements, and the SAP CX team remains committed to delivering products and features that drive outcomes and delightful customer experiences.

I invite you to view the full SAP CX LIVE in 2024 event and stay tuned for more innovations.

Ritu Bhargava is president and chief product officer for SAP Industries and Customer Experience.

The latest version of the SAP AI Ethics Handbook is the one-stop shop for applying the SAP Global AI Ethics policy and creating ethical AI solutions that support our commitment to deliver relevant, reliable, and responsible AI.

The updated handbook now contains information about generative and other types of AI and how to apply SAP’s updated ethical AI guiding principles. Here is a brief introduction to the handbook and how you can use it to apply SAP’s AI ethics policy to your work.

Who Is the Target Audience for This Handbook?

In a nutshell – everyone developing and implementing AI.

This handbook is for everyone who wants to give users confidence in the SAP AI ethics processes and confidence that humans are at the core of SAP’s AI processes. In short, it’s for everyone who wants help create a human-centered AI culture. Specifically, principles 1-7 apply to teams creating AI solutions, while principles 8-10 apply to governance teams.

The handbook explains how human-centered AI is achieved with tools like user research, design thinking, and user stories. These tools help create products that are closely aligned to the needs of SAP’s target groups, increasing benefits and mitigating the risk of unintended harm in SAP AI use cases.

What Is an AI Use Case at SAP?

An AI use case means that the AI system is built either on symbolic AI, traditional/narrow AI, or generative AI. This handbook is applicable to all three types of AI use cases.

How Do You Determine an AI Use Case?

In the handbook, there is an ideation checklist that guides you through the process to determine the type of use case – red line, high-risk, or standard. The handbook also has detailed checklists for validation, realization, productization, and operation.

What Is a Red Line Use Case?

Red line cases are AI use cases that are prohibited because they undermine personal freedom, undermine society, and/or cause intentional damage to the environment.

What Is High-Risk Use Case?

An AI use case that meets one of the high-risk criteria listed below is a high-risk use case:

• Personal data is processed.
• Sensitive personal data is processed.
• It could negatively affect the well-being of individuals or groups, such as social, safety, financial, and/or physical harm.
• It has automated decision-making.
• It is a high-risk sector, like HR, healthcare, law enforcement, or democratic processes.

What Happens with High-Risk Use Cases?

The use case classification is checked by the SAP Global AI Ethics organization. If the organization agrees that the high-risk classification is correct, the SAP Global AI Ethics steering committee will review the case and recommend what, if any, further action needs to be taken.

Additional Information

Information about AI ethics is available at:

• SAP AI Ethics Handbook
• SAP Global AI Ethics policy
• Responsible AI at SAP

Guiding Principles That Resonate

Hear what guiding principles resonate the most with some of our in-house AI ethics experts:

“The guiding principle Safety and Security resonates with me because it covers everything that we need to take care of: AI security to ensure our systems are robust and work as designed and AI safety for protecting individuals, society, and the environment from harm done by AI systems. The guiding principle Transparency and Explainability resonates with me because it describes critical prerequisites to ensure human oversight – for humans on the loop like technical experts as well as humans in the loop such as business experts. Additionally, my cognitive scientist self is intrigued by the challenge to make AI output understandable for humans.”

– Bettina Laugwitz, Director, AI Ethics & Responsible AI

“The guiding principle Fairness and Non-Discrimination resonates with me because I believe this is currently the biggest gap in the development of AI and the reason why AI has the potential to harm human rights. Many AI scandals to date have been violations of this principle, including discrimination against women in finances and HR, to name but a few. AI cannot grow without the co-creation of, for example, minorities, the Global South, and women. The guiding principle Sustainability may be my biggest concern about AI, but it is also our biggest innovation possibility. Indigenous rights, co-creation, protection, and understanding how to protect fragile ecosystems parallel to the exploration and development of AI is crucial. SAP has the potential to explore how to become ‘green’ on this topic. This principle should be a priority for designing for future generations.”

– Camila Lombana Diaz, AI Ethics Expert and Researcher

“I am convinced the guiding principle Responsibility and Accountability gets to the heart of something very important: no matter how human AI appears to us, it cannot and should not be held morally accountable for its actions. AI is built and used by humans – and therefore responsibility and liability for all decisions and actions taken by AI must be assigned to human actors in order to ensure effective protection for those affected by AI. The guiding principle Fairness and Non-Discrimination in the development of AI makes a significant contribution to protecting human rights; it is difficult, however, to standardize processes to ensure fairness and many case-by-case decisions need to be made, which can be a challenge for those developing AI. Nevertheless, compliance with this principle is non-negotiable, which is why I am committed to supporting developers building fair AI.”

– Saskia Welsch, AI Ethics and Responsible AI Team Member

Alexa MacDonald is a senior editor for SAP News.