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I’m thrilled to share a sneak peek of our SAP TechEd program for 2024, which brings together developers, practitioners, enterprise architects, and global IT leaders to explore SAP’s latest innovations and gain hands-on learning.

This year, we’re offering three unique and convenient event experiences so customers and partners can build skills and meet 1:1 with SAP experts.

SAP TechEd Virtual

Held October 8-9, 2024, the free two-day virtual event will deliver SAP technology news and announcements via global keynotes, technical and developer enablement, and engaging sessions of live and pre-recorded content for everyone across the globe.  

SAP TechEd On Tour

Taking place on multiple dates throughout the year, the single-day in-person events hosted across the globe by SAP experts and the SAP Community will deliver deep learning, networking, and hands-on engagement. Locations will range in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and Asian-Pacific and Japan (APJ) regions.  

ASUG Tech Connect, in partnership with SAP TechEd, West Palm Beach, Florida

From November 12-14, 2024, the major three-day event stopover on the SAP TechEd program tour will deliver visionary keynotes, technical education and enablement, expert-led sessions, and a full-scale show floor community experience with networking, best practices, and hands-on engagement.  

I can’t wait to see everyone at an SAP TechEd event in 2024! 

JG Chirapurath is chief marketing and solutions officer for SAP BTP.

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If 2023 was the year when generative artificial intelligence (AI) finally became a consumer reality, this will be the year when AI in a business context takes a big step forward.

There is simply no doubt that more and more companies will adopt business AI this year as a key part of their digital transformations and to future proof their operations. But to look at AI alone is to miss the bigger picture of this generational shift in enterprise technology.

See what SAP is building with generative AI Explore now

While AI may get all of the attention, this is actually a moment when two transformative technologies for business are converging. On one side there is the awesome power of the cloud, which allows businesses to break down silos so their teams can access the data they need to innovate faster and in a more secure environment. On the other side is generative AI for business, which can do everything from generating content and code to automating time-consuming tasks and discovering new insights.

But behind the hype and the headlines about generative AI lies a fundamental truth that IT professionals know very well: Any new technology only has value when it can be integrated seamlessly across systems and processes so organizations can do things they couldn’t do before.

In other words, it’s never about the new technology itself; it’s always about what the new technology can do to move businesses forward that really counts.

Increasingly, CIOs recognize what is at stake with getting generative business AI right. According to CITI’s 2Q23 CIO survey, 86% of respondents are directly funding generative AI projects. But there’s a lot of confusion about where these investments are best directed to drive growth for business and value for customers.

In my role for SAP, I speak with CIOs all the time about how to make the most of their technology investments. And whether it’s the cloud or generative AI, my message to IT professionals is simple: experience within your industry and integration across your systems matter now more than ever. Working with experienced partners like SAP is also the only way to unlock the power of responsible, reliable, and relevant AI for business. 

The potential of ERP systems powered by AI is huge. It could allow mundane tasks to be automated more intelligently, freeing up teams to tackle more strategic challenges. It could allow analytics to become even more predictive by using data in AI algorithms to identify trends and patterns long before they become obvious. And it could enhance customer experiences by using data on preferences coupled with real-time data on supply chains to help companies offer more personal recommendations while also making sure those products are available where and when people are ready to buy them.

SAP has been helping businesses use technology to solve these kinds of challenges for decades, starting with ERP and expanding across the enterprise. And while the idea of having cloud solutions augmented by AI might seem new, the reality is we have already been embedding AI into use cases. Today, more than 24,000 businesses are already using and benefiting from SAP Business AI capabilities — and they are seeing impressive results.

For example, American Sugar Refining, Inc., which has been delivering sugarcane products for over 150 years, is now using AI embedded in SAP Business Technology Platform to predict the cost of moving freight more accurately. Predictions that used to be a painstaking process are now being generated automatically in seconds. As a result, the company has been able to generate 2,200 forecasts for 628 trucking lanes sampled from six U.S. states with six months of data — with 95% accuracy.

Or take the example of Motor Oil Group, which need to monitor the health of its refinery equipment to minimize downtime and reduce maintenance costs. By embracing machine learning and predictive analytics from SAP, the company has been able to build predictive models for abnormal events based on sensor data and feed them into user-friendly dashboards and e-mail notifications. As a result, it has been able to explain abnormal events with 77% accuracy and predict future sensor measurements with 70% accuracy.

These are just two examples of what’s already happening when AI is embedded into cloud solutions. And it is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come.

But to get the benefits of business AI, companies must first move to the cloud. And that raises an important question for IT professionals. What are you doing today to get ready for the coming flood of business AI solutions that will be available to you but also to your competitors?

This race has already started. Those who team up with partners with the right combination of experience and integration will be the ones set up to win it.

Scott Russell is head of Customer Success and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.

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For nearly 15 years, SAP has committed to being a sustainability leader both in our operations and through our sustainability product offerings for customers. Industry analysts review and assess the sustainability performance of companies across industries. SAP has recently been assessed by some of the most important analyst firms for both our own sustainability performance and the sustainability solutions we offer customers.

Gartner, an independent analyst firm, recently published a report titled “Sustainability Assessment: SAP.” A report from analyst firm IDC earlier this year, “Sustainability Index for Software Providers: SAP”, noted SAP performed “exceptionally well.” The published IDC report highlights how SAP is leading by example as a sustainable vendor.

It’s abundantly clear that businesses need to urgently address sustainability challenges. Companies are adopting new technology solutions to help them manage sustainability across many different dimensions, from environmental issues like energy, water, and waste, to social issues like diversity and human rights, to governance and reporting issues.

Source: Gartner. Click to enlarge.

Business leaders are looking for the best tools that allow them to quantify, analyze, and act on real-time, accurate, and shareable sustainability data throughout their end-to-end operations. With SAP’s ERP-centric solutions, financial and non-financial data can be brought together for holistic decision-making. Business leaders can not only manage their productivity and operating results but connect that information with sustainability-related data to help make climate protection measurable, diversity and inclusion visible, and ethical responsibility transparent.

Record, report, and act with SAP Sustainability solutions Learn more

SAP has a unique role to play in supporting our customers’ sustainability efforts. SAP customers produce 87% of the world’s global commerce. That means our products and services can help the vast majority of companies driving the global economy organize their supply chains, transportation, and financial data in a way that can enable an equitable, circular economy and net-zero emissions.

Sustainability data in ERP is the foundation for holistic, integrated sustainability management. As the leader in enterprise resource management, SAP has more than 50 years of experience helping businesses across 25 industries optimize resources.

Our comprehensive portfolio is designed to help customers find the solutions they need to run their business processes and enterprise more efficiently, with offerings such as SAP Business Network, business process transformation solutions, SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and the SAP Customer Experience portfolio. Our solutions, increasingly powered with AI capabilities, can help customers not only in their own operations, but across their entire value chain – from calculating product-level carbon footprints, to ensuring diversity and inclusion, to protecting human rights. In addition, SAP’s broad ecosystem of partners can support customers with industry- and technology-specific consulting and implementation, advancing SAP’s “sustainable by design” approach.

SAP leads by example as well, having committed to net-zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2030. We also have been recognized as the leading software firm in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 15 years and as a leader in environmental transparency and action by CDP, an international organization considered the gold standard of environmental reporting.

What’s Next

Sustainability is not an end state, it’s a state of being. In that respect, companies should adopt an approach that constantly evolves and adapts to remain sustainable. SAP is dedicated to advancing sustainable business through our own operations and our comprehensive portfolio of solutions that can help other companies with their end-to-end sustainability management. Across the business network and our wide solution portfolio, SAP supports our customers in tackling their biggest sustainability challenges.

Try the free SAP Sustainability Navigator tool, and read the full complimentary Gartner Sustainability report.

Daniel Schmid is chief sustainability officer at SAP.

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Gartner, Sustainability Assessment: SAP, 11 December 2023, Ed Anderson, Fabio Di Capua
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from SAP.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Jowat Group is one of the world’s top adhesive manufacturers for industrial use. Tradition and experience from 100 years of corporate development and experience allow it to act as a leading company in technology and innovation in numerous markets and application areas.

Jowat SE’s annual production amounts to 100,000 tons of industrial adhesives. Production is complex and requires high volumes of specialized chemicals and a tremendous amount of power. With raw materials and energy costs skyrocketing, premium manufacturer Jowat looked to get a tighter grip on its inventory management and production processes.  

To ensure maximum efficiency, Jowat requires enough raw materials to fulfill orders while minimizing waste and inventory costs. Moreover, the company needs smooth workflows, as any delay in order placement, production, or the delivery of raw materials can have huge cost implications for the company. As a result, Jowat works hard to ensure that its 24/7 manufacturing processes always run like clockwork.

With demand for industrial adhesives surging, the company was eager to ensure that its production processes could scale to meet increasing order numbers and still deliver optimum efficiency.

Deliver individualized, sustainable, and smart equipment, products, and components in industrial manufacturing Learn more Targeting Seamless Digital Workflows

Originally established in 1919, Jowat is no stranger to innovation. Leaders at Jowat identified that the next stage of the company’s evolution would require a radical digital transformation of its production and inventory management processes. 

“Our factory workers relied heavily on paper-based processes,” explained Dirk-Alexander Segger, Detmold plant manager at Jowat. “For instance, when employees had finished mixing and decanting adhesives, they handwrote notes to track the volume and type of raw materials that they used during the process. Shortly after decanting, workers would then input the information from their notes into our inventory management and manufacturing execution systems, adding to their workload and increasing the risk of errors.” 

Tracking materials usage manually created time delays, potential for human errors, and discrepancies between the stock numbers recorded in Jowat’s inventory system and the actual volume of raw materials available on the factory floor. Moreover, with information stored across multiple systems and in different formats, plant managers had no clarity to identify process bottlenecks or potential enhancements.  

Annette Podleschny-Borchardt, project lead at Jowat, commented: “To enhance efficiency, improve transparency, and prepare for growth, we decided it was time to go entirely paperless. Building digital processes would give us a more detailed, up-to-date picture of our stock position, which would help drive smarter raw materials purchasing decisions and production improvements.” 

“We aimed to take a more proactive approach to our manufacturing processes. Developing robust, reliable, end-to-end digital workflows was the perfect way to achieve this goal,” explained Christine Künne, head of IT and Business Process Services at Jowat SE. 

Embracing Digital Transformation

To find the best solution to support its digital transformation initiative, Jowat invited multiple technology vendors to outline the strengths of their solutions. To keep customization low, Jowat targeted a solution that it could easily adapt to meet the highly specialized nature of just-in-time chemicals manufacturing.  

After reviewing 15 different solutions, Jowat selected SAP Digital Manufacturing. In addition to providing a solid foundation for digitalization, SAP Digital Manufacturing can also integrate seamlessly with Jowat’s existing SAP solutions, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP Extended Warehouse Management, and SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). 

Sustainable, risk-resilient manufacturing is here Learn more about SAP Digital Manufacturing

“We were immediately interested in SAP Digital Manufacturing because it is a cloud-native solution,” commented Segger. “Previously, we used on-premise solutions that required us to carry out extensive and disruptive updates. With SAP Digital Manufacturing, we get instant access to the latest features thanks to the quarterly release schedule.” 

Jowat also valued SAP’s proactive engagement with the chemicals manufacturing industry. “We really appreciate that SAP is eager to co-innovate with industry leaders like Jowat to develop next-generation manufacturing solutions,” said Podleschny-Borchardt. “Through the SAP Customer Engagement Initiative, we can help expert developers at SAP build smart factory solutions that meet the needs of our sector down to the finest detail.” 

Sticking with the Experts 

To ensure a smooth implementation of SAP Digital Manufacturing, Jowat relied on support from SAP Services and Support.

“Whenever we hit a stumbling block, the experts helped us work through the issues. For instance, we wanted to develop a dedicated production operation dashboard, which would give plant managers fast access to key production metrics. As this was uncharted territory, it naturally took a lot of time and energy to work through and SAP was behind us every step of the way,” said Segger.

Currently, Jowat is completing the first phase of the SAP Digital Manufacturing implementation at its Detmold factory before expanding the solution across all plants. Künne explained: “With a phased implementation, we can ensure that the processes we build at our Detmold plant are tried and tested to deliver maximum efficiency. This will give us the best chance of success when we roll out these processes across all our facilities.” 

“Consultants from SAP Services and Support brought not only their expertise to the project, but also the willingness to listen to the needs and the challenges of our industry. Because of this, we were able to collaborate extremely effectively,” added Podleschny-Borchardt.

Driving Efficient Manufacturing with High-Quality Data 

With SAP Digital Manufacturing, Jowat left error-prone, manual processes behind and now benefits from seamless digital workflows with end-to-end transparency. This helps increase quality and ease work for shop floor operators. The activity confirmation is automatically done in the SAP system, enabling real-time inventory insight. 

Consequently, Jowat gained the following benefits:

• 100% digitalized manufacturing process
• One source of truth for detailed production information
• Time savings of three person days per week through automated raw material consumption updates allowing employees focus on higher value activities
• 100% accurate inventory

“Today workers feed consumption information at the point of production. Previously, it would take one full-time employee three days a week to track raw materials consumption,” said Segger. “With SAP Digital Manufacturing, we have a real-time, accurate picture of our raw materials usage and needs. This is helping us optimize usage and reduce costs.” 

Podleschny-Borchardt added: “Production processes are so much faster now that we have built streamlined digital processes. Before, our paper-based ways of working could add up to five days to production timelines. With SAP Digital Manufacturing, we’ve shaved off this time, allowing us to produce and distribute products to our customers much faster, boosting satisfaction.” 

Planning Ahead for an AI-Driven Future 

With reliable, up-to-date information in SAP Digital Manufacturing, plant managers and leaders at Jowat can have full visibility across the entire manufacturing cycle. “SAP Digital Manufacturing has helped improve the traceability of our products and given us a much more detailed understanding of our manufacturing operations. Ultimately, that helps to enhance planning and provides new insights into potential process improvements,” said Künne.  

Jowat’s plans for SAP Digital Manufacturing go far beyond a global rollout. The company is already exploring the potential to scale and streamline manufacturing processes further with artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. 

“AI holds tremendous potential for us,” reflected Podleschny-Borchardt. “We’re excited to explore how it can help us to ensure consistently excellent quality across heavily customized product lines and how we can enhance production uptime with IoT-driven predictive maintenance. Having an AI-ready solution like SAP Digital Manufacturing at the heart of our operations makes taking these next steps in our innovation journey much easier.” 

Summarizing the overall benefits, Künne concluded: “With the implementation of SAP Digital Manufacturing through SAP Services and Support, we see ourselves on the way to becoming a transparent factory with a reduction in risks, errors, and process costs thanks to optimized processes.” 

Discover benefits other companies have gained, including improved quality with AI-assisted visual inspection. Be sure to listen to the webinar about how a renowned manufacturer revolutionizes manufacturing with Industry 4.0. Also, read this report from Oxford Economics about making supply chains more resilient and sustainable.

Karin Fent is senior director of Global Customer Success for Digital Supply Chain at SAP.

Top image courtesy of Jowat.

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“Vague but exciting.” The words were the understatement of the 20th century, scribbled on the margins of Tim Berners-Lee’s famous 1989 paper in which he effectively invented the World Wide Web. In hindsight, we know this was a revolutionary moment, which made the internet accessible to billions of people worldwide and ushered in an era of rapid digitalization.

Today, we’re at a revolutionary moment of similar proportions. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has gone from niche technology to a topic of global discussion within little more than a year. It has happened at a critical moment, with the world facing multiple geopolitical, economic, and climate crises.

While these challenges urgently require our attention, global human, environmental, and financial resources are already stretched. Generative AI, however, offers hope that we can address all these competing priorities simultaneously. In other words, we’ll be able to achieve more with less.

Accelerating Change

The enormous potential of generative AI is widely acknowledged, yet there is one key area where its impact for good has yet to be fully realized. If we apply generative AI to how we run business — as a tool to transform companies, supply chains, and entire industries — we’ll accelerate the evolution of our world economy into one that is more sustainable, resilient, equitable, and prosperous.

Generative AI for business can, for example, help find better and faster solutions to the questions millions of organizations around the world face today. For example:

• What steps do I need to take to make my company carbon neutral?
• How can I improve the availability of critical supplies?
• What can I do to make my business more productive and competitive?
• How do we skill and reskill our workforce to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow?

Relying on the recommendations provided by generative AI for such critical matters, however, requires the underlying technology to be extremely trustworthy — much more so than in the consumer application space.

Building Trust in AI

Trustworthy means, first, that generative AI for business has to be relevant. AI can only be as good as the data it is trained on, and the generic data used for today’s most famous large language models (LLMs) will not help companies address their very granular problems. To provide context-specific proposals, relevant AI for business must train and work with real-life enterprise data.

See how you can benefit from AI built into your core business processes Learn more

Second, generative AI for business has to be reliable. The stakes in business can be very high: single decisions can affect thousands of customers, colleagues, and the company’s long-term future. That’s why business AI outputs must be provided with the greatest accuracy and quality. And, while AI “hallucinations” may be entertaining in the consumer world, they’re a no-go in business.

Third, generative AI for business has to be responsible. There is an ongoing discussion about how AI models trained on and working with public Internet data may infringe on privacy and copyright regulations. In the business world, this kind of “gray zone” mode of operation is unthinkable.

For businesses to trust generative AI, they need to be sure their data is handled safely and confidentially. They need to be sure that generative AI tools respect and observe data privacy, data ownership, and data access restrictions by their very design, and that they operate only in areas where explicit consent has been given.

These three “R”s — relevance, reliability, responsibility — are the cornerstones of trustworthy AI for the business world. They are also key to building trust in technology as a tool to tackle the biggest challenges of our time.

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

As a global software company, SAP has made relevant, reliable, and responsible AI a top strategic priority, training and working with real-life business data based on the explicit consent of thousands of customers. By design, it follows the access and privacy settings already built into SAP databases and software.

The ethical implementation of AI is ensured by clear guiding principles, internal governance structures, and an advisory panel of external experts. Most importantly, SAP is pushing the quality of generative AI results to be not just “good enough,” but to have the integrity and quality customers expect when they make consequential business decisions.

I believe there is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity on a larger scale: nations and regions that pioneer trustworthy AI for business will see a much faster and broader adoption of generative AI across companies and industries. They will reap the benefits of greater competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability. And they will contribute immensely to a better running world — much like the World Wide Web did three decades ago.

Christian Klein is CEO and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.

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This piece originally appeared on the World Economic Forum site.

The world is experiencing a new, tougher business environment. Trade tensions, wars, climate change, and countless other disruptions are putting the brakes on a long and steady period of globalization. Given this growing uncertainty, companies must reconfigure global supply chains to improve their resilience.

Business leaders might assume that more regulation in such a volatile environment would hinder the innovation they require most at this time. However, we will argue smart and balanced regulation can serve as a catalyst for transformation.

Recent regulatory initiatives like the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), which mandates human rights and environmental impact due diligence, have positioned Germany at the forefront of ethical standards in supply chains. The draft EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) extends corporate responsibilities in sustainability, while the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) places the onus on companies to prove that their products are free of forced labor, shifting the burden of proof to importing entities.

Increased Transparency: Understanding Suppliers’ Suppliers

These and many other emerging regulations play a crucial role in enhancing supply chain resilience. Firstly, they help to increase transparency. Compliance necessitates extensive data collection, providing companies with a clear view of their supply chains, including supplier practices and potential risks. This has been practiced by the pharmaceutical industry for many years due to the potential for damage to human health and economic risk to the company from counterfeits or product quality issues.

Now, more industries are recognizing that transparency across the tiers of a supply chain creates this critical backbone of data and visibility.

A risk-resilient and sustainable supply chain is one that is connected, contextualized, and collaborative Learn more

Secondly, companies must reassess their sourcing strategies, encouraging diversification and regionalization. This in turn reduces dependency on single suppliers or regions, making supply chains more resilient against unexpected disruptions.

Although companies may have been operating in an interconnected web of global supply chains for decades, those that still do not have full visibility into their own suppliers — and those of their suppliers’ suppliers — are putting themselves at undue risk by not innovating. We call this tier-n visibility. This is an incredibly powerful tool for eventually reducing uncertainty across supply chains.

Enhanced Collaboration: Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Compliance, when well-executed, can lead to stronger relationships with suppliers. The engagement required fosters trust and accountability in the supply chain, resulting in more collaboration to overcome challenges. With diversified sourcing, companies can swiftly adapt their supply chains to ensure business continuity. That’s simply better preparedness.

Researchers at Cambridge University recently emphasized the need to form alliances to enhance economic security through resilient supply chains, advocating for more collaboration to improve resilience and sustainability. Collaborative approaches, supported by digital technologies, can lead to significant benefits, including reduced tax evasion and enhanced information sharing in the global supply network.

But let’s face it: This is an industry problem, not a technology issue. Industries need to change how they use supplier data. Instead of using it to push for better procurement terms through negotiation, they should focus on more collaborative processes.

Many industries are beginning to realize the benefits of such a collaborative approach. For instance, a car company using the open network Catena-X can pinpoint faulty engine parts and trace issues back to the supplier’s supplier. Such a targeted approach minimizes recalls. Catena-X ensures interoperability through common standards, allowing data providers to maintain sovereignty over their data. With 170 international members, including major German car manufacturers, Catena-X is poised to become an industry standard.

In this dynamic environment, supply chain resilience becomes a competitive advantage. Companies that proactively embrace regulatory requirements gain the trust and loyalty of consumers, investors, and stakeholders.

Reduced Risk: Embedding Artificial Intelligence

Growing regulatory demands also require a paradigm shift in how businesses approach risk management within their supply chains. Here is where artificial intelligence (AI) plays a central role.

Tap AI to optimize your risk-resilient and sustainable supply chain Explore SAP offerings

SAP Business AI solutions can provide proactive insights into the highly complex impacts of potential risks, allowing companies to anticipate and mitigate challenges before they escalate. This transforms the traditional risk assessment process, offering a more dynamic and real-time understanding. And that’s exactly what businesses need now to de-risk.

For example, understanding the impact of new trade sanctions (such as U.S. export controls on advanced computer chips), a container port blockade, or a steep increase on transportation cost for a given shipping lane offers a competitive advantage. Sensing disruptions, simulating them, understanding the impact, and then recommending and executing actions are core use cases that are optimized by AI and machine learning.

However, with powerful technology like AI also comes great responsibility. Ensuring ethical AI development and deployment requires transparency, accountability, and collaboration among businesses, governmental bodies, civil society, and the broader public. The draft EU AI Act would regulate AI systems based on risk levels, emphasizing the importance of adhering to ethical principles to ensure responsible AI use. Trust in AI solutions hinges on the responsible handling of AI technologies and adherence to human rights.

SAP recognized even before any AI regulation was available, that the speed of AI adoption increased the need for the highest ethical standards. SAP was the first European technology company to establish AI guiding principles in 2018 and then created an AI Ethics Policy. The company established an AI Ethics Steering Committee and AI Ethics Advisory Panel, which helps operationalize guiding principles, provides guidance for high-risk use cases. and will align with the upcoming EU AI Act.

Advanced Technologies: Turning Regulatory Burdens into the Foundation for Resilience

Necessity often drives innovation, leading companies to invest in advanced technologies such as supply chain control centers, n-tier visibility, digital twins, cloud solutions, and AI or machine learning. SAP solutions, such as SAP Business Network for Supply Chain Collaboration and SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, not only facilitate compliance but also enhance overall supply chain visibility and management.

The best examples of the dynamic application of supply chain technology are often found in the food and beverage sectors, where strict quality controls as well as traceability and safety regulations have long necessitated agile, transparent, and sustainable supply chains. Unilever’s commitment to traceability and transparency in its global palm oil supply chain demonstrates how compliance acts as a transformative force. Nestlé’s embrace of technology illustrates how businesses can enhance transparency, and resiliency, while ensuring compliance with evolving standards. And Grupo Nutresa’s procurement transformation shows how it’s possible to deliver efficiencies and generate more value while doubling down on sustainability with trading partners.

These examples show that compliance and innovation are not mutually exclusive and should be integrated, with sustainability serving as the bedrock of resilient supply chains.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
Anahita Thoms is partner and global lead sustainability partner for Industrials, Manufacturing, and Transportation at Baker McKenzie.

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WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Hunkemöller International B.V., Europe’s fastest-growing lingerie brand, has moved to the cloud, leveraging the RISE with SAP solution to offer customers personalized experiences and to keep up with strong demand.

With more than 850 retail stores and 15 online stores across 23 countries, Hunkemöller needed a technology infrastructure that could scale and keep up with the brand’s growth. Moving from an on-premise system to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition solution with Google Cloud marks the first milestone in Hunkemöller’s digital transformation journey to become a data-driven company.

Hunkemöller has an omnichannel sales strategy, selling through its own shops and through wholesale and international franchises. Strong wholesale activities were one of the reasons the company looked to move to the cloud. Hunkemöller wanted a technology infrastructure that could offer flexibility, personalized insights into customers’ shopping behaviors and innovation to position itself for further growth.  

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, Hunkemöller is eyeing its next step in its digital transformation journey as it embarks on the implementation of the SAP S/4HANA solution for fashion and vertical business, a version of SAP S/4HANA optimized for the fashion industry. The solution will allow the company to manage its business, from design to wholesale and retail, all on one platform. This will enable Hunkemöller to deliver collections faster on its channels, optimize inventory and cost as well as increase margins.

“About 75% of our customers are already a member of Hunkemöller,” said Gordon Smit, global IT director, Hunkemöller. “How great would it be if we could offer them an even more personalized experience, for example, by predicting when a customer wants to make a repeat purchase and being able to send the right offer at the right time? Thanks to our current efforts with RISE with SAP, we are ready for that next phase. This is going to be a game changer for our customer experience.”

Achim Schneider, global head of industry business unit retail and wholesale distribution, SAP, said: “Having worked closely over the past few months and migrating from on-premise to cloud in 48 hours is testament to the strong collaboration that our teams have had. With RISE with SAP now implemented, Hunkemöller is ready to continue building on the strong growth momentum they’ve had, and I’m excited to see them setting new standards in the lingerie market.”

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