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While some crypto observers are concerned about IBIT’s inflow halt, others say it’s more normal than the 71-day inflow streak it has recorded.

Preh, a subsidiary of Joyson Electronics in Ningbo, China, is a manufacturer of high-quality automotive electronics systems. With more than 100 years of experience in the electronics industry and over 40 years in the automotive sector, the Germany-based company has the perfect combination of access to growth markets, deep technical know-how, and cost efficiency.

Preh is a global growth company with five sales locations, six production plants, and a strong market position in the automotive market for human-machine interface and e-mobility systems.

With constant company growth and ever-changing market requirements, the product lifecycle costing at Preh had reached its limits. “We are on the way to becoming a €2 billion company and doing product costing without the support of a fully integrated data processing system,” says Harald Bayer, department head of Project Calculation at Preh Group. “For our management, it was time to give the calculation of all our new products a new basis.”

The company knew it needed a single source of truth for all product cost information that would also enable analysis and support reporting. 

Introducing a Future-Proof Standard Solution

“We looked at several software solutions on the market and our choice was SAP Product Lifecycle Costing. As we are trusting on the strength of SAP, this was a decision for the future,” Bayer says. “An SAP standard solution is a better fit with our system landscape.”

According to Bayer, key objectives for the project were:

• Replace former processes with a standardized process across the company
• Improve quality and accuracy for product costing along the product lifecycle
• Increase cost transparency for reporting and analysis to easily identify cost drivers
• Increase speed and flexibility in the product costing process and the efficiency of the entire organization

SAP Product Lifecycle Costing helps companies gain visibility across teams, calculate and proactively manage costs, and support new product innovations and customer-specific engineered products.

Consulting by SAP: Quick-Start Service for SAP Product Lifecycle Costing

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Always allow YouTube Always load all embeds--> A Central Database for Product and Project Calculation

“In the first step, SAP Product Lifecycle Costing was implemented at our headquarters in Germany. Currently, we are doing the global rollout, which includes all business units at all locations and development centers, with the goal to set a common standard with global software,” Bayer says. “We want to make it available for all users involved in the product costing process. Therefore, we will train a large part of the entire PDP organization. There will be only one database.” He added: “The solution is integrated with our SAP ERP system, which is a single global instance.”

SAP Product Lifecycle Costing: Improve profits by managing costs accurately Start your free trial

To support various stakeholders in the most efficient manner, Preh created different apps and layouts within SAP Product Lifecycle Costing, such as a quality checker that helps avoid errors and increase the quality of the costing result as well as a material price app in which the purchasing department can enter material prices that are automatically transferred into the database. In addition, SAP Services and Support supported the company in developing different reports and an interface to provide up-to-date material prices.

Another partner, NTT Data, was involved with creating additional reports and analyses and with data modeling, which helped create more transparency thanks to different views.

Increased Transparency Helps Identify Cost Drivers, Optimize Design

In terms of the value Preh gained, “The main benefit is transparency,” Bayer says. “We can do analyses and reporting by pushing a button. With that, we know everything about cost drivers and can see the entire product costing. We can easily make comparisons between different calculations and see cost bridges, which was a lot of effort in the past.”

Leveraging the new database, the company can get an easier overview of which parts are used in which project; get up-to-date purchasing price information twice a day; examine calculations and prices of specific years; and make more precise product and project calculations.

From a business perspective, this means:

• Increased competitiveness, thanks to cost transparency and insight into cost drivers to make better design decisions
• Quick access to accurate product costing information
• Major time savings as master data is automatically replicated from SAP ERP, allowing employees to focus on cost improvements

“We can easily identify our cost drivers for working closely with development, purchasing, and our suppliers,” Bayer says.

By the end of the year, Preh plans to leverage SAP Product Lifecycle Costing to calculate more than a hundred projects with up to 10 different product variants – and many more later. “The choice of SAP Product Lifecycle Costing was the right decision,” Bayer says. “We were able to increase quality and accuracy in our processes and take an important step in our overall digitalization efforts.”

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

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The world is rapidly moving in the direction of clean renewable energy solutions, thanks to their burgeoning potential to help mitigate the worst effects of climate change – and their ability to enable a better future overall for our planet.

Perhaps surprisingly, private equity firms are a huge driver of this trend, whether via investments in solar, wind, biomass, or some other type of renewable energy. These companies recognize not only the social, humanitarian benefit but the economic benefit of renewables: low-cost power, reduced dependence on imported fuel, and more secure, reliable energy supply.

The numbers bear out this trend. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, private equity and venture capital transactions in the global renewable energy sector reached nearly US$15 billion in 2023, the highest total in the last five years. More so, funds raised in recent years are approaching 25 times the value of fossil fuel asset fundraising, per The Impact Investor.

However, there are challenges inherent in this tectonic shift. With broader strategic change in how we produce and consume energy comes more narrow change – and difficulties – in areas like engineering, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain management, human resources, and finance. These areas make it hard for private equity investors to easily operate and scale businesses, highlighting the present need and opportunity for scalable, cost-effective solutions that truly support the renewable space’s growth and future success.

With Great Power…

A crucial element of today’s state of play in the renewables space is the rapid acceleration in load growth made manifest by today’s technology advancements. Whether it be ChatGPT, Bitcoin, or some other artificial intelligence- or machine learning-related innovation, our tools are requiring more energy production and consumption than ever.

Unlock the potential of the sustainable energy transition with SAP Learn how

That means there is expansive economic benefit to finding cheaper, faster, less energy-consuming ways to run these tools and solutions – not to mention widespread social benefit.

Companies across the industry are already embracing SAP solutions to use less energy, improve business operations, and meet sustainability goals. One global market leader in energy storage solutions and services recently selected SAP to help it scale faster, improve supply chain visibility, and boost overall efficiency. Another business – an established provider and owner of clean energy solutions nationwide for commercial and industrial businesses – chose SAP to help amplify its growth efforts via the acceleration of its ability to both scale and innovate in the energy space.

By iterating and streamlining processes to meet modern needs, companies like these can not only equip themselves for success today but for success tomorrow, as they grow and change alongside the evolving and progressing energy transition.

…Comes Great Capability

In our current industry moment, renewable energy companies demand unparalleled visibility and insights into financing, projects, operations, and more. Whether it be land acquisition, asset construction, or maintenance, a centralized data model that facilitates intelligent business insights is vital. It’s how you empower everyone in the organization to make informed decisions that drive the company forward.

Take supply chain management. Renewable energy companies can’t just order new parts or materials with a short delivery time. Some of the materials necessary for renewable energy products, like graphite, have order lead times spanning years rather than months. Top technology solutions will meet engineering requirements for things like storage, transportation, and integration of natural resources into the production process so that they can ensure supply chain management goals are met. In short, efficient and effective development and implementation of renewable assets requires careful management of the supply chain.

So, yes, these companies and their private equity backers are innovating toward a cleaner future. But they may not always have the time or resources to fully innovate and advance their business processes, sometimes resorting to manual ones that slow things down and add risk. Companies like SAP can offer a seamless platform for managing these enterprises’ various business needs, in an integrated way that can enable them to focus on their core business and not have to worry about IT risks.

No matter where a renewable company is on their journey, SAP and its partners have solutions that can automate and optimize core business processes to help meet their maximum potential. This is due to elements like:

• Centralized ERP data providing a single source of truth and improved decision-making ability
• Fully managed supply chain procurement and logistics, with deep supplier networks
• Faster ROI thanks to repeatable, trustworthy, and accurate processes empowering business users

These seamless integrations and true end-to-end insights will power renewable companies well into the future, so that they can power us as well.

A Brighter Tomorrow

Leading private equity firms are leading for a reason. They see what’s possible in the renewable energy space and recognize the tremendous economic and social benefits that are available. For them, digital transformation is the skeleton key for unlocking a bigger and better future – one where they can easily scale up or down depending on their needs.

Leading ERP solutions can meet these companies where they are, with the speed and flexibility necessary to streamline business processes and build on them in exponential ways.

For the renewables space, it’s about setting the foundation for whatever comes next – not just for individual companies, but for our world and the way we all consume energy.

Mark Hollis is an industry executive advisor for Renewable Energy & Utilities at SAP.

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The SAP Global LoB Partner Excellence Awards are an SAP partner recognition program focusing on valuable contributions towards achieving SAP’s cloud growth ambitions through the following lines of business: SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Customer Experience, and Intelligent Spend and Business Network.

Complementing the SAP Pinnacle Awards, SAP’s premier global partner recognition program, the SAP Global LoB Partner Excellence Awards allow more granular recognition for achievements within the specific lines of business.

The three lines of business reward partners in the following six categories: Sales Success Midmarket, Sales Success Large Enterprise, Delivery Quality, Partner Solution Success, Customer Success Management, and Intelligent Enterprise Value Realization. For each category, partners are selected based on data and key performance indicators, ensuring all eligible partners are considered for this prestigious recognition.

Here are the SAP Global LoB Partner Excellence Awards 2024 winners and finalists:

SAP SuccessFactors

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Midmarket

• Winner: Empleox GmbH
• Finalist: HR Campus AG
• Finalist: EPI-USE

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Large Enterprise

• Winner: Accenture
• Finalist: Deloitte
• Finalist: NTT DATA Business Solutions

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Customer Success Management

• Winner: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Deloitte
• Finalist: PwC

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Delivery Quality

• Winner: EPI-USE
• Finalist: Deloitte
• Finalist: Accenture

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Partner Solution Success

• Winner: OpenText
• Finalist: WorkForce Software
• Finalist: Qualtrics

SAP Global SAP SuccessFactors Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Intelligent Enterprise Value Realization

• Winner: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Seidor
• Finalist: Al-Watania Information Systems

SAP Customer Experience

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Midmarket

• Winner: All for One Customer Experience GmbH
• Finalist: Cpro Industry Projects & Solutions GmbH
• Finalist: Derga Consulting S.p.a.

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Large Enterprise

• Winner: Deloitte
• Finalist: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Accenture

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Customer Success Management

• Winner: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: All for One
• Finalist: Deloitte

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Delivery Quality

• Winner: Accenture
• Finalist: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Reply

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Partner Solution Success

• Winner: Pricefx
• Finalist: Smart Energy Systems
• Finalist: Mediafly

SAP Global SAP Customer Experience Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Intelligent Enterprise Value Realization

• Winner: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: All for One Group
• Finalist: Deloitte

Intelligent Spend and Business Network

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Midmarket

• Winner: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Seidor
• Finalist: apsolut

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Sales Success Large Enterprise

• Winner: Accenture
• Finalist: Deloitte
• Finalist: apsolut

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Customer Success Management

• Winner: Seidor
• Finalist: NTT DATA Business Solutions
• Finalist: Deloitte

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Delivery Quality

• Winner: Accenture
• Finalist: Deloitte
• Finalist: PwC

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Partner Solution Success

• Winner: Docusign
• Finalist: Icertis
• Finalist: Project44

SAP Global Intelligent Spend and Business Network Partner Excellence Award 2024 for Intelligent Enterprise Value Realization

• Winner: Deloitte
• Finalist: Delaware
• Finalist: PwC

Bitcoin ETFs hitting Hong Kong excite markets overnight, but overall BTC price conditions remain precarious, analysts say.

The launch of Bitcoin Runes played an important role in the spike in the total number of transactions over the Bitcoin network.

That “someone” — Bitcoiner Jameson Lopp — argues he was championing a much-needed fix to one of Bitcoin’s testnets.

Hong Kong already has a clear definition of Ethereum and it is not a security, said OSL Digital Securities head Wayne Huang.

The terms of Keonne Rodriguez’s bail prevent him from engaging in “any cryptocurrency transactions, directly or indirectly,” without prior approval from the court.

Modular blockchains might lead to a poor user experience, but — unlike Solana — they remain functional even during periods of high demand.

The EIGEN token will be used to form consensus around data that is off-chain but easily verifiable, such as whether someone won a bet or adequately stored data.

Bitcoin Runes’ debut stirred controversy with high fees and poor initial returns, but supporters say the tokens upgrade the Bitcoin network.

SAP for Me is our digital companion for our customers, providing them with a personalized one-stop shop across their SAP product portfolio. And now it’s available to SAP Ariba and SAP Business Network customers and partners.  

SAP for Me provides a central access point to solution support. The portal offers a user-friendly interface with improved functionalities that can enable better and faster interaction with SAP support experts and can provide immediate guidance to solutions for daily business tasks. It aims to make detached information a thing of the past on the customer and partner journey to an intelligent enterprise.  

Since November 6, 2023, an English-language experience has been available for customers and partners to begin their exploration before the migration. And as of today, SAP Ariba and SAP Business Network knowledge-related content on SAP for Me is available in over 20 languages. 

SAP for Me provides an integrated and comprehensive platform to help meet the diverse needs of its users. The Services & Support dashboard features an SAP Ariba card that helps direct users to multiple resources on the legacy SAP Ariba Connect platform, including SAP Ariba and SAP Business Network release readiness information, product documentation, announcements, and specific content related to adoption and deployment.  

Say hello to your digital companion Check out SAP for Me

When getting started with SAP for Me, know that:

• SAP Ariba Connect S-user authorizations are automatically carried over to SAP for Me – no additional access authorization is needed to use SAP for Me. 
• The portal gives access to personalized content in the most used languages – English, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. 
• SAP for Me offers intuitive cards that categorize and bucket information for your convenience. Support-relevant cards are mainly located in the Services & Support and Systems & Provisioning dashboards.  
• The availability, maintenance, and subscriptions for SAP Ariba solutions and SAP Business Network can be found in the availability section of Systems & Provisioning.
• You can get a holistic view of licenses, orders, and consumption status.
• SAP for Me is also available on mobile devices. The mobile app will be enhanced with additional features and the ability to create and manage a new case.
• The get support application is your primary touchpoint with support.

Get Support, Easier and Faster 

The get support application helps guide customers through technical product issues in real time or reaching SAP experts through an AI-enabled framework. It can provide an integrated and personalized support experience to help simplify and streamline the case creation process. AI can automatically recommend solutions during the interaction, predict the right product categorization, and recommend the most suitable support channel, like Expert Chat, SAP Community, or Ask an Expert Peer, when available for the selected product.  

Access SAP Support on the Go 

With the SAP for Me mobile app, support interaction can be possible anywhere and anytime to complete tasks and access information directly on a smartphone. The mobile app can be downloaded from the Apple Store and Google Play Store. 

In conclusion, SAP for Me puts customer and partner interests into focus. While partners can manage their pipeline and customer success, the portal also serves as the central entry point for all support-related topics and questions for customers. It allows access to relevant information, self-services, and consumption status connected to any purchased product portfolio.  

The SAP for Me migration for SAP Ariba solutions and SAP Business Network is a significant milestone as we tap into the next generation of AI opportunities to create an effective experience for our customers while delivering a seamless consistency in the look, feel, and delivery of critical support services.

SAP for Me is made for you. Follow SAP for Me on LinkedIn and bookmark SAP for Me on SAP Community to stay updated.

Rohan Patel is global head of Support for SAP Procurement.

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As a business leader, basing business decisions on a new technology model like cloud computing or implementing a new technology like generative AI places a premium on trust.

Paul Saunders, head of Product Strategy and chief evangelist of Cloud ERP for SAP S/4HANA put it this way during a recent interview: “Trust is not the engine oil, it’s the essence of business.”

AI in ERP: Issues Around Trust

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In the interview, Saunders explains this and other aspects of the changing relationship between humans. The former Gartner analyst believes that this changed relationship has pushed trust to the top of the corporate agenda and made SAP’s commitment to relevant, reliable, and responsible business AI all the more crucial.

“The relationship between SAP and our customers for the longest time was transactional,” he says. But the shift to the cloud has changed that. From the customer’s perspective, in a cloud environment the SaaS vendor is effectively running the business and that requires a whole new level of trust.

As Saunders notes, “When a data center goes down the customer can’t just say, ‘Hey Bob, get down to the computer room and reboot the box.’ Now, with AI, it’s not just the data we’re providing, but information and recommendations. And some of those recommendations might challenge what the person thinks intuitively.”

For example, when Saunders was CIO of a golf cart maker in Georgia that shipped the carts all over the United States, he put in an early AI-based route planning package designed to optimize the deliveries of the carts to customers across the country.  

But despite the potential efficiency gains promised by the technology, the CEO who had run the company for 40 years and was accustomed to relying on his own judgment overruled the software and insisted that the drivers follow his preferred delivery route.

This resistance to change reflects a broader reluctance to embrace data-driven decision-making, with individuals often interpreting data in a way that reinforces their existing beliefs rather than challenging them.

When faced with the suggestion from a machine to do something different, most people will only follow the advice if they have solid confidence in the accuracy of the underlying data and can retain oversight of the process. 

Build AI directly into your core business processes with SAP Business AI Learn more

That, according to Saunders, plays to SAP’s advantage. He acknowledges that SAP is sometimes considered to be “a little bit old fashioned,” but also thought of as “incredibly reliable and trustworthy.” 

In such a fast-changing and unpredictable environment — one in which many experts, including Saunders, predict that at least one big brand name company will be in the news “for doing something terrible with AI” — SAP’s commitment to delivering dependable solutions infused with relevant, reliable, and responsible business AI is key. 

For Saunders, the importance of fostering trust and confidence in both the technology itself and the organizations deploying it, particularly in industries where risk aversion and conservatism are prevalent, cannot be overstated.  

But he also believes that organizations need to strike a balance between automation and human intervention, recognizing that while AI can streamline processes and improve efficiency, human judgment and oversight remain essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated insights.  

In the end, what really matters to customers is not the technology itself, but the business value that it creates. “If you go to any CEO or CFO, they will tell you they only care about three things: revenue, cost, and risk. That’s it.”

Ultimately, he says, “Everything we do has to show the business value.” 

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Bitcoin is on course for 12% losses in April, and with the monthly close just days away, it could end up sparking the weakest BTC price action in more than a year.

Austrian data rights group Noyb filed a privacy complaint against OpenAI, accusing its ChatGPT of providing false information and potentially breaching EU privacy regulations.

TUMBA, Sweden — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that Swedish-based DeLaval, part of the Tetra Laval Group, has chosen SAP S/4HANA Cloud to build out its new cloud-based ERP system as part of its company-wide transformation process.

The global producer of dairy and farming machinery with 18 factories worldwide chose to build its new technology foundation in the cloud to achieve a more standardized system that would harmonize various nomenclature, processes and data required to develop new solutions for its customers. This is part of DeLaval’s strategy to become an even better partner for its customers and to transform itself into a data-driven organization.  

Get a tailored-to-fit cloud ERP that adapts to your organization’s unique transformation Start here

“A completely new ERP system from scratch is more than just a technical upgrade, it’s a change process and a transformation of our entire business,” said Niklas Falkeling, DeLaval IT program manager. “We needed to reboot and take advantage of the standard solutions that SAP currently offers as cloud services. This is necessary for us to be able to continue to develop the business and become more flexible and agile.”

With a goal of making food production as sustainable and efficient as possible, the implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a global, multi-year and multi-business unit program that will aim to attract more talent, improve processes and leverage innovative technology. The next milestone in helping DeLaval accelerate its growth strategy is to strengthen its team with SAP competency in Tumba, Sweden; Gallin, Germany; and Wroclaw, Poland.

“This is a textbook example of how to run a global transformation program,” said Helle Dochedahl, SAP Nordic and Baltic managing director. “DeLaval has a well-founded strategy to standardize our latest business solutions and unify internal processes by engaging all stakeholders.”

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

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

Top image courtesy of DeLaval

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This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ.  Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
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DeFi Education Fund’s legal chief said the prosecutors’ arguments against Roman Storm’s motion to dismiss were “filled with technical inaccuracies.”

The Ethereum network had its cheapest day in over six months, which could suggest altcoins could rally “sooner than many may expect.”

Bitcoin and altcoins are projected to reenter bullish upside on longer timeframes, with the signs becoming clear despite consolidatory BTC price action.