Leading global brands showcased their successful innovation and business transformation initiatives at this year’s SAP Sapphire, a flagship business and technology event held in Madrid, Spain recently.
Sapphire is SAP’s top customer annual customer event, bringing together customers, partners, and business leaders to discover the latest SAP innovations.
In a statement, the organisers said this year’s event unveiled several innovations that put the power of Business AI in every user’s hands, revolutionising the way work gets done.
The Interim Managing Director for South Africa at SAP, Nazia Pillay, said organisations are leveraging powerful new technologies and integrated business applications to drive innovation-fuelled growth across the enterprise.
“The growing power of Business AI applications that draw on trusted business data is already proving to be a transformative force for companies seeking enhanced decision-making and greater efficiency,” Pillay stated.
According to the statement, several brands unveiled successful Business AI initiatives built on SAP technologies.
“Global brewer, Heineken was looking to streamline data access so business users could quickly find and analyse data in their preferred language. The company developed Hoppy, an AI-driven chatbot that runs on the SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP BTP, representing a significant leap forward in Heineken’s commitment to streamline internal processes and empower its workforce.
“Since Hoppy was introduced within the company’s collaboration platforms, Heineken has seen the time knowledge workers need to retrieve information fall to 1 minute from 15 minutes. With SAP Business AI capabilities at Hoppy’s core, Heineken also is exploring automating repetitive tasks to enhance business processes and streamline communications and decision-making. And with a unified view across its data, Hoppy can now flag missing cost centre information in purchase orders to improve efficiency and accuracy,” the statement explained.
It also stated that the competitive gaming organisation, Team Liquid is using SAP’s Joule agents to provide instant access to game statistics, player performance trends, and strategic comparisons using natural language.
“Team Liquid runs its data analysis through its Next Level Esports Centre dashboard, built entirely on SAP BTP.
The team’s analysts reportedly rely on the dashboard to equip coaches and players with insights about upcoming opponents, managing high-pressure situations under short turnaround times and frequent data requests between games.
A co-CEO and founder of Team Liquid, Victor Goossens, said, “This partnership is changing the way we utilise our extensive database, proving that AI and data integration are becoming a vital part of our game preparation and success in esports.”
It was added that CAF, a global leader in urban rail and bus systems, has successfully migrated to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
The statement explained that CAF has smoothly integrated SAP solutions into core business functions including master data management, record to report, source to pay, and sales and transport.
“CAF is now set for future success, as our new technology landscape allows us to better comply with business requirements in a complex and fast-changing market,” said CAF’s digital transformation director, Guillermo Apellániz.
The statement read further that For companies still operating with on-premise solutions, RISE with SAP offers the optimal path to a cloud ERP landscape.
“RISE with SAP helps companies confidently transform their business, enable continuous innovation, and realise value faster. Global medical technology company Siemens Healthineers selected RISE with SAP to support its digital transformation journey,” it was stated.
Chief Information Officer at Siemens Healthineers, Stefan Henkel, said, “By embracing SAP technology, we will be able to reduce complexity and highly standardise our processes while delivering on our promise to pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare.”
Xerox was also said to have chosen RISE with SAP to move to the cloud and embark on the clean core approach to streamline operations across markets and business processes.
The company said it expects to reduce IT costs and enable the delivery of new business models in line with the changing demands of the industry.
The Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Administrative Officer at Xerox, Louie Pastor, was quoted as saying, “SAP is a strategic partner helping us meet the evolving needs of our clients and partners as we increase our speed, agility, and cost-effectiveness while providing the entire enterprise with modern tools and improved support.”
