Japanese multinational technology company NEC Corporation has strengthened its strategic alliance with German enterprise software giant SAP in digital transformation initiatives including the co-innovation of new business opportunities and adoption of SAP solutions — SAP S/4HANA and RISE with SAP.
In 2020, NEC Corporation embarked on a project to modernise its indirect materials procurement by implementing the full suite of SAP Ariba solutions as part of its journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise with SAP. The company hoped to cut spending, streamline operations, and improve compliance in its procurement processes by leveraging a cloud-based system. It was the Kanagawa-based NEC Management Partners Co. Ltd. that was the first to deploy the solutions, followed by the rest of the Group’s subsidiaries in Japan and throughout the world.
Last year, NEC opened its Transformation Office to expedite its corporate transformation in terms of management, business operations, and human resources (HR) while also helping the company foster growth and meet the objectives outlined in its Mid-Term Management Plan 2025. As part of the project, the Tokyo-headquartered corporation intends to develop a knowledge base about the construction and reform of digital infrastructure. According to NEC, it also plans to build a reference model available to customers in order to assist them in addressing issues regarding transformation.
Fast forward to 2022, the company once again teamed up with the German tech giant and reinforced its cooperation aimed at initiating innovation, generating business opportunities, and adopting the latest SAP solutions. Thrilled about the new strategic collaboration with SAP, NEC Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Takayuki Morita said in a press release:
“With this new alliance, we will further strengthen our collaborative relationship. SAP will help NEC’s corporate transformation by providing their best practices from their own digital transformation. They will also provide their latest solutions.”
Partnering with SAP in Digital Transformation Programs
Morita noted that the NEC Group — particularly its subsidiary ABeam Consulting Ltd. —- has the largest number of SAP consultants in Japan, in addition to having end-to-end ICT services and a long history of implementing SAP solutions. Under the agreement, the company will continue to utilise SAP S/4HANA as its next-generation mission-critical platform to maintain end-to-end processes, maximise standard functions, and embrace Business Process Intelligence (BPI) to increase efficiency.
Moreover, NEC intends to use the Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering RISE with SAP across its group companies globally to help deliver the integrated solutions required for transforming the business. Morita further shared:
“These solutions create the “social value” that is shared by both NEC and SAP’s corporate philosophies. We aim to contribute to solving the issues faced by our customers and by society. I look forward to a successful partnership and working together with the SAP team.”
The company also aims to leverage SAP technologies to generate innovations based on a common corporate philosophy of creating social value. When it comes to biometrics technology and infrastructure, NEC said that it will rely on the expertise of both companies in areas such as 5G, supply chain management, and sustainability.
Meanwhile, SAP CEO and Member of the Executive Board Christian Klein believes the cloud and innovative technologies are the foundation of digital transformation in every industry. He said that customers turn to SAP as they are modernising their IT landscape and transforming their businesses. Looking forward to the company’s strategic collaboration with NEC, Klein added:
“With NEC, one of our most trusted partners, we support them on this journey and even accelerate their transformations. Using RISE with SAP, NEC and SAP will help many companies in Japan to make those transformations a success.”
“SAP will also support NEC’s corporate transformation based on SAP’s knowledge of our own transformation. With this partnership, we take both our collaboration and our customers’ transformations in Japan to the next level,” he concluded.
