Having a strong market footprint and R&D headquarters in Shanghai, SAP is in a strategic position to support the accelerating digital transformation and advancement of technology in China.
During the 2020 World Artificial Intelligence Online Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Sam Li, Global Senior Vice President and General Manager of SAP China stressed that the economic recovery of China will be underpinned by the digitalisation in the B2B sector. Moving forward from battling the global pandemic, the nation is now progressively setting long-term objectives to bring the nation back into the global race to technology leadership.
In this article, we look into SAP and China’s collaborative efforts in fostering digitalisation not only for Chinese enterprises but also for the development of the country’s rural communities.
Expanding Cloud Technology in China
China’s cloud industry has been on steady growth for the past decade and is anticipated to scale further offering more opportunities for cloud deployments. In a recent report, China’s cloud market size is estimated to reach CNY 375 billion by 2023. The study also highlighted a shift in the mindset of cloud service providers– from the capability-to-provide to the capability-to-enable.
To meet the increasing demand for cloud services in China, the local subsidiary of SAP has introduced a new private-edition cloud solution aptly named SAP S/4HANA in China. The new addition in SAP’s cloud portfolio in the country offers low total cost, high flexibility, and speed for enterprises migrating their existing SAP ERP environments to modern, cloud-based architecture. This development will support Chinese customers in their journey to recovery from COVID-19 by offering more options on every stage of digital transformation.
“Looking forward, SAP sees huge growth opportunities in China’s green development, digital economy, and smart manufacturing. In the New Year (the Year of the Ox), we look forward to helping Chinese customers accelerate digital transformation. Let’s head fast toward the cloud and rise to an entirely new level,” said Mark Gibbs, President of SAP Greater China.
Gibbs also shared that SAP’s strategy for 2021 in China is broken down into three areas:
- Strengthen partnerships by offering more innovative, agile, secure, scalable, and easy-to-deploy cloud solutions
- Enhance innovation and localisation efforts with an emphasis on co-innovation with strategic partners
- Optimise and integrate customer-facing teams to provide more focused and efficient services to customers of different types and sizes.
Fostering Digital Skills in the Rural Areas
SAP and China’s partnership in fostering the country’s “rural renaissance” goes back to 2017 when the German software enterprise provided digital skills training and mentorship to workers returning to rural areas as encouraged by the government. In China and around the world, governments are creating rebalancing initiatives to address the decreasing population in the rural areas resulting in a disproportionate burden of poverty, malnutrition, and poor quality of life in the rural communities.
In 2019, SAP has become a major collaborator along with YouChange Foundation, China Charity Alliance, and Tsinghua University in the “The Leader Plan” initiative. By providing funds and volunteer expertise for online courses, SAP will be able to contribute to training 50,000 rural entrepreneurs across 30 provinces by 2023. Currently, the program has trained over 43,000 learners. SAP also took part in Tsinghua University’s “Elite Camp” courses and mentoring for entrepreneurs.
“We’ve had great impact with The Leader Plan, and I look forward to more success in the future,” Gibbs stressed.
SAP in China is looking into further helping the agricultural sector of the country with digital farming technology and information systems such as the use of e-commerce, Internet of Things (IoT), and data analytics.
