APAC Archives - InsideSAP Asia https://insidesap.asia/tag/apac/ The independent resource for SAP professionals in Asia Sun, 16 Aug 2020 23:48:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://insidesap.asia/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-InsideSAP-Asia-logo-SQUARE-32x32.png APAC Archives - InsideSAP Asia https://insidesap.asia/tag/apac/ 32 32 SAP, Oxford Economics Study Digital Maturity of Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises https://insidesap.asia/sap-oxford-economics-study-digital-maturity-of-small-medium-sized-enterprises/ https://insidesap.asia/sap-oxford-economics-study-digital-maturity-of-small-medium-sized-enterprises/#respond Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:00:00 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/?p=9363 SAP and Oxford Economics, a leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, recently surveyed 2,000 senior executives from small, medium-sized enterprises in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific to understand their companies’ priorities, challenges, strategies, and digital progress. The small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia Pacific comprise over 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of all businesses, employing […]

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SAP and Oxford Economics, a leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, recently surveyed 2,000 senior executives from small, medium-sized enterprises in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific to understand their companies’ priorities, challenges, strategies, and digital progress.

The small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia Pacific comprise over 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of all businesses, employing about 60-80{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the workforce. Through the years, the SMEs have shown unprecedented growth and contribution in the region’s healthy macro-economic environment. However, the recent economic climate due to the coronavirus has challenged the sector’s capability to adapt to the rapid market changes and seek new opportunities to remain resilient and sustainable. 

The recently published Oxford Economics global research in collaboration with SAP centres on the SMEs’ digital maturity and their response to the pandemic, including remote work arrangements, technology adoption, supply chain management, and new product development and service offerings. 

Research Methodology

The SAP and Oxford Economics survey covered 19 countries across various industries with 42{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} respondents from APAC, 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} from Europe, and 28{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} from the Americas. 

The 2,000 senior executives surveyed are from across functions such as operations (18{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), management (17{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), finance (13{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), technology (11{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), sales (10{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), human resources (9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), marketing (8{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), legal/risk (7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and customer service (7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}). The survey reported organisations under $1 billion in revenue and countries, except for India, with employees fewer than 1,000. Companies surveyed in India have between 1,000 and 2,000.

The study was conducted between 27th February and 30th April 2020 and researchers added a section on the COVID-19 impact mid-fieldwork, which garnered responses from 240 SMEs in APAC, 174 from Europe, and 92 from the Americas.

In this article, we highlight the responses and data gathered from the surveyed countries in the APAC region– Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines Singapore, and South Korea.

Digital Adoption

39{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the 832 respondents from APAC have made moderate progress towards digital transformation. 21{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of small and midsized organizations have made substantial progress or completely transformed while 19{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} expect to have completely transformed within three years.

Claus Andresen, Senior Vice-President and Head of General Business (SME) and Emerging Markets Growth for APAC and Japan at SAP said:

“Today’s new normal requires businesses to pivot and adapt with speed. SMEs in the region seem to understand that the sense of urgency to digitally transform their businesses will give them an advantage through the pandemic and beyond.”

“With the adoption of an intelligent enterprise strategy, SMEs can establish a digital core that will power the entire organisation, embedding data-driven insights and decision-making processes across the business,” he further explained.

SMEs in APAC have made the most progress in technology adoption in the field of HR and talent management at 66{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}, governance and cybersecurity at 63{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}, and finance and risk management at 59{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}.

69{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of APAC respondents shared that their organisations have made IT investments, almost at par with the Americas and Europe’s at 72{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and 68{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}, respectively. In Singapore, 73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the respondents reported that IT and collaboration solutions, including investments on remote access and/or online learning, are their organisations’ top priorities.

Remote Work Adjustment

77{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of APAC SMEs said they have adjusted remote work arrangements for employees in response to COVID-19 as compared to Europe and Americas’ numbers, which are at 75{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and 71{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}, respectively.

The Philippines garnered the highest adoption of remote working at 89{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. India and Singapore reported that 73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of businesses have adjusted to such arrangements, falling behind South Korea, Japan, and China.

Customer Management and Service Offerings

66{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of APAC SMEs are exploring new ways to reach customers, a little bit higher than in the Americas (65{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and in Europe (59{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}). In Singapore, 68{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of SMEs are also expanding their customer reach.

In terms of new product development and offerings, APAC (46{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) SMEs are ahead of the Americas (40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) but a bit behind Europe (49{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Edward Cone, editorial director of thought leadership and technology practice lead at Oxford Economics shared:

“SMEs across the region – like their counterparts around the world – have certain advantages over larger competitors in terms of agility and closeness to the customer.”

SMEs’ Challenges

The Oxford Economics study also shared the internal challenges of APAC SMEs such as upskilling and reskilling their current workforce (30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), lack of coordination between departments (29{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and inability to gain insights from data (29{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

As for the external factors, the survey reported companies’ concerns on changing customer wants and needs (40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), competition from larger organisations (39{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace (27{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

The SAP and Oxford Economics study has concluded that small, medium-sized enterprises in the Americas, APAC, and Europe are balancing short-term problem-solving with longer-term, more strategic initiatives. These initiatives include sustained customer and employee satisfaction as well as investment in innovative technology to accelerate digital transformation. 

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SAP Cloud Platform Services Forecast Growth in APAC https://insidesap.asia/sap-cloud-platform-services-forecast-growth-in-apac/ https://insidesap.asia/sap-cloud-platform-services-forecast-growth-in-apac/#respond Sun, 25 Aug 2019 21:00:40 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/?p=7870 SAP Cloud Platform Services, referred to as “Platform-as-a-Service” (PaaS), include various service offerings provided by vendors that support end-users such as consulting and strategy planning, POC (Proof of Concept), integration, migration and system conversion. SAP Cloud Platform services’ tier 1 vendors have been focusing on the Asia Pacific region, eyeing the opportunities with significant growth […]

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SAP Cloud Platform Services, referred to as “Platform-as-a-Service” (PaaS), include various service offerings provided by vendors that support end-users such as consulting and strategy planning, POC (Proof of Concept), integration, migration and system conversion.

SAP Cloud Platform services’ tier 1 vendors have been focusing on the Asia Pacific region, eyeing the opportunities with significant growth across various industries including BFSI, consumer goods, IT & telecom and manufacturing. This was one of the key findings in Fact.MR’s assessment of the SAP Cloud Platform services market for the period of 2018-2028.

Top IT companies SAP, Accenture Plc, Infosys Limited, and IBM Corporation have collectively contributed over 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} to the platform’s market, and, consequently, significant revenue shares.

With the huge distribution infrastructure and geographical reach in the cloud services marketplace along with their alliances in the Asia Pacific, these tech global leaders are forecasted to contribute to SAP Cloud Platform services’ sales growth. The recent activities from some of the Top 4 companies demonstrate the potential of the platforms’ services in the region.

Take the recent development of Infosys Limited as an example. The technology services & consulting firm announced its recent expansion plans in the Asia Pacific by initiating a joint venture with Temasek, a Singapore based company. This joint venture adds another sales funnel to the SAP Cloud Platform services portfolio by facilitating the expansion of IBM in Southeast Asia in the software services marketplace.

Similarly, the multi-zone cluster strategy of key vendors can also increase the SAP cloud platform services sales just like in the case of IBM Corporation. The IT goliath continues to expand its cloud footprint across Sydney and Tokyo in the Asia Pacific and other regions including the UK, Germany, Dallas, Washington DC, and Texas.

SAP Cloud Platform Services in demand

SAP Cloud Platform services have been receiving increased popularity in the market due to its capability in regulating processes under disruptive business models.

·     Facilitating digital transformation and offers flexible software that enables quick adaptation

·     Scalability in processes without altering existing software

·     Real-time business data along with agility in application development that can enhance business proficiency and profitability

Other key findings

·     Well-established companies, startups, developers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have been utilizing SAP cloud platform services to achieve faster ROI and profitability. This has been demonstrated in the cases of Pacific Drilling and the National Football League.

Pacific Drilling, an industry-leading offshore drilling company that delivers prototypes to end-users, utilized SAP Cloud Platform services enhancing app creation by around 75 {aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}.

After adopting SAP cloud platform services (HANA) to provide statistics and figures to enthusiasts along with player analysis, the NFL’s site achieved 45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} growth in terms of usage and content consumption.

·      SAP cloud platform services market is expected to witness significant growth with its robust cloud architecture linking enterprise applications with next-gen technologies including machine learning, IoT and blockchain.

About Fact.MR

Fact.MR is an independent, pure-play market intelligence firm incorporated to deliver high quality, customized market research solutions that help its clients successfully go to the market equipped with actionable insights capable of impacting crucial business decisions. The company has 600+ dedicated analysts supported by an exclusive global network of data providers to gather data on more than 30,000 niche markets. Fact.MR has offices in Ireland, the US, and India.

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SAP Concur Solutions Decluttering Business Travel Landscape in APAC https://insidesap.asia/sap-concur-solutions-decluttering-business-travel-landscape-in-apac/ https://insidesap.asia/sap-concur-solutions-decluttering-business-travel-landscape-in-apac/#respond Tue, 25 Jun 2019 21:01:22 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/sap-concur-solutions-decluttering-business-travel-landscape-in-apac/ SAP Concur, the world’s leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions, serves 48,000 customers in over 150 countries including over 75{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and more than 58.1 million end users. Andy Watson, Senior Vice President & General Manager of SAP Concur Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China […]

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SAP Concur, the world’s leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions, serves 48,000 customers in over 150 countries including over 75{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and more than 58.1 million end users.

Andy Watson, Senior Vice President & General Manager of SAP Concur Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China said,

“APJ and Greater China is an important region for SAP’s core business. With the rapid economic development and pivoting of global businesses, this region is poised to expand even further as the largest business travel spending region globally.”

He expressed that he is honored to deliver SAP Concur solutions in the region to help businesses simplify and manage the complexities of a growing travel cost component while ensuring compliance and duty of care for their employee.

In a recent article by TechBarrista, Watson’s “Decluttering Your Business Travels” is compared to transforming a chaotic home into a neat abode that sparks joy with reference to the KonMari Method. He said that with the right methods and technological ingenuity, it’s possible to turn business travel from pain to pleasure.

Business travelers simply need less time doing multiple tasks so they can focus on their agenda, be it attending a conference, visiting their HQ or closing a deal.

SAP Concur helps organizations and business travelers in the following aspects:

Enhanced Mobility and Efficiency

The SAP Concur solutions are accessible on a smartphone or on a tablet, even on the cloud to deliver an effortless experience for employees and total transparency into spending, helping organizations of all sizes, industries, and locations run better.

“This integration ability lets travelers save time on bookings and leverage a B2C experience while staying within the policy needs of their company. These features are particularly attractive for millennial travelers. And that’s an important demographic for corporates and travel companies to cater to,” explained Watson.

According to UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, Asian millennials spend on international travel is expected to increase by 1.6 times to US$340 billion by 2020. In Singapore, Expedia found that 84{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of millennials travel at least once a year, higher than baby boomers (73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and Generation X (82{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Better Visibility

The SAP Concur connected travel and expense, allowing organizations to get a new level of visibility into spending – before, during and after the trip was completed.

Watson said that the Finance Team also benefits from the data of employees’ bookings across multiple channels giving them more visibility and greater insights, so they can apply policy on direct bookings and better manage compliance and approvals as well as anticipate needs, predict challenges, identify opportunities on the fly, and tackle everything from taxes and compliance risk to mobile phone expenses and fraud.

Going Paperless

With SAP Concur, pictures of paper receipts or e-receipts for reimbursements can now be submitted instantly. By automating the expense management process, SAP Concur would make expense reporting a whole lot easier for employees and get them reimbursed faster, saving companies time and money.

“Without doubt, technology can free employees of the mundane hindrances of travel, giving them a clear mind to get their business done. With business travel within Asia growing at twice the pace of the rest of the world, China being the world’s largest business travel market, and India and Indonesia forecast to be the globe’s fastest expanding markets over the next five years (clocking 11.3{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and 8.7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} respectively in compound annual growth), the time for firms to take action and put some joy into their travel and expense experience is now,” Watson said.

Last year, SAP Concur won Cloud Solution of the Year at the Inflection Awards in Mumbai.

Read “Decluttering Your Business Travels” by Andy Watson.

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Rimini Street Challenges Enterprise Software Leaders in APAC Region https://insidesap.asia/rimini-street-challenges-enterprise-software-leaders-in-apac-region/ https://insidesap.asia/rimini-street-challenges-enterprise-software-leaders-in-apac-region/#respond Mon, 24 Jun 2019 23:28:58 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/rimini-street-challenges-enterprise-software-leaders-in-apac-region/ Allied Market Research reported that the global enterprise software market is expected to garner $41.69 billion by 2020 with Asia-Pacific being one of the most lucrative markets to reach $9.77 billion. Rimini Street, a global provider of enterprise software products and services and a third-party support provider of Oracle and SAP software products, will be expanding […]

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Allied Market Research reported that the global enterprise software market is expected to garner $41.69 billion by 2020 with Asia-Pacific being one of the most lucrative markets to reach $9.77 billion.

Rimini Street, a global provider of enterprise software products and services and a third-party support provider of Oracle and SAP software products, will be expanding its operations in Southeast Asia and the Greater China region. Andrew Seow will be leading this venture as the company’s Regional Director.

With Rimini Street’s quest to disrupt and redefine the enterprise software space as a third-party support provider, their latest investment in Southeast Asia and the Greater China region is yet another breaking story to be told.

The company’s latest expansion in APAC is brought about by its increasing base in the region. Hyundai, GM, and Proton are some of their newly converted clients.

Seow said:

“Rather than follow the vendor-dictated roadmaps that consume too much budget and put pressure on resources with expensive annual maintenance fees and a steady beat of required upgrades and updates, organizations can now turn to a trusted partner in Rimini Street to help them take the necessary steps towards leveraging their significant IT investments to achieve business results.”

How is competition looking in the region?

In the fast-moving Asian markets, Rimini Street is anticipated to compete in the ERP space with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and other ERP software bigwigs that have earlier established their presence in APAC.

Ravin said that SAP and Rimini Street have a “co-existence agreement” where fierce competition is in the field.

SAP has reported revenue growth of 6.5{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} year-on-year, driven by S/4HANA customer adoption and strong cloud growth in the Asia Pacific and Japan business in Q1 of 2019.

SAP CEO Bill McDermott announced that SAP’s value would double by 2023 with China as the fastest growing market.

APJ boasted a healthy 55{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} rise in revenue, while Europe and the Americas at 42{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and 45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}, respectively. The growth in SAP cloud is growing strong globally with much promise in China and Japan.

On the other hand, Rimini Street remains unabashed despite the eight-year legal showdown with Oracle over copyright infringement.

Much like SAP, driven by digital transformation projects and smart city developments across APAC including SEA, Oracle is also steadily growing.

Cherian Varghese, Regional Managing Director and Vice-President of Oracle in ASEAN said new areas such as blockchain, IoT and autonomous bases have contributed to the organization’s continuous success. Oracle has also seen tremendous growth in SaaS portfolio, ERP suite and NetSuite business.

Rimini Street’s Value Proposition in the Region

Seth Ravin, Founder and CEO of Rimini Street, emphasized that the company’s
core mission is to enable licensees of Oracle, SAP, IBM, Microsoft, and other enterprise software vendors to save up to 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} on total support costs.

Cost savings is attributed to bypassing vendor-driven roadmaps and extending current IT investment. He stressed that aside from being costly, the arduous migration and recurring updates might have no inherent value to the client in terms of competitive advantage.

Ravin emphasized,

“It’s really not just about reducing costs. It’s about shifting investment – taking back the money and investing it back into your business. We focus on bringing that 90{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} spend down to 60{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. That’s a game changer and that’s why you have so many Fortune 500’s who’ve made the switch to Rimini Street today and why they keep growing.”

Andrew Powell, APAC Managing Director of Rimini Street said,

“Our expansion into Southeast Asia and further expansion into Greater China will help bolster Rimini Street’s already strong presence across Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, the investment reflects what we see as a strong and growing appetite throughout the regions for a much more value-driven, flexible alternative to paying expensive Oracle and SAP support costs for enterprise software systems.”

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APAC CIOs Look to Artificial Intelligence Technologies to Achieve Critical Business Outcomes https://insidesap.asia/apac-cios-embarkon-artificial-intelligence-technologies-to-achieve-critical-business-outcomes/ https://insidesap.asia/apac-cios-embarkon-artificial-intelligence-technologies-to-achieve-critical-business-outcomes/#respond Sun, 23 Jun 2019 23:48:14 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/apac-cios-embarkon-artificial-intelligence-technologies-to-achieve-critical-business-outcomes/ In 2018, Gartner reported that 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the CIOs from top-performing companies ranked Artificial Intelligence technologies as the number one game-changer in their organization, followed by, data analytics and cloud. This year, Gartner released a study that only 7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of CIOs in the Asia-Pacific Region have no interest in Artificial Intelligence technologies. Both data sets […]

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In 2018, Gartner reported that 40{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the CIOs from top-performing companies ranked Artificial Intelligence technologies as the number one game-changer in their organization, followed by, data analytics and cloud.

This year, Gartner released a study that only 7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of CIOs in the Asia-Pacific Region have no interest in Artificial Intelligence technologies.

Both data sets confirm that despite the unique obstacles and bottlenecks in the deployment of the technology, more and more CIOs are embracing AI’s application in their organization’s critical business points.

In this age of digital transformation, CIOs are expected to adopt, engage and lead the company in its business strategies by building a solid digital enterprise.

In the recent round table discussion held at SAP Asia-Pacific, CIOs of SAP and MyRepublic shared how they leverage AI capabilities in their organizations and how they manage the roadblocks of their AI initiatives.

SAP’s AI Efforts

For many years now, SAP has been at the forefront of digital innovation driving and expanding its business globally, now taking full advantage of SAP Cloud Platform and the AI capabilities from its SAP Leonardo portfolio.

Manik Narayan Saha, CIO of SAP Asia-Pacific, has stated that today’s business problems are underpinned by AI thinking. In fact, the company’s center of excellence already had the initiative of building AI models not just for analytics, but also to automate transactions, effectively moving rule-based to pattern-based automation.

In SAP’s APAC headquarter in Singapore, an AI team of experienced data scientists are now put to work. Saha said,

“We’re starting to reach the hockey stick moment where we’ve built enough organizational competencies that can be used across the board… The next step would be to use external data to provide our sales teams with news and other information about their customers.”

One of the company’s AI projects is to develop a digital assistant that would use natural language processing to help its sales team manage accounts and opportunities in their sales pipelines.

MyRepublic’s AI for better CX

Eugene Yeo, group CIO and CEO of MyRepublic, a multinational telecommunications company delivering fiber broadband, voice and digital services to homes and businesses across APAC, recognizes the contribution of AI in helping the company understand its customers better.

“We’ve focused a lot on gathering customer data, as well as external data, to understand our customer segments, including their values, interests, and connections with other people over time,” he said. “This will enable us to create better product bundles catered to their needs.”

The company also recently formed a data science team to support its AI initiatives.

Clearing the bottlenecks

The two CIOs explained how they have managed the key challenges they encountered in rolling out their AI initiatives. Below are the ones mentioned:

Lack of computing power

According to Saha, this is the bigger bottleneck than data issues, particularly when running highly specialized algorithms and models that could take days to generate an outcome.

As with MyRepublic, Yeo said that the company is now using cloud-based serverless computing services to ease the computing crunch needed in driving sales and marketing initiatives.

Utilizing Chatbots

Yeo said that instead of powering chat bots with a knowledge base, his team is working with Google to build a chat bot powered by user stories helping their customers step-by-step through digital interaction.

Saha stated that at SAP, chat bots handle 10-15{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the million IT support requests from employees they receive yearly, which emphasizes the importance of achieving scale in AI deployments.

ROI on AI

To get full value from AI, you need to deploy it at scale, simply because the upfront investment is significant,” Saha said. “If you are only doing it in one subsidiary or country, it is unlikely that you will get a good return on investment.”

In the same context, Saha warned that AI projects do not always deliver guaranteed results based on a certain metric and within a specific period of time.

“But one thing that’s different between AI and other projects is that the returns from AI will get better as the machine gets smarter and more optimized over time… Just look at Amazon’s Alexa, which can now handle exponentially more scenarios than when it was first released.”

Saha said SAP has embarked on explainable AI projects to look into the factors that influence AI decisions.

Read the Gartner report here.

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BlackLine Announces Appointment of Country Manager https://insidesap.asia/country-manager-appointment/ https://insidesap.asia/country-manager-appointment/#respond Wed, 13 Feb 2019 23:01:13 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/?p=7420 SAP partner, BlackLine, announces the appointment of Simon Frew as the company’s first ever New Zealand Country Manager. A New Appointment Simon Frew will be responsible for accelerating the company’s sales momentum and working with partners to support mutual success in New Zealand. Frew joins BlackLine with more than 25 years’ experience including almost two […]

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SAP partner, BlackLine, announces the appointment of Simon Frew as the company’s first ever New Zealand Country Manager.

A New Appointment

Simon Frew will be responsible for accelerating the company’s sales momentum and working with partners to support mutual success in New Zealand. Frew joins BlackLine with more than 25 years’ experience including almost two decades of experience in enterprise software sales and support.  During this time, he has worked for global vendor organisations, including SAP and Hewlett-Packard.
 
Most recently, Frew worked for more than four years as a Senior Account Executive at SAP New Zealand during.  Within this role, he managed a global team to execute highly complex sales and was instrumental in co-developing effective account strategies with customers to deliver value-based outcomes.
 
Claudia Pirko, Regional Vice President Australia and New Zealand, BlackLine, said, “We are delighted to appoint Simon as our country manager for New Zealand.  We sought to complement our existing skill set in the wider Asia Pacific region with an experienced New Zealand-based executive who has a great track record of championing winning IT deployment sand creating successful relationships with leading enterprises.  We believe Simon has these skills and will be an excellent addition to BlackLine as we continue to build our presence in New Zealand.”

A Leader in Asia Pacific Region

BlackLine currently has more than 150 customers based in the Asia Pacific region, including many public and private sector organisationsin New Zealand and has an expanding team of sales, professional services and technical support employees.

BlackLine was recognised by Gartner as a Leader in its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Close Solutions and as a pioneer in the cloud market for enhanced financial control and automation.

Frew added, “I’m looking forward to working with our customers and partners to support them with solutions which help to underpin their transparency and accountability.

“The New Zealand market presents a great opportunity for BlackLine to help finance teams become a strategic partner to the business through automating, centralising and streamlining financial close operations, intercompany accounting processes and other key F&A processes.”

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On the Move: Spinnaker Support appoints new APAC exec https://insidesap.asia/move-spinnaker-support-appoints-new-apac-exec/ https://insidesap.asia/move-spinnaker-support-appoints-new-apac-exec/#respond Fri, 25 May 2018 04:17:01 +0000 https://insidesap.asia/?p=7157 SAP third-party support provider, Spinnaker Support, has appointed Jae Sam (JS) Lee as vice president of Asia Pacific support operations, responsible for driving Spinnaker’s next stage of regional expansion, service delivery, and customer satisfaction.

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SAP third-party support provider, Spinnaker Support, has appointed Jae Sam (JS) Lee as vice president of Asia Pacific support operations, responsible for driving Spinnaker’s next stage of regional expansion, service delivery, and customer satisfaction.

Based in Seoul, Lee most recently held the position of vice president and head of maintenance go-to-market for SAP Korea. Responsible for growing and retaining SAP Support revenue, Lee led strategies for customer operational excellence while driving their digital transformation and innovations.

Lee was the very first employee of SAP Korea, where he established the legal entity in 1995, subsequently taking over the business in 2008. Since then he has established and grown the maintenance go-to-market businesses in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Prior to joining SAP, Lee held senior finance and HR positions with Monsanto and Motorola.

“Digital transformation is inevitable and there’s no need for organisations to continue to overpay for on-premise support, whether they run SAP or Oracle,” said Lee. “I chose Spinnaker Support over other options because I believe they are best positioned to address current and future support demand in emerging Asia Pacific markets.”

“We’ve enjoyed tremendous success in Korea over the past year,” said Matt Stava, CEO, Spinnaker Support. ”JS is the ideal choice to lead our Asia Pacific operations through the next growth stage and to effectively communicate our unique value proposition to the progressive CIOs in the region.”

Spinnaker Support currently supports more than 140 clients with headquarters or operations in the Asia Pacific region.

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