SAP, a global leader in business software, has a significant presence in Hong Kong. SAP Hong Kong’s journey has been marked by a commitment to innovation and a deep understanding of the unique business landscape in Asia. The company’s strategies have always been aligned with Hong Kong’s dynamic market needs, focusing on providing scalable and robust solutions to businesses of all sizes.

The foundation for this new venture was laid in June during the SAP NOW customer summit held at the Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel. Under the theme “Partner for The Next Leap,” the event showcased customer success stories, cutting-edge cloud technologies, and the announcement of the new experience center. This center signifies a major step in supporting enterprises, particularly mid-sized ones, in their transition to cloud-based solutions.

SAP Hong Kong Cloud ERP Experience Center: A Hub of Innovation

Located in the heart of the city at SAP’s Hong Kong office in Times Square, the Cloud ERP Experience Center is more than just a facility. It’s an innovation hub where enterprises can discover and learn about SAP’s next-generation cloud ERP solution, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, through expert guidance. This center is designed to be a collaborative space, fostering partnerships and learning among SAP’s ecosystem partners and clients.

A key feature of the center is the introduction of “GROW with SAP,” a comprehensive service solution specifically designed for medium-sized enterprises. It offers a packaged digital ERP solution – SAP S/4HANA Cloud – that manages critical business functions on a single platform equipped with embedded AI and automation. GROW with SAP services extend to include the SAP Business Technology Platform, integrating data, analytics, AI, automation, and application development, enabling users to develop enterprise applications and automate processes without the need for extensive coding.

Tang Leifeng, the General Manager of SAP Hong Kong, emphasizes the importance of speed, predictability, scalability, and continuous innovation for the success of mid-sized enterprises. Under his guidance, SAP has enhanced the AI and automation capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The launch of GROW with SAP aims to help customers optimize operations, reduce data silos, and leverage AI-driven insights for smarter decision-making. Since its inception, GROW with SAP has significantly assisted numerous mid-sized companies globally and in Hong Kong, enabling them to transition from traditional ERP systems to SAP S/4HANA Cloud in a matter of weeks.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud: A Recognized Leader in Efficiency

SAP S/4HANA Cloud stands as an award-winning ERP solution, acclaimed for its efficiency and innovation. It has been consistently rated highly by TrustRadius, a renowned B2B technology decision-making platform. The accolades and positive customer feedback reflect the solution’s superiority over other market offerings, highlighting its effectiveness in meeting the diverse needs of businesses.

The SAP Hong Kong Cloud ERP Experience Center marks the beginning of a new era for mid-sized enterprises in the region. By offering a space for learning, collaboration, and innovation, SAP not only solidifies its position as a leader in business solutions but also demonstrates a commitment to the growth and evolution of Hong Kong’s business sector. With the support of SAP’s advanced cloud ERP solutions, local businesses are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of the digital age and emerge as competitive, sustainable, and future-ready enterprises.

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In the fast-paced corporate arena, companies are in constant pursuit of technological advancements that ensure survival and prosperity. SAP’s 2023 strategy, presented at SAP NOW Japan, accentuates a cloud shift as an integral part of a triad transformation focusing on business agility, supply chain management, and sustainability. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.)

Cloud ERP, powered by SAP S/4HANA, is evolving beyond a mere server location. It embodies a paradigm shift from ‘creating’ systems to ‘using’ them, thereby enhancing responsiveness to business environment changes. SAP is leading this evolution by differentiating the development of on-premises and cloud versions of its ERP solutions. The cloud version promises new features, including generative AI, and ensures rapid implementation compared to the traditional on-premises version, which is phased out from receiving new features but will be supported until 2040.

The decision to focus on cloud ERP stems from the versatility and cost-effectiveness it offers. With standardized environments, companies can reduce customization efforts and efficiently leverage cutting-edge features. The data indicates that the average ERP implementation period in the Asia-Pacific region is significantly shorter than the global average, underscoring the pressing need for businesses to adopt cloud solutions to remain globally competitive.

SAP Business Technology Platform: The Pillar of Application Ecosystem

The SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is showcased as a linchpin for ensuring the ‘Intelligent Sustainable Enterprise.’ It aims to bridge disparate business processes while optimizing and automating functionalities, thereby addressing the hurdles faced in digital transformation (DX).

SAP BTP offers a plethora of functionalities, including application development, data analytics, integration, and AI. With over 90 functional services, it is well-supported by 1,840 SAP service partners globally and approximately 1,000 certified consultants in Japan. By integrating SAP BTP with suites like SAP Signavio and SAP Build Process Automation, the platform is poised to play a pivotal role in business process automation and efficiency.

Future developments in SAP BTP include strategic partnerships to incorporate generative AI into various applications, which will further augment its capabilities and solidify its position as an indispensable tool for businesses.

Transforming Business Processes with SAP Signavio

In the volatile business landscape, the ability to adapt quickly to changes is paramount. The SAP conference highlighted the need for continuous management of business processes using tools like SAP Signavio to ensure agility and flexibility.

SAP Signavio is designed to manage, store, and utilize process information for transformation. It encompasses solutions such as SAP Signavio Process Insights, Process Intelligence, and Process Manager to monitor, analyze, and design processes effectively. Together, these solutions facilitate the transformation and reorganization of business processes during ERP migration to the cloud.

The resurgence of interest in business process management (BPM) emphasizes the need for standardized processes that can swiftly adapt to changes. By amalgamating solutions like SAP Signavio, businesses can gain a holistic view of processes and promote optimization.

SAP Conference Illuminates End-to-End Business Process Integration

The SAP conference illuminated SAP’s commitment to fostering an environment where business processes are seamlessly integrated end-to-end across the value chain. Through solutions like cloud ERP, SAP BTP, and process transformation tools, SAP is spearheading initiatives to ensure sustainability and continuity while propelling automation and efficiency.

By delving into these three aspects, SAP has painted a vivid picture of its cloud shift policy and its relentless pursuit to support businesses in their journey towards transformation. The advancements and strategies discussed underscore SAP’s resolve to be at the forefront of revolutionizing business processes and technology platforms, ensuring businesses are well-prepared for the future.

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Global payments giant, Visa, is pushing the envelope of business-to-business transactions by integrating payments into the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). This move, primarily led out of Asia Pacific, makes transactions faster and simpler between enterprises and suppliers, thus paving the way for improved business efficiency on a global scale.

In the realm of infrastructure, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), a stalwart in the field, is the pioneering Philippine company to leverage the Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering RISE with SAP. This strategy consolidates their enterprise resource planning systems, delivering an optimized, streamlined operational infrastructure poised for growth.

Supply chain leader, ST Logistics, committed to RISE with SAP, along with SAP SuccessFactors and SAP BTP, to fuel its comprehensive three-year digital transformation plan. This strategic move is designed to invigorate operational excellence and steer the company towards sustainable growth.

Innovations for a Sustainable Future: Unveiling SAP’s Vision at SAP NOW SEA

The event served as a launchpad for SAP’s groundbreaking solutions tailored for sustainability and future-proofing businesses. In particular, the company’s green ledger carbon accounting and Business AI solutions are a testament to the company’s commitment to creating a sustainable future.

Verena Siow, President and Managing Director at SAP SEA, shed light on the tech behemoth’s mission. She said that the company’s vision is to uplift the lives of the region’s 700 million inhabitants. Noting that SAP is championing this cause through a three-pronged approach: innovation, sustainability, and resilience, Siow explained that the tech giant is also investing in carbon accounting, the green ledger, and future-proofing infrastructures to deliver on this mission.

Facilitating Transformation: SAP’s Commitment to SEA’s Business Evolution

SAP demonstrated a clear commitment to the SEA region’s innovative transformation through the various alliances forged at the event. A notable partnership was the expanded collaboration with Google Cloud. This strategic alliance promises to unleash the potential of business data, stimulating enterprise AI development. By creating a comprehensive open data offering, SAP is merging its capabilities with Google Cloud’s Data and Analytics Technology.

Furthermore, venture capital firm B Capital Group, co-founded by Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SAP in Asia Pacific Japan (APJ). This initiative aims to assist startups in scaling through technology innovation by granting access to SAP’s industry expertise and global business networks.

Singtel, Asia’s leading communications technology group, is joining forces with SAP to offer a 5G Intelligent Edge Aggregator (IEA) solution. This solution, powered by SAP BTP, is set to provide businesses with real-time intelligence and insights, paving the way for data-driven decision-making.

SAP also highlighted its success in the SEA region during the event. The company spotlighted its robust cloud growth in its Asia Pacific Q2 2023 earnings, along with new SEA customer wins and go-lives, including Visa, Singtel, FGV IFFCO, and Aboitiz InfraCapital.

Echoing Voices from the Event: Partners Share Their Experiences

Several key figures from the partner companies shared their insights on their collaboration with the German tech giant.

Raymund Ramos, Chief Information Officer, Aboitiz InfraCapital, praised SAP as their trusted partner in driving their digital roadmap for the next five years. Meanwhile, Arijit Sengupta, General Partner, B Capital, emphasized Asia’s potential as a hotbed for innovation and the value of its collaboration with SAP in harnessing this potential.

From Google Cloud, Martin Chee, Managing Director, APAC Specialist Sales, spoke about the expanded partnership’s potential to create rich business insights and train custom AI models.

Verena Siow concluded the event by stating that:

“It is clear we are at an inflection point, and the best way to Transform Tomorrow, Today, is through continual innovations: bringing expert partners, including customers themselves, together to collaborate and tap the power of the collective to thrive in the SEA digital economy.”

The annual event underscores the German enterprise software giant’s commitment to empowering businesses through innovative solutions and collaborations, offering a future-proof trajectory in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape.

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Customers and partners of SAP Hong Kong attended the in-person customer summit SAP NOW held on June 8 at the Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel. SAP NOW Hong Kong 2023 themed “Partner for The Next Leap” featured inspiring customer success stories, innovative cloud technologies, and a new experience center that would help enterprises propel their sustainable journey to the cloud.

“It is our honor to host hundreds of delegates from SAP customers and partners in person at SAP NOW Hong Kong this year. In recent years, Hong Kong enterprises are now accelerating technology adoption to capture new growth,” expressed Esmond Tong, Managing Director of SAP Hong Kong. “Having supported local enterprises and industries for over 30 years, SAP Hong Kong understands the new challenges and opportunities that they are facing. With a strong commitment to Hong Kong and the most complete enterprise cloud solution portfolio, we are well-positioned to support enterprises in their digital transformation for years to come.”

Event Highlights

During the event, SAP and business leaders shared their expertise and insights on how businesses today can thrive and be future-ready leveraging the right technology along with a competent workforce. Andrew Ma, Chief Technology Officer of eLab Asia, A.S. Watson Group; Philip Wixon, HR Transformation Lead of Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Matthew TC Wong, Director, Commercial Analytics and Digital Solutions, SEAHKT, Swire Coca-Cola were among the keynote speakers who discussed macro-economic trends and insights to future-proof businesses for success.

A panel discussion led by Jungle Wong, Partner, Consulting, Deloitte China, talked about the significance of digital transformation with Mr. Alex Chan, General Manager, Digital Transformation, Hong Kong Productivity Council, and Mr. Simon Ng, CEO, Business Environment Council, referencing the recently published business outlook report “Thriving in Hong Kong, a City of Resilience and Opportunities” developed by Deloitte and commissioned by SAP.

One of the key highlights of the SAP NOW event was the announcement of the establishment of the SAP Hong Kong Cloud ERP Experience Center. The center intends to accelerate Hong Kong companies’, especially midsize enterprises’, move to the cloud with simplicity and predictability harnessing a cost-effective and scalable platform. The institution will be harnessing the power of SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Business Technology Platform along with driving collaboration among SAP’s ecosystem partners.

Hong Kong Businesses Ready for the Future

Following the keynote, attendees of SAP NOW Hong Kong 2023 had the chance to pick and choose from three tracks such as Next Generation Platform for Digital Transformation, which highlighted AI, machine learning, and automation; Cloud ERP – Mission Critical for Growing Enterprises, which discussed Cloud-based ERP technology as a mission-critical asset to growing businesses; and Change Work for Good, which showcased the latest technology and strategies to support workplace and workforce transformation.

In the keynote of Dr. Chenhong Huang, SAP Global Executive Vice President and SAP Greater China President, he explained:

“Hong Kong enterprises are at the threshold of a new phase of growth. On the one hand, Hong Kong is a launchpad for global expansion with its demographic advantages, international business environment, and diversity of financial and professional services. But on the other hand, enterprises are accelerating digital transformation to address cost pressure, supply chain stability, talent shortage, and new expectations around environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. SAP will elevate our support to enable customers to drive efficiency and build sustainability, working together with companies and partners.”

The SAP Environmental Sustainability Report released early this year reported that the majority (55%) of businesses in the country recognize how sustainability directly affects business success, competitiveness, and revenue growth of a company. According to the SAP report, Hong Kong enterprises are aware of the significant role of sustainability in their financials. More than 40% said that environmental issues are either already affecting business outcomes or will do within five years. Almost the same percentage of the companies (≈40%) have sustainability strategies in place to bolster revenue and profit growth and develop new products and services.

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With the business environment changing in an effort to stay ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are doing more to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. It has become vital to remain resilient and responsive in order to compete with current and future competitors in the market. Recently, the subsidiary of the German enterprise software giant in Hong Kong invited esteemed leaders from the local business community — that has been at the forefront of transformational change — to share their best practices and insights into cloud deployment.

In the lead-up to the SAP NOW Hong Kong conference, the emphasis has been on preparing “Intelligent Sustainable Enterprises” for a future of data-driven operations. In honor of SAP’s global 50th anniversary and SAP Hong Kong’s 30th anniversary, it is an opportunity to reflect and reimagine how society can create organizations that are sustainable in every sense of the word – socially and environmentally but also financially.

During the event conference held this month, SAP Hong Kong Managing Director Rajni Sharma welcomed a diverse range of key business community stakeholders to the forum where she shared her insights on how the latest cutting-edge technologies can help companies transform. She said that the company launched the Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering RISE with SAP a year ago, bringing with it fifty years of experience in providing enterprise solutions.

Utilizing data management, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), automation, and predictive analysis, Sharma said that the holistic service enables businesses to better facilitate collaboration among their clients, staff, vendors, and partners.

“SAP is also supporting companies to embed sustainability into their core processes to strengthen business continuity,” she further added.

Local Companies Share Transformation Stories at SAP NOW Hong Kong

In response to the growing importance of data in business, Tontec International Limited President Nelson Lam advised conference attendees at SAP NOW to begin their cloud journey by establishing a data culture within the company in which employees believe in the power of big data. Lam explained that this culture must be established before any other aspect of a cloud strategy is put into place, as it will serve as a foundation for key decisions related to large-scale data storage, analytics and more.

Tontec International Limited, a leading manufacturer of high-quality affordable injection molds that are used to mass-produce a wide variety of products, has recently adopted the signature cloud solution RISE with SAP with the goal of transforming the company’s manufacturing processes and powering its international expansion. Lam said that after successfully building a data culture inside an organization, they can then identify what type of product and process data to capture and utilize. He believes that this will provide a realistic understanding of what cloud computing brings as it pertains to specific data needs.

Meanwhile, Crystal International Group Limited — a global leader in apparel manufacturing and one of the best-known brands in high-quality fashion — has been able to buck the trend of being a company that is reliant on labor when they have instead embraced automation and AI. As a result, it has been able to bolster its transformation through a “One Team One Dream” slogan, empowering its workforce, technology partners and SAP departments, to work towards a shared objective.

Karl Ting, who is the General Manager of Corporate Information Services at the company, noted that companies that are venturing into a cloud transformation journey to establish clear goals and objectives should first begin on a roadmap that is well-defined and logical, with steps that are carefully planned out. However, he also said that organizations should be aware that continuous improvement is not a guarantee and that this can often involve taking risks in order to see the desired outcome.

Other local enterprises that also joined the SAP NOW Hong Kong forum are Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company Limited and Chinachem Group. They are often seen as some of the most innovative companies in their respective industries, making them strong candidates for going out of their way to be a part of such an event.

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