SAP Taulia, a key solution within SAP’s ecosystem, offers working capital management services designed to enhance cash flow and strengthen supply chains. SAP acquired Taulia in 2022, further integrating its platform into SAP’s broader suite of solutions. Through Taulia, businesses like Indorama Ventures aim to drive sustainability, operational efficiency, and cash flow improvement. This move is crucial as companies navigate an increasingly volatile global supply chain landscape, where resilience and liquidity are essential for growth.

Indorama Ventures, one of the largest petrochemical producers globally, operates in over 140 manufacturing sites across five continents. The company has been actively pursuing a digital transformation strategy under its IVL 2.0 and Procurement 4.0 initiatives. A central focus of these programs is improving free cash flow, which is now being addressed through Taulia’s early payment program.

Indorama’s partnership with Taulia reflects its commitment to enhancing the liquidity of its supply chain, particularly benefiting suppliers through early payment options at competitive rates. This initiative aligns with the company’s goal to improve working capital and support business growth. By leveraging Taulia, Indorama Ventures is not only optimizing its internal processes but also supporting its global suppliers, many of whom are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Asia.

The implementation of Taulia is expected to significantly reduce payment cycle times for Indorama Ventures’ suppliers. In regions such as Asia, where payments often take 60 to 90 days, this solution is vital for improving supplier financial health, particularly for MSMEs. By offering early payments, Indorama Ventures will strengthen its relationships with these suppliers, ensuring they have quicker access to the capital needed to sustain and grow their businesses.

Taulia’s multi funder model plays an important role in this strategy. Through access to a network of financial institutions, Indorama Ventures can mitigate risks by diversifying funding sources. Suppliers, in turn, benefit from consistent liquidity for outstanding invoices. This program not only addresses immediate financial needs but also supports long-term supplier stability, enhancing overall supply chain resilience.

Kulwipa Piyawattanametha, Managing Director of SAP Indochina, recognizes the broader impact of Indorama Ventures’ decision to implement SAP Taulia. The accelerated payment cycles will contribute to the growth and stability of local suppliers, fostering a healthier supply chain within Thailand and aligning with national economic development efforts. By supporting the financial health of these businesses, SAP and Taulia intend to build a more robust foundation for the local economy.

Indorama Ventures’ Digital Transformation with SAP Taulia

Indorama Ventures’ partnership with SAP Taulia is part of the company’s larger digital transformation journey, which began in 2020 with the implementation of SAP S/4HANA. As the company continues to modernize its operations, it is incorporating digital and AI-driven solutions to streamline processes across its global business. This approach impacts vital operational areas such as procurement, sales, supply chain management, and finance, helping the company achieve greater efficiency and competitiveness.

Sanjay Ahuja, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Indorama Ventures, highlights the decision to select Taulia as a strategic move aimed at enhancing both IT and financial operations. By leveraging SAP Taulia’s integration with the company’s existing SAP infrastructure, Indorama Ventures intends to achieve greater efficiency in cash flow management. This approach is critical to fostering stronger supplier relationships, particularly as faster payments become a vital component for supplier growth and stability.

For SAP Taulia, the partnership with Indorama Ventures also represents a significant milestone in its expansion across Asia. The company’s commitment to providing liquidity solutions for businesses of all sizes is a key aspect of its strategy. Rene Ho, Chief Financial Officer at Taulia, underscores the importance of supply chain resilience in achieving Indorama Ventures’ free cash flow goals under the IVL 2.0 program. Taulia intends to support this transformation by enabling suppliers to access liquidity through its early payment program.

The post SAP Taulia Supports Indorama Ventures’ Transformation appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The annual awards ceremony, which is now in its ninth year, attracted nearly 200 entries for 2022. According to SAP, the finalist judges assessed each applicant’s pitch deck to be able to select the 60 finalists. The panel of judges then selected 25 finalists from among the sea of outstanding candidates.

SAP Cloud Success Services President Claudio Muruzabal stated that individuals and organisations from different sectors across the globe presented paradigm-shifting solutions when the German enterprise software giant issued a call for submissions to the SAP Innovation Awards for 2022. He added:

“We thank all who participated in the 2022 SAP Innovation Awards, and our judges for evaluating our 25 winners. I personally look forward to what 2023 has in store for our  community — and the world.”

Celebrating Forward-Thinking Companies at SAP’s Innovation Awards 2022

It can be noted that last year, SAP made the participation easier through simplified eligibility and submission processes. As part of the enhancements in 2021, seven categories have been updated to reflect new business realities and priorities. This year, the German tech giant recently announced the following forward-thinking organisations and SAP customers as winners:

50th Anniversary Legend

• Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions GmbH – The international company has integrated enterprise-wide planning into its operations by implementing a consolidated data warehouse driven by SAP HANA, an in-memory database platform that can be deployed on premises or in the cloud. Other products such as SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solutions have also been used in the transformation project.

Adoption Superhero

• Amt fur Informatik Kanton Zuerich – The Canton of Zurich made the decision to use the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (SAP iRPA) to build an iRPA solution to fully automate the influx of applications and payments during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• Netze BW – Utilities company developed the NeWa App using SAP IS-U & SAP Work Orders on Apple Watch to improve the health and safety of its employees. The solution is aimed at reducing accidents and time lost during operations.

Social Catalyst

• Bboxx – As a socially beneficial utility firm that operates in some of the globe’s most destitute areas, Bboxx relied on SAP technologies to help the company scale its operations quickly and efficiently with the support of Grow by SAP, SAP Business by Design, and Orchard House Solutions.
• Arpa Industriale – Using SAP solutions, the Italian mill products company designed and built an innovative factory from the ground up to assist in the development of a new production line that was deemed successful.

Business Innovator

• Air Canada – Using a dynamic digital marketplace to handle the procurement process from source to settle, Air Canada reduced several manual processes, improved operations, and increased efficiency. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Air Canada used Ariba Network to ensure supply chain security and reduce risk.
• Barclays – Because of the SAP transformation project, Barclays has been able to make significant improvements to the way customers conduct business, allowing them to operate with greater agility as a result of the integration of payment technology into their business processes.
• Carrefour – With the help of SAP Brazil and MIGNOW, a technology company that specialises in SAP S/4HANA updates, Carrefour was able to complete the migration to a new data center and connection services framework.

Other winners in the Business Innovator category include Hamburg, Verizon, Umicore, Sycor, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and REHAU Polymers (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., the Chinese branch of worldwide REHAU Group, which was the first to go live with SAP iRPA and intelligent technologies in the Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) region. 

Transformation Champion

• Zuellig Pharma – eZRx, the largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform for the health sector in the ASEAN region, is built on SAP Enterprise Resource Planning Central Component (SAP ECC) and created by Zuellig Pharma, one of the region’s leading healthcare services provider.
• Team Liquid – Using in-game data analytics and visualisations, an SAP e-sports development team has collaborated closely with Team Liquid professionals to better their match preparation procedures and acquire fresh insights into their strategy.

In addition to the above mentioned companies, other awardees in the Transformation category include specialty chemicals company Clariant International Ltd., Turkish footwear retailer FLO, Georgia’s fourth largest school system Fulton County Schools, and logistics services firm Schnellecke Logistics.

For the Industry Leader category, both French multinational utility company ENGIE and Martur Fompak International, a global leader in automotive seat production, took the top spots. SAP partners NTT DATA and Exnaton were recognised in the Partner Paragon category. Meanwhile, sustainable energy compant AVANGRID won in the Cutting-Edge Genius category for creating a proof of concept “Automated Overhead Network Inspection” deployed in SAP BTP.

Lastly, Swiss multinational healthcare company Rocher, global IT services provider NTT DATA, and Ukrainian vertically integrated company MHP were all in the Honourable Mentions list of SAP’s Innovation Awards 2022.

The post SAP’s Innovation Awards 2022 Winners Announced appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

March 15, 2022 – SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner SE, a world-leading provider of software solutions for digital transformation processes and automated data migrations in the SAP environment, has achieved certification of its BLUEFIELD™ Powered by CrystalBridge solution from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

PwC has comprehensively audited the SNP solution BLUEFIELD™ Powered by CrystalBridge. For the certification, SNP simulated a selective transformation from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) to SAP S/4HANA with many demos. The auditors monitored the process during the audit and confirmed the procedure. For this purpose, SNP demonstrated a wide range of transformation scenarios. In addition to the result of the audit, the audit report also contains a comprehensive description of SNP’s software and approach, explaining how transformations are performed with BLUEFIELD™ Powered by CrystalBridge.

The audit was conducted in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised).

Gregor Stöckler, chief operating officer, SNP, said, “SNP is delighted that PwC was able to complete the audit of the BLUEFIELD approach that we developed and established in the market as well as our transformation software. The audit report summarises the auditors’ findings on the suitability of SNP’s procedure and on the fulfilment of the transformation objectives to serve as proof for our customers. It provides even more transparency for SAP user companies, letting them take full advantage of the added value SNP’s leading solution offers for SAP-centric transformations.”

There used to be two classic migration approaches in the SAP market: greenfield, primarily for new implementations of SAP solutions; and brownfield, primarily for the transformation of existing SAP landscapes. SNP developed a third approach many years ago: BLUEFIELD™. To achieve this, SNP combined the two classic approaches by selecting the best parts of greenfield and brownfield. Today, BLUEFIELD™ is a globally established approach within the SAP community that serves as a solution for existing SAP customers.

After completing over 14,500 projects, SNP knows that business transformations can be complex and sometimes even mission-critical. Currently, there is high demand for scenarios involving mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and moves to SAP S/4HANA and the cloud. These scenarios impose high requirements on the quality of the software that implements such change processes.

With this in mind, SNP had its BLUEFIELD™ approach and CrystalBridge transformation software audited with regard to the following key transformation objectives: the transformation is complete and correct according to the customer’s specifications; the migrated data is consistent; and the transformation is fully documented in an understandable way. Now, the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recently “certified” SNP’s approach and transformation software.

With this in mind, SNP had its BLUEFIELD™ approach and CrystalBridge transformation software audited with regard to the following key transformation objectives: the transformation is complete and correct according to the customer’s specifications; the migrated data is consistent; and the transformation is fully documented in an understandable way. Now, the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recently “certified” SNP’s approach and transformation software.

About SNP

SNP is a world-leading provider of software for managing complex digital transformation processes. Instead of traditional IT consulting in the ERP environment, SNP offers an automated approach using specially developed software: The Data Transformation Platform CrystalBridge® and the SNP BLUEFIELD™ approach allow companies to restructure and modernize their IT landscapes much more quickly and securely as well as migrate to new systems or cloud environments more securely. This gives customers clear qualitative advantages while at the same time reducing their time and costs.

The SNP Group has around 1,600 employees worldwide. The company is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, and generated preliminary revenues of around EUR 166 million in the 2021 fiscal year. It serves multinational companies in all industries. SNP was established in 1994, went public in 2000, and has been listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since August 2014 (ISIN DE0007203705). Since 2017, the company has been trading as a European company (Societas Europaea/SE).

More information is available at www.snpgroup.com

This article is sponsored by SNP

The post SNP BLUEFIELD™ Powered by CrystalBridge achieves PwC certification appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Since its establishment in 2006, SAP India’s ACE Awards has evolved with the dynamic technological space and is now regarded as one of the industry’s most prestigious award-giving bodies. More than 150 project nominations were submitted for the 15th edition and were divided into main categories centered on Manufacturing, Finance, Customer Experience, Sustainability, and Community. Additionally, the mining and steel sectors, as well as power and utilities, and infrastructure, garnered the majority of the awards last November 24-25, 2021.

According to Kulmeet Bawa, President and Managing Director at SAP India Subcontinent, this year witnessed Indian enterprises exploring radical innovations and embedding sustainability in their operations to ensure business continuity. Commenting on the recently concluded SAP ACE Awards 2021 presented by the SAP User Group for the Indian subcontinent (INDUS), Bawa remarked:

“The ‘SAP ACE Awards 2021’ winners have demonstrated resilience of the highest order and have emerged stronger and more relevant than ever before. Heartiest congratulations to all winners as they continue to make strides towards their evolution and contribute to the transformation of our country.”

Highlighting Indian Enterprises’ Transformation Using SAP Technologies

As part of the stringent three-level evaluation process, all of the nominations at this year’s SAP ACE Awards were reviewed by an expert panel appointed by the INDUS management board. Below are some of the winners and their innovation stories:

The Disruptor – Best Customer Experience Management: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)

The premier integrated energy company’s initiative “Project Anubhav”, built on SAP Commerce Cloud, was intended to provide a single world-class experience to its over 90 million retail and commercial customers. This has allowed BPCL to give customers a unified perspective of their products and services while also establishing a tamper-proof system that ensures quality.

The Disruptor – Best Human Capital Management: Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited

Tata AIG deployed SAP SuccessFactors Suite to manage the entire employee lifecycle, including recruitment marketing, recruitment management, onboarding 2.0, employee central, learning and development, and performance management. The project has resulted in a 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} decrease in cost per hire, a 33{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} reduction in maintenance costs, and a 30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase in staff productivity, to name a few.

The Disruptor – Best Manufacturing Transformation: KBB Nuts Pvt Ltd

For their SAP S/4HANA implementation during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, KBB Nuts Pvt Ltd was named the winner in the mid-size enterprise category. Multiple SAP modules were used in the project to give faster order processing, gain 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} visibility over stock and cost runs, and lower production losses.

The Game Changer: Virescent Infrastructure

Virescent’s RISE with SAP implementation integrated other SAP solutions such as SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, SAP Business Process Consolidation, and SAP Cloud Platform. The project has already achieved 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} standardisation and adoption of best practices across 11 legal entities, as well as an increase in productivity and a 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} improvement in reporting and consolidation.

The Game Changer: L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited

One of India’s largest infrastructure developers implemented SAP S/4HANA for 14 entities, with more than 16 SAP modules and several third-party applications. The project has already made a significant impact in the fields of finance, operations and maintenance, as well as procurement and inventory.

The Game Changer: Trent Limited

The leader in the branded retail industry has undergone a single-step implementation of SAP S/4HANA Retail Merchandise Management on SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. As one of the country’s most diversified conglomerates, the program has unlocked their IT landscape’s potential, equipping them with a foundation for all future “Digital First” technologies.

The Game Changer: Global Vinyl Pvt Ltd

Sri Lankan synthetic leather manufacturer has adopted SAP Business One HANA on Cloud to be able to serve customers much faster with convenient mobile applications, alerts, and approvals. The initiative resulted in a 5 to 10{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} decrease in manufacturing costs and 10{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} incremental revenue from new business lines.

The Community Catalyst: Indian Oil Corporation Limited

The diversified, integrated energy firm won the ACE Award for developing a document management system that reduces manual procedures by 25{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and automates 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of business transaction volumes, impacting more than 50,000 clients and 31,000 staff.

The Sustainability Champion: K Raheja Corp

Leading real-estate developing company K Raheja Corp was recognised for integrating sustainability measures into all of their projects, putting a strong emphasis on clean energy, recycling, and utilising innovative SAP technologies to create Net Zero Concept Buildings.

The post Innovative Use of SAP Technologies Celebrated at SAP ACE Awards 2021 appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

More and more businesses are responding to the difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic by accelerating the digital transformation (DX) of their supply chains. Similar to the strategic alliance made by NTT Corporation and SAP in December 2020, the collaboration between NTT DATA GSL and Verusen also aims to address the challenges faced by the industry today. By utilising real-time inventory data management capabilities and a cloud-based AI platform, the new supply chain solution will strengthen clients’ SAP inventory management deployments and further increase their business productivity.

On top of inventory visibility, Verusen’s cloud-based platform optimises clients’ supply chain by forecasting demand based upon efficient sourcing and accurate inventory data.

In a press release statement, NTT DATA GSL President and CEO Motonobu Isoya has highlighted the partnership’s goal to deliver more resilient and agile supply chains to businesses today. He said:

“This alliance will help organisations tackle the growing need for more intelligent supply chain management infrastructures that can respond efficiently to changes in the market and society.”

“Our SAP users will benefit significantly from the integration of Verusen’s AI supply chain platform to help harmonise and optimise material and inventory data to realise maximum business results,” Isoya asserted.

Meanwhile, Verusen Founder and CEO Paul Noble supported Isoya’s remarks. He added that:

 “Today, with companies’ technology infrastructures stretched to their limits to meet the growing demand for their offerings and products, it is critical that global organisations implement intelligent and agile supply chain infrastructures to ensure long-term business success.”

SAP Supply Chain and Inventory Management’s Transformation Through AI

Through the purpose-built AI platform, a supply chain solution has been created to optimise material data and transform inventory management to bring material truth to businesses. The solution helps customers avoid opportunity loss due to either deficiency or surplus inventory, and increase their working capital by analysing the inventory data saved at different locations.

Additionally, Verusen’s platform can operate with multiple systems including SAP ERP to improve supply chain and inventory management on SAP S/4HANA using the latest AI technologies.

“By partnering with NTT DATA Global Solutions, we will be able to help their SAP users significantly improve their business productivity and help quickly address ever-changing supply chain challenges using our cloud-based AI platform,” Noble stated, stressing the importance of the partnership.

The alliance will mark the launch of the AI platform offered by Verusen in the Japanese market. Through this partnership, NTT DATA GSL will deliver Verusen’s platform to its clients using SAP S/4HANA. Following the announcement, the two companies have begun joint marketing and have scheduled a full-scale deployment of the service in May. 

About NTT DATA GSL

NTT DATA GSL was formed in July 2021 to address the demand for system globalisation amid the growing number of Japanese companies branching out internationally. As a member of the SAP Global Support System of the NTT DATA Group — the company looks to integrate SAP business expertise and solutions by delivering services such as the implementation of ERP system to maintenance operations and expansion of systems. NTT DATA GSL delivers information technology services to various clients through an advanced, one-stop global management platform.

About Verusen

Verusen, a supply chain intelligence company focused on materials management, utilises AI technology to innovate data for procurement intelligence and inventory management. The company’s platform integrates different material data across numerous ERP systems to establish trust in production uptime and reduce inventory costs. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Verusen is a portfolio company of SAP.iO, SAP’s startup accelerator program.

The post NTT DATA GSL, Verusen to Optimise SAP Inventory Management appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Virgin Megastore, Sundiro Honda, and GPP will now be able to provide seamless omnichannel buying experiences for their customers using SAP Commerce Cloud. The cloud-native solution will fulfill the growing e-commerce needs of the entertainment retailing chain, motorcycle manufacturer, and Jin Jiang International Hotel’s supply chain platform, respectively.

Part of the SAP Customer Experience portfolio — which integrates different solutions for sales, customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing — the e-commerce platform helps enterprises develop solutions to allow for smooth buying experiences and streamlined processes, from search to sale.

Many retailers are now looking into their supply chain efficiency and digital competence as the demand for personalised shopping experience and attentive online customer support increases significantly. The e-commerce platform powered by SAP enables businesses to shift to digital commerce now that restrictions are still in place for in-store shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition, the solution offers a smooth-running digital approach to retail operations worldwide so that customers can save time and enjoy convenient buying experiences online.

Nuno Pedro, Head of Commerce at SAP Customer Experience, has stated in the announcement that:

“Retailers today have an incredible opportunity to understand, engage and transact with consumers if they greet their customers with a robust e-commerce platform from the moment the customer signals interest.”

Moreover, Pedro explained that by providing the same outstanding service and ambiance that shoppers value in physical retail stores, the e-commerce solution gives respect to the consumers throughout their online shopping experience.

Delivering Exceptional E-Commerce Experiences Through SAP Commerce Cloud

Joining other retailers that have decided to shift to digital commerce by utilising SAP’s solution, the following companies can now take advantage of the e-commerce platform:

GPP is Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotel Group’s one-stop hotel material purchasing platform. Aiming to innovate a new business and source of revenue for hotel supplies, GPP has decided to implement SAP’s solution to develop an automated platform. By utilising the e-commerce platform, GPP consistently managed the Chinese hotel tourism giant’s business operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Established in 2018 by Deloitte China Consulting to support their client’s vision, GPP is a project made possible by SAP’s technologies and Deloitte China’s top-quality services.

Another company that has adopted the e-commerce solution to manage its rapid business growth is Sundiro Honda, a joint venture between Chinese private capital company Sundiro Investment Ltd. and Honda. The Shanghai-based electric vehicle and motorcycle manufacturer has built a digitalised platform to develop its dealership services, improve customer engagement, and enhance the new business model in the automotive sector.

Virgin Megastore is an international entertainment lifestyle retailer that currently operates over 35 stores across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The retailer has implemented the solution to address customers’ preferences for convenient shopping experiences. With the expansion of its online sales operations, the company has attracted a new generation of tech-savvy shoppers by providing a compelling omnichannel experience. Additionally, the retailing chain maximises other SAP applications such as SAP ERP ECC 6.0 – Controlling (CO) and SAP ERP ECC 6.0.

The post SAP Commerce Cloud Elevates E-Commerce Services for Retailers appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP encourages participants to emphasize new ways of thinking to set new and improved benchmarks for their industries and “make the world run better.”

According to SAP, submission of entries runs from 15th September 2020 midnight SGT to 15th December 2020 midnight SGT. Selection of finalists by SAP Best Run Awards panelists will take place from 15 December 2020 to 1 February 2021—three finalists per category will be announced. 

The finalists’ entries will be assessed from 1 February 2021 to 26 February 2021. Winners will be announced March 2021.

Celebrating Business Transformation with SAP Solutions

SAP says that customers across Southeast Asia that have successfully deployed a business application that utilizes SAP solutions (software products, cloud-based service, or other technologies) can submit entries for any two out of the six award categories.

The six SAP Best Run Awards categories include:

• Best Innovation Award – The Disruptor: Recognizes emerging enterprises with a strong culture of innovation and have utilized one or more SAP solutions to seek creative solutions, innovate, and embrace technology to transform their businesses.​
• Best Customer Experience Management – The X Factor: Recognizes organizations that demonstrate a Customer-First approach & mindset and have seamlessly created a customer experience through digital transformation.​
• Emerging Enterprise Award (SMEs) – The Small but Mighty: Recognizes small and mid-size enterprises with 50 employees and below that drive consistent, significant, and sustainable growth; and display the ability to scale and expand overseas.​ 
• Most Transformational Award – The Game Changer: Recognizes mid-to-large enterprises with over 50 employees that drive a change management within the complexities of large corporates from different lines of businesses.
• Most Promising Startup or Entrepreneurship Award (SAP.iO) – The Rising Star: Recognizes startups that have worked with SAP to provide value-added services to our customers and built a unique and commercially viable and sustainable idea.
• Most Promising Next Generation Leaders – The Trailblazer (Individual Award): Recognizes the next generation leaders in their capacity who have overcome challenges or is a pioneer in its field, creating an impact on leading their organizations, businesses to scale greater heights. ​

The SAP Best Run Awards SEA presents an opportunity for participants to extend their organization’s publicity and marketing mileage. Winners’ business success stories will be shared by SAP with its partner ecosystem and various SAP platforms. 

The winners, as well as finalists, will receive trophies and certificates. Furthermore, the six category winners will receive a total donation of USD30,000 collectively made in their name to the ASEAN Foundation. 

SAP South East Asia’s President & Managing Director, Verena Siow said,

“Peer to peer learning from the best in the industry is essential to innovating for the future. We are pleased to launch the inaugural SAP Best Run Awards for Southeast Asia to recognize the achievements and innovations by organizations across the region and capture their transformative stories so that cross-industry peers can learn from one another.”

The post Customers’ Achievements with SAP Solutions to be Recognized at SAP Best Run Awards SEA appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Singapore-headquartered Olam International is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed, and fibre to over 25,000 customers worldwide. Having a $23.7 billion global business and a value chain that spans over 60 countries, Olam invested in intelligent solutions that enable the company to thrive even in these extraordinary times.

 Thiagaraja Manikandan, President & Group CIO at Olam International, shared:

“Digital offers the best opportunity to not only transform our own business operations but transcend beyond to disrupt the entire business ecosystem. Therefore, at Olam, we envisaged an end-to-end extended enterprise digital strategy starting from our farmers up to our customers while digitizing everything in-between as well.”

Olam International simultaneously launched business intelligence initiatives to support its management and operations team in making better decisions, backed by data warehousing. For enhanced collaboration, the global company tasked the IT team to connect the entire organisation through various communication mechanisms.

Leveraging SAP Solutions

As a long-term technology partner of SAP, Olam International leverages SAP solutions for critical operations. For instance, the global company has developed an in-house commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) platform that integrates with SAP’s ERP to support its trading and risk management operations.

Olam International’s CIO stressed:

“Trading and Risk Management is one of the core pillars of Olam’s businesses. Since there isn’t any robust CTRM platform that could fit into Olam’s diversified business needs, we built a solution from the ground-up, leveraging latest digital architectures and tools such as Microservices, cloud-native, etc.”

Olam also utilises several SAP extension modules and third-party bolt-on tools. With SAP’s comprehensive portfolio of solution extensions across all industries, organisations like Olam can simplify IT complexities while reducing risk, accelerating digital transformation, and future-proofing their SAP investments.

Currently, Olam deploys SAP Ariba for indirect procurement optimisation, SAP Concur for expense management, SAP SuccessFactors for HR automation, and SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management (SAP EHS Management) for workplace safety.

“We have strategically created a set of core technology backbone that is grounded on the ERP and the CTRM solutions, with Analytics on top of it with a strong underlying collaboration and infrastructure portfolio. We also have bolt-on solutions, which work along with the core backbone to create an end-to-end best of breed integrated ecosystem that powers the business,” explained Mani.

Post-Pandemic Outlook

With Olam’s global presence, end-to-end integration, supply chain control, and being an essential commodity service provider, the company was able to manage the impact of the pandemic.

The firm’s digital investment also empowered its employees to seamlessly transition to remote working.

“Moreover, we are continuing with our strategic priorities as planned while focusing on safeguarding our people. We also notice an increased productivity in providing technology services to our businesses during this period,” Mani added.

Mani shared that Olam has already identified and started working on11 digital technologies to accelerate the company’s digital transformation, leverage new opportunities, and address the challenges in the post-pandemic era.

About Olam International

Olam International was established in 1989 and is listed on the Singapore Exchange. The firm also has businesses in packaged foods, infrastructure and logistics, commodity financial services, risk management, and sustainability services.

In January 2020, the company announced its re-organisation, creating two new operating groups – Olam Food Ingredients and Olam Global Agri.

The post SAP Solutions Back Olam International’s Digital Strategy appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

In January this year, SMEs dominate the Philippines’s business landscape comprising of 106,175 small enterprises, 4,895 medium enterprises, and a massive 887,272 units of micro business establishments. The country recorded only 4,769 large enterprises. With SMEs being responsible for 2.5 million-job creations in the country, the nation’s economic recovery post-pandemic lies in the ability of the SME ecosystem to thrive by leveraging technology. 

Karl Kendrick Chua, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for the Philippines to address its “digital divide” and transition to becoming a digitally-powered economy. Aside from enabling the healthcare sector to face the COVID-19’s pressing challenges head-on, technology has also been at the forefront of many enterprises’ strategies for survival in these unprecedented times.

Embracing the New Normal

SAP Philippines recognises the country’s need for a 180-degree pivot to embrace and adapt to the new normal. According to SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio, the global health crisis has changed the business landscape as employees, customers, and organisations adjust to remote working, transacting via online or virtual channels, and even managing business operations remotely.

“These quarantine guidelines demonstrated how technology continues to play an important role in supporting business continuity. Organisations now rely more on digital tools and platforms to move labor-oriented practices into more automated and technology-oriented processes,” Panlilio explained.

Panlilio stressed that even when the Philippine government decides to lift the quarantine guidelines, technological advancements will continue to grow significantly. For SMEs, he emphasised that now is the most opportune time to shift their gears towards technology as an important asset, instead of an option. This shift in perception will enable them to not only thrive in the new normal but also continue to be resilient despite possible disruptions from the coronavirus health crisis.

SAP Solutions for SMEs

The SAP Philippines MD highlighted SAP Business One and SAP Business ByDesign as two of the SAP solutions that SMEs can take advantage of as they navigate the road to becoming an intelligent enterprise even in this unpredictable environment. Today, more and more businesses strive to become “intelligent enterprises” to achieve greater productivity, more efficient operations, and better cost-saving processes.

“Intelligent enterprises can collect insights better from customers, employees, products, and brands at every touchpoint as they use powerful technology to sense opportunities, risks, and trends and, turn this intelligence into action across every part of the business,” said Panlilio.

Designed for small and midsize businesses, SAP Business One (SAP B1) offers an affordable way to several key business areas. It is a single, integrated solution that captures all critical business information for immediate access and company-wide use. The SAP ERP solution boasts of its modularity and flexibility having more than 500 add-on solutions, custom-made to industries, or special functions.

On the other hand, SAP Business ByDesign is a single cloud ERP solution for fast-growing, mid-market businesses to scale and compete without the complexity and cost. The solution enables businesses to connect every function across their organisation to time-tested best practices and in-depth analytics.

SAP B1 Adoption

In the country, many SMEs that have used SAP solutions emerged to be fast-growing enterprises. 

Sta. Elena Properties is one of the SMEs that leveraged SAP B1 to seamlessly integrate their financial accounting system and deliver reports more effectively. The solution allowed the company to have access to real-time data enabling them to make sound and informed decisions.

“Optimising our financial and accounting system through technology has helped us improve our business processes and nurture the company’s growth,” said Katrina Tantoco-Lobregat, VP for Sales Marketing and Business Development at Sta. Elena Properties.

MM Steel Service Center Corporation has also leveraged SAP B1 to help steel production and delivery run 24/7. Now having full visibility into their stock items and production orders, the company can forecast demand as well as guarantee customer satisfaction.

“We have been successful in implementing SAP Business One across our supply chain. We are now always confident to fill customers’ orders. Because at any time of the day, we know exactly how much stock we have on hand, what orders are incoming and how much stock is in transit,” shared the steel manufacturer’s Accounting Supervisor Marcel Gako.

“This means zero delays across the entire supply chain. Uninterrupted supply means uninterrupted growth,” further stressed Raymond Seminiano, Supervisor at MM Steel.

MD Panlilio explained that SAP, as a purpose-driven company, is focused on helping its customers and organisations successfully manage their businesses amid new adversaries just like this pandemic. He said:

“SAP’s mission has always been to help every type of organisation in whatever size or shape, to run better. Especially in the Philippines where SMEs are essential to our thriving economy, we remain focused on providing access to technology that will support their growth and resiliency.”

While the Philippine government strives to provide incentives and aids to SMEs, SMEs, for their own sake, must stay on top of their game to innovate, find and adopt applicable solutions and technology to help them prosper during and after the pandemic.

The post SAP B1, SAP Business ByDesign to Help SMEs in the New Normal appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

With the Asia Pacific as the fastest-growing region for CenturyLink Inc., it is no big surprise that the hybrid networking technology leader’s next expansion strategy centres on Singapore, Asia’s world-class technology and business hub. This week, CenturyLink Inc. announced that it has entered an agreement to extend its global SAP alliance to the city-state.

“In Singapore, businesses operate in one of the most connected economies in the world. Organizations rely on their data to differentiate on a global scale, and access to accurate information in real-time is imperative for success,” said Ignatius Wong, director, product management, hybrid cloud, and IT solutions, CenturyLink Asia Pacific.

“The extension of this global alliance to Singapore means that customers here can access the entire SAP solution stack from the network level up through application support through CenturyLink, providing a competitive advantage,” he added.

CenturyLink takes pride in its SAP-certified, rapid deployment private and multi-tenant environments that deliver secure data connectivity via its global high-speed private network. Customers can leverage CenturyLink services to gain access to a suite of SAP solutions and services, including support for SAP S/4HANA implementations and SAP solutions deployed on public and private clouds that enable companies to execute implementations across hybrid IT environments.

Recently named Managing Director of SAP Singapore Eileen Chua shared how timely and critical this partnership is today. She stressed:

“As crises take hold, technology plays a crucial role in helping businesses weather economic uncertainties. The extended partnership with CenturyLink is more important than ever as we assist businesses in Singapore to minimize disruption and support business continuity.” 

“The collaboration is a true testament to our trusted SAP partner ecosystem as we deliver the intelligent enterprise to help our customers in Singapore transform and pivot during these unprecedented times,” the SAP Singapore MD expressed.

Optimising SAP Expertise

CenutryLink’s expertise in SAP application and SAP HANA migration, management, and development services can complement and expand a business’ IT resources and expertise. The global technology company offers comprehensive services and expertise that further boost SAP solutions. 

Deep SAP and Analytics Expertise. CenturyLink leverages its certified SAP and Data Science experts deliver consulting, implementation, and ongoing management of the SAP ecosystem to drive efficiencies, enhance security, and improve business insight.

Comprehensive SAP Solutions. CenturyLink helps customers optimise their SAP ecosystem while reducing cost and complexity. Customers can deal with a single reliable partner to deliver consulting and advanced services, scalable global infrastructure, ITIL-based managed services, next-generation redundant network connectivity, and multi-layered security services under one solution-level SLA.

Rapid Deployment & Policy-driven Automation. The company optimises application-centric automation tools for standardising deployments and infrastructure configuration that reduce complexity and risk by improving governance.

Much like SAP, CenturyLink not only delivers innovative and intelligent solutions but also champions inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. The company received a perfect score of 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} on the Human Rights Campaign’s list of Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality and has also been recognised by Forbes as one of America’s best employers for diversity.

The post SAP Platinum Partner CenturyLink Inc. Expands to SG appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.