SAP Malaysia is marking its outstanding three-decade work in the tech industry and a number of local enterprises have already reaped the benefits of its cutting-edge innovations. According to the country’s Managing Director Hong Kok Cheong, the German multinational’s focus is primarily on training and employment for young people, as well as the preparation of Malaysian enterprises for the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) and cloud-based intelligent technologies.

One example of SAP Malaysia’s efforts to contribute to nation-building is its partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on the MyUniAlliance initiative, which provides guidance and training to approximately 3,000 students per year across 18 higher education institutions, including two international universities. Aside from this program, the company also regularly teams up with the ASEAN Foundation in conducting the ASEAN Data Science Explorers contest at both national and regional levels. As part of the collaboration, the two organisations provide opportunities for young people to venture further into the tech field and gain hands-on experience in developing data-driven solutions.

“SAP is today one ofthe world’s largest provider of enterprise application software with the broadest portfolio of modular and suite solutions available on premise, in the cloud and hybrid. As such, we are in a strong position to help realise greater competitiveness for Malaysia especially in today’s era of IR4.0,” Hong shared.

Reinforcing the Important Role of SAP in Malaysia

SAP, according to MD Hong, is dedicated to supporting companies as they embark on their digital transformation journeys and transition towards becoming intelligent, sustainable enterprises. He added that this can all be accomplished by developing together the solutions and technologies — as well as best practices and guidelines — that are essential to running digital and integrated business operations in the cloud. He added:

“As a result, our customers have the agility to respond faster to market changes, unlock new sources of growth and lead in their respective industries. These enterprises are also able to collect insights from customers, employees, products, and brands at every touch point, use powerful technology to sense opportunities, risks, and trends and turn this intelligence into action across every part of the business.”

In today’s world, SAP clients contribute around 87{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of total global commerce (USD 46 trillion) and they also account for 99 of the world’s 100 largest corporations. Similarly, SAP serves 80{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the world’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the company’s initiatives are geared towards empowering the workforce of the future, accelerating economic recovery, and supporting SMEs.

Establishing Partnerships Within the Industry

MGCC is a member of the global network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHK), which has 140 offices in 92 countries worldwide. It is now the largest bilateral European business chamber in Malaysia, and it functions as a service partner for businesses wishing to create a market presence in the country or expand their existing operations. 

Daniel Bernbeck, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC), applauded SAP Malaysia for its work in enabling local enterprises with cutting-edge technologies including advanced analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). He also urged Malaysian businesses to shift from being traditional enterprises to becoming intelligent ones. He believes that by becoming intelligent enterprises, organisations can provide best-in-class customer experience (CX), establish robust supply chains, and innovate new revenue streams and business models.

“These technologies go a long way in elevating competitiveness within today’s digital economy and they enable businesses to be better prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Bernbeck remarked.

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The recent virtual event “A Growing ASEAN, A Hungry Population: Building Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply Chains” organised by SAP underscored the critical role of technology in backing the anticipated food security challenges in Southeast Asia on account of the region’s increasing food demand from rapid population growth– on top of the pressing climate change and global supply chain disruptions. The forum’s moderator Simone Pigason, Head of Digital Supply Chain SAP Southeast Asia, was joined by panelists Verena Siow, President and Managing Director of SAP Southeast Asia; Leonardo Rabelo, Chief Finance Officer of Dole Asia; and Nguyen Duy Thuan, Chief Executive Officer of Vietnam’s Loc Troi Group.

The impending food security issues in Southeast Asia are posing a significant hurdle in region’s achievement of its sustainability ambitions. With the region’s economy, GDP, and even the workforce being highly reliant on the agriculture and food industry, Siow emphasised that food producers must utilise the most appropriate solutions to be able to contribute to tackling the increasing food demand as well as wastage. Citing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) report, she stated that around 1.3 billion tons are wasted annually across the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, distribution, and logistics. 

Specifying how technology and digital transformation can deliver change, the SAP SEA MD said:

“As a start, we need to better utilise the food we produce to minimize wastage. Food security and sustainability are more of a resource management challenge, where technology can be a change agent.” 

“Given the diverse food industries across the region which spans from production to retail and restaurants, businesses need help in gaining better end-to-end oversight over their operations, forecast demand through big data to deliver food in a timely manner, and improve supply chain efficiency – all of which could greatly contribute to the reduction of food scarcity in a sustainable way”, she further stressed.

SAP Technology Supporting the Agriculture Industry

SAP has been at the forefront of innovation, creating solutions for agribusiness to support sustainable food supply chains and increase farming efficiencies. During the fireside chat, Nguyen and Rabelo shared how their companies embed technology in agriculture processes to accelerate sustainability, enhance efficiency, and drive competitiveness.

In 2020, Loc Troi Group, a Vietnamese manufacturer and supplier of agricultural products and services, embarked on a modernisation journey leveraging SAP S/4HANA. The transformation project enabled the group of companies to:

• Streamline processes following International standards
• Enhance planning capacity
• Track activities across its business
• Increase agriculture competitiveness

Nguyen shared about the company’s achievement of pioneering the world’s first rice sustainability standard with the help of Mekong Delta farmers anticipated to deliver a Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP)-certified rice locally and overseas. He explained:

“Today Loc Troi works with more than 200,000 rice farmers and aims at 1 million farmers in 2024, on top of an annual rice milling capacity of 6 million tonnes. We leverage our foundations in agricultural knowledge in developing new crop varieties and resource-saving farming methods, along with applying technologies like drones and hospital mobile apps to provide consultancies for rice and fruit farmers.”

Meanwhile, Rabelo emphasised how technology enables Dole Asia Holdings’, a global leader and innovator in packaged fruit and healthy snacks production, to work towards zero fruit waste. He said:

“Technology in Agriculture or Agtech is vital in shaping our progressive and proactive waste reduction agenda. The in-farm IoTs, phase tracking, and end-to-end digitalisation will be the new superpowers to enable us to improve our quality and overall product value like never before and remarkably reducing waste.”

SAP has more upcoming innovations for the agriculture industry including new SAP Fiori apps for SAP Agricultural Contract Management to create, maintain, price, and mass-price contracts and integration of SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain with SAP Farm Management by Vistex, among others.

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Adaire Fox-Martin, a member of the Executive Board and lead of Customer Success at SAP, has recently made the official announcement of the eighth annual SAP Innovations Awards. This year’s program encourages SAP customers to focus on innovations that would drive real and replicable success.

“While our mettle continues to be tested in profound ways, digital resilience is flourishing. The push to rethink how we do everything — from business and schooling to birthday parties — drives creativity with a new urgency.

The value of innovation has never meant more. SAP was founded on innovation and recognising its role and promise is core to who we are,” Fox-Martin said.

She emphasised that even in these challenging and unprecedented times, SAP remains committed to innovation. More importantly, today, according to her, organisations need to champion innovation to be able to sustain, grow, and thrive.

Encouraging More Participants

From 27 companies who had submitted entries from 15 eligible countries in its inaugural programme in 2014, last year’s SAP Innovation Awards received over 260 entries from over 50 eligible countries– a testament of how customers and partners harness the power of SAP technology.

Fox-Martin shared that for 2021, SAP made the participation even easier and more attractive, including simplified eligibility and submission processes. 

“My goal is to encourage everyone to consider participating in the awards. Entries can be submitted now through February 1, 2021, but please don’t hesitate! The sooner you submit your entry, the sooner others can hear your inspiring story,” she stressed.

Here are some of the enhancements in the SAP Innovation Awards 2021:

• New online self-assessment form, which only takes 2 minutes for participants to know if they are eligible.
• Seven categories were updated to reflect new business realities and priorities
• Newly added eligible countries: Belarus, Brazil, Croatia, Italy, Nigeria
• New requirements for proof of concept (POC)
• New requirements for SAP Partner submissions 

Updated Awards Categories

A judging panel composed by SAP Experts and external thought-leaders, influencers, and community members will select 20 winners from 60 finalists for the following categories:

Social Catalyst recognises customers with stories highlighting the usage of SAP solutions to demonstrate positive social, environmental, or economic impact and shared purpose in helping the world run better and improving people’s lives.

Industry Leader recognises customers that leverage SAP solutions to create new business models, innovate their end-to-end business processes dramatically, or disrupted the way their industry has traditionally conducted business.

Partner Paragon recognises partners that have developed a next-generation application that involves SAP’s Intelligent Suite, Business Technology Platform, or Industry Cloud and use at least one of SAP advanced technologies listed in the criteria.

Business Innovator recognises customers that have achieved end-to-end business transformation using SAP S/4HANA or SAP Digital Supply Chain solutions and Business Networks

Transformation Champion recognises customers that have implemented at least one of SAP’s digital platform products and/ or used SAP’s business technology platform that includes at least one of the advanced technologies listed in the criteria.

Cloud Genius recognises customers using intelligent suite offerings deployed in the cloud to become intelligent enterprises.

Adoption Superhero recognises customers that have become intelligent enterprises by successfully adopting SAP solutions with the help of Customer Success Services and/ or Customer Engagement & Experience and with high adoption and entitlement consumption.

Awards and Prizes

The SAP Innovation Awards 2021 added new prizes and has increased the visibility and amplification opportunities for the winners. 

The selected 20 winners will be announced on the 14th of April 2021 and will receive a trophy and one complimentary pass to SAPPHIRE NOW 2021 OR USD 1,000 donation gift card to Global Giving (in the event of SAPPHIRE NOW not occurring). The awardees will also be offered several opportunities to participate in promotional activities such as podcasts, events, videos, media /analysis interviews, and social media.

Though all countries are eligible to participate in the SAP Innovation Awards 2021, only the following countires are qualified for monetary prizes:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Canada (excluding Quebec), Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, eSwatini, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

To know more about the SAP Innovation Awards 2021, click here.

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In recent years, Southeast Asia’s digital economy has been accelerating at an unprecedented pace with many enterprises transforming into intelligent enterprises. SAP recognises the opportunities and challenges in the region more so now as COVID-19 transformed many industries’ landscapes.

SAP tapped internal talent Verena Siow, who was recently the Managing Director of SAP Indochina, to steer the Southeast Asian region as President and MD towards digital growth and deliver SAP technology in this new economic climate. Siow will be responsible for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam markets as well as other emerging ASEAN countries.

Scott Russell, President of Asia Pacific and Japan at SAP, acknowledged the fact that Siow is coming in the SeA region to face extraordinary challenges brought by COVID-19, especially in the field of operations and supply chain. Giving his confidence to the new SAP SeA President and MD, Russell commented:

“Verena’s extensive regional and local experience and her deep understanding of the market and customers’ business challenges and opportunities will be instrumental in helping our customers transform and innovate to achieve success.

“I am confident that, under her leadership and with the dedicated support of my colleagues in Southeast Asia, we will continue to enable customers to prepare for the future and take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead.”

Who is Verena Siow

At SAP, Siow has held several leadership roles in the ASEAN region. Aside from being an MD for SAP at Indochina, Siow has also been the Vice President and Managing Director of Strategic Conglomerates (Southeast Asia), driving digital transformation and building sustainable partnerships with the top 18 Conglomerates in the region.

Spanning from 2011 to 2020, other various roles she held in SAP include Director of Strategic Industries – Consumer & Trade; Head of Mobile Solutions, Southeast Asia; and Head of Education Software Sales, Asia Pacific Japan.

“I have witnessed first-hand how our customers have implemented intelligent technologies to mitigate and manage Covid-19 disruptions, enabling their workforce to function remotely with digital systems and diversifying their supply chains to cope with demand,” the new SAP SeA President said.

“I’m excited to take on this role to work with over 4,000 colleagues in Southeast Asia to help our customers leverage digital technologies for growth.

“SAP has had a rich history of developing local talents and digital skills for the ecosystem through partnerships such as ASEAN Foundation-SAP and UNICEF-SAP. In addition, driving innovation adoptions has always been the top of our agenda, helping enterprises and governments in the ASEAN region run better and improving people’s lives over the last three decades,” Siow shared.

SAP’s Promise to SeA

Siow will be fulfilling former SAP SeA President Rachel Barger’s commitment to the Southeast Asian business community. In the recently held virtual event SAP Forward Together, Barger reaffirmed that SAP will help businesses in the region weather the pandemic through SAP technology solutions and also encouraged businesses to urgently embrace intelligent technologies to remain competitive and relevant.

“In a new reality, intelligent enterprises can ‘do more with less’, deliver best-in-class customer experience, build resilient supply chains, while inventing new business models and revenue streams,” Barger said.

Barger was the President and MD of SAP Southeast Asia from January 2020 until this recent announcement.

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