After two years of pandemic, SAP has managed to return to its traditional Sapphire where the main novelties of the German multinational have been seen. Once again, the firm has chosen Madrid to host this new edition of the EMEA South region.
With a halo promoting the capital of Spain as a hub for innovation and attracting talent, the event was attended by Jose Luis Martinez Almeida which has shown the City Council’s commitment to modernisation, digitalisation, sustainability, diversity and integration with the aim of making the city the best place to live and work in 2030.
The mayor has made it clear that Madrid has the objective of being one of the great capitals of the world and for this the role of technology will be essential in its achievement. In addition, he highlighted how SAP is contributing to that vision through the cloud digitization project of the City Council’s finances, Human Resources and income, and that it was awarded the Grand Prize in the SAP Business Transformation category Quality Awards 2021.
José Luis Martínez Almeida, Mayor of Madrid, explained during the Sapphire the commitment to technology that Madrid is making to turn it into one of the main capitals in the world
Before an audience made up of clients and partners of the company from 43 countries of EMEA South, Scott Russell, member of the SAP Executive Committee who leads the Customer Success area, explained that “the word that is going to be repeated the most today is business transformation because, in a world like the current one, doing nothing is not an option, it is essential to transform and to achieve this, we must take advantage of the capacity of technology to continuously innovate”.
In addition, he explained that SAP has been supplying technology to companies for 50 years, “but today that is not enough. With the change to the Cloud, customers constantly evaluate us and, therefore, the Customer Lifetime Value is essential. There are three elements that help us measure it: the results, if the client obtains the success and the return that he expects with our technology; the experience, so that in all the points of contact of the client with the company it is adequate; and speed, the time it takes to obtain value. Today we are going to see many customer stories where we have delivered the right experience, at great speed, and where goals have exceeded customer expectations.”
The three great challenges that companies face
President of SAP EMEA South, Raptopoulos Hands, He explained during Sapphire that SAP’s objective in the region he directs is to make companies “be the best version of themselves. And today to achieve this, they have to face three challenges: business transformation, which accelerated during the pandemic, is here to stay and is taking a step towards flexibility, process automation or agility. The second is the supply chain, whose situation has worsened with the current geopolitical circumstances and has generated disruptions in places where we would never have suspected and is also here to stay, so companies are trying to prepare as best they can. The third is sustainability, doing good and in Europe, above all, it is generating more and more decisions at the level of the Management Committee to satisfy regulations and consumer demands”.
What is SAP doing to give the best of itself
Raptopulos detailed what SAP is doing to also give the best of itself: “it is betting on the integration of processes and is investing in different areas such as the digital core of business, customer experience or people management. It is creating the largest business network in the world, in which it unites suppliers and customers, and went on to explain that it is working on “autonomous ERP, business process transformation or artificial intelligence and, of course, Cloud to ensure continuity of bussiness. Along with the Business Technology Platform is what we are focused on to help our customers achieve their best version”.
Ducati as an example
SAP also presented the strategic agreement it has signed with Ducati. Sapphire was attended by its CEO, Claudio Domenicalli, who explained that the German multinational will supply the solutions to undertake a major business transformation that will affect key business processes. The alliance also aims to create an intelligent business network with suppliers and partners, to promote supply chain management; and the online business. The deal also affects racing, as SAP becomes an official partner of the Ducati Lenovo team for the 2022 MotoGP season.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism