When the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact the citizens and businesses of the world, SAP was the first enterprise software company to offer solutions and support to help cope with the immediate challenges we all faced.
As we sit here at the end of July 2020, much of world is emerging from the initial COVID-19 medical emergency, but its direct and indirect impacts are far from over. Some areas have fully reopened, while in others the virus is accelerating at an even faster pace. The full damage to the global economy is yet to be felt and recovery is expected to be slow. We will deal with the social, emotional, and financial implications from the ongoing pandemic for years to come.
Although there is a great deal of uncertainty and it may be daunting to move forward when so much is unknown, there are steps businesses can take today to empower employees, ensure business continuity, and transform customer experiences.
This is why SAP has launched a new digital platform — BacktoBest.com — to provide companies the resources they need to help their employees, customers, and business operations continue to run at their best. Our digital platform includes more than 50 SAP and partner solutions to address the most pressing challenges right now, stories of how our customers are adapting and thriving during COVID-19, plus practical advice and points of view to help businesses get back up and running again.
Every company’s COVID-19 journey is unique. Some companies are still focused on stabilizing cash flow to keep their employees working and business afloat. Others have seen demand for their products and services soar as consumer and business needs and behaviors have shifted during lock down. The global pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of highly connected demand and supply across borders and industries, and all businesses have faced challenges in getting what they need to operate. That is why we offer technology solutions and offers that are easy to get started with and quick to get up and running.
SAP helps companies be:
Best for Employees
Today, employees are counting on their employers more than ever before — whether it’s helping with flexible and secure processes to reopen facilities or transitioning and maintaining new ways of remote working. With our environmental health and safety solutions and our workspace booking application, businesses can bring people back to workplaces safely and react quickly to any issues that may arise.
SAP Fieldglass Talent Marketplace connects companies with multiple U.S. staffing firms at no cost so they can find temporary workers for open roles, and we have a number of solution packages to upskill and reskill employees to adapt to change and to regularly check in on how people are feeling during this time.
Best for Customers
With crisis, there often comes opportunity. As customer interactions moved predominately online and contactless, businesses have had to up level their customer experience and accelerate their digital transformation. Memories of positive and negative interactions during the pandemic will stay with consumers for a long time. Companies that are able to invest in better customer experiences – both online and in physical locations – can potentially rebound faster and grow customer loyalty.
Solutions like Qualtrics CustomerXM for Digital, which lets you capture and act on customer feedback, and SAP Customer Identity and Access Management help businesses provide the personalized experiences that customers expect.
Best for Business
Resilience and agility are key to an organization’s survival and performance during unpredictable and volatile events. While financial stability is critical to weather volatility, investing in technology helps to implement flexible processes and garner insights that will also strengthen a company’s ability to adjust for risks and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.
SAP has many solutions to help businesses get the intelligence they need to plan and optimize finance, supply chain, and procurement operations across the business, including SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain and SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence. Originally announced on March 10, 2020, free access to SAP Ariba Discovery has been extended through December 31, 2020, to help buyers and suppliers access the largest business network in the world of more than 4 million suppliers in 190 countries to connect quickly and effectively, and minimize disruption caused by shipment delays, capacity issues, and increased consumer demand.
Businesses always have and always will be dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity. They need solutions that provide visibility, knowledge, and predictable outcomes. The pandemic has accelerated the urgency to transform processes and technologies. Today’s new reality stresses the need for complete end-to-end transformation that brings society, the environment, and the economy together to find new ways to run more sustainably.
SAP can help organizations, no matter the size or industry, take steps to move forward into recovery. We will regularly update content on BacktoBest.com to provide helpful information on what matters most in this rapidly changing environment.
Alicia Tillman is global chief marketing officer of SAP.