In the tech industry we’re used to curveballs. The landscape changes overnight, markets shift, and competitors emerge from seemingly nowhere. These days though, it seems almost every industry is facing curveball after curveball with no real end in sight.
Each day, news outlets serve up headlines screaming about new issues that affect the global supply chain, the climate crisis, the workforce, and the world economy. Yet somehow, resilient, brilliant, dedicated people in organizations across every industry and region are undaunted. These leaders step up to improve, invent, and innovate their way to a better place. I, for one, find this inspiring, motivating, and just plain awesome.
In the vast SAP ecosystem, we see real-life examples of this every day: people who prove that when the going gets tough, the tough keep going – and innovating – to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.
I want to recognize these “superheroes” – made up of our customers, partners, and their respective teams from every corner of the world. They are remarkable, forward-thinking pioneers who are able to capitalize on current SAP technology to create solutions for today and tomorrow. We are excited to honor these pioneers at the 10th anniversary SAP Innovation Awards for their innovative use of SAP software, services, and solutions within their organizations.
My fellow executive sponsors Scott Russell, Claudio Muruzabal, Stephanie Nashawaty, and I are very excited to be a part of the SAP Innovation Awards once again. Though we don’t yet know who the winners are at this point, we are looking forward to hearing all their inspirational stories using SAP technology. Celebrating the award winners is truly one of the highlights of our year.
Worth the Wait
In just three weeks, the SAP Innovation Award finalists will be announced. You will be able to see for yourself how these companies are building a sustainable future, creating better supply chains, and transforming their enterprises using leading-edge solutions like RISE with SAP. In the meantime, here are a few examples from our current submissions that showcase just how innovative organizations can be:
Empowering Women-Owned Businesses
WEConnect International was founded to help women-owned businesses gain access to over US$3 billion in global purchasing power. The organization’s mission requires making it easy to identify, certify, and train women-owned businesses around the world as well as for member organizations to select qualified suppliers for procurement opportunities. WEConnect International worked with SAP to build a next-generation SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance platform that can scale to meet the requirements of buyers and suppliers globally.
Rise with Employees, Customers, and Consumers
Philips Domestic Appliances’ initiative focuses on building a better tomorrow for its employees, customers, and consumers. A key objective is to improve employee engagement and empower them to make data-driven decisions. RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud establishes a foundation towards this vision of becoming a customer-centric enterprise. It enables Philips Domestic Appliances to develop a holistic view of its consumers, understand their needs, respond to their feedback, innovate, and create products that positively impact their daily lives.
Actionable Performance Indicators
Brazilian electric utilities company Electronorte deployed SAP Digital Boardroom and SAP Analytics Cloud for its board members and leaders to track performance indicators via a single source of truth. Fast, accurate, reliable tracking of data is required to generate the company’s key performance indicators (KPIs) for decision-makers to eliminate the manual work of spreadsheets and slides. Given the virtual environment, it was critical to provide a secure, collaborative platform to access and integrate analytics from over 10 disparate data repositories. Electronorte can now quickly identify trends and gain actionable insights anytime, anywhere.
Major Announcement Coming
The entry submission period closed on February 1. Now, the SAP Innovation Awards team is working to select the finalists that will be revealed on March 14. A panel of 29 distinguished judges will spend four weeks determining the winners, announced on April 12.
Finally, in celebration of all our participants, SAP will donate $100 per entry, up to $20,000, to the UN World Food Programme and Save the Children.
Be a Part of the Celebration
Maybe you’ve worked with one of this year’s entrants? Or you know of a customer who would be a perfect fit for next year’s SAP Innovation Awards? If so, check out the SAP Innovation Awards Web site for more information.
And stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on April 12. It’s a feel-good moment that we can all celebrate!
Dorit Shackleton is senior vice president and head of Global Customer Advocacy and Events Marketing at SAP.