In times like these, purpose is not just a word, it is a responsibility. At SAP, we leverage our scale and network in innovating pragmatic solutions on the basis of shared values and purpose, but also live the purpose through our own actions to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.
Employees in the Nordics and the UK engaged in purposeful ways by creating community websites and online shops for charity and by sharing motivational stories as a response to the current crisis. But they have not been the only ones. Teams all across the company live our purpose to help society continue to improve.
SAP Next-Gen is a community for youth all over the world who are passionate about innovation and technology and want to shape the intelligent enterprise as future decision makers. One fundamental part is the SAP University Alliances that introduce students and faculty to SAP software by providing networking and educational activities to build the talent of the future.
“Sharing means caring” – SAP employees in the Netherlands took this saying to heart and saw the opportunity to share all their know-how with the next generation. Even before the pandemic, co-workers from different teams (Sales, Presales, Marketing, Consulting and Customer Experience) have collaborated actively with universities. Now, still motivated to help people grow to their best forms, they continue the collaborations online.
In form of (now digital) guest lectures, students from universities such as Avans Hogeschool and Hogeschool Rotterdam are able to get firsthand insights about topics ranging from data analytics to sales and account management, supply chain management, business processes, and augmented reality to also help diminish the current lack of access to practical experience. Besides, with workshops such as an ERP simulation game on an SAP S/4HANA system, students can get a glimpse of how business processes could look like and can experience how simple and effective SAP S/4HANA is. On top, the team eagerly shares their knowledge on intelligent technologies to establish a deeper understanding of the Intelligent Enterprise within the next generation of young workers.
Starting with single requests from lecturers who knew SAP employees and how SAP has enriched their teaching methods, the guest lectures and workshops have become reoccurring events over the years where SAP was requested to present cases, conduct workshops, or guest lectures. “Our annual goal is to share our knowledge with 10,000 students in the Netherlands”, Jaap Verdonk, Alliance Partner Associate & Program Lead Next-Gen NL, explains. At this point, many universities already adopted SAP systems as a fixed component of their curricula.
Yet, not only the number of attendees has grown. More and more SAP colleagues want to share their insights. This is why Jaap’s Team is currently building an involvement pool for everyone who wants to participate, enabling every single one to support each other and act in a purposeful way just by sharing their stories.
More info about how we can tackle challenges in the time of disruption: https://www.sap.com/corporate/en/company/global-health-safety.html
More about the SAP purpose and promise: https://www.sap.com/corporate/en/purpose.html