There has recently been a cambrian explosion of new AI opportunities, and here’s yet another example. Last year, I gave a 35 minute keynote at the Portuguese SAP User Group (GUSP) Annual Congress, covering some of the top technology trends.
I just tried out summarize.tech to sum up the session, and the results are impressive! It provides both an overall summary and section-by-section details, with direct video links to any part that you might be interested in finding more about. I’m particularly impressed with how well it deals with the product names and company names—with only one mistake that I’ve spotted so far: “Avan Grid” instead of “Avangrid”.
In this video, Timo Elliott, an innovation evangelist for SAP, highlights three major opportunities for businesses using SAP technology: faster innovation, empowering business people, and moving from analytics to action. He explains how businesses can leverage AI and machine learning to turn anything into a sensor, detect patterns in new ways, and augment human intelligence. Elliott also emphasizes the importance of empowering employees by providing them with necessary tools and information, while maintaining a secure and compliant framework to avoid chaos. Additionally, he discusses how SAP’s suite of products can help organizations make sustainability actionable and profitable, while balancing profitability and the planet in win-win-win situations.
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- 00:00:00 In this section of the video, Timo Elliott, an innovation evangelist for SAP, discusses new opportunities in how customers are using SAP technology to transform the way they do business. He focuses on three big opportunities: faster innovation, empowering business people, and moving from analytics to action. He explains that automation and innovation have become critical as the world experiences supply chain disruptions, inflation, extreme weather events, worker shortages, and uncertainty. However, analysts say that 30% of digital transformation projects fail to deliver on their expected outcomes due to fragmentation in existing systems. To address this, a digital business platform is needed, which is a solid foundation of technology to enable agile and flexible innovation. SAP aims to offer both the reliability of a digital core and the speed of a speedboat to deliver quick returns to the business.
- 00:05:00 In this section, Timo Elliott talks about how the SAP Business Technology Platform can help companies innovate faster, citing the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to create realistic images based on descriptions. He gives examples of how businesses are using AI to turn anything into a sensor and detect patterns in new ways, such as in the case of Avan Grid increasing the speed of power grid repair by 30%. He also mentions ASR Group using machine learning to optimize routes for sugar delivery to their 600 customers, reducing logistics costs. Overall, Elliott emphasizes the importance of tying AI systems to SAP technology for production-ready business applications.
- 00:10:00 In this section, Timo Elliott discusses some examples of how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to augment human intelligence within organizations. One example is a company that uses AI and machine learning models to predict the impact of weather and external economic data on their business. The predictions are then displayed to business analysts using SAP Analytics Cloud, which allows for even better predictions because humans are still the most powerful technology in an organization. Another example is Mercedes-Benz, which used SAP Cash Application and machine learning to automatically match invoices with bank information, which led to a 58 percent increase in automatic matching and significant time and cost savings for the finance department. As more non-technical people become involved in Technology Innovation, SAP is positioned to help their businesses become more intelligent by ensuring that data is maintained, secure, and compliant.
- 00:15:00 In this section, Timo Elliott talks about how businesses can empower their employees to do more innovation by providing them with the necessary tools and information. He gave an example of a mobile application used by a zoo in Sydney that brings together all the information employees need, from HR data to emergency data. However, he also acknowledged the risk of chaos if businesses give too much power to their employees. The solution, he said, is to provide the framework and Lego bricks, then let the business users build on top of that framework in a secure and compliant way. He highlighted technologies like SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP Process Intelligence, and no-code business applications to enable business people to create their own workflows and automate processes, allowing them to work faster and more efficiently.
- 00:20:00 In this section, Timo Elliot discusses how the cloud has enabled businesses to bring technology to the data instead of the other way around, making analytics much more tightly linked to business processes. He provides examples of companies, such as a Swiss reinsurance company and Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions, that have successfully integrated SAP analytics cloud into their business processes, allowing employees to have all the necessary information at their fingertips and enabling real-time scenario planning. By doing so, businesses can turn analytics into action and see immediate results. Timo urges businesses to not only provide the technology but also to help people adopt it and make sure it wins them over.
- 00:25:00 In this section, Timo Elliott discusses the benefits of new technologies like business process intelligence. He compares it to a scenario where a doctor advises a patient to have an MRI to diagnose their knee problem which is a complex system. He explains how tools like Signavio can help business organizations diagnose problems like a doctor and recommend solutions. The tool can help organizations track variables that need improvement and create an ROI case for innovation. Timo also talks about sustainability and how companies can contribute positively to the environment by monitoring their carbon footprints. He advises companies to take responsibility for their energy usage and work towards sustainability, citing examples of companies like Walkers Crisps that introduced the carbon footprint label on their products.
- 00:30:00 In this section, Timo Elliott talks about real-world projects that leverage data and analytics for sustainability. He shares examples such as Walkers, a UK-based potato chip company that was able to reduce waste and carbon footprint by analyzing the end-to-end process of their potato production. He also mentions the Intelligent Infrastructure Control Center in the UK, which uses machine learning to benchmark and monitor different transport projects, and a Turkish company that created a real-time carbon footprint calculation in the metaverse using SAP Analytics Cloud. Elliott discusses how SAP’s suite of products can help organizations make sustainability actionable and profitable, while also accelerating innovation through a strong platform and allowing business people to do much of the work in a guided, structured approach.
- 00:35:00 In this section, Timo Elliott is seen discussing the concept of win-win-win situations where businesses can improve customer outcomes, increase profits, and help the world become a better place at the same time. He mentions that it’s all about balancing profitability and the planet and offers to help with innovation. The audience applauds him for his inspiring and useful examples.