Yesterday at SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW Conference, “individual” was a common word in the keynote speech of co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe. That’s because many of SAP’s new business innovations and solutions have been built with the individual in mind.
Just as Bill McDermott defined millennials as the “empowered generation,” Snabe defined SAP’s end-users as empowered consumers.
For example, Snabe described the potential of connected cars, which can inform drivers of nearby retail stores, gas stations, traffic patterns, and even open parking spaces.
“Imagine the impact on world peace when you don’t have to fight for a parking spot,” said Snabe.
Individuals also bring a new level of granularity to development in the cloud and SAP Business Suite on HANA. SAP is enabling developers to create their own applications for SAP HANA, which will result in even more customized software solutions.
The individual is especially empowered by the huge expansion of mobile solutions; Snabe predicted that everything will be mobile in three to five years.
“We’ve shifted the conversation from businesses running SAP, to life runs SAP,” said Jonathan Becher, SAP’s Chief Marketing Officer, in a post-keynote press conference. The range of SAP users includes employers, customers, consumers, citizens, and even sports fans.
For instance, SAP is making the retail experience more customized. Companies can now offer goods to consumers which are tailored to that person’s desires. Instead of saying “here’s what we have,” companies can say “here’s what you want.”
Some of SAP’s solutions for the individual are even more essential. For instance, many people around the world don’t have access to banking services. Mobile teams supported by SAP software have been able to sign up hundreds of previously unbanked individuals by bringing mobile banking to communities without brick and mortar banks. People can now use their mobile phones to complete financial transactions such as paying bills or transferring money; credit can even be extended to people who have never had any before.
The power of the individual is the power of a company, because all transactions start with just one person. What software can bring to the end user is just as important as what it can do for a company. Individuals are the beginning and the end of all transactions, and when these transactions are simplified, lives run better.
