The 2014 World Cup is Here - and it’s Anyone’s Game

[Former Member]

As many World Cup fans have learned, the teams with the most seasoned players, expensive coaches, and largest budgets aren’t guaranteed victory. Given the opportunity, smaller, less experienced teams have risen above the competition to achieve success.

Consider the 2002 World Cup, where the South Korea team surprised everyone by advancing to the semifinals and placing fourth overall – an unprecedented success for a country that had never before won a game in the World Cup. Or the 1994 World Cup, where the Bulgarian team overcame its five-year losing streak at the World Cup to finish fourth overall.

What do these teams have in common? They brought the right combination of coaches, players, and management together and equipped them with an effective strategy for winning games in an unpredictable environment.

What can SMEs learn from the World Cup?

Like many soccer teams that have achieved success at the World Cup, small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) can achieve performance and financial goals with the right people, tools, and strategy in place. And, with accessible and affordable technology created specifically for SMEs, limited budgets and resources don’t have to get in the way.

Finding the Right Formula for Success

To make the most of small budgets and limited IT resources, SAP suggests that SMEs should implement IT solutions in phases, starting with small steps, achieving success, and building upon it. SAP calls this a “crawl, walk, run” approach, as it allows for organizations to learn on small budgets and helps ensure that lessons learned from initial deployment help them build a prioritized road map for broader company-wide implementation.

To follow a crawl, walk, run approach, SMEs should look for solutions with:

• A single-solution framework that grows with you – A single solution should be able to take you through all three phases (crawl, walk, and run) so you don’t have to buy different products for different functionality.

• Adjacent capabilities – Solutions that share a similar user interface and constructs can work together to support your company’s growth trajectory and changing needs.

• Fast adoption and ease of use – Solutions should have a consistent look and feel across all components, provide built-in templates, and allow business users to access data directly without needing IT support or training

Ready to Surpass the Competition?

SAP Crystal solutions provide SMEs with essential reporting, dashboard, and data discovery and visualization functions that can give you a competitive edge at a price you can afford. Best of all, SAP solutions for SMEs follow the crawl, walk, run approach – so you can move at the pace that works for your business needs.

What will Happen at the 2014 World Cup?

Well, that’s anyone’s guess, but don’t discount any of the teams – you never know what innovative technologies they have up their sleeves. Check out what the German team has planned with SAP.