3 Lessons in Digital Transformation

In my role as CMO, I often find myself lucky to have the opportunities to interact with lots of smart people around the world who bring our software to life to solve some of the world’s most complex problems. The growth of the digital economy is fueled by hyper connectivity – internet of things, social collaboration, and business to business commerce. We call this effect the networked economy. Below, I share three important lessons I’ve learned so far about digital transformation.

1. Everything That Can Be Digitized Will Be

Recently I had the opportunity to see a digital farming showcase (pictured) where I saw the amazing impact of the digital transformation on the agriculture industry. The demo showed how farmers can optimize their crops using data collected by sensors about the levels of water and light in the soil. This allows the farmer to better manage the outcome of the crop, allocate resources as needed, yield a better harvest, and ultimately plant more crops to feed more people – a great example of how SAP does indeed help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

2. The Digital Economy Is About Re-Imagining The Future

In my view, the biggest benefit of our SAP HANA platform is that it allows customers to not only simplify but truly re-imagine their enterprise in a fully digital world. We know that by 2020 global business trade will reach $65 trillion and 50 billion devices will be connected through the internet — all sending and receiving data through sensors – to automate business processes or influence human decisions. One use case in the manufacturing industry on predictive maintenance is a great example of the innovations made possible with our in-memory platform, SAP HANA.

This company – a leading supplier of forklifts, platform trucks and tractors – is completely changing their business model, from a manufacturing to a services-oriented business model, and delivering new customer experiences with personalized insights and intelligent recommendations. Like the farmer who analyzes environmental data, we can start to predict the future based on simulations. And if you can predict the future, imagine what other business models are possible.

3. Students Are Dreaming Big To Make The World Better

In ten years, over 70% of the workforce will be part of this demographic. I cannot over emphasize how important it is to engage and enthuse with them, and give them the opportunity to innovate and play with our cloud technology and innovations. This is the workforce of the future, a generation that is cloud and digital-native. They also have strong desire to give back to the society. The energy and excitement that I feel from our University Alliances team as they interact with the future generation of leaders is infectious.