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SDenecken
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To meet the challenge of succeeding in a fluid business environment, the ability to innovate and adapt has, just like data, become a new currency. Business leaders constantly need to envision what’s coming, decide on investments into modern technologies, and adapt their business models to meet changing demands in order to stay ahead of the competition.

Ok, but how?


Revolution


A company’s business software is the foundation of evolving from outdated business models. All recent revolutionary technological offerings – from streaming music by The Beatles on mobile phones to riding driverless Uber cars to get to your next destination – stem from the business software behind a company’s business model. Business software has revolutionized the modern enterprise.

When it comes to revolution in technology, we truly have gone through many phases:

  • First, the Internet revolutionized everything on how we consume data and use business technology

  • Then came the advent of the mobile device, from laptops to smart phones and tablets, and now smart watches, redefining the way we access information

  • And not too long ago, the development of the cloud arose, and for the first time ever, companies were no longer forced to invest in huge upgrade projects to keep their systems up and running


But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening today, and what is yet to come.

Intelligence


It is interesting to note that the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, released 50 years ago, was prescient in depicting end user interaction with AI. Today, we are seeing more and more intelligent systems that interact with people – “in context” – so to speak. What’s more, today’s systems are beginning to understand end users speaking to them which clearly brings along a new level of user experience – perhaps like with HAL 9000, the AI depicted in the aforementioned film, but without the malevolence!

Getting back to Earth, according to a survey of 2,500 C-level executives that SAP recently conducted in Australia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States, business leaders are increasingly internalizing the importance of intelligent software:

  • Nearly 40% of the business leaders surveyed consider AI the most important technology for meeting the needs of customers and for boosting organizational efficiency over the next 10 years

  • Nearly 60% have either already implemented or plan to implement AI in the next year


It’s clear that with the rise of modern technologies such as AI, machine learning, and conversational capabilities, we're getting into a net new phase where business software knows what the end users want and can proactively help them.

As we’ve seen at this year’s SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG conference, SAP’s answer to this is SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the world’s first hands-free intelligent cloud ERP solution in the market, aiming at reducing the interaction between people and the business systems by 30% within the next three years.

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP provides a comprehensive set of AI-powered automation and next-generation business processes that allow customers to disrupt outdated processes, get future-ready, and “think big.”

Disruption


Disrupting what used to be a “given” always has benefits and downsides – for the (micro-) economy, for society, and for the individual. But with more and more tasks being taken over by AI, new issues and questions may arise. For example:

  • Some business leaders still fear that jobs may become obsolete (31%) or at least change in focus (56%), and that new ones will have to be created

  • Others believe that today’s AI is more talk than reality, and that AI is nothing more than just another tech buzzword (47%)


Frankly, my belief is that they are all wrong. Neither people nor companies can decide whether to adapt to that shift towards AI. That’s because AI will soon be a core and fundamental part of any enterprise offering– and nobodycan stop innovation.

Innovation


As is clear from above, AI will change companies in ways that are unprecedented. It will enable them to make accurate predictions across key elements of their business. These capabilities won’t just save huge amounts of time and money – they will also produce better outcomes – for the business and for the workforce.



The more organizations innovate and revamp their IT strategies, and the more they adopt AI and related modern technologies, the more they will turn towards a cloud ERP solution that is intelligent.That is what makes an intelligent enterprise. SAP is in a sweet spot here, as there is no other software company in the market that invests more in AI. No other company can deliver on AI or support end-to-end business processes that are as easy to set-up and benefit from.

Only SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers the AI tools and mechanisms required to bring about meaningful business change. It helps companies shake off old habits and replace them with new thinking – offering AI-powered innovation that helps customers build intelligent enterprises– and pushing them one step ahead of their competition.

To learn more, click here and follow us on Twitter , or myself via @SDenecken

 

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