3 Key Ingredients of the SAP Intelligent Enterprise Recipe

What makes a business an SAP Intelligent Enterprise? Find out how a digital transformation can drive success.

With rapidly changing technology available, the possibilities are endless for companies to advance. Companies that lead their industry are ones that consistently deliver the best possible experiences for their customers and their workforce.

You can bring your business up to that level in the experience economy by focusing on the use of operational and experience data, i.e. an intelligent enterprise strategy. 

What is an intelligent enterprise?

To put it simply, the intelligent enterprise is a strategy that uses the latest technologies to turn data into insights and, finally, into action across the business. Emerging technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and IoT enables businesses to innovate, optimize experience, and automate processes.

With this strategy, your company can be more agile in a fast-moving environment and have a higher chance for sustainable growth. Well, how do you get started?

First, understand that an intelligent enterprise is not a product that you can buy and then implement. It’s an approach powered by the latest technology that your company takes on to become an intelligent enterprise.

SAP’s technology approach for the intelligent enterprise focuses on three components: the operations, the experience, and the intelligence. Operational data is the “what” of business data, like transactions, which are collected from day-to-day processes. Businesses look to experience data, the “why,” and collected from stakeholder sentiments, to gain insights and predict demand. The intelligent technology brings operational and experience data to deliver powerful business outcomes.

What are the technical components of an SAP Intelligent Enterprise?

SAP offers a portfolio of enterprise software that can links those components by connecting experience and operations with intelligent technology. The architecture of an intelligent enterprise comprises of:

• The intelligent suite: To enable automation of commonly used business processes, as well as better interaction with customers, partners, and employees through intelligence-embedded applications
• The digital platform: To facilitate the collection and connection of data, as well as the integration and extension of processes within the intelligent suite
• The intelligent technologies: To embed automation into core processes that enables applications to detect patterns, predict outcomes, and suggest actions based on accumulated data

With the new possibilities offered by an intelligent enterprise, your company can redefine the end-to end customer experience, increase productivity, and transform workplace engagement among employees.

Implementing an Intelligent Enterprise Strategy

Now that you know about what an SAP intelligent enterprise can do for you, it’s time to consider how you can implement this strategy for your organization. This digital transformation journey starts with defining your business goals across the entire organization with the customer experience at the forefront.

Depending on your industry, your business outcomes can vary greatly. The common link between industries, however, is the focus on customer experience that truly delivers value across organizations. For example, supply chain industries must anticipate, fulfill, and exceed customer demands in real-time to win in the experience economy.

After determining your business goals, your organization needs to implement an experience management solution, a business technology platform, and a suite of applications to perform at the highest level. The following solutions you can integrate on SAP for your organization:

• SAP Cloud Platform
• SAP HANA Data Management
• SAP C/4HANA
• SAP Leonardo
• SAP Analytics
• Other SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Experience Management solutions, etc.

Form the foundation of your intelligent enterprise with data management and cloud platform technologies to unlock success in the experience economy by delivering exceptional experiences for your customers and employees.

Intelligent Enterprises in the Supply Chain Industry

For any company with a supply chain, it’s important to know that 44 percent of all shoppers say faster delivery would increase their trust in a brand. How can you achieve this?

Give your customers the experience they want with an intelligent digital supply chain. In this experience economy, success for your company means running a customer-centric supply chain.

Foster positive experiences with your company by focusing on:

• The customer: Understand your customers to create individualized experiences that builds trust and loyalty
• Transparency: Full visibility can improve your company’s reliability and performance, which empowers your networks and keeps your delivery promises to your customers
• Productivity: With industry insights and technology, you can take advantage of designed innovations that predict your customers’ needs to help you gain competitive advantage and move fast
• Sustainability: Run a responsible supply chain to create products your customers want that are ethically sourced and generate minimal waste

Are you an SAP Intelligent Enterprise?

Think to yourself regarding your organization:

• Does your company use a customer-centric approach to the business? 
• Are your business processes automated by SAP solutions? 
• Does the SAP Cloud platform connect your business processes to give you visibility of real-time updates? 
• Does your company employ an experience management platform to identify and predict stakeholder demands?
• Does your company utilize intelligent technologies such as machine learning, AI, or IoT to provide your company with the flexibility and speed needed for continuous development? 

If you’ve answered yes to all these questions, congratulations! You’re already an SAP intelligent enterprise. Keep it up to continue to see better results. If you’ve answered no to any of these questions, consider what you’re missing to transform your company into an SAP intelligent enterprise.

The intelligent enterprise strategy is an important blueprint for the future of businesses. With SAP solutions, you can become a leader in your industry by unlocking new sources of growth to close the gap in the experience economy.