Photos: Economic Downturn Encourages More Than 31,000 Business Leaders to Crowd SAP(R) World Tour 2009 to Gain Insight on How to
September 09 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Top SAP Executives Identify Business Clarity as a Successful
Business Strategy for Being Leaders in the New Reality WALLDORF,
Germany, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Proof that companies are still
investing in the down economy, business leaders are investing their
valuable time and efforts to learn how to best weather the economic
storm at the SAP World Tour 2009. Customers around the globe are
gathering at the events to convene with peers and SAP to experience
the benefits of business networks and learn firsthand the
advantages of operating transparently in today's economic downturn.
The format has been a success with attendees, who find the
combination of global and local market information to be of
tremendous value, providing insights that will impact their
day-to-day business practices. To view the Multimedia News Release,
go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/sap/40017/ (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050310/SFTH009LOGO-a ) Being
held in more than 70 cities across Asia, Europe, Latin America and
North America, the SAP World Tours are sold out events that have
already attracted more than 31,000 attendees. Events will run
through November 2009, with dates recently added in North America,
including stops in Chicago, Illinois, on September 16; San Jose,
California, on September 17; and in New York on October 21. Guest
speakers for the events include Condoleezza Rice, former United
States secretary of state and national security office, and Thomas
and Barbara Stephenson senior fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover
Institution and professor of political science at Stanford
University; Al Gore, the 45th vice president of the United States;
and Larry Bossidy, former CEO at Honeywell. In its fifth year, the
SAP World Tour events feature keynotes by top SAP executives that
analyze ongoing macroeconomic and industry-wide trends, as well as
industry- and product-focused breakout sessions that provide
opportunities for more in-depth discussions. This year's events
explore how companies can achieve transparency in every area of
their operations. Attendees can learn to harness the power of
technology in order to run lean operations, capture greater market
share and gain transparency in their operations. In addition, the
successful event platform provides companies in the small and
midsize enterprise (SME) market the opportunity to explore SAP
solutions that address the specific challenges associated with
their location, size and industry. Bill McDermott on Trends that
Impact Company Operations In Birmingham, UK, Bill McDermott, member
of the Executive Board of SAP AG in the area of Global Field
Operations, emphasized that by investing during a downturn,
companies are preparing themselves to be leading enterprises once
the economy recovers. Based on conversations with global CEOs,
McDermott reported that such "smart companies" have identified
areas of investment focus where they realize in order to be leaders
they must employ new strategies, including risk and cash
management, sustainability, customers, employees and operations.
"Now is a perfect opportunity for companies of all sizes to rethink
their business strategies," said McDermott. "To survive in this new
reality, companies must employ strategies that bring near-term
results while also laying a solid foundation for the future. We see
companies continuing their strategic projects that will drive
long-term growth and profitability, while putting special emphasis
right now on initiatives that lead to quick wins and address
today's business pain points." McDermott provided the audience a
quick five-point roadmap designed to help companies be leaders in
the down market: benchmark against peers; identify quick wins with
Best-Run Now packages from SAP; enable better business
decision-making by using tools such as SAP BusinessObjects(TM)
Explorer software; optimize SAP solutions with key services to
lower total cost of ownership; and focus IT employees on a
value-driven approach. Peter Graf on Maintaining Sustainable
Business Practices In Brazil, Peter Graf, chief sustainability
officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions at
SAP, examined how increased complexities in business networks
combined with growing economic, environmental and social
challenges, will require companies to maintain more sustainable
business practices in the future. While for many companies,
sustainability activities are driven by more stringent global
regulation, the leaders in their industries have embarked on a
journey to leverage sustainability as a driver of competitive
differentiation. At the same time those leaders renew confidence in
all stakeholders, including customers, investors and society at
large. "SAP has a dual strategy when it comes to sustainability,"
explained Graf. "In addition to setting clear targets to improve
the sustainability of our own operations, we are delivering
customer solutions-such as the SAP Business Suite 7.0 software-that
can help companies manage complex business networks of partners,
suppliers and sub-suppliers. Because a value chain can only be as
sustainable as its weakest link, it is key to gain visibility into
these business networks to holistically manage economic,
environmental and social risks and opportunities." Graf highlighted
how SAP addresses the various areas of sustainability, including
sustainability performance management; carbon and energy
management; product safety and stewardship; people, health and
safety; environmental compliance; sustainable supply chains; and
sustainable workforces, as well as "Green IT." Hasso Plattner on a
Look into the Future While a significant portion of the SAP World
Tour events focus on current business challenges, SAP Co-Founder
Hasso Plattner provided a look into the future at the Mannheim,
Germany, event. Picking up on the importance of delivering critical
business information in real-time, Plattner stated "Speed is
money," and predicted that in-memory databases will help companies
make decisions with even more certainty by having access to
instant, in-depth insight into both their own businesses and their
networks. SAP India Calls to Indian Companies to be Clear
Enterprises SAP customers, partners and industry experts in India
gathered in New Delhi to explore how Indian companies can achieve
transparency in every area of their operations to be best-run
businesses in today's challenging economic environment. Attendees
at the annual event learned how to harness the power of SAP
solutions to run lean operations, capture greater profitability and
gain transparency in their operations. Around 1,000 business
leaders, customers, partners, employees, analysts and media
attended the event. The tour ran four industry tracks, covering
government, utilities, operational excellence and strategic IT. SAP
customers delivering presentations at the SAP World Tour in India
included noted enterprises ONGC, ABB, RIL, Unilevers, BPCL and Hero
Honda. In his keynote address, Ranjan Das, managing director of SAP
India, called on Indian enterprises to "see clearly, think clearly
and act clearly" in order to thrive in the current global economic
crisis. To better navigate this crisis, Das encouraged executives
to focus on making their organizations more efficient, flexible and
transparent - and to open silos of information and processes for
evaluation and transformation. He stressed that emerging
technologies will facilitate this process and will radically change
the way enterprises operate in the future. "The current business
climate is defined beyond an unpredictable economy. It's driving a
deeper level of structural change in every industry and market,"
said Das. "To create competitive differentiators, companies must
align business strategy, enable a strong IT roadmap and deliver
measurable outcomes. This can be achieved though a persistent focus
on value discovery and continuous innovation." SAP World Tour to
Run Through November The SAP World Tour will continue to explore
how the SAP business software portfolio can help local companies
with the execution of growth strategies and the delivery of value
to their customers. Events will run through November 2009, with
dates recently added in North America. The customer-focused
ecosystem is a vital part of SAP's go-to-market strategy, thus the
company also works closely with local and global partners for the
SAP World Tour events, giving partners the opportunity to
participate and showcase their offerings. This year the global
sponsors to the tour that will be present at many locations are
IBM, T-Systems, Adobe and Accenture. For more information and
future tour dates, visit the SAP World Tour section of sap.com.
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