Let’s Talk Data: Business Technology Podcast | SAP

The episode features Jennifer Frank McGrory speaking with Steve Birgfeld, Vice President of IT and Services of Blue Diamond Growers., a leading agricultural cooperative and almond processor. They discuss the company's journey through digital transformation and the role of technology in enhancing its operations, customer experience, and market reach. Steve and Jen dive into how Blue Diamond Growers embraced digital transformation to address industry challenges, improve efficiency, and meet customer expectations. It offers valuable lessons for organizations in agriculture and beyond, showcasing the potential of technology to drive growth and sustainability while honoring legacy and tradition. 5 Key Topics of Discussion: Digital Transformation is Essential for Growth and Efficiency: Embracing modern technologies like cloud-based platforms, data analytics, and predictive tools can significantly enhance operational efficiency, supply chain transparency, and product quality in the agriculture industry. Balancing Tradition with Innovation: Successful digital transformation in agriculture requires blending innovative technologies with a company’s legacy values, ensuring that tradition and sustainability are preserved while evolving to meet modern demands. Sustainability is a Core Driver: Technological advancements support sustainability initiatives such as water conservation, reducing carbon footprints, and promoting ethical farming practices, reinforcing the importance of environmental responsibility in the digital age. Cultural and Organizational Shifts are Key to Success: A successful digital transformation journey requires overcoming internal challenges, such as cultural shifts, engaging stakeholders, and aligning teams around common goals. Ongoing Process and Continuous Improvement: Digital transformation is not a one-time project but an ongoing journey. It’s crucial to start small, test solutions, learn from experiences, and scale what works to achieve long-term success. Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Connect With Steve Birgfeld Linkedin Connect With Jennifer Frank McGrory LinkedIn Don’t stop here – discover more: Value Exploration Workshop - a hands-on gamified SAP S/4HANA Cloud simulation experience. Catch the last workshop for 2024: https://bit.ly/41ilyOQ 5 Minutes with....Glen Moffatt on The Renaissance of ERP: https://bit.ly/3Eeefvr SAP has a Cloud solution for every organization, learn more: https://bit.ly/3NOkoln

In this episode on modern manufacturing, we dive into AdvanSix’s journey with SAP’s Cloud ERP through the "Rise with SAP" offering. Our guest, Laura Lambeseder, an SAP S/4HANA Program Leader, shares a behind-the-scenes look at how AdvanSix—a fully integrated chemical manufacturing companyis approaching its digital transformation with cloud ERP. Listeners will hear about the strategic goals and benefits AdvanSix aims to achieve with their move to a cloud-based ERP solution, coupled with the challenges encountered along the way. Laura discusses how cloud ERP is expected to enhance operational efficiency and flexibility, enabling AdvanSix to respond more swiftly to market demands. This episode offers a practical case study on modernizing complex, integrated manufacturing operations through cloud technology, in addition to providing valuable insights for businesses considering a similar transformation. Key Topics of Discussion: The Role of Cloud ERP in AdvanSix's Digital Transformation - Discussion of why AdvanSix chose to transition to a cloud-based ERP and the anticipated benefits for their operations. Challenges in Implementing Large-Scale ERP Solutions - Exploration of obstacles encountered during the ERP implementation process, including change management and system integration. Impact of ERP on Operational Efficiency and Agility - Insights into how the new ERP system is expected to streamline processes, enhance agility, and support AdvanSix’s long-term business goals. Strategies for Managing Digital Transformation - Practical strategies employed by AdvanSix for navigating such a significant digital shift, including managing expectations and setting realistic goals. Future Expectations and Goals for AdvanSix Post-ERP Implementation - An overview of AdvanSix's vision for the future, focusing on the expected impacts of the ERP system on their business scalability and adaptability. Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Connect With Laura Lambeseder Linkedin Connect With Jennifer Frank McGrory LinkedIn Don’t stop here – discover more: Value Exploration Workshop - a hands-on gamified SAP S/4HANA Cloud simulation experience. Catch the last workshop for 2024: https://bit.ly/41ilyOQ 5 Minutes with....Glen Moffatt on The Renaissance of ERP: https://bit.ly/3Eeefvr SAP has a Cloud solution for every organization, learn more: https://bit.ly/3NOkoln

In this podcast episode, Terry Penner and Jürgen Butsmann discuss the latest developments in SAP Business AI for SAP S/4HANA, and SAP BTP. The conversation focuses on how Artificial Intelligence is evolving at SAP, with particular attention to large language models (LLMs) and their growing application in SAP cloud ERP and SAP BTP solutions. Speakers: Jürgen Butsmann is part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Product Marketing team responsible for AI in the context of SAP S/4HANA, finance and digital supply chain. Jürgen has been with SAP for more than 26 years. He is a recognized expert for SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP. Terry Penner is part of the SAP BTP marketing team for Business Applications, focused on SAP BTP for SAP S/4HANA. He has more than 23 years of technical and business experience in the SAP platform and analytics, including working directly on hundreds of customer implementations. Key Topics of Discussion: Evolution of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) –The growth of LLMs, their transition from entertainment to business use, and their fact-based capabilities. AI Integration in SAP’s ERP Strategy – How AI is becoming central to SAP’s strategy, particularly in areas like cloud ERP, digital supply chain, and finance. Differentiating the AI solutions in SAP cloud ERP – Notable price declines in AI services make AI technology more accessible and attractive for business applications. Role of SAP Joule – What is SAP Joule and how can AI add value to the business AI Extensibility and SAP BTP – Collaboration between SAP BTP and ERP to provide extensible AI solutions, supporting various business processes through flexible and scalable tools. Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Call to Action: Learn more about SAP BTP for S/4HANA and RISE at SAP BTP for S/4HANA This is a follow-up to AI for SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP: a deep-dive discussion

Join Matthew Zenus, Global Vice President – SAP HANA & Persistency, Product Management and Strategy, and Daniel Dukes, Senior Product Marketing Director, as they reminisce on SAP HANA and the bright future of SAP HANA Cloud. Enjoy a time of personal stories, candid advice, and forward thinking from these two veterans. For anyone considering SAP HANA Cloud or even a current customer, this conversation is a must hear as SAP HANA Cloud is enabling industry leading advancements that are shaping the future of applications. Listeners of all application develop roles and expertise levels are encouraged to tune-in. Connect with our speakers: Daniel Dukes – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldukes/ Matthew Zenus – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-zenus-3594a81/ Don’t stop here – discover more: SAP HANA Cloud - https://www.sap.com/canada/products/technology-platform/hana.html SAP HANA Cloud Basic Trial – https://www.sap.com/canada-fr/products/technology-platform/hana/trial.html SAP HANA Cloud Community – https://pages.community.sap.com/topics/hana/cloud Key Topics: Early Adoption and Innovation: The podcast highlights the early days of SAP HANA, emphasizing the groundbreaking in-memory architecture and its significant impact on query acceleration. A notable example is a utility company in Amsterdam that leveraged SAP HANA to enhance geospatial queries, leading to the development of a high-performing, in-memory geospatial engine. Multi-Model Engine Journey: The integration of geospatial capabilities marked the beginning of SAP HANA's multi-model engine journey. This journey has evolved to include various engines like graph, JSON, document store, and vector engines, positioning multi-model functionality as a key differentiator for SAP HANA and SAP HANA Cloud in the market. Current Market Challenges: The podcast discusses the prevalent challenges customers face today, including complexity due to heterogeneous environments, data fragmentation, the explosion of diverse data sources, and the increasing importance of financial governance and price-performance optimization in cloud environments. Four Pillars of HANA Cloud Development: The development strategy for SAP HANA Cloud focuses on four key pillars: simplicity, financial governance and price performance, deployment flexibility, and automation and intelligence. These pillars are designed to make SAP HANA Cloud easier to adopt, administer, and scale while optimizing cost and performance. Generative AI Integration: The podcast highlights the integration of generative AI in SAP HANA Cloud, specifically through the native vector engine. This engine supports advanced AI use cases like similarity searches, semantic searches, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which enhances large language model queries with relevant, organization-specific data. Upcoming Innovations: SAP HANA Cloud has an aggressive roadmap for the remainder of 2024 and 2025, including larger instance sizes, enhanced cost monitoring features, elastic compute nodes, multi-tenancy, SQL on files, and the introduction of a knowledge graph. These innovations are aimed at improving scalability, performance, and cost efficiency. Transition from On-Premise to Cloud: The podcast emphasizes the simplicity of migrating from on-premise SAP HANA to SAP HANA Cloud. SAP provides various tools and resources to assist customers in this transition, making it a natural and straightforward process to modernize and take advantage of SAP HANA Cloud's innovations.

Guest host, Erik Lossbroek, is joined by Satya Jayadev, CIO of Skyworks, who shares insights into Skyworks transformation journey and adoption of Rise with SAP. Satya discusses challenges, emphasizing organizational change management and governance. Satya explores the partnership between Skyworks, SAP, and Deloitte and envisions the post-go-live roadmap, focusing on efficiencies and innovation. Don't miss this episode for valuable insights into the intersection of technology and business in the semiconductor industry. Speakers: Satya Jayadev - Skyworks, Vice President and CIO Erik Lossbroek - Regional Vice President, SAP Key Topics of Discussion: Transformation Strategy: Discussing Skyworks' approach to transformation, including foundational aspects and the pursuit of innovation. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Adoption: Exploring why Skyworks chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud and its benefits in driving digital transformation. Organizational Change Management: Emphasizing the importance of managing change and involving stakeholders in the transformation journey. Governance and Collaboration: Outlining Skyworks' governance structure and the role of key partnerships, like SAP and Deloitte. Technology and Connectivity: Understanding how Skyworks uses technology to connect people and places across various markets. Post-Go-Live Roadmap: Discussing Skyworks' plans for driving efficiencies and continuous innovation after implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Lessons Learned and Best Practices: Sharing insights and key takeaways from Skyworks' transformation journey, including the challenges faced and how they were overcome.

Listen as SAP data experts, Gebhard Roos, Maria Villar, and Tina Rosario discuss the concepts that fall under the umbrella of “Data as a Product.” They will converse on the nuances and value of various approaches to data sharing, including democratization, monetization, and data marketplaces, with both inside and outside views. Host: Corrie Birkeness Speakers: Gebhard Roos – Product Manager for SAP Datasphere Data Marketplace Maria Villar – Head of North America Data Strategy and Transformation Tina Rosario – Chief Data Officer, SAP Europe Important Links: SAP solutions for Data & Analytics: https://bit.ly/3IDy9kS Blog on SAP Datasphere Marketplace: https://bit.ly/4d39Fzq SAP Business Network: https://bit.ly/3JmF56p SAP Sustainability Data Exchange: https://bit.ly/3Q3GeU0 Key Topics of Discussion: Distinguishing Data Product vs. Data as a Product: Exploring the operational model and overarching principles that define these concepts. Characteristics of Data Products: Delving into the transparency, alignment with consumer needs, and governance constraints that distinguish data products. Role of Data Marketplaces: Understanding the significance of data marketplaces in facilitating internal and external data exchange, monetization, and collaboration. Models of Data Sharing: Exploring various models of data sharing, including public domain data, commercial data sharing, and indirect monetization, both internally and externally. Organizational Challenges: Addressing the organizational buy-in, education, and mindset shift required to prioritize consumer needs and navigate the complexities of data product implementation. Technical Challenges: Discussing the technical considerations and architectural models necessary for effective data product creation and management. Transparency and Trustworthiness: Highlighting the importance of transparency, trustworthiness, and consumer-centric design in building successful data products and marketplaces.