It is time to forget tic-tac-toe?

Remember tic-tac-toe? A strategy game where you combine either Xs or Os in a row in order to win. The world is changing fast and businesses need to change as well to remain relevant. Business strategy is no longer about connecting the Xs or Os, but about leveraging the Os through the lens of the Xs.

You must be wondering what I am talking about. Let me give you some background. I attended the 30^th edition of SAPPHIRENOW and ASUG event in Orlando earlier this month and was impressed by SAP’s keynote on using experience management (XM) to take the value of products and services to the next level. X is the experience data and O represents operational data. As a business it’s imperative to look at operational data together with experience data coming from various channels to bring efficiency in the process and improve customer experience. SAP is doing exactly that.

As expected, SAP did not overwhelm the audience with SAP S/4HANA at the event. This is an indicator that the umbrella term of HANA is “business as usual” for both SAP and customers. Customers are looking forward to taking their enterprise to next level after moving to the lean digital core and leveraging intelligent technology. SAP did provide next step for all the customers who have already undergone digital transformation and for the customers who are yet to take the big leap, another reason to start asap on digital core and intelligent enterprise.

SAPPHIRENOW and ASUG did provide a great experience to participants by bringing in leaders from diverse fields and hearing them articulate their take on life. Personally, something that struck a chord and will stay with me, is the advice Sandra Bullock’s father gave her when she was a little girl – Measure Twice, Cut Once. This is at the core of what we do at Capgemini to help customers adopt a digital core and intelligent enterprise. Our Highway to S/4 offering and assessment services ensure that customers get relevant insights and information to take the leap.

In my interaction with customers at the event, I came across a positive shift in mindset towards SAP S/4HANA. The questions have changed from “… why should we move …” to, “… how fast we can adopt SAP S/4HANA …” and “… what else can we do with SAP S/4HANA…?” Customers are looking at us to articulate our experiences of implementing SAP S/4HANA and see if they can take preparatory steps to avoid some of the challenges.

Customers were keen to experience the Intelligent Enterprise and we were fully prepared for it as we had live demos around this at our booth. Our demos received great footfall and resulted in positive discussions with many visitors and new clients.

If you want to know about our Highway to SAP S/4HANA® and Digital Core transformation approach or would like to experience our demos on the Intelligent Enterprise, please feel free to reach out to me.