Business software supplier SAP has launched a social network for businesses, creating a forum around some of its key product lines that will help connect companies and boost visibility across complex supply chains.
The SAP Business Network – was announced by SAP CEO Christian Klein – at Sapphire Now, its biggest customer conference that is being held online for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.
“During this unprecedented year, the importance of the communities we’re part of has never been clearer,” Klein said in a keynote address.
“Our new vision will build the world’s largest business community, enabling customers to easily connect with every company across their supply chains.”
You can Register for Sapphire Now 2021
Sapphire Now 2021
June 7–10: SAPPHIRE NOW EMEA
June 7–10: SAPPHIRE NOW Americas
June 15–18: SAPPHIRE NOW Korea
June 16–17: SAPPHIRE NOW Greater China
June 21–24: SAPPHIRE NOW Asia Pacific
July 12–15: SAPPHIRE NOW Japan
Klein became sole CEO before last year’s event and has since presided over a profit warning and shaken up management, as COVID-19 piled pressure on SAP to help clients digitally transform to handle trends like remote working.
SAP said it would offer five ‘business transformation as a service’ solutions tailored for retail, consumer products, automotive, utilities and industrial machinery.
The SAP Business Network will bring together its purchasing, logistics and asset intelligence platforms, creating a network of 5.5 million connected organizations.
A slump in economic activity early in the pandemic, followed by a sharp recovery, has caused enormous dislocation across supply chains, with shortages of semiconductors hitting the production of everything from laptops to cars.
That puts SAP’s enterprise resource planning software at the centre of efforts by hundreds of thousands of businesses to adapt. SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, says 77 percent of the world’s transaction revenue touches one of its systems.
Sapphire Now runs from June 7-10 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and in the Americas, and will feature a series of keynote addresses and thematic tracks. The Asian edition will be held from June 21-24.
