When Change is the Only Constant: Four Tactics to Survive and Thrive

by Karl Fahrbach, Chief Partner Officer, SAP?

“The world seems to be changing faster than ever.”

I heard this phrase recently and found myself pondering if it was true. Has our digital connectedness accelerated the pace of change? When online retailer Amazon launched in 1994, it didn’t instantly disrupt the markets. It took years to become the force it is today. But flash forward to 2020, when people stuck at home due to COVID-19 started trading stocks through a little-known app called Robinhood. Almost overnight, these novice traders disrupted the traditional market.

So, yes, change seems to be faster. And the question we must answer is, “How do we help businesses weather sudden change?” I’d like to suggest four tactics and share examples from SAP and the many partners we work with to deliver for our shared customers.

Choose Your North Star

One way to manage the upheavals of constant change is to have a constant of your own, a north star. This is a long-term goal or objective that drives your business no matter what challenges you face along the way. A north star is big, bold, and attainable.

SAP’s north star for customers is the Intelligent Enterprise, a holistic approach to integrate not only the many technical applications a company uses, but also integrate their technology and business processes so they run better by becoming more resilient, more profitable, and more sustainable. This digital transformation helps companies succeed with their existing business models while preparing them to grow and thrive with new disruptive ventures.

SAP customers have their own north star goals they’ve achieved with the help of our partners:

·????????Woodgrain Lumber used integration to end frustration, enabling them to focus on logging sustainably – even using sawdust for animal bedding products.

·????????D?hler GmbH increased its speed in producing natural ingredient samples (like flavors and colors) for their food and beverage industry customers.

·????????Wien Energie serves 27,000 households with green energy from wind turbines.

Think of your north star as your ultimate destination on a trip. Changes may crop that require you to alter your route along the way, but you’ll still arrive at the right place in the end.

Share the Load and the Success

When you’re alone on the water paddling your little boat and a fierce storm arises, making it through the battering waves to shore can be exhausting and treacherous. But add a few friends to that boat and your combined effort can get you all to safety faster.

SAP found that serving all the needs of our customers was too large a task for one company. That’s why we work with a massive ecosystem of qualified partners around the globe. We paddle together for the benefit of our customers.

The SAP Business Technology Platform serves as the foundation for all the innovation we deliver. (If you want to push my seafaring analogy, you could say the platform is our shared boat.) This is the single source on which solutions from SAP, partners, and customers integrate. Partners deliver value to customers by extending solutions from SAP and third-party vendors, by integrating solutions across diverse architectures, and by delivering rich data analytics. This means customers can run end-to-end processes without application and data siloes to deliver the efficient and intelligent decision-making required in today’s rapidly changing business landscape.

It’s teamwork. Pure and simple. And it works.

Deliver the Right Tools for the Job

When I was young, I often watched my mother work on projects around the house. A basic lesson she instilled was the importance of using the right tool for the task at hand. “We’re not going to get far trying to hammer a nail with a screwdriver.”

Being the company that can provide the right tools to meet customer needs is a sweet spot we all want to own. The big challenge is anticipating what tools will be needed. Staying close to your customers is one way to hear about the challenges they face so you can respond quickly to their changing needs.

SAP realized that to maximize the power of technology, we had to go beyond standard out-of-the box solutions. Together with the innovation and expertise of our partners, we are bringing SAP Industry Cloud to customers to automate and enhance their industry-specific processes and empower industry leaders to disrupt the status quo.

Tools can be simple or highly specialized. All that matters is that you give customers the one they need to do the job.

Make It Simple

Atul Gawande’s book, “The Checklist Manifesto” chronicles the use checklists as a way of reducing the complexity in our lives. Airline pilots follow checklists for safe take-offs and landings. Surgeons use checklists to make sure each step in a complex procedure is done in the right order and in the right way. Reducing complexity is a huge benefit to every customer.

At SAP, we know that transforming a business is a massive undertaking. It requires deep business insight as well as expertise with IT processes. Making transformation easier for customers is vital – and often the key to lasting success. (If you sell them something they won’t use because it’s too complicated, chances are slim they’ll come back to you for their next need.)

Our solution to address complexity is RISE with SAP. It simplifies a customer’s journey to the cloud. Essentially a starter kit, it includes all the needed tools and processes. Our partners guide customers through the entire journey, from the early stages of identifying specific needs to selling the RISE with SAP package to implementing it.

If you can find a way to make your customer’s life simpler, you’ll be a hero and gain a customer for life.

Change is Opportunity

Change can be frightening because it is the ultimate unknown. But change is also required to grow. Preparing for change and being flexible to its unpredictable currents can minimize the distress and maximize the opportunity.