Service Provider 4.0?

The annual congress of the DSAG had, with 4600 visitors, 191 exhibitors and SAP with a powerful information stand, this year one topic in particular: digital transformation.

Whether with the Keynotes or the technical presentations by the speakers or by customer projects, it was a topic that was presented and discussed: How can I present my company even better and, above all, even faster to my customers and partners in the future?

This is a question that should be asked especially by established and large companies. Entrenched processes and vested interests among decision-makers still prevent companies from adapting to new business conditions in an agile manner.

However, external pressure will ensure that customers turn to new channels for obtaining information in the future and contact our organization in a completely different way than before.
This multi-layered nature of digital transformation - in development, processes, and people - when properly harnessed and deployed, leads to tremendous growth, such as in the case of many Start-upswhich go to the market.

Are we SAP-partner prepared for this?

191 SAP partners mean at least 191 software solutions. How can our customers still maintain an overview here? Who has which solution for my challenge? Who understands my business area, who has which apps for my application? Do I match my future requirement with the apps or do I adapt the apps to my processes? Finding the "right answer" here is also a big challenge for me.

Do we all know the industry standards for our customers today? Are there the appropriate Interfaces? Do we access the same data model? Do we speak the same language among ourselves as we expect from our customers? Are we networked or integrated into the processes that are supposed to make our customers successful? There are many more questions to ask when you spend three days at the annual congress of the DSAG has looked around.

Everyone wants to get a piece of the pie in the digital revolution and propagates their know-how and Best Practice-solutions. But what about the digital transparency of the partners? Are they networked? Do they integrate with each other and work together to find the optimal solution for customers?

In discussions, I unfortunately had to realize that we partners do not always deal with each other very openly, but that we still see ourselves too strongly as competitors. Our customers have been showing us for several years how to produce successfully by shifting and integrating core competencies. Everyone now produces only those components that represent their core competencies. This should also be the future for us SAP-partner. Forming alliances and partnerships have always been successful.

Conclusion

Due to the new changes in organizational structures and the new Business models we all have to change. We need to be agile with each other, integrated and partner with each other, and proactive in responding to market demands. Our applications must have the ability to respond to changing business processes at any time and become a key competence in the digital age.