SAP Extends ‘Rise’ Digital Transformation Offerings To Vertical Industries

During its SAP Sapphire Now virtual conference Wednesday SAP also unveiled plans to create the SAP Business Network to connect thousands of customers’ supply chain networks.

A little more than four months after launching Rise with SAP, the software giant is expanding the set of pre-packaged digital transformation and cloud migration software and services with industry-specific modules targeting five vertical markets.

SAP on Wednesday also launched the SAP Business Network, combining the vendor’s logistics, purchasing and asset intelligence software and services, and unveiled new planning and analytics capabilities for the vendor’s Business Technology Platform.

The news, emanating from the company’s Sapphire Now virtual conference, comes as SAP positions itself for a post-pandemic global economy.

[Related: SAP Looks To Deepen Partner-Customer Engagements With New Go-To-Market Plan]

“Continuous innovation is what we are striving for here at SAP,” said CEO Christian Klein in a keynote speech kicking off Sapphire Now. Customers, he said, have told SAP that its needs to “double down” on accelerating digital transformation across the 25 industries served by the vendor.

“And we will deliver. Together with our strong ecosystem, we will provide you with exactly the solutions you need for your industry,” Klein said. “As all of your business models are changing, SAP will expand the core and deliver intelligent solutions designed for your industry. We will go big with the SAP Industry Cloud on June 15.”

In late January SAP launched Rise with SAP, a collection of software and services, offered for a single subscription price, designed to assist customers with their cloud migration and digital transformation initiatives. The packages include the S/4HANA Cloud application suite, the SAP Business Network Starter Pack, business process intelligence software, Business Technology Platform cloud credits, and other tools and services.

SAP is now rolling out Rise with SAP for Industries, software and service packages specifically for businesses in the automotive, consumer packaged goods, retail, utilities, and industrial machinery and components industries.

The company also debuted Rise with SAP for Modular Cloud ERP, pre-integrated and pre-configured line-of-business modules that operate on one platform with a single data model. SAP is also offering Rise with SAP for Human Experience Management built on the company’s SuccessFactors cloud-based talent management application.

SAP’s partners, including Accenture, Deloitte and Capgemini, are developing practices around Rise with SAP and developing additional services, said Brian Duffy, SAP president of cloud, in an interview with CRN.

“This is a partner-led engagement that we’re driving here,” he said. According to Duffy SAP engaged 260 customers for Rise with SAP in the first quarter of the year. Last week Chief Partner Officer Karl Fahrbach told CRN that many of those engagements involved a partner.

“Rise with SAP brings simplification to our clients and our business,” said Brad Little, executive vice president and global head of application services at Capgemini, in a statement. “With this offer, clients can enjoy a simplified cloud commercial model. When paired with Capgemini’s capabilities, this unlock’s SAP’s value to support our clients’ business transformations with industry cloud and bundled services from SAP.”

The new SAP Business Network signals SAP’s intentions to expand beyond software applications into services, linking some 5.5 million businesses and organizations and their supply chains to create what CEO Klein described as “the world’s largest business community.”

The SAP Business Network will incorporate the vendor’s Ariba procurement and supply chain collaboration system and network, the SAP Logistics Business Network and the SAP Asset Intelligence Network, along with a unified trading partner portal and APIs for connect trading partners’ systems.

SAP also unveiled a number of new planning and data analysis capabilities and enhancements to the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), the vendor’s application and data integration, data management and data analysis hub.

SAP, for example, announced a data marketplace for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, available later this year, that will allow organizations to consume, share and monetize data assets. The company also extended its low-code/no-code offerings within BTP, including pre-built content packages for SAP Workflow Management.