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If your business is involved in buying products, selling products, or both, your stakeholders have a vested interest in maximizing the efficiency of your transportation networks. Vehicle telematics systems are the way to go: combining technologies to collect vehicle data to derive insights on location, speed, maintenance, and more to improve safety, vehicle performance, and fuel consumption. Drivers can access travel-related dynamics in their vehicles, including weather and road conditions, while dispatchers can provide instructions on routes and daily tasks. Customer service agents can gain insights into delivery status and keep customers informed with real-time visibility. And you can meet sustainability goals by reducing carbon footprint. SAP has long offered solutions that improve logistics services, global track and trace, and transportation, supply chain, and asset management. In fact, the SAP Digital Vehicle Hub application is a central repository containing vehicle data. It combines master data modeling and data transaction and telemetric capabilities, as well as vehicle lifecycle status, search, and monitoring functionality. We continue to seek out innovative solutions from partners that incorporate vehicle telematics to integrate with our offerings. Our partners’ solutions are built on SAP Business Technology Platform, which brings together data and analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), application development, automation, and integration in a unified environment. Here are some of the top solutions incorporating vehicle telematics available on SAP Store. SAP Business Network Material Traceability. With this solution, you can enhance safety, sustainability, and customer loyalty by capturing material provenance end to end, even for the most complex products across multitier supply chains. You can build trust and strengthen customer relationships through product genealogy from raw-material batch origin to finished products. Last-mile Transport Management Software by VersaFleet. This innovative solution allows you to digitalize your supply chains all the way to the last mile. You can boost routing efficiency, maximizing resources and saving transport and fuel costs. And keep customers notified of each fulfillment milestone throughout the delivery journey with automated email and text notifications. Movement by project 44. Shippers, carriers, and logistics professionals can better manage supply chains with this solution that delivers real-time supply chain visibility, workflow, and insights for goods in transit. It connects with SAP Business Network for Logistics to deliver real-time tracking and improved on-time performance. Visibility can be extended directly to customers to enable continuous monitoring. ParcelLab Integration for SAP CX. This solution is all about post-purchase customer service – providing detailed information about the status of their parcel delivery instantly. Service agents can answer post-purchase inquiries quickly thanks to a 360-degree view of customer buying history, order and tracking details, and returns, with integration to SAP Customer Experience solutions. Predictive and Real-Time Platform by Shippeo. Shippeo offers a platform that aggregates data from multimodal transportation parties and stakeholders to provide access to the same information for real-time visibility. With API integration to SAP Business Network for Logistics and global track-and-trace functionality, the platform enables trade partners to collaborate, anticipate issues, and take action. Woocar by Woolabs. With Woocar mobile telematics, you can reduce road accidents and carbon footprint by monitoring road transportation operations and sales fleets in real time. Dispatch and last-mile companies make sure drivers know their daily tasks, what to do and when thanks to intelligent routing and task assignment functionality. The solution works with SAP Business Network for Logistics. Find the full list of cloud solutions incorporating vehicle telematics from SAP and partners on SAP Store, many available for a demo or free trial.

I love speaking with SAP partners about their visions of the future. How about this one: a day when finance professionals will be able to see everything and do everything necessary to manage working capital, all on a small mobile phone. “Achieving that vision will be the ultimate confirmation that digitalization works,” said Axel Rebien, CEO and CFO of Serrala, referring to the FS2 suite of solutions including Serrala FS2 AccountsPayable, a terrific solution for financial management available on SAP Store. Axel told me about attending the recent Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference in London, where he spoke about leveraging emerging technologies to achieve finance transformation. “It’s a topic I care about deeply, as it’s a big part of what we do at Serrala,” he remarked. “I thoroughly enjoyed talking with finance leaders from around the world who are likewise immersed in transforming our work. I discovered that others share the same dream of full digitalization, which will free them up to concentrate all their attention on steering working capital with a high degree of predictability.” Achieving Operational and Financial Excellence Serrala FS2 Solutions let CFOs and finance leaders take a big step toward the goal of autonomous finance. This best-of-suite solution unifies treasury, accounts payable, and accounts receivable, the three pillars of finance, into a central ecosystem. Axel noted that the name “FS2” represents the second generation of a solution originally designed to manage financial processes that now does much more: automating and providing insights into cash flows and working capital while creating more secure payment capabilities. Because security is always top of mind for finance leaders, FS2 also provides fraud monitoring. From an operational standpoint, the solution is embedded into SAP S/4HANA to centralize financial data and eliminate disconnected systems, streamlining processes and boosting accuracy and transparency. Managing Working Capital But security and operational efficiency aside, the main emphasis of my conversation with Axel and his colleague Magali Nedjar was on working capital management, which is clearly his passion and a core purpose for the company. Why? In this uncertain global economic environment, Axel explained, companies must be able to monitor liquidity and ensure that their cash count can withstand macroeconomic shocks. Supply chain disruptions are a constant threat, stemming from the pandemic, wildly gyrating demand, environmental disasters, and international sanctions, to name a few. Meanwhile, customers whose enterprises have been upended by geopolitical events can’t pay their bills, depleting coffers on the receivables end. And the fundamental risk for any enterprise is running out of cash. He added that margins are tighter within every sector, from retail to insurance and real estate. There is much more scrutiny from shareholders on financial management and how the CFO delivers on key performance indicators. In fact, the Office of the CFO has evolved from being perceived as a straightforward accounting function into a strategic role with a place in the C-suite. A longtime CFO with extensive experience as a financial expert, Axel is well acquainted with that evolution. Before joining Serrala, he led a new company developing a fast-growing modular platform for international payment transactions. Delivering Extraordinary Results Through Partnership Serrala was created nearly 40 years ago in Hamburg, Germany, and has a long history with SAP. “The original founders saw the potential of ERP, which, back then, was just SAP,” Axel commented. “A brilliant first step was having the foresight to focus on bringing ERP into the Office of the CFO.” Today, Serrala has an SVP, Partner Ecosystem responsible for all partners – that’s Magali – who invests a lot in building a great partnership with SAP. Other partners in the ecosystem include newer companies like FloQast as well as well-established firms like NTT Data, IBM or Microsoft. Her primary focus is on amplifying these partnerships and adding value. “When we can put all the parties together with the power of an ecosystem, the results we can deliver are extraordinary,” she said. Axel noted that Serrala’s relationship with SAP has matured from an informal partnership to an alliance that aims to help customers improve their processes without altering their core, “We are a partner to our customers in their transition to SAP S/4HANA.” If your organization shares this vision of achieving financial transformation, I recommend that you visit SAP Store to learn more about Serrala FS² Accounts Payable and the FS² suite of solutions.

Increasing trust among the many stakeholders involved in a transaction is imperative in business today given the ever-present vigilance required for data security. Equally crucial is the ability to streamline the many touch points in agreements across global borders and through complex supply chains. That’s one reason that the use of smart contracts has become so prevalent. And with improved scalability, standardization, and interoperability, adoption of smart contracts has soared. Smart contracts represent the next generation of digitalized, automated processes involving multiple parties, executing agreements without the involvement of an intermediary. Smart contracts are stored on a blockchain network, activating when predetermined conditions are met. Besides automating workflows and dramatically speeding up processes, smart contracts ensure certainty among participants of the outcome. SAP has long offered solutions that improve contract management, strategic sourcing, and supplier relationship processes. We continue to seek out innovative solutions from partners to augment our offerings, adding industry-specific capabilities and specialized knowledge. Our partners’ solutions are built on SAP Business Technology Platform, which brings together data and analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), application development, automation, and integration in a unified environment. Here are some of the top solutions for smart contracts from SAP and partners available on SAP Store. Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) for SAP Ariba. This SAP Endorsed App integrates with SAP strategic sourcing solutions to deliver contract lifecycle management across the source-to-pay process. An intelligent contracting platform, ICI accelerates turnaround times by enabling easy assembly of contracts leveraging preapproved legal terms, automating processes even for complex business scenarios. LambdaX Contract Lifecycle Management by Cognitus Consulting case closure. This solution simplifies contract management tasks for all users. Contracts can be created in SAP S/4HANA instantly with Generative AI–powered automation, automatically synchronizing with master data. Users can be confident of accuracy, consistency, and efficiency without the need for manual updates. LIVE CONTRACT by SYNCPILOT. Fully integrated with SAP BTP, this SAP Endorsed App enables platform-based consulting, interactive document sharing, and case closure with e-signatures. LIVE CONTRACT helps agents conduct sales and close calls with confidence. Documents can be transferred with end-to-end privacy and security and migrated directly into document management systems. SAP Ariba Contracts. With this solution, you can digitalize contract requests, authoring, workflows, negotiation, approval, and execution across the entire contract lifecycle. Renew contracts on time, prevent contract leakage, negotiate best-value agreements, and connect with suppliers throughout the contract process – controlling costs and improving workflow efficiency and compliance. Find the full list of cloud solutions for smart contracts from SAP and partners on SAP Store, many available for a demo or free trial.

As technology continues to permeate every aspect of our lives, obtaining certifications has emerged as a valuable step for students to secure rewarding job opportunities. Students demonstrate their aptitude for SAP and interest in SAP-related careers by earning an SAP certification. Why become certified? The globally recognized SAP Certifications are proof of competence at the highest level of specialized SAP expertise. This can unlock the door to promising opportunities! SAP is used by thousands of companies worldwide, creating an ecosystem full of technology enthusiasts, cutting-edge technology, and innovations. Get certified and take the chance to secure a future-proof job in a global community looking to leave a mark in the world.   How to find the right SAP Certification for you? SAP Learning offers a variety of certification-focused learning journeys on many topics, SAP solutions and skill levels. Many of the professors in the SAP University Alliances also teach SAP solutions in their classes. In some cases, you may be ready to sit for the relevant certification exam just by taking their class. In most cases we recommend completing the associated learning journey to fully prepare. Of course, there are many possible learning journeys and certifications. Also, the list of certification-focused learning journeys is expanding. You can explore the full list here. Additionally, learners may earn a record of achievement (badge) after successfully completing many of the introductory learning journeys.