[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/05\/17\/sap-ceo-bill-mcdermott-empathy-to-action-is-a-race-without-a-finish-line\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/05\/17\/sap-ceo-bill-mcdermott-empathy-to-action-is-a-race-without-a-finish-line\/","headline":"SAP CEO Bill McDermott: \u201cEmpathy to action is a race without a finish line\u201d","name":"SAP CEO Bill McDermott: \u201cEmpathy to action is a race without a finish line\u201d","description":"SAP CEO Bill McDermott listed impressive accomplishments during his keynote to 30,000 live attendees at the company\u2019s annual SAPPHIRE NOW event.","datePublished":"2017-05-17","dateModified":"2021-08-31","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/tim-clark\/#Person","name":"Tim Clark","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/tim-clark\/","identifier":163,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6d2feb9089a1f4f5d1d487aed92857c1fe6a89802a1faac715204973c5511b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6d2feb9089a1f4f5d1d487aed92857c1fe6a89802a1faac715204973c5511b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/SAP_ORL2017_k00027.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/SAP_ORL2017_k00027.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/05\/17\/sap-ceo-bill-mcdermott-empathy-to-action-is-a-race-without-a-finish-line\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":996,"keywords":["SAP HANA","Sapphire"],"articleBody":"During his keynote to 30,000 live attendees at the company\u2019s annual SAPPHIRE NOW event, SAP CEO Bill McDermott wasted no time checking off a list of impressive accomplishments \u2013 and just as quickly proved that his empathy to action mantra from a year ago was not an empty promise.With a visit from Michael Dell and news about SAP Leonardo, the company\u2019s biggest bet since SAP HANA, McDermott made a very strong argument that even though SAP has been an IT innovator for over 40 years, the company is still hungry for more.\u201cWe\u2019ve been turning empathy into action at SAP,\u201d said McDermott. \u201cYou wanted detailed, solution roadmaps, we gave them to you.\u201dSAP provided customers with SAP Transformation Navigator, to help plan a smooth transition to S\/4 HANA, the company\u2019s in-memory ERP suite available on premise or in the cloud. SAP has also been busy enhancing the user experience for its customers by strengthening its portfolio with SAP Fiori.\u201cEmpathy to action is a race without a finish line, said McDermott who had no problem addressing the issue of \u201cindirect access\u201d which is causing some anxiety for customers. \u201cProtecting IP, and accommodating the ease of doing business is a delicate balance. But even as we maintain that balance we can still show greater empathy for you.\u201dAs a result, a new Simplified Pricing model was announced whereby Procure to Pay and Order to Cash scenarios are based on actual orders. In addition, static read access in third party systems is owned by the customer.\u201cThis is another example where if we listen we can evolve and improve,\u201d said McDermott. \u201cSAP will remain a culture in the pursuit of excellence. We understand you, and you alone determine whether we win or lose.\u201dMcDermott said SAP has always been known as a humble company, but its hunger to help customers succeed is insatiable. For 45 years SAP has co-innovated together with its customers, providing Max Attention, to protect their investments, while accelerating its innovation strategy since 2010.\u201cWe have invested more than 50 billion in innovation to drive your business forward,\u201d said McDermott. SAP HANA has become the de facto, standard in memory platform for the enterprise.\u201dSAP HANA was adopted faster by the global SAP customer base than any other SAP product. And with SAP S\/4 HANA the company is well positioned to provide \u201cCloud ERP for the 21st century.\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s the most intelligent, relevant cloud ERP in the marketplace today,\u201d said McDermott. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to be supported by fastest ecosystem in terms of growth year over year in the industry.\u201d SAP partners now include Apple, Google and Facebook.      The moments that define us: How resiliency is built                The moments that define us usually aren't the moments we believe they'll be. It's not the spotlight or accolades that truly exemplify us; it's what we do in the moments away from those moments.      Cutting out the corporate cholesterol\u201cWe want to focus on what matters and cut out the corporate cholesterol,\u201d said McDermott. \u201cWe want healthy companies to lead the way as best run businesses.\u201dMOD Pizza, for instance is growing very quickly thanks to SAP S\/4 HANA Cloud. Mai Jim is reinventing customer experience with SAP Hybris. Jaguar is inspiring its workforce with SAP SuccessFactors. JP Morgan Chase is boosting transparency and compliance with SAP Ariba.\u201cFrom this position of enormous strength, we are ready to join hands with you, to seize the future,\u201d said McDermott.For whom the Dell tollsAnother important customer that is using SAP to transform its business is Dell and none other than founder CEO Michael Dell was on hand to let the SAPPHIRE NOW audience know where the IT industry is headed.Dell said the cost of making something intelligent is fast approaching zero dollars seeing explosive growth of all things intelligent across all sectors and industries.\u201cWhen you get all this data coming in from hundreds of billions of connected devices and apply to that artificial intelligence, it\u2019s almost like a fourth industrial revolution and an incredible opportunity for companies to re-imagine themselves in this digital age.\u201dDell has recently made bold moves with recent acquisitions, bundled into a new group called Dell Technologies, and is using SAP HANA to help manage this new venture.\u201cSAP is helping us run the business in real time whether finance, procurement, supply chain or travel expenses,\u201d said Dell. \u201cIt\u2019s helping us deliver great capabilities to our customers.\u201dDell also said digital transformation is not an IT project bit a CEO project.\u201cIf your CEO doesn\u2019t understand that, have him call me,\u201d quipped Dell. \u201cIt has to be driven by the CEO and the IT organization must be completely aligned with strategy of the company.\u201dCompeting in the era of digital businessWith so many new buzzwords like blockchain, machine learning and artificial intelligence vying for people\u2019s attention, few can explain what all of it actually means. From SAP\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s all about intelligently connecting things, people and businesses \u2013 with speed as the key to digital business success.\u201cIf we do it right, you can know more, do more and care more for your customers,\u201d said McDemrott.In response, SAP Leonardo — SAP\u2019s biggest move since SAP HANA, according to McDermott \u2013 will help SAP customers compete in the digital business era. SAP Leonardo is a \u201cdigital innovation system\u201d that integrates breakthrough technologies and runs them seamlessly in the cloud. It also offers design thinking methodology and SAP expertise to help customers rapidly adopt new capabilities and business models – and remain on the cutting edge as SAP adds new technologies to the portfolio.\u201cIt is SAP\u2019s job to be an early adopter of the intelligent enterprise,\u201d said McDemott. \u201cWe want you to win.\u201d  Every digital moment matters.Are you making the most of them?1,000 business leaders dish on how to stand out from the crowd with a great CX. Get the details\u00a0HERE.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2017","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"05","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/05\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"17","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/05\/\/17\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"SAP CEO Bill McDermott: \u201cEmpathy to action is a race without a finish line\u201d","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/05\/17\/sap-ceo-bill-mcdermott-empathy-to-action-is-a-race-without-a-finish-line\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]