SAP, a global leader in enterprise software solutions, is once again set to host its highly anticipated annual event tailored for SMEs – the SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024.
For over a decade, SAP Partner events have served as cornerstone gatherings within the business realm, fostering collaboration among technology experts SAP partners, and SMEs from diverse industries.
Subhajit, VP Sales – APPSeCONNECT at SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024, Madrid
In 2023 itself SAP Partner Summit for SME 2023 has witnessed 1868 participants and have proven instrumental in exploring cutting-edge innovations, strategic approaches, and optimal practices conducive to the sustained growth and prosperity of SMEs.
The SME landscape boasts a staggering 33.2 million businesses, a number continually surging with each passing year, in the US itself. Despite this exponential growth, many SMEs grapple with the challenges of technological adoption, access to pertinent information, and insights essential for managing and expanding their operations effectively.
Hence, the SAP Partner Summit for SME emerges as an indispensable platform, offering a comprehensive array of informative and actionable sessions.
From enlightening keynote addresses to interactive breakout sessions, immersive workshops, and hands-on demonstrations, attendees are poised to glean invaluable insights tailored to their unique business needs.
For APPSeCONNECT, the SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 has not only been just about learning, but also an excellent opportunity to gain insights and network with the buzzing SAP community.
SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 – Key Highlights
The SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 in Phoenix was held from 10 – 12th April 2024 at the Phoenix Convention Center – one of the most beautiful and sophisticated convention centers in the United States. It interconnected campus including three ballrooms, 99 meeting/breakout rooms, a 2,300-seat performance hall and an Executive Conference Center add on to the grandeur of the venue.
The event kicked off with an electrifying start in Phoenix, featuring Rainer Zinow, Senior VP of Product Management for SMEs, who set the tone with insights and updates on driving the ERP journey for SMEs together.
Claus Gruenewald, Global Ecosystem Lead SAP ERP Cloud, shared their core ideology of “Partners First” and “with Partner Only,” SAP reaffirmed its commitment to prioritizing its partners’ success. He stressed the importance of placing the Business Technology Platform at the center of business strategy to drive growth and highlighted SAP’s unwavering support for SMEs, positioning the platform as a catalyst for their success.
As the summit unfolds, here’s a glimpse of what went on!
SAP Business One – Cloud Future
One key focus of this summit has been the evolution of SAP Business One into a cloud-centric solution, catering to the needs of the lower mid-market segment and small businesses.
With the cloud’s scalability and efficiency, SAP aims to empower SMEs with enhanced operational capabilities and growth opportunities.
SAP Business Technology Platform
SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 showcased the expanded capabilities of the SAP Business Technology Platform, leveraging cloud-native technologies to support customers’ growth and facilitate comprehensive business transformations. These advancements reinforced SAP’s commitment to empowering SMEs with cutting-edge solutions.
SAP’s Build Strategy tailored for SMEs took the center stage, offering insights into best practices such as SAP Build Process Automation, SAP Build Apps, and SAP Build Work Zone.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition
The introduction of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition promised to address the diverse needs of businesses, from large enterprises to the upper mid-market segment. This comprehensive ERP solution enables agility, scalability, and efficiency across organizational sizes and complexities.
SAP Generative AI Assistant
The attendees also got the opportunity to witness the unveiling of “Joule” – SAP’s innovative generative AI assistant.
GROW with SAP
The summit will also showcase “GROW with SAP,” a transformative digital experience tailored to meet the evolving needs of today’s businesses. Combining innovation and accessibility, GROW with SAP empowers organizations to thrive in the digital era.
Breakout Sessions
Attendees had the opportunity to explore the game-changing power of MyWave for SAP Business One, an innovative interaction layer that combines LLM with guided business processes. MyWave.AI GenAI serves as a personal co-pilot, enhancing efficiency within SAP Business One operations.
APPSeCONNECT at SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 – Phoenix
Team APPSeCONNECT was thrilled to be part of the SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 held in Phoenix from April 10th to 12th. Represented by Shailendu Verma, Co-founder of APPSeCONNECT, our team had an enriching experience showcasing our expertise and solutions to a diverse audience.
As an SSP sponsor at the summit, APPSeCONNECT had a prominent presence with our booth in the bustling networking area. It was a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with long-standing partners, forge new connections, and engage with industry peers.
Among the familiar faces we met were Paulo Almeida, Carl, one of our esteemed long-standing connections. It was a pleasure to connect with Senthil from Savic, adding to the camaraderie of the event.
The summit offered us the privilege of interacting with top SAP leaders, providing valuable insights and opportunities for learning.
One of the highlights was our engaging discussion with our partner ECS on SAP Integration, where we explored collaboration opportunities and synergies.
In addition to networking and discussions, we took the initiative to create personalized videos for our partners, leaving a lasting impression.
David Gurvis from ECS expressed his appreciation, stating,
“Shailendu showed me your video. That was incredible and very heartwarming. I am working on more opportunities and want APPSeCONNECT to be our partner for all integration.”
The SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 was indeed a fruitful and rewarding experience for Team APPSeCONNECT, reinforcing our commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellence in SAP integration solutions.
APPSeCONNECT at SAP Partner Summit 2024 for SME – Madrid
APPSeCONNECT recently participated in the SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 held in the vibrant city of Madrid from April 23rd to 25th. As SSP sponsors, we had the opportunity to showcase our extensive capabilities in SAP integration, reinforcing our expertise and commitment to the SAP ecosystem.
SAP Partner Summit for SME 2024 in Madrid gave us the perfect opportunity to reconnect with our long-standing partners and forge new connections within the vibrant SAP community.
Represented by Subhajit Goswami, VP of Sales, we engaged in insightful discussions and explored avenues for collaboration, actively engaging with SAP Leaders, industry experts, and fellow partners throughout the summit. We also explored the latest trends and innovations shaping the world of SAP, fostering new connections and strengthening existing relationships.
From attending sessions led by esteemed speakers like Claus Gruenewald and Rainer Zinow, to networking with bright minds such as Michal Koza, Rahul Jain, and Syed Sabir Ahmed, each interaction fueled our enthusiasm for collaboration and innovation.
We were thrilled to reconnect with longstanding partners like BeOneNorth, Cosib GmbH and Seidor Africa, while also forging new connections with companies like Sinergis, SAFIR CONSULTING, and Ingold Solutions GmbH. These encounters not only enriched our experience but also opened doors to exciting opportunities for future collaboration.
As the summit came to a close, we left Madrid with a renewed sense of inspiration and a wealth of valuable connections. We look forward to leveraging these relationships to drive innovation and empower businesses in the ever-evolving landscape of SAP.
APPSeCONNECT is always eager to build new and long-lasting partnerships with more key players in the SAP Business One landscape, and help provide wide range of SAP solutions and integrations. If you’re interested to learn about our partnership program and complement your SAP solutions with our seamless integrations, then click below to know more.
SAP Latest Innovations, Roadmap and Future Plans
The SAP Partner Summit for SMEs 2024 was an insightful event where SAP revealed its entire roadmap and future plans for the next decade. Of course, such a comprehensive roadmap is bound to include many upgrades and innovations, and for those who could not attend the event, or even those who did but missed some key updates and sessions, here’s a brief overview of everything that SAP unveiled during the summit!
Recent Innovations and Updates
Recent innovations in SAP Business One, introduced at the SAP Partner Summit, include:
New and Improved Web Client
SAP Business One now has a redefined web client that is designed to ease navigation and usability. So SAP customers can now expect a smoother interface and better user experience, making it easier to manage and operate the ERP system.
Globalization and Compliance
As SAP plans to establish Business One as a global ERP solution, so they have made significant improvements in terms of compliance and localizations. It supports more than 50 country localizations, maintaining the tax regulations of each country and offering additional flexible tax management tools.
Security and Authentication
SAP Business One has also improved their user identity and access management system with the identity and authentication management (IAM) service, which allows users to complete authentication with their identity provider (IdP)
SAP’s Vision and Direction for Business One
Cloud ERP
The major direction for the future of SAP Business One is to move towards a cloud-first ERP strategy. As such, SAP SE is fully geared to improve cloud functionality, also making major improvements to the service layer. This is a justified direction due to the clear benefits of cloud over on-premise solutions. The goal is to make SAP Business One a complete ERP solution with easy accessibility and improved performance, for which the transition towards cloud ERP strategy is definitely the right direction.
Extension of Functionality
SAP’s vision also includes making the ERP system customizable and better suited for business requirements with custom developed add-ons and extensions. It plans to promote such developments through the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), which enables businesses to build, deploy, and manage applications quickly and efficiently, leveraging SAP’s advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, IoT, and analytics.
Focus on Intelligent Technologies
SAP Business One is integrating AI and machine learning to automate tasks and offer deeper insights into business operations, which doesn’t come as a surprise considering how more technologies and solutions are leveraging the power of AI. While SAP Business One itself is a powerful solution that streamlines business processes, now it will be even more simpler and easier to operate the ERP system with the help of the intelligent AI co-pilot – Joule.
Enhancing Functionalities through Integration
Despite being one of the most comprehensive ERP systems for SMEs, the capabilities of SAP Business One can be further enhanced through integrations. SAP itself is introducing various integration solution, such built-in integration with Microsoft 365, Teams, and Outlook. Further, SAP implementation partners and other important third parties within the SAP ecosystem offer even more integration possibilities.
So the future direction also emphasizes on making SAP Business One not just a powerful ERP system on its own, but also facilitating seamless integrations with other applications so businesses can completely automate their core operations.
APPSeCONNECT itself is a key player in the SAP integration landscape, helping users make their ERP system even more powerful with our advanced integration packages such as SAP and Gmail integration and AI integrations for SAP. For SMEs looking to integrate their SAP Business One ERP with other enterprise applications, our experts are always available for a comprehensive demo of our integrations.
Closing Notes – APPSeCONNECT at SAP Partner Summit 2024 for SME
The strategic partnership between SAP and APPSeCONNECT dates back to 2022, originating from our past association in the SAP SMB Innovation Summit in Manila. Over a decade of leadership association with SAP has solidified our commitment to innovation and collaboration within the SAP ecosystem.
The recent SAP Partner Summit for SME showcased APPSeCONNECT’s integration platform, emphasizing its role in streamlining operations by connecting SAP systems with other applications.
By joining the APPSeCONNECT Partner Program, partners gain access to a robust platform for seamless SAP integration and business process automation. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to accelerate your success in the SAP ecosystem – sign up today and embark on a journey of innovation and growth with APPSeCONNECT!
