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That is an episode of the SAP ANZ Finest Run Podcast that I lately recorded with Rushenka Perera, Head of Advertising, SAP ANZ. We mentioned why companies needs to be innovating to fight world disruptions in addition to some examples of how companies are benefiting from their innovation tasks
ANZ podcast edited transcript
Rushenka: Good day everyone and welcome to immediately’s version of the Finest Run Podcast delivered to you by SAP. In the present day we’ve received a boomerang speaker. I’ve received Timo Elliott with me within the studio and Timo was final on this present in 2020. In the present day we’re going to be speaking about innovation within the post-COVID period. Timo, we’re actually happy to have you ever on our shores as a result of Timo really isn’t even based mostly in Australia. Inform us slightly bit about your self.
Timo: I’m French. I reside in Paris. Sure, it’s been a protracted strategy to get right here, however I’m very glad I did. The truth is, I landed at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning and by 9.30 I used to be browsing at Manly. In order that was already an important alternative for me right here.
My position at SAP is I’m an Innovation Evangelist. That includes working with prospects on the vanguard of innovation, gathering the teachings realized after which sharing that with as many individuals as attainable in order that we are able to all be extra profitable.
And also you had been telling me earlier than you’ve been to 60 nations with SAP.
I’ve been with the SAP for round 31 years now, at all times working in innovation roles carefully with prospects on the newest era of expertise.
Fabulous. Timo, are you able to please begin by telling us what has introduced you to our shores?
I’m right here to current on the Gartner Information and Analytics Convention. I did a session initially of this week on mainly placing the enterprise again into enterprise analytics. After which yesterday we had an important session overlaying innovation for the general public sector.
During the last two years, we’ve clearly been embroiled within the pandemic and hopefully that’s come into an in depth, fingers crossed. So why don’t you give us a few of your observations about what we’ve seen during the last couple of years with companies making an attempt to navigate by that disruption?
Properly, probably the most fascinating factor for me, after all, is that it vastly accelerated innovation as a result of firms needed to in an effort to survive. They needed to digitalize any handbook processes. They couldn’t depend on folks coming to the workplace. They needed to do issues in new methods. I used to be speaking to a buyer, Decathlon, they’re a big retail sports activities retailer in Paris. And the Chief Worth Officer put it to me this manner: he stated, “nothing is not possible anymore.” In different phrases, that they had quite a lot of innovation deliberate, however due to the pandemic, all the obstacles that usually would have taken years to beat, they had been capable of do in a short time as a result of the initiatives that they had had been completely essential so as to have the ability to maintain doing enterprise.
In order that’s probably the most thrilling a part of it — the transfer to e-commerce, folks shopping for on-line, extra sustainable merchandise and so forth. However the different factor that occurred is that as a result of folks had been in a rush to innovate, they ended up doing it in silos. And I lately noticed some information from IDC that confirmed that a few years in the past, round 25% of organizations stated that their approach of doing innovation was in islands of innovation — so the overwhelming majority of them stated that they had a extra strategic method. And sadly, these numbers have gone down—folks innovated in a silo as a result of they didn’t have time to do it in a extra strategic approach. And so now it’s solely about 50% of organizations that say that they’ve a strategic method.
So, sadly: there’s a lot of innovation. However due to all these new silos, it’s really more durable to do much more innovation sooner or later.
Yeah, and I think about with these silos, it’ll be slower as nicely as a result of everybody’s working in isolation and due to this fact, to really progress sooner goes to be slower.
All people desires to innovate sooner. That’s the primary factor that everybody desires to do. And all the analysts are in settlement with what that appears like. It’s about having a stable info basis after which a extra versatile set of constructing blocks so that folks can put collectively new functions extra shortly and simply when it comes to companies. However after all, attending to that new approach of working just isn’t as straightforward because it sounds. Completely.
And in your travels, you’ll have talked to various leaders throughout companies. So give us some insights into what their considerations are, what their questions are to you about innovation.
I’d say that one of many issues that has modified not less than due to the pandemic once more was new methods of working. Folks had been agreeably stunned to seek out that they’re capable of do huge go reside tasks for giant strategic enterprise software adjustments. Even with everyone working from house, every part 100% remotely. And naturally, now we are able to all meet nose to nose, however individuals are retaining a few of these advantages. In order that’s been nice. We’re innovating sooner as a result of we don’t must spend as a lot time in nose to nose conferences. We will do it remotely. We’ve got workers all over the world and so forth. In order that’s been one of many greatest advantages. I believe the continuing considerations are such that the pandemic hopefully, fingers crossed, is beginning to ebb largely behind us in most areas of the world. However after all, it’s not like there aren’t different issues on the planet. So there the availability chain issues are persevering with. In Europe, we now have a horrible battle. There are that’s resulted in excessive power prices all over the place. We’ve got the inflation, the specter of recession, the existential menace of worldwide local weather change, excessive climate occasions. I perceive right here in Australia, there’s been quite a lot of flooding and forest fires.
All of that’s creating a brand new ambiance of uncertainty. The folks need to have the ability to create foundations for his or her group to have the ability to react sooner as a result of they don’t know what’s coming. So the hot button is flexibility and agility and the expertise foundations that assist that. And people firms that did really innovate over that Covid period, they had been capable of differentiate themselves much more in no matter business they’re in. So for these firms that didn’t, what’s your viewpoint on what they need to be doing to trying to do to innovate?
A few of these organizations are not round as a result of sadly, quite a lot of companies did fold with all the lockdowns and it was actually arduous in various sectors. However the organizations that had been capable of innovate have survived, generally even thrived. E-commerce organizations are nearly embarrassed about how nicely they’ve completed in the course of the pandemic interval. Any recommendation to different organizations? I believe one of many key issues that has gone away, I hope, is that some organizations had been slightly complacent about, you realize, why innovate? My enterprise is steady. I don’t must do something otherwise. However that’s slightly bit like standing on a down escalator. You’re slowly shifting backwards in comparison with the remainder of the atmosphere. With a view to keep nonetheless in trendy enterprise, you need to be strolling up the down escalator. It’s a must to put effort in as a result of the atmosphere round you is evolving. Clients have greater calls for. Your workers have new expectations. Your opponents are upping their sport. So you need to do a specific amount of innovation simply to remain nonetheless.
Yeah, nice analogy. Simply when it comes to the place do folks start? So, you realize, folks normally assume, oh, that is this nice huge factor that I’ve to sort out. It’s all too huge. Can I put it to a facet? However the place would you advise folks to start?
It goes again to what the analysts are saying about this digital expertise platform method. So you’ve gotten a core set of programs. So having a clear core within the cloud nowadays, as a result of meaning it’s a lot sooner and simpler to implement. What Gartner, for instance, calls composable functions on high. So a lot of the organizations I discuss to are on that journey. In order that they’re moved a few of their programs to the cloud. They’re fascinated with shifting extra. It’s by no means going to be 100% of the cloud. There’s at all times going to be some programs they need on premise. However due to these programs which can be within the cloud, then they’ll begin constructing the blocks of innovation on high. So a primary step is commonly the power to do extra analytics within the cloud. It’s sooner and extra versatile. Organizations have invested loads in applied sciences to permit extra automation, permitting enterprise folks to eliminate probably the most boring elements of their jobs. And now there’s an enormous new wave of options similar to a low code, no code options the place enterprise folks can begin doing extra of the innovation themselves.
And are you seeing variations within the sizes of organizations and industries when it comes to who’s innovating?
It’s a very arduous query to reply as a result of there’s innovation all over the place. It’s probably not a solution, however I’d say that the one factor that I’ve seen is that innovation was actually siloed by business. The businesses in a specific business would look to that business for for what to vary and enhance. Now it’s rather more open. You already know, banks are realizing that they’ll be taught from retailers and retailers are studying that they’ll be taught concerning the Web of Issues from manufacturing firms. So there’s much more transparency, much more sharing. And the common degree of innovation consciousness goes up. And the identical is true throughout areas. Once more, as a result of everyone works remotely, as a result of there’s a lot transparency internationally, there aren’t actually pockets anymore of industries that aren’t innovating. That stated, clearly the companies which can be based mostly on information are usually the primary to strive issues out. It’s more durable to innovate within the bodily world. You even have bodily belongings. It takes slightly bit longer. So issues like banking or telecom, they’re usually the primary to check out new issues as a result of they don’t must convert their manufacturing unit.
It’s segue to our subsequent part, which is applied sciences for innovation. So what are a number of the applied sciences being utilized by companies for his or her innovation tasks?
The most important and most enjoyable space for me, not less than, is, as I discussed, round no code and low code, as a result of everybody desires to innovate sooner. How do you do this? Properly, one of many greatest alternatives is to speed up innovation by letting enterprise folks do extra of it themselves of their space of experience with out IT and expertise being a bottleneck. So I talked to a buyer a number of weeks again who defined to me that he believes that his data staff know precisely what’s going fallacious within the enterprise they usually know what needs to be completed to repair it. However they really feel powerless. They really feel like they’re on the mercy of the machine as a result of they’ll’t repair it themselves. All they’ll do is level it out to a expertise staff. However that expertise staff, there’s by no means sufficient time. There’s by no means sufficient assets. There’s at all times a backlog. So, you realize, the reply is not any, we are able to’t. We don’t have time. Or sure, in a yr’s time, we’ll get to take a look at it. Now, these new instruments have gotten actually highly effective, the place enterprise folks can create their whole functions and workflows and analytics and acquire information themselves and mannequin it and do all of it themselves.
That’s an enormous alternative. There are some risks, as a result of in case you let anyone in your corporation do this, the outcome might be going to be chaos. Not everyone is able to be enabled. All people goes to recreate the wheel and get calculations fallacious. So the suitable method just isn’t low code or no code or professional code, however co-code, the place you’ve gotten a mixture of the expertise groups placing into place the Lego bricks that replicate the completely different objects of the enterprise, like a buyer or an bill and so forth. Or it could possibly be a block saying, take motion, invoice a buyer, present a suggestion to this prospect. After which the enterprise folks can take these blocks and use them and alter the order and wire them up in several methods and have completely different authorizations and so forth. Within the data that they’re going to try this in a approach that isn’t going to be damaging for the system, it’s going to be scalable, it’s going to be compliant, observe all the safety legal guidelines and so forth. Nice. Now in your travels, you need to come throughout one which stands out. So is there a enterprise innovation mission that you would share with us with out freely giving any commerce secrets and techniques?
That is a type of ones the place it’s simply nearly not possible for me to decide on an instance, as a result of I imply, my job is to work with lots of. However I did select one. And so since we’re simply speaking about this theme of enterprise consumer empowerment, one good mission was completed by DHL, the packaging folks, logistics. It was really the enterprise unit that put collectively an software utilizing certainly one of these new low code, no code instruments. And it was designed, it’s a cell software for the drivers of their vans. Once they go to start out their shift, they first must do a visible inspection of the truck to see if there’s any harm, slightly bit like we do once we decide up a rental automotive. You examine to see if any individual else has broken it earlier than. So this app permits you to take an image of any harm you see, after which add it to the core programs with some details about the place the harm is and so forth. And it’s a pleasant little engaging software, however what’s fascinating about it’s that it was created with out a single line of code. And with none of the core IT folks having to take care of it, as a result of it makes use of this interface that permits you to simply actually drag and drop blocks.
There’s a block that claims take photograph. After which when you’ve taken the photograph, you’ll be able to say add photograph. You don’t must take care of any syntax or something difficult. So once more, it’s unleashing the power for enterprise folks to create these functions so long as these constructing blocks are accurately outlined within the first place.
Nice. So final query to you. So in case you had a crystal ball, what do you assume the applied sciences of the longer term can be and the way would they drive innovation in enterprise?
Let me go huge image on you. Usually, at any time when there are new applied sciences that change the best way we do issues in some vital approach, we undertake the brand new expertise in enterprises. But it surely takes a very long time for us to essentially optimize the usage of that expertise. You will have heard of historic examples similar to when factories moved once they had been initially based mostly round steam engines. So there’s a central engine with an entire sequence of difficult belts that will switch the facility to the remainder of the manufacturing unit. When electrical energy got here alongside, that offered new alternatives to have many smaller electrical motors. However due to some prices and behavior and the price of change, most factories simply changed the steam engine with an electrical engine and did it the outdated approach. And it took about 50 years, historians reckon, earlier than that subsequent era of factories was really constructed round these new alternatives of doing issues in several methods. So I believe we’re on that journey proper now in relation to cloud applied sciences. So cloud isn’t new. We’re adopting it. Organizations are doing it. However in some ways, we’re utilizing it the best way we did outdated expertise.
For instance, take information. So I’ve labored with information and analytics for the final 30 years or so. And for probably the most of that point, the primary step and information is the lifeblood of innovation. It’s completely essential a part of digital transformation. Step one was at all times to tear the info out of the prevailing programs after which transfer it to some devoted analytics atmosphere. And we did that as a result of the expertise limitations, you simply couldn’t do the analytics in an operational system. The issue with that’s it’s a bit like taking a tree and ripping it out of the forest after which making an attempt to get it to develop in a unique atmosphere. You’ve misplaced the roots, the advanced metadata and the enterprise context of that info. So you will get it to develop in a unique atmosphere. It simply takes big quantities of effort and time. And it’s reckoned about like 80% of the trouble of performing some kind of analytics mission is the recreation of what you misplaced by shifting the info there within the first place. So we’ve had information warehousing after which information lakes. And now there are distributors offering information lake homes and information clouds.
But it surely’s nonetheless that imaginative and prescient of the first step, convey all the info into one place. However after all, in a cloud atmosphere, that doesn’t make as a lot sense anymore as a result of it’s all within the cloud. And we are able to transfer to a extra connecting info quite than accumulating info method. And so that you simply don’t must do it the outdated approach anymore. And once more, the analysts are responding to this. They’ve this notion of information mesh or information material, information orchestration and information pipelines. The place as a lot as attainable, you allow the info the place it already is with all of that wealthy enterprise context and also you convey it collectively as and when it’s wanted in an effort to do some innovation. And that is enabling organizations which can be adopting this type of method. It permits a approach of coping with innovation the place you are able to do it at extra of a enterprise abstraction degree as a result of you’ll be able to deal within the sort of enterprise ideas which have already been outlined in your core programs and mix these Lego blocks as you need. As a substitute of getting to take care of columns of information and information extraction and so forth. So that’s folks that may now do innovation based mostly on enterprise course of and what enterprise folks care about, about KPIs quite than feeds and speeds.
And the opposite huge profit is since you’re coping with this enterprise objects, it’s additionally a lot nearer. It’s simpler to translate that to those new enterprise technologists. These energy customers are going to be creating these composite functions. In order that’s the large image facet. I believe we have to speed up that as organizations shifting to this extra enterprise centered method to innovation. Thanks to essentially leveraging the trendy facets of the cloud. The opposite factor I’d say, in case you’re like actual full on crystal ball, like approach on the market. The following degree of that is one click on innovation, the place as a result of it’s all within the cloud. You’ll be able to, we have already got applied sciences that permit you to peer into present enterprise processes and spot the place there are potential issues. And we now have huge databases of benchmarks of how organizations deal with this. So in principle, you would click on a button, it could go and construct a prioritized lists of the enterprise course of issues that it finds in your organizations in comparison with others. You’d choose, okay, I’d like to try this one. And once more, it’s all within the cloud. We’ve got the very best apply approaches from an enormous ecosystem of suppliers who know the way to try this very well.
Whether or not it’s AI powered invoicing or whether or not it’s new methods of building buyer experiences utilizing IoT, there are off the shelf applied sciences that exist. We must always have the ability to simply set up them for you.You’ll click on the button and it could simply seem in your atmosphere with like seamlessly with all the present programs that you simply’re already utilizing. You wouldn’t have to focus on the expertise and you may as a substitute think about the enterprise and folks and alter administration and tradition facets.
That makes quite a lot of sense to me as a enterprise individual. I believe that will be a improbable factor if we might really get that going. So, Timo, it’s been nice having you on the present. You at all times present some nice experiences and in addition insights into what we are able to count on. So thanks very a lot.
Thanks, everyone, for watching and listening immediately. And also you’ve been listening to the very best run podcast delivered to you by SAP. You’ve been listening to the very best run podcast delivered to you by SAP.
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