#techvision2021

Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021

Driving change,
leading with the
SAP® ecosystem
The technology trends that will define
new growth opportunities for SAP customers

From insights to action, the path to extraordinary value starts here.

 #techvision2021
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5

Foreword
In this extraordinary, unprecedented time, all of us— The good news is that organizations that use SAP®
businesses, communities, governments, and individuals— technologies and solutions have a huge opportunity
have reacted, responded, adapted and managed to capitalize on this moment of truth by leading with
Caspar Borggreve
challenges with fortitude. Now, as the world looks forward technology. The five trends we set out in this Technology
Global Lead – SAP Business
with hope, our focus turns to what happens next. Vision explore how key aspects of the consumer,
Group, Accenture
business, and technology landscape are changing in
What does the future hold for business? While much the post-pandemic world—and how SAP solutions can
remains uncertain, we do know that the pandemic has support the greater flexibility, agility, and organizational
reset business priorities and rapidly accelerated digital speed now required.
adoption. And the technological and behavioral changes Stéphanie Guimbellot
we’ve seen are not going away. We hope you find the trends identified a valuable guide Global Lead – SAP Innovation
to what’s coming over the next year. And we look & Sustainability, Accenture
This is a turning point. There’s simply no option for forward to supporting your business as you adapt to
companies to retreat into their familiar comfort zones. the challenges and opportunities of our ever-changing
The pressing business imperative is to accept that post-COVID world.
change is inevitable and continuous. This is why this Stéphane Martin
year’s Technology Vision calls on leaders to become Global Lead – SAP Technology
Experts at Change. Domain, Accenture

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Don’t wait for the new normal, build it with SAP technologies
The maxim that ‘every business is a technology real-time finance insights, end-to-end supply chain
business’ has never been more relevant. Rapid visibility via massive networks of digital twins, and
digital acceleration has cemented technology digital continuity throughout the enterprise.
leadership as the cornerstone of business
leadership. The lines between technology It also includes the way SAP solutions integrate
strategy and business strategy are blurring with no-code/low-code platforms to enable all
while the gap between digital leaders and the business users to innovate with technology—plus
rest grows by the day. integrations with collaboration platforms like
Microsoft Teams to support flexible remote
In this radically different post-pandemic world, working environments.
change is a constant and organizational inertia
has become an existential threat to the business. During the pandemic, business leaders have
It demands that enterprises become Experts at already confronted deep-seated assumptions
Change who prioritize technological excellence about how fast their organizations can pivot,
and innovation, not simply as part of a future where or how work gets done, what they sell and
roadmap, but as part of the core business strategy to whom. Those that managed the crisis best were
in the here and now. able to shatter the orthodoxies and bureaucracies
that were holding them back.
SAP technologies and solutions can provide a
foundation for the business agility, connectivity, Now, as we look ahead to the future, the central
sustainability and innovation that’s now essential. question leaders must answer is this—is yours
That includes the pivotal role SAP solutions play a reactive organization to which change simply
in flexible API-driven architecture, multi-cloud happens? Or are you an Expert at Change, able to
technology stacks and multiparty systems, as well dictate your own future, lead with technology, and
as support for key business capabilities such as chart a path to future growth?

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Five technology trends for SAP environments in 2021

Stack Strategically Mirrored World I, Technologist
Architecting a better future with Unlocking the power of Capitalizing on the democratization
SAP technologies digital twins of technology

What’s happening? What’s happening? What’s happening?

The sheer number of different technology As businesses thread digital technology Today’s advanced digital technologies are far
options and customizations across the throughout their operations, huge new sources more accessible than in the past—so much
technology stack means businesses are of data are being unlocked which are fueling so that it’s now possible to spark “grassroots
making choices today that determine what massive networks of intelligent digital twins. innovation” across the business by enabling
they can and cannot do tomorrow. The This mirrored world enables businesses to people to build technology solutions at the
technology stack is now a key opportunity for simulate, predict, and automate what they do point of need.
competitive advantage. like never before—enabling them to refocus on
end-to-end supply chain resilience. How should SAP customers respond?
How should SAP customers respond? Break down barriers between business users
Use interoperable, platform-independent How should SAP customers respond? and IT—whether through “no code” real-time
containers, microservices, and APIs to Create a “digital thread” with real-time work management with SAP Ruum, drag-and-
enable a flexible “plug and play” multi- connectivity across the supply chain and drop application building with SAP AppGyver,
cloud architecture enabled by SAP Business create digital twins that provide digital self-service insights with SAP Analytics Cloud,
Technology Platform (BTP). Adopt DevOps continuity throughout the organization. or intelligent decision making with SAP
and get real-time insights from SAP S/4HANA® Mirror the flow of materials and information Conversational AI.
embedded analytics, SAP BW/4HANA® data with SAP’s integrated demand-driven material
warehousing, and SAP Analytics Cloud. requirements planning (DDMRP).

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Anywhere, everywhere From me to we

Adapting to the new world Coordinating through chaos
of virtualized work with multiparty systems

What’s happening? What’s happening?

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into The business environment is now more
perhaps the biggest shift in ways of working demanding than ever, and the opportunities
in living memory. Companies can now choose are complex. Few businesses can hope to
how best to capitalize on the newly equipped tackle them alone. From supply chains to digital
virtualized workforce, enabling their people to ecosystems, connecting via multiparty systems
drive change from anywhere and everywhere. will be essential in rebuilding and renewing for
the future.
How should SAP customers respond?
Scale up flexible work environments to let How should SAP customers respond?
people work wherever they want, while Consider new solutions like GreenToken by SAP
making human-machine interfaces consistent, to get visibility of complex raw materials supply
simple, and user-centered (such as by using chains, ensuring compliance with sustainability
immersive collaboration platforms and regulations and policies, building trust with
Microsoft Teams’ integration with SAP’s consumers, and driving up collaboration and
solution suite). efficiency across the supply chain.

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LET THERE
BE CHANGE
Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 6
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Stack Strategically
Architect for change and use SAP technology
as a source of competitive advantage
For years, companies have recognized that business strategies and technology
strategies were becoming increasingly indistinguishable—and that every business
was becoming a technology business. In practice, however, few companies took
that line of thinking through to its ultimate conclusion and actually approached
their technology and business strategies as one.

Then everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption

across the world, forcing companies to rethink and speed up their use of digital
technology. This happened as businesses were still adapting to the fact that cloud

77%
had changed the enterprise IT landscape forever. In particular, that the cloud
hyperscalers—Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform,
Microsoft Azure, for example—now own significant portions of the technology
stack.
of executives say their technology architecture
This rapidly changing, multi-cloud landscape has created a new competitive is becoming very critical or critical to the
reality. Competition between enterprises is now as much a battle between their overall success of their organization.
technology stacks as anything else.

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Architecting a better future

with SAP technologies

What? How?

• Recognize the days of tying the business to a single monolithic platform are over.
Create API-driven architecture to
• Decide when and where to use SAP, hyperscaler, or open-source solutions across a multi-cloud stack.
increase business flexibility and future-proof
• Use interoperable, platform-independent containers, microservices, and APIs to create a flexible “plug
the organization.
and play” architecture.

• Switch from a waterfall to an agile approach for SAP system release cycles.
Accelerate speed to market with an • Adopt DevOps across both SAP and non-SAP environments.
agile approach that is more responsive to • Support this with an agile stack comprising APIs and microservices enabled by SAP BTP.
constantly evolving customer and • Utilize SAP BTP’s Intelligent Suite qualities and services like SAP Intelligent Process Automation to
business needs. automate repetitive manual processes, optimize process models and achieve speed to market
with maximum efficiency.

• Get real-time insights from SAP S/4HANA embedded analytics, SAP BW/4HANA data warehousing,
Fast-track insight to action with
and SAP Analytics Cloud.
organization-wide unified data governance
• Complement this with a unified data governance solution taking advantage of data lake and metadata
and analytics at the core.
management approaches to enable an enterprise-wide version of the truth.

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API-driven architecture
To be truly future-proof, a strategic technology stack the enterprise can ensure it’s able to switch solutions Accenture’s myWizard® platform
must be platform independent. In a multi-cloud in and out, or scale or repurpose them, with minimal
supports cross-stack application and
environment, this is vital given the inevitable need disruption, as its needs change. Capitalizing on SAP
to change technologies as business requirements BTP, which runs on any hyperscaler, can be a valuable component monitoring creating
evolve. But there’s no doubt that deciding between way of creating that flexibility and ensuring predictive and self-healing operations.
today’s massive range of cloud options and stack platform independence.
customizations is a huge and complex process.
Another critical aspect of this is the switch to Accenture’s global Master Technology
SAP customers have a unique opportunity to create a business-event-driven architecture. Business Architect (MTA) program provides
an agile architecture that can adapt to continuous events represent changes to the SAP system’s data specialized certified technology architects
change. First, by carefully assessing when and model that are captured in real time to trigger data
where to use SAP software, hyperscaler and the replication between applications, or as a required
to help design and shape a robust hybrid
growing number of open-source options across the step in a business process. This represents a dramatic enterprise architecture that supports
stack, the enterprise can ensure it’s making “best fit” shift away from traditional batch-driven interfaces. innovation at scale.
technology choices for its unique needs. Of course,
the relationships between these different options This is an area in which external expertise can
create their own complexities and will need to be make a real difference. Accenture can provide
carefully managed. recommendations across all technology aspects
of the stack, helping the enterprise decide what to
Second, by ensuring those solutions are “plug and use, and when, as well as best-practice reference
play”—with the use of APIs, microservices, and architectures for combining technologies.
platform-independent containers as appropriate—

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Faster speed to market

In a constantly changing world, enterprises need
to be able to develop and release one-of-a-kind
offerings with unprecedented speed. However, many
SAP customers should prioritize speed to market by
pivoting to an agile DevOps mode of developing and
running all their IT services. That approach should
80%
still lack the tooling and processes they need to get look to unify SAP and non-SAP environments across
of executives report their organization is facing
new functionality in front of users quickly enough. an agile architecture, integrating development
technological changes at an unprecedented
One reason is the continued use of rigid “waterfall” and operations more closely. The use of APIs,
speed and scale.
methodologies for SAP system updates. microservices, automated testing and automated
stub testing for ecosystem connection, enabled by
This is a problem for organizations that want to SAP BTP and hyperscaler services, form a key part of
increase their speed to market. Business users, these evolving architectures.
partner organizations, and customers have to
wait longer to see new or updated services in
production—typically between three and six Accenture’s DevOps cartridge integrates
months—putting the organization at a SAP backend system developments
competitive disadvantage.
with SAP BTP and hyperscaler-native
In addition, increasing technology awareness among developments into a single DevOps
non-IT employees now means the wider business pipeline with automated testing and
can be more involved and more responsible for promote-to-production.
technology transformation than ever— enabling a
more collaborative partnership between business
and IT capabilities.

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Insight to action
As the data available to enterprises proliferates, so requiring potentially hundreds of thousands of data
does the number and variety of data warehouses transformations, every day, to achieve a unified
and analytics and reporting solutions. At worst, view. That’s why SAP customers are strongly
this complexity not only creates extra costs but recommended to consider a metadata management
also requires extensive data reconciliation or
transformation to get to a version of the truth that
approach. This entails allowing each application to
manage its own data, but using harvested metadata
What to do first?
the whole business can agree on. to reconcile and create mappings between different
data elements. Respond to the new competitive
SAP customers should therefore be looking to landscape by evaluating current and
leverage their existing SAP software investments to
Accenture’s SAP data lake accelerator future platform independence across
unify data governance and enable comprehensive
real-time analytics across both SAP and non-SAP automates data extraction, data lake the stack.
systems. That includes leveraging solutions like SAP deployment, and the integration of SAP
S/4HANA embedded analytics, SAP BW/4HANA data Prioritize options for accelerating
data into data pipelines. Accenture’s
warehousing, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP
Data Intelligence. myConcerto® Intelligent Data Quality speed to market and insight to action
tool will also help manage SAP data with SAP solutions and technologies.
A data lake can be another important part of the quality across the enterprise landscape,
strategic stack, although it comes with its own
supported by machine learning.
data governance challenges. Consider that a
large organization might have hundreds of distinct
applications, each pumping data into the lake,

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Mirrored World
Bridge the digital and physical worlds with
massive networks of digital twins
So far, digital twins have given us the ability to mirror, monitor, and simulate
discrete devices. Now, as the number of digital twins grows, and as more and more
artificial intelligence is layered in, organizations are creating massive networks
of intelligent twins capable of modeling entire systems—everything from single
products to whole factories to complex supply chains.

This mirrored world will let businesses gather, interpret, and dynamically respond to
data across the lifecycle of physical assets, asking “what-if” questions about future
scenarios, and designing and testing new or enhanced products before even

90%
starting to construct them physically. It’s an exciting prospect. Soon, these digital
twins will be the foundation on which businesses manage their operations, form
and test new strategies, collaborate with partners, and control their organizations.

of executives believe their organization

requires a “mission control,” or central
intelligence hub, to gain insights into
complexities and model their organizations’
processes, people and assets.

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Unlocking the power of digital

twins with SAP technologies

What? How?

• Create a “digital thread” with real-time connectivity across the supply chain.
Acquire end-to-end visibility across
• Leverage the SAP Logistics Business Network’s native integration with third-party add-ons.
the supply chain in near real time.
• Integrate processes with SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence and SAP BTP.

• Use the digital thread to break down operational siloes and give the business a shared view of data.
Achieve digital continuity to tear
• Create digital continuity by connecting engineering, manufacturing, operations, and partner organizations via
down organizational silos and gain
the integrated SAP Product Lifecycle Management and/or SAP Production Engineering and Operations
cross-function visibility.
embedded solutions.

• Mirror the flow of materials and information with SAP’s integrated demand-driven material
requirements planning.
Run “what if” simulations and anticipate
• Leverage SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) to simulate and analyze supply chain actions and their
challenges with enhanced forecasting
related logistics and financial impacts.
and predictive capabilities.
• Use SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence to accurately forecast the impact of production changes.

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End-to-end visibility of supply chains

With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing the Accenture and SAP are expanding their partnership SAP and logistics technology provider project44 are
brittleness of many existing supply chains, to help companies embed sustainability across their helping shippers manage and improve data-driven
enterprises are refocusing on supply chain resilience. supply chains. The goal is to jointly create new supply chains. Thanks to its native integration with
And the leaders are connecting with supply chain solutions that accelerate decarbonization by using project44’s4 rich data, the SAP Logistics Business
partners to create networks of digital twins that integrated data from across operations and to help Network enables accurate real-time supply chain
model entire supply chains from end to end. This is companies takes steps towards the circular economy insights and connectivity with carriers, helping
giving them a “digital thread” which they can use to by designing and producing products with less waste, customers make smarter decisions while also
get visibility of where any product is in the supply improved recyclability, and more reducing costs.
chain, and what’s happening to it, at any moment. recycled content.1
Real-time trucking and shipping data from startups
SAP customers are well-placed to achieve this Accenture and SAP will also be designing, developing Shippeo5 and Wakeo6 can be integrated with the SAP
end-to-end visibility. For example, they can leverage and delivering cloud-based solutions and services Transportation Management solution to provide ‘as
solutions for freight collaboration, global track and that strengthen the existing SAP Intelligent Asset it happens’ logistics visibility, enabling companies to
trace, and material traceability to get real-time Management suite. By integrating traditionally better anticipate issues and prevent stock outs.
information from the SAP Logistics Business Network. fragmented asset performance management,
They’re also able to efficiently integrate multiple operations and maintenance into a new single-view Accenture’s qRoute logistics routing solution
manufacturing processes using IoT capabilities with solution, the goal is to provide a unique user experience combines the power of quantum computing and
SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (MII) that provides asset and process insights for anybody, SAP technologies to enable otherwise impossible
and SAP BTP. anywhere, anytime. The solutions will also integrate levels of speed and visibility in end-to-end freight
IoT and closed-loop prescriptive models connected with routing solutioning.
asset maintenance.3

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Digital continuity
With a digital thread running throughout the The SAP Asset Intelligence Network can bring Accenture can help SAP customers create digital
organization, enterprises can achieve something manufacturers, operators and service providers continuity by creating a digital thread across product
very powerful: digital continuity. That means having together in the cloud via a digital twin which lifecycle management and enterprise resource
individual data elements that are consistent and standardizes and mirrors operational data, such planning. By seamlessly grouping and homogenizing
traceable, wherever in the organization they’re as equipment performance. Similarly, production data, and shifting to event-driven updating of the
being used. engineering data can be connected with ERP platform, enterprises can reduce the need for
manufacturing and operational data to mirror manual updates and improve data accuracy and
Digital continuity is important because it breaks down and visualize products in 3D. synchronization across different systems.
organizational siloes, enabling previously disparate
engineering, manufacturing, and business systems to To support one aerospace and defense manufacturer’s
share information in real time and provide the whole rapid growth, Accenture helped it implement SAP’s
business with a single agreed version of the truth. Production Engineering and Operations solution.
This successful implementation radically improved
SAP manufacturing customers can achieve the visibility of engineering change from PLM to work
digital continuity through the SAP Production orders, ensuring the shop floor is working to the latest
Engineering and Operations suite while being revision of work instructions and drawings. With data
seamlessly integrated with SAP Product Lifecycle now collected digitally, the solution supports paperless
Management (PLM) or other product lifecycle order execution, providing greater integration with
management systems. quality controls and enhanced visibility for
production supervisors.

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Enhanced forecasting and predictions

With digital continuity, enterprises can start to better and financial impacts. What’s more, SAP MII allows
predict the outcomes of their decisions—something the enterprise to forecast and analyze the impact of
that many still struggle to do accurately, quickly, potential changes to production processes. What to do first?
or comprehensively. This supports an overarching
supply chain simulation capability that can reliably SAP is also collaborating with connected solutions
simulate, test, and forecast the effect of real-world like Enterra to provide an additional cognitive layer
Examine opportunities for
scenarios, from the macro level (such as widespread on top of SAP solutions. Enterra7 automates and capitalizing on new digital
disruption caused by a supply crunch) to the micro optimizes decision making across the value twin capabilities with SAP
level (like the impact of changing a single supplier). chain—including customer insights, strategic
Logistics Business Network, SAP
revenue optimization, and supply chain—to make
SAP customers can use networks of digital twins enterprises more intelligent. Manufacturing Integration and
across the supply chain to create this kind of “what if” Intelligence, and SAP BTP.
simulation capability. Specifically, they can mirror the As massive demand uncertainty struck with
flow of materials and information across the supply COVID-19, Accenture helped a global consumer
chain via SAP’s integrated demand-driven material packaged goods company enable scenario planning
Start running “what if” simulations
requirements planning (DDMRP). “as-a-Service” with SAP IBP. It provided the company to improve forecasting and mirror
with new forward-looking insights into inventory the flow of materials and information
For example, SAP S/4HANA comes with an integrated exposures, shelf-life planning, bills of materials
with DDMRP.
DDMRP capability. In addition, SAP BTP includes analysis, and more, across multiple sites and processes.
a DDMRP module that can simulate, on demand,
proposed supply chain actions, inventory positions
and supply constraints as well as related logistics

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I, Technologist
Spark a grassroots innovation revolution
across the organization
Today’s digital solutions are becoming so accessible, so user-friendly, they’re
empowering a democratization of enterprise technology. Thanks to advances in
natural language processing, no-code or low-code programming, and intelligent
automation, people now have the tools to develop their own digital solutions—right
at the point of need.

Whether it’s creating a customized reporting dashboard, or building an app to

automate a repetitive process, this accessibility empowers the people who best
understand a business problem to solve it themselves. That not only massively
increases the responsiveness and agility of the organization, but also frees the IT
department to focus on more strategic ‘big ticket’ implementations, where it can
add the most value. Furthermore, as described in the Stack Strategically trend
above, this is the key to onboarding business users as “technology actors” in a
digital transformation to increase delivery agility.

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Capitalize on the democratization of

technology with SAP technologies

What? How?

• Use low-code or no-code solutions that enable grassroots “citizen developers” to solve their own
Break down barriers between business
technology-related problems.
users and technology—and make everyone
• Leverage tools such as SAP Ruum, SAP AppGyver, SAP Analytics Cloud, and extend business context to
a core part of digital transformation.
SAP Conversational AI.

• Create consumer-like workplace interfaces with point-and-click tools for customizing user experiences.
Build consistent, convenient, consumer- • Use SAP Fiori® In-App extensibility to enable key business users to create non-disruptive extensibility-like
grade work interfaces and experiences. fields and business logic.
• Leverage low-code and no-code solutions to accelerate application development.

• Use robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) to augment and accelerate repetitive
business processes.
Infuse automation and intelligence in • Speed up development with SAP Intelligent RPA and AI solutions that help build applications faster
business processes. and increase efficiency.
• Utilize Accenture’s 180+ SAP Intelligent Technology asset-led automation solutions and accelerators
to fast-track innovation.

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Break down barriers between business and technology

There used to be a clear demarcation of as SAP AppGyver and SAP Ruum. For example, In this way, these low-code/no-code solutions
responsibilities in a digitalization program. When the SAP AppGyver could be used in scenarios where abstract away much of the underlying complexity
business needed a technology solution, it was up to business data is readily accessible for consumption, of software development, allowing business users
the IT department to provide one. Recently, however, such as customer interactions. Without needing to to become grassroots “citizen developers” and take
business users have been getting more actively “code” in the traditional sense, a business user can on responsibility for solving their own technology-
involved in technology decisions—even as early as use a graphical interface to create adaptable web related problems.
the initial ideation phases. and mobile applications. Additionally, business teams
can use SAP Ruum to build their own workflows,
As such, the lines between IT and the business are proactively manage their tasks, streamline their
blurring. This is a good thing: experience shows the processes, and even create intelligent automation
most successful digitalization programs need the for repetitive tasks.
whole business to be much more intimately involved.
After all, who is better informed about processes than Business teams can also create their own chatbots
the people who use them every day? What’s more, in a single interface with SAP BTP’s conversational
with specialist technology skills in high demand, AI layer based on multi-lingual natural language
democratizing technology enables enterprises to processing technologies. And last-mile decision
bypass skills gaps and capitalize on the talent they making can be enriched with the analytical
already have across the business. capabilities of SAP Analytics Cloud, enabling users to
slice and dice complex data and create the analytical
SAP customers have several options for enabling this, content they need on their own.
including a series of low-code/no-code development
platforms that integrate with SAP solutions, such

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Build consumer-grade workplace experiences

Outside work, employees have come to expect For example, SAP applications like SAP Fiori enable
convenient, well-designed, user-friendly smart modern and highly customizable consumer-style
interfaces with digital platforms. And now these user interfaces for both B2B and B2C contexts.
expectations are seeping into the workplace too. In addition, low-code solutions can provide
The risk? Enterprises that fail to deliver strong user connections which accelerate development
experiences won’t only disappoint valuable talent, processes and enable faster speed to market.
they can also end up with a “shadow” IT environment
when business users decide to use external platforms
and solutions instead.

The answer? To upgrade interfaces and work

environments so they’re user-centered and
consistent across enterprise platforms, matching
the experiences offered by consumer-facing
applications. SAP customers can do this by
introducing point-and-click tools for creating
custom user experience.

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Infuse automation and intelligence in business processes

For all the technological advances of recent years, automation on the one hand to artificial intelligence A major European energy company collaborated with
many business processes and systems are still beset on the other, SAP customers have a range of tools for Accenture to increase the quality of its application
by repetitive tasks and time-consuming laborious augmenting and accelerating business processes, management. By transforming application operations,
work. From basic procurement and accounts generating insights faster, and freeing employees the client experienced a 30 percent optimization of
payable transactions, to managing documentation, from the burden of repetitive work. application management effort through automating
to become an expert in data management and manual administrative and reporting tasks. Accenture
more, these routine manual activities constrain and For example, a combination of SAP S/4HANA at was challenged by the client to clean up a backlog
slow companies, as well as prevent employees from the core plus an ecosystem of advanced cloud of approximately 1 million tickets in two categories
concentrating on more valuable work. applications gives CFOs a globally compliant finance within six months. Using robotic process automation
system that is truly connected and truly automated, technology, Accenture created and tested virtual
In addition, companies must now be able to quickly while providing real-time insights. At the same time, agents (bots) to perform the clean-up. The team met the
draw tangible and accurate insights from growing SAP Intelligent RPA and AI solutions can take some of original ticket reduction goal, and now only bots are
volumes of data. For CFOs in particular, fast-changing the legwork out of application development, helping used for end-to-end ticket resolution. Automated alerts
situations require rapid-fire responses. And as the citizen developers build apps faster or enabling have improved the response time on critical incidents
CFO role expands beyond that of economic guardian |full-stack developers to make more efficient use of and reduced the number of priority-one incidents.
to include architecting business value, having a their time. That means new ideas can be prototyped
modern, intelligent, and automated finance system more quickly—and more cost effectively—enabling
has become essential. the enterprise to apply and scale intelligent
automation at pace.
Fortunately, opportunities for automating and
enhancing enterprise activities with intelligence
are growing all the time. From robotic process

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What to do first?
Evaluate how to enable a new
generation of citizen developers with
tools like SAP Ruum, SAP AppGyver,
SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP
Conversational AI.

Examine how SAP Intelligent

RPA and AI solutions could help
employees infuse more intelligence
into their business processes.

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Anywhere,
everywhere
Take advantage of the greatest shift in
ways of working in living memory
As much of the world shut down to contain the spread of COVID-19, companies took drastic
steps to ensure their people could stay safe and productive. For billions of individuals, and
millions of organizations, work changed overnight and digital adoption soared.

These were not mere short-term solutions. For years, employers and employees have been
aware of the potential for remote working and virtual collaboration—the pandemic has

88%
accelerated shifts that were happening anyway. Even when offices do reopen, nobody
expects the workplace to go back to exactly the way it was before.

The practical implications are that more employees will want to be able to work in a greater
variety of locations—wherever they happen to be that day—and enterprise IT must be ready of executives think their organization is
to support this. The leaders of the future will be those that act now to enable flexible digital moving to truly virtualized work, in which work
environments that allow employees to be physically distributed, creatively connected, processes are virtual and people get together
empowered by technology, and able to innovate from anywhere and everywhere. only when it adds value to do so.

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Adapt to the new world of virtualized

work with SAP technologies

What? How?

Scale up the flexible work environments

• Make use of Microsoft Teams’ forthcoming integration with SAP’s solution suite.
that let people work wherever they want—
• Support frictionless working across locations and across platforms to enhance productivity, engagement,
the office, the home, the airport, a partner
and learning opportunities.
organization’s offices, or anywhere else.

Cut the cognitive load and prevent the

proliferation of application portals by • Introduce a business integration platform in conjunction with SAP solutions and platforms.
creating consistent user interfaces and • Create consistent user experiences and common data governance across locations and devices.
ways of interacting with the enterprise • Use Qualtrics® solutions to understand and act on employee sentiment about enterprise user experiences.
technology stack.

• Explore the integration of SAP solutions with next-generation interfaces like extended reality.
Take human-machine collaboration to the • Use SAP BTP to enhance workforce collaboration.
next stage of its evolution. • Consider Accenture’s Immersive Collaboration Platform for immersive remote co-working,
supported by real-time insights.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 24

 #techvision2021

Flexible work environments

Having been forced into a huge global experiment Reflecting the increasing enterprise reliance
in remote virtual working, hundreds of millions on Teams for meetings, communication, and
of people have experienced the benefits and collaboration, this integration is designed to support
downsides firsthand. They’ve seen it can work and frictionless distributed working and enable greater
they want to retain the flexibility it provides. Now employee productivity and engagement, deliver
the genie’s out of the bottle, there’s no going back. collaborative learning, and support enhanced
Flexible working is here to stay. enterprise innovation and growth.2

For enterprises, it means having the ability

The integration between SAP Sales Cloud and Teams
to collaborate across different platforms and
makes it possible to schedule meetings with prospects
environments is now essential. To achieve this,
directly from the SAP Sales Cloud dashboard. When
organizations that use SAP solutions can benefit from
sales associates run the Teams meeting, they can
both their native flexibility and their innovative new
view the customer’s data from the SAP system without
integrations with other platforms. For example, SAP
leaving the Teams app, and save notes directly to the
customers can now integrate SAP S/4HANA, SAP
customer’s timeline.
SuccessFactors®, and SAP Customer Experience
solutions with Microsoft Teams.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 25

 #techvision2021

Consistent user interfaces

As the number of enterprise applications and Workflow Inbox, and a seamless user experience with
solutions has skyrocketed, employees have had SAP Fiori. To streamline this further, SAP customers
to contend with an ever-growing variety of user can implement advanced user experiences, such as
interfaces and experiences to get their work done. AI-powered assistants. They can also use Qualtrics
This diversity can be a critical enabler of enterprise solutions to measure, understand and act on user
flexibility, but it comes at a cost. When people have sentiment with their systems.
to switch between too many interfaces, the added
cognitive load inevitably slows them down. This can
be exacerbated by the need to access enterprise IT
from a variety of locations and devices.

The solution is to introduce a business interaction

platform to provide consistent user experience and
common data governance, covering application
interfaces, collaborative interaction, and access
to analytics from any device. A consistent user
experience can be achieved by utilizing SAP’s Central
Launchpad Service, SAP BTP features like One

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 26

 #techvision2021

Human-machine collaboration
User interfaces have been transformed by new Leveraging its Immersive Collaboration Platform (ICP),
technology—including natural language interaction
and immersive extended reality in particular—
Accenture has developed FabLab for solving product
engineering problems using real-time SAP data.
What to do first?
creating richer experiences that enable employees Using virtual reality, ICP allows collaboration in an
to make much greater use of machine capabilities, immersive environment, supplemented with real-time Prepare the organization for a
much faster. insights, CAD models, material master specifications more flexible workplace with the
and product development capabilities enabled by a
SAP enables these kinds of agile and collaborative digital thread of data. FabLab lets engineers work
forthcoming integration of Microsoft
workplaces through the combination of SAP together to manipulate a digital twin of a product Teams and SAP solutions.
applications and immersive technologies such as based on real-time data such as parts, bills of materials,
virtual and augmented reality. For example, SAP BTP and inventory levels pulled directly from an SAP
Start using Qualtrics solutions
provides the flexibility to build, manage, integrate and S/4HANA digital core.
drive workforce collaboration across SAP and to understand how employee
non-SAP applications in a consistent environment. Accenture developed a Digital Twin Cargo solution experiences can be improved.
which supports efficient truck loading with the help
of augmented reality. By providing warehouse workers
with a visual guide for the placement of packages in
Explore opportunities for using
each truck, it speeds up loading, while reducing extended reality in conjunction
errors, and helps ensure the most efficient arrangement with SAP data.
of packages for both transportation and
eventual unloading.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 27

 #techvision2021

From me to we
Renew the business for the post-pandemic
world with multiparty systems
The pace of change and complexity of today’s business landscape is so great that
few companies, if any, can become experts in it entirely on their own. The reality
is, if you want to transform the business in the post-pandemic world, you need to
collaborate, coordinate, and coinvent with your ecosystem to drive change at an
industry level.

Multiparty systems will be an ever more crucial enabler of that ecosystem

collaboration. These systems—which include blockchain, distributed ledgers,
distributed databases, tokenization and other technologies and capabilities—

90%
enable a shared data infrastructure between individuals and organizations that
drives efficiency, enhances sustainability, and helps build new business and
revenue models.

of executives agree that multiparty systems

will enable their ecosystems to forge a more
resilient and adaptable foundation to create
new value with their organization’s partners.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 28

 #techvision2021

Coordinate through chaos

with multiparty systems

What? How?

• Take advantage of industry-focused cloud solutions and develop a strategy for using them to enhance
Understand which platforms your
ecosystem collaboration.
business users and customers leaned on
• Find partners with a shared set of customers and explore collaboration opportunities to build
most in the last year—2020 saw a surge
unique digital products.
in the use of digital platforms for shopping,
• Identify where enhanced supply chain transparency could increase sustainability of products and
work, and more.
build greater trust with customers.

Keep abreast of the multiparty systems • Evaluate the business case for participating in emerging multiparty systems—including areas where
emerging in your industry—including transactional data has yet to be digitized or where complex networks would benefit from a shared
the technology, the technical partners and trusted platform.
providers, and any skills gaps in • Explore how blockchain or distributed ledger technology can be combined with corresponding APIs
your organization. on SAP BTP to design and shape an industry-specific multiparty solution.

Think beyond the walls of the enterprise— • Consider joining industry consortiums or establishing a working group of inter-enterprise partners.
talk to strategic partners to understand • Create a process for assessing the value of any multiparty solution strategy against the benefit to
their exposure to multiparty systems, all participants, not just the enterprise in isolation.
and consider running strategic foresight • Review how SAP Business Network might foster better collaboration with partners.
exercises with them to evaluate the need for • Leverage GreenToken by SAP to provide multiparty-enabled transparency in complex raw materials
and impact of a multiparty system. supply chains.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 29

 #techvision2021

Think beyond the walls of the enterprise

An SAP environment provides numerous This raises the risk, not only of non-compliance with Accenture and SAP are developing a new SAP
opportunities to action the above priorities and regulations and missed sustainability targets, but Responsible Design and Production solution to
explore the use of multiparty systems across the also of serious negative impact on brand reputation help companies consume fewer resources and build
value chain. For example, GreenToken by SAP is a and sales. With better raw materials traceability, sustainability into the design process. The solution
new solution that provides transparency in complex companies can reduce those risks, ensuring they only will also help companies to apply analytics to the
raw materials supply chains. Using multiparty supply source from suppliers that meet their sustainability operational, asset, and process data collected across
chain ecosystems, it tackles traceability problems by and ethical policies. That transparency is a critical the value chain and so get an integrated view to help
creating accountability across supply chains without lever both in increasing trust with end consumers determine clear sustainability goals and metrics and
relying on batches. It’s a multi-commodity platform and in validating sustainability claims on an reduce compliance costs.8
providing a “full chain” of custody using the principles interorganizational level.
of mass balance, tokenization and blockchain, SAP’s recently announced SAP Business Network is
enabling companies to trace commingled raw But there are many other potential benefits from a designed to help transform fragmented supply chains
materials to their origin. solution like GreenToken by SAP. Companies can into unified, collaborative, and intelligent networks.
explore new, more sustainable business models— Integrating SAP’s leading business networks—Ariba
This can make a significant contribution to more including circular economy business models— which Network, SAP Logistics Business Network, and SAP
sustainable and responsible supply chains. minimize reliance on virgin natural resources and Asset Intelligence Network—the new solution will
Companies often don’t have visibility of where their increase the use of return flows (such as recycling). provide a single portal through which companies can
raw materials are from, and to what extent they’re They can improve collaboration across the supply get a holistic view of their supply chain ecosystems—
sustainable, carbon neutral, free of child labor, or chain, building new industry standards around including logistics, traceability, and equipment
meet fair trade criteria. tokenized raw material transfers. And they can drive management and maintenance. The aim is to build a
efficiency gains by eliminating the need for manual community that helps companies easily connect with
reconciliations of data. each other across supply chains and create networked
economies across industries.9

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 30

 #techvision2021

What to do first?
Look for emerging multiparty
systems and inter-organizational
collaboration opportunities in your
industry—and start evaluating the
case for participating.

Assess how SAP Business Network

might enable better collaboration and
greater supply chain responsiveness.

Consider solutions like GreenToken

by SAP to get new transparency into
raw materials sustainability.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 31

 #techvision2021

Leaders Wanted
This is a pivotal moment for so many organizations in so many
industries. Now as that world looks ahead to the post-pandemic
future, companies must decide how to respond to a business
environment that is more demanding than ever, but also full of
renewed promise and unprecedented opportunity.

The five trends described in this Technology Vision for SAP Solutions
will be key determiners of who wins and who loses in this brave
new world. Winning will require bold leadership and an ability to use
technology to become an expert in continuous change.

With a clear-eyed perspective on the opportunities and challenges

ahead, and a willingness to reimagine how the organization operates—
its people, its technology architecture, its data, and its partner
ecosystems—we believe every enterprise has the opportunity to
emerge as a leader.

Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 32

 #techvision2021

References Authors Reseach Leads

1  AP; 23 April 2021; “Sustainable Business Is Better Business for All;”
S Caspar Borggreve Surya Mukherjee
https://news.sap.com/2021/04/sap-and-accenture-sustainability-better-
business/ Global Lead – SAP Business Research Lead
2 Microsoft News Release; 22 January 2021; https://news.microsoft. Group, Accenture Accenture Research
com/2021/01/22/sap-and-microsoft-expand-partnership-and-integrate-
microsoft-teams-across-solutions/

https://www.accenture.com/sap
Stéphanie Guimbellot Piotr Pietruszyński
https://www.accenture.com/techvision
Global Lead – SAP Innovation Research Specialist
3 https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/accenture-and-sap-co-develop-
intelligent-asset-management-solutions-to-maximize-equipment- & Sustainability, Accenture Accenture Research
performance-and-output.htm

4 https://www.project44.com/network/sap-premiere-partnership

5 https://www.shippeo.com/press-releases/shippeo-partners-with-sap- Stéphane Martin

to-bring-real-time-and-predictive-information-to-transportation-for-sap-
logistics-business-network Global Lead – SAP Technology
6 https://wakeo.co/blog/reliability-and-interoperability-to-boost-existing- Domain, Accenture
systems-with-real-time-visibility/

7 https://enterrasolutions.com/blog/enterra-solutions-partners-sap/

Subject Matter Experts and Contributors

8 https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/accenture-and-sap-extend-
partnership-to-help-companies-accelerate-sustainability-transformation-
drive-new-sources-of-value-and-lead-in-the-
circular-economy.htm

9 https://news.sap.com/2021/06/sapphire-now-sap-business-network/ This report, and the research on which it is based, would not have been possible without:
Goncalo Adriano Jean-Dominique Hoyami Craig Mindrum
Deepika Bhaskar Daniel Gonzalez Murugan Padmanabhan
Petra Breton Anne Groeppelin Mohanraju Venu Padmanabhan
Sourav Chatterjee Andrea Hebel Markus Reiterer
Dries Cuypers Jan Kaps Michel Roger
Steve Deliën Neetu Raina Koul Dmitry Svetlov
JB Delinselle Amrish Kumar Sai S. Tulluri
Tanmay Dey Vibhash Kumar
Accenture Technology Vision for SAP Solutions 2021 33
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