Day: December 11, 2017

Employers are stuck with uncertainty over whether Title VII prohibits sexual orientation discrimination. That’s because the Supreme Court announced it would not yet resolve a split among the appeals courts over this question. https://goo.gl/Fmq5PS #GlobalHR #HRTech

With SAP Leonardo Machine Learning, SAP has set out on an ambitious journey to enable customers to become intelligent enterprises.

To execute on such a bold vision, SAP delivers an expanding portfolio of application and services that help all companies embed machine learning into their business processes. But to pave an optimal path forward for these businesses, SAP is committed to establishing an ecosystem of leaders with a variety of domain expertise in order to complement and expand its offerings. This collaboration is essential to enable customers to make a smooth transition to the intelligent enterprise.

Opportunities to partner with SAP on machine learning are manifold, and so are the use cases customers are currently exploring as they inject intelligence into their value chains.

Partnering with SAP to Enable the Intelligent Enterprise

To facilitate a close collaboration with partners and generate mutual value, SAP has created a machine learning partner program, which runs as an overlay to existing partner programs offered through SAP PartnerEdge. All SAP partners can apply, and the program is open to companies of any size – from startups to strategic partners. Here are the engagement opportunities the new program offers:

* Value added reselling of SAP Leonardo Machine Learning applications and foundation
* Implementation of SAP Leonardo Machine Learning applications at customers
* Integration of SAP Leonardo Machine Learning services into existing customer landscapes
* Extensions to standard applications to fill industry specific white spaces
* Co-development of the next wave of intelligent business processes to enhance SAP’s digital core
* Deployment of custom machine learning models on SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation for access by third-parties’ applications
* Inclusion of complementary machine learning technology into SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation, e.g., hardware offerings (GPUs) or specialized machine learning services (APIs)
* Development of machine learning services and applications using SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation’s data science platform capabilities [upcoming]

SAP partnerships around machine learning are growing hand-in-hand with the expansion of the SAP product portfolio. With solutions including SAP Cash Application, SAP Service Ticket Intelligence, SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation, and SAP Brand Impact now in the price list, engagement possibilities for selling and implementing are real.

Equally tangible are the possibilities to co-innovate with SAP by supporting new use cases that complement SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation services.

Growing Ecosystem Supported by Dedicated Partner Commitment

Since the first launch event for partners that took place in 2016 at SAP TechEd in Barcelona, the number of partners that have engaged with SAP for machine learning has grown over tenfold and so has the promise to collectively deliver real value to joint customers.

For example, HCL Technologies helps global enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age, and has been a long-standing SAP partner.

As Michael Romero, senior vice president for HCL SAP Practice, puts it, “HCL’s assignment management microservice combined with the SAP Service Ticket Intelligence business service on the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation will drastically simplify operations for our strong retail and consumer goods’ customer base.”

Opportunities to partner with SAP on machine learning are manifold

Additionally, Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company has deployed its machine learning component to solve the issue of “non-revenue water” for the water utility industry on the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation. Wipro’s solution, called Pipeline Monitoring, uses image classification and segmentation features along with conversational APIs to significantly enhance user experience. By deploying its components on SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation, Wipro has enabled seamless integration to its SAP Fiori frontend, SAP system backend, and IoT services for monitoring pipeline leakages.

Additionally, SAP is actively leveraging its partner ecosystem’s innovations in many ways. SAP’s global technology partner Nvidia has been a key player in helping accelerate SAP’s vision of the intelligent enterprise, and SAP has recently announced that SAP Leonardo Machine Learning has been the first enterprise solution to adopt NVIDIA’s Volta AI platform. Similarly, as part of SAP’s partnership with Google, TensorFlow is now the underlying framework for all SAP ML product development.

The Time to Engage is Now

Becoming a SAP Leonardo Machine Learning partner is easy and straightforward. All SAP partners registered with SAP PartnerEdge or working through one of SAP’s existing partner channels qualify. Additionally, to facilitate the onboarding, SAP has created a wealth of enablement material to help partners understand SAP’s machine learning portfolio and identify collaboration opportunities.

More details on the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning Foundation, including tailored learning maps for partners, are available on the SAP Cloud Platform Collaboration Room on SAP Learning Hub. To learn more about SAP technology, review the documentation on SAP Help, get hands-on experience on SAP API Business Hub, or follow tutorials on SAP.developer.

If you are attending SAP TechEd Barcelona, please stop by the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning booth SE02 and visit the SAP Leonardo Machine Learning sessions as highlighted here. http://bit.ly/2kZnKbQ #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

Mobile devices and apps, wireless networks, and collaborative platforms are just a few of the many technologies that are changing how people approach everyday life. We are constantly engaged in experiences that are highly curated, individualized, responsive, and immediate.

But what most people miss is how this moment in human history is creating immense upheaval for HR organizations as they fight to acquire and retain the right talent – and keep them engaged – to compete effectively in a landscape of constant change and disruption.

A lack of digitally enabled HR processes can limit the ability of a company to have the right talent and thereby thwart future growth. This can be an issue for small and midsize companies as indicated in the Forbes Insights briefing report “Competing for Talent in the Digital Age,” sponsored by SAP SuccessFactors, where less than half of surveyed executives cited having an established strategy and undergoing a coordinated transformation.

Would anyone willingly jump back to technology experiences in the workplace reminiscent to those from 10 years ago? Most likely not – people want the same access to digital capabilities they use outside of work. For the HR function, it’s time to start supporting preferred ways of working to help the business run with an engaged, passionate workforce that is willing to do what it takes to help the company succeed.

Redefining the Value of HR in a Digital World

HR strategies and processes touch every employee, manager, and executive within small and midsize businesses, impacting workforce behaviors and productivity. However, the adoption of digital technology can have a significant influence as well. By marrying processes with technology that mimics favored digital consumer experiences, HR organizations can raise their value to every member of the workforce and ignite a wave of engagement rarely seen in most workplaces.

For example, HR organizations can transition the workplace culture into one that values and encourages continuous learning and career advancement by making development opportunities ubiquitous, simple, accessible, and convenient. Employees can take advantage of individualized learning plans relevant to their current role, future aspirations, and short- and long-term changes in their position. New digital technologies, such as machine learning, can better assess the personalized needs of each individual and intelligently suggest relevant learning courses or mentors. Plus, open collaboration platforms can encourage knowledge sharing across the organization.

Learning and development are just the beginning of the full potential of HR digitalization. Managers can make data-driven decisions based on data that has been transformed into recommended courses of action by using these new digital technologies. And they can do it on the go, anytime and anywhere with their mobile devices. Employees can quickly get the right answers to their questions using natural language instead of guessing where to navigate next on a series of menus. But perhaps most important, work becomes an enjoyable experience as the frustration of making decisions with limited information and using latent, complex IT systems become a thing of the past.

Turning HR Digitalization Into a Foundation for Future Success

The transformational power of digital technology is unmistakable in the world of work. HR organizations can effectively foster digital skills and productive habits that align with current needs, while flexibly evolving work experiences to align with new market dynamics and changes in business strategy in real time.

With a range of cloud-based HR technologies available, small and midsize businesses can increase control of the digital capabilities they adopt, keep IT costs low, secure information confidently, and authorize access to the right people anytime and anywhere. The HR function not only streamlines user experiences and accelerates processes, but also creates a foundation for an engaged, informed, and prepared workforce that can handle anything the future brings.
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Find out how small and midsize businesses are digitalizing HR with cloud-based models to create a competitive edge in the digital economy.
Read the Forbes Insights briefing report “Competing for Talent in the Digital Age” sponsored by SAP SuccessFactors.

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David Ludlow is group vice president of Solution Management for SAP SuccessFactors http://bit.ly/2nRF8jN #SAP #SAPCloud #AI