Day: February 19, 2018

New trends in predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are calling into question many traditional processes — and that includes the provision of business intelligence inside organizations.

Please join me and SAP Analytics Evangelist Andy Bitterer to discuss the trends, the biggest challenges, and potential use cases of these technologies on February 7, 2018, at 8am Pacific Time (5pm CET) as part of an #askSAP Live Chat on Facebook. Please bring your questions!

Here are just some of the areas we’ll be exploring:

* Why, after being the “next big thing” in analytics for at least two decades, Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning are now such hot industry trends.
* How machine learning is enabling “self-driving” processes that automate the kinds of complex repetitive decision-making that up until now only humans could do.
* The biggest new opportunities for these technologies in today’s organizations.
* How companies can get started with machine learning.

In particular, we’ll be talking about what machine learning can bring to traditional analytics, including:

* More intelligent data preparation. Over 90% of average business intelligence projects involve gathering, cleaning, and joining data from different sources. Algorithms can help automate some of this work, especially for more casual business users.

* Natural-language interfaces. BI interfaces that correctly interpret user questions in everyday language via voice or chat, such as “what’s the revenue per customer this month compared to last month?” and are able to provide data in sentence form, such as “deal value is 20% lower than average for the enterprise segment”.

* Automatic outlier detection. Algorithms can spot exceptions and unusual events automatically, such as: “days sales outstanding is the western region is currently 90% higher than the average over the last six months”. This helps enable the long-term dream of true exception-driven management.

* Intelligent segmentation. Statistical techniques can automatically create groups and segments that make sense based on the data, rather than arbitrarily-defined thresholds. For example, by automatically segmenting crime data into age-ranges that match real-world trends, such as 0-14, 14-23, 23-35 etc. rather than 0-10, 20-30, etc.

* Causality and significance detection. We can use algorithms to determine the key influencers on profitability, or to check whether an uptick in sales is a real inflection point rather than just random variation.

* Advanced data sharing. Just as Amazon recommends book purchases based on what we’ve read in the past, algorithms can help identify reports and data that we might be interested in — “people like you also liked this dashboard”.

The more interactive the session, the better. We look forward to hearing and answering your real questions (rather than having to guess what you might be interested in!) — and please tell us if you can make it by clicking “going” or “interested” on this page! http://bit.ly/2EAacfI #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

At the first FC Bayern Munich-hosted #FCBayernHackDays, hackathon veteran Peter Ma and his team competed against 40 others, winning the SAP Challenge “Fan Activation 4.0” but coming second overall with their Fan Coin idea.

When Peter Ma took to the stage in Säbener Lounge in Munich’s Allianz Arena, it was immediately obvious that he was no stranger to public speaking. The 34-year-old New Yorker, who now lives in San Francisco, has already participated in more than 100 hackathons. And in his career as a prototyping consultant, he’s already been awarded 20 grand checks – trophies for winning programming contests. Rubber stamps from countries throughout the world adorn his passport; he’s a globetrotter on the hacker circuit.

SAP Challenge: Fan Activation 4.0

It’s therefore no wonder that Ma was selected to be one of 220 participants among 1,300 applicants from 40 nations to take part in the first #FCBayernHackDays in Munich – as a member of the four-person Fan Coin team that was pitched against five other teams in the SAP Challenge. The task was to create “fascinating and innovative fan experiences using digital technologies” or, put more succinctly, Fan Activation 4.0. The idea that finally won over the SAP jurors involves giving blockchain technology an emotional value.

“How many of you own bitcoins?” Ma asks the audience. One hand goes up. Ma then says: “Take a look at your neighbor. Remember his face. He’s rich.” However, anyone able to purchase a Fan Coin would be emotionally richer than any cryptocurrency owner, Ma explains. But it’s still just an idea, a vision for the future.

The Blockchain Fan Coin: 100 Coins for a Goal

This is how the Fan Coin works: Every single goal that FC Bayern scores – for example, against Werder Bremen recently – could potentially generate any number of Fan Coins. Let’s say 100. And if, as happened that weekend against Bremen, striker Thomas Müller scores his 100th Bundesliga goal, fans can collect even more Fan Coins and acquire even more emotional wealth. For goals of outstanding importance, such as the one 16 years ago by Patrik Andersson, who scored four minutes into injury time to snatch the title back from Schalke 04, the Fan Coins have a particularly special emotional value. Ma calls these concentrated virtual emotions “crypto collectables.” All the fans are urged to amass as many Fan Coins as they can to become the “super fan.”

The Jury’s Verdict: “Sustainable and Secure”

Fan Coin accounts can be topped up in other ways. For instance, 100 randomly selected fans at the stadium could be credited with extra Fan Coins for every Bayern goal of the match. Or, FC Bayern could “reward” fans with Fan Coins if they have a season ticket, are members of the FCB KidsClub, attend a match, or buy fan merchandise.

“The idea is sustainable. There’s no limit to the number of new tactics you can find,” says Jan Patrzalek, Global Head SAP Sports & Entertainment Solution Management. With the help of SAP Cloud Platform, information about fans flows straight into their profiles in the SAP Hybris Marketing and SAP Hybris Profile solutions.

Ultimately, the Fan Coin gives the club ever sharper insights into every individual in its fan universe. On the technical side of things, Fan Coin transactions are recorded using a blockchain. “This means it’s inherently resistant to modification,” explains Patrzalek, who chose the Fan Coin team as the victors with help from his jury colleagues SAP Hybris developer Christoph Pattberg and Cora Ackermann from the Global Sponsorship Team at SAP.

“Become Your Hero” and “Every Voice Matters”

“The other teams developed amazing ideas, too,” says Patrzalek. For example, one of the developer teams created a digital image of Bayern stars with the title “Become Your Hero.” The idea here is that the app’s users can improve the skills of their own soccer avatar by, for example, going for a run to increase stamina, taking an emotional selfie to boost motivation, or linking up with other fans to strengthen team spirit.

Another team, “Every Voice Matters,” explored how the opinions of micro-influencers can impact fan profiles. To analyze fans’ needs and work out how they can best be addressed individually, this concept doesn’t look at what jerseys or scarfs they buy, but rather what they think according to their comments on social media. Like the information generated from the avatar game, the micro-influencers’ opinions leave clues in their profiles, which then become ever more precise.

Overall Winner: Adidas Tackles Mobile Conversion Rates

The teams in the other challenges were assigned different tasks. The Audi Challenge developers looked at ways to turn car journeys into a fan experience, while the FC Bayern Challenge developers pondered how technologies could create new fan experiences. They devised a voice recognition system called “You Never Sing Alone” that translates fans’ singing into other languages, despite the roar of the stadium crowd.

However, the overall winners were the Adidas Challenge champions. They were tasked with finding a way to increase the number of mobile purchase decisions through mobile interaction. The Adidas team developed a gamification approach whereby players complete tasks and are awarded points that they can then redeem in the form of a voucher after they have registered. Each completed task – for example, three tuck jumps in 15 seconds – is uploaded as a video to the Bayern platform. Only then are players credited with points and can proceed to the next level in the challenge.

Peter Ma wasn’t bothered by “only” coming second with his team. He’s already gearing up for his next hackathon in Dubai, checking that his passport has a free page for the next stamp, and honing his next pitch – with the tried-and-true formula: “Don’t be nervous. Have fun. Enjoy the moment.” http://bit.ly/2BBdLQe #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

Co-authored by Corina Kinzel and Bert Schulze

Welcome back to our series about cross generations at the workplace. This time, we’re going to hear from Corina Kinzel how she experiences her everyday life at work with regards to her motivation, communication habits, the role social media plays, and much more.

My name is Corina Kinzel and I live in Sandhausen, near Walldorf, Germany. After I’ve completed my bachelor’s degree in Translation Studies at the University of Heidelberg, I studied Language and Communication at the University of Mannheim which helped me to gain insights into various fields. While I took diverse classes around German studies, I could also complete some courses in Media and Communication Studies as well as Psychology.

My motivation

After an internship of 6 months, I started working as permanent employee in September 2016 at SAP. Since then, I’ve been part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Product Management Team. I love working in this team because ever since the beginning every day has been different. If all days were the same, I’d have trouble getting out of bed. In that context, I might fulfill one of the stereotypes that sticks to millennials. But I am sure, this also applies to people of all generations. Diverse work – which is challenging at the same time – makes me run. Even if I have not successfully mastered a task, I feel challenged to strive for better results next time.

Another big criterion which motivates me is a good leader. What makes a good leader in my eyes? A good leader has to be fair and be a person I can look up to as a role model. This entails that competency goes along with the ability to execute. I appreciate a person I can talk to and trust – regarding work-related topics as well as personal feelings which influence my performance. I think that an ideal leader should be able to recognize my abilities and make full use of them. When I started working in my team, I was mainly engaged in communication and social media topics. One of my tasks is the set-up, coordination, and to some extent also the successful delivery of video and blog creation for our quarterly SAP S/4HANA Cloud releases. Of course, one could argue that this was a perfect fit. My area of responsibility was definitely not just a coincidence as I studied communications which was partly also related to media. Nevertheless, being right in the middle of a Product Management Team, I also wanted to learn more about our product itself. The easiest way for me to learn is to jump in at the deep end and just do it. This is how I started with my new project of being a single point of contact for Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management, an area of our product SAP S/4HANA Cloud. What’s most crucial for me is that I can contribute to our success. That means for me: never stand still! You can only evolve when you permanently educate yourself and tackle new challenges. An ideal leader should therefore realize my aim to further develop my skills, and constantly challenge me outside my comfort zone.

My communication habits & the role of social media

What’s also playing a major role is having a good relationship with my colleagues as this makes work even more enjoyable. Many of my direct colleagues are based in the headquarters in Walldorf, which allows face-to-face meetings – my favorite way of communicating. Face-to-face communications doesn’t only allow my own facial expressions and gestures, but I can also see the reactions of my conversation partners, and can react accordingly.

As a global company, the people I collaborate with day in day out are spread across the globe, where I do not have the luxury of frequent face-to-face meetings. Whenever distance doesn’t allow face-to-face meetings, I highly appreciate the possibility to exchange on different topics remotely via Skype using screen sharing.

Besides Skype, there are several other communication channels which can be used to communicate. Just think about social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. Before I started working at SAP, I only used facebook for private purposes, and I never actually thought about other platforms. One of my tasks in my job is to drive communication topics for every single release of our product so that our customers and prospects are always up to date. Therefore, we make full use of blogs and videos which we position on highly consumed platforms. This was the time when I began to think about ways how to best distribute the news around our product SAP S/4HANA Cloud. And let me tell you this: it can’t get easier to exchange on topics than on social media platforms. Once I had an established network, which of course grows over time and not within a week or two, I could easily tweet and retweet the content I wanted to share. This way, not only I can position my own topics, but I can always stay on top of the latest information which is shared by my network, allowing me to see the world from a new perspective without developing tunnel vision for my own product. I believe that social media is a powerful tool to convey content to a broad audience, and vice versa to be up to date on super-hot topics.

I, personally, don’t use platforms like LinkedIn for self-positioning. Of course, I’m aware that what I express, and the way I express myself has a huge impact on how other people perceive me. Whereas I love my job and am not waiting for a headhunter to find me, I know that especially in this day and age it is important to be flexible and adapt to ever changing environments. The structure of the company, new technologies, and new trends require me to keep up in order not to fall behind. Especially SAP – as a software company – has to cope with the changing requirements to stay ahead of competition. Therefore, the reorganization of structures combined with new topics and tasks are common at SAP. Obsolete tasks disappear and new ones are created. This means an everchanging environment but it also makes work as exciting as it is.

My take

In a nutshell, I would summarize that I personally don´t have a significant deviation in motivation, use of social media and ambitions than what I hear from colleagues of other generations. However, I do believe that millennials can accustom themselves a lot easier to social media as they simply grew up with the internet and the possibilities provided. As I stated above, though, this doesn’t mean that we actually do use the internet to the full extent, but maybe our Generation X is ahead of us.

If you want to follow us, you can find us on

Corina Kinzel Twitter @CorinaReise and LinkedIn

Bert Schulze Twitter @BeSchulze and LinkedIn http://bit.ly/2BCNX68 #SAP #SAPCloud #AI