On May 30 Kyiv hosted an annual Digital Business Transformation Forum SAP NOW Kyiv dedicated to business transformations by digital technologies. About 500 participants attended the event including the executives of Ukrainian companies and state organizations as well as experts in business administration and IT. Maxym Matiash, Director SAP Ukraine, during the opening speech outlined the main trends and processes that will be observing in the nearest future. According to him, digitalization enters the global market, and nowadays not only big companies, but also the middle and small businesses are confidently moving in this direction.
«Digital transformation has become an essential prerequisite for all companies, regardless their size or industry. Flexibility and ability to innovate are the new benchmarks of success. And the SAP’s role is to help companies adapt to the current digital reality, so that Ukrainian business could meet the challenges of the market, and also provide all necessary tools opening a great number of new opportunities and allowing you to switch to new business models and to attract the customers successfully», – said Maxym Matiash, Director SAP Ukraine.
The global economy has changed significantly and rapidly over the last ten years. And the pace of these changes continues to increase. The use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, big data, Internet of things, and others is becoming widespread and common.
Simon Kaluža, Managing Director SAP CEE, believes that all companies should be prepared to supplement human capabilities with the work of artificial intelligence pretty soon. However, it does not mean that people will not be needed or will lose their significance in the labor market – on the contrary, the industry specialists will be able to achieve significant results and make new discoveries in medicine, logistics, telecommunications and other fields.
«Today we are at a point when a lot of companies have the opportunity to disrupt themselves. Since we are living in digital world, that means introducing some kind of new technologies that are enabling new business models. SAP is strongly committed to be a long term partner for all our customers on their journey of digital transformation and future business success. We decided to be forth runners, advocates and drivers and we invest in innovation and knowledge to help our customers run better. », – commented Simon Kaluža, Managing Director SAP CEE.
A plenary discussion «European Perspective and Business Transformation: Growth Factors for Ukrainian Enterprises» was held during the Forum, headed by Pavlo Sheremeta, an economist, a former Minister of Economic Development and Commerce of Ukraine, a founder of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Business School. The representatives of the leading Ukrainian companies participated in the discussion including LLC Metinvest Holdin, SE NNEGC «Energoatom» and IPG Inc., as well as SAP С-suite CEE. According to experts, the productivity of the Ukrainian economy amounts just to 10%, and it is not enough to achieve outstanding results in conditions of the highly competitive market. To improve this indicator Ukrainian companies need to undergo a digital transformation and to shift to new business models that will enable Ukrainian business to enter the European market and triple the export.
The Forum featured seven thematic sessions on technological innovations, customer interaction, digital HR transformation and the future of the procurement.
All participants had an opportunity to visit an interactive exhibition with numerous stands presenting real business ideas and scenarios. During the event the participants and guests got insights about different SAP solutions such as SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Digital Boardroom, SAP Asset Intelligence Network, SAP Leonardo Machine Learning, SAP Leonardo IoT, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Hybris, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Ariba and SAP Success Factors.
