As part of an ongoing effort to drive value for our members, we have started a new program.

We plan to invite and host global SAP leaders who are responsible for a particular product portfolio or a region for an executive exchange and provide the opportunity for all INDUS members to interact with them. You can ask questions and provide feedback to these global leaders. 

Given that we are in the midst of a compliance roll-out (e-Invoicing and TCS), we are hosting the global head of SAP’s globalisation team in the first executive exchange as part of this program. 

Introduction to the executive:

Stefan Steinle is the Senior Vice President and Head of SAP Globalization Services. Based in SAP’s headquarter in Walldorf, Germany, he is responsible for the global reach of SAP’s products, which includes language experience, legal compliance, and functional localization. Stefan’s prime target is to ensure SAP customers can leverage SAP software to extend and grow their business globally in all geographies across the world. 

Introduction of the Host:

Atul Govil (Chief Transformation Officer and Head – SAP & IT), who is an INDUS Board Member will host Stefan in this conversation and will moderate the discussion. You can join the session and ask any questions you might have regarding SAP’s localisation strategy or share feedback for Stefan to take back to SAP. 

You can watch the entire recording of the session here.

Some of the important questions that were covered in the session include:

1. We have noticed that localisation solutions when being released are not complete. Take for example the current situation with the TCS solution released by SAP. While the sales side of the equation is handled by the SAP solution well, the procurement side of the solution is not yet ready or released. Why is that so and what can be done to address this going forward? 
2. We have also seen that of late, SAP has a strategy to license the localisation solutions being released. We believe that localisation of ERP is something that is mandatory requirement for doing business and helps customers stay compliant and doesn’t necessarily add any additional business value. This makes it difficult for customers to justify the cost of procuring additional licenses for these solutions. Why is this so? 
3. We also need to be aware of the solutions that surround the ERP solution that are also required to be localised (SuccessFactors or Ariba or Concur, etc). What is SAP’s strategy around them? What is SAP doing to revisit and ensure that their ERP/such solution cover all mandatory compliances? 
4. Consumption of Notes  by SAP customers on earlier version is not as seamless and has teething issues. How is SAP going to handle this? 
5. We have seen that many interactions between SAP and customers is around the interpretation of the law of the land. Can SAP’s interpretation be shared for customers to be better prepared {in the form of Q&A or FAQ’s}. This is so that the primary focus of all interactions between us needs to be on the solution.
6. With the rate of change in compliance requirements getting faster and faster, how is SAP planning to address this? Also, what can be done to improve collaboration between development team and customers to be significantly improved. This is to enable SAP to act on localization requirements quickly and act/comply locally.

If you have a request in terms of which executives would you like to be invited, pls reply to this email and let us know and we will try and get them in one of the next sessions. 

Stay tuned for more such executive exchanges with key SAP executives.