SAP SMB Innovation Summit 2020 Review

The EMEA leg of the SAP SMB Innovation Summit 2020 is over for another year. Last week in Palma, Majorca, we heard all about the cool new features planned for SAP Business One Version 10; saw the potential of the Intelligent Enterprise in helping address global climate issues, and had an exclusive sneak peek at SAP’s brand new product aimed at the SME market – more on that below.

SAP’s Joost Tigelaar, Finn Backer and Paulo Almeida kicked off the conference with the promise of hosting the “best, the biggest and most remarkable Summit”, and they didn’t disappoint.

Reviewing the past 12 months, Joost added that it had been a “great year”, with more than 5,000 new companies selecting SAP Business One as their chosen enterprise solution. More impressively, existing customers highlighted the importance of B1 to their organisation with a 96% renewal rate globally.

SAP Business One Version 10 Highlights

With Version 10 set for general availability later this year, it was high on the agenda, with several seminars dedicated to different aspects and functionality of this new major release.

Ari Schapria, SAP Chief Product Owner for SAP Business One, called the web client the “jewel in the crown of Version 10” and said that SAP had kept its promise to users to make the solution more accessible online.

Away from the main stage, Ari ran his seminar focusing on the new web client and some new features that have been added to V10. It’s great to hear that SAP has listened to the feedback from partners, and the latest enhancements that we were shown are guaranteed to improve the user experience.

No longer just ERP guys (and girls)

Finn Backer kicked day two off with a clear message to all delegates: “Don’t be the ERP guys” anymore. It’s clear that customers want more and are ready to leverage smart technologies integrated into their enterprise solution to get ahead of competitors.

We were shown some excellent examples of how SMEs use smart tech to innovate and be disruptive in their sectors. For example, a coffee bean reseller uses sensors inside its coffee machines to automatically generate purchase orders when a certain amount of drinks have been made. At the same time, the machine generates data that is used to create a service call activity to avoid the build-up of limescale within the pipes through regular maintenance checks.

Another out-of-the-box idea is happening right now across rainforests to end illegal logging. Old mobile phones are being used and connected to sensors high up in treetops that trigger a notification to park rangers when the sound of a chainsaw is picked up. The solution has been developed further using machine learning to monitor the sound of animal wildlife to identify when any intruders are near. Your ERP solution now has the potential to change the world!

See you at the next SAP SMB Innovation Summit 2021... wherever that may be.