SAP announces program to develop industry-focused cloud apps
SAP says its plan to build industry-focused cloud apps will give customers new options for meeting business-specific needs in this news roundup.
As part of its ongoing efforts to make itself a more cloud-centric company, SAP announced on Monday it was launching a new program to develop a raft of new industry-specific software applications.
The news comes the day before the annual SAP Sapphire Now user conference, where SAP announces new initiatives and products, as well as lays out its technology vision for the months and years ahead.
The new applications, which will be developed by SAP's ecosystem of partners in conjunction with existing SAP customers, are meant to supplement the existing on-premises applications that SAP has developed for more than two-dozen industry verticals over the years.
"We're going to start with chemicals, financial services and sports," said Jonathan Becher, SAP's chief marketing officer.
Becher pointed to the sports entertainment industry and ticketholders who end up trying to sell their tickets on the open market because they can't attend a game or event, Becher said. At that point, the team or venue has no ability to know if the person is coming, or what happened to the ticket. That's something that could be solved with an industry-based cloud software application, he said.
SAP said the new HANA-enabled applications would help address "next-generation business processes," and would be available in a range of options, including public, private and hybrid cloud environments, as well as in the HANA Enterprise Cloud, a subscription-based cloud hosting service.
SAP's first sustainability officer leaves
Peter Graf, SAP's first sustainability officer, announced late Sunday that he was leaving the company. Since assuming the position in 2009, Graf helped grow SAP's nascent sustainability efforts, including the launch of SAP Sustainability Performance Management software (formerly known as Carbon Impact), and a list of software and consulting initiatives and products aimed at making companies more efficient, and therefore more environmentally friendly. Graf also oversaw the integration of SAP's annual sustainability report with SAP's larger corporate report.
"Sustainability has become a ubiquitous part of SAP's corporate DNA and vision. In spite of my departure, SAP's strategic commitment to sustainability is unchanged," Graf said in a statement.
Graf will be replaced by longtime SAP sustainability executive Daniel Schmid, according to SAP. Schmid was previously SAP's head of sustainability operations.
