Hershey Highlights Its Data and AI Journey at SAP Sapphire

The stakes on data’s importance for AI were set by Irfan Khan, SAP Chief Product Officer for Data and Analytics, as soon as he took the stage at SAP Sapphire in Orlando on May 20 when he said: “If we don’t have the right data strategy, it’s highly unlikely without that data context that we’ll be able to have a well-informed AI strategy,” before bringing  SAP customer and candymaker Hershey on stage to discuss its data journey from SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) to SAP Datasphere and building custom AI solutions.

Hershey was an early adopter of SAP Datasphere, deployed alongside SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). This deployment aimed to enable business users at Hershey to develop self-service analytics capabilities using SAC while operating on a standardized data model. With SAP Datasphere as the foundation, Hershey also created an AI solution on the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) that leverages five integrated data sources to support the management of production portfolios and informed scheduling decisions. The solution achieved a 75% reduction in data analysis time while modeling six global manufacturing networks to optimize product mix and increase network utilization. This effort earned the Hershey team an SAP Innovation Award, made possible by the company’s executive focus on data.

Hershey’s Data Evolution with SAP

Hershey has replicated data from SAP BW to SAP Datasphere, simplifying the “plumbing” effort with its data. “You have to use out-of-the-box capability,” said Achim Welter, VP of Enterprise Data and Architecture at Hershey, while speaking to SAP’s Khan.

Welter notes that a significant portion of the effort required to harmonize data between Hershey’s SAP S/4HANA system or an external system and SAP BW has been removed with SAP Datasphere.

To support external data sources, Hershey has developed custom data products separate from SAP. Welter expressed enthusiasm for the announcement of the SAP Databricks solution as part of the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) launch.

“At the end of the day, our vision is that from a business perspective, the business shouldn’t worry where the data resides. It’s simply accessible through the same mechanism,” Welter added.

Another crucial element in Hershey’s data evolution with SAP involves transitioning from data visualization tools like Tableau and Power BI to SAC across the enterprise. He noted that this required a considerable amount of change management, particularly with business users, to ensure adoption.

Ensuring Trusted Data to Support Responsible AI

Part of Hershey’s successful data evolution has involved building executive-sponsored data domains that benefit from executive support for data governance and data quality. Hershey provides trusted data through an integration of SAP Datasphere and Collibra, a data governance platform, while also utilizing Savyint’s security and access management capabilities.

With that trusted data, Hershey is supporting AI adoption, but perhaps not as fast as some business users would like.

“I think my business community would like to have my AI up and running since yesterday, but we’re working with them, and there are a lot of ideas that we are working on how to leverage AI,” he explained.

SAP Joule, SAP’s AI assistant, is demonstrating potential for Hershey. Welter noted that he envisions applications related to finance, particularly in reducing the time required to close the books each month, as well as aiding with some of the SAC training.

Outside of SAP’s AI tools, Hershey has a team of data scientists developing custom AI products to aid in decision automation—something made possible by the trust established in the data.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• In a way, Hershey became an early adopter of SAP BDC by utilizing many elements that constitute SAP BDC, and Welter stated they will continue to use SAP data products. He emphasized that executive-level sponsorship and commitment to change management have been essential.
• Hershey’s data journey was also supported by the company’s greenfield SAP S/4HANA deployment. The S/4HANA system was initially launched alongside SAP BW, but Welter noted that being an early adopter of SAP Datasphere and SAC has proven beneficial. Embracing innovation, even when it requires the effort to transition to new systems, has ultimately been advantageous for Hershey.
• Hershey’s commitment to quality and reliable data, supported by executive-level backing, was crucial to their ability to create a data environment that now allows them to develop custom AI and data products both within and outside of SAP.