SAPinsider Issue 3 2020

by Brianna Shipley, Senior Editor, SAPinsider Months into the quarantine experienced world- wide due to the COVID-19 crisis, much of the population has been shut in, isolated, and per- haps feeling like they have been repeating the same day over and over, with little variation. This experience is reminiscent of the one played out in the American film Groundhog Day , where the main character, Phil Connors, is trapped in a time loop that forces him to, quite literally, relive the same day (February 2, 1993) again and again. It’s been more than 25 years since we first watched Connors wake up each morning to the despair of endless monotony, but this year, a Super Bowl LIV commercial brought a present- day Connors back to the screen — except this time, he has something new in his day: a shiny orange Jeep. The ad reveals Connors’s dismal mood com- pletely reversed by the excitement and adven- ture the new vehicle affords him, and it asks viewers to consider, “Don’t you also want a Jeep that can take you to new places?” It is with this approach of selling an experience that busi- nesses can get ahead of their competitors and entice new and existing customers to engage with them. Before businesses can progress into this new digital age and emerging experience economy, however, they must first modernize their IT infrastructures to ensure that the expe- rience they are promising is also the one that they can deliver. The Best Time to Modernize Your IT Infrastructure Is Now Digital transformation is expected to only increase in importance, and likely at an accel- erated rate as a result of recent global events, which have forced many businesses to quickly pivot to digital models and subscription-based services. SAP customers must be able to react quickly and adapt to new realities with little notice. Under pressure to not only transform but also thrive, companies are realizing that their IT resources must drive change. According to Ivo Totev, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at SUSE, most SAP custom- ers understand the importance of having a secure and reliable IT infrastructure that is always available — it is just a matter of getting there. “When simplified IT infrastructures run seamlessly, organizations can spend more time thinking about their business transformation strategy,” he says. “Adopting next-generation solutions, such as SAP S/4HANA and SAP HANA, is critical for businesses to prosper in this age of digital transformation.” Improving User Experience with Infrastructure Flexibility SAPinsiderOnline.com 27