3 ways the power of the individual will change the future

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10-October-2013

3 Ways The Power Of The Individual Will Change The FutureDan Wellers (http://www.digitalistmag.com/author/danielwellers)

Ask a roomful of people what’s the most important invention of the 20th century, and chances are

(http://digitalistmag.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2013/10/landing_feat-resource2_1500x1500.jpg)that the Internet,

semiconductors, the combustion engine, or the telephone would be near the top of the list (in the developed world

anyway). But there’s a strong argument that the most important invention of the last 100 years is management, or

according to Gary Hamel (http://www.managementexchange.com/video/gary-hamel-reinventing-technology-human-

accomplishment), “the tools and the methods that we use to bring people together to mobilize and organize resources for

productive ends.” The problem is that, since their invention, today’s management practices have barely changed and are an

outdated legacy of the last century. In my last blog (http://www.digitalistmag.com/sales-marketing/4-ways-customers-

shaping-future-business-

0706937#iit=1381437221762&tmr=load%3D1381437219535%26core%3D1381437221743%26main%3D1381437221746%26ifr%3D1381437221765&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=utf-

8&kw=%40topstories%2CDon%20Tapscott%2Cfuture%20of%20business&ab=-&dh=blogs.sap.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.sap.com%2Finnovation%2Fsales-

marketing%2F4-ways-customers-shaping-future-business-

0706937&dt=4%20Ways%20Your%20Customers%20Are%20Shaping%20The%20Future%20Of%20Your%20Business&dbg=0&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=1&prod=undefined&lng=en-

us&ogt=height%2Cwidth%2Cimage%2Cdescription%2Ctitle%2Curl&pc=men&pub=xa-

513f8cd87028d3c8&ssl=0&sid=52570f25c4187108&srpl=1&srcs=1&srd=1&srf=0.02&srx=1&ver=300&xck=0&xtr=0&og=url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogs.sap.com%252Finnovation%252Fsales-

marketing%252F4-ways-customers-shaping-future-business-

0706937%26title%3D4%2520Ways%2520Your%2520Customers%2520Are%2520Shaping%2520The%2520Future%2520Of%2520Your%2520Business%26description%3DThis%2520just%2520in%253A%2520Your%2520customers%2520are%2520no%2520longer%2520trapped%2520on%2520the%2520receiving%2520end%2520of%2520your%2520value%2520chain.%2520With%2520instant%2520access%2520to%2520peer%2520reviews%252C%2520competitor%2520offerings%252C%2520and%2520prices%252C%2520they%25E2%2580%2599re%2520advocating%2520for%2520new%2520products%2520and%2520services%2520while%2520openly%2520and%2520instantly%2520communicating%2520their%2520likes%2520and%2520dislikes.%26image%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogs.sap.com%252Finnovation%252Ffiles%252F2013%252F10%252Flanding_feat-

resource1_1500x5001.jpg%26image%253Awidth%3D300%26image%253Aheight%3D300&aa=0&rev=123888&ct=1&xld=1&xd=1), I discussed how instant access to

peer reviews, competitor offerings, and prices are empowering consumers to advocate in real time for new products and services. Now exponential increases in connectivity,

data, and mobile devices – as well as the rise of young people who have grown up online – are fueling unprecedented demand for openness, interaction, participation, and

flexibility in the workplace as well. Predictably, these demands are crossing into the public domain in a similarly disruptive way. In a hyperconnected world, citizens

increasingly expect to participate in government, get information, report what they find, and influence policy. Many governments are seeking new ways to engage citizens in

creating new services that improve lives, foster community, and build trust. Businesses and governments must respond to three trends that are driven by the increasing

autonomy and empowerment of individuals:

A future without layoffsGlobalization, technology, faster product lifecycles, and more fluid financial markets have made employment more volatile for workers and companies alike. As a result,

employees face uncertain futures. Meanwhile, businesses face low levels of employee loyalty and must often spend large sums to replace skilled people, if they can find them

at all. These same forces have enabled the rise of freelancers, who are using technology to build their skills, identities, and support networks. This self-organizing ecosystem

will interact with companies in a more flexible, project-oriented, and demand-driven way. Models of engagement between employees and employers will emphasize creativity

and individual empowerment on the employee side over command and control on the employer side. This means companies must come up with ways to predict what skills

will be needed and redefine the leadership, management, and systems required to shape and empower their workforces. If done well, not only will companies be more

competitive and agile, but the workforce will be more motivated and highly trained.

Employeedriven learning

Sectio

ns

http://www.digitalistmag.com/sales-marketing/4-ways-customers-shaping-future-business-0706937#iit=1381437221762&tmr=load%3D1381437219535%26core%3D1381437221743%26main%3D1381437221746%26ifr%3D1381437221765&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=utf-8&kw=%40topstories%2CDon%20Tapscott%2Cfuture%20of%20business&ab=-&dh=blogs.sap.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.sap.com%2Finnovation%2Fsales-marketing%2F4-ways-customers-shaping-future-business-0706937&dt=4%20Ways%20Your%20Customers%20Are%20Shaping%20The%20Future%20Of%20Your%20Business&dbg=0&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=1&prod=undefined&lng=en-us&ogt=height%2Cwidth%2Cimage%2Cdescription%2Ctitle%2Curl&pc=men&pub=xa-513f8cd87028d3c8&ssl=0&sid=52570f25c4187108&srpl=1&srcs=1&srd=1&srf=0.02&srx=1&ver=300&xck=0&xtr=0&og=url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogs.sap.com%252Finnovation%252Fsales-marketing%252F4-ways-customers-shaping-future-business-0706937%26title%3D4%2520Ways%2520Your%2520Customers%2520Are%2520Shaping%2520The%2520Future%2520Of%2520Your%2520Business%26description%3DThis%2520just%2520in%253A%2520Your%2520customers%2520are%2520no%2520longer%2520trapped%2520on%2520the%2520receiving%2520end%2520of%2520your%2520value%2520chain.%2520With%2520instant%2520access%2520to%2520peer%2520reviews%252C%2520competitor%2520offerings%252C%2520and%2520prices%252C%2520they%25E2%2580%2599re%2520advocating%2520for%2520new%2520products%2520and%2520services%2520while%2520openly%2520and%2520instantly%2520communicating%2520their%2520likes%2520and%2520dislikes.%26image%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogs.sap.com%252Finnovation%252Ffiles%252F2013%252F10%252Flanding_feat-resource1_1500x5001.jpg%26image%253Awidth%3D300%26image%253Aheight%3D300&aa=0&rev=123888&ct=1&xld=1&xd=1

Waiting for schools and universities to produce individuals with the right skills for today’s market is not enough. Full-time employees will be a smaller part of an organization,

and the majority will be freelancers, partners, and other third parties – flexibly reconfiguring to fit the needs of the moment. At the same time, companies must take a more

active role in working with schools and universities and empowering individuals to find practical education with a faster return on investment in a more practical approach.

New levels of citizen engagementThe first steps taken by governments toward openness have been for self-service and the sharing of relevant information such as road conditions and parking availability.

However this trend will lead to a future of a much stronger engagement of citizens in their cities and neighborhoods. In the future, services will be broadened beyond those

that are purely government driven and will include many third-party services that support a richer community life. Increasingly, that community life will converge in urban

centers. As cities compete for people and business, services will become a competitive advantage. What’s your view? Do these predictions match yours? To see what noted

author and business strategist Don Tapscott has to say about the new generation, check out this video.

New Expectations from a New Generation

This is #3 of a 5 part series titled “First Thoughts on the Future of

Business”.  You can read the rest of the series at: #1. Explore With Us: What’s Next for the Future of Business (http://www.digitalistmag.com/innovation/explore-us-whats-

next-future-business-0706855) #2. Four Ways Your Customers Are Shaping The Future Of Your Business (http://www.digitalistmag.com/sales-marketing/4-ways-

customers-shaping-future-business-0706937) #4. The Future Of Resource Optimization: Responsibility In Real Time (http://www.digitalistmag.com/supply-chain/future-

resource-optimization-responsibility-real-time-0707007) #5. (Back To) The Future Of Business Networks (http://www.digitalistmag.com/innovation/back-future-business-

networks-0707024)

Comments (http://www.digitalistmag.com/lob/human-resources/2013/10/10/3-ways-power-individual-will-change-future-0706967/?cp=706967)

About Dan WellersDan Wellers leads Digital Futures for SAP Marketing Strategy. http://www.digitalistmag.com/digital-economy/digital-futures

Tags:

awareness (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/awareness) , first thoughts on the future of business (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/first-thoughts-on-the-future-of-

business) , future of business (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/future-of-business)

10-August-2015

Who Is Feeding China’s Half Billion Pigs?John Ward (http://www.digitalistmag.com/author/johnward1)

There was a time when China’s population obtained most of its calories from carbohydrates like rice, wheat, and beans. But the country’s appetites are changing.

With China’s fast-growing middle class, today’s demand is for more meat protein, and the people’s choice is usually pork.

According to an article in Modern Farmer (http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/tail-curling-facts-chinese-pork/), Chinese

farmers produced 50 million metric tons (mmt) of pork in 2012. This was twice the amount of pork produced in all the E.U.

countries combined and five times the amount produced in the United States.

The article also estimated that swine production in China reached 723 million head in 2014 – or in other words, more than

half of the country’s human population.

These numbers raise an obvious question: How is China feeding all of its pigs? The answer appears to be by using more imported grains and with the help of some high-tech

Chinese companies.

A lot of little porcine mouths to feedThe pig has long been a symbol of domestic good fortune in China – in fact, the Chinese character for “home” is a combination of the characters for “roof” and “pig.”

Much of China’s past pig production occurred on home farms where the animals were fed scraps and available crop residues. But in more recent decades, there has been a

shift to large-scale factory farms that use commercial feeds more intensively.

According to a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report (http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2014-april/china-in-the-next-decade-rising-meat-demand-

and-growing-imports-of-feed.aspx#.VbeduvlVikq), feeding China’s steadily increasing livestock population is a growing challenge. It takes about 3 kilograms of feed to

produce each kilogram of meat. As a result, the USDA predicts China’s combined use of soy meal and corn for animal feed will rise from 200 mmt to more than 300 mmt

over the 10-year projection period.

Much of this feed grain must be imported.

The USDA expects China’s soybean imports to reach over 70% of global soybean imports by 2024. It also anticipates that China will account for 40% of the rise in global

corn trade over the coming decade.

Homegrown expertiseBut Chinese farmers are also relying on domestic companies in an increasingly high-tech supply chain.

Anyou Biotechnology Group, a company of about 8,000 employees, uses advanced scientific research and precise formulation to produce high-quality livestock feed.

Anyou’s products include supplemental nutrition known as “creep feed” that is fed to animals that are still nursing. This technique promotes rapid growth and a higher

weaning weight. As one of the Asia Pacific region’s leading creep feed suppliers, many of China’s pigs are raised on Anyou products.

It’s been reported that 10% of all the piglets born in China during 2013 were “Anyou babies (http://www.ejinsight.com/20140520-taiwan-expert-becomes-china-pig-

feedgrain-king/).”

Greater efficiency feeds future growthKeeping pace with China’s dietary demands will require even greater levels of efficiency in the future.

Anyou has already fortified its operations. Working with MTC (http://www.mtcsys.com/en/about-us/mtc-profile/) with the support of the SAP Partner Quality Program,

Anyou standardized its business systems (http://www.sap.com/solution/sme/software/erp/small-business-management-hana/index.html?url_id=text-us-customerstory-

anyou) to streamline the company’s financial operations and increase enterprise-wide transparency for more than 40 different subsidiaries, 1300 suppliers, and farmers in

26 provinces across China and Southeast Asia.

Today, unified data management enables faster, more-informed business decisions that help Anyou stay ahead of customer demand. The results are measurable. Anyou

reports a 60% increase in operational efficiency and a 10% reduction in operational costs.

Strategic reserves and acquisitionsThe pig’s importance in Chinese culture is ancient, and the impact of the pork industry on China’s modern-day economy is enormous.

How significant is pork to the Chinese way of life? In closing, consider these two facts.

The United States Department of Energy maintains a strategic petroleum reserve to help mitigate potential supply disruptions. China has a similar stockpile of frozen-pork

reserves (http://www.cnbc.com/id/100795405) scattered across the nation in a network of large freezers.

China’s pork industry is looking beyond the country’s borders for more than feed grain. In 2013, the Chinese company Shuanghui International (now known as WH Group),

made headlines when it spent a reported US$4.7 billion to buy Smithfield Foods – the largest pork producer in the United States.

Building a successful company is hard work. SAP’s affordable solutions for small and midsize companies are designed to make it easier. Easy to install and use, SAP SME

solutions help you automate and integrate your business processes to give real-time actionable insights. So you can make decisions on the spot. Find out how Run Simple

can work for you. Visit sap.com/sme (http://www.sap.com/sme?url_id=CRM-XJ15-LOB-SME_TRSBIB).

Join me on Twitter at @JohnGWard3 (https://twitter.com/JohnGWard3).

You might also like:

This SAP Business Transformation Study (http://www.sap.com/bin/sapcom/en_us/downloadasset.2015-07-jul-02-12.aanyou-increasing-efficiency-transparency-and-

control-at-40-subsidiaries-with-sap-business-one-pdf.html?url_id=text-us-customerstory-anyou) about Anyou Biotechnology Group

Comments (http://www.digitalistmag.com/industries/consumer-products/2015/08/10/feeding-chinas-half-billion-pigs-03265508/?cp=3265508)

About John WardI'm a blogger with SAP and enjoy writing about the success of our customers.

Tags:

#RunSimple (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/runsimple) , agriculture (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/agriculture) , APJ (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/apj) ,

Asia Pacific (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/asia-pacific) , China (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/china) , Run Simple (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/run-

simple) , simplicity (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/simplicity)

15-September-2015

Supply Chain Fraud: The Threat from WithinLindsey LaManna (http://www.digitalistmag.com/author/lindseylamanna)

Supply chain fraud – whether perpetrated by suppliers, subcontractors, employees, or some combination of those – can take many forms. Among the most common are:

Falsified labor

Inflated bills or expense accounts

Bribery and corruption

Phantom vendor accounts or invoices

Bid rigging

Grey markets (counterfeit or knockoff products)

Failure to meet specifications (resulting in substandard or dangerous goods)

Unauthorized disbursements

Look insidePerhaps the most damaging sources of supply chain fraud are internal, especially collusion between an employee and a supplier. Such partnerships help fraudsters evade

independent checks and other controls, enabling them to steal larger amounts. The median loss from fraud committed

by a single thief was US$80,000, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Costs increase along with the number of perpetrators involved. Fraud involving two thieves had a median loss of US$200,000; fraud involving three people had a median

loss of US$355,000; and fraud with four or more had a median loss of more than US$500,000, according to ACFE.

Build a culture to fight fraudThe most effective method to fight internal supply chain theft is to create a culture dedicated to fighting it. Here are a few ways to do it:

Make sure the board and C-level executives understand the critical nature of the supply chain and the risk of fraud throughout the procurement lifecycle.

Market the organization’s supply chain policies internally and among contractors.

Institute policies that prohibit conflicts of interest, and cross-check employee and supplier data to uncover potential conflicts.

Define the rules for accepting gifts from suppliers and insist that all gifts be documented.

Require two employees to sign off on any proposed changes to suppliers.

Watch for staff defections to suppliers, and pay close attention to any supplier that has recently poached an employee.

Comments (http://www.digitalistmag.com/executive-research/supply-chain-fraud-threat-within/?cp=3419382)

About Lindsey LaMannaLindsey LaManna is Social and Reporting Manager for the Digitalist Magazine by SAP Global Marketing. Follow @LindseyLaManna on Twitter

(http://www.twitter.com/LindseyLaManna), on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseylamanna) or Google+

(https://plus.google.com/105532496562474316875/posts?tab=XX&authuser=0).

Tags:

15-October-2015 | CFO Knowledge (http://www.digitalistmag.com/./finance)

The Future Of Supplier Collaboration: 9 Things CPOs Want Their ManagersTo Know NowSundar Kamak (http://www.digitalistmag.com/author/sundarkamak)

As a sourcing or procurement manager, you may think there’s nothing new about supplier collaboration. Your chief

procurement officer (CPO) most likely disagrees.

Forward-thinking CPOs acknowledge the benefit of supplier partnerships. They not only value collaboration, but require a

revolution in how their buying organization conducts its business and operations. “Procurement must start looking to

suppliers for inspiration and new capability, stop prescribing specifications and start tapping into the expertise of

suppliers,” writes David Rae in Procurement Leaders (http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog--david-

rae/ceo-to-cpo-adapt-and-unlock-innovation-or-die-561511). The CEO expects it of your CPO, and your CPO expects it of

you. For sourcing managers, this can be a lot of pressure.

Here are nine things your CPO wants you to know about how supplier collaboration is changing – and why it matters to

your company’s future and your own future.

1. The need for supplier collaboration in procurement is greater than everOver half (65%) of procurement practitioners say procurement at their company is becoming more collaborative with suppliers, according to The Future of Procurement,

Making Collaboration Pay Off (http://ari.ba/2xZ), by Oxford Economics. Why? Because the pace of business has increased exponentially, and businesses must be able to

respond to new market demands with agility and innovation. In this climate, buyers are relying on suppliers more than ever before. And buyers aren’t collaborating with

suppliers merely as providers of materials and goods, but as strategic partners that can help create products that are competitive differentiators.

Supplier collaboration itself isn’t new. What’s new is that it’s taken on a much greater urgency and importance.

2. You’re probably not realizing the full collective power of your supplier relationshipsSupplier collaboration has always been a function of maintaining a delicate balance between demand and supply. For the most part, the primary focus of the supplier

relationship is ensuring the right materials are available at the right time and location. However, sourcing managers with a narrow focus on delivery are missing out on one of

the greatest advantages of forging collaborative supplier partnerships: an opportunity to drive synergies that are otherwise perceived as impossible within the confines of

the business. The game-changer is when you drive those synergies with thousands, not hundreds of suppliers. Look at the Apple Store as a prime example of collaboration

en masse. Without the apps, the iPhone is just another ordinary phone!

3. Collaboration comes in more than one flavorSuppliers don’t just collaborate with you to provide a critical component or service. They also work with your engineers to help ensure costs are optimized from the buyer’sperspective as well as the supplier’s side. They may even take over the provisioning of an entire end-to-end solution. Or co-design with your R&D team through joint research

and development. These forms of collaboration aren’t new, but they are becoming more common and more critical. And they are becoming more impactful, because once

you start extending any of these collaboration models to more and more suppliers, your capabilities as a business increase by orders of magnitude. If one good supplier can

enable your company to build its brand, expand its reach, and establish its position as a market leader – imagine what’s possible when you work collaboratively with

hundreds or thousands of suppliers.

4. Keeping product sustainability top of mind pays offFacing increasing demand for sustainable products and production, companies are relying on suppliers to answer this new market requirement.

As a sourcing manager, you may need to go outside your comfort zone to think about new, innovative ways to collaborate for achieving sustainability. Recently, I heard from

an acquaintance who is a CPO of a leading services company. His organization is currently collaborating with one of the largest suppliers in the world to adhere to regulatory

mandates and consumer demand for “lean and green” lightbulbs. Although this approach was interesting to me, what really struck me was his observation on how this co-

innovation with the supplier is spawning cost and resource optimization and the delivery of competitive products. As reported by Andrew Winston in The Harvard Business

Review, Target and Walmart partnered to launch the Personal Care Sustainability Summit (https://hbr.org/2015/08/how-target-is-taking-sustainable-products-

mainstream?) last year. So even competitors are collaborating with each other and with their suppliers in the name of sustainability.

5. Comarketing is a winwinLook at your list of suppliers. Does anyone have a brand that is bigger than your company’s? Believe it or not, almost all of us do. So why not seize the opportunity to raise

your and your supplier’s brand profile in the marketplace?

Take Intel, for example. The laptop you’re working on right now may very well have an “Intel inside” sticker on it. That’s co-marketing at work. Consistently ranked as one of

the world’s top 100 most valuable brands by Millward Brown Optimor, this largest supplier of microprocessors is world-renowned for its technology and innovation. For many

companies that buy supplies from Intel, the decision to co-market is a strategic approach to convey that the product is reliable and provides real value for their computing

needs.

6. Suppliers get to choose their customers, tooIncreased competition for high-performing suppliers is changing the way procurement operates, say 58% of procurement executives in the Oxford Economics study. Buyers

have a responsibility to the supplier – and to their CEO – to be a customer of choice. When the economy is going well, you might be able to dictate the supplier’s goods and

services – and sometimes even the service delivery model. When times get tough (and they can very quickly), suppliers will typically reevaluate your organization’s needs to

see whether they can continue service in a fiscally responsible manner. To secure suppliers’ attention in favorable and challenging economic conditions, your organization

should establish collaborative and mutually productive partnerships with them.

7. Suppliers can help simplify operationsCost optimization will always be one of your performance metrics; however, that is only one small part of the entire puzzle. What will help your organization get noticed is

leveraging the supplier relationship to innovate new and better ways of managing the product line and operating the business while balancing risk and cost optimization. Ask

yourself: Which functions are no longer needed? Can they be outsourced to a supplier that can perform them better? What can be automated?

8. Suppliers have a better grasp of your sourcing categories than you doUnderstand your category like never before so that your organization can realize the full potential of its supplier investments while delivering products that are consistent

and of high quality. How? By leveraging the wisdom of your suppliers. To be blunt: they know more than you do. Tap into that knowledge to gain a solid understanding of the

product, market category, suppliers’ capabilities, and shifting dynamics in the industry, If a buyer does not understand these areas deeply, no amount of collaboration will

empower a supplier to help your company innovate as well as optimize costs and resources.

9. Remember that there’s something in it for you as wellAll of us want to do strategic, impactful work. Sourcing managers with aspirations of becoming CPOs should move beyond writing contracts and pushing PO requests by

building strategic procurement skill sets. For example, a working knowledge in analytics allows you to choose suppliers that can shape the market and help a product

succeed – and can catch the eye of the senior leadership team.

Sundar Kamak is global vice president of solutions marketing at Ariba, an SAP company.

For more on supplier collaboration, read Making Collaboration Pay Off (http://ari.ba/2xZ), part of a series on the Future of Procurement, by Oxford Economics.

Comments (http://www.digitalistmag.com/lob/sourcing-and-procurement/2015/10/15/future-supplier-collaboration-9-things-chief-procurement-officers-want-managers-know-now-03568925/?cp=3568925)

Tags:

The Art of Procurement (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/the-art-of-procurement) , The Future of Procurement (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/the-future-of-

procurement)

17-December-2015 | Resource Optimization (http://www.digitalistmag.com/./resourceoptimization)

Why Moving To The Cloud Is Essential For Driving Business GrowthNeil McGovern (http://www.digitalistmag.com/author/neil-mcgovern-director-of-marketing)

As cloud adoption spreads, the demand for cloud-based analytics is following suit. But the cloud is still viewed with suspicion by some IT leaders. Here, we look at some of

the findings of our recent white paper, Moving to the Cloud (http://www.neilmcgovern.com/docs/SAP_CloudDataWarehouse-WP.pdf), to see what your organization stands

to gain.

In a recent EMA study, 56% of businesses cited cloud-based analytical strategies as “essential” or “important” to their corporate strategies. However, not everyone is

convinced. A number of perceived barriers are still preventing some business leaders from taking their crucial first steps into the cloud.

The CIO: an endangered species?Some chief information officers (CIOs) fear that the cloud spells doom – or, less dramatically, marginalization – for their departments. However, rather than anticipating

their imminent demise, many now believe that the CIO role is simply evolving. IT leaders must rethink their priorities in line with changing business requirements.

In 1990, IT’s role was to create applications. In 2015, it is to provision applications and manage the immense complexity of the infrastructure necessary for those

applications. Instead of being hardware jockeys, IT leaders must now focus on being data scientists.

Keeping your data safeAnother barrier to cloud adoption is a perceived risk in keeping data off-premise and entrusting it to a third party. However, storing data in an on-premise data center is no

longer any safer than transitioning your data warehouse into the cloud.

Target’s credit card breach in 2013 and Sony’s hacked e-mail fiasco earlier this year demonstrate the difficulty of keeping one’s own data secure. Although security is still

one of the most frequently cited objections to cloud deployment, the risks associated with the cloud are no greater than those associated with operating on-premise. They

are merely different.

Safety in numbersFor vendors like SAP that are supplying cloud-based services to thousands of businesses, security is even more critical than it would be for an individual organization. A

successful attack on one would be an attack on the peace of mind of all.

Hackers target neglected and outdated systems. Large companies typically have thousands of these in place, and at least one of them is likely to lack the latest security

patch. In the cloud, security updates are applied universally and immediately. Simply put, there are fewer doors for intruders to enter, and those doors are better guarded.

Faster, more affordable solutionsMore and more unstructured data is flooding into organizations. The good news is that this data has more value than previously assumed. The bad news is that making

sense of the data can be an onerous task with a prohibitive price tag.

Previously, line-of-business leaders anxious for actionable business intelligence traditionally had two options. Firstly, they could wait for IT to provide an internally-built

solution, taking months or even years, depending on other priorities assigned to IT. Secondly, they could cobble together a Frankenstein solution of Excel spreadsheets and

other applications – frequently proving to be an error-prone and unreliable fix.

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2016 (http://www.digitalistmag.com/digitaleconomy/2015/12/21/gartnerstop10strategictechnologytrends201603857991)

Why Moving To The Cloud Is Essential For Driving Business Growth (http://www.digitalistmag.com/resourceoptimization/2015/12/17/whymovingtocloudessentialfordrivingbusinessgrowth03857984)

3 Holiday Shopping Trends Retailers Should Ring Up In 2016 (http://www.digitalistmag.com/customerexperience/2015/12/15/3holidayshoppingtrendsretailersshouldringupin201603855527)

In contrast, a cloud-based solution is instantaneous, high quality, and affordable. So, business leaders get the information they need when they need it, without breaking the

budget.

Bolder experimentationBy taking a cloud-based approach to data analytics, companies also provide their staff with the opportunity to try out new ideas and experiment in cost-effective way. When

relying on on-premise solutions for analysis, it is difficult to test hypotheses, due to the high overhead associated with building a new report or analyzing a new data set.

However, the cloud offers access to instant provisioning and the analytical power of solutions like the SAP HANA platform. So, businesses can more easily test and

prototype, driving innovation and enabling performance improvements.

Reaping the benefitsIn the cloud, new solutions can be delivered faster than ever before to meet the needs of your organization more precisely. Improving agility, reducing costs, and taking

advantage of instantaneous provisioning remain leading drivers of cloud adoption. But expect data security – once considered a risk factor – to increasingly inspire

organizations to look beyond their own four walls.

To learn more, check out the Moving to the Cloud (http://www.neilmcgovern.com/docs/SAP_CloudDataWarehouse-WP.pdf) white paper.

This story (http://scn.sap.com/community/business-trends/blog/2015/10/13/why-cloud-based-analytics-are-essential-for-tomorrows-business) originally appeared on

the SAP Business Trends community.

Have you considered a hybrid cloud approach for your business? See Why More Business Should Be Pursuing Hybrid Cloud (http://www.digitalistmag.com/resource-

optimization/2015/11/20/why-pursue-hybrid-cloud-03775887).

Article published by Neil McGovern (http://www.sybase.com/resources/blogs). It originally appeared on SAP (http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2015/12/10/why-moving-

to-the-cloud-is-essential-for-driving-business-growth/) and has been republished with permission.

Comments (http://www.digitalistmag.com/resource-optimization/2015/12/17/why-moving-to-cloud-essential-for-driving-business-growth-03857984/?cp=3857984)

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#Forbes (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/forbes) , cloud (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/cloud) , Technologies (http://www.digitalistmag.com/tag/technologies)

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