Tech-Driven Business

Innovative Solution Partners

Get ready to think differently about how technology driven solutions can lead to business success. Mustansir Saifuddin is the co-founder of Innovative Solution Partners. With a career that spans multiple industries and a variety of roles including a software quality assurance engineer to leading global teams and projects, he knows what it takes to fuse technology with what a business wants. Listen as he interviews tech experts, business experts, and visionaries on their successes, challenges, and lessons learned. We’ll cover everything from SAP and ERP focused solutions, to leveraging data analytics, to how to achieve your business goals with technology.

  1. 12/12/2025

    Inside Insights: SAP's Enterprise-First Approach to AI with Andrea Haupfear

    Dive into what’s next for enterprise AI in the latest episode of Tech-Driven Business. Mustansir Saifuddin welcomes SAP expert Andrea Haupfear for an in-depth conversation on how SAP is helping organizations turn AI from hype into measurable business value. If you’re navigating transformation across finance, supply chain, or operations, this episode is a must-listen. Andrea breaks down what makes enterprise AI different—why trusted data, business context, and governance are non-negotiable—and how SAP is embedding AI directly into business processes to improve speed, accuracy, and ROI. Tune in for a real-world example and practical guidance on how organizations can start small, prioritize high-impact use cases, and prepare for what’s coming next with Agentic AI. Andrea Haupfear is a Business Process Architect with over a decade of experience driving digital transformation through artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. She specializes in designing and implementing AI-powered solutions that enhance operational efficiency, decision-making, and adaptability across diverse business environments. Andrea is recognized for her strategic leadership in translating complex technologies into scalable, real-world applications, making her a trusted advisor in navigating change and unlocking value through innovation. Connect with Us: LinkedIn: Andrea Haupfear Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners X:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Andrea Haupfear of SAP. Join me today to break down how SAP is helping organizations leverage AI to drive efficiency, reduce risk and deliver measurable ROI. We'll also look ahead at what's next and how you and your team can prepare as AI moves from experimental to essential for enterprises to thrive. [00:00:35] Hello Andrea. How are you? [00:00:37] Andrea Haupfear: I'm good. How are you? [00:00:40] Mustansir Saifuddin: Doing well, doing well. I'm so excited to have you on our show. So thank you for coming on. Today we would like to talk about the latest SAP's AI journey and the business transformation. And what it really means for SAP customers. How does it sound? [00:00:57] Andrea Haupfear: Sure. No, it sounds great. This is one of my passions that I love to talk about, and so you know, happy and excited to actually share a little bit about what we're doing with AI at SAP and what we've seen in the field with our customers. So, super excited and it's a pleasure being here. [00:01:14] So thank you again for inviting me here. [00:01:17] Mustansir Saifuddin: Awesome. Awesome. Let's get into it, we know we are at an inflection point, right? AI is moving so fast and it's actually turning from experimental to essential, right? For in a lot of different cases. So let's focus in how is SAP's AI strategy fundamentally different from consumer AI? And why does it really matter for enterprises? [00:01:39] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, absolutely. So a couple of things that I wanna kind of touch on here. So oftentimes, and you mentioned this, right, we, we've used, we've used AI in our personal and daily lives for, you know, the last decade plus, right? I mean, when you think about AI, a lot of people think about Siri or Alexa or ChatGPT, right? [00:02:01] And you know, when I personally think about AI you've got your broad and creative tasks. What we've done in our personal lives, you know, everything from creating a grocery list to, editing a, a photo, right? A family photo. But from a business perspective you know, an enterprise AI, it really has to change those business outcomes. [00:02:26] And really when you think about this, think about, you know, everything from could be closing the books faster or. A faster on time delivery rate or reducing risk in my supply chain. And how do we ultimately do it with the highest level of governance, auditability, cost control. And so SAP's approach is really built around that flywheel of applications, data and that additional layer of artificial intelligence on top of it. [00:02:58] So there's, there's that aspect to it, but then also thinking about it in a couple of other ways of how we're doing this. Is, you know, yes, we're embedding it where your business or where the work happens. So making it easier for our end users to be able to leverage artificial intelligent capabilities and even machine learning capabilities, not just [00:03:23] from a digital assistant or a chat perspective, but how do we integrate it and infuse it within their specific business, day-to-day business processes to make their lives that much easier? But then also thinking about it from a strategic perspective, how can I obtain that high level of ROI by leveraging artificial intelligence. [00:03:47] So we're seeing it in a couple of different flavors from our customers. And then also what we're developing from a, from a product perspective as well. So we're thinking about it from a couple of different angles. [00:04:00] Additionally, thinking about it from a AI operating system for our developers and for our consultants, leveraging the AI foundation on the business technology platform. [00:04:13] So think about what used to be our developers would have to generate thousands upon thousands of lines of code. Now that's no longer the case, right? It can take them you know, a, a minute or so now to develop the, these applications and these lines of code to where it's, it's easier for them to go about their day-to-day jobs and their, their tasks where now they don't have to spend days upon days trying to develop these different applications and agents. [00:04:45] It also lets you and I just mentioned around agents, it also lets you create and govern custom agents to read and write back to SAP and non SAP systems. Thinking about this automation and accountability, not just getting those pointed answers, right? And then last but not least, kind of how I think about this is, yes, you've got your trust. [00:05:09] Think about trust not only in the data from looking at it in your SAP systems, but also think about non SAP systems. Think about your third party applications that you're going in and looking at the data, whether it's geographic information customer sentiment information, or it could even be, asset related sensor information, right? So bringing in that data as well as looking at it from your SAP business data context but then also looking at it with responsibility. So SAP has that responsible AI program in place really aligned to the UN UNESCO principles and the ISO 4 2 0 0 1 certification to really prioritize [00:05:57] those ethics and compliance and human oversight within our, our AI applications such as, you know, AI core and our digital assistant juul. So really taking it from a full spectrum approach and looking at it at the holistic level and how we can bring in artificial intelligence within these, these areas. [00:06:20] Mustansir Saifuddin: I love the way you kind of package it all together, from an overall perspective, especially, you know, the two things that really stuck out to me was. Again, coming from a business side, what is in it for a customer, right? What is the real value? [00:06:35] And you touched upon two things, embedding it. So a person who is currently doing a job and they're used to doing it manually. Now you can. Embed these ai component to their daily work streams, right? And how they can, you know, utilize that. And the second part I really loved it is you talked about ROI really what is the return I'm getting on this investment, right? And then lastly, you talked about data. So let's, let's talk about that. You know, here's the uncomfortable truth. AI is only as good as the data it learns from. We all know that. We all talk about it. And we have always heard this term garbage and garbage out, but what that sort really mean when we are talking SAP AI, making recommendations to customers and we are talking the effect in terms of millions in revenues or supply chain decisions. How would you like to address that? What is, what is SAP's approach on that? [00:07:33] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, so a couple of things and you know, I've heard that term many times and coming and being an ex consultant. It's, it's definitely right. You're only as good as, as I've heard, you know, as the data that you have. So my thought on this is really when you have an AI agent that recommends, say for example, expediting a shipment or reclassifying a receivable, the truth that it relies on, [00:08:00] is your master data. [00:08:01] It is your transactional history and any sort of process constraints that lie in between. So ultimately, when I think about this, it's not just your, your master data. It's a, it's a multitude of things that ultimately will help the AI model in the end. In the end game to take those three pillars and turn garbage in into good decisions out. [00:08:27] The other piece that, how I think about this are semantics and not necessarily just schemas. So think about when we have some of our solutions such as Business Data Cloud, which carries those semantics and lineage into your AI workloads. So say for example, the customer, the plants, or an open po, it means the same thing everywhere. [00:08:51] And that's really critical for explainability and audit purposes. That's another way how I think about this. And then also just looking at this from a context perspective. So I also think about, you have to train a model when at first go, right? And be able to provide it some context, some instruction, some understanding that says, this is where this particular business process lies. [00:09:17] This is how the process should look and feel. What does good look like? And that's ult

    27 min

  2. 06/24/2025

    Inside Insights: SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) Adoption Roadmap with Shawn Brown

    In this follow-up to our discussion on the business case for Business Data Cloud, expert Shawn Brown returns for a focused deep dive into one of the most critical topics for established SAP customers. If your organization has a significant investment in SAP Business Warehouse (BW) or Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), this episode is essential listening. Shawn provides a strategic roadmap for migration, explaining how BDC offers a "glide slope" to modernize your landscape by turning existing artifacts into valuable data products, rather than forcing a disruptive break from your past investments. Tune in to understand the clear path forward for your on-premise solutions and learn how to leverage BDC to protect what you've built while accelerating your future in data and analytics. With over two decades of experience in SAP solutions, Shawn Brown currently serves as Senior Director for SAP’s Center of Excellence. Known for expertly identifying customer needs, Mr. Brown excels in presenting tailored solutions involving Business Technology Platform, Business Data Cloud, S4HANA, and Business AI. A proven leader in demand generation and partner relationship management, Mr. Brown has successfully driven initiatives that enhance customer experience and streamline cloud solution adoption. Renowned as a thought leader and strategist, Mr. Brown frequently shares insights with CIOs and business influencers, fostering strong, trust-based relationships across multiple industries.   Connect with Us: LinkedIn: Shawn Brown Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners : Twitter:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Sean Brown of SAP rejoin me to a deeper dive into what SAP Business Data Cloud means for existing business warehouse customers. If you're running BW or BPC and weighing your options, this episode is for you. [00:00:28] Welcome [00:00:32] back to Tech-Driven Business. Shawn, how are you? [00:00:36] Shawn Brown: I am doing well. Thanks for having me back. Happy to be here. [00:00:40] Mustansir Saifuddin: It's great to have you back. I'm really excited to have you back on our show, especially when we started the first session. It was more summary level talking about business data cloud in general. What I would like to do is to bring it a notch down and talk about some of the benefits. [00:00:58] that BDC will bring to SAP BW customers. I see a lot of questions or thoughts about what it will do for those customers having business warehouse. So I'd like to dig deeper into this conversation. How does that sound? [00:01:14] Shawn Brown: That sounds great. [00:01:16] Mustansir Saifuddin: Awesome. Awesome. [00:01:17] Okay, so let's get into it. Right? Let's start with this. I mean, how does BDC simplify the data landscape for BW users? Let's start with that. [00:01:29] Shawn Brown: Yeah, so I think the big question is first, how is a customer using BW? This gets into whether they're using it for the purposes of. An analytical tool. They've built reports against, they've BEx reports. They, they're using older technologies like Business Objects. They're moving forward to actually even using even some third party, or they're using SAC or are they using it for the purposes of extracting the data from the source systems at SAP ERP, ECC [00:02:04] And even if they're already on S/4 and then using it as, Hey, I've extracted this data from SAP, now I'm looking for a way to use this data. And if it's acting as a bit more of a pass through then they have to kind of figure out what are they gonna do to get to that data after they're [00:02:24] thinking of what are they gonna do with BW now, if they're thinking about BW in a BW 4HANA perspective, they're probably looking at it as a long-term solution because they've got until 2040 before they have to really get off of BW. If, if they're using it in, let's say BW 7.5, they've got a little bit more time. [00:02:44] But the question is, are you gonna upgrade or, you know, what's the longer term plan with it? In those cases, I think really the big question for those customers is if I am looking to try to move to the more advanced capabilities that we have to access data within SAP. Then you're, you're clearly going to be in a position of trying to explore Business Data Cloud. [00:03:08] Now, the ability to take your environment that is on-prem, likely today in BW and then move it into BDC it, it moves in as a private cloud instance within BDC. This allows you to basically turn off everything that you're doing. On the on-prem BW and turn it into a software as a service that I think is going to open up a lot of opportunity for organizations that, you know, they may have invested very heavily in BW. If they're on BW4, they're looking at some maintenance costs. If they're before that, they're not so worried about it, but they are still dealing with potentially HANA costs. To be able to take all of that investment that they may have made and move it into BDC changes in many respects, the, the [00:04:00] path to do this 'cause [00:04:02] now it's not I have to pay for something in perpetuity or maintain something in perpetuity. I have a path to make it easier to move those assets into BDC. This is where the data product generator in BW in BDC is a big game changer because data products are gonna be the way that we're going to be delivering SAP artifacts in in the future. [00:04:27] To be able to take those BW artifacts and turn them into data products, and then develop all of your own insights on those artifacts, on those new BW data products that you've generated. This is gonna create a, a really great opportunity for a lot of those organizations that have been trying to figure out what their path forward looks like. [00:04:51] Maybe one last thing I'll say on this is, for those organizations that are maybe thinking of decommissioning BW altogether and moving towards some third party capability, I guess my only caution would be that's gonna be an expensive proposition, both in the short term and in the long term. [00:05:09] Most organizations are looking for self-service analytics. And while you can spend a lot of time and energy curating all of that data from all of the systems across your organization at SAP with SAP data, we're already doing that for you. You're basically duplicating the effort that we're going to provide out of the box. [00:05:32] This is one way you can kind of say, what do I do with BW? Well, I wanna move away from it, but if I wanna move away from it, I have a way to do it and still be able to take advantage of a lot of those curated data products that will be delivered from SAP, from all of those, we'll call it ERP based needs. [00:05:49] . [00:05:49] Mustansir Saifuddin: That's a good point you made. Let's circle back on this last point you mentioned later in our conversation. One thing that I, I take away from this is depending on your BW version you have options available to you. And eventually the idea is how to reuse some of these investments you've done over the past few years that customers have been using BW, BW4HANA, and not lose all that investment. [00:06:17] Shawn Brown: Mm-hmm. [00:06:18] Mustansir Saifuddin: Going to the private cloud and having those BW artifacts turn into the data products we know we talked about in BDC, and make sure that you are still able to utilize that. That's a big win for customers. [00:06:32] Shawn Brown: Absolutely. [00:06:33] Mustansir Saifuddin: Let's talk about customers who are running a little bit more complex BW. You know, when you have BW and you also have BPC, either it's used for planning or forecasting or consolidation. What are some of the considerations when it comes to their future planning and consolidation platform? Can you delve into that and kind of show the path, like what it's gonna look like? [00:06:58] Shawn Brown: Yeah, so, so most BPC customers already kind of know that there is the consolidation piece is the big question mark in many regards, and it really depends on how much they are leveraging, consolidations, how complex they are. The planning piece is something that we, we look at from a standpoint of, yes. [00:07:19] Okay. We're, we're really looking for SAC planning to take over those responsibilities. But then the consolidation piece is something that is going to find its way into S/4HANA. When we're talking about this combined environment, BW and BPC, what I see mostly with customers is that BW is has a larger role than just BPC, but it can just be BPC. [00:07:45] The benefit of BDC of Business Data Cloud is that we're now able to go ahead and take those BPC environments into Business Data Cloud and turn them into a private cloud setting. This gives [00:08:00] a little bit more time. This is something that SAP's really trying to work pretty hard on this year, is taking customers that are a BPC customer, move them into BDC as part of a private cloud deployment. [00:08:14] And then that allows time to transition to SAC planning and then take advantage of S4 for those consolidations. Now there's a lot of organizations, you know, partners that have been working on this as well to try to figure out how do I deal with some of those consolidations in SAC planning. [00:08:34] And in some cases that works really, again, gets back to how complex your consolidations are. That's something that has to be considered as organizations try to figure out what am I gonna do with my BPC environment? How am I going to modernize it? If it's working fine, this is one that I always try to focus on with customers is, I'm not interested in trying to fix something that isn't broken. [00:08:55] If it's working fine for you and feel like y

    31 min

  3. 06/04/2025

    Inside Insights: Business Case for SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC) with Shawn Brown

    Dive into the future of enterprise data with the latest episode of Tech-Driven Business. Mustansir Saifuddin welcomes Shawn Brown, of SAP, for Part 1 of an in-depth exploration of the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC). If you're navigating the complexities of data management and analytics within the SAP ecosystem, this episode is unmissable. Shawn breaks down the fundamental 'why' behind BDC, revealing how it's engineered to drastically reduce data preparation time, cut costs, and empower businesses to make faster, more accurate decisions. Tune in to understand how you can your team can take advantage of all that BDC offers to SAP customers looking to unlock true value from their data. With over two decades of experience in SAP solutions, Shawn Brown currently serves as Senior Director for SAP’s Center of Excellence. Known for expertly identifying customer needs, Mr. Brown excels in presenting tailored solutions involving Business Technology Platform, Business Data Cloud, S4HANA, and Business AI. A proven leader in demand generation and partner relationship management, Mr. Brown has successfully driven initiatives that enhance customer experience and streamline cloud solution adoption. Renowned as a thought leader and strategist, Mr. Brown frequently shares insights with CIOs and business influencers, fostering strong, trust-based relationships across multiple industries.   Connect with Us: LinkedIn: Shawn Brown:  Mustansir Saifuddin:  Innovative Solution Partners  X:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech- Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Sean Brown of SAP join me to kick off an essential two part series to unpack a topic that's on every SAP user's mind. The Business Data Cloud or BDC. If you're looking to understand how BDC can transform your data landscape and drive real business value, you are in the right place. [00:00:32] . [00:00:32] Welcome to Tech- Driven Business, Shawn. How are you? [00:00:35] Shawn Brown: I am good. I'm good. Things are going well, staying busy. [00:00:38] Mustansir Saifuddin: That's awesome. That's awesome. So glad to have you on our show and I'm really excited for the topic that we are going to discuss today. You ready for it? [00:00:47] Shawn Brown: I am. I'm excited as well. [00:00:51] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, so I, I know we had talked in the past a couple of times and right now , the hot topic everybody's talking about from SAP and in general is the whole idea, the concept, and now the actual product called Business Data Cloud and what it really means for SAP customers. I like to use this time to dig deeper into this conversation and have a better understanding of exactly what this brings, what kind of landscapes that are changing with this new product, and to expect, you know, if you're a customer interested into, in going forward with BDC. [00:01:28] Shawn Brown: -. [00:01:28] Sure. That sounds great. Yeah. [00:01:32] Mustansir Saifuddin: Awesome. Okay. So I think every time we, we have this new products, right? And SAP is really good about and talk, people talk about rebranding and all that. Let's talk about the why of why should SAP customers adopt BDC. What is different about BDC that SAP customers should be asking that question. [00:01:53] Why? [00:01:55] Shawn Brown: Yeah, this is, this is my favorite question to start. Anything in the space that is outside of packaged solutions, you know ERP, HR Supply Chain and, and the capabilities we have in those areas because the why is something that it, it should be the driver for everything. Right? And, and for BDC, I would say the first thing we wanna talk about is it's a, it's a new product. [00:02:24] But it's an evolution of everything that we've been doing for years. It's, it's capabilities that our customers already know about. And it's taking all of the capabilities that we have offered over the time that we've been, been in the data and analytics space. And it's the, I call it a next generation, right? [00:02:45] It's the next generation of what was. And so when we get into the why. I would say the first thing that we really gotta say is, is the reason for BDC is it is to short circuit the amount of time it takes to prepare from data to finally analytics and planning and all the steps in between, where we're often times organizations see it as this, this wheel that. [00:03:15] They start with the data that's in the source system. They're gonna extract a, transform it loaded profile it, catalog it you know, press governance on it. Maybe make it in, you know, in a marketplace setting. Organize it so that it can be easily digestible, create some standard analytics, and then now we can actually start analyzing it. [00:03:34] And the why is really about reducing the amount of time it takes to go around that whole wheel of, Data all the way around to analytics and planning and reduce the amount of prep time and increase the amount of analysis time. Because if we think about how much time a person gets to analyze the [00:04:00] data, let's say for example, and this is a, this is actually a number that is, has been verified with numerous customers and with, the analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester and TDWI is that it takes as much as 70% or more of the actual workload and investment to go from data to analytics. That's not, so that means the analytics is just 30% or less of the time. So if we think about how much each question costs. You have to add in all of that cost that even deliver up the analytical or, or deliver up the, the data in a way that it can be analyzed. [00:04:45] So BDCs goal is to shrink that time of preparation and actual delivery of data for the analyst purpose or for the AI purpose, or for any application purpose. Shrink it as much as possible so that, the questions that are asked are cheaper, and essentially we can ask more questions. We don't have to continue to reformat the data, deliver the data in a new way to get to the final answers that we're trying to seek. [00:05:20] So I would say savings and costs. Savings and money. More data, more, more analysis time. That's the why for BDC. [00:05:31] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, it totally makes sense. I think one of the things that while you're talking about this that stuck out for me was, we always talk about time value, right? And, especially when it comes to analytics, It's such a critical part of any organization's path forward and the numbers that you're just sharing from Gartner and other resources, [00:05:51] where if the majority of the time is gone into the data collection, the data refinement, all that, there's no time left or a very minimal time for your analytics part, which makes it really difficult for organizations to make quick decisions. So I think what I'm hearing from you, the why: the time value becomes very important in this case. [00:06:13] Shawn Brown: Correct. Absolutely. [00:06:16] Mustansir Saifuddin: That's good because that kind of takes me into this conversation, like, Hey, benefits. When you have that, why understood, what are some of the benefits that BDC will provide to SAP customers who want to go on the journey? Because benefits is really the reason why it will make sense for them to move forward. [00:06:33] Shawn Brown: For sure, for sure. And this is the one that's always interesting for organizations because they're focused so much on the actual preparation of the data that oftentimes the benefits that they can glean from all of that effort are, are fleeting, so they look at the, the overall effort and they go, oh yeah, there's, there's a lot here that is really based on, on how much it took to get here. [00:07:01] And the faster we can deliver the capabilities for analysis purposes for any AI purposes, the faster we can make decisions. The faster we can adjust based on those decisions. And so when you think about the speed at which organizations operate, to be able to answer those questions faster is probably the number one benefit that you can get. [00:07:27] And then you also get into accuracy. What, what questions are we asking? And if we don't have to go through this rigorous effort of moving data from all of these source systems and joining it all back together, and then building all that business context. Data integrity, is that a, a concern? It is for most organizations, they're concerned about what this looks like at its end state. [00:07:57] And the other thing that still [00:08:00] exists in the world of business, especially in the analytics space, is the typical spread marked problem. Where people just take the data that they're looking for, they extract it out of whatever solution it's been delivered to them. Maybe it's cheap cloud storage on flat files, or maybe it's been all dumped into an ODS, an operational data store, and then they're accessing the data as they like. [00:08:26] If they don't understand the details of the data and the relationships that occur with the data, and they don't have the original business context that the data came from in its source system, then if they do extract it to whatever they like, then somebody can walk into a meeting with one version of the truth and another can walk in with another version of the truth. [00:08:48] They all can believe that they're accurate. They all can argue over why their version of truth is correct and the others is not. So the confidence in the data is the other thing. We take away a lot of those concerns, because when you have it coming from those source systems and the preparation of that data has been provided in this case by SAP, for SAP systems, at a minimum, you're going to have much more confidence that the data [00:09:17] is delivered to you in a way that respects all of the integrity that it

    34 min

  4. 05/12/2025

    Inside Insights: Leading Project Teams to Success with Anuya Sheorey

    Ever wonder how to truly get business and IT on the same page, moving beyond strategy documents to real project success? In this latest episode, Anuya Sheorey of Nikola Automotive joins Mustansir Saifuddin to dive into how to lead teams across diverse landscapes, focusing on how to bridge that critical gap between high-level goals and daily execution. Anuya shares firsthand experiences and the framework used to align everyone from the C-suite to the front lines. It's more about the people than the technology. Anuya Sheorey is the Head of Program Strategy & Enterprise Solutions at Nikola where she leads high performing teams to enable rapid scale-up through ongoing delivery of critical capabilities across manufacturing, operations, finance, sales and service. As a strategic technology leader, she is passionate about connecting business strategy with technology execution and has a proven track record in orchestrating enterprise-wide digital transformations in diverse industries such as insurance, transportation, electronics and utilities to drive growth and operational excellence. Connect with Us: LinkedIn: Anuya Sheorey Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners Twitter:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Anuya Sheorey of Nikola Automotive, join me to discuss how she leads teams across diverse landscapes, focusing on how to bridge that critical gap between high level goals and daily execution. Listen in as Anuya shares a framework she uses to align everyone from the C-Suite to the front lines. [00:00:31] Welcome to Tech Business. How are you? [00:00:34] Anuya Sheorey: I am doing great, Mustansir. Very good to see you. [00:00:37] Mustansir Saifuddin: Thank you. I'm so excited to have you on our show . We'll be focusing on or talking about leading teams and working across business and IT landscapes, and I know that's your sweet spot. That's your area of expertise and how this all relates to a project success. [00:00:56] I would like to discuss your real life examples. It would be good to, to get some insights into that. [00:01:02] Anuya Sheorey: Absolutely glad to be here and talk with you about my experiences. Will be wonderful. Thanks. [00:01:08] Mustansir Saifuddin: Alright, I think one of the things that I always like to, to start with is your experiences. Based on your experience. You've seen a lot it can be very challenging to get business and IT folks on the same page. Right. Especially your C-level strategy team how you align them with the folks who are actually doing the work. [00:01:32] What are some of the ways you have been able to break through those silos and bring those projects to fruition? [00:01:39] Anuya Sheorey: Yeah, so as a company, and when we were smaller, Nikola was smaller. We were very agile and nimble, right? It was very easy for us to just have a strategy in place and make sure that those strategies are executed. As we started down the path of scaling rapidly it was important for us to make sure that we maintain that nimbleness, but at the same time, we wanted to make sure that we were able to bridge that gap between strategy and execution that you just spoke about. [00:02:08] Right? How do we make sure that there is end-to-end ownership and improved line of sight? For the enterprise goals, right? The project was successful, but how do we make sure that it's, moving the needle in terms of what the organization is trying to achieve? You know, do we have buyin from cross-functional teams? [00:02:26] Are they prioritizing the work? All of them working in the same direction and drawing in the same direction, if you will. And so the other thing to that to add is also are we focusing on the outcomes as opposed to individual tasks? Oftentimes, teams get so focused on individual tasks and individual KPIs. [00:02:48] So just to give you a soccer analogy, for example, are we measuring how many times the ball was passed or are we measuring how many goals were made? You know, so all of that has to come together very nicely as well. And so to help with solving some of these challenges, we decided to shift our operating model [00:03:09] from a project to a product centric framework. Now, this is used often in software product companies, right? But how do we use that kind of a framework in a company like Nikola was the challenge that we kind of were working through. And so we created these self-organizing cross-functional teams. That were perpetual, constantly working on business outcomes and continuous improvements. [00:03:34] And so the way we define these product teams were in terms of value streams. Now, some of your listeners may be familiar with this value stream, kind of a framework which is used in manufacturing and Lean Sigma kind of a model. And the way we define value streams for the purpose of our product stream was a sequence of activities [00:03:56] that were, that are needed to be taken to respond to a customer [00:04:00] need or to deliver value to the customer. And so in our case, we defined three distinct journeys. We defined a truck journey, a customer journey, and an energy journey because Nikola is a truck manufacturing company and also we dispense hydrogen. [00:04:17] We are an energy company as well. If you look at the truck journey, what are some of the operational processes needed to support manufacturing a truck? So right from designing a truck to when it rolls off the factory floor, that's the truck journey. Similarly we identified right from the initial contact to the customer to when we service the customer, [00:04:39] that's the customer journey. And similarly for hydrogen dispensing capabilities, we identified the energy journey. So we created 11 to 12, I am gonna say different product value stream kind of teams that spanned across the enterprise. And we had an owner from the business. It was staffed with SMEs who were actually cross-functional. [00:05:01] So it was not bound by organizational structure or divisions within the company, but it was defined by the value stream really, and of course IT as well. Then this team was responsible for maintaining a backlog of items, and improvements that they worked on, whether it was training needed, whether it's a enhancement from an IT perspective needed or just ways of working that needed to be improved to continue to work on the improvements in value stream. [00:05:30] So that was kind of the framework that we used. To bridge that gap between strategy and execution and the role that the governance. So we had a governance committee that worked along with these different value stream enterprise wide. They were responsible for communicating the strategy. Where do we want to see the organization go? [00:05:51] And these product value streams then decided. How do these, their value streams contribute towards that enterprise goal? So that's kind of the bridge between the enterprise goals and the goals of the value streams. And so the product owner then was really the voice of the customer or the subject matter expert that decided what needed to be done to achieve those metrics. [00:06:13] And then the IT team took that on and decided how to deliver. [00:06:19] Mustansir Saifuddin: I think you mentioned a couple of very good points. You know, focus on teams. And, and you know, based on some of the experiences I've had I know cross-functional teams is a great way to get things done because now we are knowledge based from all the different parts of the organization. But how do you keep that balance between who makes the call and how this call is executed across the business and IT teams? [00:06:48] Because, you may have, sometimes the business may take a lot more focus, or, their focus can be a, a bit different than a technology perspective. Or IT may have a different view on that. Did you run into any of those challenges during your journey? [00:07:05] Anuya Sheorey: So I think the beauty of this whole framework was that there is no longer business and IT here, right? It's a value stream team. So it's a team that is working on challenges to make the value stream more effective. So they would map out the as is business process for that value stream and say, okay, what are some ways to improve things here? [00:07:26] Then that really drove the backlog for the team and I think the product owners were responsible, the one person responsible for prioritizing, this is the thing that we will focus on. But then what drove the constraints for how they would prioritize was the goals that came from the enterprise. [00:07:45] Right? Why should we be doing this came from the governance committee, and so that helped align the different teams as well, because oftentimes we also had initiatives that span beyond a value stream, not just one value stream. So how do you make [00:08:00] sure that you are aligning all the different value streams to work and draw in the same direction? [00:08:05] That was the goals framework that helped with that. [00:08:09] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, absolutely. And I was about to go to that point that, you know, your value streams can crisscross, and when you have, those overlaps is where the friction comes into play, and how do you manage all those, all those challenges. Right? So, great, great answer. Kind of leads me into my next ask over here. [00:08:25] More than often you find yourself as part of their decision making process. Data and analytics is front and center of this, because that's what allows you to make those decisions based on the information you have available. What are some of the top factors that stick out for you when you look at having an SAP S/4 system and, you know, wanting to do analytics and reporting solution for

    18 min

  5. 04/01/2025

    Inside Insights: The Evolving Landscape of SAP and Agentic AI with Geoff Scott

    In this latest episode, Geoff Scott, of ASUG, rejoins Mustansir Saifuddin to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI within the SAP ecosystem, specifically focusing on the impact of partnerships like SAP and Microsoft's collaboration on Copilot and Joule. Listen in as we explore how these advancements will shape enterprise operations in 2025 and beyond, and why you can't afford to ignore this technological shift.to discuss what is required for businesses to be successful with Gen AI as they prepare for the future. You can also watch the video. Geoff Scott, is CEO and Chief Community Officer of ASUG, believes that the connections ASUG makes for our members have the potential to become career-defining relationships that inspire innovation and success for their organizations. His forward-thinking leadership prioritizes helping our members make the most of their investment in SAP technologies. To that end, Geoff works closely with customers, members, the SAP Executive Board, and the extensive partner ecosystem to amplify the voice of the SAP customer.   Past positions include CIO for TOMS Shoes, where he led the implementation of SAP: CIO at JBS; and senior leadership positions at Ford Motor Company. Before becoming CEO, Geoff was an ASUG member and served on the board. Geoff has served on several philanthropic boards and is the founding member of the Denver CIO Executive Council.  Connect with Us: LinkedIn Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners  X:  @gscott16 @MmsaifuddinYouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Jeff Scott, CEO of as a, rejoin me to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of AI within the SAP ecosystem, specifically focusing on the impact of partnerships like SAP and Microsoft's collaboration on copilot and Joule. [00:00:26] Mustansir Saifuddin: Listen in as we explore how these advancements will shape enterprise operations in 2025 and beyond, and why you can't afford to ignore this technological shift. [00:00:39] Mustansir Saifuddin: Thanks for coming back on our podcast. Geoff, it was really nice to have you back. You remember, you know you came on last year and we dove into this whole [00:00:48] Geoff Scott: Oh. [00:00:49] Mustansir Saifuddin: gen AI topic. Everybody remembers that, you know, it was a very hot topic last year and, you know, everybody was going in that direction. Now, fast forwarding everything to this year and say, Hey, what is going on? And this year, SAP has had some major announcements, as we all know about the partnerships that we leverage the power of AI within the SAP ecosystem. And what I see with the majority of SAP clients using Microsoft in the enterprises. There is a lot of opportunity in SAP and Microsoft , you know, the whole partnership, especially around copilot and SAP Joule. I believe it'll make a big impact. [00:01:30] Geoff Scott: I'm surprised you have me back. I was very nervous. It's a year later. I was like, okay, this is never gonna happen again. I, I disinvited myself from future podcasts. [00:01:39] Mustansir Saifuddin: Well, I have you back [00:01:42] Mustansir Saifuddin: on. [00:01:43] Mustansir Saifuddin: and I am telling you that it is more exciting than what we were talking about last year, and I think this is what I want to get some thoughts on, Hey, what's going on? What's your take on how these partnerships are coming together and what are we going to see in 2025? [00:02:01] Geoff Scott: Well, the good news is that what we see in 2025 is no apparent slowdown in any of this technology. You know, but what's interesting is we, in the SAP space, [00:02:13] Geoff Scott: are not necessarily meeting that challenge head on, and we probably are not moving as quickly as we should to capture the amount of opportunity that's out there. I, I think AI is real. It's gonna continue to evolve at a furious pace, and that necessitates that we as technology practitioners determine how we best leverage that technology. [00:02:36] Geoff Scott: You, you talked about Microsoft Copilot, Joule, right? I mean AWS. Bedrock , Google Gemini, you know, now we've got, other LLMs popping out all over the place. Right. , deep seek . Which just popped up very quickly. So there's just, a tremendous amount of movement here and it's really hard [00:02:57] Geoff Scott: to stay abreast of it. And I think the opportunity to jump in and start leveraging this is mission critical and what I think it really necessitates, and you talked about some announcements from SAP that I think double or triple down on this notion that AI is here, so if you really want to take your SAP data and make it AI enabled using Joule or using any other series of tools, [00:03:24] Geoff Scott: it's gonna necessitate that we as technology practitioners start to do some fairly radical things with our data. Number one is we start to de-customize everywhere we can and move the responsibility for code back to SAP so that they are responsible for figuring out how to make the AI work, not us. [00:03:42] Geoff Scott: So [00:03:42] Geoff Scott: , [00:03:42] Geoff Scott: how [00:03:42] Geoff Scott: do we over time de-customize and how do we over time think about the necessity of adopting SaaS based solutions such as SAP's Public Cloud? Many of our of our community members are implementing private cloud right [00:04:00] now through Rise which is great, but ultimately if we recreate all those customizations downstream, then we have to figure out how to make them AI enabled, and I think that's where we're gonna find ourselves under continuing amounts of stress as the business innovates faster and faster. [00:04:17] Geoff Scott: We typically in the SAP ecosystem, think about our innovations on a stair step model. And what I mean by that is we do an upgrade, we sit on that upgrade for a couple of years, as long as we possibly can. You know, and then we do an upgrade again. And the challenge I think that's gonna present is that there's so much innovation happening and, all these things are moving at such a speed that if we're not continuously innovating, [00:04:39] Geoff Scott: we are gonna find ourselves further and further behind. I, I'd like to see our SAP data be the sole source of truth inside our enterprises and an innovation gold mine. [00:04:49] Geoff Scott: And to do that, I think we have to de-customize. I think we have to be able to, innovate faster. I think we have to be able to look at this data, do a lot more work around archiving and getting the old stuff, swept up and moved out. Master data is gonna become a major, major opportunity for all of us. [00:05:05] Geoff Scott: And if we do all those things really, really well. We will have a fighting chance at making our enterprises very savvy. And on top of the latest trends versus trying to perpetually catch up. [00:05:16] Mustansir Saifuddin: It's a race, the way I look at it, and I think , you summed it up very well, and I think that leads me to my question into this whole topic of collaboration. Let's take that right now. What would you tell your SAP users about the power of Microsoft and SAP's collaboration? [00:05:33] Mustansir Saifuddin: How will it positively impact their day-to-day operations? Let's start with that. [00:05:38] Geoff Scott: Well, I, I think you set this up really well. We, we know from an ASUG research perspective that most SAP customers are also Microsoft customers. And that partnership has gone back almost as long as SAP and Microsoft have been in business. You know, there's some pictures I've seen of Bill Gates and Hasso Plattner, the two founders of both organizations working together early on. [00:06:04] Geoff Scott: So this is a partnership that goes back a long, long time and it's a tremendously powerful partnership. And it indicates to me that these are organizations that work very well together, very closely together and collaborate. I mean, almost everyone I know who works in SAP also uses Excel spreadsheets, also uses PowerPoint slides, [00:06:23] Geoff Scott: also creates Word documents. I do these almost every single day. It makes perfect sense to me that a tool such as Microsoft Copilot and SAP's Joule would be working in harmony together. And I think we're seeing some interesting innovation from both organizations where they're able to demonstrate that. [00:06:39] Geoff Scott: I saw some really cool, rag based technologies, a few weeks ago where a copilot can reach out and grab some data from SAP and bring it back. Likewise Joule is being able to show some similar capabilities. For most customers, as much as we'd like to have one AI tool, I just don't think that that's going to be the way this works. [00:06:58] Geoff Scott: I think we're gonna have multiple, which, which makes the enterprise architect's role that much more challenging because they're gonna have to figure out how to integrate these tools, when these tools are best used, how they're used, and how do we as as organizations, get value from them. [00:07:15] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. And if you take this a step further, right? The hype around Agentic AI, everybody's talking about agents. What are you seeing in the marketplace? What, what is your take? [00:07:25] Mustansir Saifuddin: How are SAP users benefitting from Agentic AI within their organizations? [00:07:31] Geoff Scott: As it relates specifically to the SAP ecosystem, my. My perception, maybe right or wrong, probably more wrong than right, is that many of them are investigating and researching. I haven't necessarily seen any specific in production, customer running, agentic AI using SAP dot dot yet. Is it coming? [00:08:00] I think it's coming. [00:08:01] Geoff Scott: Has everyone figured this out yet? No certainly SAP's t

    25 min

  6. 12/11/2024

    Inside Insights: Successful SAP Transformation with Lisa G. Smith

    In this latest episode, Lisa Smith joins Mustansir Saifuddin to dive into the world of SAP transformation and process improvement. Lisa shares how to leverage SAP to streamline supply chain processes, optimize business operations, and drive significant improvements. Listen in as Lisa dives into the importance of business objectives, alignment, effective change management and so much more. Lisa Gonzalez Smith is a trusted global procurement leader transforming global end-to-end supply chain processes and driving organizational change management. Lisa is a seasoned source to pay executive with over 30 years in global automotive procurement (Direct & Indirect) and a proven record of delivering SAP Ariba global programs at Ford Motor Company on budget and ahead of schedule with state of the art, cloud-based technology LinkedIn: Lisa G. Smith Innovative Solution Partners Mustansir Saifuddin X @mmsaifuddin Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, Lisa. How are you? [00:00:38] Lisa Smith: Doing great, Mustansir. How are you? [00:00:40] Mustansir Saifuddin: Doing wonderful. Thank you. I'm so excited to have you on our show. And today we would like to talk about SAP transformation and process improvement and what other person can talk about that? , Especially in the context of supply chain processes. [00:00:56] So I really look forward to this session with you. [00:01:00] Lisa Smith: I certainly appreciate the invitation to do it, and I'm excited to be here, and thanks for the opportunity. I enjoy being able to share some of those learnings and have these these fun discussions, so. [00:01:11] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. So let's get into it. You know we talk about companies leveraging SAP. When you talk about leveraging SAP to identify and eliminate, basically the idea is inefficiencies in the supply chain processes. How can they do that? what's your take on this? [00:01:29] Lisa Smith: Well, I think, you know, first of all, great technology can be used to really drive change around how business gets done. So defining what's important for the business to have going forward. Defining what is important and what they need then allows for SAP's technology to drive how that gets done. But with that, there's a lot of change to those processes, or if you really want to transform the business, there should be and, but with that, you need to be mindful of the [00:02:00] change impact. [00:02:00] That comes along with that. The change that impacts the people, be it internal employees, be it external with suppliers, for example, and you want to bring those folks along on that journey and get them excited about the change, right? One of the things that I find is tremendous is being able to leverage SAP's technology to streamline, commonize and simplify processes across the enterprise. [00:02:25] And it has the great. breadth and depth in order to do that. And that process capability depth and breadth allows for that to happen. And so it allows you to then ask yourself as an organization, why can't we do business, for example, the same way everywhere, unless there's a legal or regulatory or tax reason why do we have to be different? [00:02:48] How can we simplify this? How can we take some of that inefficiency out of the process? And the software can really help drive that. [00:02:56] Mustansir Saifuddin: That's excellent point. I think what I'm hearing from you is as much as you can commonize your processes and be able to keep the system as simple as possible. Allows you to leverage the, the capabilities a lot more [00:03:11] Lisa Smith: Yeah, especially with cloud technology to get the, the lifts and the upgrades and take advantage of those. Definitely. [00:03:18] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. That kind of leads me into this discussion about, you know, everybody talks about metrics when we talk about SAP driven process improvements especially, what are some of the key metrics to measure your success in those scenarios? [00:03:35] Lisa Smith: Well, I think regardless of what functional area that you're looking to improve be it in finance or procurement or supply chain you know, manufacturing, inventory, wherever, I think it's important to start with what are the objectives for the business? What is it that you're wanting to achieve and accomplish? [00:03:52] Whether it is additional incremental cost savings, whether it is operational efficiency improvement, whether it's better [00:04:00] compliance and controls or faster days to close or better forecasting lower inventory levels, whatever those metrics are, I think it's important to use the business objectives to drive that and then determine what success looks like. [00:04:17] What are those objectives? How are we going to measure those and determine those up front in your process in your, future state design? If I want to improve on time sourcing by 25%, like, let's say, or lower raw materials inventory by 10%. You know, that's a clear objective. Now, how am I going to measure that? [00:04:39] What's my format or the actual calculation tactically to measure that? And then , you can understand those. And the reason it's important to understand those up front in the process is because that helps ensure as you're designing your future state business process in the software and the software starts to be configured that you drive those outcomes based on those metrics. [00:05:03] So what are those metrics that are important to your business to achieve success and implement those very clearly with a way to measure and then use those to guide the future state process design. [00:05:20] Mustansir Saifuddin: Interesting. So it seems like you're using your business KPIs and kind of molding it into what SAP can do for you in those key metrics. [00:05:29] Lisa Smith: Right. And there's a lot of embedded , kind of inherent KPIs that are part of that process. And then, of course, with the incremental, A. I. capabilities and the analytics capabilities and so forth, you start to bring those metrics to light much much more quickly than perhaps in a, previous state, especially if that previous state was manual or very heavily reliant on Excel and things of that nature, which I'm sure there's a lot of companies that experience that. [00:05:58] Mustansir Saifuddin: No, absolutely. I think you hit up on a [00:06:00] very good point over here. I mean, analytics is one of my areas and I know that it is so important in this SAP implementations that you have a very, I mean, there's a robust set of analytics that comes to the system. But based on your business requirements and your measurement or the KPIs that you're looking at it can play a huge role in your success. [00:06:23] Lisa Smith: Yes, absolutely. It can jumpstart or serve as a catalyst for those metrics. Many of those metrics are already from a common sense point of view. There may be incremental ones that you want and the data exists to allow for those to be created. And so there's a lot of flexibility in that space. [00:06:40] The quality of built in compliance exists because it is moving processes from one step to the next and doing so with quality and embedded foolproofing mechanisms, similar to an assembly line, For example, when you're doing quality checks, as you're assembling parts on a, product, for example, you have the ability to understand the outcome. [00:07:02] The embedded process capability that exists, has a built in quality and with that the analytics that come along with it. So those analytics are being driven by quality information and quality and disciplined processes. If that makes sense. [00:07:18] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. And I think I like the comparison you gave with the assembly line. It's so true. It's everything. It flows in a, in a very. seamless manner. So it's like you don't even notice how this next process is going to take over. It's just from a business standpoint. It makes it so much easier. [00:07:35] Lisa Smith: Right? [00:07:35] Mustansir Saifuddin: For folks who are dealing with it day in day out that not only the analytics part, but, the different functions being able to communicate freely [00:07:46] Lisa Smith: Exactly. Yeah. And share the actual data, share the real time data. Allow the, source data to drive analytics, but it's a consistent set of source data. That is across the functional areas, [00:08:00] although their metrics might be different and what they derive from that data, it may be different. [00:08:04] It's based on that same quality of source information. And I think that's a really impressive capability to be able to bring to the analytics table and and bring that discipline to the analytics. [00:08:19] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. Kind of leads me into this next discussion. You know, everything needs change management. Change management is one of the big topics, right? When you are doing an SAP transformation, especially in a global organization, where you have to deal with cultures, where you're dealing with languages different way of doing things how do you go about doing it? [00:08:41] Lisa Smith: Well, my first two words are very carefully. The change management aspect of any you know, implementation like this or call it transformation, the change management is as critical as the business process as the software, those other elements it is critical key to a successful adoption and a successful outcome, but it starts with having the case for change, because what you're doing is formulating a vision for folks to help them understand this is where we want to go. This is where we want to be, you know. In the future, so many years from now and so forth. So what is that case for change? What's driving us to need to move to this next level? And if people understand the why, okay, that case for change, they're going to be far more open to considering and actually start to get excited abo

    22 min

  7. 10/25/2024

    Inside Insights: A Look Back at SAP SAPPHIRE 2024 with Barry Sjostedt and Julea Ferrera

    In this latest episode, Mustansir Saifuddin is joined by Barry Sjostedt and Julea Ferrera to take a look back at what has transpired since SAP SAPPHIRE 2024. Was it all hype or was the conference content applicable to clients and partners like them? Listen in for an engaging conversation on what still resonates months later and suggestions for organizations on how to navigate the SAP ecosystem and leverage conferences like SAP SAPPHIRE. Julea Ferrera is the Founder of J. Ferrara Consulting Solutions, Founding Director of Techqueria x MKE and is on the America’s SAP User Group WI Board of Directors. She has worked in Business Transformation as a Technofunctional consultant in a variety of different companies globally throughout the years promoting lean process and operation excellence through community impact. Barry Sjostedt is a Business Operations Consultant specializing in Finance and Organizational Excellence, having collaborated with numerous global organizations to drive lean processes and optimization through innovative technology solutions. His expertise spans various business areas, uniting teams for enhanced collaboration and future success. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrysjostedt https://www.linkedin.com/in/juleaferrera https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/midwest-tech-week/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/asug https://www.linkedin.com/company/techqueria-x-mke https://www.linkedin.com/company/isolutionpartners https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustansirsaifuddin X : @mmsaifuddin IG:@asug365 @midwesttechweek Learn more at www.isolutionpartners.com   Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. Now that several months have passed since Sapphire 2024, I invited Barry Sjostedt and Julea Ferrera to share their insights on the post Sapphire landscape, including the role of AI and best strategies for navigating the S4 journey. [00:00:26] Listen in for the customer and service provider viewpoints to see how your team can stay ahead in the ever evolving SAP ecosystem. [00:00:38] Welcome you both. How are you? [00:00:40] Julea Ferrara: Doing pretty good. [00:00:43] Thank you for having us. [00:00:45] Barry Sjostedt: Yeah. Good seeing you both again. [00:00:48] Mustansir Saifuddin: I know we were all at Sapphire back in June and it was a great event and I thought, Coming out of the event I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about [00:01:00] the experience and the reality. You know, that's what I wanted to cover in this show because I think it's always good to look back and see where we have come and where we are heading in the future. [00:01:12] There are a few observations that I would like to share with you both and then like to open it up for your take on. How have you seen things unfold over the past couple of months and where do you see the direction in the future? So I know that the Sapphire event itself this year was full of learning and networking and it was great. [00:01:33] And it was filled with opportunities as well as it was a bit of an overload of information as you can tell by the amount of information being shared and a lot of different things that were happening during the conference. Now, if I look back, it is in our rearview mirror. I think this is time that we talk about and revisit what we got out of Sapphire and see what resonates with different [00:02:00] people. [00:02:01] Just like you, who touch the SAP ecosystem. Coming back to some of the content. Sapphire, we focused on Gen AI. That was like the the theme that was going on in different sessions, different conversations, and on the show floor, in the presentations, and those networking events. [00:02:20] Gen AI, Juul, You know, SAP talked about some key partnerships with their hyperscalers like AWS, Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft. I mean, you name it, right? We also talked about CleanCore, what that means, and a lot more. So, I know there was a lot of things were covered. And based on my experience, I would say some folks even thought that it was a lot of hype. [00:02:47] So, that brings me to you both, and, this conversation today. And I'd like to start with what did you get out of the show and where do you think we are heading? So, let me start with you, Julea. You know, when you left Sapphire, [00:03:00] what was top of your mind? And what was your first action step after coming out of the conference? [00:03:06] Julea Ferrara: I first went to honestly, LinkedIn, and I'm a part of BTP a lot of group sessions shared groups on there to kind of understand, like, different polls. A lot of people put a lot of different polls out there to understand the five different pillars with BTP and where we're at, and 100 percent across the board was on AI. [00:03:28] These last few weeks, since Sapphire, it's been again, a big thing around the AI aspect. I think, yes, there's a lot of hype around it, which is exciting. But as much as I love A. I. I still believe we have to tell the A. I. what to do. So it's what I see missing is people having those general conversations in the S. [00:03:50] A. P. space of how do we do that? What do we work with to do that? A lot of amazing tools. The problem is I don't think people understand like where to [00:04:00] go to get everything set up. So , I realized the importance of all working with all these partners and vendors to get, to understand and having really the ASUG network, the ASUG pre conference conversations were great to help you get [00:04:15] those things set up for your data processes for the AI to work. Barry, what did you think? [00:04:23] Barry Sjostedt: Yeah, I mean, it was a lot. I think, you know, going in there from a focus standpoint, you kind of almost had to know what you were looking for. My feeling is cloud is really the big initiative. I was trying to learn a little bit more about their positioning, you know, what they're really truly trying to accomplish. [00:04:43] And, you know, at the end of the day is my strategy aligned with theirs? My view of it is slightly different from yours, from, you know, you're a customer, whereas I'm trying to assist the customer. So of course I had that slightly different view. AI, [00:05:00] I think. It's AI is more of in its infancy. [00:05:05] It's here. It's evolving. It's quick and it's going to happen faster. So what they laid out is Kind of more as this is what's to come but we know having worked in the space for quite some time. It's It's really not super efficient today, and I agree with you. Where are the resources going to come from where? [00:05:28] They're already trying to look for resources for people to transition and still transition over from ECC to S4. So from my perspective, we're looking, you know, at where SAP is going, and more importantly, where are organizations going? What's most important to them? Who's going to what sessions? [00:05:51] As are they in the same sessions I'm in and who's in the sessions that are in, let's say cloud facing or cloud alignments, you know, and what's more [00:06:00] important to them. Because what's important to you is different than what's important to another organization. And let's say, you know, not all Molson Coors, but let's say something in a you know, a small manufacturer. [00:06:17] So there's a big difference there, and I think it's layered. [00:06:21] [00:06:21] Julea Ferrara: Yeah, you do have a great point. The one thing I have learned by going to Sapphire over these years is everybody tends to take their IT department. And you have a little bit more understanding of, like you said, Barry, Hey, we're more concerned about the cloud aspect. [00:06:40] When companies, customers send their people there, they need to send more of their business teams out there, business process teams, and that's not really happening. So the biggest encouragement I offer is you need to have more of your business functioning teams [00:06:56] to attend because they hear, they hear all these [00:07:00] hype words and around AI, they're ready to go. They don't realize that we have to still do all this work. Ahead of time. And there that's the gap that I see is people don't understand, okay, you have this available. This tool can do all this stuff for us. And I see a lot of different industries keep buying the tools and tools and tools, but they don't understand all the data and all the business processing that needs to be done with that for that automation to work. [00:07:30] So. My biggest takeaway for any customer and send more business functioning groups to those conversations. Sapphire being that. [00:07:40] Barry Sjostedt: That's such a great point. It really is, working with all different aspects of businesses. And this is not just kind of in this circumstances, but just, you know, from years of experience. [00:07:52] There is such a vast difference between the person who's in IT, who gets the complete and total understanding of, how it works, [00:08:00] and how I'm gonna put it into your system, to the individual actually using it, and is it functionally sound for their day to day. And it's almost, you know, sometimes I feel that the representatives that they send to some of the shows, it becomes that telephone game, when they get back to the organization and say, "I saw the coolest thing ever." And then the person sitting at the desk saying, yeah, but only one aspect really kind of helps me. [00:08:27] It's great. But overall for the organization, does it fit the need for where we're going not just daily, but in the future? How are we going to accomplish that? So, yeah, I mean, that's a great point. I enjoy meeting several different people from several different areas. And I think that's kind of where I think I really like more from an ASUG point of view. [00:08:50] When you start to get a little bit more granular in some of the smaller shows, you get to meet t

    31 min

  8. 06/27/2024

    Inside Insights: Secrets to Successful IT Projects with Carla Sarti

    In this latest episode, Carla Sarti, former VP GBS - Lear Corporation, joins Mustansir Saifuddin to share strategies on how organizations and teams can succeed with any IT implementation. From teamwork to fundamental project management, to supplier relations, Carla highlights what's she learned across her storied career path so others can make an even bigger impact with their IT projects. Carla Sarti was most recently the Vice President of Global Business Services at Lear Corporation – a position she held since April 2018.  Prior to this position she was Vice President of Non Production Purchasing and Director of Shared Services.   Prior to Lear, she served as Account Executive at ACS, a Xerox company (now Conduent) where she acted as chief strategy officer and Director of Sales for many large accounts in the Finance and Accounting Outsourcing area.  She spent five years at Delphi Corporation in numerous roles of increasing responsibility including managing the SAP environment after implementation and working as a Lean expert for the Cockpits business.  She also worked as a plant and divisional financial analyst at TRW and an operational auditor at the Budd Company. Connect with us: LinkedIn Carla Sarti Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners  Twitter:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript: [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. Carla Sarti, a seasoned executive, shares her insights that any team can use for leading successful IT projects. From understanding business processes to the importance of transparency, teamwork, and supplier relations, Carla reveals the key ingredients for project success. [00:00:30] Welcome to Tech-Driven Business Carla. How are you? [00:00:33] Carla Sarti: I'm great. Thanks for having me. Great to see you. [00:00:38] Mustansir Saifuddin: It's great to have you on our show. And I'm glad that , you took the time out to share some of your thoughts and leadership with us today, [00:00:46] Carla Sarti: Absolutely. [00:00:48] Mustansir Saifuddin: so our topic is going to be Secrets to successful IT projects. How does it sound to you? [00:00:55] Carla Sarti: Amazing. It's 1 of my passions. [00:00:58] Mustansir Saifuddin: I know, I know. And I think that's going to be something that it will be very helpful to our listeners, especially in this day and age where technology is changing so fast. There are so many different options available. And I. T. Is in the middle of all of this. Let me start with this. You know, I want to set the stage. [00:01:15] So let's begin with this. Can you share some background on how you How did you find yourself leading I. T. Projects you started your career in a totally different arena? [00:01:29] Carla Sarti: Absolutely. So, yes, I have a business degree of my MBA. I started in audit and very specific businesses, purchasing finance, et cetera. But technology was always something that I was very curious and passionate about. When I was a co op at TRW, the vice president of finance came to me one day and I'm going to date myself a little bit here, but we were on Lotus 1, 2, 3, and he had a disc in his hand and he said, Carla or little kid or whatever he called me. [00:02:00] Here's a disk of Excel. I would like all of our reports moved from Lotus 1, 2, 3, put on Excel and let's review them next week. And I said, okay, let's go. And so I taught myself Excel and I really started to understand the power of technology. And that's just such a basic example. Right. So while I was still a co op, I got involved in an SAP implementation and That really opened my eyes to what technology can bring, and I've been into it ever since. [00:02:32] So different functional groups I've been in, I've always brought best in class processes along with the technology side, because I think it is, it goes hand in hand, but I've done everything from SAP, Coupa, SharePoint, RPA, and now dabbling in AI. [00:02:50] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. You know, it doesn't matter matter where you start? You know, even having a business degree, like you mentioned technology is always with you and it's around you. So you got to either embrace it and you got to go with the flow or you're going to fight it, right? So I, I like the approach that you mentioned that, you know, your first inital foray into this whole technology area was just, you know, just of the iceberg, right? [00:03:14] You got into this thing and now Years later, you are much ingrained in this whole technology stack. So, let's talk about your experience. You have decades of experience. What do you see as some key factors that contribute to the success of IT projects, which is so important? [00:03:33] Carla Sarti: So I'm going to start with the assumption that before you implement any sort of technology, You've really understood your business, right? And where are your business processes? What needs to be cleaned up? You're not just bringing in technology to bring in technology because I don't think that's ever usually successful, but so you've done that and then you've really understood again, the current processes. [00:04:01] The gaps that you have and what is your success criteria? I think a lot of people, a lot of companies don't look at what success looks like at the very beginning. And they say, Oh, okay. Yeah. We're just going to implement this. We heard it's the best solution and they don't think through, what are we trying to achieve? [00:04:19] That, that really starts dictating what a successful project looks like. Then you through the whole. Project. You obviously have to have the right team members on the project, having an executive sponsor that can break down roadblocks. I've seen projects that the best ones typically have a business person leading them. [00:04:44] Because they understand what's trying to be accomplished. Not that IT can't lead projects and they are definitely very integral to the process. But typically, when a business person runs them, they're implemented quicker. The understanding is there. The right process mapping has been done, et cetera. So you've got the right people. [00:05:07] Probably have suppliers in the mix, because what company has all that skill set on hand? So you have to have the right suppliers. And then through the course of it, you have to have the right governance. So the communication process, the transparency of where the project truly is, because as you know, IT projects are not a hundred percent foolproof, right? [00:05:33] Something always happens in any kind of project, whether you're building a house, you're, you're baking a cake or whatever it is, something goes wrong and you've got to have the right transparency and communication. To understand what to do next, then obviously you could have the best tool in the world. [00:05:51] The best project. It's going great. You have to have change management methodology and processes embedded in the project because if people aren't going to use it. What does it matter? Right? And I mentioned Excel when I was a co op, a lot of people still use Excel and you could put in the best shiny new toy technology. [00:06:13] People are comfortable with Excel. So you've got to explain to people how their jobs going to change and give them the appropriate training to make it a true success. In the end. [00:06:25] Mustansir Saifuddin: For sure. And I think you touched upon a lot of it. Some very key points. You know, starting with a champion, you know, has to be a business. How do they currently do the job? How can they do it better? You know, governance, such a key piece. You need to have that in place, change management, you know, I've been in technology field for so many years. [00:06:44] That's one thing that we know. If there is no good change management in place, It doesn't matter what technology, what kind of resources or what kind of supplier you're using, it doesn't go well. The end user needs to be on board. They need to really be part of the whole implementation process in order for them to adapt and then be the voice of the new tool because they are the ones who will be actually living with it, doing it on a daily basis. [00:07:15] So great point. [00:07:15] Carla Sarti: And people get scared. I mean, they get really nervous when a new project's coming, right? And especially in the age of AI, people think they're going to lose their jobs and companies need to do a really good job explaining. No, no, no. So you do this today, but tomorrow we need you to do that. And actually you'll probably be more fulfilled doing. [00:07:36] The new, but it's just that, that way of explaining and coaching them through it and not just dumping something on their lap. [00:07:45] Mustansir Saifuddin: Absolutely. And that's the key, right? How is it helping the real users of the system that this implementation or this piece of software doesn't matter? You're doing an E. R. P. implementation. You do some kind of data analytics project or any other systems that you're putting in place. It is there to help the business move to the next level. [00:08:08] How can we be more profitable? How can we make it easier for our customers to deal with us? different scenarios, right? And this and all of these are bundled together to give you the next level of the best, right? How can you do your job a better way than what you're currently doing? So totally agree with you. Now you touched upon one key fact, right? The idea of finding the right supplier. So how do you find the right supplier to support your initiatives? Can you share examples of successful IT projects? Where your supplier collaboration was very effective. [00:08:44] Carla Sarti: Finding the right supplier is key to the equation. I've always looked for a valued, trusted busine

    24 min
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About

Get ready to think differently about how technology driven solutions can lead to business success. Mustansir Saifuddin is the co-founder of Innovative Solution Partners. With a career that spans multiple industries and a variety of roles including a software quality assurance engineer to leading global teams and projects, he knows what it takes to fuse technology with what a business wants. Listen as he interviews tech experts, business experts, and visionaries on their successes, challenges, and lessons learned. We’ll cover everything from SAP and ERP focused solutions, to leveraging data analytics, to how to achieve your business goals with technology.

Information

  • Creator
    Innovative Solution Partners
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Tech-Driven Business