A client installation with a modest scope that develops into a much larger and more lucrative project are just two examples of the news that might be reported one day about organisations who have previously been bitter competitors working together. A new software or solution that leverages an intriguing technological advancement to address a requirement for numerous clients may be reported one day. Another might reveal that a SAP partner has entered a new market or industry by creating a solution that can be used in numerous sectors and then making money off of it on the SAP Store.

The possibilities offered by SAP's industry cloud to partners that service the consumer industries are demonstrated by a solution created by SAP partner DataXstream. Order administration is made easier with the use of the solution, DataXstream OMS+ Cross-Channel Order Management System. More margins, cheaper inventory and training expenses, and a better understanding of customers across wholesalers and retailers are just a few of the advantages it's providing for clients. One client who used the system not only showed ROI in just seven days, but also witnessed a 1.5% improvement in sales margin and a 50% decrease in inventory carrying costs in the first year after deployment. This results in a $7 million increase to the bottom line and a $50 million decrease in the cost of carrying inventories.

A few recent highlights from the consumer industries ecosystem segment:

• Applications created solely by partners, with little to no participation from SAP other from providing the business technology platform (SAP Business Technology Platform) and a market (SAP Store) where they can be purchased.
• Apps created using SAP BTP by the internal development team of a large customer rather than by a developer. Recently, a significant multinational consumer products firm accomplished just that, using their investment in the SAP Business Technology Platform to construct an analytics solution that is now being used inside a larger SAP digital infrastructure.
• System integrators "bottle" the essential components of a solution they created for a particular consumer products company in order to make it available to other businesses with comparable needs.
• Novel commercialization models between SAP and partners are taking shape, allowing partners to swiftly profit from new, often sizable, income streams produced by the solutions they have built.
• SAP handed over a development opportunity on the wholesale distribution side to an industry cloud partner instead of taking the task on ourselves, recognising the partner was best qualified to develop the solution.
• Developers with experience in fields like robotics, visual graphics, and artificial intelligence (AI) offer consumer industry clients solutions that are backed by these capabilities, laying the groundwork for organisational change.

With the focus on solving the customer's business problem whether the solution comes exclusively from a SAP partner, from SAP itself, or a combination of the two, SAP's industry cloud represents an important evolution of SAP's approach to partnerships and serving the end customer. Partners also have a greater chance to monetize the solutions they helped develop. In the end, we're creating a thriving community that, via co-innovation, develops open, prepared-for-integration, and prepared-for-implementation solutions to address crucial requirements in customers' business application landscapes.

Source: https://news.sap.com/2023/02/consumer-industries-innovation-sap-industry-cloud-partners/