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About the Awards

We’re excited to discover and showcase the amazing innovations our customers are achieving using SAP platform technologies especially SAP HANA,
SAP Leonardo, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Analytics or SAP S/4HANA.

Stories should include details about the contribution of each solution to the overall project and its business impact. In 2018, we are encouraging participants to highlight results achieved by deploying specific technologies and capabilities including Advanced Analytics, Hybrid Analytics, Data Analysis and Visualization, Planning and Analysis, Hybrid Transactional and Analytical data processing, IoT, Big Data, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Next-Generation Data Warehousing or re-imagined core business processes.

 

We have made enhancements to make the award more beneficial for SAP customers and partners. For more information on what’s new, benefits, why you should register your interest etc. review the FAQ. 

Judging Criteria

Judges will review the finalists and score each entry based on the judging criteria. The finalists in each entry category with the highest score(s) will receive the prizes. The judging criteria include:
  • Creativity or Complexity of the Use Case - To what degree does the entry demonstrate innovative thinking, creativity and complex application of technology to business challenges?
  • Business or social value created - To what degree has the project impacted the business? Or to what degree has the solution enabled the company to significantly impact serious social challenges or community needs or services
  • Human Empowerment - How much does the project impact how a person does their job? Or How much does the project change the way customers or users interact with the company?
  • Quantifiable Results – To what degree does the submission validate the claimed benefits and business impact of the project with quantified results or improvements?
  • Embracing the potential for Digital Transformation - To what degree does the entry demonstrate that the company recognizes the potential for digital transformation and is applying innovative thinking and new ways of working across the company?

Categories

The awards will recognize up to 23 winners across the following categories. All entries, aside from those for the Next-Gen Innovator category, must be leveraging SAP products in productive use.
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Digital Transformation

Stories highlighting the use of technology to enable something entirely new or radically different in their business and not just making improvements, however impressive, to existing business practices or processes. Examples of transformative change include enabling new business models, opening new markets, or radically changing how products or services are created and delivered. The transformation could also involve redefining the customer or end user experience, or it could be about how the company collects, processes and interacts with data and information in significantly new ways. Up to six (6) Digital Transformation awards will given. 

Best Run Award

Awarded to the person whose story best exemplifies SAP’s ultimate vision of digital transformation and most effectively demonstrates how to use SAP technologies to lead an industry and succeed in today’s dynamic and digital economy. We aim to recognize the customer with both the most significant scope and impact of positive change on their business, as well as the most impressive or creative use of technology to drive that change. Note : As of April 2018 the CEO Choice Award has been re-named to Best Run Award .

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Industry Disruptor

Awarded to the person whose story best demonstrates the use of SAP platform technologies to drive radical change in the dynamics in an industry, generating significant business value and improving a company’s competitive positioning. Finalists for this award will highlight how they disrupted the way business is conducted in their industry. For example; establishing new business models, redefining a critical business process, or enabling strategies that break through existing boundaries.  

Process Innovation

Stories highlighting the use of technology to re-imagine and drive significant improvements to existing business processes resulting in measurable business impact. These awards will be given to entries that show how SAP technologies have enabled substantial gains in process efficiencies, cost structures or overall operations. Examples of Process Innovation include shorter cycle times, faster time to market, reduced hardware requirements, lower overall technology costs, fewer required support resources, improved customer or end user experience, and better overall profitability. Up to six (6) Process Innovation awards will be given. 

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Social Hero

Stories highlighting the use of technology for significant social impact, resulting in significant altruistic, philanthropic, or benevolent outcomes. For example, stories about using SAP technologies to enable dramatic changes in how people live their lives (smarter homes), significant improvements in public services (city of the future, social services), contributions to public health or that creatively addresses a societal challenge (e.g. environment).  

Next-Gen Innovator

Stories highlighting the how SAP Cloud and Data Platforms can enable development of innovative applications to deliver significant business impact. Either a live customer deployment or POC verified by at least one customer is required for the winner of the Next-Gen Innovator award. The Next-Gen Innovator award will recognize the Partner or Customer who has developed a compelling application and has proven significant impact or potential through a proof of concept (POC). 

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Regional Choice

Awarded to the person from each SAP region whose story is judged to be the most compelling example from that region of innovation with SAP technologies leading to significant business impact. Digital Transformation, Process Innovation and Next-Gen Innovator stories are all eligible for the Regional Choice award. The seven SAP regions include:

  • Latin America (LATAM)
  • North America (NA)
  • EMEA North
  • EMEA South
  • Middle & Eastern Europe (MEE)
  • Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ)
  • Greater China (GC)

All entries to the Innovation Awards will be submitted using the same Registration Of Interest, Entry Form and Pitch Deck. You will not be asked to specifically declare for one or more of the categories listed above. The Award Team will review each entry and assign each as a candidate for one of more of the 2018 categories. However, we recommend you emphasize key points in your Pitch Deck that align with the award descriptions above depending on which award or award category (Digital Transformation or Process Innovation) you believe is most applicable to your story. 

Guidance for Digital Transformation Awards (including CEO Choice, Industry Disruptor, Regional Choice and Next Gen Innovator)

Entries intended for Digital Transformation awards will be evaluated based on the extent to which each question below is answered.

  • Information about the SAP customer that has deployed the solution
  • Contributing individuals’ name and company. Contributing individuals are each expected to have played a significant role in the design, planning, implementation and rollout of the transformation. Individuals can include direct employees of the SAP customer, as well as, consultants and contractors directly serving that customer.
  • Go-live or other effective date for the transformation and the enabling technologies. All entries must be leveraging SAP products in production use.
  • Description of business outcome. What is new or radically different? How does it compare to the previous status quo?
  • What is the impact of change? Empirical measurements are encouraged and preferred.
  • What SAP products and technologies that were used to enable the change? What role did each product, capability or technology play in the overall solution?
  • What components of those SAP products and technologies were leveraged? Please be as specific as possible.
  • What other enablers, aside from SAP products, were used to accomplish the transformation?

Guidance for Process Innovation Awards (including Regional Choice and Next Gen Innovator)

Entries intended for Process Innovation awards will be evaluated based on the extent to which each question below is answered.

  • Information about the SAP customer that has deployed the solution
  • Contributing individuals’ name and company. Contributing individuals are each expected to have played a significant role in the design, planning, implementation and rollout of the solution. Individuals can include direct employees of the SAP customer as well as consultants and contractors directly serving that customer.
  • Go-live or other effective date for the solution and the enabling technologies. All entries must be leveraging SAP products in production use.
  • Description of business outcome. How has the solution changed the current business or current business processes? How does it compare to the previous status quo?
  • How does the solution improved operations? Why is this change innovative compared to what peers or competitors are doing?

Charities

This year the SAP Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team has selected the following charities to donate prize awards to:

Ākina Foundation

http://akina.org.nz/

 

Ākina’s mission is to grow the emerging New Zealand social enterprise sector and its vision is for a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive world. The name, Ākina, is a Māori word meaning a call for bold action. Established in 2008, the founders believe that social entrepreneurs and social enterprise represents a powerful opportunity to build a new economy that regenerates the environment and creates social foundations for people to thrive. In 2017, as part of the SAP Social Sabbatical for regional engagement, a team of 12 SAP ANZ employees devoted their expertise to four Christchurch-based social enterprises within the Ākina network. Furthermore, SAP proudly supported the Social Enterprise World Forum 2017, New Zealand’s largest international event dedicated to corporate social responsibility, which is taking place end September 2017 and is hosted by the Akina Foundation.

 

Additional content:

Cultivate (video)
Kilmarnock Enterprises (video)

Junior Achievement Worldwide

https://www.jaworldwide.org/

 

Junior Achievement’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to success in a global economy. As one of the world’s largest youth-serving NGOs, JA Worldwide activates youth for the future of jobs. Through the delivery of experiential learning in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship, they create pathways for employability and job creation. Each year, their network of over 470,000 volunteers serves more than 10 million students in over 100 countries. SAP works with Junior Achievement worldwide in a variety of ways. On a global level, CSR has worked to build the capacity of Junior Achievement organizations in Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia through the SAP Social Sabbatical. On a regional level, Junior Achievement is the implementing partner for Latin Code Week, a digital literacy initiative that provides training in coding tools, entrepreneurship and life skills throughout Latin America. Many SAP employees in North America also volunteer as mentors for Junior Achievement.

Teach for All

https://teachforall.org/en

 

Teach For All is a global network of 45 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations and a global organization that works to accelerate the progress of the network. Each network partner recruits and develops promising future leaders to teach in their nations’ high-need schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children are able to fulfill their potential. Teach For All’s global organization works to increase the network's impact by providing partners with direct support, facilitating connections among them, accessing global resources, and fostering the leadership development of partner staff, participants, and alumni. SAP has worked with various Teach for All affiliates around in the world through the SAP Social Sabbatical. Locations include Argentina, Philippines, and Vietnam.  

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