SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG – TECHNOLOGY firm, SAP, has announced investment plans of €2 billion over five years to help business and government benefit from the proliferation of sensors, smart devices and Big Data that are transforming business with the Internet of Things (IoT).

SAP plans to accelerate innovation in its IoT solution portfolio, increase sales and marketing, scale service, support and co-innovation, and grow its ecosystem of partners and startups in the IoT market, which is estimated to reach €250 billion by 2020.

Bill McDermott, Chief Executive Officer of SAP, says with billions of connected devices, they now have the potential to reshape society, the economy and the environment.

“SAP HANA® is the data platform we knew would unlock the Internet of Things. SAP is making another bold investment to help our customers seize the benefits of live business. Only SAP empowers businesses to innovate from the core to the edges to the networks,” says McDermott.

SAP IoT aims to make sense of Big Data from the multitude of things through IoT solutions that apply machine learning and integrate with the core business applications of SAP S/4HANA.

Among other initiatives, SAP is introducing Industry 4.0 packages that feature IoT solutions to enable customers’ digital business strategies.

SAP plans to increase investment in consulting and knowledge transfers with dedicated innovation adoption consulting and IoT universities at the sites.

Planned locations include Berlin (China), Johannesburg (South Africa), Munich (Germany), Palo Alto, São Leopoldo (Brazil) and Shanghai (China), with SAP and partner experts in areas of specific IoT focus native to each region, such as Industry 4.0, logistics, cities and digital farming.

SAP plans to establish locations around the world to collaborate on Industry 4.0 and the IoT with customers, partners and startups.

– CAJ News