Only a few months ago, Middle East organizations we could never have guessed that, the world would turn on its head. Almost simultaneously, we saw the outbreak of a global pandemic coupled with the collapse of the oil price that has shaken the world to its core. We have been accustomed to things like social distancing, panic buying and widespread lockdowns; scenes that you expect only in a Hollywood blockbuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we\nare all grappling with a very different world right now, in time business and\nconsumer confidence will return, bolstering transformation and ultimately\ndriving growth. Many people are referring to the perfect storm; I see huge\npotential related to the outcomes of disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A force majeure like COVID-19<\/a> can be every bit as transformative as a financial crisis or other world events that have had global significance through the ages. Enterprises are rethinking their business models, their supply chains and changing their approaches to security, business continuity, and remote work. Governments are rallying their resources to get insights into the effects of the crisis and to get on top of the catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s never been a better opportunity to help our customers deliver unique insights, and ensure agility, control and the ability to execute \u2013 not just now, but also post-crisis,\u201d says Steve Tzikakis, President, SAP EMEA South <\/p>\n\n\n\n People will need to work, and agile, transformative businesses will flourish. Companies that effectively navigate disruptions often succeed because they invest in their core customer segments early and anticipate behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAP\nOffers Free Technology Tools and Platforms for Future-Proofing Post-Pandemic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So how\ncan a company like SAP become part of the global solution to the pandemic? For\na start, we\u2019re offering a slew of free technology tools and platforms to\ncustomers (and anyone else) to help them not only deal with pandemic-related\nissues but anticipate what sorts of opportunities the crisis will open up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re\nhelping companies redesign their supply chains, and find new sources of supply\nwhen existing supply chains are disrupted. We\u2019re opening access to the SAP Ariba Discovery<\/a> network, so any\nbuyer can post their immediate sourcing needs, and any supplier can respond to\nshow they can deliver. It\u2019s free to post, free to respond. Using this network,\none SAP customer that is building a new hospital in the US was able to find a\nsupplier with 500 hospital beds in less than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re\nhelping managers check in with their employees. The world went virtual\novernight, and any company that hopes to continue operating anywhere near\nnormal levels will need to make sure their workers are okay, safe and healthy \u2013\nand this doesn\u2019t end in the first week they\u2019re home. We\u2019ve seen a spike in the\nusage of our free Remote\nWork Pulse from Qualtrics<\/a>, which enables companies to\ndetect the sentiment of their employees since the crisis began. The mental\nhealth of their employees has to be on the mind of companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Italy,\nour presales team developed a Coronavirus dashboard and\noffered it for free to customers, partners, our communities. The dashboard\nallows users to analyze the contagion spread in depth, compared to that one\nincluded in the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re\nsupporting the next generation of professionals and users with our\nbest-in-class digital learning, by offering students and subject-matter experts\nsafe and healthy learning environments to continue their education virtually.\nWe\u2019re offering them free access<\/a> to\nselect learning journeys for students at one of the 3,800 member universities\nof the SAP University Alliances program, online courses allowing young learners\nto explore technology, as well as the massive open online courses (MOOCs)\navailable on the openSAP platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n