SAP Volunteers Pack 1,000 School Bags for Children in Need By Kate Dieffenbach

On August 8, 26 SAP employees ventured to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia for the annual Cradles to Crayons “Backpack-A-Thon”.  Cradles to Crayons is an organization that provides everyday essentials, warm clothes, shoes, books, and school supplies to homeless and low-income children.  Nearly 500 volunteers from 22 different companies and organizations worked together to pack a grand total of 20,000 backpacks, filling them with much needed school supplies. The SAP team of volunteers joined forces and packed close to 1,000 backpacks in less than two hours!  The backpacks will be donated to children in homeless and low-income circumstances living in the greater Philadelphia region.
Congratulations and thank you to all of our volunteers!
Watch ABC News coverage of the 5th Annual Backpack-A-Thon.

Five Minutes with Robin Manherz

Five Minutes with Robin Manherz

Head of North America Business Transformation

 

North America News: What projects are you currently working on that you are excited about?

Robin: Anything we’re doing around our North American and Global 2015 business strategy. For instance, we’re looking at how we’ll adapt our go to market model, how we deploy our sales force, finding alternate routes to market and reinventing the SAP brand. I’m excited about all of this because it keeps my skills, the work I do and my outlook fresh. This part of our business requires that I understand the mechanics of the company and allows for creativity and innovation. I like that.  I like having to know the depth of the business and being able to explore the places it can take us. It’s work that lets me engage both sides of my brain.

North America News: Tell us one thing that people generally don’t know about you.

Robin: I’m a mother of six kids, four of whom were adopted from Haiti. I’m a pretty transparent person so people who know me personally, know my family. But for those who don’t, it might come as a surprise. We mimic the Brady Bunch and by that I mean we have two kids who are 12-years-old, two who are 10 and two who are five. My husband is a stay-at-home dad and that makes our family possible. There’s plenty of effort required beyond the traditional with a family like ours. Plus we have two dogs and a cat.

Really, we’re like the Brady Bunch minus Alice! 

North America News: What are some of your passions and hobbies that you enjoy outside of the office?

Robin: (laughs) A family of six kids doesn’t give time for much else! Each one of them has their own interests so we make sure to encourage and support what they want to do. I’m in a life phase where most of my concentration is on my family and my work, but out of that has grown two particular passions for me.

When we began to grow our family five years ago, we wanted to adopt children who might’ve been forgotten or who were otherwise outside the ‘desirable’ criteria; Haiti gave us that opportunity and made me passionate about the awareness of adopting older children. And so often in 3^rd world countries, children are an indication of the status of women. Since learning that—since seeing it first hand in Haiti—I’m very concerned about the plight of women in poor countries. I am involved in an organization that works to ensure women can deliver their babies and receive proper care.

North America News:  What did you want to be when you grew up?

Robin: When I was a kid, I wanted to be an architect.  I’ve always loved art and the intersection of science and art.

North American News: If you could have dinner with anyone (living or not), who would it be and why?

Robin: A quiet dinner away from all the noise and activity with my husband. Truly. I have such a full life, great relationships with my kids, the people in their lives, people I work with…John and I invest a lot in our family and what grounds me are the opportunities we have to reconnect. Having a calm, peaceful dinner with time for reflection, just the two of us, would do that.  

Robin with her family near their Denver, CO home (l to r) Michael (10), Stephanie (10), MJ (12), husband John with Emma (5), John (12) and in front, Ben (5).

Technology Giants Team Up for Olympics

Technology Giants Team Up for Olympics

Faster, Higher, Stronger. It seems, the Olympic motto was on William Lawler´s mind, when he was asked to explain what visitors can expect from the SAP HANA demo at Cisco House in London. “The SmartGrid Analytics demo shows how companies can turn massive volumes of energy data into powerful insights and actions”, SAP´s partner and HANA marketing manager says. “SAP SmartGrid Analytics allows you to make crucial decisions faster…”

With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a backdrop, SAP will be on hand at the interactive Cisco House to highlight the SAP-Cisco partnership, and showcase how break-through technology like SAP HANA helps organizations “run better.” The house was created by Cisco as a dynamic stage for telling the company’s story of transformation, for providing a home base for guests during the Olympics, and for supplying business content that aligns with Cisco’s Olympic sponsorships.

Understanding of Big Data

“An estimated 11,000 visitors — including 400 CEOs — will see customer testimonials and smart-grid HANA demonstrations promote exciting transformational opportunities for a wide variety of organizations,” says Michael Craig, Cisco Alliance Director for SAP.  He feels that visitors can get a  high level understanding of Big Data and how SAP HANA is revolutionizing the consumption of large amounts of information in real time.

“Cisco was seeking sponsorship partners and break-through technologies that complemented and helped illustrate the transformational opportunities available for countries, cities and organizations for today and in the future,” says Hernan Marino, head of SAP’s partner marketing organization. “They recognized SAP HANA as an oustanding example of transformational technology — an in-memory database and real-time platform that combines high-volume transactions with analytics to help create solutions that take business performance to the next level.” In addition to SAP, other companies participating in the Cisco House experience include Citrix, EMC, and Intel.

Having opened in April to run for five months, Cisco House will host invited C-level and senior IT executives from customer, prospect and partner organizations. The guest list is a 100% match for SAP’s target market. More than 100 joint Cisco and SAP HANA prospects have already been identified. SAP United Kingdom will use Cisco House as a platform to engage more top customers and partners. These visitors will be able to see first-hand presentations of how new business and service models can reduce costs, increase productivity and deliver a competitive advantage, Michael Craig explains. “Cisco House demonstrates how SAP benefits by offering up yet another tangible proof point to our customers about the power of SAP´s partner ecosystem. It shows that bringing together global technology leaders to collaborate and co-innovate brings forward the types of technology solutions that truly transform how their businesses run.”

Accelerate the HANA pipeline

The Olympics venue provides an unique opportunity to promote the Cisco-SAP HANA partnership. And as Hernan pointed out, “The focus is not on what Cisco House makes, but rather what Cisco and its partners make possible.” Both partners are sure to benefit. “Creating awareness on in memory computing will create and accelerate more HANA pipeline, and Cisco is one of the certified hardware providers for HANA, so this will create awareness and increase their market share of HANA installs on their Unified Computing System (UCS) platform,” says Michael Craig.

And William Lawler adds: “Customers can see the commitment that SAP and Cisco have to together building leading edge technology solutions, and how the sum is greater than the parts when technology giants work in partnership.”

By Michael Zipf

 

Useful link:

• Cisco House homepage with fly-through video

SAP UKI Employees Embrace the Spirit of the Olympics

SAP UKI employees are embracing the spirit of the London 2012 Olympic Games which begin tonight at a lavish opening ceremony.  London will be openings its arms to  over 10,000 athletes from 204 countries who will be participating in a mixture of old and new venues right across London and the UK over the next two weeks.

SAP UKI is celebrating the start of the Games by decorating its five offices with Olympic flags, providing Microsoft Xbox Kinect machines for employees to play Olympic sports and collect medals online and every employee has also a special ‘Goody Bag’ full of Olympic treats.  The Games will be broadcast live onto screens in every offices for the duration, and high-profile events will be shown in communal areas with drinks and snacks.  Employees in the Knutsford office will also be taking part in their own ‘mini Olympics’ over the coming weeks.

Many employees have also been lucky enough to be selected as volunteers for the Games – for example Annabel Gaastra (Principle Consultant) will be an Event Services Team Member at Wimbledon for the tennis, Steve Mawby (Presales Lead/Solution Architect) will be a team leader at the Olympic Rowing and Canoe Sprint competitions being held at Dorney Lakes, near Windsor and Alexandra Rejstrand (EMEA Lead, Remote Supportability, AGS Primary Support) will be volunteering in the Athlete Services Team at the ExCel centre. Alexandra will be responsible for looking after the fencing athletes, making sure they feel at home and are in the right place at the right time with the right equipment.

For two SAP employees, the games will have an extra special place in their heart.  Arun Kumar, Senior Consultant I EMEA SAP Business Analytics Services, was selected at random to represent SAP as an Olympic Torchbearer.  The Olympic Flame has been carried through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages in the UK and Arun was selected to carry the Torch through the London Borough of Havering on Sunday 22nd July.  Arun (pictured) described it as one of the best experiences of his life.  And finally, Alan MacPherson, member of the Line of Business sales team, will have a staring role in the Opening Ceremony tonight.  In one London 2012’s most closely guarded secrets, the lavish Opening Ceremony will see the Olympic Stadium packed with 62,000 spectators, 16,000 athletes, 10,000 performers, 70 sheep, 12 horses, ten chickens, three cows, two goats and even dogs and geese.  Look out for Alan (pictured) who will be third from the front  in a ‘boat’ at approx 10.10 (CET).  Talking earlier this week, Alan said; “the atmosphere is beyond electric and without doubt way, way, way beyond the best thing I have ever done – the show will blow the minds of the world on Friday.”

Good luck to Alan and ‘Let the Games Begin’!

My name is Tom Berger and I am the University Coordinator on the NA & LATAM University Recruiting Team. I have had the privilege to work at SAP for some time now and I am always amazed at the hard work and dedication young people continue to exhibit. SAP takes pride in the work toward sustainability as well as utilizing the capabilities of all employees to volunteer and help the world “Run Better”.

The University Recruiting team decided to volunteer at the Elmwood Park Zoo located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. We asked that interns would help us with our volunteer event and we had a great turn-out. The Elmwood zoo welcomed 16 volunteers that day to shovel rocks to help build the foundation for a new snack stand/feed stand and to weed and clean the outer perimeter of the zoo to keep the aesthetics as well as structure of the beautiful landscape. Here are some testimonials from the volunteers:

“Aside from the unavoidable poison ivy and humidity, it was fun to work on something that hopefully will have a lasting impact. Participating in the Intern Volunteer Day was a great way to meet people and get to know each other outside of the office. I will definitely be taking advantage of more SAP volunteer opportunities in the future.”
- Chelsea C. (Intern, VU Infra & Ops)

“The best part about the day was the ability to bond with not only other fellow interns, but also with SAP full time employees. The group of interns was about 15 people (not sure the exact number) and we were accompanied with a few University Recruiters as well. Overall it was a fun day of volunteering and networking.”
- Sean M. (Intern, Financial Analysis)

“This event was an amazing opportunity. I met new people, helped out the zoo, and learned a lot about team work and how affective it can be! We may have sweated a lot, but it was worth every drop.”
- Kyle B. (Intern, Strategy & Business Operations)

I've included a few pictures to help share all the fun we had that day. I am happy that I got the time to work with such a great group of interns and I look forward to the next volunteer event.

The Power of Small

SAP has launched a global online competition to identify and reward organizations that focus on helping emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses. Employees are encouraged to get involved

SAP recently launched a competition, called The Power of Small: Entrepreneurs strengthening local economies, as part of its 40 anniversary activities. The competition is being run in cooperation with Ashoka Changemakers – a group that connects and supports entrepreneurs around the globe, with the aim of solving the world’s most pressing social problems.
Currently around 30 organizations have submitted their entries on Ashoka Changemakers’ online platform.  Organizers of the competition expect that by September 5, when the entry period closes, the Power of Small competition will have attracted over 200 entries from all over the world. Four winners will be announced at SAP SAPPHIRE NOW! in Madrid and awarded with a prize that includes USD10,000, a technology donation as well as volunteer hours and a promotion package from SAP.
Eligible organizations must have innovative concepts (or strategies) for helping entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities. These could include, for example, organizations that help entrepreneurs scale their businesses, help small businesses get plugged in to larger supply chains and government resources or offer entrepreneurial skills-development to equip entrepreneurs with the knowledge needed to succeed in business.

Calling all employees – get involved!

There are several ways SAP employees can get involved in the Power of Small competition, including by nominating relevant organizations to enter. Organizations that are nominated by SAP employees and then selected among the 40 semi-finalists (on October 10), will receive an award of USD 2,000.
Employees are also encouraged register on the competition platform and collaborate with entrants by providing feedback and joining discussions. A panel of judges will later on narrow the participants down to a smaller group of 10 – 15 finalists whose names will be announced on October 22, 2012. Employees will then be able to participate in the second phase of the competition by voting for their favorite concepts on the competition platform, thereby helping determine who the four winners will be.
Alexandra van der Ploeg, the Power of Small competition project lead says: “This is a great opportunity for SAP employees to get involved and engaged in an initiative that’s fully aligned with SAP’s mission. We believe that by nominating, collaborating with and voting for the organizations that are empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses, employees can ultimately help improve peoples’ lives”.

Tiago Dreams Hard

Every employee has a story about how he or she came to be part of the SAP global family, but few have persevered as tenaciously as Brazilian colleague, Tiago, to get an SAP ID Number.



Everyone has a dream. For some it is to have a successful career or travel the world. Others want to raise a big family or create a beautiful garden. Dreams encourage us. They give us a reason to wake up every morning and continue our journey.
But how far can a dream take us? Tiago, an intern hired recently to the globalization banking team at SAP Labs Latin America, is living proof that if you can dream about something, then you can also make it
happen.


Tiago, SAP Brazil

From parking cars next door...
Many employees at SAP Labs in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, knew Tiago  when he was working in the parking lot next to the building. Despite the difficult working conditions, Tiago was always friendly and respectful. And although life was hard, nothing could take the smile off his face.
Tiago often simply did what he considered was the right thing to do. For example, to keep customers from getting wet in the rain, he purchased an umbrella. “I always saw people getting wet, often carrying documents,” remarked Tiago. “Then I thought, I am there to serve them, so why not make this simple gesture and improve my service?” Attitudes like this weren’t really appreciated by Tiago’s supervisor, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t enough for him to do only what he was asked to do.
Tiago befriended employees from the Lab and asked them what the company does. The stories about SAP’s business interested him, and he dreamt that one day he could also work there. His friends recommended that he learn to speak English.
Time passed and Tiago began to study and practice English by himself. Many of employees received a “good morning” from him when getting out their cars. He was determined to learn the language, so he read books, listened to music, and watched movies.

… to cleaning the office …
One day, Tiago was offered an opportunity to work for the company that cleans SAP Labs Latin America. Asked if he minded cleaning the building, he responded: “Of course not! I accept the job.” Tiago wanted to be on the inside of SAP Labs, no matter what the job entailed.
For eight months he cleaned the office with dedication, always greeting employees and being cordial to everyone he met. His positive attitude was responded to by some with jealousy and envy, but Tiago never gave up. He always did what he thought was right, converting some of the negativity he experienced into positive energy to help him achieve his goal.

… to helping internationalize SAP products
Then one day, while cleaning the coffee corner on the second floor, he asked a good friend “What do I have to do to get a position with SAP?” The friend replied: “If you want, I can interview you right now.” That day, someone saw in him an opportunity. That simple question will remain in his memory forever. A few days after completing his CV, he began working as intern at the Globalization – Banking team.
After much struggle, after going through difficult working conditions, after so many obstacles that life imposed to him, Tiago persevered and achieved his goal.”From the beginning, I imagined myself in here and made it a goal in my life,” he said. “I was sure I could do it because I focused on it, I could see my future work here.”
Today he thanks each one of those SAP colleagues who, from the days when he worked at the parking lot, believed in his potential and helped him to realize this dream.

By:  Jessica Pedroso
SAP Roving Reporter