Read how Lenovo configures a pricing makeover and aims for greater organizational consistency and market responsiveness with SAP Price and Margin Management by Vendavo
Enhance your digital strategy with SAP Solution Extensions .
Get interesting snippets into the impact that SAP Solution Extensions is making in today's world and how they help the world run simple and agile.
Meet your digital transformation needs and complement the SAP software you already have in place – with SAP Solution Extensions. Developed by our partners and rigorously tested, these extensions are built into SAP’s long-term road map, so you can expect lasting ROI. And don’t worry about complicated software support. The SAP ONE Support program keeps delivery simple and consistent for all of your solutions.
ERP software has been growing at high speed in past years. Now, let's take a look at the top five consequential trends in ERP software for 2015. To get more details, Visit: http://www.controlerp.com
Enhance your digital strategy with SAP Solution Extensions .
Get interesting snippets into the impact that SAP Solution Extensions is making in today's world and how they help the world run simple and agile.
Meet your digital transformation needs and complement the SAP software you already have in place – with SAP Solution Extensions. Developed by our partners and rigorously tested, these extensions are built into SAP’s long-term road map, so you can expect lasting ROI. And don’t worry about complicated software support. The SAP ONE Support program keeps delivery simple and consistent for all of your solutions.
ERP software has been growing at high speed in past years. Now, let's take a look at the top five consequential trends in ERP software for 2015. To get more details, Visit: http://www.controlerp.com
Future directives in erp, erp and internet, critical success and failure factorsVarun Luthra
This ppt explains Future Directives in ERP, ERP and Internet, its critical success and failure factors, Hit 'Like' button if the ppt turns out to be useful for you in any way. Enjoy :)
Choosing an Integration Platform for your needs is often tricky, especially when there're so many good one out there. In this white paper we finally settle the long-standing debate of Dell Boomi vs SAP Cloud Platform Integration.
White paper on a new solution to EDI communications using a newly introduced SOAP API for sending EDI Docs anywhere, to any trading partner. Low cost, easy to implement.
More Than 9,000 Companies Across All Industries Trust
SAP Solution Extensions To Run Simple and Agile
And So Can You. Find out more at https://sap.com/solution-extensions
This document brings together a set of latest data points and publicly available information relevant for Consulting & IT Services Industry. We are very excited to share this content and believe that readers will benefit from this periodic publication immensely.
This document brings together a set
of latest data points and publicly
available information relevant for
Agile & AI Operations Industry. We
are very excited to share this content
and believe that readers will benefit
from this periodic publication
immensely.
Modern Architectures: Integration Stories from the FieldDreamforce
Modern Architectures depend on effective ways to leverage the lifeblood of the Enterprise: data. Join us for the informative and fast-paced discussion where customers will share real-world approaches in building trusted, rapid "Agility Layers" to bring legacy and other external data into their Salesforce environments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9wo7L0rJ44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9wo7L0rJ44
This slideshare is from the webinar on Setting up the Centre of Excellence for RPA featuring David Thurkle, Executive Program Director at National Australia Bank.
Read this SAP Thought Leadership Paper to understand what new changes in regulations mean for your business and how you can become smarter about revenue recognition and lease accounting with SAP Lease Administration by Nakisa, a solution extension from SAP.
Mobile devices can boost productivity and competitive advantage, but your enterprise-IT organization must support new mobile strategies, while complying with government regulations and maintaining security. See how you can implement robust security features in your existing apps with SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana.
Future directives in erp, erp and internet, critical success and failure factorsVarun Luthra
This ppt explains Future Directives in ERP, ERP and Internet, its critical success and failure factors, Hit 'Like' button if the ppt turns out to be useful for you in any way. Enjoy :)
Choosing an Integration Platform for your needs is often tricky, especially when there're so many good one out there. In this white paper we finally settle the long-standing debate of Dell Boomi vs SAP Cloud Platform Integration.
White paper on a new solution to EDI communications using a newly introduced SOAP API for sending EDI Docs anywhere, to any trading partner. Low cost, easy to implement.
More Than 9,000 Companies Across All Industries Trust
SAP Solution Extensions To Run Simple and Agile
And So Can You. Find out more at https://sap.com/solution-extensions
This document brings together a set of latest data points and publicly available information relevant for Consulting & IT Services Industry. We are very excited to share this content and believe that readers will benefit from this periodic publication immensely.
This document brings together a set
of latest data points and publicly
available information relevant for
Agile & AI Operations Industry. We
are very excited to share this content
and believe that readers will benefit
from this periodic publication
immensely.
Modern Architectures: Integration Stories from the FieldDreamforce
Modern Architectures depend on effective ways to leverage the lifeblood of the Enterprise: data. Join us for the informative and fast-paced discussion where customers will share real-world approaches in building trusted, rapid "Agility Layers" to bring legacy and other external data into their Salesforce environments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9wo7L0rJ44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9wo7L0rJ44
This slideshare is from the webinar on Setting up the Centre of Excellence for RPA featuring David Thurkle, Executive Program Director at National Australia Bank.
Read this SAP Thought Leadership Paper to understand what new changes in regulations mean for your business and how you can become smarter about revenue recognition and lease accounting with SAP Lease Administration by Nakisa, a solution extension from SAP.
Mobile devices can boost productivity and competitive advantage, but your enterprise-IT organization must support new mobile strategies, while complying with government regulations and maintaining security. See how you can implement robust security features in your existing apps with SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana.
Information Governance - AIIM Marketing Intelligence Though Leadership Whitep...SAP Solution Extensions
Once upon a time, records meant paper documents. They lived in file cabinets, and they were managed and maintained by secretaries, librarians and archivists who knew the rules, and applied them diligently. When space for more file cabinets ran out, the records were put in boxes, marked with a destruction date, and shipped out to a box store (a paper records outsource provider). When the destruction date was reached, the box store would take care of destroying it, and recording the fact that it had been done.
Nowadays, records exist in electronic form all over the business, often well beyond the reach of the traditional custodians. So we now need much wider “Information Governance Policies” to ensure that our corporate information (and our customers’ information) is secure and is easily located. In particular, businesses are increasingly faced with the possibility of high profile criminal, commercial and patent cases that hinge on evidence from electronic documents, from emails, and even from social network comments. So these records need to be “discoverable” and presentable to regulators and lawyers. And as the argument moves on from “how do we keep stuff?” to “how can we defensibly get rid of stuff?”, we need to examine what shape enterprise records management takes and, in the big data age, how do we keep a lid on the escalating costs of content storage?
In this survey, AIIM looks at the risk profile around electronic records, the keep-all versus delete-all options, the international view of e-discovery, and the implications of social, mobile and cloud on RM policies. We also look at the development of enterprise-wide governance policies, and how they translate into system strategies.
Read this customer success profile around Lenovo group and how they are improving their pricing practices and expanding reach with SAP Price and Margin Management by Vendavo, a solution extension from SAP
Integrate, automate, and personalize business communications with greater easeSAP Solution Extensions
For more information around SAP Document Presentment by OpenText, please visit http://www54.sap.com/solutions/analytics/enterprise-information-management/software/document-presentment/index.html
Read this solution brief to learn how to personalize and produce business communications throughout your enterprise with SAP Document Presentment and the add-on for business correspondence. Discover how to integrate SAP Business Suite so business users can generate and distribute personalized communications in real time across multiple channels.
Read how TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, a member of the premier German soccer league, Bundesliga, professionalized social media monitoring of its large fan base with SAP Social Media Analytics by Netbase
Secure Enterprise Apps in Seconds Across Managed and Unmanaged Mobile DevicesSAP Solution Extensions
Read about the SAP Mobile App Protection solution by Mocana and learn how companies can move quickly toward mobile computing while maintaining security and device management. App wrapping with the solution allows administrators to meet security needs in deploying either internal or third-party software.
Customer Success Profile - Adobe and SAP Incentive Administration by VistexSAP Solution Extensions
This SAP Customer Success Profile elaborates on how Adobe improves its royalty management with SAP Incentive Administration by Vistex, a solution extension from SAP
Read this customer success profile to see how Cheney Brothers, a Wholesale Distribution company in Florida, is improving customer engagement with SAP ERP and SAP Paybacks and Chargebacks by Vistex, a solution extension from SAP
How Distributors Increase Income with Automated Rebates and ChargebacksSAP Solution Extensions
For more information around SAP Incentive Administration by Vistex please visit http://www54.sap.com/lob/sales/software/incentive-administration/index.html
and for SAP Paybacks and Chargebacks by Vistex please visit http://www54.sap.com/lob/sales/software/paybacks-chargebacks/index.html
Find out how smart retailers are recouping monies due through chargebacks, rebates, and other incentive programs – with auditors – using solution extensions from SAP. The SAP Incentive Administration and SAP Paybacks and Chargebacks applications help automate and streamline the complex processes involved.
CPO ARENA Service Provider Synopsis (Nipendo)Jon Hansen
SEASON 1, EPISODE 4 - Nipendo (Service Provider)
Coming before a global panel of 5 CPOs – Industry Experts all, service providers are invited to present their offering within the framework of the following format:
Show Format
1. In the first 5 minutes, the provider will tell the panel about their company, procurement technology, and their unique value proposition.
2. In the next 7 to 8 minutes, they will demonstrate a unique feature from their technology platform that they believe is a differentiator in the marketplace.
3. In the final 10 minutes, the panel will ask the provider questions based on what they have heard and seen.
4. In the closing 5 minutes, the panel will share their Beefs & Bouquets regarding the provider's solution.
The document you are about to read is a synopsis of the panel’s observations regarding the provider’s solution offering from the standpoint of functionality and potential areas of both benefit and improvement.
Show Replay: https://youtu.be/-W4o7pofpKc
CPO ARENA Service Provider Synopsis (Nipendo)CPOARENA
CPO ARENA Service Provider Synopsis (Nipendo)
SEASON 1, EPISODE 4 - Nipendo (Service Provider)
Coming before a global panel of 5 CPOs – Industry Experts all, service providers are invited to present their offering within the framework of the following format:
Show Format
1. In the first 5 minutes, the provider will tell the panel about their company, procurement technology, and their unique value proposition.
2. In the next 7 to 8 minutes, they will demonstrate a unique feature from their technology platform that they believe is a differentiator in the marketplace.
3. In the final 10 minutes, the panel will ask the provider questions based on what they have heard and seen.
4. In the closing 5 minutes, the panel will share their Beefs & Bouquets regarding the provider's solution.
The document you are about to read is a synopsis of the panel’s observations regarding the provider’s solution offering from the standpoint of functionality and potential areas of both benefit and improvement.
Show Replay: https://youtu.be/-W4o7pofpKc
After more than 6 months of analyses, dozens of interviews with editors and a tool developped internally to find out the market shares of each solution, our Benchmark of e-commerce solutions came out in 2013, screening 12 solutions through 160 pages.
The new version of this benchmark will be published in 2016.
The "Vision Paper" behind the success story of commercetools, created 2011Dirk Hoerig
In 2011 we started the development of a new kind of technology platform for eCommerce. What today is called "Head-less" or "API-first" we kicked off late 2010. To explain our ideas behind it to all our stakeholders at that time - our employees, our investors and our partners - I created that vision paper and released it in April 2011. Not everything that we envisioned at that time came exactly that way, but the core of the concept and its assumptions became reality. A reality that in 2019 was proven with a 145M USD investment round led by Insight Partners for our company that empowers the commerce offerings of companies like AT&T, Express, Lego and VW today. Though this was already quite a journey we still feel that we are at the beginning. So if you are also up to something with your business or you have a great vision for technology and markets - go for it. This document should encourage you to go the extra mile. This is why I released it here. Have fun reading it (and please excuse my language, it was never supposed to be released to the broader public and share with you the un-edited version).
For those who know us: GRID was our initial product we released 2007 based on an existing monolithic JEE platform. We decided 2010 to replace it with a new technology built-from-scratch that we called internally GRID 2.0 - which later became public as SPHERE.IO. Today it's simply the commercetools platform.
Slides from the Salesforce Innovation Morning event organized in Helsinki and Stockholm by Fluido, the #1 Digital Customer Experience and Salesforce specialist in the Nordics, together with its partners Musqot, Zero Keyboard, Documill, and Oneflow.
Benchmark of ecommerce solutions (short version, english)Philippe Humeau
This study covers 12 e-commerce solutions in-depth : Websphere commerce, Oracle Commerce, Hybris, Intershop, Magento, Prestashop, RBS Change, Oxid eShop, Drupal Commerce, Zen Cart, Open Cart, Virtuemart.
Full version is available here: http://www.nbs-system.co.uk/blog/benchmark-of-e-commerce-solutions.html
Use Data-Driven Enterprise Planning in Your Meat, Poultry, or Fish CompanySAP Solution Extensions
Solution brief - SAP Solution Extensions | SAP Meat Management by msg . As a large-scale food producer, your meat, poultry, or fish company strives to ensure
greater productivity and compliance in an age of highly informed consumers and
traceability. To do so, you need to capture, manage, and integrate huge amounts
of data across business units and systems. The SAP® Meat Management application by msg helps you do this – all from one solution
Find out how companies are managing and controlling software quality across the application lifecycle using a consistent approach with SAP Quality Center. Better organize activities, automate tasks, and analyze, store, and track results. Reduce the cost and effort of fixing problems by addressing issues early
Find out how companies are making sure their product, pricing, and partner data is kept current - avoiding expensive errors. The idea is to give business users intuitive, automated tools for updating critical data in SAP ERP without reliance on technical experts
Capture and Feed Telecom Network Data and More Into SAP HANA - Quicky and Aff...SAP Solution Extensions
Get details on how the SAP Big Data Integrator solution by DigitalRoute helps telecom firms integrate, analyze, and act on operational usage and customer data in real time to gain a huge competitive advantage
Discover how SAP LoadRunner by HPE lets you verify that your application architecture is built for performance and reliability. This helps ensure fewer network-related issues in your production system and boosts performance where processes hit snags.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
The field of Information retrieval (IR) is currently undergoing a transformative shift, at least partly due to the emerging applications of generative AI to information access. In this talk, we will deliberate on the sociotechnical implications of generative AI for information access. We will argue that there is both a critical necessity and an exciting opportunity for the IR community to re-center our research agendas on societal needs while dismantling the artificial separation between the work on fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in IR and the rest of IR research. Instead of adopting a reactionary strategy of trying to mitigate potential social harms from emerging technologies, the community should aim to proactively set the research agenda for the kinds of systems we should build inspired by diverse explicitly stated sociotechnical imaginaries. The sociotechnical imaginaries that underpin the design and development of information access technologies needs to be explicitly articulated, and we need to develop theories of change in context of these diverse perspectives. Our guiding future imaginaries must be informed by other academic fields, such as democratic theory and critical theory, and should be co-developed with social science scholars, legal scholars, civil rights and social justice activists, and artists, among others.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Assuring Contact Center Experiences for Your Customers With ThousandEyes
Lenovo InsiderPROFILES article
1. This article appeared in the JAN FEB MAR 2014 issue
of insiderPROFILES (insiderPROFILESonline.com)
and appears here with permission from WIS PUBLISHING.
Subscribe today. Visit insiderPROFILESonline.com
2. Lenovo
Conf igures a
Pricing
Makeover
Top-Selling PC Maker Aims for Greater
Organizational Consistency and Market
Responsiveness
by Ken Murphy, Senior Writer
When Lenovo acquired the PC division of IBM in 2005, beginning a
steady climb to become the top-selling PC manufacturer in the world, it
truly became a global organization. Lenovo had long been the No. 1 PC
maker in China, where the company was originally founded as Legend
Holdings in 1984. Since IBM owned a large market share in North America, the acquisition immediately made Lenovo a global player in the PC
market. A quick visit to the company’s website will reveal the scope of
the Lenovo brand — as a drop-down menu provides site visitors with
130 options for a country/region, from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
This global diversity of online users filling their configure-to-order
(CTO) shopping carts helps illustrate the size of the challenge Lenovo
faced at the time of the IBM acquisition. Imagine the complexity of
bringing an array of different IBM businesses, all operating on legacy
systems, onto a standardized IT platform. Admittedly, the Lenovo businesses did have some shared systems, but it lacked a centralized platform that could be used to standardize — and thus streamline — pricing throughout the expanded company. Without a unified approach for
price management across the organization, Lenovo’s vision for improved
revenue and margin through a standardized global CTO shopping cart
wasn’t feasible. Language and cultural barriers were just a couple of the
obstacles to standard pricing practices; but the biggest hurdle was the
multitude of systems in use that set and maintained pricing, analyzed
margins, or drove trade promotions — all of which conspired to muddle
the true profitability picture for Lenovo, which in turn added cycle time
to pricing changes demanded by the market.
Subscribe today. Visit insiderPROFILESonline.com
3. Cliff Preddy, Lenovo’s Senior Manager of Marketing and Sales
Processes for Corporate Business Transformation, describes the
immediate post-acquisition landscape, and the company’s rough
plans to standardize its overall IT landscape. “We were living in a
hybrid world,” he says. “When we began our transformation journey, we had to support the legacy IBM systems during transition
while also continuing to support the business needs. We had to
keep an eye out to standardize whatever we built, and to synergize around similar business processes. With a core template, we
could then extend that to all of our regions.”
A New Look at Pricing
The hybrid world Preddy describes, where there was no standardized pricing, central data warehouse, or concrete business model,
was not the optimal environment to provide for a 360-degree view
of business processes as well as performance tracking and analysis
of product lines. “The systems were all over the place, meaning
that some regions were using different methods or processes than
other regions to achieve the same end,” Preddy says.
With responsive pricing and true margin visibility clearly a business priority, one of Lenovo’s first initiatives was to extend CTO
shopping cart availability to every region, with a central system
responsible for ensuring that, for example, a ThinkPad T430 series
laptop configured to order by a customer in, say, Finland, would
have the same user experience as if purchased from the United
States. Just as importantly, Lenovo wanted pricing information
available globally, to be used as a baseline to model promotional
campaigns, or enable CTO changes based on a certain product or
product line’s sales.
With a patchwork of pricing systems around the globe, it would
be a challenge for Lenovo to assemble this disparate information together to form a baseline, let alone to make timely and
informed business decisions.
“There was a lot of manual work in pulling data, manipulating that data in spreadsheets, and releasing it in various
systems; and all of that was error-prone because of the many
different processes,” says Preddy. Clearly, this existing system
infrastructure was impeding Lenovo’s ability to react quickly
to market and competitive change. To remedy this, as part
of an overall solution, Lenovo turned to the SAP Price and
At a Glance
Goal: Lenovo sought to accelerate responsiveness
to market and cost changes, while automating and
standardizing pricing practices and profitability
metrics across the business
Strategy: Implemented SAP Price and Margin
Management by Vendavo
Outcome: A more market-responsive,
standardized, and price-optimized configureto-order platform, with automation of channel
program pricing strategies that resulted in fewer
resources expended, more accurate pricing, and
increased revenues
“When we began our transformation
journey, we had to keep an eye out
to standardize whatever we built,
and to synergize around similar
business processes. With a core
template, we could then extend that
to all of our regions.”
— liff Preddy, Senior Manager of Marketing
C
and Sales Processes for Corporate Business
Transformation, Lenovo
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4. Margin Management application by Vendavo, and targeted its CTO shopping cart functionality as the first step
toward achieving pricing visibility across the business.
Make Mine a ThinkPad
The solution for the CTO platform involved SAP Price
and Margin Management enabling the CTO shopping cart
functionality by providing pricing master data that the
CTO configuration engines would then execute to control
the CTO experience. Additionally, Lenovo targeted the
solution to achieve fully integrated campaign planning
and pricing. With the CTO functionality geared toward
the end consumer, campaign planning controls would
ensure an alignment of release strategies and pricing for
Lenovo’s many channel partners. Though a different customer base, the goal was the same: to align disparate processes onto a single pricing platform to give Lenovo a truer
profitability picture.
The first step was turning on the CTO shopping cart
functionality around the globe. Lenovo was able to initially
role this out to 18 different countries in just eight months.
Today, building a custom-order Lenovo PC starts by selecting one of the 130 regions or countries. Offers appear in the
appropriate language, and customers can select upgrades,
alternative options, and accessories on the model of their
Company Snapshot
Lenovo
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Industry: Personal technology, consumer manufactured goods
Revenue: $30 billion
Employees: More than 30,000
Company details:
• he Lenovo brand has been in existence since 2004, but
T
the company’s history begins two decades earlier. In 1984,
Legend Holdings was formed in China, and was incorporated
in Hong Kong in 1988, becoming the largest PC company in
China. Legend Holdings changed its name to Lenovo in 2004.
In 2005, Lenovo acquired the PC division of IBM.
• n the last 20 years, Lenovo has sold more than 75 million
I
ThinkPads.
• n 2013, Lenovo overcame HP to become the top-selling
I
PC company in the world with 16.7% market share to
HP’s 16.4%.
SAP solutions:
• SAP ERP
• SAP CRM
• SAP Price and Margin Management by Vendavo
choice. For many ThinkPads, for example, customers can
select from one of four processors and operating systems,
as well as choose a hard drive during the same transaction.
Product strategy teams finally had the baseline data
they needed to calculate various pricing scenarios. With
the new CTO platform, these teams were now equipped
with the insight to understand how a product’s price
affects sales on a global scale, giving them a view to whether a product is priced accurately, and helping them quickly
decide whether a product might benefit from a change in
campaign strategy.
With CTO functionality up and running, Lenovo then
focused on pricing controls for its channel programs. Similar to pricing controls on the CTO platform, SAP Price and
Margin Management gives Lenovo greater insight into pricing considerations for its channel programs and provides
product teams the ability to set appropriate clip levels and
rebate offers.
“Not having organizational control was one of our biggest pain points,” says Preddy. “That’s what SAP Price and
Margin Management brings to the table; it integrates with
our strategic solutions, pulls all of the necessary data that
concerns products and costs, provides the ability to set policy that allows users to manage the pricing, and gives those
users the ability to establish proper hierarchies of control
and workflow approvals for releases.”
Integration Opportunities
Because SAP Price and Margin Management allows for
easy integration with master data through Lenovo’s SAP
ERP system, the company is exploring how it can use the
application to improve pricing collaboration via integration
with its other SAP applications. “Thus far, we have focused
mainly on price-setting,” says Preddy. “But, in the future,
we’re looking to integrate more into the sales experience
and the sales cycle.”
Future opportunities include leveraging the integration
with the front-end tools supporting the price negotiation
process, which would provide sales reps the ability to adjust
quotes on the fly by tying price approval requests directly
to SAP Price and Margin Management. This would provide
Lenovo with greater product pipeline management and
give sales reps a tool to help better manage their accounts.
As Preddy says, any future integrations will be icing on
the cake. “There’s a lot of expansion opportunity with SAP
Price and Margin Management as a powerful suite of analytics tools, but we’ve just made a monumental achievement in terms of finally taking control of our own systems,”
he says. “After this major milestone, we will now have the
ability to be a bit more agile in what we go after.”
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