Inspiring, Innovative and Transforming — SAP Best Practices for Automotive Conference
The Best Practices for Automotive conference was held in the beautiful GM building in downtown Detroit, right next to the Detroit River. Just like Detroit, it was clear from the conference that the automotive industry is re-inventing itself. It is energized and embracing the changes that are facing the industry at the moment.
This was brought home by Michael Abelson; Vice President of Global Strategy at GM; during his inspiring keynote where he iterated GM’s vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion.
Abelson posed the audience this question:
“The next generation looking back will see this time as a turning point for transportation, how is your automotive company embracing this opportunity?” — Michael Ableson; Vice President Global Strategy, General Motors.
During the conference it was not just Abelson who was talking about the need to address some of the big issues that are facing us: other speakers discussed the growth of mega cities, what that means for congestion, quality of life, and how automotive companies need to be part of smart city initiatives and other partnerships to be part of the solution.
It was inspiring to see industry leaders looking at how to solve these problems in innovative ways. These problems require a fundamental mindset shift, but open up so many possibilities! Frank Rinderknecht, CEO of Rinspeed, gave a glimpse of some of those possibilities for the future of mobility in his keynote, such as the SNAP concept car. This concept has the potential to change the day to day usage model of vehicles — for the better. Rinderknecht suggested that moving people is very similar to moving goods — could be a perfect fit for Amazon!
Many sessions referred to four major trends impacting the future of the automotive industry “Connectivity, electrification, sharing, and autonomy.”. These trends are driving new opportunities, as they force people to do things in different ways. This usually happens when pain levers, such as commute times, for the existing solutions reach an unacceptable level. But new opportunities will in turn introduce new challenges.
Cyber security was highlighted as an ongoing challenge, not only for business systems but for cars too, as they become more connected. Ronald E. Fisher, Infrastructure Assurance & Analysis Division Director with the National and Homeland Security, shared that only 5% of organizations have physical, cyber, and business security plans in plans. But more worryingly 56% of organizations have no plans.
Many of the track sessions covered how companies are implementing systems and platforms, so they will be positioned to address these trends in the future. It was clear that SAP is taking an active role in supporting our customers in their transformation. Uli Muench, Global Head of Automotive at SAP, stated that “We want to demonstrate to the world that SAP is much more than ERP”.
That message seems to be getting traction, with many positive social posts during the conference such as “(SAP has) a nice vision of how technology can help create an ecosystem to help companies transform with SAP” Aly Pinder Jr., Analyst with IDC. Pinder posted later in the day, “ #Blockchain referenced more in the first 2 hours (>5X) than I expected at an automotive conference”. It is not the SAP you are used to. Read the Futurum research report to see how SAP is driving innovation
It was clear, that partnerships will be needed to meet customers’ expectations of end-to-end experiences in this new connected world. SAP Vehicle Network, HERE Technologies, and SpotHero were a good example of partners working together to solve customer problems such as parking, traffic flows and congestion. They’re helping optimize space in the city, building a digital reality, and doing so using data to solve infrastructure issues! (Think Domino pizza!)
The conference highlighted companies that are making strides today. Three companies were recognized at the conference in the first ever SAP Excellence in Automotive Awards! Volkswagen Group of America won Breaking the Mold; GM won Digital Disrupter; and BorgWarner won Excellence in Operational Performance. Andrew Winnick, Industry Marketing at SAP, shared more details about the awards here!
As always, one of the main values of attending a conference is the face to face conversations. Attendees spoke about forming relationships, collaborating on innovations and business models — as well as sharing challenges and best practices. Dan Mahlebashian, Executive Director Global Business Solutions at GM, summarized it well; “Best Practices for Automotive is all about learning and growth and continuous improvement”. For more perspectives on the conference, you can listen to additional interviews from the conference on Future of Cars — Gamechangers.
There is so much going on in the industry and with technology, the challenge is more about deciding which topics to focus on. I found the conference very inspiring, with so many examples of innovation and how companies are transforming themselves in different ways. I am already looking forward to next year’s conference as I am excited to see how much will have changed in another year. I hope to see you there!
Follow us on @SAP_Automotive, and me @jucubiss
