SAP is expand­ing the SAP Sig­navio brand and increas­ing resources behind the port­fo­lio. ASUG dis­cussed what the solu­tion set deliv­ers and how it acts as a busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion accel­er­a­tor with Was­sil­ios Lolas, Glob­al VP and Head of the Cen­ter of Excel­lence, SAP Signavio.

The fol­low­ing is an edit­ed ver­sion of our conversation.

What cur­rent­ly com­pris­es the SAP Sig­navio portfolio?

The SAP Sig­navio Busi­ness Process Trans­for­ma­tion Suite includes:

• SAP Sig­navio Process Insights
• SAP Sig­navio Process Intelligence
• SAP Sig­navio Process Manager
• SAP Sig­navio Jour­ney Modeler
• SAP Sig­navio Process Col­lab­o­ra­tion Hub
• SAP Sig­navio Process Governance

There is also a set of relat­ed SAP ser­vices that helps cus­tomers along the life cycle of their busi­ness process trans­for­ma­tion activ­i­ties, from set­ting up the SAP Sig­navio Suite via an analy­sis of the cur­rent process­es and the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of improve­ment poten­tials, to the assess­ment of best prac­tices and new process designs, and more.

How does the port­fo­lio relate to oth­er key SAP busi­ness and tech­nol­o­gy strate­gies and plat­forms, includ­ing RISE with SAP, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Cloud, and the SAP Busi­ness Trans­for­ma­tion Platform?

SAP Sig­navio is an inte­gral part of the SAP strat­e­gy for and con­nect­ed to all oth­er com­po­nents of the SAP intel­li­gent, sus­tain­able enter­prise. It rep­re­sents the top lay­er, which is about Busi­ness Process Man­age­ment and indus­try-spe­cif­ic end-to-end processes.

RISE with SAP pro­vides a clear, flex­i­ble path to becom­ing an intel­li­gent enter­prise. As a ​“busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion as a ser­vice,” it brings the right prod­ucts and tools in one pack­age and one con­tract to speed the cloud jour­ney regard­less of orga­ni­za­tion­al size, indus­try, cloud readi­ness, cus­tomiza­tion, vol­ume, or depar­ture point.

RISE with SAP allows cus­tomers to adapt to fast-chang­ing con­di­tions; helps cus­tomers become more resilient, more effi­cient, and more agile; and makes inno­va­tion eas­i­er and faster. Because any busi­ness or dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion requires process trans­for­ma­tion, SAP Sig­navio is a key ele­ment of RISE with SAP.

SAP Sig­navio busi­ness process trans­for­ma­tion solu­tions help cus­tomers under­stand, improve, and trans­form busi­ness process­es — fast and at scale — with a cloud-based process man­age­ment plat­form. Trans­for­ma­tions are faster and less risky because com­pa­nies can quick­ly iden­ti­fy which process­es are run­ning poor­ly; eval­u­ate whether the SAP best-prac­tice process­es apply to the spe­cif­ic sit­u­a­tion; include end user (cus­tomer, part­ner, and/​or employ­ee) expe­ri­ence data; and get ear­ly buy in from stake­hold­ers through collaboration.

RISE with SAP includes the SAP Sig­navio starter pack. Cus­tomers can use the starter pack to run a 50 GB one-time data load for SAP Sig­navio Process Insights, and from that, iden­ti­fy prob­lem areas, get cus­tomized rec­om­men­da­tions for process improve­ments, and begin to redesign process­es. The starter pack includes:

• SAP Sig­navio Process Insights (for­mer­ly SAP Process Insights) to iden­ti­fy, ana­lyze, pri­or­i­tize, and mon­i­tor crit­i­cal busi­ness processes
• SAP Sig­navio Process Man­ag­er (three users) and SAP Sig­navio Process Col­lab­o­ra­tion Hub (10 users): SAP Sig­navio Process Man­ag­er and SAP Sig­navio Process Col­lab­o­ra­tion Hub can be pre-pop­u­lat­ed with SAP best prac­tices and help redesign and stan­dard­ize process­es to lay the foun­da­tion to con­tin­u­ous­ly adapt busi­ness processes

Using SAP Sig­navio with SAP S/4HANA helps keep the focus on high-impact areas of the busi­ness, help­ing to improve change man­age­ment process­es and con­tribut­ing to a faster adop­tion of change. SAP Sig­navio solu­tions are native cloud solu­tions, built for ease of use and scalability.

When, how, and why should busi­ness lead­ers become famil­iar with SAP Signavio?

The abil­i­ty to change busi­ness process­es rapid­ly to meet new require­ments is the fun­da­men­tal com­pet­i­tive dif­fer­en­tia­tor for busi­ness­es today. How­ev­er, busi­ness lead­ers face chal­lenges when try­ing to ini­ti­ate and exe­cute change, such as:

• A lack of data and insights to make deci­sions with confidence
• Dif­fi­cul­ty find­ing or pay­ing tal­ent; dif­fi­cul­ty find­ing high­ly qual­i­fied experts or consultants
• Slow adop­tion of change or even resis­tance to change from the workforce

Giv­en these cir­cum­stances, SAP Sig­navio delivers:

• Rapid access to data-dri­ven process insights, as well as access to cus­tomer and employ­ee expe­ri­ence data to mon­i­tor the human impact of process changes
• Tai­lored best prac­tices for busi­ness process­es and plug-and-play inte­gra­tion to reduce the need for man­age­ment and tech­ni­cal consulting
• Col­lab­o­ra­tion that involves the entire orga­ni­za­tion for ear­ly buy-in and less resis­tance to change from the workforce

Imme­di­ate­ly (of course) is the best time for busi­ness lead­ers to become famil­iar with SAP Sig­navio. They can do this by invit­ing an SAP Sig­navio expert to chap­ter meet­ings, becom­ing a RISE with SAP cus­tomer for the starter pack, or vis­it­ing Sig​navio​.com.

What advan­tages does a busi­ness gain by using SAP Sig­navio tools and capabilities?

Our solu­tions let cus­tomers go beyond func­tion­al opti­miza­tion (for sup­ply chain, cus­tomer ser­vice, or man­u­fac­tur­ing, etc.) to dri­ve true trans­for­ma­tion of cross-func­tion­al, end-to-end process­es and to under­stand the impact of process changes on cus­tomers and employees.

For exam­ple, a retail­er may decide to opti­mize for cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion, insti­tut­ing new poli­cies for unlim­it­ed exchanges and returns. How­ev­er, exces­sive returns may cre­ate a prob­lem for ware­house work­ers sud­den­ly faced with high­er-than-expect­ed vol­umes. Alter­na­tive­ly, a man­u­fac­tur­ing com­pa­ny may work to dri­ve down costs in the plant, but this may lim­it cus­tomiza­tion, which in turn affects cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion. The only way to tru­ly opti­mize is with a full end-to-end process view.

Dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion projects often fail because orga­ni­za­tions vast­ly under­es­ti­mate the need for proac­tive change man­age­ment. SAP Sig­navio Col­lab­o­ra­tion Hub is designed to democ­ra­tize change by pulling in ideas from any­where in the orga­ni­za­tion and pro­vid­ing a cen­tral loca­tion for trans­par­ent dis­cus­sions of ideas and devel­op­ment of new process­es. By bring­ing in all stake­hold­ers from the begin­ning, orga­ni­za­tions see more buy-in and less resis­tance to change. Process trans­paren­cy helps to quick­ly under­stand where process changes are required and meaningful.

For exam­ple, in a reg­u­lat­ed indus­try such as bank­ing, process changes need­ed for new reg­u­la­tions can be made faster because all employ­ees involved know exact­ly where the changes will hit. Front­line work­ers can voice improve­ment ideas and man­agers have a broad­er view to help set priorities.

What advan­tages does IT gain in using SAP Sig­navio tools and capabilities?

SAP Sig­navio facil­i­tates col­lab­o­ra­tion and exchange between busi­ness, IT, and exter­nal con­sul­tants. To have a busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion dis­cus­sion in an orga­ni­za­tion, only a process-cen­tric point of view pro­vides the lan­guage need­ed to cre­ate com­mon under­stand­ing across busi­ness orga­ni­za­tions and IT teams. IT gains a bet­ter under­stand­ing of busi­ness strat­e­gy, goals, and pains, and can pro­vide bet­ter-tai­lored inno­va­tions and improve­ments. Tak­ing a process view of IT archi­tec­ture helps IT man­age com­plex­i­ty more effec­tive­ly, as it allows a clear view of how oper­a­tional sys­tems inter­act with each oth­er, and of the touch­points for cus­tomers and employ­ees. Col­lab­o­ra­tion Hub pro­vides a cen­tral­ized view of pro­posed changes. Process map­ping and analy­sis pro­vide IT with a clear view of their impact on busi­ness outcomes.

Does an orga­ni­za­tion need to bring addi­tion­al exper­tise and skills to best deploy and opti­mize SAP Signavio?

Most SAP Sig­navio solu­tions are designed to be easy to use, requir­ing lit­tle to no train­ing. How­ev­er, cre­at­ing mean­ing­ful process trans­for­ma­tion requires exper­tise and focus. We rec­om­mend cre­at­ing a process cen­ter of excel­lence. His­tor­i­cal­ly, many com­pa­nies viewed process man­age­ment as a way to ensure reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance, and process­es were only reviewed or revised when man­dat­ed by reg­u­la­to­ry changes. How­ev­er, the most effec­tive and suc­cess­ful orga­ni­za­tions see the val­ue in con­stant man­age­ment and refine­ment of busi­ness process­es so they can proac­tive­ly improve effi­cien­cy and cus­tomer expe­ri­ence, as well as more read­i­ly adapt to shifts in mar­kets and cus­tomer behavior.

You con­tend that SAP Sig­navio is a busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion accel­er­a­tor. What do you mean by busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion? What are some examples?

Busi­ness trans­for­ma­tion involves a fun­da­men­tal rethink­ing of cus­tomer expe­ri­ence, busi­ness mod­els, and oper­a­tions. It’s about find­ing new ways to deliv­er val­ue, gen­er­ate rev­enue, and improve effi­cien­cy. The glob­al pan­dem­ic pro­vid­ed sev­er­al exam­ples of busi­ness transformations:

• Retail­ers, espe­cial­ly gro­cers, saw a mas­sive shift toward online shopping.
• All busi­ness­es had to review their sup­ply chains and become more agile and resilient giv­en dis­rupt­ed sup­ply chains.
• Man­u­fac­tur­ers had to run small­er shifts and pause oper­a­tions to clean.
• Pub­lic and pri­vate health-care sys­tems had to change hir­ing, onboard­ing, training/​upskilling prac­tices to try to meet extra­or­di­nary demands for care.
• Knowl­edge work­ers went remote overnight; HR teams need­ed new poli­cies to recruit, hire, onboard, man­age, and eval­u­ate remote workforces.

Oth­er exam­ples of busi­ness trans­for­ma­tions include:

• Retail­ers are begin­ning to trans­form brick and mor­tar stores into places where cus­tomers get deep infor­ma­tion on prod­ucts, sort through prob­lems, or take deliv­ery or return prod­ucts. This has shift­ed the pro­file of the typ­i­cal shop-floor retail employ­ee to one with more skills in cus­tomer ser­vice, prob­lem-solv­ing, and prod­uct information.
• Automak­ers are shift­ing from sell­ing cars to indi­vid­u­als to sell­ing ​“mobil­i­ty as a ser­vice,” where the con­sumer pays a month­ly sub­scrip­tion and has access to what­ev­er type of mobil­i­ty solu­tion they may need — a truck for week­end yard chores, a mini­van for a vaca­tion, or a con­vert­ible for date night, fun­da­men­tal­ly chang­ing their busi­ness mod­el from ​“pro­duc­er of expen­sive goods that an indi­vid­ual buys rarely” to sup­pli­er of cheap­er ser­vices that con­sumers con­sume constantly.

How does SAP Sig­navio accel­er­ate such trans­for­ma­tion? Could you briefly explain some scenarios?

SAP Sig­navio Solu­tions accel­er­ate trans­for­ma­tions by giv­ing cus­tomers the infor­ma­tion they need to make an informed deci­sion quick­ly on why they need to change and what needs chang­ing. We help them quick­ly map exist­ing process­es, iden­ti­fy prob­lem areas, and col­lab­o­rate to design the desired end state.

Then, we help them quick­ly achieve that end state by pro­vid­ing tai­lored, spe­cif­ic sug­ges­tions of changes that will have the biggest impact, reduce resis­tance to change through ongo­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion, and help peo­ple under­stand the impact of changes by cor­re­lat­ing user expe­ri­ence data with process changes.

In addi­tion, we have worked with a large U.S.-based insur­ance com­pa­ny to pro­vide bet­ter trans­paren­cy, ease of busi­ness, and the abil­i­ty to man­age rate changes. In addi­tion, it added automa­tion to avoid some of the headaches that were occur­ring because we had 40 peo­ple doing work in 40 dif­fer­ent ways.

We also have a steel man­u­fac­tur­er con­sol­i­dat­ing mul­ti­ple ERP sys­tems into one sys­tem, which is dri­ving improved effi­cien­cy across oper­a­tional sys­tems, reduc­ing costs, and improv­ing employ­ee expe­ri­ence for IT and end users.

What is the ROI — for IT — from the SAP Sig­navio portfolio?

A: Bet­ter con­nec­tion to busi­ness; less pro­gram­ming need­ed; less cus­tomiza­tion thanks to best prac­tices; reduced trans­for­ma­tion project costs and doc­u­men­ta­tion costs; sup­port for both ​“lift and shift” as well as ​“land­scape con­sol­i­da­tion”; and used in green­field and brown­field and what­ev­er field.

What is the ROI — from business/​senior lead­ers’ point of view — from the SAP Sig­navio portfolio?

A: Faster adop­tion of change; low­er trans­for­ma­tion project costs; bet­ter cus­tomer expe­ri­ences lead­ing to less cus­tomer churn, etc.; bet­ter employ­ee expe­ri­ences lead­ing to faster onboard­ing and less churn; busi­ness­es can see improve­ments ear­ly on in projects, then con­tin­u­ous­ly iter­ate and improve.

ASUG explored a sec­ond top­ic in con­ver­sa­tions with Was­sil­ios: how SAP uses SAP Sig­navio in its own cen­ter of excel­lence oper­a­tions and orga­ni­za­tion. Read more from this inter­view here. Don’t for­get to vis­it our Busi­ness Trans­for­ma­tion Man­age­ment and SAP Sig­navio foun­da­tions Con­tent Col­lec­tion to learn more about SAP Sig­navio, updates, and more.