SAP executives have addressed letters to the SAP Community including employees, customers, and partners around the world last week assuring them of the company’s initiatives not only to keep business afloat but also to keep their families in good health.
The letter last 20th March 2020 from co-CEOs Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein addressed to the SAP community and its extended family has focused on the importance of people’s collective effort and SAP’s initiatives in tackling the COVID-19 global pandemic. The SAP leaders also expressed their sympathy for those affected and shared appreciation to the frontliners who are helping contain the spread of the virus.
Recognising the unpredictability of COVID-19 and the extent of its impact to the thousands of SAP employees and customers globally, the co-CEOs assured the SAP community that their health, safety, and livelihood are the company’s priorities. As part of the company’s initiatives at this extremely challenging time, SAP has restricted travel, reimagined in-person events as digital experiences, and has placed its 100,000 employees on a work from home scheme.
Morgan and Klein highlighted that SAP, known to support mission-critical business operations for 50 years, has invested in crisis preparedness. They mentioned that the company’s business, support, and cloud delivery teams have developed and documented business continuity plans in case disruptive incidents happen such as COVID-19. This was enumerated in the letter to SAP Customer by Steve Shute, Chief Operating Officer, SAP Customer Success, last 16th March 2020.
Internally, SAP has established a Global Pandemic Taskforce, working in tandem with local crisis teams and health authorities, to coordinate all efforts around the COVID-19 situation and provide guidance to SAP staff.
Closer to home, SAP ANZ has adopted work from home for all its employees, with offices closed by the end of 24 March 2020. Only critical work at the office is allowed upon approval by the management team. In addition, all employees will receive a $250 working from home grant to aid their home office setup.
SAP Offerings at Zero Cost
Considering the global pandemic disrupting the global workforce including the SAP community, some of the SAP offerings are provided for free to ensure business continuity.
Remote Work Pulse by Qualtrics
The listening platform Remote Work Pulse was opened for employees to share their concerns and insights about working remotely. It has free ready-made tools to help any organisation understand how Covid19 is impacting employees, customers, healthcare workers among others.
SAP Ariba Discovery
Access to SAP Ariba Discovery is free for 90 days, beginning 10th March 2020 for buyers and suppliers to coordinate with their urgent sourcing needs.
New Digital Learning Initiatives
True to its thrust on best-in-class digital learning, SAP has broadened access to some of its offerings to facilitate the continuity of innovation and enablement amidst the time of COVID-19. The offerings include free access to select learning journeys for students at one of the 3,800 member universities of the SAP University Alliances program, free online courses allowing young learners to explore technology and free access to the massive open online courses (MOOCs) available on the openSAP platform.
COVID-19 Pre-Screen & Routing by Qualtrics
COVID-19 Pre-Screen & Routing, which was made available to all federal, state, and local governments and public health organisations, is a free online resource that provides up-to-date information to the public about the coronavirus while helping health organizations and government reduce strain, triage potential cases, and stay on top of community concerns.
TripIt Pro
Acknowledging the impact of COVID-19 in business travels causing schedule changes and cancellations, TripIt by Concur has offered complimentary use of TripIt Pro for six months for any individual traveler who can sign-up for TripIt and download the app, if a first time user, between March 13 and March 31. The premium service complimentary for six months will also be enjoyed by existing TripIt users.
SAP Litmos
Litmos is offering a completely free Remote Readiness & Productivity Academy for anyone working remotely. The training content includes ready-to-watch video-based courses that help promote work efficiency while keeping healthy mental wellbeing.
The CO-CEOs ended the letter stressing that SAP is committed to its vision to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, especially in these uncertain times. Morgan and Klein said:
“Together, we will persevere.”
You may view the Co-CEOs recent letter here.
