A recent Bloomberg article titled “Threat of Blockchain Prompts New Strategy for Germany’s SAP” (Ricadela & Kharif, 2016) would lead you to believe that the 85$ Billion dollar enterprise application software solution provider was somehow in danger of obsolescence by this new blockchain trend. Quite the contrary, as SAP, through its’ Innovation Center Network (ICN), is well ahead of the game, and has been so for several years. The authors approach to the story is that SAP is perhaps threatened and is nervously developing new strategies, but SAP is actually embracing the new technology and doing what any other successful company does – continuously innovate and adapt with the market. IBM, Microsoft, Deloitte, JP Morgan Chase, and Toyota, just to name a few, are all heavily involved in utilizing blockchain technology. SAP is working with its banking, farming, medical, energy, and its media markets to integrate this technology with its existing products, and in new offerings. Despite its centralized ledger of transactions that forms the basis of SAP financial applications, there is unlimited potential for integration of the decentralized blockchain technology in the areas of e-ledgers, security, and other efficiencies, resulting in lower operating costs to its users.
Ricadela, A., & Kharif, O. (2016, July 29). Threat of Blockchain Prompts New Strategy for Germany’s SAP. Retrieved from www.bloomberg.com: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-29/threat-of-blockchain-prompts-new-strategy-for-germany-s-sap
theirnetworth.com: http://www.theirnetworth.com/Businesses/SAP/
Gross, R. (2015, November 23). Will you recognize innovation when you see it? Retrieved from blogs.sap.com: https://blogs.sap.com/2015/11/23/will-you-recognize-innovation-when-you-see-it/
Krompholz, A. (2015, December 3). The blockchain voyage – from the Bitcoin network to Blockchain-as-a-Service. Retrieved from blogs.sap.com: https://blogs.sap.com/2015/12/03/the-blockchain-voyage-from-the-bitcoin-network-to-blockchain-as-a-service/