Task 1. Customer Story Example: Ajinomoto Group Additional sources: - Ajinomoto: -SAP Real Time Research Report Customer profile - Consumer products - Foods, Science and Health Industry Well-known and 36 geographical offices and sells products in more than 130 countries - 13.5% of the group’s total sales comes from Thailand - SAP solution technology areas - SAP Analytics Cloud - SAP S/4HANA - SAP Datasphere Digital transformation impacts - migrate to SAP S/4HANA for its accounting, sales, purchasing, and inventory functions to streamline operations and minimize ongoing costs. - operability, and analysis capability Case study material includes - Videos, text-based information describing SAP engagements Key customer stakeholders insights Description of SAP Solution Other examples of customer stories meeting the assignment criteria: - Ajinomoto Brasil Task 2. Foods, Science and Health Industry – Macro Trends 1. The Ajinomoto Group is contributing to the well-being of all human beings, our society and our planet with "AminoScience" 2. Ajinomoto: Unlocking the Power of Amino Acids Through Digital Transformation 3. Umami, the powerful fifth taste 4. Umami recipes Sources: - https://support.sap.com/content/dam/support/en_us/library/ssp/offerings-and-programs/support-services/datamanagement-landscape-transformation/success-stories/sell-buy-and-restructure/ajinomotodobrasil-ccmergesuccessstory-2011-en.pdf - https://www.sap.com/documents/2022/08/ce159d21-3e7e-0010-bca6-c68f7e60039b.html - https://www.ajinomoto.com/amino-acids - https://www.ajinomoto.com/umami - https://www.ajinomoto.com/umami/umami_recipes SAP Technology Consultant: Case Study Template – Course 1 | Page 1 Activity 2: Identify Customer Motivations In the Ajinomoto customer story, the customer’s motivations to do and use SAP are: ● As a result of prioritizing the project, they are able to visualize daily operations, monthly financial results, and rolling monthly forecasts, which is a significant achievement. ● 13.5% of the group’s total sales, was required to increase the transparency and predictability of business performance and make more flexible decisions. ● promoting the introduction of a monthly rolling forecast, replacing a quarterly cycle, to review budgets in response to changes in the commercial environment. Activity 3: Identify the Customer’s Business Goals In the Ajinomoto customer story, the customer’s business goals are: ● In the future, Ajinomoto plans to deploy the configuration implemented in Thailand to other sites in Southeast Asia. ● In the future, Ajinomoto will be possible to incorporate data outside SAP, such as marketing data and social network data, and analyze it by combining external and internal data. ● Looking forward to conduct training for new users to take advantage of the dashboards and shift to a data-driven management mindset. Furthermore, as the functionality of SAP Analytics Cloud is further enhanced. Activity 4: Identify Analysis Frameworks (a) To understand more about the customer’s business goals in the Ajinomoto customer story, I have selected the Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) analysis framework and a design-thinking analysis approach. (b) A key business goal for the Ajinomoto is to improve their customer engagement. I chose SWOT analysis because the results will help the Ajinomoto build on their strengths and understand how to seize new opportunities for attracting buyers. I may also use the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal, and Environmental) analysis model along with the SWOT model to see the full picture here. A possible weakness of a SWOT analysis is that it will not help me decide what are Ajinomoto’s priorities. I will have to work with the customer to understand which of the issues identified in the SWOT are the most important for them. (c) I chose a design-thinking analysis approach because that will challenge any assumptions I might have and help put me in the shoes of manufacture workers, Doctors, Consumers. To design solutions that meet their needs. A possible weakness of design thinking is that it requires strong user participation to be successful. (d) SWOT Analysis (Optional) Strengths - Weaknesses Consumer products - 13.5% of the group’s total sales comes SAP Technology Consultant: Case Study Template – Course 1 | Page 2 - Foods, Science and Health Industry Huge market in 130 countries and 36 geographical offices locations 13.5% of the group’s total sales comes from Thailand 50% reduction in the number of add-ons. 40 % reduction in operating costs by moving to the cloud. 20% reduction in effort for earnings forecasts and reporting operations. - - from Thailand Competition for customers attention with other foods and health and technology companies … … - Opportunities - Threats Digital technologies can increase fan engagement, interaction, and reach Expanding to others regional for provide services there Opportunities in many heath scientific research … - Worker’s adaptations for a new technology Working environment created by policy makers … Task 3. Build your project team Activity 1: Identify your role on the project team and why you have chosen it I will be functional consultant on the Ajinomoto project team. I have chosen this role because I want to use my skills, ability and experience in technology to help team boost their production and services into other area Activity 2: Describe the skills and expertise you’ll bring As a functional consultant, I will work with the Ajinomoto technology and production team and customer team to understand how SAP can help them to improve productions, financial cost, incomes and increase their customers engagement. This could involve designing new processes or coming up with product solutions. The key skills I will bring to the project are: ● Strategic thinking to help me analyze the customer’s environment and understand the challenges they are facing ● Communication skills to actively listen to the customer, reflect and then explain possible solutions clearly and simply ● Business acumen, that is, my understanding of how the customer’s business works ● Collaboration skills to work with and build effective relationships with my colleagues, the customer, and any other stakeholders Functional skills to understand the customer’s business problems or pain points and how SAP and other technology could help solve them. Activity 3: Identify the skill and expertise mix needed for the project To deliver the Ajinomoto SAP implementation, the ideal project team would include the following roles and mix of expertise/skills: SAP Technology Consultant: Case Study Template – Course 1 | Page 3 ● A project manager responsible for building a business case for the project, setting up the schedule, setting up methods for tracking and reporting progress, determining priorities, budgeting, monitoring costs, and communicating with and supporting the team. ● A technical consultant who has functional experience in analytics. It would be ideal if these consultants also have domain experience in the foods, health and technology industry. They could then explain how technologies like the cloud could support the Ajinomoto’s goal to boost production and marketing team skills and thereby improve customers and consumers engagement. ● A technical consultant who has experience with designing and implementing cloud solutions, in this case for SAP HANA Cloud. Also a technical consultant who has experience with designing and implementing SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) solutions. It would be ideal if these consultants also had domain experience in the sports and entertainment industry. If necessary, a data analyst to work with the team to provide further insights. Activity 4: How the team will collaborate The team will collaborate to deliver the Ajinomoto SAP implementation by: ● Planning the project including setting goals, scope, standards, roles and responsibilities ● Holding a kickoff meeting to give the customer and other teams an overview of the project and the agreed plan ● Identifying customer stakeholders and building effective relationships with them ● Working with customer stakeholders to explain possible solutions and approaches clearly and simply ● Providing functional or domain insights relevant to the sports and entertainment industry to help the customer understand the proposed solutions or approaches ● The technical consultant will work closely with the functional consultant to translate functional specifications to technical specifications. Task 4: Develop an executive summary deck to present to the customer Develop an executive summary deck (MS PowerPoint or Google Slides) or report precis (MS Word or Google Docs). Presentation Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MHaa3iLEfhbS-6GxE7Kmh9rT0u5W_CzuIBhnMfrOYA/edit?usp=sharing Task 5: Record your presentation to the customer Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RvCUMIonkr467HTtnLXxONSuwCACI6he/view?usp=drive_link SAP Technology Consultant: Case Study Template – Course 1 | Page 4