SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) was awarded the prestigious “Friend of ASEAN” accolade for its positive social and economic contributions to the Southeast Asia region at the ASEAN Business Awards 2018. The award was presented by Mdm Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore at the ASEAN Business Awards 2018 gala dinner, held in Singapore and hosted by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC).
Launched in 2007 by ASEAN-BAC, the Awards acknowledge and recognize outstanding ASEAN businesses. The Friends of ASEAN category, honors non-ASEAN enterprises for their continuous and increased commitment in growing their presence within ASEAN.
Growing from strength to strength in Southeast Asia
SAP established its presence in Southeast Asia in 1989 with an office in Singapore with 16 employees and have since grown to 11 offices in 7 ASEAN member states with more than 3,800 employees in Southeast Asia. With people being the source of SAP’s innovation and continued success, SAP has continuously invested in the development of its people and is recognized as an employer of choice through the numerous accolades it received across Southeast Asia from Aon Hewitt, Great Place to Work, and Top Employer.
SAP innovations help more than 10,000 customers in ASEAN work more efficiently and use business insight more effectively. SAP helps organizations streamline processes, giving them the ability to use real-time data to predict customer trends across their entire business, and supports 91 out of the Top 100 ASEAN companies as customers. SAP aims to support every ASEAN customer to become a better-run business.
“SAP has been helping customers in Southeast Asia run better with our software innovations for close to 30 years now, and with our continued expansion, we are focusing on helping even more organizations leapfrog the technology gap to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. We do so by bringing best practices from our global experience with 25 industries, together with leading technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, Machine Learning and Analytics, while building the capacity of local partners to better serve our customers”, said Claus Andresen, President & Managing Director, SAP Southeast Asia. “Receiving the Friend of ASEAN accolade is an impetus for us to do more to help companies and communities be more successful. We will be successful only when they are successful”.
Furthering Social Impact in Southeast Asia
SAP recognizes and embraces its commitment to the communities in which we operate in the ASEAN region. We believe the private sector plays a vital role in creating a level playing field, driving innovation and building an environment to foster economic growth. Our social investment strategy is based on our vision to help the world run better and improving people’s lives with a particular focus on ensuring everyone can participate in and benefit from the digital economy.
SAP Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encourages and supports employee volunteerism year-round to create positive social change in our communities across Southeast Asia. One of the key initiatives is the SAP Social Sabbatical, which is a portfolio of pro-bono volunteering assignments where highly-diverse teams of SAP employees provide their skills and business expertise to foster social impact by solving concrete business challenges for non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Since 2015, 111 SAP employees have provided skills-based volunteering totaling more than 27,000 hours, an in-kind contribution that is valued at close to 1.5 million euros in support of 40 social enterprises across Southeast Asia.
“In service to SAP’s CSR mission – powering opportunity through digital inclusion, SAP collaborated with the ASEAN Foundation to establish the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ASEAN DSE) program in 2017. ASEAN DSE have since trained close to 5000 educators and youths in SAP Analytics Cloud across all 10 ASEAN member states”, said Eugene Ho, Head of Corporate Affairs, SAP Southeast Asia.
He continued, “In addition to training, the data analytics competition enhances awareness and appreciation of the ASEAN community amongst young people and encourage them to play a key role in tackling today’s social issues in the region and help create positive change for a better future.”
The SAP Analytics Cloud is a new generation software as a service (SaaS) that redefines analytics in the cloud by providing business intelligence (BI), predictive, and planning capabilities all within one tool. Using this cloud platform, ASEAN DSE participants analyze and visualize data on UN Sustainable Developments Goals to come up with their innovative recommendations to support the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025.
SAP prides itself on the positive social impact created over the years. By focusing our talent, technology, and capital on education and entrepreneurship, we strive to enact positive social change through economic growth, job creation, innovation, and community.
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