Startups

Robots, VR-enabled drones and AI for beer: Here’s the coolest tech we found at SAP

The tech giant wants you to know it's much more than enterprise software and it's going on a North American tour to prove it.

Pepper the robot will dance for you and pose for selfies. (Courtesy photo)
Which tech company around Philly do you know with 3,000 employees in its headquarters? Hint: It ain’t Comcast.

SAP, the German makers of some of the most recognized enterprise software suites in the business world, has its North America headquarters in a sprawling campus in Delaware County’s Newtown Square.

And though some 345,000 customers in 190 countries will happily vouch for the company’s spread of business tools, the latest push from SAP aims to show its customers that it’s way more than enterprise tech: the Business Reimagined tour is taking the German company’s flashiest tech offerings like machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality out on the road.

“We’re a victim of our own success,” said SVP of Marketing Dave Hutchison. “We’re very well known for having a terrific enterprise resource planning (ERP) software but we want them know us for where we want to go, not where we’ve been.”

The invite-only tour, currently posted up at the tech giant’s headquarters, will visit 150 enterprise customers in the U.S. and Canada over the course of the next year. Next stop: Florida.

And just what technologies is the company showcasing? Here’s the rundown of what we found.

First off, a dancing robot to catch your eye (complete with SAP-made apps):

Next up, the company’s digital boardroom software, which uses artificial intelligence to compile and visualize multiple streams of data. This tech can be found at boardrooms in publicly traded companies like Eastman.

Here’s one offering for retailers: an artificial intelligence system that lets consumers be paired with their ideal beer match (this reporter does indeed enjoy a lighter, more refreshing kind of brew).

The company’s internet-of-things offering was certainly one of the tour’s highlights. Sensors inside facilities like power substations can detect when something is overheating, for example. Then, instead of deploying a team to inspect a high-voltage line (with the perils that entails) a virtual-reality-enabled drone (!) can travel to the scene, with technicians evaluating the situation safely through a VR headset.

Companies: SAP

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

Trump may kill the CHIPS and Science Act. Here’s what that means for your community.

A week before Election Day, some Philly city employees question unexpected website change

How Philly officials keep your vote secure — and stop dead people from casting a ballot

A Pennsylvania voter’s guide to tech policy on the ballot in the 2024 election

Technically Media