Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Use AWS data lakes and RISE with SAP to transform business processes (ENT224)

Summary

• Apollo Tires, one of India's largest commercial vehicle tire manufacturers, embarked on a digital transformation journey using AWS Data Lakes and RISE with SAP.
• Hizmi Hassan, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Apollo Tires, shared their vision and strategy for digital transformation, which was aligned with their core business strategy to become a $5 billion business with 15% EBITDA and 12% return on capital employed by fiscal year 2026.
• The transformation focused on customer interaction, supply chain efficiency (Amazonization), Industry 4.0 manufacturing, and back-office functions.
• Apollo Tires moved 85% of their data and compute to AWS cloud, turning their data center into office space.
• They selected AWS as their cloud partner due to its strengths in IoT and manufacturing environments.
• The ERP migration to RISE with SAP resulted in a 30% increase in performance, reduced unplanned downtime, and improved month-end response times.
• Apollo Tires implemented a unified data strategy, creating a common data standard and metadata, which led to benchmarking and efficiency gains.
• The company's Industry 4.0 journey involved streaming data from machines to the cloud, leading to productivity gains and capacity unlocking without additional capital investment.
• Apollo Tires is now focusing on IoT, machine learning, AI, and connecting vendors and customers through the cloud.
• AWS provided insights into their collaboration with SAP, including engineering updates, global availability of RISE with SAP, disaster recovery options, and support mechanisms.

Insights

• Apollo Tires' digital transformation was driven by a clear alignment with their core business strategy, emphasizing the importance of strategic alignment for successful digital initiatives.
• The move to AWS cloud and RISE with SAP not only improved IT infrastructure but also had a direct impact on business processes, demonstrating the interconnectedness of IT and business outcomes.
• The company's approach to data democratization and the use of a common data standard facilitated benchmarking and quick wins, highlighting the value of data management in driving business efficiency.
• Apollo Tires' Industry 4.0 initiatives, such as IoT in a box, showcased innovative ways to rapidly deploy technology and achieve operational improvements.
• The partnership between AWS and SAP is strong, with AWS providing engineering support and new features to enhance the RISE with SAP offering, indicating a trend towards deeper collaboration between cloud providers and software vendors for the benefit of mutual customers.