The business world is full of situations. You miss your train to the office and need to reschedule a meeting. A colleague calls in sick, putting a major project milestone at risk. Or a supplier can’t fulfill your order, leaving you to find a workaround.
How can we help business users to deal with the unexpected?
SAP AppHaus and Klitschko Ventures developed a joint training that combines SAP Design Thinking and “F.A.C.E the Challenge”. This training curriculum consists of 3 modules and aims to turn participants into strong and sustainable innovation drivers.
I will shed some light on my goals and aspirations for my time at SAP. And I hope this will be a resource for students who are interested in interning at SAP.
SAP Fiori elements is an SAPUI5 framework that speeds up the development of SAP Fiori apps and ensures a consistent and well-designed user experience. This article explores the 3 key benefits of the solution, provides some factors to keep in mind when deciding if it is the right development tool for you, and lists a few resources to get you started on your SAP Fiori elements journey.
This year’s TechEd again focuses on learning journeys to help you navigate the many lecture and hands-on sessions based on your goals. For the user experience track, we have three learning journeys: UX1: Become the UX transformation champion in your company UX2: Design and develop SAP Fiori apps UX3: Implement and run a great UX […]
Tillman Swinke, SAP UX designer and UX enthusiast, recently co-authored SAP Fiori – UX design for developers with Anne Kathrine Petterøe. I sat down with Tillman to talk about his new publication and what we can expect to learn about SAP Fiori app design.
Join us on stage at SAPPHIRENOW + ASUG Annual Conference in Orlando from 5-7 June. Meet SAP's experts in various sessions on the latest UX and design related topics.
What do companies need to not only survive, but thrive in the digital age? This was the main question addressed at the event “Vorsprung durch Querdenken” organized by the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) Rhein-Neckar. It was all about gaining competitive advantage through breaking with conventions.
With the new components available in the latest SAP Fiori for Android stencils, designers have a variety of options to create an delightful user experience for SAP Fiori for Android users.
At this year’s SAP UX Day in Karlsruhe, Germany, more than forty people attended a Design Thinking workshop of a different kind. It did not address customers’ endeavors on how to best digitalize their business or on how to innovate by introducing intelligent solutions. This workshop conveyed Design Thinking methods on how to improve people’s lives – their own private lives.
When we pursue intuitive ways of interacting with software, the result is a plurality of interaction possibilities. This also makes access to digital systems more inclusive.
Ever wished you had a Intelligent Assistant, who would assist you in making your day to day business decisions. Well don't look any further, your assistant is right around the corner, waiting to speak to you. We bring to you an Enterprise Asset Management Innovation use case with SAP Co-pilot on S/4HANA and its value proposition for clients. Learn how IBM can support clients in making intelligent decisions when it comes to assigning work to the work force, planning any maintenance and checking the best time to carry out the work in field by combining The Weather Company Data and using RPA and Machine Learning. SAP Co-Pilot is a Digital Assistant for the Enterprise with conversational UX like Alexa/Google for your Digital core. You could work hands free if you choose to with your day to day processes. The value is in improved efficiency of the employees completing day to day tasks efficiently with contextual help, and quick next actions based on Intelligible insights. See what you can make of it for your clients business processes or their enterprise processes like HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance and many more. Rethink your Digital Operations with SAP Co-Pilot innovations brought to you by the SAP Innovations team at IBM, powered by The Weather Company.
In the first part of this two-part blog, we saw that design principles and digital ethics build trust in artificial intelligence (AI). However, we didn’t address the areas where we are most likely to find those ethical challenges. A checklist can help identify the most relevant pitfalls. Teams should define such a list to ensure […]
Technologies summarized under the label of “Artificial intelligence” (AI) open doors to new possibilities that can enrich the lives of many humans. This is the first part of a two-part blog that shows that digital ethics can be helpful to manage the risks arising from expected changes in the labor market and our society. The […]
How can I trust a digital assistant to perform tasks that are important to me and what could a trustful relationship between a business user and the digital assistant look like in practice?
Only by understanding the true needs of our end users and customers, can we think of ways to solve their pain points and help them to overcome challenges. Try out a set of exercises to increase empathy through listening.
How to make AI understandable This blog is part of a series on intelligent system design. In our previous blog Explaining System Intelligence we looked at why it’s vital to explain the underlying models and reasoning behind AI algorithms to the user, and outlined what needs to be explained and when. Now we want to take […]
At Roche Diabetes Care we've created a diabetes add-on for the storytelling tool and method Scenes. We now make it available for everyone to empower people with diabetes, doctors and family members to innovate and create their own stories for our open digital ecosystem.
One of the guiding design principles for intelligent systems is to empower end users. If we want people to trust in machines, we need to share information about the underlying models and the reasoning behind the results of algorithms. This matters even more in business applications, where users are held accountable for every decision they make.
In the meantime, it's widely accepted that intelligent systems need to come with a certain level of transparency. There's even a new term for it: explainable AI. But that's just the beginning. As designers, we need to ask ourselves how explainable AI ties in with the user interaction. What do we need to think about whenever we explain the results and recommendations that come from built-in intelligence? And how can we make it a seamless experience that feels natural to users?
Why think of users when it comes to machine learning? After all, machine learning is for bypassing users, isn’t it? No, it isn’t. Let’s walk through five challenges to see where they do matter.
AI is both exciting and unsettling. This series of 3 blogs invites you to explore a future coexistence of people and intelligent machines – and pinpoints what we need to do to make sure AI benefits, rather than harms, humanity. The first part discusses the importance of "Digital Ethics".
There’s a common misconception that artificial intelligence inevitably means 100% automation. Movie producers would have us believe that AI is going to control absolutely everything – a Skynet scenario à la Terminator. So, if you design and implement an AI system, should you fear this or just ignore it? Is there a roadmap for intelligent automation of a specific system?
A properly designed intelligent SAP system extends the cognitive capabilities of a human user. As with past generations of tools, our aim should be to empower users and improve the outcome of human work. Based on our experience in recent projects, we have elaborated several design principles which we would like to share with you.
How can we design a space that is interactive, creative and successfully facilitates the purpose? What are the key factors that the designers need to take into consideration when designing a creative space?
Do you organize Design Thinking or UX workshops? If so, how do you engage with participants? In general, several tools and templates are used in Design Thinking workshops or UX projects. Facilitators choose certain tools prior to workshops. Each tool plays different roles throughout the workshop. In SAP Leonardo, it starts with the Explore workshop […]
On Nov 30th, I was invited to CXxAI — an interactive roundtable for Customer Experience leaders in enterprise organizations. During the panel, we focused on the most widely used form of artificial intelligence in customer experience — chatbots and virtual assistants, enhanced with natural language processing capabilities. We discussed how leading organizations are using this technology. What are the challenges […]
Get a high-level look at the Leonardo Design-Led Development process with this interactive awareness session. Leonardo is the SAP innovation system that intelligently connects people, things and businesses. Get an overview of the role, approach and tools we use to co-innovate with customers in Leonardo projects.
As a developer, is it worth getting familiar with SAP Fiori? Definitely! Read this article to understand the business opportunity SAP Fiori is bringing.
A well-designed personality is not only key in getting users to accept a digital assistant, it also has fundamental implications for our increasingly digital lives. We build relationships with other humans through emotional connection rather than just mere information exchange. Research proves that we act and remain attached, not because of reason, but because of […]
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘Fishbowl’? I bet you’re not thinking about people sitting in circles and discussing a topic vividly. It’s totally fine if you were thinking about an aquarium. However, we want to talk about Fishbowl as an excellent, future-oriented user research method.
In this series of four articles, I would like to describe ten workshop principles that have become essential for me, based on well over 200 shorter and longer formats, which I have designed and implemented in the last few years for a wide range of topics, challenges, participant groups and (business) contexts.
In this small series of four articles, I would like to describe ten workshop principles that have become essential for me, based on well over 200 shorter and longer formats, which I have designed and implemented in the last few years for a wide range of topics, challenges, participant groups and (business) contexts.
In this small series of four articles, I would like to describe ten workshop principles that have become essential for me, based on well over 200 shorter and longer formats, which I have designed and implemented in the last few years for a wide range of topics, challenges, participant groups and (business) contexts.
In the following, I would like to describe ten workshop principles that have become essential for me, based on well over 200 shorter and longer formats, which I have designed and implemented in the last few years for a wide range of topics, challenges, participant groups and (business) contexts.
Warm-ups and ice breakers are the perfect tools to access creativity and unlock innovation. After observing the impact they have on groups at design thinking workshops, the AppHaus decided to host a meetup to introduce others to the value behind fun, yet strategic, pre-workshop activities.
Successful design-driven companies go beyond using design as a service, and see it instead as a catalyst for culture change and as a tool to drive business strategy and innovation. However, they do not get there overnight. Creating a culture of design-led innovation is a journey that takes time and commitment. From our experience at […]
Testing new methods is the best way to succeed Hélice Experience is a Brazilian design start-up based in Porto Alegre which was founded by Fernando C. Guimarães, Rafael Barcellos and Alexandre Press in 2014. They offer strategy execution and engagement services. A lot of companies facing or experiencing a change turn to Hélice Experience to […]
Are augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) just a few more buzzwords or will those become real trends in a world where IoT and Industry 4.0 are increasingly important? According to Augmented/Virtual Reality Report 2016 by Digi-Capital1, $686 million were inested in AR/VR in 2015. By 2020, this number is expected to grow towards $120 billion2. Therefore, […]
We like to think of innovation as being at the confluence of technical feasibility, business viability and human values. However, while most organizations possess the business knowledge and technical skills to execute and produce incremental innovations, we’ve learned through our work that many still lack the human component. That is the value of design: it […]
Introducing SAP's initiative to foster a #design-led #innovation #culture. This is first in a series of blogs on with frameworks, assessment tools and strategies to be the change agent in your organization.
Language in a user interface is important to make users feel comfortable, confident, and successful. You build a relationship with users, build trust, and give users a remarkable user experience in your software.
Background: Our CRM system contains huge volumes of data relating to our customers and contact persons. The quality and up-to-dateness of this system, however, are an issue. Many colleagues question the relevance and usability of the data analyses, complain that data maintenance is too complicated, and moan about the application being too old. In short: […]
Fraport AG, the airport managing group of Frankfurt Airport, is using Design Thinking methods and tools to improve security issues as well as the service at Frankfurt Airport. We had the pleasure to interview Till Eichenauer on how this tool was used and perceived at Fraport.
Representing business objects in a consumable yet sufficiently powerful way is a challenge on its own. Since joining SAP in 2006, I have witnessed a number of different approaches on how to provide a floorplan that can provide an easy overview of the most important aspects of the business object at the same time show […]
This article provides an overview of the embedded analytics concept. It explains why it represents a change in the traditional way of working, and why this is significant for the regular business user. Introduction Traditionally, there has always been a strict separation between analytics and transactional work. This was originally in part due to the […]
UI controls are the basic building blocks of any graphical user interface. Through controls, we express the interaction options to the user and we communicate the state of the system. Controls are combined into composites and patterns and are finally arranged on a screen. Having a sufficiently complete and powerful selection of controls is a […]
This series of blogs discusses aspects of SAP’s latest iteration of the SAP Fiori design language: SAP Fiori 2.0. In this article, I will discuss the idea of the overview page in the context of the SAP Fiori environment, and how it can be used to bundle information and functionality centered around one task context […]
By now, most IT leaders have become convinced of the need to move their organizations away from a mindset of delivering functions and features, and move toward a focus that puts the user’s true needs at the center, employing design thinking principles. Discover and Plan – Where to start?Why should you create your own UX strategy? Where do you start, […]
By Clarissa Goetz and Ramona Winkler So, you’re in the lucky position to have end users lined up for research interviews. Great! Now, do you need to prepare for this interview at all? And if so, how? If you want to get the most out of the on-site visit, it’s best to prepare in […]
This article is part of a series of articles that explain the design rationale behind some of the changes that come with the next evolution of SAP Fiori. In this article, you will learn about the dynamic page, a new layout that will be used as the basis for most of the standard pages in […]
About two years ago, we were exploring how we could bring SAP Fiori to the next level. SAP Fiori had already conquered the heart of our customers and SAP had decided to make it the new standard for all SAP products. But SAP Fiori was still young and incomplete as a design language, and so […]
The first part of this article described how we have significantly improved the application management in the new evolution of SAP Fiori, making it easier for the user to navigate between applications or to discover new functionalities. This second part now will focus on the most prominent design changes to the launchpad in SAP Fiori […]
This is the first part in a series of articles meant to give some more background information on the most important aspects of SAP Fiori 2.0, the user experience for S/4HANA. In this post, I will explain the different ways you can organize and manage applications in the SAP Fiori launchpad. The launchpad is the environment […]
Business Intelligence applications such as dashboards have evolved into the ultimate analytics, decision-supporting tools for business leaders. Empowered with ever-advancing data mining and in-memory technologies, a well-designed dashboard can help decision makers track every single aspect of business performance – past, present, and the prognosticated future. BI tools such as dashboards can serve as the […]
Time pressure, tasked divided up into sequential processes and handed off from one role to another, teams scattered around the globe (or even “just” in different buildings), abstract artifacts sent back and forth by email… a combination of many or all of these factors is often the reality in software development projects in large organizations. […]
If you ask people around you who their favorite/most inspirational leaders are, most likely you will hear names like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson. We have idolized a handful of popular leaders for traits like vision or charisma, without entirely understanding their personalities or studying their failures. Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey […]
If a Fiori app does not yet exist for your specific business scenario, you can build Fiori-inspired flavors using SAP Screen Personas. This allows you to provide your users a similar look and feel to native Fiori apps, ensuring consistency across SAP functionality.
Creating new UI elements and floorplans is a challenging task and creative in so many ways, one of which is being flexible while prototyping for software. Prototyping There is a quite large literature supporting the use of prototypes within the design process, but in this article, we would consider the need for a prototype as […]
"Scenes" is a tool and a method that was created to empower business leaders and professionals of all industries to shape their ideas and scenarios in the form of fun illustrative storyboards without the need of refined drawing skills. Learn how you can use it.
At the Design & Co-Innovation Center, we foster T-shaped design teams by continually expanding our knowledge and skillsets. To achieve this, we host numerous learning opportunities for our team from Bikablo drawing workshops and Drupal learning sessions to guest talks on a range of topics like photo journalism and visual storytelling. In continuation of this […]
For the past 8 years, I have focused on designing digital experiences in a variety of industries and for a variety of clients. Throughout my career, I have gleaned a few lessons that helped me create actionable, simple, relatable, engaging, and delightful experiences. Here are some of them: ☆ Make it Actionable In each application, the […]
The smartwatch, although still somewhat in the novelty stage but without the geek image of wearables like Google Glass, is one of the next frontiers for app designers and developers. Fun and exciting for consumers, designing for this new form and situational factor is most certainly a big challenge for designers and developers. How do […]
SAP UX Day Germany is an annual event for user experience and design advocates.
For the first time the event is not restricted to SAP employees but opened for selected external UX practitioners.
Never give up! Design Thinking is all about wild ideas - and this also applies to us as coaches as well: so, if you don't have a whiteboard to do the clustering, simply take a bus!
In this two-part interview series, I talk to Ulrike Weissenberger, VP of Global Design Enablement, and Hanswerner Dreissigacker, VP of Global Design Frontrunner Apps who were respectively early proponents of user-centered design and design thinking at SAP.
This is the second post in a two-part interview series about changing software development culture from one focused mainly on features and functions toward one that invests meaningful and appropriate resources on user experience and design. When teams and management are asked to change the way they have always done things, that is when things […]
Continuing on from our One Hand Paper Airplanes exercise, here’s a new and fun warm-up to try from the Design & Co-Innovation Center. In this warm-up exercise, we’re learning how to embrace our stumbles and falls along the journey to success. Finding out what didn’t work lets you know what does. So when you take […]
In this post, you will find links to the almost 70 reviews of selected books on user interface design, graphic design, and web design that were written for the SAP Design Guild from 1999 to 2012. Although a few of the books (and their respective reviews) might show their age, many are as interesting and […]
If you are just getting started designing SAP Fiori apps, you might be asking yourself what a floorplan is. The term floorplan is used differently in different design contexts. In relation to SAP Fiori, when we talk about floorplans we are referring to predefined layouts for common use cases. These layouts can be used to compose a simple and […]
Recently, we released our new SAP Fiori Design Guidelines to our customers and partners. The feedback so far has been great, and we are glad to regularly share the updates of what we learn on our SAP Fiori journey. As part of this update, we have also introduced our new design stencils that allow designers […]
Three designers from the Design and Co-Innovation Center had the idea to create a series of six postcards which communicate SAP’s aim of humanizing software. At this point you might think: Relax, three designers – six postcards? But design doesn’t just fall from the sky. Follow them on their design journey!
Benjamin Franklin once said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” At the SAP Design & Co-Innovation Center (DCC) at SAP we frequently organize the so-called “Method Mondays”, a regular one-hour meeting series in which the team members share, practice, and test different methods. In this article […]
Companies like SAP using the Web and Intranet along with Web Browsers are challenged to develop applications with reference to their internal accessibility standards.
The first part of the article discussed the need for complex Web controls, presents various Web content types, and explains why there is a need for something better than current solutions offer – this is where ARIA comes in. This second part of the article introduces ARIA itself and describes its specifications, basic concepts and […]
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