The competitiveness in the digital landscape makes the need for innovation and collaboration more critical than ever. In this context, the transformational impact of Generative AI (GenAI) almost inevitably comes onto the agenda of most business conversations these days. This was the motivation behind our recent global Hack2Build, aimed to recruit partners worldwide to explore and adopt the latest technologies and services SAP has to offer in the realm of Business AI. The objective was not just to create a platform for technological exploration, but to foster a global community of partners and innovators who create valuable solutions to customers leveraging Business AI.
Hack2Build is a rapid prototyping initiative for SAP partners to start their innovation journey with a tangible prototype, and then build a full-fledged business solution that creates business value for customers leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). During a Hack2Build, partners validate their use cases with SAP experts, and get coaching and feedback from SAP during the build of the prototype on SAP BTP. After the hackathon, they continue developing their solutions and get them ready for go-to-market.
This edition of the Hack2Build was designed with a global outreach in mind, welcoming partners from all corners of the world. It saw a diverse pool of forward-thinking use cases, reflecting different market needs.
Our journey began with the Partner Innovation Day on January 23, dedicated to introducing our partners to the newest topics and technologies in SAP Business AI. The objective was to inspire them to develop their own use cases, harnessing the power of generative AI to enhance business outcomes.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Numerous partners reached out, eager to submit their use cases and join the Hack2Build.
A team of experts from various fields then embarked on the challenging task of selecting the best use cases. After a rigorous analysis and evaluation process, 33 diverse partner use cases were selected.
The Hackathon Week
The event then moved on to the next phase and we were glad to welcome the participant partners: Accenture, AG Consultancy, Avvale, Bosch, Capgemini, Celebal Technologies, Cognizant, Crave Infotech, Deloitte, EY, IBsolution, IBM, Incture, Inetum, Inflexion, Infosys, Kinexon, LTIMindtree, Mindset Consulting, Mouritech, msg global, Netizen, NTT Data Business Solutions, Numen IT, OpenText, PwC, Reply, Scoutbee, Seidor, STMS, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro.
At the Kick-off on February 28, SAP provided all participants with valuable guidance on how to leverage Generative AI capabilities within the SAP Business Technology Platform. The participant teams utilized SAP Generative AI Hub on SAP BTP, which gives instant access to a broad range of large language models (LLMs) from different providers, enabling seamless integration and usage of GenAI to enhance applications. Participants also gained early access to SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine, which boosts GenAI scenarios with capabilities such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to obtain better results from large language models.
Post kick-off, partners embarked on a week-long hackathon to develop their prototypes. They were supported in daily scrum sessions by SAP experts, ensuring continuous remote support throughout the week. There was little time to waste and much to prepare for the demo jam.
Here some impressions of the participants about their experience during the hackathon week:
Showtime: Demo Jam
After a week of relentless effort and prototyping, the partners had the opportunity to present their use case and live demo at the demo jam! Three demo jams were organized worldwide across different time zones within two days, on March 06 and 07.
The demo jams were more than just a platform to present their work; they were a space for partners to interact, engage, and receive feedback with experts and leaders from SAP. Each participant had 10 minutes to present their use case and operational prototype. In this little time, the partners shone with business acumen, technical skills, and innovation power in front of the panel of judges, composed of senior SAP managers and experts.
Highlighted use cases
After intense deliberation and discussion, the judges highlighted use cases for each demo jam.
In this blog you can find further details on the highlighted use cases.
Beyond a Hackathon
This global event was a testimonial to the power of collaboration and innovation. It showcased the immense potential that lies in the intersection of a cutting-edge technology like GenAI, diverse ideas, and global partnerships. As we look forward to upcoming Hack2Builds, we remain committed to support partners to drive successful outcome with their innovations.
Acknowledgment
Congratulations and a big thanks to all participating teams for their passion and tireless commitment. the use cases they prototyped during this Hack2Build. All the participants have received digital badges by Credly.com from SAP, as an acknowledgement of the excellent use case prototypes presented.
We also would like to thank all the SAP teams and colleagues for the support they offered. Their dedication, leadership and domain expertise plays a crucial role in advancing the participants beyond the prototype phase. This underscores SAP’s commitment to our partner ecosystem.
Hack2Build Team
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