LKM Tecnologia, an SAP Gold Partner being part of the SAP Ecosystem for more than 10 years, has embarked on an innovation journey towards a Cloud offering with SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and is collecting the benefits of this initiative. Besides being a traditional player on the on-premise world, it has shifted gears and embraced Cloud as a strategic move. This significant move from the on-premise model has allowed the company to prototype, develop, and monetize a new market solution, which is now available to customers globally at
SAP Store.
LKM has a robust background in multiple industries, including manufacturing, food and beverage, services and logistics, and offers a range of solutions and services to automate relevant processes. The company's rich experience enables it to understand the unique needs of each sector and provide personalized solutions to enhance operational efficiency and promote business growth.
The company's innovation journey towards to the Cloud began with the prototyping of the Cloud Smart Invoice (CSI) in one of the
Hack2Build events sponsored by SAP, offered by the
SAP Co-Innovation Lab. Hack2Build is a rapid prototyping initiative to drive early-stage inspiration, use case exploration and technology adoption for SAP partners. LKM-CSI is a cloud-based solution created to help automating the invoice document management.
The participation in the Hack2Build event was transformative, expanding their knowledge of SAP BTP and its components. The team that previously viewed SAP BTP as something unknown and challenging now had a better understanding about the technology. By that time, the transition to Cloud was already an important focus point. According to Carlos Schwager, SAP Business Unit Director at LKM, “For already some time, it was very clear to us that SAP would move towards a Cloud strategy, including the offer of the main ERP and other applications connected to the ERP in the Cloud. Therefore, LKM Tecnologia began a process of training our technical teams to have the necessary knowledge to follow SAP’s strategy”.
The process of transitioning to SAP BTP was not without challenges. Training teams and preparing managers to shift from on-premise to cloud mindset was not easy. On the other hand, the transition was also exciting and rewarding. The interaction with the
SAP Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC) was crucial in ensuring that their solutions met certification technical requirements and were aligned with SAP best practices. The reward soon emerged, as states Henrique Machado, Director of Business Solutions Development at LKM: “we have a success story from a customer who migrated from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA Cloud with the RISE with SAP offering, and we received valuable feedback from their IT Manager. Our solution, being certified, was one of the few that did not experience any problems during the migration. This outstanding experience demonstrates the reliability and quality of our product”.
After an outstanding process of bringing an idea to life, from prototyping, productizing, and certifying it with SAP, it was finally published in SAP Store and made available to customers worldwide. Henrique Machado explains that this process demanded stages of prototype refinement, final product development, and meeting the necessary requirements for publication. Publishing on the SAP Store has provided them with several benefits. First, it has allowed them to have global exposure and accessibility to a large number of potential customers. Additionally, LKM Tecnologia’s presence on the SAP Store has added credibility to their solution, as it is an official SAP channel recognized for its quality and security. Last but not least, this presence on the SAP Store allows them to take advantage of marketing and promotion opportunities offered by SAP, reaching a wider audience, and increasing the visibility of their solution.
The investment in creating and monetizing the CSI has already brought significant results for LKM. It has led to an increase in potential customers and sales, with contracts already completed through the SAP Store. This has resulted in favorable financial returns and contributed to the continued growth and success of LKM.
As for future, LKM will continue investing and improving their solutions in SAP BTP, providing more innovation to their customers. They are excited about the future and are ready to face new challenges as they continue the co-innovation journey.
