Kuala Lumpur (Nov. 25, 2013) — SAP today showcased Urban Matters, its vision and approach to partnering with governments and citizens tackling the challenges of rapid urbanization. Technology is an important part of the approach, but it also involves sharing successful experiences in civic administration and citizen engagement from SAP municipal customers worldwide.
“In much of Southeast Asia, the way we interact with our cities and governments today looks much as it did decades ago. But this is changing. With the rise of urbanization, more cities are turning to technology and new administrative models like crowdsourcing to help solve big problems,” said Vivek Puthucode, Vice President for Public Services at SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “From transportation to healthcare, innovation in technology and citizen engagement will transform our cities and improve lives. While technology is an important part of the approach, it is also important to share successful experiences in civic administration and citizen engagement from SAP municipal customers worldwide.”
Competition creates race to be best-run cities
SAP’s solutions arrive as cities are competing vigorously for investment, talent and employment, and racing to establish themselves as independent brands. This competition has increased the focus on building complementary administrative and technology layers to support cities’ race to become best-run. The core aspects of a best-run city are its ability to monitor and measure what it manages, and to bring about efficiencies in its processes to improve productivity.
“Cities are central to the lives of millions of Malaysians, and at SAP we are passionate about helping Kuala Lumpur and other cities in Malaysia become best-run cities,” said Nik Ariff Nik Omar, Head of Enterprise and Public Sector, SAP Malaysia.
Alleviating gridlock
Traffic is a top urban headache, and it’s also an area where SAP is making substantial progress. Last Wednesday in Beijing, SAP announced a pilot that helps urban transportation management organizations in China quickly understand traffic situations, accurately analyze passenger flow and taxi operations and get real-time insights to make fact-based decisions. SAP Labs China and the Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport collaborated on a pilot platform for big data powered by SAP HANA® in Beijing, Kunming, Chongqing and Tianjin. This platform will provide urban transportation managers with real-time insights, so that they can quickly understand traffic situations, passenger flow and taxi operations, and make fact-based decisions.
Platforms like this can drive greater and more convenient mobility for Malaysians. More than convenience, the ability to avoid traffic can add hours to an average Malaysian city-dweller’s day, thus bringing up the quality of life, a challenge that a number of urban Malaysians are grappling with.
Mobilizing doctors
As Malaysia’s population increases and consumes more healthcare services, the country’s existing healthcare facilities, systems and experts face tremendous strain. Here SAP helps healthcare systems run better and improve their patient outcomes. Mobile technology plays a key role, whether it is empowering patients to access their medical records, enabling doctors to easily view a patient’s records and test results from anywhere, or enabling mobile nurses to service patients at home instead of more expensive hospitals.
SAP Electronic Medical Record provides healthcare professionals access to the electronic medical record of their patients from iPads and tablets. With this information available on mobile devices, healthcare professionals can get real-time access to patient history, track information at the point of care, and collaborate better with other healthcare professionals and patients. The application integrates with both SAP and non-SAP information systems and is available today on iOS and Android devices.
Empowering citizens
Many governments are facing a rising demand for services, smaller budgets and calls for accountability. At the same time, the proliferation of connected mobile devices has revolutionized the way people engage with the world around them across many facets of life. Yet much government engagement still takes place through increasingly outmoded models.
Enter SAP’s CityApp concept, currently under development. The company aspires to provide a single and easy access point for an entire city’s services. CityApp will then help people navigate through the city, stay informed, engage with their city and neighborhood, see open data for their city, and consume services.
SAP continues to improve the CityApp concept with new ideas emerging in realtime. As more devices enter the cloud, the Internet of things is taking shape and unlocking new possibilities. Sensor-based information systems make it possible for cities to engage with their citizens, businesses and communities in real time. SAP solutions such as the CityApp represent the next generation of citizen engagement.
“As Malaysia rapidly advances on its journey of development, we believe our offerings are well-timed. At SAP, we are excited to contribute to a more connected, convenient, and well-run Malaysia. Our strategy is to bringing together world class technology and ideas and issues that matter to Malaysians,” Nik Ariff Nik Omar concluded.
