Currently we are hosting a Customer Engagement Initiative regarding this topic.
If you are interested to join us, please register here.
Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are digital assets handled by smart contracts on a blockchain that can represent a verifiable ownership certificate for digital or physical assets, like art, licenses, in-game items, luxury watches and many more. NFT smart contracts create digital scarcity, purposefully limiting the supply of NFTs, which allows demand and supply to set prices. You can learn more about NFTs in general in Christian’s Blog Post “Demystifying NFTs”.
Recently, there has been a big hype around this topic, which led to a total NFT market value of $41 billion in 2021. Beyond the hype, enterprises from various industries are already participating in the NFT economy. This is not a surprise, as NFT technology has the potential to enable process automation and extend customer relationships and business models.
SAP Blockchain Business Connector (Prototype) is a new development by SAP Innovation Center Network, which enables business applications and analytical systems to leverage NFTs and other public blockchain capabilities on a no-code basis. Our goal is building a solution that empowers our customers to execute their NFT projects as efficient and scalable as possible. SAP customers can join our Customer Engagement Initiative to explore the potential of NFTs for their business and shape our development.
Serving as a bridge between the blockchain and enterprise world, the SAP Blockchain Business Connector (Prototype) allows tracking and reacting to any blockchain event, so the journey of an NFT remains visible on SAP Business Technology Platform* and in connected applications throughout its entire lifetime. This allows for analytics and the triggering of internal processes based on blockchain events.
Below are a few exemplary use cases where it is beneficial to integrate NFTs and business systems.
Analytics: After issuing an NFT – it could be a branded collectible – to a consumer, the new owner can do whatever he/she wants to: hold it, sell it, trade it, or use it to claim certain perks. For the issuer to gain insights, there must be a consolidated view of all activities across the life cycle of NFTs. How much revenue have I earned with this NFT? How many initial owners are still holding their NFT? How much does their NFT sell for? How popular is it, i.e., how many transfers are made on marketplaces? Do users make use of their benefits? While public blockchains alone offer no aggregated data, an integration with SAP Analytics Cloud enables powerful dashboards and valuable insights, also because it is connected with other relevant business data.
Finance: Even though NFTs live in the metaverse, the issuer is still a regulated company that must do its finances, like creating balance sheets, calculating profit, and paying taxes. By connecting the metaverse world and SAP business software, SAP Blockchain Business Connector serves as the necessary building block for any company that is serious with Web3 and NFT business models.
Production Planning: An NFT can offer perks like the creation of a personalized physical product in the future (e.g., a personalized sneaker). The most seamless way to prepare the production for such an item is to trigger a workflow from a specific event on the blockchain, like an NFT reaching an agreed holding period. Therefore, for these kinds of processes, the blockchain and production systems need to be integrated.
Customer Relationships: As brands thrive to increase brand loyalty and customer engagement, they are looking for new ways to interact with their customers. NFTs open new opportunities to create personal brand experiences. However, to provide end-to-end experiences and monitor the success of campaigns, the blockchain world again needs to be integrated with business systems.
Curious how a company can benefit from NFTs in a scalable way? We are looking forward to discussing your scenarios and putting them to the test. Don’t miss out to participate in this emerging economy and get early access to our innovation and shape your NFT journey: sign up for our Customer Engagement Initiative here.
Also, please feel free to post any questions regarding this topic in the community or approach us directly:
benjaminstoeckhert#overview (Innovation Manager, SAP Innovation Center Network)
*To learn more about SAP BTP, see Discover SAP Business Technology Platform, a great introduction to BTP and the Intelligent Enterprise strategy to see what it’s all about for free plus much more free learning at SAP Learning site.
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