Welcome to the pulse of global business, where rapid change and relentless innovation set the pace. Whether you are a seasoned giant or an emerging start-up, navigating evolving regulations and adapting your business processes are essential steps for success.
This blog opens a series of blogs featuring SAP customers that are successfully navigating a rapidly changing globe enabled by localized software solutions from SAP. Join us to learn from their experiences and gain practical insights that can help your business succeed in a dynamic global environment.
Embracing a New Age of Taxation
India's Goods and Services Tax (GST) showcases the power of digitization in driving significant economic change by streamlining tax compliance procedures, increasing transparency, and boosting revenue collection. These changes have contributed to a more unified and efficient economy with significant reductions in logistics costs. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reports that the removal of state checkpoints and integration of tax rates have resulted in a 20% reduction in logistics costs. There's also potential for further savings of 30-40%, making Indian manufacturing and consumer goods sectors more globally competitive.
Similarly, the implementation of the Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) is another example of how technology can enhance tax systems. SAF-T is an international standard for electronic exchange of reliable accounting data from companies to national tax authority. Its purpose is to simplify the administrative workload on enterprises by enabling more streamlined tax inspections and making tax information transfer more efficient. The growing adoption of SAF-T in nations like Austria, Luxembourg, Romania, Hungary, and Portugal is a testament to the global shift towards digitizing tax administration.
Evolution in Digital Taxation Systems
Furthermore, the digital transformation in tax systems has led many countries to take up e-invoicing and automate VAT returns. In this setup, tax authorities act as the bridge between suppliers and buyers, auto-filling tax returns with pertinent data from the transactions. Tax payers are then required to reconcile and sign. Some countries have also adopted the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) under Pillar 2 of the BEPS 2.0 initiative, which proposes a global minimum tax rate of 15% on the profits of multinationals. Others have adopted the Peppol standard for documents like invoices. This standard originated in the European Union but has since been extended by several Asia-Pacific countries like Japan and Australia. There are similar moves for global standards for handling plastic waste and other environmental initiatives. This is just a small list of changes being rolled out around the globe.
The Future with Modern ERP
In today's competitive global business environment, companies require more from their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems than ever before. Modern ERP software has evolved into a dynamic platform offering extended capabilities. With built-in insights, automated processes, seamless workflows, standard integrations, and easy extensibility, businesses can now align their ERP systems to their strategic goals more effectively. Adopting modern ERP software with advanced capabilities is a game-changer for multinational companies operating in divergent markets. Automation of processes and workflows reduces manual interventions, thus minimizing errors and enhancing efficiency. The built-in insights can provide valuable foresight into local market trends, helping businesses gain a competitive edge.
Standard integrations offered by these advanced systems make it more feasible to consolidate data from various local operations into a cohesive whole. This global visibility of operations enables compliance and empowers decision-makers to make informed strategic decisions.
Go global confidently with SAP
In today's dynamic world where the only constant is change, SAP stands as a beacon of certainty enabling enterprises to go global with confidence. The trust that customers place in SAP stems from the deep understanding and strategic approach towards software localization. SAP’s software localization enables customers to derive value from their core business applications across geographies using standard processes. SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce ($46 trillion). The vast majority of them trade across borders. Here are some examples of the customer complexities in evolving regulatory and operational challenges:
- A major player in industrial equipment has deployed SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to support its service depots - this customer is live across 40 countries.
- One of the largest multinational professional services firms describes how SAP solutions are being implemented across their global network and how, as an SAP partner, they are helping customers with implementations and how their tax practice uses SAP solutions to supplement their own proprietary tools.
- Customers describe how SAP is helping them comply with FATOORAH, the e-invoicing imperative in Saudi Arabia and Angola’s SAF-T requirements and countless other document and reporting requirements around the globe.
Looking to the future, SAP customers need to prepare for upcoming e-invoicing mandates across multiple jurisdictions, including Germany’s phased implementation starting January 1, 2025, under the ‘Growth Opportunities Act’; Poland’s National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) becoming mandatory in February 2026; and France’s nationwide e-invoicing and e-reporting mandate commencing in September 2026 for large enterprises. Fortunately, SAP delivers software updates to enable customers to comply with new and evolving regulations around the world. In combination with timely notifications about the relevant regulatory changes, this Regulatory Relief as a Service gives SAP customers peace of mind.
SAP offers geographic coverage in more than 130 countries and providing more than 1000 local versions, which are adaptations of SAP’s software to meet specific local requirements, regulations, or practices, in over 40 languages.
Summary
As we rapidly navigate through a dynamically changing globe, businesses are leveraging technology to develop innovative solutions and thrive amidst challenges. From embracing new-age taxation and digital tax systems to enhancing ERP capabilities and ensuring efficient business operations, SAP stands confidently, propelling businesses towards global success with its comprehensive geographic coverage and commitment to software localization. As we embark on our upcoming blog series, we are excited to share some inspiring customer stories showcasing how businesses across the globe are leveraging the power of localization with SAP to thrive in our rapidly changing global economy.
Stay tuned for upcoming localization blogs on SAP Community.
Learn about Localization Today
Localization Capabilities on sap.com
SAP Localization Community
Regulatory Change Manager: Your Solution to Navigate Regulatory Changes with Ease
