Carol Li
– Tokyo, Japan, October 28, 2026 –
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From October 20 to 22, the UNITED VARS APJ Summit 2026 brought 75 participants from 12 countries and regions to Tokyo to share customer cases and discuss joint business across Asia Pacific & Japan.
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IPS and CRESCO e-Solution, two Japanese UNITED VARS members, co-hosted the summit organized by UNITED VARS, the world's only SAP Platinum Partner alliance.
IPS and CRESCO e-Solution hosted the UNITED VARS APJ Summit 2026 in Tokyo. The summit is the regional meeting for Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) of UNITED VARS, the leading global alliance of SAP solution providers for the mid-market, with 70+ hand-picked local market leaders. Leaders and experts from member companies met SAP representatives in person to share regional success stories and discuss new business. The summit took place one week after the UNITED VARS CoE Summit 2026 in Valencia.
The programme day by day
The summit ran under the motto "Stronger Bonds. Greater Impact." Each day followed one Japanese value.
On Tuesday evening, the welcome dinner stood for Kizuna (絆), the bond that grows from trust. There, Carol Li and Alexander Herfort of UNITED VARS opened the summit, and Yo Akamatsu and Yumi Ozasa of IPS and Satoshi Goto of CRESCO e-Solution welcomed the guests to their home market. Many guests wore traditional clothing from their home countries.
Wednesday's theme was Kyōsō (共創), co-creation. Alexander Herfort opened the day with the alliance update. In his keynote, Yoshiro Horikawa, President of SAP Japan, focused on the mid-market and made clear that SAP wants to win it together with local members. The keynote from SAP Concur Japan was about user retention. A representative from one of IPS’s customers then presented a customer case highlighting the project delivered in collaboration with IPS and UNITED VARS.
In the afternoon, Joni Wong Angkasa of SAP showed how Joule and the SAP Business AI Platform open new business for partners, while C-level leaders from member companies met SAP in a parallel executive roundtable. CRESCO e-Solution, Acloudear, BSG Partners, and SAVIC shared further customer cases, and AWS joined the programme with a session for SAP partners across APJ.
Thursday, the final day, was dedicated to Wa (和), harmony across many perspectives. Alumni of the UNITED VARS Academy described how the contacts they made in the programme are still active and how working with colleagues in other countries has become part of their daily routine. In the AI in Practice panel, SAP, bneXt, Netizen, and UNITED VARS shared the view that SAP's future in the mid-market runs more and more through local experts such as UNITED VARS members. DynaSys and Netizen then presented AI solutions built by members.
Voices from the summit
"The last two days were under the motto 'Stronger Bonds. Greater Impact.' When I see in the room how many good conversations, how much friendship, and how many discussions about joint opportunities, joint customers, and sharing products there were, it shows me clearly that we have achieved that," said Alexander Herfort, Managing Director of UNITED VARS.
"Most Japanese companies are small and midsize businesses, and we see significant growth opportunities in this segment," said Yoshiro Horikawa, President and Representative Director of SAP Japan. "In this segment, our partners lead, and we work with them as one team. Together with partners such as the UNITED VARS members, we want to support our customers through their whole transformation, with Japanese spirit and global expertise."
Joni Wong Angkasa, Regional Head of Growth Solutions for AI and BDC, Partner Ecosystem Success APAC at SAP, added: "AI creates value when it knows the business context, and that context sits in SAP processes and data. With Joule, people say what they need in plain language, and the work gets done across systems. For partners such as the UNITED VARS members, AI opens new customer conversations, from RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP projects to their own agents built in Joule Studio."
"In the age of AI, sharing joy and facing difficulties together becomes even more essential," said Yo Akamatsu, President & CEO of IPS. "That deep connection is the true source of human fulfillment, and to me, that is what KIZUNA is all about."
Satoshi Goto, President of CRESCO e-Solution, added: "We can support customers on a global scale by working together with our UNITED VARS partners. The APJ Summit itself is a great example of Kyōsō. UNITED VARS Members from across Asia come together to share their experiences, exchange ideas, and create new value that none of us could achieve alone."
Ronnie Sung, Managing Director of DynaSys Solutions in Hong Kong, explained what diversity means for the alliance: "Our diversity makes us stronger. Our customers are diverse, with different languages, different cultures, and different business requirements, so we serve our customers better."
About IPS
Since its founding in 1997, IPS has supported the transformation of mid-market and growing companies as an SAP Platinum Partner that has implemented SAP for more than 180 companies. From the start, IPS has worked with SAP to build a service model for mid-market and growing companies and has supported many customers along the way. As a Japanese member of UNITED VARS, the alliance of leading SAP partners worldwide, IPS offers its customers a top-tier global support structure. Drawing on the know-how from its many implementations, IPS helps companies achieve digital transformation through business and structural change and contributes to their sustainable growth.
About CRESCO e-Solution
Founded in 1998, CRESCO e-Solution specializes exclusively in SAP systems and supports its customers end to end, from implementation to operations and maintenance. With SAP S/4HANA at its core, the SAP sales partner offers a complete service, from license sales and implementation consulting to development and operations. More than 100 SAP-certified consultants work closely with mid-market and growing companies on their challenges. Since 2018, CRESCO e-Solution has also offered design thinking services, used both to create innovation and to solve everyday internal issues. As a member of UNITED VARS, the alliance of leading SAP partners from countries around the world, CRESCO e-Solution gives strong support to its customers' global business.
About UNITED VARS
Mid-sized companies should go global without losing speed or local identity. UNITED VARS brings together hand-picked local market leaders with real people on the ground in 100+ countries to remove legal, cultural, and language barriers. As a strategic alliance, UNITED VARS provides clear accountability from start to finish. UNITED VARS is the world's only SAP Platinum Partner alliance, delivering end-to-end SAP services for the mid-market.
Media Contact:
Carol Li, Marketing Manager
E: carol.li@united-vars.com