The SAP Intelligent Enterprise and the Experience Economy

Last year, SAP unveiled its strategy to deliver the Intelligent Enterprise. At the core of our strategy was SAP’s strong belief that every company needs to address three key challenge in today’s economy:

1. Intelligent Suite
An integrated, yet modular suite of line-of-business (LoB) applications that enables SAP customers to share insights across functions to better manage stakeholders and their day-to-day operations.

2. Digital Platforms
Data management and cloud platform technologies to dynamically orchestrate the growing volume of data and business processes across an intelligent enterprise, so that customers can make sense of their data in real-time. The digital platform forms the foundation of all intelligent activities.

3. Intelligent Technology
Tools and technologies that turn intelligence into business outcome such as analytics, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain. They are delivered through the digital platform, embedded within intelligent suite applications, and applied to processes that integrate both SAP and third-party data and applications.

Enter 2019 - The Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise
In an era in which data plays a vital role in all decision-making and in every business process, having the ability to manage big X-data and O-data, gaining new levels of business insights, and turning them into impactful actions is an absolute key to customer success. As business data volume grows exponentially, and as enterprises have access to an abundance of new intelligent technologies, customers have countless opportunities to influence experiences and reimagine their business processes through data-driven innovation.

The following outlines two examples for the opportunities in reimagining business processes:

1. Drive a step-change in productivity: a global clothes retailer collects big and diverse data from SAP C/4HANA including X-data from Qualtrics software and from third-party sources such as comments on social media.

This data is streamed into a data lake integrated with SAP HANA and dedicated to a customer behavior analysis project where intelligence is applied by building ML models to predict changes in customers’ buying preferences. The results are streamed in real-time to SAP C/4HANA marketing campaigns, where a new campaign is automatically triggered via SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation whenever a change in customer preference is identified, significantly increasing marketing productivity leading to additional revenue.

2. Build new business models: a lighting hardware company uses SAP Leonardo IoT, SAP Analytics and SAP Cloud Platform Integration to deliver a light-as-a-service business model. By connecting the lighting hardware to sensors, and orchestrating and analyzing its data streams, customers can receive a variable bill based on usage instead of paying for lighting upfront. In addition, customers can gain insight into costs and usage with an intelligent solution that is able to predict future costs. This solution helps users to make better informed and confident decisions drives operational efficiency and saves energy.

Technology & Innovation Overview and Outlook
The role of technology and innovation in the evolving Experience Economy has never been more important for the success of our customers. As customers’ and employees’ demand for better experiences increases, enterprises must focus on their businesses and adapt to change, rather than concentrating on technical building blocks. SAP believes that these needs can be addressed with a “business technology platform that provides the required platform services combined with the business semantics, content and context which are key to turn data into meaningful business outcomes. The winners will be intelligent enterprises that utilize this platform to get the most out of their experience and operational data and processes. This is the goal of SAP’s digital platform where the business-centric technologies of SAP HANA, SAP Analytics, and SAP Leonardo power the intelligent suite, enable new data-driven innovation scenarios and together with Qualtrics help SAP customers to turn into Experience Companies.

Therefore, SAP’s vision for the digital platform is to be the business technology platform that provides the required technologies for intelligent enterprises to power the intelligent suite, deliver the next-generation experience management, and offer the necessary technologies standalone to our customers and partners for unlocking new types data-driven innovation.

Read the full blog post on www.approyo.com

SAP Announces new SAP Leonardo Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities

SAP unveiled SAP Leonardo Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, the all-encompassing technology that generates and drives digital transformation for Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0.

In addition, SAP announced the cloud-to-cloud interoperability of SAP Leonardo IoT with Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, providing customers a choice of connectivity and device management. SAP is committed to a strong ecosystem for IoT and understands the value its partners can bring to joint customers. This announcement was made at MWC being held February 25–28 in Barcelona. Below are some of the highlights from the announcement:

SAP is uniquely positioned to bring IoT data together with business processes. SAP Leonardo IoT will help customers increase productivity, redefine their customer experience and grow their revenue streams. It will enable customers to embed IoT into line-of-business (LoB) solutions, enhance business applications with IoT technology and develop new business models based on the new data the IoT solutions generate.

“SAP delivers valuable insight and drives business results by embedding IoT data into business processes,” said Elvira Wallis, senior vice president and global head of IoT at SAP. “With the launch of SAP Leonardo IoT, SAP solidifies its commitment to the IoT, and in particular Industrial IoT. The combination of IoT and our depth and breadth of high-value industry and application expertise helps customers gain greater business value and a stronger competitive advantage.”

SAP Leonardo IoT will allow customers to innovate and enhance business processes using data-driven intelligence and operational context from machines, products, supply chains, consumers and partners. SAP Leonardo IoT will offer three paths to innovation for customers based on their specific business needs, including:

• Combining IoT data with business process data to enable IoT-embedded business applications and accelerate adoption to give customers the ability to innovate quickly from within business applications – including SAP S/4HANA, the SAP C/4HANA suite, SAP SuccessFactors solutions, SAP Ariba solutions and the SAP Digital Supply Chain portfolio.
• Extending existing SAP IoT applications for better business value
• Building new intelligent IoT solutions using SAP Leonardo IoT to create unique and differentiated offerings

Interoperability of SAP Leonardo IoT and Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
The new collaboration plans to offer customers the possibility of using Microsoft Azure IoT Hub as the connectivity and device management layer for IoT telemetry data, which is seamlessly relayed to SAP Leonardo IoT.

In addition, SAP Leonardo IoT Edge aims to give customers the option to extend support for their business processes locally on top of Microsoft Azure IoT Edge runtime. Essential business function (EBF) modules based on SAP Leonardo IoT Edge are also planned to run in containers on Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, reducing customers dependency on latency, bandwidth and connectivity.

Read the full announcement on www.sap.comhttps://news.sap.com/2019/02/mwc-sap-leonardo-iot-shape-intelligent-enterprise/

2018 year in review: Top SAP News

It's hard to believe by 2019 is almost here. As we head into the final few weeks of 2018, the Approyo team wanted a chance to look back at some of the important moments of the past year. Over the next few weeks, we will publish a series of 2018 year in review blog posts, looking back at the top stories of the year.

Top SAP news of 2018
What's new in SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 - March 28, 2018
SAP HANA 2 is the business data platform for the intelligent enterprise. Leveraging state-of-the-art database and data management technology, advanced analytical capabilities and intuitive application development tools in the only all-in-one, in-memory-first data platform – SAP HANA 2 frees up valuable resources and human capital for new and innovative application development to meet your business’s strategic objectives.

SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 includes a mix of new and continuous innovations across the themes of database management, data management, analytical intelligence and application development. Read the full blog post...

SAP Acquires Callidus Software Inc. - April 11, 2018
SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Callidus Software Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD), a market leader known for its lead to money applications, including sales performance management and configure-price-quote (CPQ).

Here is the official announcement from SAP. These applications, marketed under the brand CallidusCloud, will provide SAP and its customers a differentiated, cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution, putting SAP in a leading position to compete in the US$46 billion CRM market. SAP plans to consolidate CallidusCloud product assets within the SAP Hybris cloud portfolio, which is part of SAP’s Cloud Business Group. Read the full blog post...

SAP Announces SAP C/4HANA - June 5, 2018
Major news from the first morning at the 2018 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW Conference. SAP CEO Bill McDermott announced a new suite of applications, SAP C/4HANA, to help businesses serve and retain customers. SAP also announced the SAP HANA Data Management Suite, the industry’s first comprehensive data management solution that enables companies to turn data sprawl into business value. Read the full blog post...

SAP Announces new SAP HANA Data Management Suite - June 6, 2018
The SAP HANA Data Management Suite is based on the latest versions of the SAP HANA business data platform. It allows for secure, governed enterprise-class applications and analytics by providing an open, hybrid and multicloud-enabled solution suite that orchestrates all the data needed into a trusted, unified landscape. SAP HANA Data Management Suite is the foundation for building agile, data-driven applications that are always tapping into live data. With one query, SAP HANA Data Management Suite can deliver results from a single logical data set that covers the whole enterprise — turning the concept of universal data into a reality. Read the full blog post...

SAP Releases SAP S/4HANA 1809 - October 2, 2018
SAP announced the latest version of SAP S/4HANA; SAP S/4HANA 1809. The latest release promises to continue on with SAP's commitment to both converting existing ECC functionality into S/4, as well as, introducing newer functions and features. Read the full blog post...

Key Takeaways from SAP TechEd 2018 - October 10, 2018
Another SAP TechEd 2018 Las Vegas is in the books and it delivered five days of education, training, networking, and fun. Topics included SAP HANA Data Management Suite, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Leonardo, SAP Analytics Cloud, and how real customers are building intelligent enterprises. Following up the SAP SAPPHIRE NOW Conference earlier this year, the main focus was the "Intelligent Enterprise". Expect to continue to hear this term from SAP and it's partners for the next several months and years.  Read the full blog post...

SAP Acquires Contextor to Augment Robotic Process Automation Capabilities
- November 20, 2018
SAP announced on November 19 that it has acquired a company called Contexter to boost robotic process automation in SAP S/4HANA and SAP Leonardo. SAP is expected to start integrated this into its products in 2019. Read the full blog post...

Check out the Approyo blog for more information.

Key Observations from SAP SAPPHIRE NOW 2018

Another SAP SAPPHIRE NOW Conference is in the books. The Approyo team enjoyed meeting new and old friends at the show and our After Party. This year featured a number of important announcement that will impact the entire SAP Ecosytem. We look forward to implementing these new solutions for our clients. Here are some of the top observations from the Approyo team.

Intelligent Enterprise - Powered by SAP HANA and the Cloud 
The "Intelligent Enterprise" was the biggest phrase of the conference. It was on all the signs and banners throughout the show floor and top keynote speakers like SAP CEO Bill McDermott and SAP co-founder Dr. Hasso Plattner.

In Plattner’s view, the intelligent enterprise is the “logical consequence” of what happens when modern technology meets traditional business processes. But make no mistake, the intelligent enterprise is much more than a re-vamp of traditional ERP, and it’s been a long yet worthwhile journey for SAP, whose significant investment in building out its intelligent enterprise — $50 billion since 2010 — is about to pay dividends on a multitude of levels.

“If you want to be intelligent, we have to react quickly,” Plattner said during his keynote presentation to thousands of customers and partners in attendance at SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP’s annual premier business and technology event this week in Orlando. “We have done a bunch of things to accelerate the development of our systems — and we should be much faster with the deployment of our services.”

For years, Plattner lectured about the virtues of SAP HANA, the company’s game-changing in-memory database whose unmatched speed and efficiency allows 22,000 of its customers to remove redundant aggregation from their IT systems, a root cause of bad performance. With SAP’s intelligent enterprise, Plattner promises unbelievable speed and simplified code and data for all.
“We are out of the woods and we can create apps now in real time,” said Plattner. “We have created a completely different kind of flexibility.

SAP HANA Data Management Suite
The SAP HANA Data Management Suite is based on the latest versions of the SAP HANA business data platform. It allows for secure, governed enterprise-class applications and analytics by providing an open, hybrid and multicloud-enabled solution suite that orchestrates all the data needed into a trusted, unified landscape. SAP HANA Data Management Suite is the foundation for building agile, data-driven applications that are always tapping into live data. With one query, SAP HANA Data Management Suite can deliver results from a single logical data set that covers the whole enterprise — turning the concept of universal data into a reality. Read our full blog post about the new SAP HANA Data Management Suite.

SAP C/4HANA
Building on the company’s reputation as an end-to-end business solutions provider, the new SAP C/4HANA suite will offer full integration with SAP’s business applications portfolio, led by its market-leading ERP suite, SAP S/4HANA. The combination of assets features new machine learning capabilities from SAP Leonardo, a set of intelligent technologies the company introduced last year, as well as the new SAP HANA Data Management Suite, which enables companies to gain visibility and control of their highly distributed data. The company’s overall strategy, focused on helping businesses run as intelligent enterprises, highlights the demand for a balanced approach to automation in the workplace.

SAP Leonardo: Intelligence Inside the Intelligent Enterprise
Innovation is not about using technology for technology’s sake, it’s about applying the right technology in the context of your business process to drive a better outcome from that process. Industry and business process expertise means that SAP can apply the right intelligent technologies at the right points in a business process to deliver tremendous value and improve the outcome. SAP customers get access to SAP Leonardo in three ways:

• Embedded in SAP applications: From SAP Ariba to SAP Hybris offerings and SAP S/4HANA, we are adding intelligence to SAP applications. When you use the intelligent capabilities of these applications, you are using SAP Leonardo.
• Industry innovation kits: Pre-integrated capabilities that repeatedly accelerate solutions to common industry problems.
• Open innovation:  Take a best-in-class approach to innovation, using intelligent technologies, on SAP Cloud Platform.

Regardless of how you access SAP Leonardo, you will gain intelligent capabilities, applied to business processes, that create better business results.

Read the full blog post on www.approyo.com

SAP Announces SAP C/4HANA

Major news from the first morning at the 2018 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW Conference. SAP CEO Bill McDermott announced a new suite of applications, SAP C/4HANA, to help businesses serve and retain customers. SAP also announced the SAP HANA Data Management Suite, the industry’s first comprehensive data management solution that enables companies to turn data sprawl into business value.

Here is the full announcement from SAP.com:

SAP C/4HANA is an integrated offering designed to modernize the sales-only focus of legacy CRM solutions. Following the completed acquisitions of market leaders Hybris, Gigya and CallidusCloud, SAP now ties together solutions to support all front-office functions, such as consumer data protection, marketing, commerce, sales and customer service.

“SAP was the last to accept the status quo of CRM and is now the first to change it,” McDermott said. “The legacy CRM systems are all about sales; SAP C/4HANA is all about the consumer. We recognize that every part of a business needs to be focused on a single view of the consumer. When you connect all SAP applications together in an intelligent cloud suite, the demand chain directly fuels the behaviors of the supply chain.”

Building on the company’s reputation as an end-to-end business solutions provider, the new SAP C/4HANA suite will offer full integration with SAP’s business applications portfolio, led by its market-leading ERP suite, SAP S/4HANA. The combination of assets features new machine learning capabilities from SAP Leonardo, a set of intelligent technologies the company introduced last year, as well as the new SAP HANA Data Management Suite, which enables companies to gain visibility and control of their highly distributed data. The company’s overall strategy, focused on helping businesses run as intelligent enterprises, highlights the demand for a balanced approach to automation in the workplace.

More About SAP C/4HANA
The SAP C/4HANA portfolio includes SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Customer Data Cloud (including the acquired Gigya solutions) and SAP Sales Cloud (including the acquired CallidusCloud solutions). Additionally, SAP Sales Cloud unites the SAP Hybris Revenue Cloud solution and SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer (comprised of SAP Hybris Sales Cloud and SAP Hybris Service Cloud solutions).

These cloud solutions — formerly on the market under the SAP Hybris brand name — as well as SAP’s commerce and customer engagement organization are now consolidated under the SAP Customer Experience business unit to support a consistent brand experience.

Read the full post on www.approyo.com