Christopher Carter, Approyo CEO, Featured on Coffee Break with Game-Changers, Presented by SAP

Approyo CEO Christopher Carter participated in the January 18 edition of Coffee Break with Game-Changers, Presented by SAP. During this episode, Chris talked in-depth about technology predictions for 2017.

The buzz: Crystal ball for 2017. If #1 on your business wish list is to know what 2017 holds for your company, your industry and the world, we’ve got insightful predictions from more than 75 thought leaders about the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete in 2017 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us for SAP Game-Changers Radio 2017 Predictions – Part 5 live. Hear our complete 5-part special on-demand at Coffee Break with Game-Changers Radio.

About Coffee Break with Game-Changers, presented by SAP

Game-changing technologies are transformational, exciting and disruptive for a reason. They shake up your status quo. They get you thinking about new ways to scale, compete and grow. They move you in amazing new directions.

If you’re not already having a weekly breakfast with game-changers, join us for valuable food for thought, inspiration and information. Learn how you can become the savvy innovator who takes your company across the finish line as you look ahead to the next breakthrough strategy. Coffee Break with Game-Changers, Presented by SAP, is broadcast live every Wednesday at 8 AM Pacific Time and 11 AM Eastern Time on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.

Are you ready for 2017! Meet with Approyo today… 
Approyo can help your company deal with the changing world. Our SAP HANA and Big Data solutions address these important questions and more. Let us show you today! Set up a free consultation.

Top myths about SAP HANA in the Cloud

SAP HANA is a relational database that runs in-memory for fast access, allowing business analysts to query large quantities of data without having to wait for the database to read and write data. This speed allows users to explore and analyze both analytical and transactional data from almost any
data source.

However, SAP HANA has some common myths throughout the technology world. SAP HANA cloud solutions helped change the way SAP HANA is deployed and used.

Myth #1. SAP HANA takes months to deploy
One common myth with SAP HANA is that slow implementations can be costly. Traditionally, on-premises SAP HANA projects can take months to fully deploy. The longer it takes to deploy SAP HANA, the longer it takes to realize the ROI benefits.

Rapid deployments can increase ROI. Most organizations can expect a cloud-based SAP HANA implementation in less than 30 days and in some cases, under a week.

Using SAP HANA in the cloud allows businesses to shift from a large upfront capital expense to a more manageable monthly operational expense. This reduces the infrastructure total cost of ownership an average of 28% or more within a three-year period.

Myth #2. Latency and speed issues
There are speed benefits to being closer to the HANA production lines. Close geographic proximity puts your data nanoseconds away from the SAP HANA cloud engine. This is what happens when your application exists in the same data center as the HANA cloud. This type of speed is possible when you have a physical data center infrastructure that allows you to incubate, test, and grow IT environments that have a nanosecond access to HANA cloud.

Faster access improves flexibility because it allows you to grow an SAP HANA database, add new apps, and expand your geographic footprint giving you the lowest cost, greater speed, and least disruption. Having HANA in the cloud allows the service provider to focus on delivering an SAP HANA solution so that your IT department doesn’t have to accommodate a new platform and manage yet another system.

Myth #3. It’s a complex implementation
It’s unfortunate that SAP HANA has a reputation of being very complex and hard to deploy, especially with an on premise solution. By moving an on-premises solution to the cloud, it allows your service provider to take care of complex configurations for you.

While some businesses may be hampered by a complex on-premises solution, having the right provider will make it easy to get customizations up and running quickly and easily. This allows the service provider to manage and optimize your SAP HANA implementation, so that your IT department doesn’t have to.

Optimization is critical for any system. Businesses have learned that optimization is not a once and done process. It is an ongoing process that requires a business to revisit and optimize on an ongoing basis. By having a strategic partner that manages your SAP HANA service, they can continue to help you optimize as they have learned some of the latest and greatest best practices from the industry.

Myth #4. I don’t have a current analytics solution, so why do I need SAP HANA?
What if your company doesn’t have an analytics tool; can you still get the
benefits from all of those legacy systems that have disparate data that need to be combined into one dataset?

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Using SAP HANA, you can handle these large loads of data from legacy systems and tie them all together. This will allow you to quickly analyze data to increase business effectiveness. This is one of the true business benefits of analytics.

Download the Whitepaper today: 

Approyo Presents: Demystifying SAP HANA in the Cloud

Try SAP HANA Today!
Don’t let the new digital world pass you by. Approyo can help your company deal with the changing world. Our SAP HANA and Big Data solutions address these important questions and more. Let us show you today! Set up a free consultation.

Ask Approyo - 2017 Technology Predictions

It's the start of 2017 and everyone wants to know, what are some predictions in technology for the new year. In the latest edition of Ask Approyo, Approyo CEO Chris Carter talks about some big technology predictions for 2017.

 

The predictions for 2017 differ from 2016. Big Data will have an impact on both personal and business standpoints. Companies will no longer just dip their toe in Big Data, they will be all in by the end of the year. in fact, we will start to refer to Big Data as just "data".

Additionally, more things will be automated from personal devices from Google and Amazon to business applications. Plus, Virtual Reality will start to go more mainstream.

Are you ready for the New Year
Don’t let the new digital world pass you by. Approyo can help your company deal with the changing world. Our SAP HANA and Big Data solutions address these important questions and more. Let us show you today! Set up a free consultation.

Why is SAP S/4HANA a game changer for your company?

SAP S/4HANA, the modern digital core, is designed to integrate with and utilize IoT, Big Data, Mobile, Business Networks, and more. SAP S/4HANA helps our customers create a truly Live Business:

• SAP S/4HANA is immediate – empowering business users with insights to act in the moment
• SAP S/4HANA is intelligent – beyond automation to predictive suggestion
• SAP S/4HANA is integrated – not only between your departments, but connected to the world

Instant, real-time insight for better decisions
• In-memory technology
• Embedded analytics

Reinvented processes for higher performance
• Maximized throughput and speed
• Native integration to SAP solutions

SAP Fiori user experience for higher productivity
• Intuitive on all devices, mobile first
• Proactive decision-making support

Simplified Architecture for lower TCO

• Lean data footprint

• Cloud deployment for higher flexibility
 

Why should you embrace a digital core now?
We are at the dawn of the next big technology change where everything is connected and software is embedded in our lives. This technology change is bringing new opportunities and new threats. Cycle time for innovation is 5–10X faster, and enterprises can no longer compete unless complexity is reduced, business is re-invented, and data becomes the fuel for value creation. With SAP S/4HANA, you can now enable your digital enterprise and drive this value creation. 

Try SAP S/4HANA Today! Contact us for a free consultation today... 

2016 Year in Review - Top Blog Posts

As we end the year, we like to look back at some of the biggest news from 2016. This year was filled with new product announcements and big acquisitions in the SAP landscape. Our top blog posts from 2016 reflect these major announcements, along with recognition for Approyo from the Inc 5000.

Top Blog Posts of the year:

1. SAP Announces BW/4HANA

SAP unveiled SAP BW/4HANA, a next-generation data warehouse application for running a real-time digital enterprise.

2. SAP Announces HANA 2 in-memory database platform

SAP unveiled SAP HANA 2, the next-generation of the SAP HANA platform. These announcements were made at SAP TechEd Barcelona held on Nov. 8–10.

3. What are the differences between SAP BW/4HANA and a traditional data warehouse?

Traditional data warehouses rely on a extract-transform-load model to centralize data before analysis. This results in expensive data movement and duplication, and introduces latency that means real-time analytics are impossible.

 SAP BW/4HANA enables a more flexible, real-time approach. As SAP HANA has proven, in-memory performance means that operational analytics can move back into the application, SAP S/4HANA is built around this, thus workload is moving from traditional data warehouses to SAP S/4HANA already. In addition, the vast amounts of data in data lakes and the Internet of Things will overwhelm a “centralize and duplicate” approach, so SAP BW/4HANA is designed to leverage smart data streaming (IoT), and smart data integration (to deliver a logical data warehouse approach).

4. SAP to acquire Altiscale

Big news in the SAP Ecosystem! SAP is acquiring Altiscale.Altiscale provides us the ability to take everything into a cloud, take all the data and bring it into real-time with SAP HANA.

Altiscale is a four-year-old startup that specializes in cloud-based Hadoop and Spark services. Altiscale differentiates itself from these low-cost providers by combining high-performance Hadoop and Spark services with integrated ingestion, transformation, and analytical capabilities.

5. Approyo Ranks No. 120 on the 2016 Inc. 5000

Inc. magazine ranked Approyo NO. 120 on its 35th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment— its independent small businesses. Companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, Pandora, Timberland, LinkedIn, Yelp, Zillow, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees of the Inc. 5000.

Are you ready to experience SAP HANA?
Don’t let the new digital world pass you by. Approyo can help your company deal with the changing world. Our SAP HANA and Big Data solutions address these important questions and more. Let us show you today! Set up a free consultation.

Last Minute Christmas Gifts for Techies

Some people are getting coal for Christmas this year.  But for those who have made the “nice” list... it’s a great year for some really cool gifts in technology.

If you’re looking to buy for the good little men and women into technology... I’d start with the basics.

This techie gift might sound unusual, but consider a new router/Wi-Fi device called EERO. Basically this is Mesh based Wi-Fi in the secured format that allows you to set up your Wi-Fi in your central location ….but get this.  You then plug in into a wall socket, and using the electricity in the wiring of your house, individual pods in those pods help you get a much better Wi-Fi signal in a more secure Wi-Fi signal.

Next one I really like is VR.  I'm all about virtual reality and there are number of different virtual reality solutions, from Google, Samsung and others. Now as much as I really like them, it's a new technology, so they're not the perfect virtual reality box or eyewear. But what they do is give you the belief that you are involved inside that game or the solution.

We're talking about Samsung’s VR solution, and Google VR - these are all great tools that you can use for virtual reality.

One of the gifts that every technologist must have is the Amazon echo, this comes in either a Dot, the original version or a wireless version called the Tap.  The Alexa app is fantastic. It has an ability to be able to utilize her for all the activities that you need such as your calendar, fantasy football or your day-to-day schedule. The voice recognition of Alexa is truly fantastic… with incredible third-party apps that are now available in the Amazon store there's freeware as well as paid apps that you can use with your Amazon Echo. It truly gives you the ability to have a voice automated assistant right there in your office, your kitchen, living room or your bedroom that will take care of your heat and cooling temperature settings and all other activities as programmed… truly a must have!

My last pick for this Christmas season is the new Nintendo called the NES Classic Edition.  It brings me back to my youth.  It comes preloaded with 23 of Nintendo’s most popular games including Mario and all the different activities that he had.  It’s definitely one of those fun toys to play on your phone or on a new handheld machine.  Forget Pokemon - we’re going with some major old school fun here.

Well, those are my choices for this year's Christmas gifts for us techies.  If you have one of us in your family, I highly recommend looking at them - I think there's some cool fun toys and remember Christmas is about giving!

God bless and Merry Christmas!

Unlocking New Business Potential: Real-World Business Scenarios for SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA’s combination of technology and simplicity provides improved performance in orders of magnitude.

Beyond the underlying changes in technologies powering this new wave of ERP with SAP S/4HANA, are new business capabilities that simply weren’t possible before. These are not merely incremental improvements based on processes that have existed before, but transformation change delivered to each department, unlocking new value to the business.

Here are four such real-world business scenarios:

1. Supply Chain
Legacy: In a legacy ERP solution, inventory information is distributed among multiple database tables. That may be fine when counting inventory at night in the warehouse. But a financial task called a Post Goods Issue (PGI) requires locking the tables so that the transactions can post. In a high volume environment, this locking means that everyone must wait in order to proceed. That can mean that truck drivers at a logistics center may be asked to wait several hours for the legacy database to complete a batch update.

S/4HANA: In SAP S/4HANA, the underlying data model is simplified and accelerated so that inventory data is processed in real-time – and truck drivers can get back on the road. The S/4HANA solution also has the intelligence
to propose solutions to supply chain problems – and then implement them automatically.

2. Sales & Marketing
Legacy: With legacy ERP, there is no way to monitor social media feeds without add-on solutions that wend their way through the system. As a result, sales and marketing professionals can’t follow their customers in real-time.

S/4HANA: With SAP S/4HANA, your sales and marketing professionals can pull data directly from social media channels and analyze it in real-time. So they can identify trends, respond immediately to customers, and create targeted promotions. And they can market to an audience of one.

3. Forecasting
Legacy: With legacy ERP, forecasts can take days to produce – by which time they are stale.

S/4HANA: With SAP S/4HANA, you can run infinite what-if simulations that combine internal and external data in real-time – and evaluate the impact of each scenario. As a result, you can be better positioned to capitalize on opportunities – and mitigate risk.

4. Finance
Legacy: With legacy ERP, closing the books on the quarter or the year can be a weeks-long process with dozens of tables required to manage financial data from business units, headquarters, and regions. The process can be prone to errors and delays.

S/4HANA: With SAP S/4HANA, all business units and regions are consolidated into a single table that can be viewed in real-time – any time. That presents the opportunity to generate an anytime, “soft close” that issues financial statements immediately so that the accounting department can focus more on business outcomes, then reporting.

Download our Case Study: Saving the Trucking Industry with SAP HANA

Are you ready to experience SAP HANA?
Don’t let the new digital world pass you by. Approyo can help your company deal with the changing world. Our SAP HANA and Big Data solutions address these important questions and more. Let us show you today! Set up a free consultation.