By Nadine Leber, Expedition PR
Last month, enterprise software market leader SAP AG hosted its annual conference SAPPHIRE® NOW in conjunction with the ASUG Annual Conference to showcase the latest technology trends and solutions to customers and partners. This year’s conference agenda had a focus on SAP HANA, the company’s in-memory platform that allows to analyze big data at the speed of thought and drive rapid innovation. Since its launch in 2011, SAP HANA has become the fastest-growing product in the company’s history. Positioned as a re-imagined platform for real-time business, SAP HANA created new opportunities for companies to use analytics, the cloud and mobile solutions for their business. „Let´s be clear on HANA, it not only represents the intellectual renewal of SAP, it is now the platform for every single thing SAP will do moving forward, stated Co-CEO Bill McDermott in his keynote at SAPPHIRE NOW.
Following is a quick recap of the key trends for analytics, cloud, mobility as well as database and technology that were presented during the conference.
ANALYTICS
The benefits of using business analytics are well known. They help companies get more transparency across the entire organization and provide the insights to improve operations. Greta Roberts, CEO of Talent Analytics stated: „Analytics ties to the bottom line all across the board. You get access to information, you see patterns you weren´t able to see before and can make decisions based on that.“
In addition to the 360° degree view, new business intelligence software solutions also provide self-service access to data, create more efficient processes and allow joint decision making. SAP’s business analytics solutions provide real-time insights into big data, while offering a simple and flexible configuration.
CLOUD
„On-demand and cloud is mainly about providing a world class service over the internet, 7 by 24 hours, and address the business needs of our customers and with a couple of different criteria than we know it from the on-premise world,“ said Peter Lorenz, EVP and Corporate Officer during his presentation. Cloud computing solutions offer more flexibility and lower operational costs. They also provide a fast and more effective way for transferring data and collaborate with colleagues and customers. SAP offers a hybrid approach allowing companies to combine and connect their on-demand and on-premise applications.
DATABASE and TECHNOLOGY
Steve Lucas, EVP & GM Global Database & Technology at SAP, presented the 3 V´s of big data: volume, velocity and variety. The ability totransfer and analyze masses of digital data creates billions of valuable customer insights. These insights help companies to find the best way to engage with their customers. By transforming big data quickly into insights, the SAP HANA platform enhances the communication between customers and a company’s employees. SAP’s CMO Jonathan Becher stated: „We want to help our customers improve their customers´ experiences.“ More and more customers are sharing their experiences via social media channels. SAP HANA helps to analyze the customers’ opinions and identifies their real needs. SAP HANA allows companies to store and optimize data, analyze data in real time and understand what that data means for the business to make predictions.
MOBILITY
In the post-PC area it is essential for companies to connect with the mobile consumer. This means finding end-to-end solutions that can be extended to all types of mobile devices. SAP’s mobile solutions provide a sustainable and secure environment for business transactions. SAP works with Mocana to provide the highest mobile app security. The SAP Mobile App Advisor helps find the right mobile app for any kind of businesses. “We are on a mission to renew the experience across all of our applications. Users demand simplicity and ease of use, and SAP Fiori brings this experience to our customers,” concluded SAP’s CTO and Executive Board Member Vishal Sikka.
For more information go to the SAPPHIRE Now site