In a busy week that began in Phoenix at ISM’s 100th annual conference (more on that conference next week), I was able, nonetheless, to get to SAPPHIRE in Orlando for the Day 2 Keynotes featuring Bernd Leukert & Steve Singh.
One of the major challenges facing the modern business is communication in all of its many forms including that which occurs between internal stakeholders, suppliers, systems and business partners. Understanding that an ability to process large volumes of business data is needed to make nuanced, real-time decisions, SAP devised S/4HANA, its modular cloud-based platform. Bernd Leukert, a member of SAP’s executive board and chief product officer, spoke at length about HANA on the mainstage at SAPPHIRE 2015 in Orlando earlier this week, noting that the HANA tool now has the ability to condense data down into a single flow that allows the software to propose solutions beyond traditional department barriers.
Leukert said that one customer described HANA as, essentially, an “MRI for the business.” The platform is designed expressly for data-driven businesses, and can support decisions without any latency in replicating the data to any other support system. This improves the response time of analytics (by a factor of seven, according to Leukert) and can increase the system’s throughput—all in a modular, yet integrated, suite that allows the user to “innovate at the edges” without losing the integrated process framework.
HANA, according to Leukert, allows enterprises to limit the amount of time spent on non-value-add tasks, as well as for managing by exception and taking proactive, instead of reactive, action in day-to-day operations. Leukert also said that SAP has eliminated functional redundancies in the HANA platform, which is mostly cloud-based even though SAP still provides on-premise installations for all 25 industries that they support.
HANA links to supply management solutions via Ariba’s Spend Visibility solution and is planned to support its Business Network. Speaking of networks….Leukert was joined on stage by SAP Business Network Group president Steve Singh (also CEO of Concur, which SAP acquired in late 2014) and expounded on one critical component of Leukert’s discussion: the concept of connectivity. Connectivity internally, connectivity to the outside world, connectivity with an ecosystem of partners, suppliers and technologies…these are all aspects that can help today’s organizations be more proactive in how they approach the future of commerce and greater business management.
Using a similar example to last month’s keynote address at Concur’s Fusion event in San Francisco (click to see our coverage), Singh described a holistic, fully-automated process for airplane repair utilizing the capabilities of Ariba (automatically sourcing components and parts), Fieldglass (engaging contingent repair teams), and Concur (booking, managing and reconciling any business travel). This “full circle” of automation, of which the network manages in an intelligent manner and in real-time, is the “future of the business world,” according to Singh.
“When networks are connected, they can drive value automatically and on the enterprise’s behalf,” he said. “That’s the world that we see…and that’s the world we are trying to create.”
Singh’s keynote also included exciting news for one leg of the SAP Business Network, Concur. Singh highlighted advancements made to the solution’s risk management platform, which will expand its capabilities with the power of the network’s connectivity. Traversing beyond simple travel data (costs, flight info, etc.), the revamped risk management tool provides intelligence regarding the duty of care of an enterprise’s business travelers. Pulling up a “travel risk map,” Singh walked the audience through an example of a “Level One” travel incident (earthquake, tornado, other natural disaster, etc.) in Hawaii. The system indicated that twelve employees were in the affected area, with the Concur travel risk management program allowing users to contact the individuals and confirm their safety. With business travel becoming more and more of a critical component of the average enterprise, this platform is ideal for moving beyond mere cost and expense data.
Singh concluded by reiterating SAPPHIRE’s main theme: running “simple” by strengthening internal collaboration and connecting to an ecosystem via business networks. “Folks, it’s time to connect,” Singh said. “It’s time to run simple.”
Connecting the different networks (and capabilities) of Ariba, Fieldglass, and Concur will not, of course, be simple. But, if the vision can be realized in the near-term, this network will serve as one clear path to the future of the business world..
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