Being more than just a database, SAP HANA delivers new capabilities combined with new levels of performance that allow you to build innovative solutions to capture great business value, to evolve your business model and run your business in real real-time. At the same time, in-memory technology with SAP HANA lets you fundamentally simplify your IT in six areas: 1) Data footprint, 2) processes and operations, 3) landscape, 4) setup, 5) development and 6) user experience. You’ve heard this too often from SAP and rather want to know what SAP customers have to say about this? Well, here you go.
- Simpler data footprint: Running the database in a columnar design in-memory gives you amazingly fast queries which allows to omit/reduce aggregates and indices and allows for smarter compression which allows to shrink your data volume by a factor 10-30. Quick operational reporting in your system of record avoids data duplication into a reporting server. So overall you have much less data to worry about, as many redundancies are avoided. The simplified data model is easier to change. Customers like Aareal Bank, ASE Korea and Molson Coors have experienced dramatically reduced database sizes by 80% and more.
- Simpler processes and operation: From a people perspective there is less integration related work to do, as you avoid data duplication into an operational reporting server, you do not spent time on optimizing data base indices and do not think about and develop new reporting optimized data structures for reporting. All information in the original transactional data can be reported on. Without additional effort. HR Group, Migros and neckermann.at for instance realized simplified IT operations because of eliminated data redundancy, simpler data models and an integrated environment.
- Simpler landscape: You can use HANA just as a database, this allows you to start using HANA without disruption. However, SAP HANA is rather a platform, which includes rich capabilities that allows you to run very powerful solutions on one system, that otherwise would require many specialized servers for text analysis, prediction and planning – just to name a few. Güdel, Kardinal Schwarzenberg Hospitals and Pacific Drilling have reduced their TCO significantly through consolidated system landscapes.
- Simpler setup: SAP HANA provides you with choices. Appliance approach for the quickest time-to value with preconfigured and preinstalled HANA software on ready to use hardware. The more flexible and cost efficient reuse with SAP HANA Tailored Data Center integration. Or if you want to leverage the cloud there are multiple offerings like SAP HANA as a service towards a managed systems approach. For instance, Geberit and Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen were able to reuse their existing IT infrastructure by deploying SAP HANA using the Tailored Data Center Integration concept with greatly simplified installation, administration and maintenance.
- Simpler code and application development: This reiterates the first three bullets in the context of building new solutions. This development process gets simplified as you using a simplified data model and leveraging the business function/analytics/predictive libraries reduces the complexity of the software and network traffic when pushing code down into the database. For Deloitte it is a strategic advantage to create solutions in hours and days that used to take weeks and months, and Molson Coors was able to develop new solutions twice as fast. Both companies also reduced their TCO this way.
- Simpler user experience: Combining this powerful solutions together with a Fiori UX into a powerful user experience provides end-users what they need and delivers reporting data without delay. At Unilever for instance multiple users asked for more and more HANA empowered solutions because they were so delighted them. The NBA enhanced their fan experience by providing instant access to all their statistics and at 1899 Hoffenheim and Nongfu Spring users were able to use their applications right away without substantial training.
Going forward I’m convinced that all customers embarking on SAP HANA will experience this simplification of IT while leveraging the business value and innovation possible with SAP HANA. This will also have impact on the cost equation as the Forrester TEI study has shown.
