Part One in a series of four on Bridging the Insights Gap with SAP BW/4HANA. Read Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.
Digital is the new reality. Digital transformation is disrupting the way we live and work—and crucially, the ability of your business to survive in the digital age. Surviving and thriving in today’s digital economy requires a new kind of business. But what do I mean by that? In practice, it means making the transition from a data-driven approach to decision making to an insights-driven one.
At least
40% of all businesses are predicted to fail in the next 10 years if they don’t figure out how to accommodate new technologies. Fortunately, with SAP BW/4HANA, we provide a packaged data warehousing solution for the digital enterprise so companies can make that change.
A New Kind of Company
SAP commissioned global research consultants Forrester to research and develop thought leadership strategies focused on bridging the gap between data-driven and insights-driven organizations. In this
study, Forrester advocates for a new approach to using business data—that of becoming an insights-driven business.
According to Forrester, insights-driven businesses:
- Create models derived from insight and application through software, with systematic processes to capture insight.
- Embrace the idea that true insights are actionable, not pieces of information provided by their data. That information becomes insight when it is used to inform business decisions and processes.
Insights-driven public companies are growing by an average of 27% annually and it is projected that the collective revenues of the top 30 insights-driven companies will be $1.8 trillion in 2021¹
More Data, More Insight?
Your organization, like many today, may feel like it’s drowning in data—but how much of that data provides insight you can use? Data analysis is behind the majority of businesses decisions, but more leverage of data is vital to compete effectively. In my experience, too many enterprises gather huge volumes of data yet fail to capitalize on the information readily available to them. And that’s often due to fragmentation within their technology or organization as a whole.
The good news is that central, agile data warehousing helps to speed up processes and provide trusted, actionable insights.
A Three-Step Process to Bridge Data Insights Gap
SAP BW/4HANA offers a three-step process to bridge the data insights gap which:
- Simplifies the provision of timely business insights. Data is managed efficiently and with agility, while live and immediate insights are deployed at scale, on-premise, or in the cloud.
- Capitalizes on the full value of the data available. Inconsistent data quality and disparate data sources hinder the best efforts to make sense of ever increasing amounts of data. SAP BW/4HANA enables 360° insights across SAP and third-party line of business applications and ensures that the digitization of the business is driven with a true Big Data warehouse.
- Innovates with one trusted source for all insights. Business adoption is maximized with modern analytics that deliver analytical applications tailored to the unique requirements of your organisation. Business strategy is transformed with both integrated and automated machine learning, providing actionable and trusted insights.
Re-imagining Your Business with SAP BW/4HANA
SAP BW/4HANA is a key strategic offering from SAP that customers can rely on, and it provides a natural extension to SAP S/4HANA. Data silos are also disrupted with enterprise data warehousing, ensuring that all data is interpreted within the context of your overall business strategy. Effective business decisions can’t be made in isolation and the elimination of silos ensures that transactional data is placed into a broader business context.
By offering pre-packaged, best practice functionality and business content, together with best-of-breed integration with SAP applications, SAP BW/4HANA’s packaged data warehousing solution enables insights driven leadership and innovation.
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¹How To Become An Insights-Driven Business, a January 2018 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SAP
