Rearchitecting SAP BusinessObjects to the Cloud – Options for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise customers leading into 2027

The most recent SAP Analytics Business Intelligence Statement of Direction (SoD) clearly positions SAP Analytics Cloud as the strategic analytics platform. Yet the same SoD also outlines SAP’s commitment to existing SAP BusinessObjects customers. “We have delivered major innovations with the BI 4.3 release and the Support Pack 1, and will continue to enhance BI 4.3 on premise until the end of maintenance in 2027” 

The same Statement of Direction also gives more clarity for SAP BusinessObjects customers on the plans for SAP BusinessObjects when it reaches end of priority one support in 2027. The SoD states that the product will then evolve into a managed cloud subscription only, as part of the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, Private Cloud Edition (BOE PCE). Available today, BOE PCE allows more and more of our customers to shift their on-premise workloads to a managed cloud environment and will continue to evolve and be supported beyond 2027..  

The core message is that only companies that have migrated their on-premise BusinessObjects landscape to BOE PCE will continue to benefit from support and new functionalities beyond 2027. 

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise – End of Mainstream Maintenance 

2027 may seem a long way off but the end of mainstream maintenance for BOE4.3 on-premise is just 4 years away.  The diagram below explains that if you are still using BOE4.2 there will be a need to upgrade to BOE4.3 by the end of next year (2022) to remain fully supported as support will be given only for ‘Priority 1’ cases in 2023 and 2024.  

Options for BOBJ customers to remain in support beyond 2025. 

The opportunity is there for you 

These End of maintenance dates and the release of BOE PCE do however give a great opportunity to review your SAP Analytics strategy and consider rearchitecting SAP BusinessObjects to the Cloud.  

• Migrate BOE on-premise to BOE Private Cloud Edition
• Move Use cases to SAP Analytics Cloud
• Hybrid PCE & SAC  

Migrate to BOE Private Cloud Edition 

Considerations: 

• Users can continue to use existing content in the product your users know 
• BOE PCE is SAP Managed Cloud Infrastructure 
• BOE 4.3 is Support beyond 2027 on BOE PCE with Annual Service Packs 
• BOE PCE is the full SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Edition 
• BOE PCE can be hosted on hyperscaler of choice 
• Customers have the opportunity to “Right Size” the landscape & subscription licensing 
• Migration and Advisory services are not included to move existing on-premise content into the BusinessObjects PCE landscape.  
• BOE in PCE is installed on Linux so there are a few subtle configuration differences 

Move Use cases to SAP Analytics Cloud 

Considerations: 

• SAC is BI, Predictive & Planning in one place 
• SAC is where Innovation is happening and the strategic analytics tool from SAP 
• SAC is a SaaS with Subscription licensing 
• SAC has both Public and Private tenant options 
• SAC has Quarterly release cycle of new features deployed for you in your tenant 
• Augmented BI with Smart Features 
• SAC includes predefined content for many industries and lines of busines 
• There is no migration tool to move BOE content to SAC and depending on use case SAC may not be a 1:2:1 replacement for Web Intelligence. 

Hybrid PCE & SAC 

Considerations: 

• A hybrid approach can be the start of a cloud Analytics journey with SAP 
• You get the best of both Worlds for as long as you need. 
• A hybrid approach means you have SAP Managed Cloud Infrastructure for both applications and therefore reduced costs of maintenance and patching
• There is an opportunity to transition from Webi to SAC over time by changing the mix of licenses as you need 

Journey with SAP Analytics – One Price, One Cloud Contract 

If we step back and look at the costs of an on-premise software implementation, it not just simply the annual maintenance. It’s also Hardware, Hardware refreshes, software patching & upgrades but also people and processes.   

Business Objects Private Cloud Edition is a fully managed SaaS that can be wrapped up into one cloud contract alongside SAP Analytics Cloud with a mix of licenses that can flex over the duration of a contract using either Swap Rights or a Phased Agreement.   

This approach can enable companies to Right Size their current BOE implementation be that the number of licenses used and the BOE applications deployed. You can get the best of both applications for as long as you need and can transition from Webi to SAC by changing the mix of licenses over time. 

In conclusion 

There is an immediate opportunity for companies to reconsider their SAP Analytics strategy and avoid regret costs migrating from 4.2 to 4.3 on-premise in 2022 but consider a future hybrid landscape implementing SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, Private Cloud Edition and SAP Analytics Cloud, side by side. 

To learn more, join us on September 23 @ 11:00am ET | 5:00pm CET for our Q3 #askSAP Analytics call on “SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP02 + Options on the Journey to the Cloud”.

Link: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3374541/D5F4B69D895A186C5E0ABD1584EA0B75?partnerref=Afblog