It has been a hot minute since we were able to attend events in person! I’m so excited to share that SAP Sapphire 2022 is back on with in-person experiences in Orlando and around the globe, as well as an option to attend virtually.
To help you get ready for Sapphire, I’ll go through four SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) use cases to showcase SAP BTP. I’ll also explain how these use cases can bring value to your organization by bringing together data management, analytics, process automation, and integration in one, unified environment.
A use case is a set of steps and description on how to achieve certain business value. In short, how to ‘use’ the technology and work process to prove a ‘case’ of business value. Use cases are built to enable SAP customers – from business users to developers alike – with customer-proven, business outcome-driven examples to accelerate the understanding and adoption of the SAP BTP.
Since I am an avid baker, I compare use cases to all the recipes in the cookbook:
For the times that you don’t feel like making cookies from scratch, there are pre-made frozen dough types you can get from the store and put straight into the oven. Think of SAP’s business content as pre-made doughs, that allow users to utilize a use case out of the box with simple steps. These contents also can be adapted and enhanced by the user, just like how you can top those pre-made cookies with your icing of choice! Here’s my colleague Mark Wright’s blog with more details on SAP Business Content.
Many of SAP BTP are already showcased on sap.com, but I am going to walk through four particular use cases that we have identified as priority use cases. I believe these four (and more to come throughout the year) are deserving of special emphasis as:
As I walk through the four use cases in this blog and show you the photos of cookies (i.e., potential business values), you can access the use case by clicking its name. Then you will find the corresponding missions at the end of the page. I highly suggest you get your hands on them to try them out, or even just to view the different steps involved to gain a further understanding. I will also provide links to Sapphire sessions where more context about these use cases will be provided, so make sure to add them to your schedule.
It’s no secret that the Office of the CFO needs to have a full picture of the organization and supports planning with data-driven, actionable insights. This support ranges from day-to-day operation decisions to long-term strategy directions; However, most of the time it’s easier said than done. Organizations end up spending a tremendous amount of time updating financial data and plans, while dealing with challenges that arise from poor communication between departments. This inevitably impacts the agility and reactivity of organizations to market changes.
To help the office of the Chief Financial Officer achieve accurate and efficient financial planning, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud provide a unified solution to increase agility and performance, while SAP Integration Suite provides cross-department and external data connectivity. By aligning actuals analysis with forecasts and planning capabilities, strategy and operations can maximize results and drive accuracy.
In addition, there are Best Practice Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA Content, which is available for free, together with a free video series on implementation guidance from SAP’s Best Practice team.
Organizations are recognizing the importance of rapid digitization of document and processes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research by PwC on automating analytics found that even the most rudimentary AI-based extraction techniques can save businesses 30-40% of the hours typically spent on such processes.
Think about your own business, and how many different PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and other forms of documentations you need to process manually, and suddenly PwC’s estimate on hours saved doesn’t sound farfetched all. From email attachments to invoices, resumes, delivery notes, and IT service tickets, processing automation, eliminating manual document processing, and optimizing productivity, the potential of this use case is expansive.
By freeing up valuable employees to focus on more important work, SAP Process Automation with power of Artificial Intelligence technologies allows users to improve operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks. Furthermore, if your business already has investments in SAP, SAP Process Automation provides automation specifically built for SAP applications, including proprietary SAP UI connectors.
Silos are everywhere. API management refers to the process of creating, publishing, and managing API connections between applications and systems across the enterprise. SAP BTP provides organizations with a scalable, unified platform to share and socialize their API configurations while controlling access, collecting, and analyzing usage statistics, and enforcing associated security policies. API-based integration is a core component of SAP Integration Suite that offers a broad range of integration styles.
By creating simple, connected experiences for your consumers, partners, and employees, unlocked insights, and flexibility to support new opportunities and innovations can increase the business potential. SAP also provides SAP API Business Hub for technical users to explore, discover, and consume different APIs from SAP and SAP Partners so the user has an option to take advantage of these pre-existing contents.
This type of integration and breaking down the silos is even more important when it comes to your customer data. If your customer data exists in multiple places, it becomes complicated and time-consuming to analyze this data to make proactive decisions. Utilizing SAP BTP Integration solutions as well as SAP CX and CRM solutions, organizations can centralize customer data across channels to analyze in depth and quickly innovate.
Procurement leaders are realizing the value of data for procurement. According to Accenture's research, the key has become "to harness insights from internal and external data sources”. Using market insights, data, and predictive analytics is becoming a necessary component for providing visibility into a business’ procurement operations to increase time to value, saving opportunities, and supply chain transparency.
To future-proof procurement processes, SAP Ariba procurement process can leverage the power of SAP BTP and improve spend & process visibility, gaining insights and new opportunities. SAP Analytics Cloud delivers the analytical tools and layer by providing real-time total spend insights into departments, spend categories, and suppliers. Furthermore, SAP BTP Workflow Management allows you to build with low-code/no-code, on top of the out-of-the-box integration contents to efficiently configure integration and adopt with minimal efforts.
Also, if you’re in the mood for pre-made cookies, SAP has built Ariba Spend Analysis package for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud to provide a visualization extension of SAP Ariba Spend Analysis data; as well as Ariba Integration with S/4HANA Cloud business contents so you can quick-start these use cases and start creating business value with best time-to-value.
Hope you found these four SAP BTP use cases valuable and delicious. Now it’s time for you to try them out and share your favourite recipes/use cases!
We are so excited to see you at SAP Sapphire Orlando 2022 and come say hi on the show floor. Also make sure to join the BTP Keynote on May 10th.
To help you get ready for Sapphire, I’ll go through four SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) use cases to showcase SAP BTP. I’ll also explain how these use cases can bring value to your organization by bringing together data management, analytics, process automation, and integration in one, unified environment.
What is a Use Case? What is it for?
A use case is a set of steps and description on how to achieve certain business value. In short, how to ‘use’ the technology and work process to prove a ‘case’ of business value. Use cases are built to enable SAP customers – from business users to developers alike – with customer-proven, business outcome-driven examples to accelerate the understanding and adoption of the SAP BTP.
Since I am an avid baker, I compare use cases to all the recipes in the cookbook:
For the times that you don’t feel like making cookies from scratch, there are pre-made frozen dough types you can get from the store and put straight into the oven. Think of SAP’s business content as pre-made doughs, that allow users to utilize a use case out of the box with simple steps. These contents also can be adapted and enhanced by the user, just like how you can top those pre-made cookies with your icing of choice! Here’s my colleague Mark Wright’s blog with more details on SAP Business Content.
What this Blog will Cover
Many of SAP BTP are already showcased on sap.com, but I am going to walk through four particular use cases that we have identified as priority use cases. I believe these four (and more to come throughout the year) are deserving of special emphasis as:
- These use cases align to what SAP is striving to drive for customers
- Existing SAP customers have utilized these use cases already and harvested quantifiable business outcomes
- These use cases can be applied to many current & future SAP customers
As I walk through the four use cases in this blog and show you the photos of cookies (i.e., potential business values), you can access the use case by clicking its name. Then you will find the corresponding missions at the end of the page. I highly suggest you get your hands on them to try them out, or even just to view the different steps involved to gain a further understanding. I will also provide links to Sapphire sessions where more context about these use cases will be provided, so make sure to add them to your schedule.
Use Case #1. Create a unified vision with Operational and Strategic Financial Planning and Analysis
It’s no secret that the Office of the CFO needs to have a full picture of the organization and supports planning with data-driven, actionable insights. This support ranges from day-to-day operation decisions to long-term strategy directions; However, most of the time it’s easier said than done. Organizations end up spending a tremendous amount of time updating financial data and plans, while dealing with challenges that arise from poor communication between departments. This inevitably impacts the agility and reactivity of organizations to market changes.
To help the office of the Chief Financial Officer achieve accurate and efficient financial planning, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud provide a unified solution to increase agility and performance, while SAP Integration Suite provides cross-department and external data connectivity. By aligning actuals analysis with forecasts and planning capabilities, strategy and operations can maximize results and drive accuracy.
In addition, there are Best Practice Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA Content, which is available for free, together with a free video series on implementation guidance from SAP’s Best Practice team.
To learn more about this Use Case at Sapphire…
 | Optimize Your Top Line and Bottom Line with Finance Innovations (Customer: Mohawk) Tuesday, May 10th 1:00 p.m. |
| Deliver Business-Friendly Analytics Across Your Organization Tuesday, May 10th, 3:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. |
Use Case #2. Invoice Processing and Approval using SAP Process Automation
Organizations are recognizing the importance of rapid digitization of document and processes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research by PwC on automating analytics found that even the most rudimentary AI-based extraction techniques can save businesses 30-40% of the hours typically spent on such processes.
Think about your own business, and how many different PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and other forms of documentations you need to process manually, and suddenly PwC’s estimate on hours saved doesn’t sound farfetched all. From email attachments to invoices, resumes, delivery notes, and IT service tickets, processing automation, eliminating manual document processing, and optimizing productivity, the potential of this use case is expansive.
By freeing up valuable employees to focus on more important work, SAP Process Automation with power of Artificial Intelligence technologies allows users to improve operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks. Furthermore, if your business already has investments in SAP, SAP Process Automation provides automation specifically built for SAP applications, including proprietary SAP UI connectors.
To learn more about this Use Case at Sapphire…
| Drive Business Efficiency Through Process Automation Tuesday, May 10th, 11:00 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. |
| Simplify and Automate Business Processes with Prebuilt Content Wednesday, May 11th 2:30 p.m. |
| Turn Customers into Ambassadors with App Development and AI Innovations Wednesday, May 11th, 2:00 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. |
Use Case #3. Create Simple, Connected Experiences with API-based Integration
Silos are everywhere. API management refers to the process of creating, publishing, and managing API connections between applications and systems across the enterprise. SAP BTP provides organizations with a scalable, unified platform to share and socialize their API configurations while controlling access, collecting, and analyzing usage statistics, and enforcing associated security policies. API-based integration is a core component of SAP Integration Suite that offers a broad range of integration styles.
By creating simple, connected experiences for your consumers, partners, and employees, unlocked insights, and flexibility to support new opportunities and innovations can increase the business potential. SAP also provides SAP API Business Hub for technical users to explore, discover, and consume different APIs from SAP and SAP Partners so the user has an option to take advantage of these pre-existing contents.
This type of integration and breaking down the silos is even more important when it comes to your customer data. If your customer data exists in multiple places, it becomes complicated and time-consuming to analyze this data to make proactive decisions. Utilizing SAP BTP Integration solutions as well as SAP CX and CRM solutions, organizations can centralize customer data across channels to analyze in depth and quickly innovate.
To learn more about this Use Case at Sapphire…
| Integrate Your ERP and E-Commerce Systems to Boost Profits and Market Share Tuesday, May 10th, 11:00 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. |
| Integrate for True Business Insights and Delightful Fan Experiences Wednesday, May 11th, 1:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m. |
Use Case #4. Gain Real-Time Visibility into SAP Ariba Procurement Operations
Procurement leaders are realizing the value of data for procurement. According to Accenture's research, the key has become "to harness insights from internal and external data sources”. Using market insights, data, and predictive analytics is becoming a necessary component for providing visibility into a business’ procurement operations to increase time to value, saving opportunities, and supply chain transparency.
To future-proof procurement processes, SAP Ariba procurement process can leverage the power of SAP BTP and improve spend & process visibility, gaining insights and new opportunities. SAP Analytics Cloud delivers the analytical tools and layer by providing real-time total spend insights into departments, spend categories, and suppliers. Furthermore, SAP BTP Workflow Management allows you to build with low-code/no-code, on top of the out-of-the-box integration contents to efficiently configure integration and adopt with minimal efforts.
Also, if you’re in the mood for pre-made cookies, SAP has built Ariba Spend Analysis package for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud to provide a visualization extension of SAP Ariba Spend Analysis data; as well as Ariba Integration with S/4HANA Cloud business contents so you can quick-start these use cases and start creating business value with best time-to-value.
To learn more about this Use Case at Sapphire…
| Jump-Start Your Analytics with Prebuilt Business Content Wednesday, May 11th, 2:30 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. |
Other BTP-related Sessions/Events you can’t miss:
Hope you found these four SAP BTP use cases valuable and delicious. Now it’s time for you to try them out and share your favourite recipes/use cases!
We are so excited to see you at SAP Sapphire Orlando 2022 and come say hi on the show floor. Also make sure to join the BTP Keynote on May 10th.
 | Demo Stations Get Started with SAP BTP | SAP Discovery Center | Multi-Cloud Strategy |
 | Expert Bar & Tables General BTP Q&A – What is BTP? | Meet Experts |
 | Showcase SAP Runs SAP Stories on Virtual Reality |
- SAP Managed Tags:
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