SAP Business Technology Platform: More than Just a Data Hub

There are plenty of similarities between the platform and a large construction kit. SAP BTP represents the base plate, to which ready-made or specially constructed components can be attached. Step by step, this will produce a unique structure comprising different applications and services to match all types of corporate objectives. This approach allows the principle of ‘keeping the core clean’ to be realized in the company’s own IT and extensions to be developed outside the ERP system. To rephrase it: The idea is not to operate on the heart but on the attached limbs instead, actually doing so more quickly and sustainably. One of the benefits is that maintenance of the ERP system is straightforward – without it having unwanted impacts on the surrounding applications. This approach, namely using the ERP system as much as possible in the standard version and implementing the specific customer requirements around the core, also supports the bimodal IT concept. In this concept, a company’s IT department is divided into two sections: Service & Maintenance and Development & Innovation.

SAP already promoted this strategy with the SAP Cloud Platform and intensified it further with its conversion into the more advanced SAP BTP. You can tell that SAP BTP is far more than just a data hub in a cloud from the four basic functional capabilities:

The greatest strength of SAP BTP lies in the fact that (customer-specific) services and applications are developed and linked across the company on one platform and there is no need to manage heterogeneous system environments to build an IT landscape that fulfills all the company’s requirements. Besides the simple integration of the numerous required SAP services (such as the SAP Integration Suite that has gained a Gartner award), third-party applications can be connected up as well. One example is the cloud computing platform Microsoft Azure and its services, which our Microsoft experts can connect to SAP systems via SAP BTP. This flexible configuration and use of the platform and of custom services to match specific requirements provide genuine added value to the entire company through more efficient and agile process and data flows.

Unprecedented User-friendliness

The gain in process flow efficiency will also be noticeable to the users. SAP BTP offers a central launchpad (either directly via BTP or via the Fiori Launchpad) for the different applications. Users will frequently not even be aware of which systems they are currently working in – the laborious switching between different URLs to log in is a thing of the past. So is the need for a VPN connection when out of the office as this can be replaced by a single-sign-on. These are two benefits that take companies a big step closer to the reality of ‘New Work’.

There are many convincing arguments for SAP BTP, including continual optimizations, no need for costly, lengthy implementation projects, enhanced cost transparency, easily scalable server capacities, and usability. That said, there is one potential that has so far not been sufficiently realized: the development and implementation of new, customer-specific services on SAP BTP. These include IoT, AI, chatbots, and side-by-side developments generally that complement and optimize business processes – there are no limits to the possibilities on the way to a state-of-the-art system.

To enable these diverse application options to be used in a purposeful and uncomplicated manner in a business, NTT DATA Business Solutions has expanded its team of SAP BTP consultants and developers to over 100, the areas covered ranging from security, integration, and development to machine learning, IoT, and analytics.

This much is clear: With proper consulting, SAP BTP has the potential of becoming a long-term reliable companion for any company on its corporate journey.