Following the trend toward digitalization requires a paradigm shift in data processing. SAP S/4HANA as a digital core can help companies in the cloud and on premise.
SAP S/4HANA is the abbreviation for SAP Business Suite for SAP HANA. It is the leading wave of SAP innovation for customers, similar to the transition from SAP R/2 to SAP R/3.
SAP S/4HANA is the next generation of the SAP Business Suite, launched in 2015. SAP S/4HANA is a holistic approach for both cloud and on-premise.
SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite. It is a new product that was built entirely on the SAP HANA platform and designed with SAP Fiori user experience (UX). SAP S/4HANA provides massive simplification (adaptation, data model, user experience, decisions, and processes) and innovations (Internet of Things, Big Data, enterprise networks, and mobile).
SAP S/4HANA is the standard solution for new customers and for new installations among existing customers.
The on-premise edition of SAP S/4HANA is already available for customers in all industries and all regions. It replaces and enhances the earlier SAP Business Suite Powered by SAP HANA.
SAP S/4HANA consists of a cloud and an on-premise edition.
SAP HANA and column-based data tables are the backbone of digital core.
The in-memory technology of SAP HANA follows a different approach: data is stored in columns, rendering indexes and aggregates superfluous. For goods movements, this means one can book only primary information with maximum scalability while avoiding database locks. Related secondary information such as aggregates and key performance indicators are determined on the fly. The in-memory technology is the most important feature of this system. This principle forms the basis of the digital core SAP S/4HANA. This way, companies can achieve immediate added value in logistics, for instance, with optimized net working capital, reduced buffer inventories, and real-time information about inventory balance and material flow.
SAP HANA brings a revolutionary and end-to-end IT infrastructure to our customers, as well as a paradigm shift in data processing. Individual departments profit from this, as they can take charge of the evaluation, simulation, and visualization of widely ramified information themselves directly on the digital core’s individual posting lines in real time. They can also adjust and implement new business models and processes quickly and flexibly with the new evaluation, simulation, and prediction features, enabling them to shape the transformation of their company themselves.
The key function of the digital core is to create a functioning digitalization-friendly IT environment. All its applications are interconnected, making it possible to access and use detailed data from anywhere within the company in real time without information loss. Together, digital core SAP S/4HANA and SAP HANA open the doors to sustainable end-to-end business transformations.
Customized products through digital core:
SAP S/4HANA as a digital core is the SAP technical and conceptual answer to the global digitalization trend. It began over twenty years ago with online banking, quickly followed by digitalized pictures and movies, a taxi company with no taxis, and a hotel supplier with no buildings. All these offers have one thing in common – they are fully built on the individual customer’s desires. From sports shoes in the color of your choice to customized designs on your motorcycle, increasingly more customers desire and expect products that meet their individual wishes. Business is distancing itself from B2B and B2B2C towards C2B – Consumer to Business. Customers with their preferences and demands are increasingly dominating the market. And whoever can best meet the customer’s demands – the individual demands – will come out on top. SAP S/4HANA as a digital core for business processes allows you to better tailor your products to individual customers. The resulting mass of data can be easily displayed, processed on the fly, and used for simulations and predictions to make informed decisions.
SAP S/4HANA Deployment Options
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, and SAP S/4HANA come with their own characteristics and serve different purposes.
SAP S/4HANA
SAP S/4HANA is SAP's on-premise offering that represents a next generation of business applications designed to help you run simple in the digital economy. You install the software locally on your machines. The release cycles for new software versions and feature packs are parallel to those for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, and similarly, you also decide whether and when to upgrade. The main difference, though, is that you instead of SAP take care of the software and the hardware updates for your system. SAP provides maintenance for the software.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enables a cloud experience with a functional scope and upgrade flexibility comparable to SAP S/4HANA. SAP releases a new version of the software every two years and provide seven years of maintenance for this release. SAP also plans to deliver feature packs every six months in the first two years of a release. When you decide to install a new release or a feature pack, SAP will do it for you, so there's little effort required from your end. SAP encourages you to stay current to take advantage of SAP's latest innovations as SAP delivers them.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is SAP's public cloud offering where SAP takes care of the system operation and maintenance for you. You don’t have to invest in any hardware and can immediately benefit from SAP's latest innovations released each month with minimal disruption to your business. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition comes with a smaller but ever-increasing functional scope as compared to SAP S/4HANA.
