In this course, we explore SAP Business Technology Platform and its capabilities.
The SAP Business Technology Platform is a versatile platform that enables businesses to innovate, integrate, and transform their operations in the digital age. With its array of tools and services, SAP BTP empowers organizations to surpass competitors, drive business value, and provide great customer experiences, all through one single platform.
SAP BTP provides a set of foundational services that include application development, automation, integration, data and analytics, and artificial intelligence. These services are designed to work seamlessly together, enabling businesses to build innovative applications, connect disparate systems, and derive actionable insights from their data.
What makes SAP BTP so powerful, is that it offers the tools to create personalized solutions. You can build your own applications, or you could extend and integrate existing applications and services, tailored to your individual business needs. Thanks to low-code /no-code solutions also offered through SAP BTP, business users are enabled to automate tasks, establish workflows, and craft their own customized interfaces.
Another notable feature of SAP BTP is its capacity to support both cloud-native and hybrid solutions of the cloud while also integrating with on-premise systems and data sources. This flexibility enables organizations to adapt to changing business needs and infrastructure requirements without compromising security or performance.
Application Development, Automation, Integration, Data and Analytics, and AI are foundational pillars of SAP BTP, providing organizations with the tools and capabilities they need to digitize their business processes, innovate rapidly, and deliver exceptional customer experiences in the digital age.
- Application Development
- This aspect of SAP BTP focuses on empowering developers to create, deploy, and manage applications efficiently. It offers various development tools and services to support different programming languages and development approaches. One of them is SAP Business Application Studio, an integrated development environment (IDE), designed for building and extending business applications on SAP Business Technology Platform. It offers developers a collaborative and cloud-based environment with pre-configured tools and services for application development, enabling faster and more efficient development cycles. Additionally, SAP BTP provides support for low-code/no-code development, enabling business users to create applications without extensive coding knowledge. For our bike shop example this could mean building an application, tailored to specific business needs, and providing the employees with a link for easy access. For more information, see: https://www.sap.com/products/business-technology-platform/low-code.html
- Automation
- Automation within SAP BTP enables organizations to streamline repetitive tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce manual intervention in business processes. This could include SAP Build Process Automation for automating routine tasks such as data entry or invoice processing. SAP BTP also offers workflow automation capabilities, allowing organizations to design, execute, and monitor complex business workflows with ease. By automating mundane tasks and workflows, organizations can free up resources, minimize errors, and focus on higher-value activities that drive business growth. If our bike shop wants to order new parts before they run out, it could automate this process. For example, as soon as the system detects that certain parts are low in stock, an order to the manufacturer could be triggered. For more information, see: https://www.sap.com/products/technology-platform/process-automation.html
- Integration
- Integration is a critical aspect of SAP BTP that enables seamless communication and data exchange between different systems, applications, and data sources. SAP BTP offers the SAP Integration Suite to facilitate connectivity across on-premise and cloud environments, as well as with external partners and customers. There are also resources for API management and pre-built business content for out-of-the-box solutions. With integration on SAP BTP, organizations can break down data silos, streamline business processes, and unlock the full potential of their digital ecosystem. If our bike shop needs to connect to the system of the manufacturer, it can either check for existing APIs in the SAP Business Accelerator Hub or create APIs with SAP Integration Suite. For more information, see: https://www.sap.com/products/integration.html
- Data and Analytics
- Data and analytics capabilities on SAP BTP empower organizations to derive insights from their data, make informed decisions, and drive business outcomes. This includes services for data warehousing, data modeling, and advanced analytics. SAP BTP also offers data visualization capabilities and machine learning services to enable organizations to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and opportunities in their data. By harnessing the power of data and analytics on SAP BTP, organizations can gain a competitive edge, optimize operations, and innovate with confidence. With suppliers, customers, and sales, our bike shop accumulates a lot of valuable data. This data could be stored, managed, and visualized with SAP BTP data management products such as SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, SAP HANA Cloud, and more. For more information, see: https://www.sap.com/products/analytics.html
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- SAP BTP offers a comprehensive set of AI technologies and services, for example SAP AI Business Services and Generative AI Hub. They enable organizations to harness the power of artificial intelligence to foster innovation, enhance efficiency, and provide added value to customers. By leveraging these AI capabilities, organizations can stay ahead of the competition and thrive in today's digital economy. Customers of our fictional bike shop can get personalized, AI-based recommendations to find the product that fits best and benefit from an enriched customer experience. For more information, see: https://www.sap.com/products/artificial-intelligence.html