Goodbye Isolated Solutions

The SAP Business Technology Platform as an all-round solution

Modern Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings are a future-proof and agile option for digitization projects of companies. The SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) can be used to demonstrate these advantages and shed light on them. In the course of business transformation processes, employees are often unsettled and fear that routines and workflows will become more complex and time-consuming as a result of digitization. However, digitizing processes does not mean simply pushing activities into virtual space. Instead, more and more midsize and small companies are already recognizing the need for a holistic corporate and digitization strategy.

Business analytics, BI platforms, RPA, AI and other technical solutions can be used to create comprehensive analyses, automate processes and save costs. Until now, small and medium-sized enterprises have been dominated by the implementation of individual applications for specific tasks in different areas, which are thus excellently suited to the respective challenge, but far too often result in isolated solutions due to a lack of interfaces and connectivity.

In the long term, however, potential that could be created and exploited through company-wide data traffic and integrating IT solutions is falling by the wayside. Medium-sized companies in particular have high expectations of digitization. Investments need to be well considered and should pay off as quickly as possible. In order to implement digital tools optimally, it is therefore worth working with a suitable IT partner. Cloud platforms such as the SAP Business Technology Platform offer the advantage of being able to introduce an extension environment without a great deal of implementation effort, which can be adapted cost-effectively and flexibly to the individual needs and innovations in the company.

Clean and flexible

The BTP is a platform bundled from various SAP cloud services, with which on-premises and cloud-native services are combined in a uniform environment. Figuratively speaking, the Business Technology Platform is the foundation on which the most diverse applications are built on top of each other like building blocks, creating unique, needs-based structures. The foundation remains unchanged. The "keep the core clean" principle means that maintenance and changes to the ERP system require less effort, as no cascade of necessary readjustments is triggered throughout the system. Customer-specific adjustments and enhancements are not implemented in the ERP system, but rather plugged onto the building board like building blocks. Based on this technical foundation, BTP is transformed from a data hub in the cloud to a multifunctional IT solution thanks to the concept of bimodal IT. The IT department is split into two different areas, maintenance and servicing as well as development and innovation.

For BTP, this results in essential functionalities: Database and data management for an enterprise-wide overview in real time; integration as well as extension functions for connecting cloud and on-premises applications; analytics solutions for fast evaluations and extensive knowledge; and intelligent technologies for even more innovations.

Via a central launchpad, users can quickly access the data, applications or services of different systems without having to switch between the systems. This unifying element allows (custom) applications and services to be developed across the enterprise on one platform and connected without the need for a heterogeneous system landscape. This enables complete real-time insights into processes. There are no limits to the potential for making business processes more efficient and gaining new insights through analytics, thanks to the ability to develop and implement new services on the BTP, which has rarely been used before.

Platforms such as SAP BTP can play a key role in making companies more resilient. Most importantly, they pave the way to a future where standalone solutions are replaced by an enterprise-wide IT infrastructure. This enables holistic insights and provides planning capabilities that allow companies to analyze impacts on their talent pool, cash flow, inventory and customer demand, and develop contingency plans. When choosing an IT solution, it is therefore worthwhile for companies of all sizes to consider cloud platforms. IT partners such as NTT Data Business Solutions support businesses with individual implementations.