Community Short Facts - March 2023

msg employs 10,000 people for the first time

As of January 2023, 10,000 employees work for the msg group of companies worldwide. The consulting and IT company was founded on January 31, 1980, and its turnover amounts to 1.2 billion euros (as of 2021). According to Zehetmaier, CEO, the sustainable growth is due to the company's industry focus, a continuous increase in competent employees and specialized companies, as well as sustainable entrepreneurial decisions. As an independent group of companies, msg supports customers in their digital transformation. The range of different industry and topic focuses is covered by independent companies within the group of companies. 

“For all our size, our family corporate culture is and remains the basis of our success.“

Dr. Jürgen Zehetmaier,
Chairman of the Management Board, msg

No-code test automation of the future

Tricentis, a testing platform for modern cloud and enterprise applications, introduces Tricentis Test Automation. The cloud-based test automation solution simplifies test creation and orchestration, as well as scalable test execution. As a result, it facilitates collaboration between quality assurance (QA) teams and their internal and external stakeholders, enabling faster, higher-quality and more stable delivery of web-based applications and business processes. 

AI gains importance in DevOps

According to a Tricentis study, almost 90 percent of companies see significant potential for AI in the DevOps area. The new technology enables employees to increase their efficiency and defy the shortage of skilled workers. Testing is seen as the most promising area of application. Since AI is able to recognize patterns in large data sets, it helps employees, for example, to optimize testing processes and to focus specifically on high-risk areas. Intelligent algorithms come into their own particularly in test case maintenance: They can independently identify and fix problems and significantly reduce effort. As a result, DevOps teams gain more time for more strategically important tasks. AI also increases security by helping to identify and address potential problems at an early stage of development.

TEAG relies on SAP Cloud for digital transformation

In the future, TEAG Thüringer Energie will rely on the cloud for its digital transformation and use S/4 Hana Utilities with the goal of significantly simplified IT that flexibly supports all departments in all market roles and can meet both market dynamics and efficiency requirements. If requirements change and new functionalities are needed, these can be added from an ever-growing ecosystem of SAP and partner solutions, the Industry Cloud. The service continues to improve. To this end, the software also draws on artificial intelligence as well as Robotic Process Automation and improves the customer experience. 

FIS introduces Marketing Cloud at Walter Meier

FIS Informationssysteme und Consulting has successfully implemented the SAP Marketing Cloud at the Swiss company Walter Meier. With it, the machine importer is now automating various marketing processes and significantly reducing administrative work. After almost six months of preparation, FIS began the start-up phase of SAP Marketing Cloud at Walter Meier in December last year. Since then, the Swiss company has been using the product for automated newsletter dispatch. Walter Meier reaches 5000 subscribers every three to four weeks. With SAP Marketing Cloud, Walter Meier is now able to automate standardized processes in marketing and thus reduce the manual effort of its employees. 

Automation thanks to smart contracts?

Smart contracts are based on blockchain technology and reduce administrative efforts for customers and service providers in the building management process. The market research company Lünendonk & Hossenfelder took this as an opportunity to analyze the functionality, advantages, challenges as well as the maturity level of the industry in cooperation with the facility services provider Spie. Smart contracts map interrelated processes and service specifications, check their conditions independently, and execute predefined actions in an appropriately automated manner. In doing so, smart contracts use the positive characteristics of blockchain technology: transparency, tamper-proofness, autonomy and reliability. There are numerous possible applications in facility management and corporate real estate management: Tracking and attribution of maintenance and repair activities, linking of service and payment, documentation of services rendered, or usage-based billing of parking spaces. 

Milestone through integration in SAP Store

Neobrain, which specializes in the use of artificial intelligence for skills management and workforce planning, has been added to SAP Store, the marketplace of SAP and its partners. For the integration and the adaptation to the requirements of the SAP Store, Neobrain was accompanied by the experts of Clap Partner. Clap Partner is a certified SAP Integrator and Gold Partner. 

New Toolchain Integration for SAP Cloud ALM in Asia

Galileo Group, a software provider of both turnkey integrations of SAP-centric IT factories and release, change and transport management for SAP solutions, and Xenotive, an Asia-based implementation provider of toolchain integration for Cloud ALM and SAP Hybrid IT Factory Management, have signed a partnership agreement. Xenotive's IT consultants bring their technological expertise and extensive experience in implementing Change Request Management with Solution Manager, Focused Build for Solution Manager, Service-Now, Jira, and Azure DevOps to the partnership. They also focus on implementing and operating SAP solutions with Cloud ALM. Xenotive works for startups, globally recognized Fortune 500 companies, and Asian companies that use SAP solutions. Software provider Galileo Group's Conigma Connect no-code integration platform enables the integration of SAP and third-party tools in a heterogeneous IT factory focused on SAP solutions. This platform works with S/4 Hana as well as Solution Manager and Cloud ALM. It also integrates common third-party tools in a heterogeneous IT factory for SAP solutions.

New partnership supports S/4 transformation

To support municipalities in their conversion to S/4 Hana, Natuvion, a company specializing in digital data moves, and the IT service provider Komm.One have entered into a partnership. More than 1000 customers and members of Komm.One will be converted to S/4 in the coming years. The partner for this is Natuvion GmbH with its specialization and years of experience in complex transformation and migration projects. As one of only three members worldwide of the S/4 Hana Selective Data Transition Engagement Community, Natuvion is working with SAP to define proven methods and standards for a reliable and accelerated move to S/4. A switch to S/4 is necessary because SAP will discontinue maintenance of the ECC 6.0 version used to date at the end of 2027. Komm.One has therefore set up a program to coordinate and manage all the projects required for this. 

Red Hat Linux on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, and Oracle announced a multi-level alliance to offer customers a wider choice of operating systems for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The collaboration initially includes Red Hat Linux running on OCI as a supported operating system. Companies that rely on both OCI and Red Hat Linux will be able to drive digital transformation and migration of business-critical applications to the cloud. Ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies currently rely on solutions from Red Hat and Oracle. Users of Red Hat Linux on OCI can access support from both Red Hat and Oracle when challenges arise.

mobileX: Release of the Field Service Management Suite

mobileX presents version 11.0 of the Field Service Management Suite. The add-on has now been officially certified by SAP. Companies can thus integrate not only their maintenance processes but also their service processes in S/4 Service with an add-on without an additional C/4 cloud connection. The add-on can be configured for use with little effort and offers numerous interfaces for making individual extensions and adjustments.

SAP is again testing the ILM interface of Ceyoniq

Audit-proof archiving for SAP users: SAP has again certified the ILM interface of Ceyoniq Technology. This enables SAP users to use all Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) functionalities such as deletion periods and lock indicators for compliance-compliant data management. The certification is effective until the end of 2025 and also applies to Nscale version 9, which will be released in the spring. ILM offers numerous deletion and retention periods as well as lock indicators, but WebDAV-based storage is required to use these functionalities. The Nscale ILM interface functions as ERP Connector 9 for ILM. The recertification means that SAP users can continue to rely on being able to keep the lifecycle of their data under control in a legally compliant manner.

“SAP ILM offers numerous functionalities to support efficient and compliance-compliant data management.“

Michele Barbato, Department Manager
Product Management, Ceyoniq Technology