Good reasons for SAP Business Suite 

The SAP Business Suite creates an overarching strategic framework for all of the company's cloud solutions - including SAP S/4 Hana Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Customer Experience and SAP Business Network. The aim is to seamlessly integrate these systems into a modern, standardized business platform for the digital company. 

E3 Magazine: What are the reasons to choose SAP Business Suite now? 

Manuel Sedlak, Nagarro: Of course, companies are also driven by what is currently happening on the market, i.e. artificial intelligence and everything that goes with it. However, this only works if you have a meaningful database - then you have a holistic view of the company. This is exactly where the SAP Business Suite comes into play, bringing everything together. If you opt for it, you should ideally get everything from a single source. 

E3: What distinguishes the SAP Business Suite? 

Sedlak: One advantage is that products are fully integrated into the Business Suite via interfaces, access the same master data and (nevertheless) have a modular structure. This means that the customer can choose exactly what they need. The core is usually the ERP system or SAP S/4 Hana Public or Private Cloud. This core is supplemented operationally by specialized cloud solutions such as SAP Salescloud, SAP Concur, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba. This landscape is extended by the SAP Business Data Cloud as a central data platform for AI and analytics applications. Additional solutions for service management, production or logistics can be easily added to meet industry-specific requirements and can be expanded and developed in a targeted manner. 

E3: How can the Business Suite be set up and how easy is it to integrate into the overall architecture? 

Sedlak: The SAP Business Suite is usually developed step by step. Companies usually start with the cloud ERP as the digital core and then add further solutions. The decisive factor here is a clear architectural objective that brings together processes, applications and data. Integration itself is much easier today than it used to be, as many components of the suite already work together in a standardized way. Using the SAP Business Technology Platform, standardized APIs and common data models, the systems can be connected to form a consistent end-to-end architecture.

E3: With the new Business Suite, SAP has set out a holistic vision for future SAP and IT architectures in the cloud. How would you describe this target image from your perspective?   

Sedlak: In my view, the SAP Business Suite primarily describes a strategic target image for modern corporate IT: an integrated platform on which business processes, data and AI work together. Instead of many isolated individual solutions, an end-to-end digital process landscape with a shared database is created. This target vision goes beyond pure system integration: it creates end-to-end business processes, a consistent database and thus the prerequisite for data-driven decisions and AI-supported innovations. 

“AI will strengthen the services market
than Industry 4.0 has ever done.”

Manuel Sedlak,
Global Head of SAP Cloud ERP,
Nagarro

E3: It is important to check where ballast is still being transferred to the cloud and how a targeted clean-core approach can free up new resources. How should companies make this decision? 

Sedlak: There are two basic solutions for ERP: the public cloud and the private cloud. The private cloud is comparable to earlier on-prem systems, which offer companies significantly more flexibility for individual adaptations. Previously, it was also possible to transfer legacy systems such as programming and coding. This was never possible in the public cloud - you had to modernize it, i.e. rebuild applications and bring them into a modern architecture in order to ultimately do justice to the clean-core concept. Excitingly, SAP is now trying to do exactly the same in the private cloud environment. In other words, SAP is increasingly pursuing the goal of establishing the clean-core approach more strongly in the private cloud environment in order to stay as close to the standard as possible, because this is when AI works best. 

E3: According to a DSAG survey, familiarity with the new Business Suite can be improved. How can this familiarity be established? 

Sedlak: For many companies, the SAP Business Suite is a loose concept and difficult to understand because it is constantly being expanded with new products and is very extensive. It is important to have a clear picture of the architecture, what SAP and non-SAP are, how the whole thing is structured and how to merge data in a meaningful way in order to build your own agents and chatbots in the future or to be able to use existing solutions such as SAP -Joule. Following this approach, you can then look at which SAP tools provide operational support. 

E3: What could a long-term roadmap look like? 

Sedlak: As a first step, I recommend setting up a solid ERP system and bringing it up to date. In the second step, areas such as CRM, Concur or analytics that are still run manually should be integrated, i.e. technologically supported. And then the portfolio should be continuously expanded in line with the Business Suite. A transparent roadmap with clear phases and realistic timeframes is important here. It typically begins with the stabilization and modernization of the digital core, followed by the integration of other business areas, the development of a consistent data platform and the introduction of AI and automation functions. It is crucial that this roadmap remains flexible so that new technologies, regulatory requirements and changing business models can be taken into account. 

E3: Many companies are also unclear about the support timelines and the license and pricing models. What should you know about this? 

Sedlak: Most of the solutions within the SAP Business Suite are now provided as a subscription model, i.e. as a cloud service with usage or user-based license models over defined contract periods. For companies, this means predictable costs and regular innovations through continuous updates. It is important to address issues such as support levels, SLA agreements, responsibilities and the respective license models at an early stage. This includes, for example, the specific scope of use, scaling options, extensions via additional cloud services and possible additional costs for integrations or extensions. A transparent contract and cost structure creates the necessary planning security here. 

E3: In order for the Business Suite to realize its full potential, Cloud ERP, Business AI and the Business Data Cloud must be based on the Business Technology

platform work together. What does SAP offer to exploit this potential?

Sedlak: SAP offers integrated building blocks on the Business Technology Platform: Cloud ERP as a central operating platform, Business AI for automation and decision support and the Business Data Cloud as a central data platform for consolidated, high-quality data. Standardized APIs, open data models and shared governance result in seamless data flows, secure access and consistent data quality across all applications. The goal is an end-to-end data and process landscape with AI-supported optimizations.

E3: How can tools like Signavio and LeanIX support the adoption process? 

Sedlak: I see SAP Signavio as a tool that accompanies the entire life cycle of a product or process - which is usually very long. The first step is always to clearly describe processes: What is done in the company and how is it done? This is initially tool-independent and purely process-oriented.Signavio supports exactly this - with the structured recording, presentation and analysis of processes. In combination with SAP Lean-IX, additional transparency is created across the existing IT and process landscape. This allows actual processes to be evaluated, visualized and optimized in a targeted manner. 

E3: The topic of AI is closely linked to the Business Suite. What relevance do you attach to AI-supported functions and which use cases are particularly interesting? 

Sedlak: I am deliberately putting forward a bold thesis: AI will revolutionize the service market more than Industry 4.0 ever did. If you look at how a car manufacturer produced 50 years ago and how largely automated production environments work today, you can see how radically processes can change - in every area. In future, AI will make small and medium-sized decisions independently. However, this requires high-quality, structured company data and clear system architectures.A good example is the supply chain, which is disrupted by geopolitical events. An AI can check automatically: Which of my goods are affected? Which customers need to be informed? What alternatives are there - such as other transportation routes or repeat orders?Such checking and decision-making processes can be largely automated in the future. Humans will continue to monitor and control, but AI will increasingly take over the analysis and derivation of recommendations for action. It is important that these solutions access the company's own data and not general information from the internet. 

E3: How do companies actually go about implementing this? 

Sedlak: The most important step is to start with a clear vision and then implement the transformation in manageable stages. In practice, this often means first stabilizing the digital core - i.e. the ERP system - and then gradually integrating other business areas, data platforms and AI functions. It is important to stay as close to the standard as possible and pursue a clean-core approach. This ensures that systems remain maintainable, innovations can be used more quickly and companies can continue to develop their architecture flexibly in the long term. 

E3: Thank you for the interview. (rk, source: Nagarro)

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