Independence From Backend ERP

The Business Technology Platform offering is divided into five central areas: Application & Development, Automation, Integration, Data & Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Companies have the option of accessing individual services from these areas flexibly and according to their needs and combining them individually. The services offered are available in different price models - for example, by subscription or according to the pay-as-you-go principle.

Low maintenance thanks to Clean Core

BTP's services enable companies to develop individual applications or outsource entire business processes in a side-by-side approach. At the heart of this is the concept of the "clean core": by decoupling extensions and individual developments from the central SAP ERP system, it becomes significantly less maintenance-intensive and can be updated more easily to new software versions or stacks in future. The implementation and efficient operation of solutions on SAP BTP require certain framework conditions. For example, the application should be as loosely coupled as possible with the SAP standard, ideally function independently of SAP data or obtain data from other cloud solutions. The fact that an SAP user is not required for access and the need to provide data externally also speak in favor of implementation on the platform.

In the classic SAP system of the ECC Business Suite, companies were limited to development in Abap and could only use the functions that SAP itself provided. Although some partners or smaller software providers expanded the offering with their own Abap tools and additional solutions, everything remained strictly tied to SAP NetWeaver and the Abap world. With the introduction of BTP, there is now much more room for maneuver: developers have access to a large number of modern programming languages, extended functionalities and new integration options. This opens up completely new perspectives for innovations and customized business processes. The new opportunities also come with completely new challenges.

PaaS requires a rethink 

The use of platform-as-a-service structures and the modular use of different services and runtime environments require SAP partners, customers and users to rethink their approach. While functions such as transport management, authorization management or source code versioning were firmly integrated and easy to use in traditional SAP systems, these aspects must now be organized and managed independently on the BTP. The selection of the appropriate runtime environment - be it Cloud Foundry, Abap, Kyma or a combination of all of these - also requires technical expertise and strategic decisions. To make matters worse, the license models are also much more differentiated: In addition to pay-as-you-go and subscriptions, there is the credit-based BTP Enterprise Agreement, which also requires volume-dependent costs for individual services to be taken into account. This complex mix of technologies, operating models and billing structures requires careful planning and targeted orchestration of the components used.

BTP Operations

It is advisable to focus on an additional layer at BTP. We call it "BTP Operations". Platform operations are handled by SAP and the hyperscalers, while the applications are usually managed by internal IT, partners or developers. But it is precisely the layer in between that is usually forgotten or underestimated. But this is where key questions arise: Who takes responsibility for managing the services used? Who keeps an eye on costs and usage? Who organizes the users in the identity service or defines the authorizations in sub-accounts and individual services? The deployment of new services and the structured organization of sub-accounts also require clear responsibilities and processes. Companies should address these issues at an early stage - ideally together with an experienced partner who can provide support in setting up appropriate operating models or even take on these services directly. In this way, best practices from other projects can be used and smooth, efficient BTP operations can be ensured.

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