SAP BTP is the Choice

When customer inquiries about SAP and the cloud became more concrete in the early 2010s, cloud-based services outside the SAP universe had long been a matter of course. In 2013, SAP launched a proprietary environment on the market with the Hana Cloud Platform and the Neo-Environment, but this did not meet with the expected response. From 2017, the SAP Cloud Platform actually made it possible to centrally manage, operate and monitor a wide range of integration scenarios - even with non-SAP products. We enthusiastically brought our first customer projects into the cloud. Our approach was inevitably iterative; there were no best practice examples or serious documentation.

SAP opens up with BTP

BTP finally arrived in 2021, which made many things much better. The most important, and at the same time most revolutionary, innovation was the opening up to the infrastructure of other providers. BTP can be hosted by various hyperscalers, which can result in considerable synergy effects. At the same time, the focus is on close ERP and S/4 integration, so SAP offers corresponding extension concepts, runtime environments and content (including industry solutions). Industry standards have also been established with the use of Cloud Foundry and Kyma - which increases investment security and flexibility for existing SAP customers. In addition - revolution number two - BTP users can decide which programming language they use. In addition to the standards Java, JavaScript, Node.js or the AI-affine Python, the principle of "Bring Your Own Language" also applies. Assets that meet the requirements of today's IT landscapes.

Abap in the cloud?

Of course, SAP has not abandoned Abap. However, for Abap to work in the cloud, the Walldorf-based company had to deactivate problematic elements and set up a suitable environment with (Embedded) Steampunk. With the model-driven RAP, service-oriented applications can be developed on the basis of RESTful principles. And finally, SAP CAP provides a programming model for creating cloud-based applications based on common programming languages - entirely without Abap.

Revolution number three

Pure CAP application digital signature folder: We have completely redeveloped our digital signature folder product as a cloud version using the SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP). Our conclusion: The framework provides all the necessary programming tools to design and generate business-critical applications very quickly. We have gained important experience during implementation, which has also helped us with a current customer project.

Quality management powered by BTP with Low-Code and CAP: Our customer Agrana supplies the global food processing industry with fruit, starch and sugar. The new, globally
We implemented a quality management solution that can be used at 55 locations on BTP with CAP. The first sub-applications were ready for productive use eight months after the start of the design phase. Thanks to the use of Scrum and relevant BTP services - including SAP Work Zone, PostgresSQL, Cloud Foundry, CAP, SAP BAS, SAP CI/CD and SAP Cloud Transport Management - as well as the automated translation of texts and master data into 16 languages using DeepL, the application is really cost-efficient. By embedding it in the existing Microsoft Azure AD environment with Office 365/Exchange, we have taken advantage of BTP's openness and thus also realized the required single point of entry in a customer-friendly way. With agile methods and the latest SAP Cloud Services (BTP, RAP and CAP), marketable solutions can be realized extremely quickly and cost-effectively, which also comply with the Clean Core development guidelines. In short: BTP is the Choice.

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