Why Do We Still Need an SAP Basis?

SAP Basis consultants will still be needed with Rise, but their role is changing noticeably. Rise with SAP shifts many traditional technical tasks to SAP or the hyperscaler, but this does not mean that SAP Basis knowledge becomes superfluous. On the contrary: technical understanding is still needed - just applied differently. What is actually eliminated is the actual "execution" of classic tasks: Hardware and infrastructure management, operating system administration, backups, patches or at the database or Netweaver level - direct administration. 

Many monitoring and administration tasks are also no longer required and are performed by SAP or the hyperscaler provider. If an SAP Basis administrator has installed kernel patches or performed system copies, the focus in future will be on orchestrating SAP's services. Direct system operation in the form of OS/DB updates, backups or kernel patches, for example, will no longer be necessary. All in all, the entire infrastructure and SAP Basis management - but it is important to understand that the responsibility remains, even if the implementation lies with SAP in the future.

SAP Basis: What will be different?

The traditional tasks of SAP Basis are changing fundamentally and require a redefinition of the role in the cloud age. Instead of purely operational activities, coordination and control are coming to the fore - for example, accepting business requirements and translating them into technical specifications for SAP, calling up specific SAP services on behalf of the customer or coordinating technical queries between SAP and the customer. Architecture design is also becoming increasingly important, particularly with regard to extensions, interfaces and the integration of external services, such as hyperscalers. There are also tasks such as supporting technical assessments as part of risk/cloud services, managing weekly technical service calls and processing technical alerts. Key new areas of expertise include cloud know-how, technical understanding of architecture, governance, provider management and a deep understanding of the distribution of roles between SAP and customers - particularly with regard to SLA monitoring, security and compliance, especially in hybrid landscapes.

New responsibilities with BTP

As part of the new focus in SAP Basis work, the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) is taking center stage - creating completely new areas of responsibility and technical requirements. 

Today, specialists not only need to have in-depth knowledge of the BTP architecture, but also take on tasks such as the initial setup of global accounts, the administration of directory structures and sub-accounts and the configuration of external resource providers. Setting up regions, user and role management, assigning quotas and entitlements and activating services are also part of their everyday work. Requirements are also increasing in the area of security: The configuration of identity services such as IAS (Identity Authentication Service) and IPS (Identity Provisioning Service), the setup of SSO (Single Sign-on) and federation using SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) as well as certificate management including runtime monitoring are becoming essential activities. 

In addition, there is the management of various environments such as Cloud Foundry, Abap or Kyma, usage control and cost monitoring of services in the global account as well as support with billing verification. Finally, the lifecycle management of active services including technical monitoring as well as the setup and support of the Cloud Connector round off the comprehensive range of requirements.

The dead live longer

Does this new situation also mean the "end" for providers or suppliers of SAP Basis services? Not at all.

As already mentioned several times, the new task is defined by conducting the SAP service orchestra. Providers of SAP Basis services are also more than needed in this new setup if they go along with the change and understand the new requirements."

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