After attending the recent SAP Forum event in Bucharest and speaking to industry peers and other IT managers, it was clear to me that certain trends regarding technology, especially connectivity and stability, play key roles in the solutions that are available today.
In my role as Team Lead for SAP IT Romania, I witnessed the accelerated growth from 70 to 450 employees over the past 5 years. Additionally, SAP IT has been a key business partner who enabled this market unit to meet and develop its growth targets through its portfolio of services. Each new employee had to attend on-boarding and receive equipment connected to a world class infrastructure, but essentially, this infrastructure had to be ready to match and even to anticipate the future needs raised by each wave of growth.
Another message that I took away from the SAP Forum was the emphasis on the characteristic of the cloud environment: Versatility, for both clients and employees. Versatility is what makes some cloud platforms deliver a seamless and visible solution, thereby globalizing your workforce while improving accessibility. SAP involves a high level of mobility in order to deliver its "Run Simple. Run Better" solutions. Consultants are always on the run and for us, the IT support workforce, this means that we have to technically equip them with the best mobile devices to overcome whatever challenge that comes along. Try to image an athlete who goes to a race in sandals, we have to provide our SAP athletes not only with the best sport shoes, but also with the most up to date gear to help them meet the needs of the business.
The current Mobility boom is indeed a blessing, as much as a challenge for global businesses. For people always on the run, being permanently connected to their laptop/mobile remains quite a daring task. SAP manages to make this less stressful for our employees and customers by providing them with alternative means of overcoming the mobility challenges through an innovative platform called the Afaria Cloud (SAP Mobile Secure).
For the indispensable smartphone or tablet, SAP Mobile Secure came as a solution to many of the issues faced by my team on their travels such as accessibility, usability and being out of Sync with HQ. Some of the fundamental Apps which I could not live without today are included in this suite namely; The Mobile Documents app which allows you to have cloud-access to internal data from your phone wherever you are. Approvals are no longer postponed until you can reach your hotel or an office, as you can now approve them on the go using Case Management or Cart Approval. You have easy 24/7 access to your e-mail, news feeds (SAP Wire) or media sharing (Skype for Business and Easy Connect), which helps you remain connected and updated. Need to get IT support? Try the mobile version of IT Direct and open a ticket. Briefly, whether you are in a taxi, in the airport or walking down from your hotel to your customer, miles away from you home-office, SAP Mobile Secure makes things easier for you. Some of these Apps are even available for the newest gadgets such as Apple watch, so you can have Deal Room, News, SAP Cart Approval, SAP Wire or even the SAP Lunch menu literally on your hands.
Among all of these great features that you will have in your pocket, what I love the most is that it is so easy to install and it has a very user-friendly interface. All in all it’s a successful App store which enriches my mobile life as well as my team's. The Afaria platform provides secure ad hoc access to your mobile software. I must warn you, your phone dependency will definitely increase and you will never be able to tell your boss that you couldn’t get the opportunity to approve that important workflow or send him that leave request while you were on the road.
- SAP Managed Tags:
1 Comment
