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AndyG
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

This is the final installment of a 4-part series that links SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions with the jazz and blues music genres.  Back in April, I interviewed SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions expert and jazz musician Francesco Crosara to discuss the comparisons between SAP and jazz music (click here for the 1st blog). The interview continued in May and in early June, and featured a series of music videos produced specifically for SAP from his home studio (click here for the 2nd blog and here for the 3rd blog).  We complete today the conversation about jazz, blues, and SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions.


Francesco, so far, you have been showing the correlation between SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions and the world of jazz and blues. Today, you want to talk about Assemble to Order.  Will you put that into jazz music as well?

Of course.  You could say that Assemble to Order is to SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions what Jazz is to Blues.  This is the key message in my latest and final video on the topic, which includes some live concert footage as well.  Please check it out to find out what I am talking about.


This is clearly the most complete and complex of the 3 videos you produced for this series, plus it features a great rhythm section.  Can you elaborate on the Assemble to Order message here?

Sure.  This is the third and final video in a 3-part series entitled “Playing the Blues with SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions”.  The first two videos focused on the concepts of basic and complex SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions, as correlated to the 12-bar blues pattern and its progression to a more complex harmonic structure.  I was describing these solutions as individual packages.


In this final video, I raised the bar by introducing the concept of an aggregate effect, what happens when you combine multiple engineered services, multiple rapid solutions, into a unified whole, called Assemble to Order.  The result is greater than the sum of the individual parts, just like an Assemble to Order implementation project is greater than the sum of each SAP Rapid Deployment Solution that supports it.  You need to factor in  those additional services which provide that complete solution for the customer.  In its purest form, an Assemble to Order project provides the fastest time to value and lowest total cost of implementation (TCI).  Here is another view at the chart that I showed in the video, which provides a typical example of this concept.


You labeled each one of the musicians in the video as an “SAP Rapid Solution”.  Can you explain the metaphor?

When you listen to a jazz group performance, you often shift the focus from the individual musician to the overall band, the sound, the song, the groove. While each player comes with an individual talent and plays a specific instrument and part, the resulting performance is usually a greater sound that conveys its own special feeling.  Suddenly, you are no longer hearing a piano, a bass, a drum set, just playing together. Instead, you become part of a holistic musical experience, where each individual performance blends and is inspired by each other’s contribution.  That is exactly the analogy with Assemble to Order projects.  Each SAP Rapid Deployment Solution plays in concert with other package solutions and services to create an overall homogeneous project. You could say that Assemble to Order creates its own groove.

What you are saying is that SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions are to an Assemble to Order project what individual musicians are to a collective performance played by a unified team (the band), is that right?

Correct, and the metaphor is even subtler:  not every jazz musician is created equal.  What I mean, the exact same song can be interpreted fundamentally differently by different groups based on their talents both as individual performers as well as their ability to play together seamlessly.  You need great players to perform a great song.  Similarly, the same SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions can affect the outcome of Assemble to Order projects depending on the experience of the consultants engaged.  The SAP Services organization is unparalleled in the quality of deployment for multiple solutions, the experience across a multitude of projects, and the direct line into SAP development.  SAP Services consultants make some very fine jazz and blues musicians!  We also have many rock-& and classical musicians out there at SAP, it’s all good!


Francesco Crosara is passionate about SAP Rapid Deployment Solutions, Assemble to Order methodology, and of course, jazz and blues. Please send your comments directly to Francesco at francesco.crosara@sap.com 

Explore Francesco Crosara’s jazz at: