In the previous blogs we have seen many use cases of how SAP S/4HANA is revolutionizing enterprise IT applications in manifold ways. And this is not only beneficial for Lines of Business (LoBs) managing business processes like MRP, inventory management, sales, finance or HR talent management, but also for the LoB IT that is running IT operations itself. In this summary, we will identify six areas where SAP S/4HANA is simplifying IT and, as a consequence, increases IT performance and reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT at the same time:
Simpler Data Footprint
With advanced in-memory compressions, data managed by SAP S/4HANA is optimized for processing, not for disk input and output. Data is compressed and cached locally, dramatically speeding access. Applications that run on the SAP HANA platform demonstrate data compression at factors ranging from 3 to 7. Solutions like SAP S/4HANA, which do not need materialized views or performance-related data duplication, are achieving even higher data footprint reduction rates. Apart from this, capabilities such as Dynamic Tiering built in the SAP HANA platform allow to optimize memory and storage size and access rates even further.
Simpler Data Processing and Operations
The new data model of SAP S/4HANA supports high levels of automation and parallelization which lead to radically simplified data management procedures. E. g., adding new fields happens on the fly – without the need for up-front data manipulation. Since no DB locks for updates are required anymore, parallel inserting is possible. A calculation engine embedded in the SAP HANA platform eliminates data load into the application layer. Business users can run real-time analytics on and simulations directly on transactional data, which enables real-time decision making. By reducing IT layers in this fashion, administrative tasks like data copying, ETL transformations, and post processing are reduced to a minimum.
Simpler IT Landscape
An IT department running SAP S/4HANA does not need to maintain separate systems to support OLTP and OLAP. The SAP HANA platform also includes shared libraries for tasks associated with e. g. business planning and prediction. This enables IT to reduce or eliminate the need to have separate applications and databases for executing these functions. Plus, features like multitenant database containers and virtualization capabilities allow to manage multiple databases on one platform to maximize resource allocation for applications, and additional system instances can be provisioned more quickly.
Simpler Setup
There are a number of deployment options that help simplify the setup experience for SAP S/4HANA. One option is the appliance approach: Preconfigured SAP S/4HANA software combined with well-cut hardware provided and delivered by our leading hardware partners. You can choose from a directory with hundreds of configurations, using SAP-certified commodity hardware components and supporting all sizes of businesses and use cases. Another option is the tailored data center integration concept. With certified components that align with your data center standards, you can leverage existing storage and network infrastructure and minimize IT costs. Finally, you can choose the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service to deploy, maintain, integrate, and extend SAP S/4HANA applications in a private cloud environment without upfront IT investments. Of course, also hybrid deployments, combining on-premise and cloud solutions are well supported.
Simpler Code and Application Development
With rapid development tools, extensive use of views, and the elimination of aggregates and multidimensional cubes, the SAP HANA platform makes it easier to quickly develop sophisticated applications that drive business success. Developers benefit from embedded libraries of analytical functions that dramatically reduce and simplify the code base and minimize the chores associated with algorithm testing and maintenance. Meanwhile, an embedded application server with user interface services pushes execution to the database and reduces data duplication at runtime. And if you want to build your own innovative apps on SAP HANA in the Cloud, SAP HANA Cloud Platform, the open Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), enables you doing so instantly.
Simpler User Experience
SAP S/4HANA helps streamline the user experience. Data is delivered faster with real-time responsiveness for instant insight, fast action and simulation capabilities on current transactional data and with unprecedented performance. In addition, applications built on SAP HANA are role based and persona centric across lines of business and across devices. This helps improve efficiency, drive higher levels of performance, and ensure a great end-to-end user experience.
And all of this isn’t just theory or marketing, it is living practice among thousands of SAP customers. 95 of them testified the multitude of benefits they achieved by adopting SAP HANA technology across all these six areas of IT simplification, together with previously unseen IT performance improvements and reduced TCO of IT. Download and experience these testimonials right here.
