Colonel John Boyd, a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and renowned military strategist, pioneered the concept of the OODA (Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action) loop to describe how speed and agility can yield advantage in competitive situations where time is a key factor.
When faced with competitive situations, where success depends on besting your rivals, Boyd argued that the key to victory is the ability to cycle through the OODA loop faster than the competition - making adjustments before one’s adversary has had a chance to even gage what is happening and decide on a course of action. It is a perspective on competition that focuses on information, agility, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances on the fly as the situation evolves.
SAP Rapid Prototyping, delivered by SAP Active Global Support as part of either SAP ActiveEmbedded or SAP MaxAttention support, can help your company accelerate through the OODA loop faster than your competition – a big advantage in fast moving markets.
Danish IT service provider KMD, for example, was able to use SAP Rapid Prototyping to make more informed decisions regarding the rollout of new SAP HANA and SAP Mobile Platform solutions in a development environment before committing to a full rollout in a live production environment. Working closely with their SAP AGS counterparts to implement these two proof-of-concept projects, KMD was able to quickly evaluate the benefits these solutions could deliver in a low-risk setting.
"With SAP Rapid Prototyping, we can understand all the implications on staff, systems, and other resources beforehand, so we can be certain that a future deployment will go smoothly.”
-Søren Danner Pedersen, SAP Strategic Advisor, KMD A/S
For more on KMD's success, see [here]
In a similar fashion, with SAP ActiveEmbedded and SAP Rapid Prototyping, Pirelli was able to test-drive SAP HANA processing speeds on nonstandard applications. Experts with the SAP AGS organization worked closely with Pirelli’s IT team to implement the proof-of-concept project, which helped Pirelli understand how the in-memory technology of SAP HANA would help the company achieve its goals while replacing their older legacy system. When the project was complete, SAP AGS helped document best practices for code development and conducted knowledge transfer so the company’s IT team can take on future challenges without necessarily needing outside assistance.
“This proof of concept helped us evaluate the in-memory technology of SAP HANA, not only for this business case but also, in perspective, as a replacement for our legacy database.”
-Daniele Benedetti, Head of Application Architectural Integration and Innovation, Pirelli & C. S.p.A.
For the full Pirelli success case, click [here]
Finally, Russian Railways was able to leverage SAP ActiveEmbedded and SAP Rapid Prototyping to test a HANA implementation before fully committing to a large-scale change in their mission-critical IT systems. In the end, Russian Railways was able to accelerate information flow to its managers due to SAP HANA and SAP ActiveEmbedded support - enabling better, faster decision-making and improved operational efficiency.
To watch the video, click [here/Eng] [here/Rus]
For their business transformation study, click [here]
For their reference slide, click [here]
With SAP RapidPrototyping, these companies were able to quickly evaluate new technologies and systems in a safe environment - an important advantage when the competition is on your tail. That’s something a fighter pilot like Col. Boyd would appreciate.
For more on SAP Rapid Prototyping, see [here]
For more on SAP MaxAttention, see [here]
For more on SAP ActiveEmbedded, see [here]
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