Question Re: SAP Cloud overview in Technology Q&A

SAP Cloud overview

former_member20208 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:28:36 GMT

Hi all,

The whiteboard below shows my personal interpretation of how the SAP Cloud portfolio is shaping up, to support innovation (doing new things), but not at the expense of integration (with existing things). I'd be very interested to get some feedback on it.

-Maarten

Re: SAP Cloud overview

choirshark — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:36:31 GMT

nice! all I would do is flip on the vertical axis so we move from integration to innovation, and then again, maybe its from integration to collaboration, since we innovate on all dimensions

Re: SAP Cloud overview

matt_steiner — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:47:59 GMT

Interesting take - and certainly a great starting point for discussions! Of course SAP NetWeaver Cloud and the additional capabilities we'll build on top will make it move up and right as well.

I'd say let's wait and see what TechEd has in store for us and then continue the discussion, cool?

[Mod: BTW, I removed the question flag as it's rather a discussion and not a question, hope that's fine with you!]

Re: SAP Cloud overview

pushkar_ranjan — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 17:06:13 GMT

I would rename the Innovation - Integration axis to User centric - Technology centric

All the things we do are innovative, be it in the end user domain or the technology domain.

Thanks,

Pushkar

Re: SAP Cloud overview

former_member20208 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:35:58 GMT

Hi Push,

I think your "user centric - technology centric" is the same as my "Bus. - IT", but this is the other axis of the graph, and besides, would you really say that BYD is technology centric?

I see what you mean though. I think people define the "innovation - integration" as a black-and-white, either-or kind of thing, but what I mean is more "focus on innovation - focus on integration". "Focus on innovation" means building a new (type of) application, often for a specific part of the business, e.g. Supplier Infonet, procurement, or Sales OnDemand, which is really different from a traditional SFA system. "Focus on integration" doesn't necessarily mean that the application is not innovative, but that it's more about making an existing (type of) application fit into an existing landscape. For example, BYD is very innovative in many ways, but at its core, it's an ERP system, which a company can use to integrate its subsidiaries better with its headquarters, i.e. "business integration". And PI/DS OD are also innovative, but their sole purpose is to integrate other applications with each other.

Interestingly, each quadrant or corner of the diagram needs its opposite corner to be truly successful. Applications in the "business innovation" corner, need to be integrated with tools in the "IT integration" corner, whereas applications in the "business integration" corner, i.e. BYD, need to come equipped with "technical innovation" tools, such as an SDK.

As I'm writing this, I'm thinking this might all be a bit too conceptual, but you can leave out the 2x2 framework if you like, and just focus on the centre part, with SaaS, PaaS and B2B, which I still find a very useful distinction, and one which everyone will recognise.

However, with or without the framework, I personally believe that INNOVATION and INTEGRATION are still the keys to a successful cloud strategy, be it for a vendor, like SAP, or a customer. I might even add a 3rd "I" to the mix, which would be IMPLEMENTATION. After all, solutions which are easy to build/extend (i.e. innovate) and integrate (e.g. in a hybrid scenario), are also easier to implement (although there are also other factors, like ease of configuration, personalisation and use).

-Maarten

Re: SAP Cloud overview

Former Member — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:14:01 GMT

Hi Maarten,

Interesting discussion. I've been doing a lot of thinking around this area as well, and building up a series of blogs related to this.

First, don't forget IaaS, or from a customer perspective - modernizing on premise applications with cloud technology. The point of this is to improve company efficiency and agility in servicing these systems. These are the good old "systems of record" upon which SAP's traditional customer base is running. I also put ByDesign into this category because it essentially puts in place a system of record (a more engaging one) that provides benefits such as standardized processes and single source of information.

For the SaaS point of view - at least for the loosely-coupled applications, these are new "best practices" that can be "added-on" to existing company processes. This is an agility and efficiency play as well that provides "engaging" new capabilities that include more business users to interact with the company's processes - often via mobile applications. But this still optimization, not innovation. Taking a SaaS solution does it provide an advantage over any other customers that use these systems.

Coming into competitive advantages, there are two kinds I think about:

1) First mover advantage in adopting new best practices. This is the integration story. Integrating Customer SaaS applications to get a single view of the customer and efficient automation between SaaS point solutions is something everyone will need to do. But, few are doing it right now because its currently fairly difficult. The first companies to do this will have a temporary competitive advantage over those that don't. I also put SaaS applications from partners purchased from app stores to be in this category. Until most customers have the best of these apps, you have a temporary advantage. Likely this is where most of the economic opportunity for PaaS lies.

2) Competitive differentiation. This is whatever it is that your company does best that gives it an unfair advantage over others. This is where innovation has the most payback, and any advantages earned are more easily sustained as your company builds out its economic moat. By definition, if its a unique advantage, its custom. This is where PaaS has the most interesting stories to me.

This is why when I show a "cloud stack" diagram, I show systems of record on the bottom (either IaaS based or SaaS based), siloed SaaS applications "systems of engagement" above that, surrounded and capped by the PaaS for "systems of innovation".