What is SAP and how can it foster business growth?

With 94% of the world’s largest companies being SAP customers and 99 out of 100 of them using SAP’s S/4HANA, SAP can definitely be described as a front-runner in its industry. But what actually is SAP and how can you benefit from their industry-dominating solutions?

The Role of SAP in Digital Transformation for Business

SAP develops cutting-edge software to help businesses better manage their processes with a particular focus on enabling the business community to leverage big data by creating an open data flow. Since the enterprise was first founded in 1972, technology and the potential it holds for business growth have transformed. SAP has been able to keep up with the pace of change and in turn, help their customers to do the same.

Initially making its name in Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR) software, SAP continues to provide a comprehensive EPR solution in the form of one of its most recognizable products SAP S/4HANA. This updated ERP utilizes emerging technologies including cloud storage, AI and machine learning. That’s only one of SAP’s more than 100 solutions that are all interconnected to form an intelligent business platform.

Their comprehensive product suite enables SAP to serve businesses of a range of sizes, operating in a range of industries and implementing digital transformation in a range of areas, whether they’re looking for an EPR or CRM, or to better manage finance or customer experience departments, for example.

SAP Software Solutions

As SAP offers over 100 different solutions, we’ve highlighted some of their most popular to showcase the innovative and advanced capabilities they equip businesses with.

SAP S/4HANA

The digitization of business processes through the development of EPRs changed the way businesses operated. SAP S/4HANA continues to make strides in how businesses manage their processes, offering real-time insights from a cloud-based modular ERP. Representing a new generation of intelligent EPR, it’s built on an in-memory SAP HANA database for maximum speed. Due to the simplicity and speed of SAP S/4HANA, businesses can optimize their outputs and outcomes.

SAP IBP (Integrated Business Planning)

With their specific expertise in data utilization for business, SAP created software to improve supply chain management called SAP IBP. This cloud-based solution combines all aspects of a successful supply chain including sales and operations planning, demand planning, the management of supply and response capacity, and profit analysis to create a system that provides real-time insights and enacts real-time responses. It gives businesses the flexibility and agility they need to navigate supply chain disruption in a time-efficient and cost-efficient manner.

SAP Ariba

Without proper management of company expenses, an enterprise will struggle to reach its full potential. SAP Ariba is the solution for comprehensive financial management. It allows for the consolidation and control of all company expenses, from end to end, from source to payment. As is so important in the financial sphere, SAP Ariba was built on best practices for the achievement of excellence. One of SAP’s core principles is ease of use which is why SAP Ariba, like other solutions, is accessible from any device.

SAP SuccessFactors

Technology can also be applied to the human side of business. In the case of SAP SuccessFactors, it’s a technological solution that supports human resource management. It combines the various elements HR departments have to handle and integrates them into an easy-to-use platform for the management of core processes including payroll, employee experience, and the tracking of workforce analytics. By adding data insights to the human element of business, HR teams can identify patterns, learn from them and ensure an organized effort towards progress.

How does SAP foster growth?

The kind of software SAP provides sits at the core of a business’ infrastructure. Therefore, a direct connection is forged between the success of a client’s business and the success of SAP products. So many large enterprises rely on SAP because they trust in the benefits they provide.

Connectivity

SAP recognizes the importance of connectivity in optimal business operations. By opening data flows and workflows, businesses can achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and resilience. A lack of information sharing between departments and between supply chain partners limits an organization’s ability to respond to the changing environment they operate in and the changing demands on the business.

Future focused

There was a time when connectivity was a novel idea. The importance of data flow was underestimated and overlooked in favor of need-to-know access to crucial information. There was also a time when cloud services couldn’t compete with on-premise solutions. Instead of creating products that fit into the status quo, SAP creates products that give businesses the capability to prepare for and work according to future demands, enabling its customers to be early adopters and enjoy the competitive advantage that establishes.

Profit as the end goal

All the innovations SAP enables its customers to leverage through the use of its technologically advanced software solutions lead to the end goal of increased profit. For example, real-time data sharing enables any party working within an organization or supply chain to reference a single view of the truth. That helps them to make better decisions at the level of daily processing, disruption resolution and even overall business strategy. Responsive and effective decision-making leads to improved operational efficiency, improved cost-effectiveness and improved customer experience which all result in improved profitability.

SAP has been able to dominate the market of ERPs and other business management solutions because of their decades of experience, ability to adapt to embrace new technologies, and their mission to create a comprehensive platform for the management of all business processes. For many enterprises experiencing accelerated growth at the highest level, SAP forms the backbone of their business. If you would like to explore how SAP could form the infrastructure your business needs to meet and exceed its goals, get in contact with NTT DATA. We ensure our clients get the most out of their move to SAP, starting with a deep dive into their business objectives and bringing them to the end of their implementation period. As SAP makes business easier, we make the transition to SAP easier.