During the recently concluded SAP TechEd 2022, SAP has introduced their newest product — SAP Build, their low-code solution to address future problems.
SAP Build gives power to businesses to develop their own apps. This is, as SAP puts it, not an upgrade of existing processes, it’s a new approach in digital transformation, which is powered by the backbone of the people who knows the business the most. These are the business experts, the marketers, analysts, and the business users, among many others involved in a business’ day-to-day operations.
“Who knows the business best? These are the business users themselves,” said Juergen Mueller, member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer of SAP.
Mueller said SAP Build has three components: SAP Build Apps, which sees to app development; SAP Build Automation, where it’s all about workflows, it’s about AI, in a manner that customers don’t need to be an AI expert. Tools were built such as extracting document information are found in SAP Build Automation.
“If you can use Excel or PowerPoint, you can use SAP Build,” Mueller promised.
The third component is called SAP Build WorkZone, and this one is the simplified building of business websites.
“And for all of those, it’s about about a collaboration and invitation between business users and IT working together,” Mueller said. “With SAP Build, we are evolving and connecting previously disconnected solutions and we created a unified development environment.”
Juergen Mueller, member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer of SAP.
Mueller cites having a common project repository, so one project has access to SAP solutions, one artifact repository to optimize the SAP BTP where SAP and non-SAP systems can be connected, and having over 1300 content store connected to SAP Build ready to use automations, workflows, and use case-specific capabilities.
“It’s part of BTP, 15,500 customers already live in the cloud, so it has a very strong foundation,” Mueller added.
In SAP Build Apps, it’s about visual cloud functionality. Users can create data models, functionalities, all visually without knowledge on databases, coding, cybersecurity, or network. SAP Build is designed to be easy to use to create immediate solutions for the business users.
For SAP, this means enhance distribution of tasks in a business, improved data analytics, and sophisticated monitoring, among many things. If a business requires certain apps for specific needs, they no longer have to seek developers to work on making those tools, as they themselves can build those apps, falling into SAP’s low-code/no-code approach.
SAP Build isn’t about hiring less people and adding responsibilities to departments. According to SAP, it’s about letting employees focus more on crucial tasks.
Mueller said: “SAP Build brings together the world’s most powerful business applications with a platform that’s been designed to rapidly unleash business users’ expertise. In a volatile business landscape, SAP Build and the full suite of innovations we’re launching today — from out new partnership to Coursera to enhancements across our enterprise portfolio — help customers future-proof their business and extract maximum value from their technology investments.”
“Every company is turning into a technology company,” said Mueller during the TechEd keynote.
It’s hard to disagree with this statement, as businesses today grow more and more complex, in terms of logistics, inventories, data analytics, and so forth. Especially during these times of economic strife, many businesses might prefer a more data-driven approach to base important decisions. The SAP ecosystem, first with BTP, and now enriched further with Build would improve a business’ flexibility and adaptability.
The pandemic, for instance, has demanded a massive cultural shift and an aggressive digital transformation. With SAP Build, businesses, small and large enterprises, would be able to achieve that fluid transition to adapt into new environments as roles change.
The ideal situation with Build is: Should an app developed through Build gain a more crucial role in the business, pro-coders would only then step in to spend time improving the app, adding customization and the necessary tweaks to make it a fully accessible business tool. Not all tools need this much attention, as SAP offers a full swathe of applications readily available for business users.
Of course SAP is on itself, uses innovation as their business, so there are multiple pricing tiers for customers. But these tiers are designed to fit what the customer needs. This includes a free tier, which becomes advantageous for SMEs who have little or no IT support. This gives SMEs the immediate tools they need to expand and grow their businesses. It might also remove any hesitancy from the customer’s part, as they would have enough room to study and explore SAP’s various solutions. This includes SAP Build, allowing SMEs to develop their own applications that would be able to sustain and grow their businesses, without spending for an IT team.
SMEs and business users with no coding experience have nothing to worry about. On top of SAP’s low-code approach. SAP boasts the SAP Learning program. This is a certification program that grants people the expertise on SAP products, allowing them to become SAP consultants. SAP has over 400,000 customers worldwide.
Also announced during the TechEd, and part of the Learning programs, SAP has partnered with Coursera. Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, said the entry-level certification will “prepare for entry-level job roles and in some of the most in-demand fields.”
Attaining the certificates is a foot in the door for people across all backgrounds. It encourages more learning experiences and growth. Coursera has a wide reach across the globe. The Philippines is the third fastest growing markets for Coursera, seeing over 1.3 million registered users.
Through SAP Learning and the partnership with Coursera, SAP hopes to upskill 2 million people by 2025.
“SAP Build unleashes the business users and the IT to get more things done,” Mueller said.