by Kumar Singh, Research Director, Automation & Analytics, SAPinsider   With data rapidly becoming the new currency, we have recently seen an explosion in the number of data and analytics tools in the marketplace. Advances in computing technology, availability of open source programming tools and the exponential increase in the data that organizations generate and collect today, allow solution providers to offer advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) enabled algorithms in many of these tools. In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud-based analytics solutions, SAP’s Cloud Analytics (SAC), an offering from one of the largest software vendors in the world, is on the journey to create its own niche space. SAC, a cloud-based analytics platform, is a unique combination of business intelligence capabilities (like data discovery and visualization) and data science capabilities (like predictive analysis). This product essentially is an evolution of SAP’s initial strategy of offering BI as an extension of its all-inclusive SAP BW product. But this evolution in the form of SAC also aligns with three distinct trends in today’s rapidly evolving data & analytics solutions landscape. Those three key trends are:

• Future of data and analytics is in the cloud
• Democratization of data & advanced analytics is the need of the hour ·
• Integrated cross-functional data & analytics platforms are becoming a necessity

In this article, we will explore how SAC aligns with these trends and what it means for community of SAP users.

Trend 1: Future of data and analytics is in the cloud

It is not news for any technology professional that cloud analytics is rapidly becoming the platform of choice for analytics applications. While the key initial driver was the ability to scale quickly, lower in-house technology asset costs and build flexibility in systems capabilities, the benefits that accrue from cloud-based solutions have now increased manyfold. As per Deloitte, the most important advantage of having a cloud-based analytics platform currently being cited by organizations, is the ability to have a “single source of truth” in the cloud, providing easy access to people across the organization and across functions, thereby creating a true data driven and analytics driven culture. SAC leverages all the benefits of a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform mentioned above, combines it with its domain depth acquired during its decades of market leadership position in enterprise systems, thereby providing its massive user base with a tool that leverages the cloud analytics phenomenon and a SaaS product that integrates seamlessly with HANA database. “SAC fills the void for the SAP user base, which yearned for the flexibility of cloud-based analytics SaaS product that can seamlessly tap into HANA database.” - Data engineer at a leading Pharma company

Trend 2: Democratization of data & advanced analytics is the need of the hour

Democratization of data, in the form of easy access to data for moderately skilled staff, “selfservice” analytics and easy & intuitive user interface are quickly becoming the new normal. SAC fits in there as well perfectly, by: · Providing self-service, AI guided analytics features for functional managers, who are not Data Scientists or technical managers · Embeds advanced AI and ML algorithms to help extract automated meaningful insights and patterns from the data to present to the users for further analysis “As a business analyst, I am not as in depth into AI and ML algorithms as a Data Scientist. Yet, some of the predictive models that I have been able to build with the help of SAC has amazed not just me but everyone that I have shared my model with.” -SAP Business analyst at a leading IT solutions company

Trend 3: Integrated cross-functional data & analytics platforms are becoming a necessity

End to end, cross-functional visibility and integration was a big blip on the radar for analytics professionals since last few years. But during the Black Swan event of the pandemic, it has gained paramount importance among leaders across industries and functions. Organizations understand that siloed view into data as well as siloed analytics does not yield the results they need, to build the highly interconnected and resilient enterprise in this digital age. SAC addresses that need perfectly by allowing it to be used as a collaborative enterprise planning tool, one that allows users to plan across functions, thereby ensuring that their analytics insights and initiatives based off that analytics are strategically aligned with organization’s strategic objectives. The tool also allows users to shift focus on strategic planning by combining transactions, analytics and planning with SAP S/4 HANA. 3 “The integrated view aspect of SAC ensures that users across functions are looking at the same set of data, helping weave analytics happening in different departments together.” - SAP Analyst at a leading manufacturing company

What does this mean for SAPinsiders ?

A powerful analytics platform for SAP user base The unique capabilities that SAP Analytics Cloud combines, including planning, predictive analytics, reporting and Business Intelligence (BI), provides a very powerful SaaS tool in the hands of SAP users. This power is in the form of capabilities like a modern, intuitive user experience, “rapid fire” planning capabilities, integrating BI, planning & predictive capabilities and easy customization, integration and extension of models and widgets. These capabilities also allow SAC to accommodate a varied gamut of analytics requirements ranging from small, nimble departmental deployments to global implementations. It is evident that SAC has been optimally designed to help users get beyond vanilla analytics tools into a cutting edge, built-for-the-cloud analytics solution that can be leveraged by SAP users of varying skill sets throughout the enterprise.

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  Kumar Singh, Research Director, Automation & Analytics, SAPinsider, can be reached at kumar.singh@wispubs.com