Management
Over the past two decades, the ERP system has evolved from a collection of components into a platform for collaboration and innovation. Find out why Business Objects executives, speaking at the inaugural Business Objects Influencer Summit, say its platform is poised to undergo a similar transformation – and what it means for the SAP ERP community.
By now, most companies realize that business intelligence is a key driver of success. But is there such a thing as too much business intelligence?
According to the Apotex Group, there is. The generic pharmaceutical manufacturer struggled to coordinate its data and strategic initiatives across its various divisions and subsidiary companies, because many of those units were analyzing data from point solutions at their locations rather than from a centralized business intelligence platform. In turn, each unit had a different opinion on how to define data and how best to report on it.
So the company, a long-time Crystal Enterprise and Business Objects customer, made the decision to standardize on the Business Objects platform. The result is a common framework that allows divisions across the enterprise to work together more smoothly to meet shared objectives.
“It’s really become a tool for collaboration,” says John Mayer, director of consulting and testing services for Apotex. “The language of business intelligence is actually forcing them to come together and talk.”
SAP says it expects to see more customers using the Business Objects platform in the same way. At the inaugural Business Objects Influencer Summit in Boston on August 12, 2008, representatives from the company argued that the business intelligence and performance management platform could follow the same trajectory as the ERP system. Just as the ERP system matured from a series of components into a shared platform for implementing business strategy, SAP says, the Business Objects suite is poised to undergo a similar transformation.
“When we used to talk about ERP, it was always AR or AP. Now we talk about it as a full business suite. We’re starting to see the same thing here, where people aren’t talking about strategy management or another component alone anymore,” says Sanjay Poonen, senior vice president of Performance Optimization Applications at Business Objects, an SAP Company. “I think that in three to five years from now, we won’t be talking about the components of Business Objects — we’ll be talking about industry-specific solutions.”
During a panel discussion held during the one-day summit Deloitte Partner Lee Dittmar said many businesses suffer not from a lack of data, but from overly diversified data management.
“Our research shows that one of the biggest barriers to turning data into insight is the unnecessary complexity of our systems, and the siloes we’ve created within the organization,” he says. “I absolutely believe we’re at an inflection point. Whether we call it BI or GRC or EPM (enterprise performance management) doesn’t matter – it’s all about information.”
Dan Miller of IBM Global Services says standardization of business intelligence is the next frontier in enterprise strategy.
“Those organizations spend so much time trying to agree on the real numbers, and the costs associated with all that effort are significant,” he says. “Standardizing pays for itself, because that’s when you really get into significant value. Once you have the platform, you get to work through the cycle of business planning and execution. Having the right platform is essential.”
Jonathan Becher, senior vice president of marketing at Business Objects says standardizing on one business intelligence platform will help companies create a closed loop between strategy and execution. Even the best of strategic ideas die without execution, and the experience of execution is critical to forming new strategies.
“To close the gap between strategy and execution, you need the best of both worlds — and you need the flexibility to adapt on the fly,” he says.
Business Objects also announced new enhancements and initiatives aimed at expanding the reach of SAP’s business intelligence and performance management toolset. See the sidebar for full announcement details.
New Tools, Initiatives from Business Objects, an SAP Company
SAP Links BI, GRC, and EPM
The latest versions of EPM solutions from Business Objects are aimed at integrating business intelligence and performance management with SAP solutions for governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).
For example, the latest version of SAP Strategy Management is integrated with SAP GRC Risk Management — giving users the ability to calculate risk while creating new business strategies.
Sanjay Poonen, senior vice president of Performance Optimization Applications at Business Objects, says the requirements and disciplines of GRC are increasingly linked to overall business strategy and performance monitoring. The combination of GRC, EPM, and BI leads to greater visibility of unified information, easier collaborative decision-making, and better organizational alignment.
“Every view of profits has to be connected with compliance. And every strategy has to be connected with risk,” he says.
SAP has also added SAP Spend Analytics to its EPM portfolio. SAP Spend Analytics is designed to aggregate, clean, and analyze procurement data from a myriad of systems, including third-party applications.
Other enhancements to the EPM portfolio include increased scalability of the Business Objects Profitability and Cost Management application, deeper integration of the Business Objects Financial Consolidation application with Business Objects XI 3.0, and the enhancement of the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application to run on the SAP NetWeaver platform.
New Tool Brings Interactive Data Visualization to Presentations
The business presentation has already gone from the chalkboard to the overhead projector to digital slide shows. The latest presentation tool from Business Objects adds live interactive data to static Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets, allowing that data to be manipulated during a presentation using Microsoft Power Point or Adobe PDF files. Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrate PDF files distributed at the summit. The user is able to adjust settings for gas price, grade, state, and future price increases within the single PDF file, or map financial metrics on a simple dashboard.
Figure 1
A sample PDF file with interactive data from a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet
Figure 2
An example dashboard created with Xcelsius Present
SAP says Xcelsius Present can be used to illustrate complicated sales figures in a simple form, and adjust those figures to predict how a new sales initiative might affect future outcomes.
“What is truly unique and exciting about Xcelsius Present is its ease of use,” says Marge Breya, general manager and executive vice president of Business Objects. “Xcelsius Present appeals to everyday people who are looking for new, more compelling wasy to produce, consume, and share information.”
SAP Brings Crystal Reports to Small Businesses
In an effort to push business intelligence capabilities to smaller companies, SAP will offer SAP Business One customers a free copy of the basic Crystal Reports reporting application. With Crystal Reports, small companies will be able to gain greater visibility into SAP-based functions such as supply chain and financials.
SAP Business One is designed for companies with fewer than 100 employees. SAP Business One customers can also integrate Crystal Reports 2008 Visual Advantage and Crystal Reports Server 2008 into their SAP systems.
SAP Tackles Planned Risk Evaluations from S&P
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recently announced that it would factor in a set of enterprise risk management (ERM) evaluations when setting its credit rating for non-financial companies. S&P has included ERM evaluations for financial institutions since 2005.
To respond to the credit rating change, SAP has announced a new initiative intended to equip companies to handle the new evaluations. The company plans to work with its governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) partners, including Deloitte, IBM Global Business Services, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, and Protiviti, to provide tools to satisfy S&P’s risk management criteria.
Dan Miller of IBM Global Business Services cites internal research to show that most enterprises are not prepared for the change. A 2008 Global CFO survey showed that two-thirds of enterprises with over $5 billion in revenues had encountered serious risk events in the past three years, and that half of those companies acknowledged that they were unprepared for the event.
“For those that were prepared, it was a significant factor in determining their performance. Risk management is not an option anymore,” says Miller.
Davin Wilfrid
Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.
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