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What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
The end-to-end process of BI involves analyzing the data generated by businesses, transforming the data into insights, and leveraging those insights to make optimal decisions. BI tools primarily leverage “descriptive analytics,” because these tools traditionally focus on analyzing the current and historical performance based on data generated by the enterprise.
SAP BI Tools
SAP BusinessObjects is a centralized BI tool that provides organizations with the ability to perform reporting, create visualizations, and generate near-real-time BI. SAP BusinessObjects is the on-premises BI layer for SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). It is currently among the most widely used BI tools in the SAP technology ecosystem, according to SAPinsider research The Future of Business Intelligence. Key capabilities of this tool are:
What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
The end-to-end process of BI involves analyzing the data generated by businesses, transforming the data into insights, and leveraging those insights to make optimal decisions. BI tools primarily leverage “descriptive analytics,” because these tools traditionally focus on analyzing the current and historical performance based on data generated by the enterprise.
SAP BI Tools
SAP BusinessObjects is a centralized BI tool that provides organizations with the ability to perform reporting, create visualizations, and generate near-real-time BI. SAP BusinessObjects is the on-premises BI layer for SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). It is currently among the most widely used BI tools in the SAP technology ecosystem, according to SAPinsider research The Future of Business Intelligence. Key capabilities of this tool are:
- Near-real-time BI
- Increased user autonomy
- On-premise deployment
- Integration with SAP technologies
SAP Analytics Cloud is an evolution of SAP’s initial business intelligence (BI) offering as an extension of its all-inclusive SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) product. But this evolution in the form of SAP Analytics Cloud also aligns with three top trends in today’s rapidly evolving data and analytics solutions landscape, as identified in SAPinsider research report Enterprise Data and Analytics State of The Market.
Key Considerations for SAPinsiders
- Build a foundational analytics culture: While SAP sees the future of analytics in the cloud, primarily in the form of SAP Analytics Cloud, BI tools like SAP BusinessObjects provide an opportunity to fine-tune the “data-driven culture” aspect of your organization. Success with analytics tools is about the capability to assimilate, absorb, and leverage the tool in day-to-day decision making (SAPinsider research Analytics in The Cloud).
- Democratize BI: Modern BI tools like SAP BusinessObjects have functionalities like drag-and-drop features to build reports, intuitive interfaces, and dashboards that allow business users to leverage these tools without needing any technical or coding skills. Ensure that you put these tools in the hands of more business users.
- Document BI tools in action: A powerful way to capture the value BI tools is to document use cases generated by business users and share these across the organization to promote a data-driven business culture. You can find examples of BusinessObjects use cases on SAPinsider.
- Understand the transition to a cloud roadmap: There is no doubt that SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise has amassed an immense user base. However, as the need for business intelligence evolved, SAP created a new Software as a Service (SaaS) product in SAP Analytics Cloud. SAP has made it clear that the ultimate go-forward solution for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise users is SAP Analytics Cloud. Many SAP BusinessObjects customers have yet to move to SAP Analytics Cloud, and it is therefore imperative that they start planning this transition strategy. Read more about what product leaders at SAP have to say about this journey to the cloud.
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Is SAP Business Data Cloud Right for You?May 13, 2025 — There are many data and analytics tools available for businesses of all sizes. What is more not always easy to understand is where and how to get started with these tools. SAP recently announced the release of the Business Data Cloud which allows organizations to unleash transformational insights, connect data across the enterprise, and foster reliable business AI. But is your organization ready for Business Data Cloud?
Something that is frequently asked is how SAP BDC differs from what customers may already be using today. This session, targeted at both business and IT leaders, aims to clarify what makes up SAP’s Business Data Cloud. What will also be covered is the process necessary to evaluate the status of your current analytics landscape and architecture and develop an analytics roadmap that makes sense for your organization as well as aligning with its strategic goals and objectives.
By attending this session, you will:
Be able to understand the SAP Business Data Cloud offering and how it is licensed
Understand the benefits that using SAP BDC can bring to an organization.
Receive an introduction to the process of a Business Intelligence Assessment and how it helps define a data and analytics near and long-term roadmap
1 minute read
An Insider’s Guide to SAP BusinessObjects and SAP NetWeaver BW: What Tools Should You Use Going Forward?May 14, 2009 — Delve into the reporting and analysis tools available with SAP BusinessObjects and SAP NetWeaver BW. Find out when to use which tool, where to find it, and who should be the one using it. Learn which BEx tools SAP will continue to develop and which SAP BusinessObjects tools you should consider for your long-term reporting […]
17 minute read
Copilot in Power Automate: New time-saving experiences announced at Microsoft Ignite 2023Mar 26, 2024 — Sangya Singh, VP, Power Automate and Power Pages, Wednesday, November 15, 2023 Today at Microsoft Ignite 2023, we’re sharing new ways you can automate and orchestrate business processes across your organization with Copilot in Power Automate. Earlier this year, we announced how users can use Copilot to create and refine cloud flows and assist in data ingestion for process […]
1 minute read
What’s new: Power Apps February 2024 Feature UpdateMar 26, 2024 — Welcome to the Power Apps monthly feature update! We will use this blog to share a summary of product, community, and learning updates from throughout the month so you can access it in one easy place. This month we’ve got a great set of updates for Makers, Admins, and users across Power Apps, Dataverse and […]
1 minute read
Make Smarter Business DecisionsOct 19, 2020 — Augmented analytics is defined by Wikipedia as an approach to analytics that employs the use of machine learning and natural language processing to automate analysis processes typically done by data scientists. Smart Assist is a collective group of features that enable augmented analytics to occur in SAP Analytics Cloud. The Smart Assist portfolio enables features across multiple aspects of data analysis, story creation, conversational analytics, and statistical methods. This article will explore each of these features in detail.
After reading this article you will be able to:
- Define augmented analytics and its role in data analytics;
- Describe each of the features available in the Smart Assist portfolio and how each feature can assist the end user in adding business value; and
- Understand how the Smart Assist portfolio aligns with SAP’s forward-looking and cloud-first strategy.
7 minute read
Discover What’s New in Best PracticesAug 30, 2018 —
Protiviti is offering a comprehensive SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence suite (BI suite) webinar series that presents SAP best practices you will want to incorporate into your organization. This dynamic three-part series will share proven methodologies including how to gain valuable insight from real-world projects and how a hybrid approach can help organizations quickly and affordably provide more information to a wider userbase driving BI suite adoption. Attendees will walk through the process of establishing a BI suite Center of Excellence (COE), an internal group that provides services and oversight to the various development groups within an organization.
Launching on September 12 and continuing consecutive Wednesdays, each hour-long webinar will be led by one of our subject matter experts. Attendees will take away valuable best practices designed to empower and to influence better decision making in the real world – all developed to help improve performance across your organization.
Register now for one, two, or all three webinars. Details are below.
Webinar 1: A How-To Guide for Creating a Global Analytics Hub
Speaker: Marshall Kelley
Wednesday, September 12 @ 2:00 pm ET
Imagine bringing 15 different ERP systems into one unified analytics data mart, using SAP Data Services and SAP HANA®. In this webinar, attendees will learn how to create a global analytics hub using several SAP® solutions in a complex technological environment. This session will cover proven methodologies for BI success and share tips with attendees on how to gain valuable insight from real-world projects.
Key Learning Points
- Identify systematic and repeatable best practices for driving success and increasing user adoption
- Review real-world projects, discussing the technology, strategy and methodologies implemented
- Hear tips about staying agile in a global analytic environment
Webinar 2: Hybrid Analytics: Bridging the Gap between Cloud and On-Premise
Speaker: Patrick NeSmith
Wednesday, September 19 @ 2:00 pm ET
It seems everyone has a cloud analytics solution these days and there are many valid use cases for moving analytics to the cloud. But that doesn’t mean abandoning an existing SAP® BusinessObjects™ on-premise solution in favor of the cloud. This webinar will review use cases for both on-premise and SAP Analytics Cloud and discover how a hybrid approach can help organizations quickly and affordably provide information from a greater number of sources to a wider user base -- ultimately, driving adoption and empowering users to make better decisions.
Key Learning Points
- Learn how to leverage your on-premise investment to get the most out of cloud analytics
- Discover when to use on-premise, cloud, or hybrid
- Learn how to add cloud analytics without complicated licensing
Webinar 3: Creating a Business Intelligence Center of Excellence: A Step-by-Step Approach for Success
Speaker: Chris Hickman
Wednesday, September 26 @ 2pm ET
Establishing a Business Intelligence Center of Excellence (COE) is a proven approach to achieving a strategic, cohesive, enterprise-wide BI environment. This session will walk attendees through the process of establishing a COE, an internal group that provides services and oversight to the various development groups within an organization. Learn how establishing a COE will guide BI initiatives within their firm (regardless of size or maturity) to achieve common goals. Attendees will also experience the challenges and benefits inherent in this process, along with the bottom-line results that can be expected when a successful COE is in place.
Key Learning Points
- Understand how to evaluate your organization’s business intelligence maturity model
- Assess the value opportunities of implementing a center of excellence and the risks associated with maintaining the status quo
- Define the typical properties of a business intelligence center of excellence
The experts from Protiviti invite you to join our webinars and to bring questions about your organizations and the challenges you face. Our expert webinar series is designed to benefit real-world situations and to provide solutions in today’s demanding business environment. It’s never too early to think about adding more structure to your business while remaining agile. Successful organizations often align the right technology, team and expertise to support their current business needs as well as their future expansion. Giving attention to these areas now will position your company for future success.
3 minute read
An Introduction to SAP Predictive Analytics 2.0 and SAP HANA Predictive ToolsMay 1, 2015 — In this exclusive report by Hillary Bliss, take a walk into the world of the SAP suite of predictive tools with an in-depth tour of the new SAP Predictive Analytics 2.0 and how it ties into SAP HANA and SAP Lumira. Learn the importance of general predictive modeling concepts, and then apply those concepts as […]
64 minute read