Udit
Do you wish to implement SAP BTP Platform in your business?
If YES!
Then you are at the right place
Because here you will get all the information about BTP and what it will do for your business. .
So, without wasting much time. Let’s start the topic.
Table of Contents
What is BTP?
Business Technology Platform (BTP), is a programme that offers a variety of solutions like Databases, Data Warehousing, Analytics, Integration and Programing tools.
You can use this platform to satisfy your business needs. Without any complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure. Usually a Technology Partner can help you with the same and a lot more than that.
This is typically associated with developing & launching applications in your business system.
Now question arise,
How could SAP BTP Platform help?
SAP BTP offers pre-built tools, using which you can build applications.
Not only this, you can integrate one product with another and use these databases as a service. With services like Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence.
Do all these activities, without building any of these complex tools from scratch.
That’s why it is known as Platform as a service.
Difference between Platform as a service, Software as a service, Infrastructure as a service, and On-Premise Models?
| Platform as a Service | Software as a Service | Infrastructure as a Service | On-Premise |
| Data | Data | Data | Data |
| Applications | Applications | Applications | Applications |
| Middleware | Middleware | Middleware | Middleware |
| O/S | O/S | O/S | O/S |
| Virtualization | Virtualization | Virtualization | Virtualization |
| Server / Networks | Server / Networks | Server / Networks | Server / Networks |
| Storage | Storage | Storage | Storage |
Managed by you
Managed by Service Provider
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
The Data and Applications are managed by the user whereas, everything else is managed by the service provider. For example, you have to build a web application that can be integrated with SAP Business One. When you use middleware like BTP, then all you need to do is write the code to build your application.
Other than this, you are required to build and run your code, such as Development Tools, Database, Integration APIs, Network user management, Server, Operating System Storage, all of these things are managed by SAP who’s the vendor.
Main advantage of this type of module is that you can use your time effectively and concentrate on building the application. Rather than managing the software or administrative tasks that lie underneath.
Some other examples of the platform as a service are SAP BTP Platform, Amazon AWS, Elastic Beanstalk, Openshift, Microsoft Azure. All of these softwares are working on PaaS components and there are so many other products in the market.
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
In this everything is managed by the service provider including the applications. The user just needs the data and consumes the functionality to perform their day-to-day operations. Some examples of SaaS are Dropbox, Google Drive, Gmail, Salesforce, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP BTP Platform, Ariba, so on and so forth.
Let’s take a simple example like Gmail. As we all know that Gmail is a free email service provider by Google. In this application server networks storage operating system database, everything is managed and operated by Google. Whereas, you as a consumer will only manage the data you store in Gmail. So in this case, Data is your emails is the SaaS model. While Gmail is free for some of the other software as a service products you may want to pay a subscription on a monthly or a yearly basis depending on the product.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
There are cloud-based services where the user pays as they go for services such as storage, networking, and virtualization. But other things such as operating systems, middleware applications, and data are managed by the user. You lease the infrastructure from the vendor and you host whatever application you want to host on top of the infrastructure.
Examples of infrastructure as service providers are Amazon AWS, Rackspace, Google Cloud Computing Engine, Microsoft Azure, etc.
- On-premise
In this Model, the user manages everything. The software is installed on a server that is hosted in the same building as the business user or the consumer is responsible for the whole package.
Knowing about all these models, makes you aware of how SAP BTP Platform can help in transforming your business.
Let’s take a look at what BTP has got to offer in terms of solutions and functionalities.
Categorization of SAP BTP Platform
The solutions offered by BTP are broadly categorized into 4 categories:-
- Database & Data management
As the name signifies, this category contains database and data management solutions. As you may know SAP offers different types of databases like SAP HANA on premises, SAP HANA Cloud, a cloud HANA database, and SAP IQ.
It also offers solutions that manage master data across the entire organization. So you can subscribe to any of these solutions to manage the data of your organization or just to host a custom application that you are building.
- Business Analytics
Analytics is really important for any organization because it helps you to discover, interpret and communicate meaningful patterns in data. Whether data in form of Finance, Procurement, Employee-related Information, Demand, Supply Chain, Sales.
All those businesses have their critical KPIs that can be hooked on to any of these analytical tools. In return, it will present your information in a readable format and let you know exactly what is happening in your business. SAP BTP Platform offers different types of business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions as well.
- Application Development & Integration
A lot of customers use SAP BTP Platform mainly for Integration and Extensive Suite of application development.
What is the Integration Suite?
To start with, BTP offers pre-built integration libraries and APIs. That enables the customer to easily integrate their SAP system with other SAP systems. They can also integrate their SAP systems with third-party systems like salesforce and oracle. That’s the integration suite.
What is an Extensive Suite?
An extension is nothing but a standalone web application. That can blend with any SAP Product to enhance its functionality and serve an end-to-end business process requirement.
For example, I work for a company that requires a web application for recruiting new employees. If I’m a developer I can write code and develop a new application on SAP BTP Platform and then integrate that application with either SAP HANA or SuccessFactors to provide the user with a seamless end-to-end business process execution.
BTP offers out-of-the-box tools and services to develop and integrate custom-built applications with other SAP products and also with other third-party applications.
- Intelligent Technologies
It contains solutions like Internet of Things, Edge Services, Intelligent Robotics Process Automation, Conversational AI, and AI Business services as well. Users can make use of these functionalities and integrate them with their SAP BTP Platform.
If you take the Internet of Things as an example, It can be used for a variety of purposes like logistics companies. They can monitor all their trucks and collect data like the speed of the trucks, their braking pattern
How much brake a driver takes?
What route is economical?
What parts of the trucks must be changed?
And When they must be changed?
and When must the truck be serviced? and so much more.
So all this type of information can be collected using Internet of Things solutions. Robotic Process automation helps you identify repeatable tasks in your business processes and enables you to automate them. Conversational AI technologies are helpful for building intelligent chatbots. Hence they are learning and adjusting their responses over some time automatically.
By using SAP BTP Platform you can subscribe to any of these services instead of building those applications by yourself from scratch.
This is the main reason why you need an experienced Technology Partner, who can help you with all these activities. And fulfill all your technology needs according to your business.
That’s where Cinntra comes into the Picture.
Cinntra Infotech, a technology partner company, understands that standard SAP software doesn’t cover all business requirements. That’s when SAP BTP Platform comes into play. It is an impeccable cloud platform that facilitates secure custom development and allows third-party integration with SAP.
As a trusted SAP Partner, Cinntra can design personalized methodologies to develop custom industry applications on SAP BTP Platform. The collaboration of our ERP expertise with BTP helps their clients extend their business capabilities with new technologies integration to create a streamlined enterprise experience. We facilitate prototyping and application development in a few weeks, and bring out innovative SAP solutions with agility at an unbeatable price.
With Cinntra, enterprises like ALDI, Landmark Group, Cityon Systems have already unlocked new business value with SAP BTP Platform.
Schedule a meeting and discuss what SAP BTP Platform can do for your business.
Read more: 11 Ways SAP Control Helps Establish SoD
Udit is a tech blogger, who has been working in the ERP industry since 2015. He loves to write on complex queries in the simplest manner to teach their audience.