The company that gave us HANA is at it again with a pair of new business intelligence product offerings that could reshape how business data is analyzed. Over the last few years SAP showed us what could be analyzed (millions of rows of big data) and when it could be analyzed (at speeds measured in seconds and milliseconds).
All that remains is a business intelligence platform built exclusively for connecting to SAP HANA data to handle the how. That time is nigh with the all new, SAP Cloud for Analytics platform introduced at the SAP TechEd conference in Las Vegas this fall.
The new platform extends SAP HANA’s cloud footprint and is designed to provide a user-friendly, centralized interface for visualizing data trends. Data is shared in real-time providing speedy discovery, insights and prediction. All three are key features for users that have an SAP HANA deployment and are looking for a cloud-based data visualization platform. Traditional on-premise implementations can be more difficult to maintain as opposed to the simplicity of cloud-based platforms.
Judging from the popularity of the numerous HANA technical sessions and hands-on workshops at this year’s SAP TechEd conference, there will be quite a few companies and developers waiting on the edge of their seats to get their hands on SAP Cloud for Analytics once it’s released.
The other new BI and data visualization product that debuted at the TechEd conference is the SAP Digital Boardroom. The live demonstration of the software during one of the morning keynotes was impressive, to say the least. It combines crisp graphics, ultra-high speed performance and access to SAP HANA data for instant insights.
From what we know so far, the SAP Digital Boardroom appears to be a hybrid of the SAP HANA Cloud platform and new SAP Cloud for Analytics platform. Early indications are that both of the new cloud-based data visualization offerings will be the perfect marriage for customers looking to get more out of their SAP HANA investments.
Another hot topic at the SAP TechEd conference was the next iteration of the hugely popular SAP BusinessObjects platform due out before the end of 2015, SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2. As predicted, Web Intelligence — the company’s flagship query, reporting and analysis tool — will allow direct connectivity to SAP HANA views and will finally come with a mapping component for location analysis.
Competition is fierce in the world of enterprise business intelligence and business analytics software. With the announcement of the two new BI cloud platforms, a new version of SAP BusinessObjects on the horizon and continuous improvements to SAP Lumira, SAP is poised for growth. There’s no doubt they’ll remain relevant among the growing list of BI software vendors in the crowded software-as-a-service (SaaS) space of cloud BI.
General availability of both BI software platforms should be announced very soon so keep your eyes peeled.
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