Posts by: Xavier Hacking

De Nederlandse BI Podcast: SAP TechEd 2024

Posted by Xavier Hacking on Oct 9, 2024 in De Nederlandse BI Podcast | No Comments

Welkom bij een nieuwe aflevering van de Nederlandse BI Podcast! Het is TechEd seizoen, en hoewel de conferentie dit jaar virtueel is, zijn er genoeg spannende aankondigingen om over te praten. In deze aflevering bespreken we de belangrijkste nieuwsitems uit de keynote van SAP TechEd 2024, met een focus op data en analytics. Ons illustere panel bespreekt onder andere AI, SAP DataSphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, Snowflake (believe it or not) en nog veel meer!

Inhoud:

– AI en Generatieve AI: De opkomst van AI agents binnen SAP en hoe ze complexe bedrijfsprocessen autonoom kunnen uitvoeren. Denk hierbij aan het oplossen van intercompany verschillen en andere repetitieve taken.
– SAP DataSphere & Data Lakes: We praten over de nieuwe mogelijkheden van SAP DataSphere en hoe het als opvolger van BW4 fungeert. Er is ook aandacht voor de integratie met Data Lakes en de uitdagingen die daarbij komen kijken, zoals het migreren van data van BW naar DataSphere.
– Snowflake integratie: Een verrassende aankondiging was de toevoeging van een Snowflake-adapter binnen de SAP Integration Suite, wat zorgt voor verbeterde integraties met andere dataplatforms.
– Hybride Data-oplossingen: We bespreken ook de hybride aanpak tussen SAP BW en DataSphere en hoe bedrijven voorlopig in beide systemen kunnen opereren terwijl de overgang naar DataSphere wordt doorgevoerd.

Timestamps:

– [00:00:00] Introductie en TechEd 2024 overzicht
– [00:01:30] AI agents en autonome bedrijfsprocessen
– [00:02:50] Data Lakes en SAP DataSphere: de vervanger van BW4?
– [00:05:00] Snowflake integratie en de impact op SAP’s ecosysteem
– [00:07:15] SAP Analytics Cloud updates: wat is er nieuw?
– [00:10:30] Hybride oplossingen tussen BW en DataSphere
– [00:15:00] Toekomst van AI en SAP: wat kunnen we verwachten?
– [00:20:30] Afsluiting en vooruitblik op de rest van TechEd 2024

Key Takeaways:
– AI en generatieve AI gaan een steeds grotere rol spelen binnen SAP’s portfolio.
– SAP DataSphere biedt nieuwe mogelijkheden voor datamanagement, vooral in combinatie met Data Lakes.
– De integratie met Snowflake laat zien dat SAP steeds meer samenwerkt met concurrerende platformen om hybride oplossingen mogelijk te maken.
– Nieuwe updates in SAP Analytics Cloud versterken de analytics- en rapportagemogelijkheden van het platform.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms 2024

Posted by Xavier Hacking on Aug 31, 2024 in SAP Analytics Cloud | No Comments

The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms has become as much a part of summer as ice creams and beach vacations. This year, however, the Quadrant is particularly noteworthy—especially that crowded upper-right corner. Just how many “leaders” can there be? Let’s dive in and explore!

You can find the report summary here, and use the slider below to compare the quadrants of 2023 and 2024.

Microsoft’s Dominance and SAP’s Progress

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft (Power BI) continues to dominate, leaving the rest of the pack far behind. Our friends at SAP (SAP Analytics Cloud – SAC) have inched closer to the coveted leader quadrant, yet they remain classified as “Visionary.” So why hasn’t SAC made the leap to leader status? The answer lies in the platform’s broader scope. SAC isn’t just an analytics or business intelligence tool; it’s a multifunctional platform that ticks all of Gartner’s mandatory feature boxes but doesn’t particularly excel in any single area. This observation holds true. Over the past few years, we’ve seen limited innovation in SAC’s reporting features beyond the useful Data Analyzer. While more built-in standard charts would be a welcome addition, it seems SAP’s development priorities lie elsewhere, unfortunately.

What is a Leader anyway?

In the description of what a “Leader” is in the context of this research, Gartner states:

Buying decisions are made, or at least heavily influenced, by business users who demand products that are easy to buy and use. Business users require these products to deliver clear business value and enable the use of powerful analytics by those with limited technical expertise and without upfront involvement from the IT department or technical experts.

SAP has made some strides in improving ease of use, with features like the optimized story mode and enhanced built-in help. However, my concern about the limited visualization options remains. SAP’s current approach of relying on custom widgets and add-ons for additional charts doesn’t align well with Gartner’s emphasis on empowering business users. Perhaps the upcoming Joule (AI) integration—whenever it arrives—will simplify things and remove these complexities once and for all.

Planning and Datasphere

One of SAC’s main strengths is planning, and if this were a “mandatory” feature, the Quadrant might look very different! To their credit, Gartner acknowledges SAC’s planning capabilities, but as long as planning isn’t required, SAP’s leader status will remain elusive.

On a positive note, Gartner highlights the increased market momentum for SAC following the announcement of SAP Datasphere (DSP). This is promising, but SAP must deliver on its promise to further integrate both tools, particularly in planning and predictive scenarios. I’ve already seen demos where an SAC planning model could be pushed down to DSP and integrated within a DSP model. Currently, this data transfer between systems via OData is cumbersome, to say the least. Positioning DSP more actively as a “data hub” to integrate data from various sources (SAP and non-SAP) would significantly benefit SAC, making it a logical reporting layer on top.

Some thoughts

So, what does all of this mean? I’ve touched on this in previous blogs, but if SAP isn’t planning to enhance its visualisation features, it might be wise to focus on its strengths and “own the boring stuff.” You know, the time-dependent hierarchies, on-the-fly currency conversions, reusable key figure definitions etc. By becoming the absolute leader in standardised, reliable reporting, SAP can carve out a niche in an area where it truly excels. As Gartner pointed out (just as last year!), governance around Power BI content is becoming increasingly chaotic. With decades of experience in managing these challenges, SAP is well-positioned to seize this opportunity.

De Nederlandse BI Podcast: SAPPHIRE 2024

Posted by Xavier Hacking on Jun 5, 2024 in Artificial Intelligence, De Nederlandse BI Podcast, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere | No Comments

The latest episode of the Dutch BI Podcast is hosted by Ronald Konijnenburg, along with Tim Koster, Xavier Hacking, and Jef Baeyens. Unfortunately, Martijn and Joost are absent. This episode mainly focuses on recent developments and announcements during the “SAP SAPPHIRE 2024” event.

Main Topics:

1. Seamless Planning:

• Jef Baeyens discusses the new release in the Seamless Planning beta program, where a planning model can be deployed in Datasphere without replicating the planning data. However, there are still some limitations, such as importing actuals and master data.

• Tim Koster emphasizes that this is an important step, although there is still work to be done to achieve full integration.

2. SAP Analytics Cloud:

• Xavier Hacking mentions some incremental improvements, such as the Light Viewer feature and the announcement that the Classic Design Experience will soon be discontinued.

• The impact of these changes is discussed, particularly for users still working with older versions of Stories and Analytics Applications.

Video: SAP Analytics Cloud Just Ask [2024.6]

Posted by Xavier Hacking on Apr 2, 2024 in Artificial Intelligence, SAP Analytics Cloud, Video | No Comments

SAP is moving Artificial Intelligence (AI) into all of its (cloud) offerings and SAP Analytics Cloud is not left behind! In this video I have a look at the initial release of Just Ask, which let’s you query a dataset by just asking question in natural language!

De Nederlandse BI Podcast: SAP Data Unleashed 2024

Posted by Xavier Hacking on Mar 14, 2024 in De Nederlandse BI Podcast, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere | No Comments

Daar gaan we weer! Welkom bij een nieuwe episode van de Nederlandse BI Podcast. Deze keer duiken we in het SAP Data Unleashed event. We gaan alle grote nieuwtjes door en delen onze eigen inzichten (en ja, dat doen we helemaal zonder AI-hulp!) over de nieuwste features.

Wat gaan we bespreken?