SAP powers up for HANA-powered Business Suite in APAC

• To boost number of consultants and partners trained in next-gen HANA platform
• Seals deals with two large customers in China, India

SAP AG is ramping up the number of consultants for its services organization and training its partner ecosystem to take advantage of what it expects to be a good take-up of its SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA in Asia Pacific.
 
The Business Suite, now powered by SAP’s next-generation HANA platform, is a new option offered to existing customers, helping them translate real-time insights to action while removing the complexity of redundant data and systems, SAP said in a statement.
 
The new product suite brings analytics and transactions into a single in-memory platform.
 
SAP HANA is well-suited to help customers navigate the dynamic market conditions of the Asia Pacific region, which present businesses with both challenges and opportunities. With fierce competition and ever-changing conditions, real-time access to information becomes critical for decision-making, the company said.
 
“In many economies across Asia Pacific, demographics are shifting. The favorable conditions that fueled growth are vulnerable to increased volatility,” said Steve Watts (pic), president of SAP Asia Pacific Japan.
 
“To sustain growth in this new reality, economies need innovative businesses, and innovation requires getting the right information in real time.
 
“Real-time computing will have a profound impact on the way business gets done in Asia. It’s a historical milestone for our customers, our ecosystem of partners and for SAP. When businesses make better decisions faster and innovate their business processes and models, the entire economy benefits,” he added.
 
SAP announced that Avon Cycles, India’s largest cycle manufacturer, and Nongfu Spring, China’s largest bottled water producer, are now ‘ramp up’ customers of SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.
 
SAP itself went live on the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application powered by the SAP HANA platform in two and a half months. More than 14,000 SAP employees worldwide have real-time access to real-time business insights for smarter decision making and new productivity gains.
 
The company also said its Services organization has delivered more than 40 proofs of concept and 30 customer implementations of SAP HANA in the region. This number is expected to grow substantially based on the expected value from the SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.
 
SAP Services has a team of more than 400 experienced SAP HANA consultants in the region and expects to have more than 200 consultants for SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA by the end of March to help customers to continue to innovate without disruption, the company claimed.
 
In addition, SAP said it is building an open ecosystem of partners who can help customers transform to their entire business in real-time. For this year, it aims to grow the specialization of skills required for the new suite by training the current resource pool of more than 3,000 partner consultants already trained on SAP HANA in Asia Pacific Japan in the new curriculum.
 
This will be done through a planned and targeted training program offered to selected partners, as well as by working with consultants in the university market.
 
“Bluefin Solutions has a long-standing partnership with SAP, working closely to help our customers transform their businesses and create competitive advantages,” said Serb Jodha, head of consulting, Asia Pacific, at Bluefin Solutions, an SAP partner.
 
“Through cutting-edge technologies such as SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA, and with more than 30 consultants certified in SAP HANA and two distinguished engineers for SAP HANA globally within Bluefin Solutions, we are well-positioned to provide strategic, independent advice to business and IT leaders around the world on leveraging HANA to deliver accelerated business benefits, smarter innovation and faster performance.”
 
According to a recent IDC survey, sponsored by SAP, of more than 750 IT managers and business managers from around the world about the challenges they face with separate platforms for transactions and analytics, 40% said they required more than two days to prepare financial data for reporting.
 
When asked to identify the improvement that would have the most positive impact on their organizations, respondents elected “faster access to information” above all other responses. “Faster analysis” was chosen as the third most impactful change.
 
The IDC white paper was titled "Blending Transactions and Analytics into a Single In-Memory Platform: Key To The Real-Time Enterprise.

 
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