SAP Unveils In-Memory Data Warehouse, Mobile Apps
SAP (NYSE: SAP) today unveiled a range of new solutions spanning business intelligence, in-memory analytics, data warehousing and mobile apps.
The announcements, made at Sapphire Now and SAP TechEd in Madrid, highlight SAP’s shift away from its core ERP market and toward greater speed and mobility. At the heart of several announcements is SAP’s HANA in-memory analytics appliance software, which the company claims is its fastest-growing new product since the R/3 ERP system nearly 20 years ago.
HANA has been integrated with SAP’s NetWeaver Business Warehouse for improved query performance and faster data loads. By replacing the traditional database layer in NetWeaver Business Warehouse, SAP says performance is improved dramatically.
Byron Banks, SAP’s vice president of business analytics marketing, said of HANA, “I’m an old database guy from the 1980s. This kind of stuff just blows me away.”
SAP also released HANA support pack 3, which includes both business function libraries and predictive analysis libraries. Business functions, such as sales forecasting based on linear regression, seasonal adjustments or other business-defined factors, are available as reusable functions directly in memory. Business users can also use advanced data mining and statistical algorithms such as decision trees to analyze critical factors that influence customer purchase decisions without deploying additional statistical analysis packages.
HANA now includes an information composer tool so users can upload data using a spreadsheet or by cutting and pasting from a clipboard. Determination of data type, primary keys, join conditions and data cleansing are largely automated by wizards.
New Customer Segmentation Accelerator software helps marketing departments build specific segmentations on high volumes of customer data at high speed. Building on SAP CRM applications and HANA, marketers can build highly tailored campaigns, target high-margin customers and optimize campaigns and tactics.
SAP also unveiled new BusinessObjects-based business intelligence applications focused on financials, CRM and supply chain management.
SAP Goes Mobile
SAP also announced a host of mobile applications based on the Sybase Unwired platform, along with a new SAP Store for mobile apps, starting with Apple’s iOS, with BlackBerry and Android support planned for later.
SAP BusinessObjects Mobile software offers on-the-go access to business intelligence reports, metrics and real-time business data. Other new mobile apps include Strategy Management, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), CRM, retail, electronic medical records, field service, and an app to connect citizens and local governments.
Paul Ferrill has been writing for over 15 years about computers and network technology. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering as well as a MS in Electrical Engineering. He is a regular contributor to the computer trade press. He has a specialization in complex data analysis and storage. He has written hundreds of articles and two books for various outlets over the years. His articles have appeared in Enterprise Apps Today and InfoWorld, Network World, PC Magazine, Forbes, and many other publications.