Today’s businesses face the dual challenge of maintaining operational excellence while also innovating at speed. Technology adoption and enterprise IT infrastructure design play a foundational role in enabling these capabilities.
Smart companies are evolving their technology strategies to eliminate siloed and function-specific point solutions in favor of more holistic tools—ones that can drive enterprise-wide visibility, collaboration, and optimization.
SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) exemplifies this approach. As a comprehensive platform-as-a-service, it combines application development, data analytics, integration, automation, and AI capabilities, creating a unified IT environment that accelerates innovation and drives operational excellence across the enterprise.
In this guide, we’ll explore how organizations can unlock the full potential of their IT environments with SAP BTP, and how it can extend the capabilities of SAP S/4HANA beyond its core functionality so companies can create the customized solutions they need to meet operational and strategic demands without altering their core ERP.
What is SAP BTP?
SAP BTP is a SAP Business Technology Platform that puts your technology in one place—creating a unified environment optimized for SAP applications and designed to drive innovation. With SAP BTP, enterprises can extend and personalize SAP applications, integrate IT landscapes, and empower business users to collaborate and connect their experiences.
With a unified, real-time, holistic view of the enterprise, decision makers can act with confidence and foster a culture of innovation across teams in every functional area.
Key SAP BTP features and benefits include:
Application Development and Extension
SAP BTP comes with a robust set of tools for application development and extension. Developers can leverage cloud-native technologies, including SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), to rapidly build, deploy, and manage custom applications. No-code/low-code environments enable users to quickly build and deploy custom applications that integrate seamlessly with their ERP core.
The BTP platform also offers a rich set of APIs and integration capabilities that facilitate seamless connectivity with SAP and non-SAP systems. This empowers businesses to create tailored solutions that address business-specific operational challenges and drive competitive advantage.
Data Management and Analytics
SAP BTP’s unified approach to data integration enables companies to connect disparate data sources and accelerate data to value processes. Through SAP Data Intelligence, businesses are able to orchestrate data pipelines, perform advanced analytics, and derive actionable insights in real time. Decision makers then have the information they need to drive strategic initiatives, optimize processes, and uncover new growth opportunities.
Integration and Interoperability
SAP BTP serves as a hub for seamless integration and interoperability across heterogeneous landscapes. Whether it's connecting on-premises systems, cloud applications, or IoT devices, the platform provides a range of integration tools and services to facilitate data exchange and business process orchestration.
Workflow Automation and Orchestration
SAP BTP empowers businesses to automate workflows and business processes with ease. Leveraging SAP Intelligent RPA and business rules management capabilities, organizations can streamline repetitive tasks, reduce manual effort, and enhance operational efficiency. This not only accelerates time-to-market but also frees up resources for more strategic endeavors, driving innovation and growth.
AI and Machine Learning
SAP BTP integrates advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to enable intelligent automation and decision-making. With SAP AI Business Services, businesses can leverage pre-built AI models for tasks such as text classification, sentiment analysis, and object detection. The platform supports custom model development and training, empowering organizations to build tailored solutions that address unique business challenges.
On-Demand Service Consumption
With SAP BTP, businesses have the flexibility to tap into advanced services and capabilities on an as-needed basis. This adaptable consumption model allows organizations to address new and emerging business challenges promptly and effectively.
Innovate with SAP BTP and SAP S/4HANA
There’s no question that businesses are operating in faster-paced and more uncertain environments than ever before. Still, they must be able to innovate and grow, staying abreast of market changes and agile in the midst of new technologies and trends.
SAP S/4HANA helps businesses meet this challenge head-on. It’s a ready-to-run, full SaaS cloud ERP that sets the industry standard and drives continuous innovation, enabling businesses to accelerate business growth and boost revenue.
Deploying S/4HANA with SAP BTP together is the best-practice approach for maintaining a clean core ERP while customizing as needed to meet unique business goals. Together, SAP BTP and SAP S/4HANA together create a synergistic environment that enhances enterprise capabilities beyond the sum of their individual parts.
While SAP S/4HANA provides a robust digital core capable of handling operations with high efficiency and in real time, SAP BTP extends these capabilities, allowing organizations to innovate without disrupting their existing systems.
Further, SAP BTP alleviates concerns enterprises encounter when weighing the trade-offs between public and private editions of S/4HANA. While the public cloud can be restrictive in direct customization of the core ERP, BTP offers a strategic solution by enabling businesses to enhance functionality without altering the core—including custom fields, bespoke applications, and connection to other cloud services.
In short—adopting SAP BTP with SAP S/4HANA provides a comprehensive framework that supports both the stability of essential business processes and the agility needed for continuous innovation. This dual capacity is essential for modern enterprises aiming to thrive in today’s dynamic and increasingly complex business environment.
The Protera Advantage for SAP BTP
Integrating SAP S/4HANA with SAP BTP gives businesses a robust framework for maintaining operational excellence while fostering innovation to stay ahead. This synergy is essential in today’s dynamic business environment where agility and responsiveness are key to staying competitive.
Protera has been at the forefront of deploying and managing SAP BTP solutions for every iteration, from SAP HANA Cloud Platform to SAP Cloud Platform, and now to the current version of SAP BTP. Our customers have worked with Protera since 2015 to implement and manage integration and data-to-value solutions in the SAP BTP space.
Protera’s comprehensive SAP BTP services include:
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Integration Services: Protera has a strong track record of managing complex integrations across SaaS, PI/PO migrations to Integration Suite, and ensuring seamless interactions between on-premise and cloud environments.
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Data to Value Solutions: Utilizing SAP Analytics Cloud, BI, and other advanced tools, Protera helps clients transform data into actionable insights, driving better decision-making and operational efficiency.
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Comprehensive Support and Maintenance: From initial implementation and migration through ongoing administration and performance tuning, Protera offers full lifecycle management of SAP BTP environments.
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Robust Security and Compliance Measures: Protera ensures that all deployments meet the highest standards of data protection and compliance, providing peace of mind for enterprises navigating complex regulatory landscapes.
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Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Protera’s approach emphasizes not just support, but continuous enhancement of capabilities, ensuring that businesses can adapt to new challenges and opportunities as they arise.
With Protera, organizations benefit from having a SAP-certified partner with deep expertise and 9+ years of specialized experience in SAP BTP. Talk to a Protera expert today to learn more and get started.