SAP S/4HANA
| Developer(s) | SAP SE |
|---|---|
| Initial release | Feb. 3, 2015 |
| Written in | ABAP |
| Available in | Multi-lingual |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | http://www.sap.com/s4hana |
SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (or SAP S/4HANA) is a business suite offering that is built on an in-memory computing platform called SAP HANA. Previously, SAP products were designed to run on any database platform, including those from Oracle, Microsoft and IBM.[1]
The platform SAP HANA has been available since 2010, and SAP applications like SAP ERP and the SAP Business Suite have been able to run on the SAP HANA database and/or any other database.[2] However SAP Business Suite 4 only runs on the SAP HANA database, and thus it is packaged as one product: SAP S/4HANA.[3] The offering is meant to cover all mission-critical processes of an enterprise. It integrates functions from lines of businesses as well as industry solutions, and also re-integrates portions of SAP Business Suite products such as SAP SRM, CRM and SCM.
Analyst house Pierre Audoin Consultants said companies can reduce the complexity of their systems with S/4HANA because the platform integrates people, devices, big data and business networks in real time.[4]
SAP has said that the SAP HANA platform can potentially save an organization 37% across hardware, software, and labor costs.[5]
Launch
The S/4HANA launch[6] took place on February 3, 2015 at the New York Stock Exchange. The event introduced cloud computing and on premises editions, and launched the on-premises edition. Availability of the cloud edition followed at SAPPHIRE NOW (SAP’s annual customer conference) on May 6, 2015 in Orlando, Florida.[7]
SAP S/4HANA is being called SAP's biggest update to its ERP strategy and platform in over two decades.[8] Post-launch, Gartner analysts noted that SAP S/4HANA represented a “transformational shift,” but raised questions about the functionality, availability, pricing and migration surrounding S/4.[9]
By April 21, 2015, 370 customers had purchased S/4HANA.[10] After the first half of 2015, positive growth was confirmed for SAP.[11]
Growth continued through the third quarter of 2015.[12] Following its third quarter earnings announcement, SAP said the number of SAP S/4HANA customers had risen to 1,300.[13]
The product’s main competitors in the Software as a Service space are Oracle[14] and Workday, Inc.[15]
Editions
The S/4 product offering consists of two editions: SAP S/4HANA On-Premises Edition and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Edition.
SAP S/4HANA On-Premises Edition is similar in terms of coverage, functionality, industry-specific support, and localization to the current SAP Business Suite (35 languages, 61 country versions, 21 industries). This edition is available for on premises deployment and as a hosted offering via SAP and its partners.[16]
SAP also offers SAP S/4HANA Cloud Edition.[17] It consists of functionality for finance, accounting, controlling, procurement, sales, manufacturing, plant maintenance, project system, and product lifecycle management, plus integration with SuccessFactors Employee Central, Ariba Network, SAP Hybris Marketing and Field Glass.
SAP plans to have comprehensive industry coverage for the cloud edition, as well as industry-specific solutions.[18] It is currently available in several languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese). The cloud edition supports:
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud marketing edition for the marketing line of business (no country dependencies)
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud project services edition for the professional services industry (country/regional scope: U.S., Germany, Australia, Canada, UK)
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud enterprise edition for full ERP capabilities, covering all lines of business; cloud enterprise edition is the equivalent to the Enterprise Management on premise offering (country/regional scope: U.S., Germany, Australia, Canada, UK)
Deployment
There are several possible starting points for deployment.[19] Many SAP customers typically move to SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA, and the next step is to implement packages that contain the simplified code lines for specific business processes.[20]
References
- ^ The SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA) FAQ, Bluefin Solutions, 3 February 2015
- ^ Are You Ready For An Architectural Evolution With Converged Applications? , Forrester, 1 April 2013
- ^ S/4HANA: What Procurement Teams Should be Doing Now, UpperEdge.com, 26 August 2015
- ^ SAP Offers S/4HANA for Free, ComputerWorld UK, 29 July 2015
- ^ Cost Analysis of the SAP HANA Platform, SAP, April 2014
- ^ SAP Unwraps a New Enterprise Suite Based on HANA, PCWorld.com, 3 February 2015
- ^ SAP Launches S/4 HANA Cloud Edition, RCRWireless.com, 6 May 2015
- ^ All Eyes on SAP S/4HANA and Cloud in SAP's Q1 Results, Forbes, 20 April 2015
- ^ SAP S/4HANA Is a Transformational Shift for SAP and Its Users, but Hold on to Your Wallets for Now, Gartner Report, 24 February 2015
- ^ SAP starts seeing the HANA adoption needed to drive long-term growth, TBR Newsroom, 21 April 2015
- ^ SAP Second-Quarter Earnings Tempered by Cloud Demand, Bloomberg, 21 July 2015
- ^ SAP Outpaces Rivals, Sees Robust Pickup for New Software, Bloomberg, 20 October 2015
- ^ SAP Q3 2015 results: On-premise and cloud grow in parallel, says Cohen, ComputerWeekly, 20 October 2015
- ^ Oracle's in-memory option aims to beat the rest within 12 months, ZDNet, 10 June 2014
- ^ Why Workday has Oracle and SAP worried, Fortune, 12 March 2012
- ^ SAP Unveils SAP S/4HANA On-Premise Edition Trial, DBTA, 26 August 2015
- ^ SAP launches S/4 HANA cloud edition, RCRWireless.com, 6 May 2015
- ^ S/4 HANA FAQ, SAP.com
- ^ Top Five Things to Know about the Journey to S/4HANA and the Five Simple Steps to Get There, CSI Ltd, 14 July 2015
- ^ SAP Journey Map, SAP.com