SAPPHIRE 2012 News Roundup

SAPPHIRE

According to SAP, 20,000 participants experienced SAPPHIRE NOW & the ASUG Annual Conference this year, either live in Orlando or at other locations. Moreover, 75,000 people will be touched by SAPPHIRE NOW from Orlando, and the entire 2012 event series will reach an audience of 200,000. If you weren’t at SAPPHIRE, chances are you participated virtually or followed SAPPHIRE happenings via social media.

As always, Optimal was at SAPPHIRE in force. Our mobility demos, SAP HANA demos, SAP BPC demos, and BOBJ dashboarding demos garnered much attention and talk, as did our industry-specific SAP Business All-in-One solution demos for Utilities, CPG, and Metals & Mining, among others. If you stopped by our booth, thanks. If not, drop us a note – especially if you’re interested in seeing any of Optimal’s demos or if you’re an SAP consultant looking to join a fast-growing, world-class, pure-play SAP consulting firm.

In the meantime, check out this roundup of SAPPHIRE coverage:

Optimal Solutions Announces OPTIMIZE Consulting Services for SAP HANA

Snabe Outlines Vision for a Better Future

SAP Puts HANA in Spotlight

SAP Puts its HANA In-memory Database in the Spotlight

SAPPHIRE Now 2012 – Day 1 Wrap

Hasso Platner Talks In-Memory

SAP Lays Out Cloud Strategy Post SuccessFactors Buy

SAP Rolls Out Mobile Apps, Cloud Strategy

SAP Bets Heavily on HANA

Partners See Progress In SAP’s Evolution

SAP Broadens Analytics Reach With New Stake In Data Discovery and Visualization Market

SAP Delivers New Apps Built On HANA

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

SAPPHIRE NOW ONLINE (See Keynote Replays)

SAPPHIRENOW NEWSROM

SAP SAPPHIRE PRESS RELEASES

ASUG NEWS

Optimal Announces OPTIMIZE Consulting Services for SAP HANA

Optimal Solutions today announced OPTIMIZE Consulting Services for HANA, a comprehensive portfolio of specialized consulting services tailored to help organizations quickly and cost effectively deploy the SAP HANA™ in-memory computing platform.

Read press release: Optimal Announces OPTIMIZE Consulting Services for SAP HANA

Visit Optimal Solutions at SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando, Florida May 14 -16 to see demos of SAP HANA in action – Booth 2009.

What Can SAP HANA Do For You?

SAPPHIRE 8.3

What can SAP HANA do for you? Visit Optimal at SAPPHIRE NOW for a HANA demo. (Booth 2009)

Schedule a meeting with an Optimal HANA expert!

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: See SAP HANA in Action at SAPPHIRE

SAP HANA Predictions

Predictions

SAP has called HANA the fastest-growing product in its history. SAP HANA sales topped $209 million in 2011, and HANA and analytics accounted for almost 10% of SAP’s total Q4 revenue in 2012.

SAP expects HANA sales to at least double in 2012, and has publicly stated that HANA has a $1.3 million pipeline – not too shabby for a product that came to market in the third quarter of 2011.

With a full pipeline and more than 250 customers in various stages of deployment, HANA is rapidly gaining traction. But how far and how fast will SAP HANA grow?

In addition to numerous customer-specific HANA solutions, SAP has delivered more than 10 powered-by-HANA solutions and has many more planned in the months and year ahead.

Now generally available, SAP Business Warehouse powered by HANA began ramp up in November 2011 and quickly signed more than 60 customers, notching one of the shortest, most successful ramp up periods in SAP history. According to SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott, SAP has “several thousand business warehouse customers that will transition now to HANA.” SAP currently has approximately 16,000 BW customers.

SAP’s in-memory roadmap plans include optimizing SAP ERP and the entire Business Suite solutions portfolio for HANA.

SAP recently unveiled the company’s vision for the SAP real-time data platform, comprising the SAP HANA platform, Sybase data management offerings and SAP solutions for enterprise information management (EIM).

SAP plans to launch a $155 million venture fund for startups to build on the new real-time data platform and a $337 million incentive program for customers to move to SAP HANA.

Gartner advises SAP customers to prepare for a migration of all SAP systems to HANA within the next three to five years.

SAP HANA, with support from SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) and SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere, will help SAP reach its goal of becoming the number 2 database vendor by 2015.

HANA is positioned in the sweet spot of IT spending. According to Gartner, worldwide business intelligence (BI) platform, analytic applications and performance management (PM) software revenue surpassed $12.2 billion in 2011, making it the second-fastest growing segment in the overall worldwide enterprise software market last year.

According to Nomura Equity Research, “SAP can get to double-digit license revenue growth in 2012 entirely from the success of HANA […] revenue from HANA may reach 500 million euros this year.”

According to Berstein Research, SAP HANA could be a $4.4 billion business by 2015.

Kick off SAPPHIRE Now & ASUG 2012 with Optimal

Optimal ASUG SAPPHIRE Party

Kick off SAPPHIRE Now & ASUG 2012 on May 13 with Optimal at the coolest spot in Orlando – ICEBAR! RSVP Today!

 

Optimal Receives Run SAP Methodology Certification

SAPCerti_inRunSAPMethodology_CG10_C_pos

Optimal Solutions is now an SAP-Certified provider of solution operations using Run SAP Methodology!

Read the press release

Cloud Predictions

Cloud

The migration to the cloud will undoubtedly pick up steam in 2012 and beyond as a growing number of enterprises look to benefit from the lower cost, easily scalable and maintenance free world of cloud computing.

As the ‘everything-as-a-service’ trend continues, SAP aims to be a cloud leader, doubling its cloud computing market share this year, reaching $2 billion in category revenue by 2015, and growing it’s cloud market share thirty-fold over the next five years.

Here’s a rundown of some of the latest pundit predictions on how big and how fast the cloud will grow in the years ahead:

  • The cloud market will surpass $17 billion in 2012 (CMI Research)
  • Cloud services spending will exceed $23 billion in 2012, with 30% growth over 2011 (IDC)
  • More than 80% of applications developed in 2012 will be cloud-based (IDC)
  • CRM will be the largest SaaS market in 2012 (IDC)
  • Cloud systems management will grow 62% in 2012 (IDC)
  • Cloud-related companies will pump $20 billion annually into the economy, roughly translating to 472,000 new jobs over the next five years. (SAND Hill Group)
  • More than half of Global 1000 companies will have stored customer-sensitive data in the cloud by 2016 (Gartner)
  • More than 20% of organizations have already begun to store this data in hybrid clouds (Gartner)
  • 80% of cloud services will include a global energy surcharge by 2015 (Gartner)
  • Revenues in Amazon Web Services will exceed $1 billion in 2012 (IDC)
  • According to a recent survey, 43% of IT leaders have cloud computing initiatives planned for 2012, a 12% increase over 2011 (Inavero Institute)
  • The Retail (47%), Manufacturing (46%), Education (43%) and Government (41%) sectors had the highest percentage of survey respondents that have plans to implement cloud solutions in 2012 (Inavero Institute)
  • 40% of IT leaders are actively researching the next phase in public cloud computing services and initiatives (CIO Magazine Tech Poll results for January 2012)
  • Cloud business intelligence usage is expected to jump in the next one year as 47% of SMBs plan to shift to cloud from spreadsheets, a jump of 59% from 2011 (Techaisle)
  • Sales of cloud-based SaaS applications will hit $17.3 billion in 2013, up 41% from an estimated $12.3 billion in 2011 (Gartner)
  • About a third of cloud applications sales in 2011 were from CRM applications (Gartner)
  • By 2016, 40% of enterprises will make proof of independent security testing a precondition for using any type of cloud service (Gartner)
  • Public cloud computing services will fuel the IT industry for the next 25 years with growth forecast at 27.6%per year, becoming a $72.9 billion market by 2015. (IDC)
  • Public cloud computing will account for 46% of all new growth in IT spending, most notably in applications, app development and deployment, infrastructure, storage and servers. Of this growth, the U.S. will represent 50% of all public cloud services spending in 2015. (IDC)
  • The global public cloud market is growing from $25.5B in 2011 to $159.3B in 2020 (Forrester)
  • The cloud computing market will grow from $40.7 billion in 2011 to more than $241 billion in 2020 (Forrester)

SAP HANA – No Hype Here

Much has been said over the past few years about big data. Perhaps too much. Gartner included big data on its 2011 Hype Cycle, noting that the term is already nearing “the peak of inflated expectations.” While much vendor talk surrounding big data may be marketing hype, SAP’s progress on the big data solutions front is very much real and, from what Optimal is seeing, very much welcomed by SAP customers.

SAP Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe bills HANA as “probably the biggest innovation in the business software industry in the last 20 years,” and judging by HANA’s rapid progress, he very well may be right.

Since it introduced HANA in 2010, SAP has made great strides in plying its breakthrough in-memory technology against real-world big data challenges.

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: SAP HANA – The Big Data Hype Buster

LUNCH & LEARN on the juicy topic of BIG DATA IN REAL TIME

Optimal Big Data Flemmings

There are dramatic changes ahead in business intelligence, insight and decision making driven by BIG DATA. Every stakeholder engaged with strategy, finance, sales & marketing and/or operations, has to get on top of the disruptions and opportunities that are tied to BIG DATA. Understanding is not good enough—you have to “get it”.

Optimal Solutions invites you to join us for a sizzlin’ LUNCH & LEARN on the juicy topic of BIG DATA IN REAL TIME

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Stakeholders and business or information technology leadership charged with unlocking the power of data and information for their organization.

RSVP: ron.pecunia@optimalsol.com

Big Data Becoming Big Business

Whether measured in terabytes, petabytes, exabytes, zettabytes, or yottabytes, big data is getting bigger by the millisecond. The McKinsey Group estimates that enterprises globally stored more than 7 exabytes of new data in 2010 alone. According to Gartner, enterprise data will increase 650% over the next five years. IDC pegs enterprise data doubling every 18 months.

The promise of big data is both compelling and straightforward — crunch large data volumes to unlock insight that informs timely decisions that boost efficiency, the bottom line and competitiveness. But how will businesses fare in the years ahead as data volume and types explode?

According to Professor Erik Brynjolfsson from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, big-data driven decision making achieves 5%-6% productivity gains. Retailers, according to The McKinsey Group, could see as much as a 60% increase in their operating margins by taking advantage of big data.

“There is a lot of untapped insight that could be exposed from exploding internal and external, structured and unstructured data sources,” said Dan Vesset, vice president, Business Analytics solutions, IDC. “Predictive capabilities help businesses explore and identify the opportunities and risks hiding in the sea of all that big data.”

But not all pundits predict a rosy future for businesses and big data. According to Gartner Predicts 2012 research, more than 85 % of Fortune 500 organizations will be unable to effectively exploit Big Data by 2015. Brian Hopkins, an analyst with Forrester, estimates “that firms effectively utilize less than 5% of available data.”

The only thing that can be said with certainty about big data is that it will only get bigger in the years ahead, which is why many analysts are predicting that big data will soon be big business.

Deloitte predicts that in 2012, big data [technology solutions] will likely experience accelerating growth and market penetration. By the end of 2012 more than 90% of the Fortune500 will likely have at least some big data initiatives under way. Industry revenues will likely be in the range of $1-1.5 billion, according to Deloitte.

IDC concurs, saying big data will be a big issue in 2012. IDC predicts that digital content will grow to 2.7 zettabytes (ZB) in 2012, up 48% from 2011. The vast majority of this information (90%) will be unstructured content such as videos, images and web. Although full of rich information, unstructured data is difficult to analyze, making big data analytics a key investment area in 2012, according to IDC.

IDC predicts the market for big data technology and services will reach $16.9 billion by 2015, up from $3.2 billion in 2010. That is a 40 percent-a-year growth rate — about seven times the estimated growth rate for the overall information technology and communications business, according to IDC.

According to Ovum Research, in the next 2-5 years, 45% of organizations globally will invest in Big Data.

Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins paints the big picture for businesses and big data:

In this information age, the firms that best turn information to their advantage will dominate their competition. And big data will play a big part in helping them do it.

SAP Throws Life Saver to Retailers Drowning in Big Data

SAP lifesaver

Data-driven decisions are nothing new to retail, but today’s big-data deluge – structured, unstructured, multi-source data nearing or surpassing the petabyte level – poses unprecedented challenges. And the stakes for retailers have never been higher. Today’s tech-savvy consumers tap an array of cross-channel sources — Web, kiosks, stores, call centers, mobile, social, etc., — before making a purchase. Transparency rules the day. Inconsistency turns customers away. Retailer missteps can be glaring and costly.

Powered by the SAP HANA platform, the SAP BusinessObjects Sales Analysis for Retail analytic application not only helps retailers stay afloat but also empowers them to sail full steam through big-data waters — charted and uncharted.

Read article by By Sam Sliman, President, Optimal Solutions Integration: SAP Rescues Retailers Drowning in Big Data

Sales Analysis for Retail on Hana Webcast

Please join SAP and Optimal Solutions Integration on Thursday, April 12 at 2:00 p.m. ET for an informative Webinar that will provide you with firsthand insight into how you and your company can take action now to help your business cash in on big data – enabling transformative, lightning-fast operational insights; flexible, opportunistic business strategy;  and a sustainable competitive advantage.

Register Now!

Optimal Joins TOMS for a Day Without Shoue

Toms's Shoes

Every April, TOMS hosts One Day Without Shoes, the day they challenge people all over the world to take off their shoes to raise awareness of the millions of children who grow up at risk without them.  Last year, people took off their shoes at over 1,200 events in 25 countries around the world. As a friend of TOMS, Optimal employees and friends will participate int One Day Without Shoes on April 10th!

Join TOMS & Optimal in supporting this great cause. For more information, visit  http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

Got SAP EPM questions? Meet Optimal at ASUG DFW Meeting

 

What:   SAP ASUG DFW Chapter Metting

Why:     Optimal SAP EPM experts will presenting on SAP EPM 10

Where:   Irving Convention Center / 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd. / Irving TX, 75039

When:      March 23, 2012

Register Now! : [ASUG Membership Required]

SAP Coming to an iPad Near You

Vital, actionable information received on a mobile device can yield immediate and significant business value. The combined forces of business need, employee demand, affordability and maturing technology make it all but certain that the pace of adopting enterprise mobility for SAP customers will continue picking up steam in 2012 and beyond. If smartphones were the catalyst for mobility’s emergence in the enterprise, then today’s tablet explosion – and the iPad’s meteoric rise – is providing enterprise mobility’s next great wave. And from what we’re seeing at Optimal, this wave is a tsunami — catching on among C-levelers, LOB leaders, knowledge workers and frontline taskmasters alike.

Read article by Optimal President Sam Sliman: Got SAP on Your iPad?

http://optimalsapblog.com/2012/03/14/sap-coming-to-an-ipad-near-you/

SAP Enterprise Mobility Predictions 2012

SAP Mobility

Productivity gains delivered by today’s mobile apps are very real and very significant. Vital, actionable information received on a mobile device can yield immediate and significant business value. No one would deny this. But as mobile apps proliferate, mobile technology matures and the business demand for greater efficiency and productivity grows, it becomes increasingly clear that we’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to enterprise mobility’s potential. From the wealth of glowing mobility predictions we’ve compiled, it appears that industry experts agree.

SAP Mobility Predictions

  • The percentage of SAP organizations with a comprehensive, enterprise-wide mobile strategy will more than double in the next three years, from 32% to 67% (insiderRESEARCH)
  • Three quarters of SAP organizations expect their mobile applications to be supported on multiple devices three years from now (insiderRESEARCH)
  • Almost a third (32%) of SAP organizations will deploy five or more mobile applications in the next twelve months (insiderRESEARCH)

Enterprise Mobility Predictions

  • 61% of survey respondents will improve their mobility capability over the next 3 years (Gartner)
  • Mobility will be the most disruptive functionality for BI in 2012 (Gartner)
  • By 2013, 33% of BI functionality will be consumed via handheld devices (Gartner)
  • The emergence of tablets as a business device has provided an ideal platform for the delivery and dissemination of BI and dashboard reports (Gartner)
  • By 2013, 80% of businesses will support a workforce using tablets (Gartner)
  • 68% of survey participants listed mobile BI as ‘critical’ or ‘very important (DAS)
  • 55% of organizations now list the the iPad as their favored platform for mobile BI (DAS)
  • 61% of 2011 survey contributors have established iPad-oriented mobile BI programs in 2011, with an additional 21% of respondents planning to deploy mobile BI projects on the iPad in 2012 (DAS)
  • iPad-based mobile BI implementations were the most widely deployed in 2011 (DAS)
  • 33% of enterprises will implement mobile BI in 2012 – in addition to the 25% of enterprises that already have mobile BI apps in place (Heavy Reading)
  • Mobile spending will be 15% of IT spending in 2012 (IDC)
  • Enterprise mobile investments will lead device spending to $600,000 million by year’s end, and continue an upward march annually to $700,000 million by 2015. (IDC)
  • By 2013, more than 1.19 billion workers worldwide will be using mobile technology, accounting for 34.9% of the workforce.
  • Over the next 12 months enterprise spending on mobile apps will increase 57% (CIO Magazine)
  • The vast majority of organizations (91%) expect to spend on mobile devices in 2012 (CIO Magazine)
  • UK and US businesses are expected to double their spending on mobile technologies in the next 18 months (Vanson Bourne)
  • Organizations are planning to spend an average of $447k on employee mobility and another $476k on consumer mobility in the next 12-18 months; in total that’s a projected average mobility spend of $926k — more than double the amount they’ve currently invested in the channel to date (Vanson Bourne)
  • On average, U.S. and UK companies with more than 500 employees are planning to invest $690k in employee mobility projects and another $653k in consumer mobility projects in the next 12 to 18 months. The total planned investment of those companies — $1.3M — dwarfs their current investment of $541k (Vanson Bourne)
  • On average, UK and U.S. businesses are currently involved in
    building, managing, and implementing four separate mobile projects, and that figure goes up to five amongst ‘large’ companies with more than 500 employees (Vanson Bourne)
  • Enterprise mobile workers will make up 73% of the workforce in 2012 (Forrester)
  • 200 million of the 350 million employees who will use mobile devices for work in 2016 will use their own devices rather than devices provided by their employers (Forrester)
  • 60% of large companies are in the process of making their internal line-of-business applications accessible to workers on smartphones and tablet (Symantec)

More Mobility Predictions

  • The mobility market will top $11 billion in 2012 (CMI)
  • Smartphone/tablet spending will grow 25% in 2012 – 5x PC spending growth (IDC)
  • 1.5 million mobile apps will be available in 2012, with 85 billion downloads expected (IDC)
  • 54% of IT leaders are currently implementing or planning to implement mobility projects in 2012 (TEKsystems)
  • Mobile devices will be the primary method of Internet access by 2013 (Gartner)
  • The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth by the end of 2012 (Cisco)
  • By 2016, there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita (Cisco)
  • One-quarter of mobile users will own two or more mobile-connected devices by 2016
  • By 2012, over 100 million smartphone users will be using over 1 GB/month of data. And by 2016, the monthly global smartphone data traffic will pass 10 exabytes per month, with the average smartphone generating 2.6 GB/month, a 17-fold increase from 2011′s average (Cisco)
  • The number of mobile-connected tablets tripled in 2011 to 34 million (Cisco)
  • By 2016, tablets will be 10% of global mobile data traffic (Cisco)
  • Mobile-connected tablets will generate almost as much traffic in 2016 as the entire global mobile network in 2012 (Cisco)
  • There will be 1 billion smartphone customers by 2016, with 257 million smartphones and 126 million tablets in the U.S. (Forrester)
  • Apple has sold 55 million iPads to date (Forrester)
  • By 2015 media tablet shipments will reach around 50% of laptop shipments (Gartner)
  • By 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile app downloads from app stores every year (Gartner)

No Stopping SAP Analytics & BI in 2012

SAP BI

The promise of analytics/BI – better, faster decision making – is now very much a reality, and businesses not moving forward on the analytics/BI front will find themselves consumed, commoditized or simply crushed faster than what was even imaginable ten years ago.

By all accounts, analytics/BI will continue its strong uptake in 2012. Gartner ranks analytics/BI as the top technology for 2012. Forrester cites BI as the largest planned enterprise technology investment area over the next three years, and IDC predicts that the business analytics software market will hit $39.9 billion in 2012 (up 8.2% from 2011).

Here are a few top reasons why SAP analytics & BI has hit an inflection point that shows no signs of flattening in 2012 or beyond.

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: SAP Analytics & BI 2012: Opportunities Abound

Join Optimal at Toshiba Golf Classic

Join Optimal Solutions in our private skybox on the 18th hole as we cheer on some of the biggest names in golf at this year’s Toshiba Classic March 16-18 in Newport Beach, Calif.

See golf pros like defending champion Nick Price and legends Fred Couples and Tom Watson shoot it out at one of the sport’s crown jewels of the Champions Tour. Don’t miss out on some great conversation, food and fun with your Optimal Solutions team.

REGISTER TODAY!

BI Spending to Soar in 2012

BI

Collecting pundit predictions on technology spending has always been a favorite pastime for the Optimal SAP Advisor editorial team. This year is no different, and we’ve compiled a substantial list of forecasts and predictions to help you best chart your 2012 IT spending priorities.

As always, the numbers and overall moods differ greatly among our chosen prognosticators, but one strong commonality that emerged is an unabashedly optimistic outlook for the analytics and business intelligence (BI) sector — which from all accounts is set to soar in 2012.

SAP was named the overall market share leader in the worldwide business intelligence (BI) market — owning nearly a quarter of the market — according to the April 2011 report issued by Gartner. In the report, SAP ranks No. 1 with 23% share of the worldwide market based on revenue.

Here’s a roundup of BI predictions for 2012 and beyond:

  • BI and analytics is the top-ranked technology for 2012 (Gartner)
  • In 2012, 44% of IT leaders are currently implementing or planning to implement BI programs (eEKsystems)
  • In 2012 53% of CIOs plan BI/analytics programs (CIO Magazine)
  • In 2012, companies will spend $8 billion on BI (Forrester)
  • In 2012, BI analytics & performance management will grow 12.4% — led by BI at 7.7% (CMI/Gartner)
  • BI is the largest planned IT investment area in the next three years (Forrester)
  • 45.8% of survey respondents already have a BI strategy in place, and in 2012 there will be a 10.7% increase in companies implementing a BI strategy (Corporate IT Forum)
  • 75% of survey respondents intend to increase or maintain BI spending during 2012 (MorganFranklin)
  • 50% of survey respondents plan on increasing BI spending by 10% or more in 2012 (TechTarget)
  • Almost 50% of enterprise IT investment decision-maker survey respondents plan to spend on big data analytics over the coming years, with more than 15% planning to do so in 2012 (Ovum)
  • 40% of survey respondents plan to add process optimization to their  BI/analytics mix in 2012 (InformationWeek)
  • By 2014, 40% of spending on business analytics will go to system integrators, not software vendors (Gartner)
  • By 2013, 15% of BI deployments will combine BI, collaboration and social software into decision-making environments (Gartner)
  • Operational or tactical business intelligence (BI) is growing at a rate of 13% CAGR while analytical or traditional BI tools are growing at a rate of 9% CAGR (Gartner)
  • There was an 8 point increase in number of CIOs expecting to grow spending on in-memory analytics in 2012 vs. 2011 (Morgan Stanley)
  • Organizations get $10.66 of value for every $1 invested in analytics (Nucleus Research)
  • Business intelligence software sales will grow 8.6% in the United States in 2012 (IDC)

For some good qualitative perspective on BI/analytics in 2012, check out these articles:

Analysts Tag Mobility and BI as Hot SAP Trends in 2012

Top 10 BI Predictions for 2012

Forrester: Cloud, BI Software Exceptions to Flat Tech Spending

7 BI Predictions for 2012

Top 5 BI Predictions for 2012

6 Predictions for BI in 2012

2012: The Year Analytics Means Business

Research: 2012 BI & Information Management

Five Big Data Predictions for 2012

HANA Taking Hold Fast

SAP HANA

SAP Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe bills HANA as “probably the biggest innovation in the business software industry in the last 20 years.” Judging by HANA’s rapid progress, he very well may be right.

Since its intro in 2010, HANA has closed the hype-to-here loop much quicker than what is typically seen in SAP’s traditional product development cycle.

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: HANA Taking Hold Fast

 

Why SAP Mobility for Distributors?

Optimal SAp Mobility Webcast

Distributors today are using mobile platforms to connect customers, salespeople and vendors. Join distribution technology consultant Steve Epner in this free webcast sponsored by Optimal Solutions and SAP as he leads a discussion on the current state of mobile business application trends, tactical challenges, and some real-world examples distributors are using to gain competitive advantage.

Key takeaways:

  • Best practices for a mobile transformation
  • Hot get started
  • Taming multi-app, multi-device platform nightmares
  • How to think of mobile platforms as competitive differentiators
  • Real-life examples of iPad apps – sales, KPIs

WHEN: March 1, 1012 ; 1:00 (EST)

REGISTER NOW>

 

Join Optimal at Toshiba Golf Classic

Toshiba

Join Optimal Solutions in our private skybox on the 18th hole as we cheer on some of the biggest names in golf at this year’s Toshiba Classic March 16-18 in Newport Beach, Calif.

See golf pros like defending champion Nick Price and legends Fred Couples and Tom Watson shoot it out at one of the sport’s crown jewels of the Champions Tour. Don’t miss out on some great conversation, food and fun with your Optimal Solutions team.

REGISTER TODAY!

SAP HANA for All

SAP HANA

SAP has named HANA the fastest-growing product in the company’s 40-year history. HANA sales topped $209 million in 2011 and SAP execs predict HANA sales will double in 2012.

SAP’s In-memory Computing Catches On

Because cloud offerings require companies to rapidly process large volumes of data (and server sprawl is costly no matter where the physical servers reside), HANA’s impact on the cloud will be huge. According to Jim Hagemann Snabe, SAP’s goal is to become a $2 billion player in cloud computing by 2015.

SAP Has Broader Vision for the Cloud

SAP HANA – The Cloud’s Silver Lining?

Leveraging in-memory technology to crunch big data at record speed, HANA will lift SAP analytics and BI to new heights and will extend analytics and BI to an unprecedented number of employees via mobile devices.

Analyze This – The SAP Way

SAP’s Bold Bet: Rule Cloud, Mobile, Big Data

SAP intends to have HANA support for core Business Suite modules by the end of this year, and just this week, SAP announced plans to offer HANA to SMEs.

SAP Unveils HANA for SMBs

SAP to Offer Hana Analytic Software to Smaller Companies in 2012

SAP Launches HANA Analytics for SMEs

SAP Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe bills HANA as “probably the biggest innovation in the business software industry in the last 20 years.” Judging by HANA’s rapid progress, he very well may be right.

SAP Helps Retailers Cash in on Big Business

data-illustration-computing-cover-370x229

Swimming in big data and characterized by fierce competition, unrelenting margin pressure and constant, fast-paced change, the retail industry is ripe for a solution that empowers merchandising, marketing, and store operations staff to make fast, informed decisions that drive efficiency, profitability, competitiveness and growth.

At the NRF Convention and Expo in January, SAP introduced the SAP BusinessObjects Sales Analysis for Retail analytic application powered by the SAP HANA platform. Backed by SAP’s deep industry experience and featuring in-memory processing speed and power, this is a transformative solution that is sure to have a fast, lasting and profound impact on the retail industry.

Read article by Optimal Solutions president Sam Siman: SAP Helps Retailers Cash in on Big Business

Optimal Solutions Receives 2012 SAP Partner Impact Award

Optimal Solutions Receives 2012 SAP Partner Impact Award

Optimal Solutions CEO Gurvendra Suri and Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman receive 2012 SAP Partner Impact Award.

From left to right: Sam Sliman (President – Optimal Solutions), Bill McDermott (co-CEO of SAP), Gurvendra Suri (CEO – Optimal Solutions), Robert Courteau (President – SAP North America)

Press release: Optimal Solutions Receives 2012 SAP Partner Impact Award

SAP Boom in 2012

SAP Revenue

SAP targets $26 billion in revenue and a 35% operating margin by 2015. The company also targets 1 billion end users by 2015. SAP expects its 2012 revenue from software and software-related services to rise by 10-12 % in the full year from $14.6 billion in 2011.

What’s driving these bold predictions? For starters, HANA revenue in 2012 will more than double to $414.4 million. Mobile app sales in 2012 will more than double to $285 million. With more than 15 million customers and 50 million end users, SuccessFactors gives SAP the largest cloud software solution in the world.

SAP is also betting that the confluence of its in-memory technology, mobility muscle and BI prowess positions the company perfectly to extend an increasing array of analytics and BI solutions to a much wider range of end users.

Today, SAP has about 183,000 customers and around 38 million end-users. If all goes as planned, those numbers are sure to explode in 2012.

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: SAP Performing Strong, Reaching More People

Here’s a roundup of articles covering SAP’s solid performance and aggressive growth goals:

SAP Reports Bumper Results

SAP Bullish on 2012

SAP Forecasts Higher Profit, Sales This Year on Analytics, Mobile Software

SAP Leads, Oracle Lags In Enterprise Apps

SAP Among Top Technology Providers for Food and Beverage Distribution Industry

SAP Reaches BBD Target

SAP’s In-Memory Computing Catches On

Inside SAP’s Skunkworks as It Takes Aim at Oracle

SAP Performing Strong, Reaching More People

Optimal SAP Advisor

SAP’s fourth-quarter and full-year financial performances for 2011 are the best ever in the company’s 40-year history. This news is generating considerable excitement in the tech sector, following as it does on the heels of dismal financial performances recently reported by Oracle and Software AG.

According to SAP, in the fourth quarter the company “gained significant market share and achieved double-digit growth across all regions.” Full-year 2011 software and software-related service revenue increased by 16% over 2010. SAP also reports an operating margin of 33.1% in 2011, up approximately 10% over 2010.

What’s driving SAP’s remarkably strong performance? Solid leadership, accelerated product delivery, strategic acquisitions and a committed partner ecosystem are all strong contributing factors. But if we step back and look at a few major SAP trends and developments over the past year, a common growth theme emerges in SAP’s sustained effort to extend its applications to more people throughout the enterprise.

Read article by Optimal Solutions President Sam Sliman: SAP Performing Strong, Reaching More People

Why Optimal for SAP? ASUG Partners w/Optimal to Expand ASUG Executive Exchange

ASUG

Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG), the world’s largest independent community of SAP professionals, is partnering with Optimal Solutions Integration to expand and enhance the ASUG Executive Exchange program in 2012.

The Executive Exchange equips individuals to lead high-performing enterprises in the deployment, productive use, and optimization of SAP solutions and business processes. Participants work together to adopt innovative business practices that improve and optimize value propositions, supply chains, productivity, and efficiency.

In 2012, supported by Optimal Solutions and SAP, the ASUG Executive Exchange will focus on helping customers identify opportunities and solve ambiguities in the development of business strategies related to mobility and analytics. Educational opportunities will be extended to encompass the best practices executives can use to enrich and strengthen the project management disciplines across the enterprise, ensuring better focus and results from future investment.

Read ASUG press release

Why SAP from Optimal for Your Consumer Products Company?

CPG One.V.logo

Consumer products manufacturers have always faced intense pressure to produce their goods at the lowest possible price. Today, with competition possibly coming from anywhere in the world, that situation has only gotten tougher.

Manufacturing costs are only one hurdle in an array of obstacles between consumer products manufacturers and the goals of business growth and netting more revenue. Fortunately Optimize CPGOne from Optimal Solutions provides the business management functionalities your company needs to not only survive, but thrive.

Based on the SAP Business All-in-One solution and incorporating business intelligence from SAP BusinessObjects, CPG One will enable you to drive operational efficiency, gain real-time visibility across your supply chain and ensure traceability and regulatory compliance while increasing revenue and adapting to the most volatile market conditions. Better yet, CPGOne is affordable, quick to implement and can be easily matched to your specific industry.

Join Optimal for a presentation and walkthrough of CPG One (ASUG Membership required)

Why Invest in SAP BPC?

SAP BPC

Adoption of the SAP Business Objects Planning & Consolidation application (still commonly referred to as SAP BPC) has skyrocketed since SAP bought OutlookSoft in 2007, and from what Optimal is seeing, the pace of adoption has accelerated over the past year, with all signs pointing to the trend continuing.

Why are businesses increasingly investing in SAP BPC? In today’s turbulent global economy businesses need a proven, easy-to-use tool for streamlining financial reporting and forecasting processes — one that delivers rapid ROI and business value that is measurable. SAP BPC is the best tool for the job.

This is why SAP acquired OutlookSoft and invested so heavily in porting it to the SAP NetWeaver platform; this is why SAP BPC is gathering such steam; and this is one of the top reasons why Optimal has just acquired The Glenture Group — an original OutlookSoft partner and a well established consulting firm widely regarded as one of the best at delivering the SAP BPC solution.

Read Article by Optimal President Sam Sliman: Why Invest in SAP BPC?

Optimal Bolsters SAP Analytics, SAP BI, SAP BPC Offerings with Glenture Acquisition

CRN

Read article by CRN Editor Rick White: Acquisition Expands Optimal Solutions’ Business Analytics Services

 

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