Subscribing to business analytics services through cloud providers is quickly replacing some very expensive on-premises software in many enterprises. This is a trend that doesn’t appear to have a limitation at the moment.
SAP, which already has a lot of skin in the game because its own older analytics software is installed in numerous systems around the world, is moving swiftly on this trend in order to retain customers. With industry competitors getting more numerous and sophisticated at the same time, the time is ripe for well-established SAP to make some moves.
SAP sees the cloud option as an entrée for both new and older customers into the performance of its fast and relatively new in-memory database, HANA.
On May 15, the German business software maker made available some new analytics options for its enterprise cloud service for use in its SAP Enterprise Cloud, which is powered by HANA in the company’s data centers.
The available features include:
—Enterprise Business Intelligence: Connects individuals, data and processes to help drive better decisions by offering users the power to engage with their data on any device and across any platform.
—Agile visualization: Intuitively explores and visualizes data to reveal new insights at-a-glance with trusted data discovery that enables real-time understanding of data, both big and small.
—Advanced analytics: Anticipates what comes next to drive better business outcomes by applying predictive analytics to all information and processes.
—Enterprise performance management (EPM): Helps achieve a better top and bottom line through agile financial planning and analysis and an accelerated financial close to disclose.
—Governance, risk and compliance: Helps reduce cost and effort of managing risk and compliance initiatives while protecting revenue streams and optimizing performance.
SAP has been ranked No. 1 in Gartner’s “Market Share Analysis: Business Intelligence and Analytics Software” report each year since 2009. In the 2013 edition, SAP was No. 1 in sector revenue at $3.1 billion with 21.3 percent of the worldwide BI and analytics software market share.
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