Sapphire Conference: SAP is ready to deliver a service
oriented architecture strategy by the end of the year – but only
for organisations running MySAP 2005
SAP is on target to complete its serviced oriented architecture
strategy that links all its enterprise products by the end of the
year. To take advantage of it, however, users will need to migrate
to MySAP 2005, the company’s latest platform, which is now
generally available.
This was the message from SAP’s chief executive officer, Henning
Kagermann, at the opening keynote of the Sapphire conference in
Paris last week.
Kagermann said, “This is a cornerstone year for us when we will
complete our roadmap with key products.” But he added that users
would need to update their enterprise systems to take advantage of
SAP’s SOA.
“You cannot do this if you just stay on R/3. It is a small step
for you [to move] from R/3 to this service-enabled enterprise
resource planning system.”
SAP has passed the halfway point in persuading its customers to
move from the legacy R/3 product to the web-based MySAP, but there
are still 4,500 organisations around the world running R/3
software.
Kagermann said the migration to MySAP 2005 would also allow
users to make the most of Duet, the integration technology with
Microsoft Office that is being rolled out.
At the end of the year, SAP would release a version of Netweaver
into a business process platform, said Kagermann.
One of the key benefits of SAP’s enterprise service architecture
is faster deployment of applications. “Today flexibility [in SAP]
is achieved using thousands of switches and tables. You need people
who can translate the ideas for the business into [the SAP
configuration],” Kagermann said.
As an example, he described the possibility of a wizard-like
tool which business people could use to configure up to 99% of the
application.
This would eliminate the need for technicians, and reduce
deployment times from weeks to days.
SAP is already shipping hundreds of enterprise services via its
portfolio of xApps products and those of its business partners.
One user of SAP’s enterprise service architecture is aircraft
manufacturer Airbus. Cornelius Brunder, head of supply chain at
Airbus, said, “All our key business processes, like the final
assembly line for the Airbus A380, use SAP.
“Key to Airbus’ IT strategy is being able to integrate the
information flow across the extended supply chain. This integration
is achieved using SAP.”
Another user, high street retailer The Body Shop, is deploying
SAP’s enterprise service architecture as a standardised, flexible
architecture to support global growth, Jon Grenville, global head
of IT said. One of the key SAP applications is used to gather Epos
information from franchisees and company-owned stores.
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