SAP announced the next update for the SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA)

suite, on-premise and cloud editions. As part of its road map to help customers
across industries and regions drive their digital transformation with the next-g
eneration business suite, SAP will deliver a massive wave of simplification and
innovation covering the mission-critical business processes across lines of busi
ness such as finance, sales, service, marketing, commerce, procurement and sourc
ing, manufacturing, supply chain, asset management, research and development, an
d human resources. Additionally, enterprises can now drive end-to-end digitized
operations across their key business functions with the SAP S/4HANA Enterprise M
anagement solution. The announcement was made at SAP TechEd, being held November
10 12 in Barcelona.
SAP S/4HANA solutions for lines of business combine the digitized core capabilit
ies included in SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management with the on-premise and cloud
solutions in the SAP portfolio for each line of business
such as SAP Cash Manage
ment application in finance; SAP SuccessFactors solutions in human resources; the
Ariba Network in procurement, and SAP hybrid solutions in marketing and commerce
.
"We worked closely with our customers that now evolve in the digital economy to
identify where digitized operations can provide the most value," said Bernd Leuk
ert, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, Products & Innovation. "The result
is a completely reimagined core, making SAP S/4HANA the first digital core for
digital business in the industry. With this delivery, enterprises can drive unpr
ecedented business value with innovative use cases in core financial and operati
onal areas such as logistics to take full advantage of simplified data models an
d a responsive user experience."
Key simplifications and innovations include:
Optimized working capital with new accounts payable and receivable cockpits
Decreased stock buffers with a simplified data model in inventory management for
real-time, high-volume processing
Increased visibility with real-time insight into stock and material flow
Reduced manufacturing cycle time with streamlined material flow for internal requ
irements and material requirements planning
Augmented reactivity with real-time monitoring of production orders for flow and
critical issues
Improved operational decisions with easier simulation of supply alternatives
Lower procurement costs with standard integration to the Ariba Network
Better customer service with a new sales order fulfillment cockpit to help identi
fy bottlenecks and issues instantly
"As an early adopter of SAP HANA, we have recognized the business benefits of an
in-memory platform," said Hiroshi Terada, general manager of Nomura Research In
stitute Ltd. (NRI), a Japanese IT consulting and solution provider. "Now with th
e expanded scope of SAP S/4HANA, we are looking forward to simplifying our subsi
diary's business processes in finance, sales, supply chain and beyond. With the
intuitive SAP Fiori user experience, SAP S/4HANA will have a positive impact on
the digital transformation for our group company and our customers."
SAP S/4HANA, the First Digital Core for Digital Business
SAP S/4HANA represents a digital core of the 21st century. Built on the advanced
SAP HANA platform and designed with the modern SAP Fiori user experience, the ne
w suite helps to drive instant business insight across industries, business func
tions and roles. Enterprises can go beyond traditional transactions and drive en
d-to-end digitized processes based on a single source of information from planni
ng, execution and prediction to simulation and analysis, all in real time with o
ne system. This digital core is an essential element of SAP's digital business f
ramework for customers because it represents a pivotal solution that connects th

e digital value chain in real time: workforce engagement, assets and the Interne
t of Things, supplier collaboration and business networks, customer engagement a
nd omnichannel experience.
The market momentum has been record-breaking since the launch of SAP S/4HANA in
February 2015. SAP S/4HANA has already become SAP's fastest-growing product, wit
h more than 1,300 customers in only 8 months.
SAP Activate, the Direct Route to SAP S/4HANA
SAP Activate is the innovation adoption framework that expedites implementations
of SAP S/4HANA throughout the customer lifecycle. It offers ready-to-run digiti
zed business processes optimized for SAP S/4HANA and comes with reference soluti
ons in the cloud. SAP Activate is integrated with SAP S/4HANA and begins with a
free trial of SAP S/4HANA. Customers can expect accelerated time to value, lower
total cost of ownership, and a continuous way to innovate and improve upon thei
r initial implementation.
SAP Activate has been designed as a consistent, guided approach for deployment m
odes based on best practices, whether on premise, in the cloud or hybrid. It inc
ludes guided configuration, a tool for content lifecycle management, and next-ge
neration methodology. It provides a path to help simplify customers' move to SAP
S/4HANA. SAP Activate is also designed to amplify the innovations of SAP partne
rs and allows them to extend and enhance their own specialized industry or lineof-business expertise.
A Partner Ecosystem Ready to Help Customers
SAP partners currently manage more than 80 percent of all projects focused on SA
P S/4HANA and continue to play a major role in selling the software and helping
customers plan, run and optimize implementation and digital transformation proje
cts. With more than 1,000 reseller firms selling SAP S/4HANA
and those numbers a
re increasing
SAP partners play a strategic role and are fully enabled to engage
customers, ranging from the small and midsize business markets to large enterpr
ises and net-new customers globally.
Breakthrough Digital Approach Using Data from SAP S/4HANA Now Available
SAP Digital Boardroom utilizes line-of-business data from the SAP S/4HANA suite
and SAP HANA Cloud Platform to provide a single source of truth about a company'
s critical business metrics. Built on the SAP Cloud for Analytics solution, SAP
Digital Boardroom contextualizes and simplifies performance management across bu
sinesses in real time. This approach can help companies monitor and drive change
in the digital economy.
To find out more about SAP Cloud for Analytics and SAP Digital Boardroom, which
are now both generally available, visit the SAP Cloud for Analytics website.
For more information, visit the SAP S/4HANA website and the SAP News Center. Fol
low SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.