The new kid on the block for data management and analytics: SAP BDC

The data management space is changing basically every day, with big tech like Microsoft, Amazon, Databricks, Snowflake, and Google etc. constantly pushing new products and innovations into the market. However, SAP has made a big move in this space, with the introduction of SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC).

There is quite some content out there explaining what SAP BDC is, so we won’t repeat it. Instead, wearing our Business, Data, and IT hats, here’s our take on what we think of SAP BDC.

Wearing our Business Hat:

Does any of the below problems sound familiar to you?

• Your reports are outdated, not containing the latest data and information;
• Requesting new/updates to reports from IT teams takes a considerable amount of time;
• Reports are nice and all, but it often still requires you to look at the report and find the insights, if only some ChatGPT equivalent can find it for you.

Even though normally these data management platforms are aimed at those with more technical and data skills, SAP BDC really does make it easier for business users to become independent. It helps by offering:

• Standard SAP managed dashboards: Called Intelligent Applications, these are SAP built dashboards that are always up to date, showing really value to users;
• Easier to use tools: Whether it’s using low-code/drag-n-drop in Datasphere, asking SAP Joule how to use a tool, or building your own PowerBI reports, SAP BDC offers a range of tools that are more business-friendly, helping business teams become independent;
• AI enabled SAP Joule: Users can ask questions about the data to the AI enabled Joule platform who can summarise insights in normal human language.

Wearing our Data Hat:

My fellow data enthusiasts will recognise these issues:

• Semantic models that are complex to maintain and standardise, especially when business users ask for new metrics all the time;
• You’re spending more time on YouTube trying to find training videos since you constantly need to upskill in many different tools used across the data landscape;
• Getting to know new SAP tables and fields take time, especially when the field names use codes instead of human language
• The SAP BDC landscape of tools and data management platforms makes life much easier for data analysts and engineers and really does address the above issues. Specifically, what it offers is:
• Easy to manage semantic models: A combination of SAP data products that are packaged together in a way that makes logical sense means it’s so much easier to analyse SAP data. Moreover, it’s also simple to build your own semantic models with non-SAP data using the two methods most of us like most: SQL & low-code platforms;
• SAP tools: SAP Datasphere, BDC Cockpit, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BW/4HANA & BW and SAP Databricks all form the core of toolsets required to know manage, analyse and visualise data. These are the only tools data analytics and scientist need to learn
• AI enabled SAP Joule: Gone are the days where we spend most of our time trying to figure out the right tables and fields to use to build some report. You can simply ask SAP Joule which data products are good candidates for a specific business requirement and go from there.

Wearing our IT Hat:

IT teams will be familiar with the below pain points

• A vast tooling landscape of different providers required to build data pipelines & warehouses to move SAP and non-SAP data around;
• High storage costs to store large data volumes;
• The administrative burden to manage access and security to all the data is cumbersome.

These issues have been a real big driver for the development of SAP BDC, as it is a platform made to also make the life of IT specialists easier. Specifically, it provides:

• SAP managed data pipelines: Since SAP BDC is a SaaS, SAP manages the SAP data product pipelines and availability. There’s no longer a need for custom data pipelines to be built.
• Zero-Copy data sharing: If companies already have (or want) data platforms like Databricks, Snowflake, or MS Fabric, data from SAP BDC can be shared with these platforms without replicating or moving the physical data. This reduces storage costs.
• Easy to administer access & security: The SAP BDC Cockpit is an easy-to-use platform to activate new SAP data products, manage access to end users, and sharing data with platforms like Databricks.

Whether you are from Business, Data or IT, SAP BDC really does cater to a lot of your needs. Of course, it does not meet every single requirement, and is still a developing platform, but what is already available to customers really is a game changer in our opinion.

We will be quite excitedly monitoring the development of this new kid on the block!

How can Bluecrux help you with SAP BDC?

We are SAP BDC certified advisors, and help companies in the following areas:

• We help build business intelligence tools (e.g. PowerBI), depending on what is already being used.
• Create & implement the SAP BDC business strategy & governance operating model
• We provide a step-by-step business & adoption roadmap for SAP BDC in line with the Enterprise data strategy;
• We work with business & data teams to know which data products are needed to meet business requirements;