Looking forward into 2015
At this time of year there is often a tendency to look back and review the year ending. But just like the rear view mirror in a car this just tells us what we have passed and the turnings we didn’t take that could have lead us on a different path. Whereas let’s look ahead out of the front window onto the possibilities of then open road ahead in 2015
Key things to keep on the 2015 radar should be:
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Run Simple
- If you have seen any SAP keynote this year the mantra of #Run Simple is everywhere and I’m sure this will continue in 2015 so definitely keep an eye on how SAP are simplifying your SAP technology area.
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SAP Lumira Server, Edge edition
- Jayne Landry has been delivering a series of #AskSAP webinars addressing the topic of how SAP are pushing forward with the SAP Analytics tools in 2015 and beyond. One major innovation that has just been announced is a new server element, which does not require SAP HANA, to be added to the existing SAP Lumira family of tools (Desktop, Cloud, Server). This hopefully will be a great step forward for Small/Medium enterprises who have not adopted HANA yet. Video Replays:
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SAP BusinessObjects BI Suite 4.2
- Steve Lucas, Global President, SAP Platform Solutions suggested we should “Expect major enhancements, such as in administration, ease of use & live streaming of data. Above all else the No. 1 feature will be quality”. Let’s hope so.
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SAP Predictive Analysis
- SAP Predictive Analysis is a statistical analysis tool that provides business users with a simple drag and drop interface to create predictive models in an easy manner using the graphical user interface and intuitive visualizations. Definitely a topic area to keep abreast of this year.
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Migrating to BI4
- End of Mainstream Maintenance for BusinessObjects XI3 is 31/12/2015. If you have not started your planning for upgrading to BusinessObjects BI4 then this is something to kick off early in 2015. Itelligence are the experts in upgrading SAP successfully and cost-effectively. With over 10 per cent of the UK SAP install base as clients, we have extensive experience in upgrading and migrating SAP technology. Why not let us help you?
A hot topic for 2015
I frequently present at SAP Analytics conferences and in 2014 the sessions focused on topics like the SAP BusinessObjects technology roadmaps, SAP Lumira (real life use cases) and SAP Mobile BI. What’s interesting to me is that going back longer in time the topics were all about Dashboards be that design and layout best practice or how to use the tool formally called Xcelsius. But, I get the sense that the message of “Why” we should visualise data is becoming widely accepted and now the interest is in “How” we can do it with SAP Analytics technologies. Tools like SAP Lumira can make the “How” easier but we should enter into the whirlpool of “Self Service BI” with caution. No everyone in an organisation needs to create their own insights, more commonly there is simply the need for the right information, at the right time, in the right place to enable an information consumer to not only fulfil but exceed in their job role.
The publicly available SAP Business Intelligence tools convergence roadmap shows the plan for SAP to reduce the number of Analytics tools from 14 down to 5 with the “winners” being Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, Lumira, Design Studio and Analysis Edition for MS Office. As SAP start delivering on this tools convergence roadmap my hunch is that 2015 will be the year of some potential confusion, debate and discussion on the topic of “Self Service BI” and which tool in the SAP Analytics suite meets the wide variety of requirements from organisations for content creation, content sharing and content consumption. We at NTT DATA Business Solutions are very well placed to help our customers see clearly through any confusion and help you identify, deliver and deploy the right solution to meet your business requirements. Reach out to us and we can investigate ways we can assist.
Some key events planned for 2015
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NTT DATA Business Solutions Annual Conference 09/06/2015
- Following on from our successful 2014 conference we are remaining in Central London at, what we believe to be an even more impressive, soon to be announced venue. We will build on the successful structure of last year with an equally packed and informative agenda. With even more customer success stories to share with you, updates on innovations from SAP and great networking opportunities and a fantastic guest speaker, we don’t want you to miss out.
- Register Here:
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UK & Ireland SAP User Group conference 22/11/2015 to 24/11/2015
- The 2014 Conference celebrated the Formula for Success; a Formula which saw the User Group, SAP, Partners and Customers come together and form a solid structure on which to build for the future…. SPECTRUM 2015
- Register Here:
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SAP TechEd && d-code
- Bangalore International Exhibition Centre – March 11–13, 2015
- Las Vegas, U.S.A. Venetian|Palazzo Congress Centre – October 19–23, 2015
- Learn More:
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Design Studio Webinar
- Hosted by Andrew Fox with guest presenter Ian Mayor, Director, BI Product Strategy, SAP– 12/02/2015 10:00am
- Synopsis
- If you are a fan of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly known as Xcelsius) and feel lost when you try to use SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio? Then this webinar is for you. Starting with an overview of the key architectural differences between the two tools, this webinar will show a dashboard user how to quickly become productive in Design Studio. Ian will share a variety of techniques, tips, tricks, and best practices for building the same high quality, visually stunning dashboards that you are used to making in dashboards (formerly known as Xcelsius)with Design Studio. You’ll also have a chance to try and stump the Design Studio expert with your dashboard building questions LIVE!