EXPRESS COMPUTER | APRIL, 2017
| 11
NEWS ANALYSIS
SAP tailors its HANA platform for Indian SMEs GERMAN ENTERPRISE software maker SAP has launched SAP S/4HANA private cloud tailored for mid-size companies in India
Mohd Ujaley mohd.ujaley@expressindia.com
Our commitment, through SAP S/4HANA private cloud, is to provide each and every Indian business the opportunity to tap into the power and potential of SAP HANA as they pave the way towards a pervasive digital business
W
ith the government pushing for the adoption of digital transactions and a unified technology driven taxation system, goods and services tax (GST) likely to be rolled-out in JuneJuly 2017, the Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are gearing up for balancing between the limited IT resources they have with the need to be agile to capitalise on emerging opportunities. To focus on this thriving market in India, German enterprise software maker, SAP recently launched SAP S/4HANA private cloud, a next generation business suite tailored for mid-size companies. “Our commitment, through SAP S/4HANA private cloud, is to provide each and every Indian business the opportunity to tap into the power and potential of SAP HANA as they pave the way towards a pervasive digital business,” said Deb Deep Sengupta, president and managing director, SAP Indian subcontinent. The Walldorf, Germany headquartered company said that its newly launched private cloud edition offers the flexibility and functionality of SAP S/4HANA enterprise
Deb Deep Sengupta President and Managing Director, SAP Indian subcontinent.
management solution to mid-size companies at a simple and affordable subscription pricing model. “Setting up of an IT infrastructure that can take care of finance, HR, procurement, analytics require lot of expertise and capital investment. But if a company goes for a solution like SAP S/4HANA private cloud, upfront there is saving of 30 percent on that investment and also it allows them to focus on their core businesses,” stated Atul Sareen, vice president and head of cloud sales,
SAP India. Available in a modular subscription pricing without any upfront capital investment, SAP claims that the solution offers enterprise-caliber data security and faster time to value allowing SMEs to go digital within weeks on predefined services. The key advantage of SAP S/4HANA in general is that transactional and analytical data can be processed at faster speed when compared with traditional database platforms. “The benefit of this solution is that
both transaction and analytics are in sync. This is mostly used by the large enterprise and mid-market firms. For SMEs, we have done good amount of market research on S/4HANA and came out with S/4 HANA private cloud,” mentioned Sareen. SMEs which are typically defined as a company employing 500 employees or less or having a turnover of about `1500 crore, usually have limited IT resources and require an ERP system with broad and deep functionality as well as a
low cost of ownership. The number of companies that fall under this category is large. SAP has more than 7500 customers across the subcontinent, out of which over 5500 customers are SMEs. Interestingly, this is the segment where revenue growth is happening. But it is also a highly fragmented market where tech firms such as Oracle, Salesforce, and Intuit are trying to increase their pie. In November last year, Oracle purchased cloud SME business apps player NetSuite and now both Oracle
and SAP are likely to face off in this arena more often. “We have been focusing on SMEs for many years. Currently, 75-80 percent of our installed base in India falls under this category. We have over 5500 SME customers in the country. For us it is a huge opportunity,” added Sareen. Overall, the SME market is divided into different segments and with the government pushing for local manufacturing under the “Make in India” initiative, companies are setting up new units. SAP sees this as an opportunity to increase sale of its ERP solutions in the country. Going forward, the company also plans to bring SAP S/4HANA public cloud edition in India.
banking sector include better client satisfaction through faster, more convenient and secure services, minimization of fraud, maximization of efficiency, security and transparency, streamlining paper work, accelerated information and money flows and greatly improved auditability. Says Prasanna Lohar, Head of Technology (Digital Banking), DCB Bank, “There is more to Blockchain than moving money. In the recent days, the country has seen a dramatic increase in Blockchain adoption/awareness and the government’s openness to the technology can translate to a lenient regulatory view towards Blockchain.” Lohar believes that Blockchain has the potential to transform our
lives through its benefits. This includes faster settlement times that are user-optimized, lower collateral requirements and counterparty risk, improved contractual term performance, greater trans-
parency for regulatory reporting, better capital optimization, reduction of operating costs and the fact that it is incorruptible. “The recent trend is towards collaboration i.e. partnerships between competitive banks, technology companies, fintech companies and regulators. This will bring benefits to consumers and the financial system. Collaboration among these different stakeholders will bring multiple innovative and cost effective use cases in sections such as clearing and settlements, payments, smart assets, identity management, data management and data protection, AML and KYC and governance which in turn can lead to a sharing economy in the Indian banking sec-
tor. Post de-monetization, UPI and many other movements in innovations , Blockchain can be the radical change agent in India,” states Lohar. Banks can greatly benefit from using Blockchain, as it can be used to remove a huge amount of paperwork and intermediaries. As the number of intermediaries get reduced, the advantages are tremendous. Hence, any transaction that involves lot of intermediaries is a good use case for Blockchain. This has huge cost implications. For example, a report from Santander InnoVentures claims that banks can slash infrastructure costs by $15-20 billion by 2022, by eliminating redundant activities.
Bank-Chain: India’s first Blockchain exploration consortium launched for banks Srikanth RP srikanth.rp@expressindia.com
B
ank-Chain, India’s first Blockchain exploration consortium for banks was announced in Mumbai on 8th February, 2017. State Bank of India (SBI) has taken the initiative to take this effort forward as it believes that it is essential for banks to collaborate and develop Blockchain solutions for the betterment of the financial sector. A spokesperson for SBI added that Bank-Chain will enable banks to explore, build and implement Blockchain solutions which can minimize fraud and maximize effi-
ciency, security and transparency. Bank-Chain has been formed in collaboration with Primechain Technologies, a young Indian startup with a core focus on Blockchain. “Some of the quick action Blockchain use-cases include antimoney laundering, currency exchange and remittance, KYC, digital signature, communication of financial information”, says Shinam Arora, CEO, Primechain Technologies. Axis Bank, Central Bank of India, DCB Bank, Deutsche Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Saraswat Bank have also shown an interest in collaborating for Bank-Chain. Some of the core benefits of Blockchain technology for the
Banks can greatly benefit from using Blockchain, as it can be used to remove a huge amount of paperwork and intermediaries