The 10 Best Performing SAP Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.com May 2018

10

The

Best

Performing

Solution Providers 2018

Future Tech Future of Technology Through the Eyes of SAP Experts

SAP In Perspective SAP HANA:A Revolutionary Step towards enhancing Database Servers

Alessandro Cozzi Founder & CEO

Wiit

The Critical Private and Hybrid Cloud Solution Provider for Business Applications

SAP Solutions: Remolding the Enterprise Universe

T

he digital universe is being reformed ceaselessly by impeccably innovative technologies. This reformation has led to consequences, advantageous as well as destructive, safely assumed to be balanced. The enterprise ecosystem has been at the receiving end of technological benefits. It has relished the consumption of each relevant tech advent and will continue the same till eternity. One prominent organization that has leapt the timeline of innovative usability is Systems, Applications, and Products in data processing or widely known as SAP. Founded in 1972, SAP has become the pillar of various companies. Not only it has enhanced innovation in the industry but more essentially, it has delivered operational productivity and immaculate insights into business operations. SAP has turned into the world’s third largest software and programming company. It currently operates in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America.

A few of SAP’s products that assist organizations to automate their everyday processes are, SAP ERP, SAP CRM, SAP PLM, SAP SCM, SAP SRM, and SAP S/4 HANA. These products have evidently replaced traditional functioning of/in almost all of the contemporary workplaces. SAP has been aiding organizations leverage opportunities in their relevant businesses, be it the domain of Big Data, Block Chain, IoT, Cloud Computing, or Machine Learning.

SAP has committedly catered to the necessity of incessant innovation and reforming all scales of businesses. A surge in customer suitability has led to an increase in the depth of SAP’s solution scalability and optimization. Savoring the profits of these SAP solutions, numerous organizations are altering their structure to offer agility and compatibility.

To shed light over such organizations, Insights Success has curated a list of “The 10 Best Performing SAP Solution Providers, 2018,” who are excelling their provision of best-in-class SAP solutions that incessantly advocate ingenuity in technological innovation and universal services.

Our Cover Story features Wiit, which is a leading Hosted Private and Hybrid Cloud services provider for corporates. The company delivers optimum efficiency to its clients who are looking for security, competence and business continuity solutions. Its expertise lies in being a mentor to its clients and it continues to deliver extraordinary results with advanced PaaS services. The company adopts a pragmatic approach towards cloud adoption which puts its clients at the helm of their core business. Wiit has also adopted a strategy to combine various cloud solutions including the full Managed Services stack for critical applications and also core Oracle and Microsoft application suites.

In this issue, we have also enlisted companies which are providing insightful and innovative solutions to enhance the applications of SAP. Approyo: a leading global SAP and Big Data technology solution provider; Layer Seven Security: providing comprehensive cyber-security solutions that fuse SAP vulnerability management and threat detection capabilities.; Herrington Technology: offering various SAP solutions, including ERP program and project management, system landscape deployment, center of excellence build, software, integrated solutions, executive strategic and trusted advisor services, and enterprise technology architecture and design; Deep Singularity: a leading Information Technology organization that provides SAP Consulting, big data strategy and builds algorithm models for various businesses; Configurable Management: a prominent business solution provider for distinctive solutions to enhance the excellence in SAP services and proprietary solutions focus on improving processes; VistaVu Solutions: providing business management and ERP cloud software solutions to maximize operational efficiency; K5 Business: assists organizations to automate, optimize and streamline their business processes using various SAP solutions and offers rigorous training to employees as well.

Also, make sure to scroll through the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector.

Let’s start reading!

Abhishaj Sajeev

Cover

Story

08

Wiit: The Critical Private and Hybrid Cloud Solution Provider for Business Applications

18 28

Expert’s Foresight Beyond Automation: AI powered Autonomous Factories of the Future

Tech Advice Leverage Existing SAP Solutions with Cloud Procurement

Articles

SAP In Perspective Future Tech

Editor's Pick Fog Computing On a Surge

24

Future of Technology Through the Eyes of SAP Experts

46

SAP HANA: A Revolutionary Step towards enhancing Database Servers

36

Contents Approyo: Evolving with SAP Technology

20 Conď€ gurable Management: Delivering Excellence in SAP and Service Solutions 22

Deep Singularity: Does the World Need a new AI-based Operating System to ignite the AI Winter?

30 Herrington Technology: State-of-the-Art SAP Solutions 32

K5 Business: A Unique and Expert SAP Solution 38

Layer Seven Security: A Cutting Edge Cyber Security Partner 40

VistaVu Solutions: Implementing Leading SAP Innovation in North America 44

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editors Assistant Editors Contributing Editors Visualiser Art & Design Director Associate Designer Co-designer

Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Abhishaj Sajeev Jenny Fernandes Sourav Mukherjee Hitesh Dhamani Bhushan Kadam David King Amol Kamble Tejas Kulkarni Shweta Ambilwade

Art & Picture Editor Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Rohit Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Ajinkya Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategist Alina Sege, Shubham, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Manager Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

June, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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Alessandro Cozzi Founder & CEO

The

Best Performing

Cover Story Solution Providers 2018

Wiit:

The Critical Private and Hybrid Cloud Solution Provider for Business Applications

Wiit is 100% committed to Cloud services and in the continuous improvement of our portfolio services.

We guarantee business critical SLAs to clients spread across the globe.

To keep that commitment we adopt only the best technology solution for infrastructures, business continuity and cyber security.

T

he SAP industry has become the backbone of various businesses. Not only it has sped up innovation in the industry but more importantly, it has delivered operational eďŹƒciency and unparalleled insights into business operations.

Wiit is leading this revolutionary transformation in the business operations with Hosted Private and Hybrid Cloud services for corporates. The company delivers optimum eďŹƒciency to its clients who are looking for security, competence and business continuity solutions. Its expertise lies in being a mentor to its clients and it continues to deliver extraordinary results with advanced PaaS services.

The company adopts a pragmatic approach towards cloud adoption which puts its clients at the helm of their core business. Wiit has adopted a strategy to combine various cloud solutions including the full Managed Services stack for critical applications and also core Oracle and Microsft application suites. This combination is ideal for global conglomerates which rely on these suites to tackle core challenges faced every day. The integrated approach helps businesses achieve maximum productivity with absolute ease.

A Trustworthy and Reliable Stature Wiit has also become synonymous with reliability and trustworthiness over the years. The company has nurtured a transparent environment with its clients, wherein it has often stressed the importance of the direct and full control of Critical SLAs. In return, Wiit has delivered exceptional services with creating and developing customised industryspecific applications in order to meet unique demands and challenges.

This commitment to its clients has differentiated Wiit from major corporations who simply devote themselves partially to the growing demands of cloud services. The company owns and operates its data centres and internally handle competency demands which directly result in high levels of customer satisfaction and build up of trust over the years.

Our continuous investment in Cyber Security offering guarantees the best military-grade SLAs to clients.

An Energetic Leadership Wiit was founded at the beginning of 2000 by Alessandro Cozzi, the Founder and current CEO of the company. He envisioned the company as a high-level player in the outsourcing business and lead it to reach extraordinary heights with his energetic approach. He has often been described by his colleagues as an inexhaustible source of energy and inspiration for the Wiit team and he continues to lead the team to with a relentless focus on broader objectives.

The company is listed at Borsa Italiana, London Stock Exchange to help it fulfil its glorious journey of becoming the leading cloud player for business-critical applications.

Alessandro currently is working on expansion plans for Wiit initially in Europe and then US through M&A process.

He aims to double the revenues of the company in the next 2 years.

A Rising Tide and A Swift Response Advancing SAP technology is creating numerous opportunities for businesses and these opportunities often come with their own set of challenges. There is a golden opportunity and a brewing challenge waiting on the horizon for businesses heavily relied on SAP technology. The challenge is the SAP Hana and S/4 HANA migration. The Hana migration presents an opportunity to move to a high performance platform that embeds a groundbreaking approach to share information. Hana migration can offer real-time, integrated data and information, the new real time production scheduling, multiplant production simulation to businesses. Additionally, it integrates these various capabilities under a single umbrella to deliver a holistic and integrated way to move forward for businesses. However,

all these opportunities require companies to change the way their IT departments deliver performance and change SLA. Wiit enables its clients to acquire and integrate new approaches like Hana migration with new competencies, new technologies with a swift and effortless integration.

The company equips its clients with private cloud solutions which allow them to invest their energy and efforts towards their core business objectives. Wiit understands the growing trend in the industry where more and more businesses are interested in focussing on outsourcing their non-core functions to an expert third party and specialize in delivering their products and services. With its understanding of the tide that is sweeping the industry and its swift response, Wiit is bound to take the industry by storm with a clear focus and strategy in place.

A Next-Gen Solution To Meet Growing Demands Business constantly requires innovation to meet growing demands. Currently, cloud solutions are expected to deliver speed, scalability, compliance solutions and security. Wiit has devised a strategy and a concrete plan action to meet these demands with innovative solutions. The company offers hybrid cloud to drive innovation and balances business requirements with security to deliver a near perfect solution. Using these hybrid-cloud solutions, companies are no longer expected to focus on pure technology, on hardware but can avail the benefits nonetheless by moving their operations to cloud management and governance.

Moreover, Wiit has made a security its top priority in a changing world where cyber security is not only absolutely essential for delivering performance but also protects the long-term interests of businesses from potential legal liabilities. Wiit has developed a fully integrated approach to cybersecurity that embraces technology defences, h24 managed services for NOC and SIEM, advanced security options like DDoS with a 360° for compliance. The company has also managed to deliver a next-gen integrated approach to companies who are looking for a fully integrated solution to avail a wide range of services.

Companies who are troubled by different cloud offerings can find solace in Wiit offerings as the company offers a new global governance of the multicoloured experience and helps businesses overcome the barrier of isolated cloud experience laden with insufficient capabilities.

Wiit is the Italian emerging SAP leader provider for corporations that need highest skills on the market with the flexibility and the focus of a mid-size player.

Calibre Backed by State-of-the-Art Technology Wiit has since its inception relentlessly pursued cloud strategy to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Its pure focus on being the top cloud player has enabled the company to make continuous improvements to its portfolio. The relentless drive today has evolved to a point where the company successfully delivers end-to-end solutions to prestigious clients all over the world. The leadership at Wiit believes in following the strict protocol of SLAs involving control and governance of the entire value chain. The company backs up its calibre with top-notch assets like a Tier IV Datacenter to deliver highest performing SAP-certified solution worldwide.

Similarly, the company delivers a combination of Private, Hosted and Public cloud, more commonly known as Hybrid cloud solution to further its commitment to its clients.

With its current capabilities, the company delivers a competent solution to clients 365 days a year. Additionally, the company has set the benchmark in the industry and been

recognised by SAP for raising the bar for SAP solutions worldwide. The company currently holds certifications in ITIL standards (ISO 20.000), security (ISO 27001), business continuity (ISO 22301), governance & controls (ISAE 3402) and promises to raise the bar even higher in future.

The company promises to register outstanding growth in the future for some key initiatives and strategy adoptions from the past. Wiit has adopted a fully integrated approach and control to benefit its clients. Additionally, the competence and references the company draws are top of the world when compared with global competitors and the company has adopted an innovative approach to make innovations a norm in the industry for progress. In future, Wiit would expand its business model in Europe to bring the same innovation and outstanding experience to European businesses. Furthermore, the company is likely to retain the loyalty of its existing customer who have tasted the fruit of a reliable and trustworthy cybersecurity solution which is a unique offering in the market.

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The

Best Performing

Solution Providers 2018

Company Name

Management

Brief

Approyo approyo.com

Christopher Carter CEO

Approyo is a leading global SAP and Big Data technology solution provider

cHReative chreative.com.br

Rodrigo Damos Founder

CHReative has a team dedicated to the design, architecture and development of complementary SAP solutions that enhance the use of HCM, add value to the corporate system solution, reduce project execution time and eliminate the need to use legacy systems.

Configurable Management cfg-mgt.com

Steven Branch Founder, President & CEO

Configurable Management is a prominent business solution provider for distinctive solutions to enhance the excellence in SAP services and proprietary solutions focus on improving processes.

Deepsingularity deepsingularity.io

Ganapathi Pulipaka Founder & CEO

DeepSingularity LLC is a leading Information Technology organization that provides SAP Consulting, big data strategy and builds algorithm models for various businesses.

Gumption gumption.eu

Bart Embrechts Founder

Gumption supports start-ups and early-stagers with an innovative business idea that improves process efficiencies and/or user experiences.

Herrington Technology herringtontechnology.net

Valery Herrington Founder

Herrington Technology offers various SAP solutions, including ERP program and project management (large, global complex specialization), system go live (cloud, on premise and hybrid), system landscape deployment, center of excellence build, software, integrated solutions, executive strategic and trusted advisor services, and enterprise technology architecture and design.

K5 Business k5business.com

David Bann Managing Director

K5 Business assists organizations to automate, optimize and streamline their business processes using various SAP solutions and offers rigorous training to employees as well.

LAYER SEVEN SECURITY layersevensecurity.com

Aman Dhillon Founder & CEO

Layer Seven Security provides comprehensive cyber-security solutions that fuse SAP vulnerability management and threat detection capabilities.

VistaVu Solutions vistavusolutions.com

Jary Lamb CEO

VistaVu Solutions provides business management and ERP cloud software solutions to maximize operational efficiency.

WIIT wiitgroup.com

Alessandro Cozzi Founder & CEO

Wiit offers Hosted Private and Hybrid Cloud services for corporates running business-critical applications that support global processes and looking for security, competences and business continuity.

Expert’s Foresight

BEYOND AUTOMATION:

AI powered Autonomous Factories of the Future

R

ise of the industrial robots in 1980s led to a major evolution of Henry Ford’s assembly line concept. Routine tasks that were being handled by factory workers started to be performed by robots with greater accuracy and efficiency. With the spread of device-to-device communication and IoT protocols, robots started taking a serious amount of responsibility from factory workers. This movement was initially led by German high tech firms that branded this shift as the 4th industrial revolution. On the opposite side, there was China, taking advantage of their access to low cost human labour as an alternative to automation. Very recently, a few years ago, China flipped their strategy 180 degrees, becoming the biggest advocate of automation by starting to invest aggressively on buying robots and developing their own robotics know-how led by government initiatives. So the technology won. There is no question about the need for automation anymore and major manufacturing companies, including the ones in China, Germany and rest of the world are racing to automate their industrial processes to increase productivity.

Daghan Cam Co-founder & CEO Ai Build

18

Everything that can be automated will be automated, according to Zuboff’s law.

However, some things are more difficult to be automated than other things.

Those are non-repetitive tasks which require higher level of cognition and ability to adapt into unknown conditions. These tasks can be defined as the last mile in factory automation. Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, was recently criticized by analysts for automating their assembly line more than necessary. The reason of the criticism was the fact that the cost of automation exceeded the cost of a human led assembly May 2018

line. This may be a valid argument for today but the solution should be found in increasing the bar for commercially viable automation and not by going back to lower levels of automation.

So if we are moving towards full automation and lights-out manufacturing, how can the last mile in factories be automated without overspending and over engineering?

Autonomy seems to be the answer, therefore Artificial Intelligence…

There is a slight but important difference between Automation and Autonomy. Autonomy is the state of being able to make independent decisions in situations that were not experienced before. By definition, autonomous systems are always automated, but the other way around is not always the case. A system may be fully automated but not autonomous.

“Blind Automation” is the term we use for this category.

Systems that are blindly automated are based on hard coded rules, as in expert systems, and they tend to be very difficult to be reconfigured if the conditions or requirements change over time. Autonomous systems, in contrast, generalize the rules for decision making in different scenarios by allowing a higher level of abstraction in their programming.

For example, in the blind automation scenario, a robot may be programmed to go to coordinates x, y, z in order to pick up an object. This will work without problems as long as the object is found precisely at coordinates x, y, z.

However, if for any reason the object is positioned at a slightly different location, the robot will still go to x, y, z, fail to pick the object up and continue executing the rest of its commands without noticing this problem. Eventually every step subsequent to this failure will also fail.

A better strategy for performing the same task, is using a robot with vision

May 2018

sensors, and programming it to go to the object’s position (as a variable) to pick it up. Regardless of where the object is positioned, robot will localize it using its sensors and successfully pick it up. This difference between the two programming paradigms; “go to x, y, z” and “go to an object’s position” makes a big difference in making the system less prone to making mistakes in unexpected conditions which is crucial for last mile factory automation.

About the Author Daghan Cam is the Co-founder and CEO of Ai Build, a London based startup developing Artificial Intelligence and Robotics technologies for the construction industry. He is also a visiting lecturer at University College London doing research on robotic fabrication, large scale 3d printing and parallel algorithms with GPU computing.

His work focuses on developing intelligence for automating complex tasks in design and manufacturing by using computer vision and machine learning techniques.

In this scenario where robots make autonomous decisions by using realtime sensor data, a feedback loop is established between physical and digital environments. The constant flow of information from physical to digital and vice versa create immense amounts of structured data which is the fuel for AI powered autonomous factories of the future. Such actionmeasurement-action strategies allow the systems to self-improve over time, creating a data network effect in manufacturing. The more one process is executed, the more efficient it will get. This allows super-human performance in almost every domain given enough data.

Robots making hundreds of decisions every second and receiving hundreds of measurements from the environment and from other devices also require massive computation and storage capabilities. Despite the popularity of cloud computing in most applications today, a decentralized compute power is necessary for most robotic applications and for IoT devices in general. The throughput between the edge and the cloud through internet connectivity is simply not enough to process all data generated by sensors and make sensible decisions in realtime. So edge computing, or fog computing - dedicated servers on premise as a layer between individual devices and the cloud - will likely be the norm in autonomous factories of the future unless we experience a breakthrough in science that leads to infinitely fast and reliable internet connectivity. However unlike compute power, storage of important data, that is filtered on the edge, should be centralized in order to achieve the best decision making models at every location.

As a summary, a few conclusions and predictions about the future are: Ÿ

We are moving towards an autonomous black-box factory model where the factory robots are operated by themselves without human intervention.

Ÿ

These factories will be powered by the data that is generated by themselves and their productivity will increase over time exceeding human performance in every process involved in manufacturing.

Ÿ

Factories will compute on-premise / on-edge and they will push important data to cloud for benefiting from a shared pool of data with other factories.

www.ai-build.com

19

Approyo: Evolving with SAP Technology

T

he world of technology is in a state of constant flux; it is driven by innovation and leaves no room for stagnancy or complacency. For precisely these reasons, Approyo has proven itself a leading solution provider in the field of SAP and Big Data.

We make it simple for companies to implement Digital Transformation through SAP solutions for today and the future.

Its team of dedicated experts tailor technology solutions to help clients achieve their business goals.

Approyo provides instant answers for companies looking to implement digital transformation. Through SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Leonardo and other solutions, it makes SAP solutions worry-free by handling its clients’ cloud environments, licensing, backup, support and ongoing services. Approyo customers enjoy the benefits of digital transformation without disruption while minimizing cost and risk.

These solutions allow accelerated implementation and increased flexibly for customers of all sizes and from every field.

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Proven Leadership Christopher Carter, the CEO of Approyo, works with businesses across the globe to capitalize on their extraction, understanding and use of data through Hadoop (Cloudera and Hortonworks) and SAP HANA. These firms are looking for knowledge to grow through current business process in an environment where an increase of even 1% translates into millions of dollars in business flow.

Under Chris’s leadership, the company follows the idea of “work hard and play hard” and believes in hiring only the best and brightest in the industry.

Chris has more than 25 years of experience in “Big Data” and SAP. His contributions have been recognized by organizations like The American SAP Users Group, SAP, Hadoop World, Cloud Expo and many others.

Changing Technology creates opportunity Approyo recognizes the unprecedented pace at which technology is changing.

May 2018

It knows that customers are more aware of their options, thanks to the massive amount of information available online.

Just a few years ago, the industry was all about educating the customer of the benefits of the cloud; now, the cloud is a central part of everyday IT strategies. Instead of educating clients, Approyo focuses on showcasing how it has partnered and helped others with SAP cloud solutions.

When it comes to tackling the competition, Approyo wants to be the most customer-centric SAP HANA provider in the market place. To do that, the organization strives to stay upto-date with both technology and its clients’ needs.

Christopher Carter CEO

Easy, Flexible, and Cost-Effective The introduction of SAP HANA is the spark that led Chris Carter to create Approyo. HANA is a big data platform that allows customers to manipulate and design data for specific business needs and also to gain better insights into their own functioning.

Approyo has developed custom-made versions of SAP HANA, which is an easy, flexible, and cost-effective onboarding solution for companies. One of its flagship products is Ignite, a platform which condenses HANA’s various components into one neat and easy package. It gives companies the freedom to use either the entire package or only the components that fit their specific requirements.

Chris and his team believe that the SAP ecosystem will continue to grow at a rapid pace. SAP Leonardo is already positioned as a leading solution for 2018 and the adoption of SAP HANA and S/4HANA continues as encouragingly as in recent years.

competitors. Approyo clients see benefits immediately, instead of struggling through a difficult set-up phase typical of hosted SAP solutions.

Envisioning the Future Approyo works to stay a step ahead of evolving technology by providing SAP solutions faster and more effectively than any of its competitors.

The company’s 2017 launch of SAP S/4HANA Ignite gives companies a true SAP S/4HANA sandbox ready to use in minutes. It revolutionizes the SAP world with a production grade sandbox at only $3,000 per month, a cost lower than any other solution on the market and one that is supported with a 100% secured network.

This is a game changer for SAP customers who want to try the latest version SAP S/4HANA while considering how they will migrate in the near-future.

The team at Approyo brings with it years of SAP experience. That experience is the foundation on which they implement their characteristic innovative and exciting solutions. Companies which adopt a digital strategy powered by these solutions are taking the first steps to fully embracing the digital world.

Apart from its expertise, Approyo’s speed to market helps the company distinguish itself in the field. It can have a SAP HANA cloud solution up and running in a matter of days as opposed to weeks-long timelines offered by its May 2018

21

Configurable Management: Delivering Excellence in SAP and Service Solutions

Converging people, processes and systems is in our DNA.

C

onfigurable Management is a prominent business solution provider for SAP and non-SAP businesses. It specializes in data life cycle management, business process automation, master data governance, and data migration. Configurable Management also advises clients about a wide range of functionalities for better results and improving productivity. Its solutions aim to create synergy between clean data, company process automation and business

22

management. Configurable Management also helps clients transform core business processes with innovative software solutions.

had robust technical SAP knowledge with which he embarked on an entrepreneurial venture; marking the genesis of Configurable Management.

Comprising of Innovative Solutions Configurable Management delivers unified and innovative business solutions with excellence. It offers various solutions for major data conversion such as SAP ERP or S/4HANA, and SAP API custom development. The whole process relies on web-forms which are easily integrated with SAP. Configurable management solutions are delivered by industry experts who firmly believe in going the extra mile for its clients.

According to Steven, at Configurable management the business acumen relies on understanding the detailed needs of client businesses. And deploying suitable solutions as a result of a dedicated workforce. He has fostered a culture which helps his team grow and has a unique philosophy to share.

A Leader with a Vision Steven Branch is the Founder, President and CEO of Configurable Management. In 1995, with expertise in operations was associated with SAP. This endeavor led him to learn about “business enablement” tools. He spent 10 years of his career in accumulating SAP implementation experience and knowledge over business enablement tools.

Steven finally followed his passion towards innovative transformation. He led with his ability to identify and leverage business tools to make businesses more efficient.

Subsequently, he also contributed towards technical and non-technical users alike to improve business processes. Steven was determined and

“As a CEO it is my job to establish a culture of honesty, grace, accountability, encouragement, and empowerment, which consequently fosters personal growth for all concerned, employees as well as customers,” he remarks.

Overcome the Challenges and Keep Moving Ahead Over the years, technology has revolutionized the perspective of the world. Technology has created amazing tools and resources, which is enhancing the key features of the technology. Technology growth increases the modernization of business processes and its management. Confer to company’s insights; technology disruption is an ongoing process which is inevitable.

It’s a challenge for staying up to date with changing technology and recognizing what to develop according to benefits of client and business May 2018

process. The company also remarks, the business for what they striving for, and over the years they have been very adept in achieving that.

Configurable Management Strategies to Tackle Competition Business strategies are the foundation on which successful businesses are built. Create the roadmap that lays out a business proposal and the route to success. Similarly, Configurable Management is intensively implementing its strategies. It also offers its business process development expertise by providing implementation, training and support capabilities. It covers the entire SAP solutions from backoffice ERP to front office business intelligence. The company specializes in the latest SAP products with the ability to create unique solutions that meet business objectives. Configurable Management provides its consultation, training and implementation services to support its robust range of product portfolio. It helps its clients to maximize business benefits through these solutions while contributing to the evolution and enhancement of SAP solutions.

Endeavors towards Achievement for Better Impact Configurable Management has proprietary solutions and focuses on automating business processes. Today the company offers a vast array of products including Decisions for SAP® Solutions. It is a specialized BPM tool to automate business processes and build applications. It enables techno-savvy business analysts to build form and workflow solutions. Physical Inventory Accelerator™ provided by the company is SAP-certified and designed to improve the physical inventory process for clients.

Configurable Management also offers Data Validation Management™ for comparing two sets of data. The data validation management tool can be used to compare any two data sets in consideration.

Configurable Management is setting a road map which includes providing templatized master data for governance solutions. The solutions comprise SAP’s Material Master, Customer Master, Vendor Master, Purchase Requisition, Capital Expense Request and Budget Management. In future, company will provide these templates at no additional cost for Decisions for SAP® Solutions clients.

Present Industry Scenario Every business is challenged to do more with less. In order to continue achieving productivity, businesses must have rapid development solutions that are cost effective. The company empowers business users to automate their processes. With this process the company enables its clients to multiply its development teams often without adding head-count.

May 2018

Steven Branch Founder President & CEO Additionally, Decisions for SAP® Solutions is robust enough to satisfy IT’s complex application development needs. SAP Decisions for SAP® Solutions also integrates with many other products out of the box such as Salesforce, DocuSign, SharePoint, and Microsoft Dynamics. It can also integrate with any Web Service API (REST, JSON, SOAP, XML, and HTTP).

Configurable Management is majorly focusing on empowering business users (the non-programming community) while simultaeously satisfying IT’s complex needs. All with common platform towards next generation software. The company has set this as a benchmark for future endeavors.

Journey of the Company A Journey is all about growing and changing through what may come. Initially Configurable Management began as a SAP implementation consultancy. After some time, the company evolved into a niche application development company and added business process automation along the way. “Staying nimble and embracing changing technologies have enabled us to service our clients’ needs in an everchanging space,” says Steven.

At present, the company delivers process based solutions, and is always ready to help its customers succeed with these initiatives to fulfill their needs with actual results.

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Editor's Pick

W

orld is growing at a fast pace and so is data.

Agility and flexibility of big data applications are gradually taking the form of the Internet of Things (IoT). Internet of Things brings more than an explosive escalation of endpoints. It is unconventional in several ways. The surge and escalation of IoT gave rise to a colossal increase in the volume of digitally generated data.

The limitations of current cloud computing is a subject of broader discussion. To the answer to these emerging challenges new computing technologies have arrived.

Introduction to Fog Computing A simple definition of fog is ‘cloud closer to the ground,’ which gives us an idea of functioning of fog computing.

Fog computing is now positioned as a layer to reduce the latency in hybrid cloud scenarios. The terminology refers to a new breed of applications and services, particularly when it comes to data management and analytics. It is a layer in

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the middle of cloud and the hardware. In cloud computing data needs to be accessed to the central mainframe. Fog Computing offers local and faster accessibility to edge devices.

There are two planes in a fog computing network. The ‘Data Plane,’ also referred as forwarding plane, and the ‘Control Plane.’

If anything happens to the data packets, it is determined by the data plane. The computing resources can be placed anywhere in the network with the help of data plane. The distribution can be done on the edge of the network.

A critique of the network is provided by the control plane, functioning with the routing protocols which run in the architectural control element. IoT data can be undertaken in a data hub or smart device which are closer to the sensor with the help of fog computing.

May 2018

Fog Computing On a Surge The data in fog computing can be accessed in between devices locally without any help of the cloud repository.

This will help to boost accessibility, and collaboration among devices and data centers.

Fog Computing Under IoT Fog computing is an archetype that extends cloud computing and services to the edge of the network. The distinguishing fog characteristics are its proximity to the end users. Fog infrastructure redistributes the data and compute, so that much of the action takes place on the edge devices right on your ďŹ nger tips. The application services are hosted on the network edges.

The data from the things where sensors are attached on the object of interest is transported to the services to the edge of network (a fog network). From the fog network the data is transported to the remote services hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data (cloud network).

The goal of fog computing is to improve the eďŹƒciency and reduce the amount of data that needs to be transported to the cloud for analysis or processing or storage.

Emergence of Fog Computing The world is marking a colossal rise in terms of digitally generated data from IoT and connected devices. The growth May 2018

of smartphones and applications is enabling more users to access data, computation power as well as control and manage their end devices in real-time. A littlest data is required by conventional cloud architectures to send to the central cloud through edge fork devices for computation and analysis, which eventually adds latency. Fog computing allows the edge node devices to carry out some local data processing, cache data management, local resource pooling, local device management, dense geographical distribution, load balancing, latency reduction for better quality of service and edge node analytics. It results in enhancing overall user experiences.

Functioning of Fog Computing The cloud is becoming congested due to more and more devices connecting to the internet. In fog computing, most of the processing takes place in data hub or on the edge of the network. The implementation of fog computing separates the data obtained from the closest IoT devices on the most biting aspect which is time.

Fog-empowered edge node devices locally analyzes the most time-critical data. It results in the lowest latency and prevention of major damage before it may even occur.

Time-critical data can consist of alarm status, device status, fault warnings and much more.

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For a persistent or periodically storage less time-critical data is sent to the central mainframe. It can be retrieved as and when required. Less time-critical data includes files, device logs, reports for analysis and much more.

How it is Beneficial for Business The bottom-line impact adds instant value to business. Fog computing makes the production of revenue-generating products and services more efficient and therefore is more cost-effective. It helps in acceleration of rollout cycles, reducing costs and broadens revenue bases.

The new revenue streams creates value for IoT. The streams will come from both IoT and Embedded AI and 5G. It will foster the development of long-awaited revenue-generating applications and services.

With the help of shred-and-spread nature of the fog architecture, the business will run more efficiently and costeffectively. Fog provides highly functioning internal business services.

It also provides a common framework for collaboration and communication. It helps IT and OT business teams to enable work together and bring in cloud capabilities closer.

Advantages of Fog Computing Fog computing have several advantages over its ancestor, cloud computing. Basic cloud computing technology is utilized by fog computing at its core. It helps to boost usability and accessibility in different computing environments.

The advantages that fog computing offers are as follows• Globally distributed network helps minimal downtime • Place data close to the end-user • Load balancing • Create dense geographical distribution • Maximize network bandwidth utilization • Adopt numerous verticals • Optimal operational expense • Business Agility • Support mobility and IoT • Better Interconnectivity • Enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) • Latency Reduction Cloud computing is going out-of-date and is relevant when it comes to Internet of Things. In the near future, fog computing will take over and cloud will be pushed to the side lines. Fog computing will be handling all critical work.

The way the IoT is growing, it needs a special infrastructure base that can handle all its requirements. At present, fog computing is on a surge and it seems to be the most feasible option available.

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May 2018

Tech Advice

Leverage Existing

SAP Solutions

with Cloud Procurement

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ompanies that have already invested in SAP find that they can achieve even better results from their existing investment with cloud technology and eProcurement. After the initial investment, companies find certain roadblocks preventing mass user adoption and diminishing cost savings. Issues such as inability to stay connected, lack of insight into data, and complex and fragmented business rules stop businesses from using the full power of SAP. As cloud application technologies advance, companies gain the benefits of rapid deployment cycles, increased self-service tools, and faster performance.

Vroozi delivers on the promise and power of eProcurement in the Cloud with seamless integration into SAP. SAP users looking to the cloud generally face a few questions, including: · How can I benefit from using cloud procurement? · Will my transition to the cloud be cost-effective? · How will my business processes be affected by cloud technology?

To understand the benefits of cloud technology to existing SAP users, let’s evaluate three procurement strategies that highlight the power of cloud procurement.

Value Realization Return on Investment (ROI) is a central factor in any

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procurement strategy. Buyers and trading partners of cloud procurement solutions need to feel confident that solutions will lead to cost savings and higher productivity and efficiency. Users quickly see returns by focusing on user adoption, compliance, and spend management. Spend Management allows companies to visualize purchasing spending patterns and usage and drives employees to leverage preferred pricing with contract suppliers. To increase user adoption and compliance, the cloud empowers a mobile workforce with the right resources and experience so everyone stays connected and available so that business is not disrupted. As user adoption and compliance frameworks increase with cloud-based systems, organizations gain immediate cost savings in procurement by decreasing transaction costs and preventing spend leakage with your supply chain.

Efficiencies Process efficiency is key for a successful, healthy business.

Cloud technology enables better processes by keeping everyone connected through a mobile experience and automating transaction tasks through the use of machine learning and pattern matching. With a centralized, unified system, cloud automation can yield immediate benefits in requisition to invoice and payment business processes and reduced errors and issues leading to higher productivity and decreased processing costs. Further, by allowing employees

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to interact with cloud procurement via smart Phones and tablets, business can continue to move with efficiency and speed.

IT Cost Savings Perhaps no determinant is more important in realizing the benefits of cloud technologies versus traditional on premise software is in IT Cost Savings. Systems and applications which required large physical infrastructure and monetary investments can now provide inexpensive and scalable solutions through the Cloud and cloud infrastructure providers. A procurement solution that integrates with SAP is easier to access, less expensive, and takes a fraction of the implementation time companies once faced with traditional software solutions.

Cloud technology relieves the user of hidden costs such as hardware, consultants, infrastructure, maintenance, and costly upgrade cycles, providing lower risk and lower total cost of ownership.

Conclusion The cloud offers little upfront expense, automatic upgrades, and pre-integrated best practices which allow organizations to focus on business growth and improved operating margins. Vroozi’s eProcurement solution that takes SAP solutions to the cloud empower users with better returns, better processes and higher savings, so their overall SAP investment’s ROI is accelerated.

According to IDC, spending on Cloud computing is growing at 4.5 times the rate of IT spending since 2009 and is expected to continue growing at more than 6 times the rate of IT spending from 2015 through 2020. (via Forbes) This massive growth is easily understood when businesses understand the power and value of cloud solutions. With the Vroozi Platform, companies can take advantage of robust eProcurement technology delivered in the Cloud and integrated seamlessly with SAP.

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Brad Hill Director of Global Sales & Marketing Vroozi Brad Hill, Director of Global Sales & Marketing of Vroozi is a passionate leader and is responsible for expanding the Vroozi Product Suite, Brand Adoption, Partnership Network & ensuring our customers receive an unparalleled experience with Vroozi. Brad spent the last 20 years building Enterprise Sales and Product strategies with leading IT Services organizations. His entrepreneurial strategies have served a vast number of Fortune 500 industries and verticals. He is also an aspiring mechanic and frustrated golfer, two good reminders to keep his day job.

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Deep Singularity: Does the World Need a new AI-based Operating System to ignite the AI Winter?

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The future of humanity hinges on decoding the brain and technological singularity.

here has been tumultuous excitement in the Computer Science field surrounding the potential of applying machine learning algorithms to the commercial problems at enterprise scale over the last few decades. Solving complex conundrums and HPC at web scale will need a new enterprise-grade operating system and hardware data flow computing with ASIC or FPGA chips to minimize the data movements and maximize the shorter communication paths to reboot the fourth industrial revolution and execute more parallel instructions on a single semiconductor chip die.

The data lifecycle management of IoT requires unlimited number of threads to spawn on an operating system at the same time simultaneously with guaranteed QoS. All the IoT operating systems such as Android Things, Arm Mbed OS, Embedded Apple iOS and macOS, Google Brillo, Green Hills Integrity, Nucleus RTOS, RIOT OS, RTOS, Windows, WindRiver VxWorks, or Linux targeting Raspberry Pi or BeagleBoards, Intel Edison IoT Boards, and Arduino platforms can provide the performance based on the number of cores in the machine without unlimited threads.

However, regardless of an exponential increase in the hardware resources to deliver the multitasking capabilities and memory management, corporations have hit the wall on Moore’s Law plagued with communication delays requiring precision programming in C and C++ through Open MPI and heavy parallel

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programming which does not seem to be the norm for developing regular applications. Therefore an operating system with unlimited threads with a limited number of cores with new architectural design can scale parallel programming through machine learning and deep learning algorithms built into the operating system natively can take the industrial evolution to the next level.

A Giant Arm of Technology SAP has been the third largest software company in the world from 1970 with 335,000 customers in 190 countries with an estimated revenue of $30b in 2018. Deep Singularity LLC rated as the top 20 SAP solution providers for the last year ranked alongside Lenovo a $43.3b company in 2017 by CIO Review SAP Special Annual Edition.

The company was rated as the top 10 SAP and AI solution providers for 2018 by Mirror Review Special Annual Edition.

According to its CEO, Dr. Ganapathi Pulipaka, “To me, being part of the most innovative company comes with the ability to program advanced machine learning algorithms”. The company engages in advanced algorithms through Python, ABAP, and consume SAP technology stack for SAP IoT SIM management, SAP Cloud platform for IoT integration, SAP S/4 HANA, SAP HANA, SAP Leonardo IoT, detecting patterns from structured and unstructured big data, applying deep learning algorithms in Python, TensorFlow, R, ABAP, connectivity to Google’s BigQuery and Amazon Redshift.

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The design of human brain’s prefrontal cortex allows a human to perform two tasks at a time with the two hemispheres available for the task management. The human multitasking ability is limited to dual-task division labor based on the research results from the neuroscience researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

In today’s world, the operating systems cannot create countless threads to perform the operations between the software and the hardware beyond the capability of the machine RAM. Real-time visionary Dr. Ganapathi Pulipaka is the CEO, CDO, Chief Data Scientist, and SAP Technical Lead of DeepSingularity LLC, a premier SAP and artificial intelligence consulting firm.

He is also a PostDoc Research Scholar in Computer Science Engineering in Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Robotics, IoT, Artificial Intelligence as part of Doctor of Computer Science program from Colorado Technical University, CO with another PhD in Information Systems, Data Analytics, and Enterprise Resource Management, California University, Irvine, CA. GP - A childhood prodigy Dr. Ganapathi Pulipaka, the CEO “When I was 16 years old, I started writing programs in C, C++, VC++, and Java. At this stage, as a freelancer, I implemented a vast number of commercial projects for clients (significant customers include Air Force Academy and State Electricity Board in C and C++). Programming competitions take an entirely different approach from building enterprise grade software systems. Mathematics and programming correlate, while the former aims at solving an abstract problem, the latter requires a particular skill set and programming framework to develop design patterns in object-oriented programming and address the specific complex commercial conundrum.

I see programming patterns everywhere in day to day life. I just see it. My international career began in SAP working at energy company processing terabytes of data through ABAP programming. In the world of SAP scaling and deploying terabyte systems was an everyday phenomenon couple of decades ago, while for corporations without SAP enterprise systems, data at this scale is just unheard. My background is in Computer Science with a professional skillset has prepared me to always look for patterns in data and performing extractions to provide new meanings and insights through algorithms. I have been a technology leader in solution architecture and application development of SAP systems and application development management, basis, and consulting delivery services offering expertise in delivery execution and executive interaction.

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Ganapathi Pulipaka CEO During Ph.D. and PostDoc, I wrote around 400 research papers with a vast number of big data tool installations, SQL, NoSQL, practical machine learning project implementations, data analytics implementations, and statistics for publishing with the Universities as part of academic research programs. Many projects I implemented for Fortune 100 corporations run my code in their production systems successfully as of today on their terabyte enterprise systems in the industry space of Aerospace, manufacturing, IS-AFS (Apparel footwear solutions), IS-MEDIA (Media and Entertainment), ISUCCS (Customer care services), IS-AUTOMOTIVE (Automotive), IS-Utilities, retail, high-tech, life sciences, healthcare, chemical industry, banking, and service management.”

His book Big data Appliances for in-memory computing published in 2015 that trends currently as #1 on Amazon provides enterprise strategies for C-Suite executives surrounding big data, machine learning, and analytics at scale before they choose a tool or framework for implementation. The book also provides around 60 practical projects implemented by Fortune 100 corporations including Lockheed Martin.

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Herrington Technology: State-of-the-Art SAP Solutions errington Technology is a well-known and prestigious name in the SAP solutions industry. The company was established in 2009 and is currently headquartered in Manhattan, New York on Wall Street.

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90 companies. Herrington’s clients operate across a wide range of industries, too, and that diversity in business clientele aligns with the company’s overall approach to solution delivery for SAP and the other business channels.

It is a niche technology enterprise firm which provides advanced SAP solutions. Herrington Technology is a multi-channel firm with the capability to customize and tailor-made nature and size of its products vary by client.

Herrington Technology’s SAP Business Software Channel includes software, advisory, top implementation expertise, integration and extensions/components for best in class delivery. A core purpose at Herrington Technology is: to directly serve each client’s core business objectives, including growth of revenue and client base for ERP SAP systems deployments.

Herrington Technology is positioned as an established, value-driven solution provider with differentiated SAP capabilities including small and midsized SAP software like Business One and SAP Business by Design and SAP Hotel for Business One solutions and SAP Core Finance /Banking /Analytics and SAP IS Retail. Coupled with a core advanced SAP Technology advisory services, and S4 and SAP HANA platform capabilities for large enterprise, Herrington Technology bundles solutions, software and delivery into a scalable, distinct and unique competitive advantage for its clients.

The company’s customers include small, medium, and even large Fortune

Herrington Technology teams are focused on their core brand client centricity and customer base to attain results and drive value.

– Valery Herrington Founder

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The Backbone of Advanced SAP Solutions Herrington Technology operates in a competitive ERP industry with more agile capability and diversity in SAP ERP portfolio solutions and services than many other providers. The backbone of the success of the company’s SAP ERP channel is fueled at the core with the vast industry world’s top and expertise of its founder, Valery Herrington. Valery is a Manhattan based CXO and founder of the firm. She is a highly respected global technology business solutions leader. She not only inspires the team at Herrington Technology with real insight into the industry but also with her hands-on work ethic as the CEO. Her leadership is regarded within the industry to be at the forefront of advanced technology and SAP ERP

change and innovation which touches at the core of many businesses around the globe, and Valery herself is considered one the world’s top SAP technology experts. It was that extensive knowledge about the SAP industry and her cumulative career expertise that led her to start Herrington Technology in 2009.

Valery studied Economics, German and Computer Science in college. She then graduated with an Executive MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with a continued focus on technology for business finance and healthcare.

After forming this solid theoretical and active hands-on base through her education, Valery worked at many groundbreaking companies in Silicon Valley. She immersed herself in the technology and worked on the development of emerging products, databases, operating systems, performance tuning, security integrations and customizations with enterprise programming languages.

She achieved additional business credentials, graduating with an Executive MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with a continued focus on technology for business, finance and healthcare while building the business, working for clients and taking courses at Princeton University and Sanford University.

The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection The SAP Solutions industry is challenging; SAP solution providers have to leverage every opportunity and interaction with their clients count in order to make a difference.

Valery explains some of these ground realities elaborately, saying, “The industry churn rate is a big challenge today. There are a lot of “moving May 2018

parts” in terms of industry factors and movements that require exceptional expertise, determination and training to master.”

She believes that Herrington Technology has succeeded in staying ahead of the curve because it constantly innovates and introduces unique factors and features to provide its clients a competitive advantage.

Herrington Technology plans to continue on this trailblazing path to the next level but also intends to expand its services in an entirely new direction. As of 2018, the company’s expanding cyber security practice and R&D Lab are designed to address new requirements across industries and with active production grade, 24 x 7 enterprise class delivery for exemplary cyber security and endpoint device protection solutions that help their clients win.

Technology Solutions with a Purpose The defining characteristics of Herrington Technology are, firstly, the foundation of expertise upon which it is built and, secondly, the innovative nature of its SAP solutions.

Valery had very clearly envisioned things this even she was a SAP technology industry expert working her way through the lower levels of the field. Her vast experience in the industry led her naturally upon the path that culminated in the establishment of her enterprise as it exists today.

The company aims to take its SAP operations to the next level by helping clients transform their businesses with migrations, scalability, delivery in digital transformation and new brand label R&D solutions. The company has introduced the first brand label solution with selection of roll out to specific matching clients. This capability in business further extends and enhances a differentiated opportunity for clients and customers in the SAP and ERP space. The new brand label solutions at Herrington Technology are positioned be market enriching for core SAP services.

A Promising Future The technology field in general, and the SAP solution industry in particular, are a challenging area of operations for many reasons.

New innovations constantly arrive on the scene at breakneck speed and transform the very framework of operations. A perfect recent example of this development is the Internet of Things (IoT). Additionally, economic fluctuations that arise out of ever-changing scenarios in the external and internal environment also make it difficult to manage operations.

significant role in business Management, Herrington Technology corporate location on Wall Street in New York provides great opportunity for capitalizing on the best in a key global marketplace venue like New York.

Herrington Technology faces this challenge by placing the client at the center of attention, and concentrating its efforts on attaining quantifiable results that drive value upwards for clients’ brands.

The company recently moved to a new office in New York and added new solutions to its portfolio. Herrington Technology and its leadership continue to be optimistic about the direction in which both the company and the industry are heading, and will use that positive outlook and strong portfolio as the basis of their delivery, driving forward with their own brand client centricity model and a core commitment to quality and unparalleled competitive advantages for their clients.

Furthermore, the global dynamics of business are changing with the times. Since global market forces also play a May 2018

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Omnichannel Agent and Customer Engagement Solutions Simplify and personalize the customer experience, empower agents and achieve business success with one workspace for all channel interactions, application integrations, and CX reporting.

SAP In Perspective

HANA A Revolutionary Step towards enhancing Database Servers “

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nnovative database server occupied with a secure and encrypted technique – SAP HANA”. SAP HANA is an introductory technology used as a database server to store and retrieve data followed by its application. It has a functionality which provides advanced features to store data. SAP HANA is used as a definite database solution for quick and efficient data storage. Column-oriented and relational database management systems are used as operations for storage and encryption of data. It performs advanced analytics for appropriate results such as predictive analytics, text analytics, text search and streaming analytics. These analytical functionalities emphasize on its performance and justify its usability.

SAP HANA contains compatibility as same as the application based server.

SAP HANA – How it introduced

During development of SAP HANA, a number of technologies were proposed and acquired by SAP SE. SAP SE is a multinational corporation which makes industrial software to handle business management and customer relations.

The techniques it uses are TREX

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Search Engine which in-memory column-oriented search engine, MaxDB with its in-memory liveCache engine and P*TIME an in-memory OLTP Platform. SAP HANA was demonstrated in 2008 by SAP SE to examine its compatibility. Also, Stanford University has demonstrated this application to check real-time analysis and combination process.

Former SAP Executive, Vishal Sikka mentioned that before featuring, the name SAP HANA was relatively known as “New Database”. Previously the software was known as “SAP High-Performance Analytical Appliance”.

In the middle of 2011, SAP HANA gradually made business customers in the early days. It has proven its compatibility and reliability towards the system. Also in 2012, SAP had proposed aspects of cloud computing and also declared a platform which offers services known as SAP HANA Cloud Platform which is a variant of SAP HANA. In 2013, SAP announced HANA Enterprise Cloud service which

manages private cloud systems. A Business Suite version of HANA was also introduced, which enabled customers to use SAP Enterprise Resource Planning functions on HANA platform.

SAP Business Suite 4(S/4 HANA), the most popular operational database system was introduced in 2015, which comes with the in-memory computing platform. It comprises two operational systems such as Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Customer relationship management (CRM) into single HANA System.

S/4HANA was introduced for an easy business suite,

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switching past generation ERP systems. As the S/4 HANA runs on SAP HANA system, which customers are using on SAP Business Suite application hardware. The customer should go with SAP-certified HANA system for immigration and work on features offered by S/4 HANA. The architecture of SAP HANA The main difference between SAP HANA and earlier SAP system is that HANA includes a column-oriented system and in-memory database. SAP HANA includes Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) into a single system. In general SAP HANA is working on OLTP system to store data in database system instead of drives. HANA is a very cost effective data storage system as compared to general drive storage method.

Column-oriented system stores data in single column storage method and in the same location. It helps to improve the performance of OLTP systems to store database.

HANA is beneficial for recognizing queries and concluding solution.

Key Benefits of SAP HANA SAP HANA is beneficial for analysis of data and its compatibility. It is filled with advanced techniques that make database systems remarkable. SAP HANA gives a complete solution for database and makes it relevant for safe storage and usage. It reduces complexity which in turn enhances its performance and reliability. SAP HANA simplifies IT solutions and

May 2018

consistency of database and its analytical applications. It offers realtime business support which initializes live data support. It also reduces data redundancy and IT operations for better execution process. For operational usage, SAP HANA is a flexible database system which gives support and analytical outcomes. It also modernizes data center with flexible SAP HANA. With SAP HANA, companies have achieved better results with completion.

Companies have also accomplished best results in the form of ROI and profitability rate by using SAP HANA. Leading Capabilities of SAP HANA SAP HANA is now one of the important techniques for database storage system. This technology is evidently beneficial and also prominent for data management system. It has transformed database management system with perfection and consistency. It uses simplified operations for single enterprise database and also secure modern data platform. SAP HANA also provides an in-memory system to process data.

This technique is used as data virtualization, integration, and replication. Advanced leverage analytical technology has also been used for processing engines for business, with the help of text, spatial, series data and graph representation.

SAP HANA also introduced the development of next-generation applications which comprise of leveraging hybrid transactional and analytical processing capabilities.

HANA also gives easy data access to the system, with durability of data. It allows business to access data internally or externally, and it also ensures data quality and data consistency. At last, security is the main objective for any database storage. It secures data with robust identity and access management control which protect database system completely.

Deployment of SAP HANA SAP HANA has been deployed from major industries such as on-premise or in cloud computing. In a cloud system, data is stored as a quick and graceful usage of database storage. SAP HANA has deployed on-premise as a new application to run efficiently. HANA is also certified to run on multiple operating systems that support hardware platform.

Major cloud providers offering SAP HANA: a) Amazon Web Services b) Microsoft Azure c) Google Cloud Platform d) IBM Softlayer and Amazon Web Services is providing on-demand cloud computing platform for storage of database system for individuals and companies or government. This system is filled with web servers, database, and CRM. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform built by Microsoft for testing, deployment and managing applications. It supports many programming languages tools and frameworks. Google Cloud Platform is a suite developed by Google for cloud computing services along with its management tools. It provides set of applications for cloud storage such as data storage and data analysis. IBM Softlayer a dedicated cloud service which includes a dedicated server which manages hosting and cloud computing.

There have been many ways were SAP HANA has been used by many organizations to secure their database systems and enhance performance.

SAP HANA has unique techniques to improve database quality and management system. It helps organizations to manage its database with durability and consistency. After all, organizations are gaining value from solutions that leverage SAP HANA as their database tool.

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K5 Business: A Unique and Expert SAP Solution

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Today K5 Business focuses on making companies that run SAP, love SAP. We offer businesses a unique set of expertise in improving process efficiency, agility, reliability and transparency.

he business world is at a stage of technological evolution, and the biggest challenge for SAP customers is that they are not certain which direction to go. Large organizations typically resist change, and are often bogged down with old processes, politics and legacy systems. Companies are realising that keeping up with the times is essential to stay competitive in today’s digital world. The greatest challenge for consulting companies is helping customers make that mindshift and get the required buy-in from top executives.

K5 Business is an SAP consulting firm which focuses on assisting large enterprises to implement, run and expand their SAP systems in an effort to help them run better. It puts a lot of focus on “nurturing the experience” – something that is lacking in many businesses and service providers. K5 Business aims to support the world’s largest organisations and help them to not only enjoy their SAP experience, but to be more competitive in their respective markets because of it.

A Strategy that Builds Loyal Success K5 Business’s strategy is to focus on nurturing the experience, not only for

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customers, but for its staff, partners, and for suppliers as well. K5 leaderships adopt a unique approach in doing business. According to David Bann, Managing Director, “Business is all about people – it’s not just a numbers game, and it’s so important to always remember that.

If the people you serve feel appreciated and cared for, then they appreciate and care for you”. As the company grows, the leadership constantly looks at ways to ensure that it focuses on the people around itself, and that business never takes precedence over people. As it strides forward with this people-friendly philosophy, the loyalty towards it is strengthened. The company continues to attract the best talent, retains customers, and customers give great references that win new business.

An Expert Leadership Team K5 Business has a unique leadership structure, with three directors all working side-by-side, including David Bann, the Managing Director, Debra Dunford, the Sales Director, and Steve Dunford as a general Director. David started working as a software programmer and focused on helping organizations automate and streamline business processes. He still engages in May 2018

consulting from time-to-time, however, his main focus is on business strategy and execution plans. Debra and Steve both originate from consulting as SAP Financial consultants. Debra has extensive experience in consulting, project management and program management – with her passion for people and relationships, she has a knack for understanding what her clients need, and how to make them feel cared for. Steve is considered one of the best SAP Financial consultants, and continues to assist customers in achieving their financial system goals.

A Humble Beginning and A Bright Future David initially started K5 Business purely because there was too much work for him to handle - he needed to get other people involved to keep up with the demand. That quickly evolved into K5 offering all sorts of technical skills around SAP. A few years down the line, after meeting Debra and Steve, David became interested in expanding the business into the functional space, which is what lead them to joining together. David says, “It’s been quite a ride since then, having expanded rapidly.

Business growth always sounds very attractive, but it certainly comes with its challenges.” David believes that in business, it can be easy to make enemies quickly, especially when one is finding success. There have been times where the founders could have gotten into some serious disputes around trade-restraints, but their reasoning capabilities with competitors and partners in order to avoid burning bridges or closing doors have kept friendships alive, and that’s something that David is really proud of.

K5 was originally formed in 2006 with a focus on development, process automation and system administration. There were no SAP consulting firms in Kwa-Zulu Natal that had a full end-to-end service offering with regards to technical and functional services around SAP. In 2013, K5 merged with Dunford Services who focused on functional consulting, and the company formed the first consulting house in the region who offered services for all of the core SAP modules including Human Resources, Finance, Sales & Distribution, Material Management, Development, Administration and more.

David Bann Managing Director is positioned to help customers stay relevant in their respective markets. K5 has aggressive expansion plans, with the intention of up-scaling its support hub which will service customers around the world at highly competitive rates – all this while maintaining excellent communication, work ethic and quality of delivery.

Challenging the Changing Times Most people are, if not already, quickly becoming aware of the importance of technology in the future of business.

Business is about people, and people are used to consumer grade experiences that are fluid and intuitive.

People expect smarter solutions that can predict what they need when they need it. Organisations have to offer this to stay relevant – it’s no longer good enough to keep doing things the way companies used to – they must innovate and undergo a digital transformation. SAP provides a plethora of solutions that enables organisations to navigate this transformation in the best possible way – which is why K5 Business has chosen SAP’s technology to drive its own and unique vision.

With the journey of digital transformation, K5 has been investing a lot of time and money in making sure that it May 2018

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Layer Seven Security: A Cutting Edge Cyber Security Partner

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Layer Seven are pioneering cybersecurity monitoring using SAP Solution Manager.

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AP systems are in the cross hair of cyber attackers. The first signs of the wave of attacks targeting SAP systems appeared in 2013 with the discovery of a Trojan called Carberp that had been modified to search for SAP clients.

Carberp was capable of logging keystrokes and capturing screenshots which could lead to the theft of user credentials and other sensitive information related to SAP systems.

It was also capable of attacking SAP servers through instructions received from remote command and control servers.

A year after the discovery of Carperp, a forensic review of the devastating data breach suffered by US Investigation Services (USIS), the largest provider of background checks for the U.S Federal government, confirmed that the initial breach was mostly likely caused by a vulnerability in an SAP system connected to the organization’s internal systems. USIS

lost $3 billion in Government contracts, laid off 2500 employees and filed for bankruptcy as a direct result of the breach.

The security breach experienced by USIS was not an isolated incident.

According to a 2016 study performed by the Ponemon Institute, 65 percent of SAP customers suffered security breaches in their SAP systems over the prior 24 months. According to the study, the average cost of an SAP breach was $4.5M. 92 percent of organizations rated the impact of a breach within their SAP systems as serious or catastrophic.

Layer Seven Security enables organizations to secure businesscritical SAP systems against cyberattacks using a unique and innovative approach. The SAP Services Partner has developed a methodology using SAP Solution Manager that enables leading-edge SAP vulnerability management and threat detection capabilities without licensing and May 2018

installing complex and expensive new platforms. Layer Seven leverages the diagnostics and monitoring capabilities of SAP Solution Manager and pre-existing connections between Solution Manager and SAP systems to empower advanced cybersecurity technologies. This leads to lower development and maintenance costs and faster deployment times compared to the alternative approaches.

A Comprehensive Solution for SAP Systems Layer Seven Security has become an innovative force in the SAP cybersecurity industry, defending businesscritical SAP systems from external and internal threats.

The success story began in 2010 with the founding of the company by CEO, Aman Dhillon. Aman is a seasoned SAP security architect and one of the world’s leading experts in SAP cybersecurity. He combines a wealth of experience in SAP security with a deep expertise in system monitoring using SAP Solution Manager. The rare combination of these skillsets is the hallmark of Layer Seven Security. Specialists in SAP security work alongside functional experts in Solution Manager to deliver distinctive solutions that reach beyond conventional security solutions.

Raising the Bar for SAP Cybersecurity Solutions Layer Seven is currently finalizing the development of a ground-breaking Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution for SAP systems. The solution is expected to be launched on May 25 and will combine native logging functions in SAP systems with the monitoring capabilities of SAP Solution Manager to enable customers to automatically detect breaches of sensitive data in SAP systems. This includes personally identifiable information protected by the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR will come into effect on May 25 and carries steep fines for breaches of personal data.

Aman Dhillon Founder & CEO experienced extraordinary levels of year-on-year growth and benefits from a prestigious client base that includes many of the world’s leading companies across all industries. Layer Seven’s success is especially remarkable given that the organization is organically funded from the success of its platform, and is on a fast growth trajectory. The organization is wholly-owned by Aman Dhillon and is innovation driven by the cyber security needs of its customers.

Layer Seven Security has become the world leader, and dominant solution provider in the SAP cybersecurity market, by empowering Solution Manager. The prospect of implementing industry-leading cybersecurity protection by leveraging and “sweating the existing infrastructure” resonates with both technical, and financial executives alike, and is proving compelling for many SAP customers. Layer Seven Security has May 2018

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VistaVu Solutions: Implementing Leading SAP Innovation in North America

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istaVu Solutions is one of the leading SAP ERP Cloud providers in North America.

The company has made rapid progress in the industry thanks to its fast moving and fast thinking led latest technologies. The company has been at the forefront of innovation and consequent recognition with prestigious awards like Profit 500, Inc 5000, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

We provide innovative business management solutions that help our customers RUN GREAT.

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VistaVu leverages the experience of its people, and the results of its successfully proven processes to bring industry-driven, user-focused and mature business management solutions to mid-market companies across North America, helping companies in this space achieve maximum productivity and efficiency.

A Visionary Reality Since starting his first business in 1996, Jory Lamb, the CEO of VistaVu has helped organizations of all sizes and multiple industries become more operationally efficient in their business practices. In 2003, he began VistaVu Solutions with a specific purpose of helping industrial field service companies find that operational efficiency by leveraging technology.

After 10 years of helping clients capture the data, in 2013, he started the Business Intelligence group at VistaVu to help customers get the insights they were looking for to support managerial effectiveness. Today, it has grown to become one of the primary North

American SAP partners of Industrial Field Service companies.

Through his career, he has successfully started and sold several technologybased businesses. As a huge fan of the entrepreneurial spirit, Lamb started the Calgary Accelerator program for EO, served on the EO Accelerator global board, acted as a judge for the Global Student Entrepreneurship awards, mentored over 20 startups and delivered talks to hundreds of existing and would be entrepreneurs on managing growth. Most recently, he has been engaged by Innovate Calgary to assist a few start-ups with their go to market strategies.

Unique Solutions Driven by Technology Currently VistaVu focusses on 6 different industries. These are Industrial Field Services, Industrial Machinery & Components, Life Sciences, Aerospace & Defense, Food & Beverage and High Tech. As each of their industry is unique in its operations and requirements, VistaVu has accumulated valuable experience while working for various clients. By enabling disparate systems and implementing solutions that propel the rigor for growth; VistaVu places processes and systems that scale, finding ways to use the system to the advantage of clients. Throughout this journey, the company has enabled clients with technology beyond record keeping that allow new ways for their customers’ business to run.

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With Vertical solutions – you can’t write IP and create an “Inch wide and a mile deep” gap. Giants in the industry often rely on one-size- fits all vertical solutions despite their imperfections. VistaVu brings its unique approach to the problem by understanding the needs of its customers and developing solutions which tie systems into ERP in a natural manner. Additionally, the company leverages the true capabilities of its offerings for clients with add-ons.

The Rising Pinnacle of SAP Solution VistaVu, in the beginning was a programming shop that decided to provide its own mission critical solution with SAPs ERP (digital core). All aspects of the daily operation were managed through one single fully integrated solution -- that’s VistaVu’s driver. The company has not looked back since.

Today, it aims to double its employee strength in size in the next 24 to 36 months. In the long-term, its goal is to reach 25,000 mid-market users who are delighted with the offerings. At VistaVu, solutions are being designed and upgraded for companies that are customizable to their needs to help them operate at their maximum efficiency. Its success stories show how it adapts to their unique challenges. For more info, check out https://vistavusolutions.com/news/stories/ A Bright Future Shaped by a Long and Gruelling Journey In the short term, the company management sees booming US economy and the need for companies to remain flexible.

However, in the long-term it believes that the cost to do business will continue to rise and companies will need to adopt technology to stay competitive within their industries.

This is a huge boost for a company which had very modest beginnings. It began on the rural roads of Alberta Canada, in 1996, with a clear purpose to help small and mid-size companies find operational efficiency and managerial effectiveness using technology. “Those early days of working with the people of rural Alberta taught me a lot about what matters and what doesn’t to our customers.

More importantly, it taught me a lot about the kind of business leader I wanted to be and the type of people I wanted on the VistaVu team,” Lamb said.

Fast forward 21 years later, the company has grown to provide mission critical solutions to some of the largest global players in multiple industries (High Tech, Food & Beverage, Aerospace & Defense, Life Sciences, Industrial May 2018

Jory Lamb CEO Field Services and Industrial Machinery & Components).

During this period, it has never lost touch with its commitment to help the small business owner or the appreciation of the economic and social importance of the people in rural North America.

Over that same period, it has gathered a technically excellent team of kind people of which many have become owners of VistaVu. People who succeed at VistaVu, are the same type of people that people everywhere want to work with. They are resourceful, they are driven, they are intelligent, and they genuinely care about the success of its customers. The VistaVu team remains humble and continues to strive to be a long-term partner with their clients and bring outstanding value and service every day.

When they make a mistake, VistaVu people will be the first to stand up, own it and make it right. “Your success is our success” is the mantra VistaVu employees live by and it can be measured by customers stories that say their businesses is truly a force to reckon with, thanks to the company.

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Future Tech

Future of

Technology Through the Eyes of SAP Experts

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lock is ticking by and the time is moving away every moment. What is future today, will be passed soon. As days pass by, it becomes easier for the industry experts to guess about the future, but not every professional is a specialist. Technology is fast evolving, and the future is arriving at a rapid pace. But it becomes difficult sometimes to move with the flow, and only those strive in the race who run ahead of the flow and not behind. Like any other industry, SAP is advancing too with a lightning speed.

And to be in the race, the industry experts are making some suggestions about the changes taking place in the world of technology which one should be cautious about to prepare themselves for the battle to fight.

Everyone is aware that the future is coming, but they are not aware of how it is coming and how that change of wind can bring success or blow everything, respectively. With each of these noted changes, enterprises can plot their plan to make themselves ready for the coming digital future.

Future looks in the following way through the eyes of SAP futurists: Augmented reality and Immersive Technology is going to be the Change-Factor A few years back, no one knew about the concept of augmented reality and apparently, the market barely existed.

Industry results suggest that there was nothing on the

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enterprise side and the applications are beginning to get built now on. Companies might start to use the technology of augmented technology to walk the field of several service reps through the processes-repair or, in an IoT (Internet of Things). This technological shift is believed to trigger data transfer in real-time and reduced costs whether it is supplied inventories, in a case of planned or actual spending. Experts suggest that to stay in the race, enterprises must renovate their work by adding virtual or augmented reality into their existing apps or the new ones that they are planning to launch.

Blockchain Can Change the Scenario Entirely Foreseers have already said that blockchain possess an enormous potential and it can change the entire scenario.

Though it is known that blockchain will modify the industry, how it will alter is still unknown. SAP gurus have defined the ways in which the industry will see the advancements. It is expected that this technology will help enterprises to experience understand business process better and mission-critical systems. Tech-experts are viewing the influence of the blockchain through a full end-to-end business perspective and predicting that it is going to bring significant advances in the industry as improvement in the supply chain efficiency, process speed, transparency and facilitation in business networks and exchanges.

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Influence of Artificial Learning is going to Increase There has not been a day when the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has stopped to enter the veins of every industry slowly.

Since its inception in the 1950s, the technology is rapidly advancing and expanding its wings. The industry can presently see the influence in two different versions as machine learning and deep learning. Experts say that this is the year which is going to witness a genuine rise of AI. Machine Learning is helping enterprises in learning by statistics and self-learning with qualified data.

Specifically, in the case of SAP solution industry, tech-gurus are betting on the deep learning algorithms to hit business, and they believe that those algorithms will change the way how business works.

Robotics and the Emergence of Cyborgs Cyborgs are emerging, and the prominence in its usage is expanding. Industry will soon see that the world is turning into a land for testing as it is considered to be an ideal for machine learning and algorithms. Even experts are finding it difficult to predict the future as soon the day will come when the machines will bring in co-evolution with an extreme level of co-operation between human and machine. This collaboration has already been proved to be successful in the world of medicine, but the other industries are expected to experience the same very soon.

Automation is Going to Transform the Industry’s Economic Structure It is quite clear that automation is going to change the workflow and the complete structure of work with its advancements in technology and ease in the work that it offers. But the bigger picture is here, how the workforce is getting affected, and the digitalization of the economy is taking place. Automation will soon take over the employment industry and replace multiple jobs in the market. Every company is focused on managing a contingent workforce and enable better training during the hiring process. With the application of automation into its workforce, the entrepreneurs are expected to get relief from certain problems and experience more economically stable condition.

The world says that the people are aware that the wind is coming yet they are taking no steps to prevent it. They realize how the technological transformation is taking place, but they are doing nothing to address that, which is considered to be a major problem. But the experts apparently say that the main point is not how these futuristic technologies are helping businesses satisfy customers or enhancing market or economy, the way how they work together and bring value to the business is what matters the most.

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