Intelligent Enterprise has no future. No amount of artificial intelligence (AI) can save the SAP concept.
I am a computer scientist. I studied at Vienna University of Technology. So the statement “ERP is dead” needs to be seen from an IT perspective. Enterprise Resource Planning, the holistic management of operating resources, can only be one aspect of the bigger picture, digital transformation. Abandoning concepts for a business warehouse, predictive analytics, machine learning, blockchain, or IoT would be foolish. On-prem, virtualization and cloud operating models already have and will continue to have their place. But customers need an enterprise operating system that responds in real time – an enterprise RTOS.
Former SAP chief technology officer Vishal Sikka shared this belief. He recognized the need to respond in real time. In a 24/7 world, there is little time for evaluation. The first step in that direction in SAP is the Hana database platform. This allows in -depth and comprehensive analysis to be completed in a fraction of the time compared to traditional databases.
SAP executives, according to Vishal Sikka, did not understand the real-time concept of Hana. Instead of building on Hana’s database platform to replace the old ERP and make Hana a real-time operating system for the enterprise, SAP is struggling with cloud computing. But the idea of an enterprise operating system is not dead. Former SAP partner Celonis is currently trying to build this operating system platform for digital innovation through a partnership with IBM and ServiceNow. The important real -time component is still missing, though – an opportunity for SAP: Hana has become an enterprise RTOS!
A colorful user interface is nice to have. Cheap cloud storage is beneficial. Evaluating and repairing business processes can save resources. But we can only survive if we can find real-time verified answers to the problems we face. Computer scientists speak real-time when an answer to a problem is available at the exact moment when the answer is related to the solution. The enterprise real-time operating system provides answers at the time of greatest need, when solutions have become safety critical.
ERP, and in its very nature S/4, is dead. Those already running Hana and S/4 have done nothing wrong, as S/4 is a worthy successor to ERP/ECC 6.0. However, the transition to S/4 in the coming years under the given circumstances and challenges would be negligible. S/4 is a very good ERP system, but all ERP systems are no longer able to provide the necessary answers for digital transformation. Digital transformation requires an enterprise RTOS.
The enterprise operating system is the new ERP. It also makes it obsolete concepts like Intelligent Enterprise, because an enterprise operating system by definition is the platform for IoT, machine learning, analytics, sustainability, blockchain, finance and all other enterprise functions. The challenge is to continue to manage, in real time, our world’s vital resources and assets.