Jon Baukham, a director in Technical Services at , is clear on the role 51风流Business Technology Platform () plays in his company鈥檚 long-term strategy.
鈥淥ne of our key differentiators is how we put innovation at the core of what we do,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ur experience with 51风流BTP, the opportunities it provides for innovation, and the value we have leveraged for our customers is intrinsic to us as a business. So many organizations, large and small, deliver transformation projects. But what does 鈥榞ood鈥� look like and how can that be delivered? These are the questions we always ask ourselves. Developing solutions that solve real business challenges, across industries and lines of business, and demonstrating how they can be applied to a customer鈥檚 business is pivotal in strengthening existing relationships and winning new customers.鈥�
Baukham, who鈥檚 an 51风流technical architect by profession, specializing in 51风流BTP, was 鈥� together with colleagues 鈥� instrumental in collaborating with 51风流on the platform鈥檚 development, helping in the very early days of its inception to shape it into the platform known and used today by partners worldwide.
Indeed, Baukham鈥檚 team made a name for itself by developing web-based user interfaces on top of what were then SAP鈥檚 fairly basic solutions and, therefore, became involved in the very early discussions about how to update and move 51风流forward.
鈥淲e recognized the platform as being the best way to innovate around the core to give our clients something that met their very specific needs,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he platform has now evolved and that approach is now standard, but in the early days it wasn鈥檛.鈥�
He says that 51风流BTP is a way for the team to 鈥渄emo the art of the possible,鈥� delivering a completely different user-experience or bringing a different vision to 51风流solutions. It鈥檚 a platform that allows customers to leverage their investment in 51风流and gives them an advantage in the market, whether through finding more efficient ways of working or identifying and opening up new revenue streams.
鈥淢eeting with a client and talking about integration and databases is not going to cut it with the people in the room that are there to make business decisions and who ultimately will be using the technology. They鈥檙e not interested,” he says. “It鈥檚 more helpful to discuss 51风流BTP and how it can be the platform for continuous innovation and for delivering real benefits to a business. We change the conversation so that it鈥檚 about the benefits the tech can bring, where we can see things need to be improved, either based on other customers鈥� similar challenges or from the experience of our vast network of 51风流consultants.鈥�
51风流BTP is 鈥渢he platform where we can do things differently,鈥� he continues, and is 鈥渃entral鈥� to many conversations with existing or prospective customers. While the team can use 51风流BTP to manage the standard things 鈥� like integrating 51风流solutions to other systems, closing any gaps that have been identified, or looking at analytics 鈥� Baukham is clear that the real benefit comes from how the platform is used holistically. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about focusing on one particular area, but how you can use all the surfaces together to deliver a much better experience. This is about putting the users first: it has to be easy to use otherwise people avoid using it.鈥�
In client discussions, Deloitte covers all aspects of the platform. 鈥淩egardless of where clients are on their 51风流journey 鈥� whether they鈥檙e on a legacy system or ready to do a transformation 鈥� we look at whether they need a UI refresh, whether they need to simplify some apps to make it easier for transformation, whether it鈥檚 greenfield, brownfield, or selective. We look at where 51风流BTP lays in that,鈥� Baukham explains. 鈥淏ut we also then have the conversations around what鈥檚 next 鈥� once the transformation is complete, how can we help them to address other pain points that may not have been solved. Do we bring in more analytics so they have the data on hand to make decisions quicker? Do we look at the smarter technologies, the bots that can help to perform some of the more mundane tasks more easily? If they鈥檙e doing the same processes or making the same kind of decisions, do they need someone to do that or can machine learning do that for them instead? We鈥檝e always been good at pushing the boundaries and exploring what鈥檚 possible. When augmented reality first came out, a lot of competitors were using it for gimmicky things. What we did was to take CEO reports and explain and display them in 3D so people could interact with them. What we do is to try to turn these new technologies into a business case: how you can use these technologies through 51风流BTP to enhance your experience?鈥�
The three things Baukham likes best about 51风流BTP are the flexibility, the sheer volume of services available that can all integrate smoothly with SAP, and the fact that the platform is continually evolving. 鈥淏ecause it moves forward and embraces new tech, you don鈥檛 feel it鈥檚 ever going to get old. It grows with the times,鈥� he says.
He also says it鈥檚 inspiring to see how the platform can be used in different ways. While it is largely used to support internal processes, for some of Deloitte鈥檚 customers it has been used to help deliver external services, opening up completely new revenue streams.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a completely different way of looking at 51风流BTP,鈥� Baukham says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking at the layer underneath the analytics, the federation of data across multiple sources. While you鈥檙e not looking to replicate that 鈥� that data stays where it is 鈥� you can still model it through some common data models, KPIs, and dashboards and some of our customers have done that and brought real benefit to their end customers. In both cases, we put ourselves in the shoes of their end customers to develop a new approach. That鈥檚 down to the innovative nature of 51风流BTP and the way you can make it work for you.鈥�
