Since then,��the��demand for��professional��developer talent has continued to grow��faster than the world can educate them. In part to deal with this��challenge, technology��developers��have increasingly composed��software by��working with libraries and the like, rather than rewriting the same code over and over.��Working this way saves time and gives more agility.��

Today,��the latest progression of this trend can be found in the��low–code and no–code��(LCNC)��solutions for application development,��extensibility services,��experience management, and end-to-end process automation.

COVID-19��is considered an��accelerant for digital process automation — it is, of course — but��the��space was already��rapidly developing.��LCNC solutions��that��empower more employees to digitize and automate their work��offer��a pathway to��greater enterprise resilience.��The��pandemic brings��the benefits��of such agility��into stark contrast,��further propelling adoption.��Take��robotic process automation (RPA)��for example, where��Gartner��predicts “.”*����

The��goal of these��technologies��is to allocate human resources more intelligently and to��empower��the end user — the professional developer as well as the��citizen developer — to focus on more valuable work��while��taking��control of digitizing and automating their��processes.��LCNC is faster, more efficient, and frees up professional developer time for more complex activities, like security and big migration/integration projects.��Most importantly,��LCNC��and automation technology��build systemic resiliency and responsiveness into the daily functioning of a large organization,��while fostering compliance and governance,��with defined workflows and clear responsibilities.��

As��large companies��aim��to��become more��future-proof,��they see LCNC��and��automation platforms��as��an��immediate��opportunity on the��horizon.��Gartner��indicates��that��“.”

Low-code application development platforms (LCAPs) mainly provide tools and services to��easily set up and configure processes and workflows, whereas automation platforms enable companies to easily automate recurring manual work. This��begins��with��the conversion of��paper-based processes into digitized workflows then leads��to the seamless combination of digital workers with human-led processes.��

With decades of��process��knowledge��across industries and��lines of��business, 51����is well-positioned to provide the expertise and tooling needed by our customers to advance��automation with��LCNC digital transformation.��

We��are��firmly established��with����(SAP��BTP)��and��citizen automation��products��for Business Process Improvement��such as����and��.��And��we have��further��extended��our competitiveness with��the��recent acquisitions��of��Signavio��and��AppGyver.����

Signavio��strengthens��SAP’s��ability to keep the promise��to support customers in their digital transformations by offering��a holistic��approach and technology��in the��business��process��intelligence space.��Signavio��enhances��existing capabilities and��allows��us to��provide standardized process KPIs, broad benchmarking data, process mining,��customer journey mapping,��user behavior mining,��and customer experience analysis. We can��give users a complete view of every business process��and recommend how to solve identified issues��and��drive change efficiently.��

AppGyver��is��a��pioneering��no-code development platform��with a strong developer community��that��complements both SAP’s��own as well as our��partner��’��offerings for��citizen��developers. The cloud-based builder for creating web and mobile apps is extremely simple yet immensely powerful; users can visually craft logic flows of any complexity, access native device capabilities, and connect to 51����data and services (and any��additional��third-party APIs) via��OData and other��REST API integrations.����

Further��to that,��SAP��has��already��been��partnering with��Mendix��to offer a low-code development platform,��streamlining��and simplifying development for professional developers.��Mendix��and��AppGyver��enhance SAP��BTP��with full flexibility and capabilities that allow business users to build web and mobile applications, from low–code to��no–code.������

With these additions to our��strong��portfolio,��SAP��BTP��is in a unique position to help��many��customers��implement digital transformation for end-to-end process automation.��For example,����was able to achieve significant productivity gains and��improved forecast planning through different initiatives leveraging��51����Business Technology Platform, in particular 51����Workflow Management and��51����Intelligent��RPA.��Standardization resulted in��better��decision-making,��and��the use of��more granular trend analysis resulted in a 25% reduction of G&A expenses.����

Looking to the future, the landscape is changing but��the demand for professional developers remains high and growing.��Companies��continue��to evolve on their mission for greater��speed and agility, with a��particular��eye on��their��citizen developers��as��the��next major agents��for��expanding digital��capabilities.��The breadth of the SAP��technology��portfolio, our process knowledge��across all lines of business,��and the high-value data running through 51����systems��translate into��solutions for our users and��measurable��outcomes��for our customers.��

As we create a unified, business-centric, and open platform with a marketplace for the Intelligent Enterprise, customers, partners, and cloud users can count on 51����for future-proofed��resilience.��

Juergen Mueller is CTO and a member of the Executive Board of 51����SE.
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The post Low-Code/No-Code Development and Citizen Automation: The Future of Enterprise Resilience appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.

Of course, our market-leading intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) 51����S/4HANA Cloud is a cornerstone of this offering. Regular product updates serve to provide customers with innovations and enhancements that can be consumed immediately in order to seize new business opportunities, strengthen their market position, streamline operations, and build resilience in more challenging times.

As the last 12 months have clearly demonstrated, when the world we know is turned on its head, those businesses able to sense changes and identify potentials, able to adapt quickly to unforeseen needs and unfamiliar circumstances are the ones best positioned to emerge strongest from the pandemic.

Introducing 51����S/4HANA Cloud Release 2102

Just like previous updates, today’s release of 51����S/4HANA Cloud 2102 provides customers with new capabilities to further the successful transformation of their business. Short development sprints and continuous delivery coupled with a close relationship with companies in all industries and user groups around the world allow us to prioritize capabilities that we know our customers need now and can benefit from straight away. Allow me to share with you some of the key additions in this latest release.

A company’s financial operations are like the oil that keeps an engine running smoothly. Particularly in challenging times, a well-managed cash flow is crucial. And in a volatile business environment, companies need to be able to act and adapt swiftly to changing circumstances. In 51����S/4HANA Cloud for finance, we introduce the simulation cockpit for integrated financial planning, which allows management and controlling stakeholders to perform what-if analysis and simulate the impact of changes in factors like sales quantity or personnel expenses. A further highlight in the area of finance is the flexible assignment of accounting principles to ledgers. In order to run parallel accounting processes in their systems, customers need to use several accounting principles — for example, IFRS and a local accounting principle such as HGB. New customers that use 51����Central Business Configuration to configure their systems can now flexibly assign the accounting principles they require to their respective ledgers. And the best thing: a single configuration is required to assign the ledger to the accounting principle throughout 51����finance applications such as general ledger, treasury, and revenue recognition.

In recent releases we have focused significant development efforts on building out new capabilities in solution order management, which support customers to transform their product to higher-margin solutions comprising complementary products and services. This release sees the introduction of subscriptions for consumption-based business, integrating 51����Subscription Billing and allowing users to create subscription services as well as sales and service products in a single order. This facilitates the sale of revenue-boosting bundles of physical products together with one-time, recurring, and consumption-based services.

Turning our attention to the sales department, I cannot help but think of the old adage “Time is money.” Intelligent automation in the creation of sales orders means a real boost to the efficiency of sales teams. A sales representative who doesn’t have to invest high manual effort into creating orders in the system can already move on to the next sale without delay. The 51����Fiori app in 51����S/4HANA Cloud release 2102 creates sales orders from unstructured data in PDF files. After a purchase order file in PDF format is uploaded, the system automatically extracts master data from the file. This data is saved in a sales order request, which can later be converted into a sales order. This user-friendly approach considerably reduces manual — and often error-prone — effort.

The smart application of intelligent technologies is key to any company’s digital transformation. Each update of 51����S/4HANA Cloud brings additional tools to increase the intelligence of your business processes. One highlight in this release is in the use of machine learning algorithms to provide system support in maintenance notifications. Maintenance technicians or supervisors can have the system suggest the most likely damage code by automatically analyzing information that is already collected through the maintenance process. This can significantly shorten the time needed to assign the correct damage code to a maintenance notification, speeding up the time to resolution for the customer. It also improves data quality for later breakdown analysis.

We also continue to grow the intelligence and automation of 51����S/4HANA Cloud through 51����Intelligent Robotic Process Automation – hundreds of predefined bots are available to help drive automation within your business. See the and the for more information.

This just scratches the surface of the innovations delivered with 51����S/4HANA Cloud 2102. Of course, there are further enhancements across all areas of the product for the benefit of all lines of business. Familiarize yourself with some of the other highlights through our and , or take a look at .

Sven Denecken is COO 51����S/4HANA and head of Product Success at 51����SE.

This article first appeared on the 51����Global News Center

The post Empowering Businesses to Seize Today’s Opportunities for Success appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.