SAP and Google: Why the big expansion now?
At the AlwaysOn Sillicon Valley Innovation Summit on July 27th, SAP AG announced a collaboration with Google to assist customers in managing and viewing large data volumes.
The partnership was designed to allow people to interact with real-time information via Google Maps, through location-based intelligence capabilities.
This allows SAP users to make more informed business decisions and gives them an opportunity to analyse their operations within a geospatial context, to better understand global, regional and local trends.
SAP has pursued this collaboration as part of its focus on assisting businesses to navigate the complexity of 'big data', which refers to the expanding volume, variety and speed of access to information.
"Today, more and more information is being geo-tagged, and it is unlocking an entirely new dimension for enterprise data," claimed Sanjay Poonen, president of SA global solutions.
Mr Poonen explained that enterprise software provider SAP had chosen to work with Google as it offered "the world's most popular mapping platform," and engaged well with recent solutions, such as the popular SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software.
SAP and Google have collaborated in the past to allow customers to be able to plot data onto Google maps using this solution, as well as the SAP Streamwork and Crystal Reports interfaces. However, the most recent development has allowed improved integration through the use of private Google application programming interfaces (APIs).
"It's still a mash-up approach, but the private APIs will support tighter, industrial-strength integration with functionality not available from the public APIs," explained Jonathan Becher, SAP's executive vice president of marketing.
A more visual approach to data management has become a vital business aide, as the capabilities of online data mapping software improves to become more holistic in its approach while offering greater opportunities for user interaction.
Google and SAP will make the private API available later this year initially with the SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 version, while the SAP SalesOnDemand app will be integrated later towards the end of 2011. Below is a Demo of Google Maps and Business Analytics via the
SAPBusinessObjects YouTube channel:
The general aim of the new service is to make data mapping a mainstream option to businesses throughout the world.
This can be done more easily than ever before through mobile access, as the popularity of the smartphone and tablet devices continue to dominate international markets.
In the US alone, 91 million consumers access the internet through a mobile device at least monthly, according to a study by comScore.
Google maps is becoming an essential feature on these mobile devices, for consumers as well as businesses, due to its rapid expansion of locations across the globe, including a recent extension of transport network access.
Businesses can now analyse transport and logistics data to plan the movement of people and products across local, regional and global distances.
Public transport routes in large US cities like New York and Chicago have been available on Google Maps for some time, however this has now been extended to London networks. SAP users can now integrate 250 underground stations and 18,000 bus stops used by the city's one billion annual commuters into their data analytics and business management operations.
As ever I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. I'd also like to know what topics you would like to see me cover over the next three months.
Thanks,
Owain
