SAP says developers must meet the challenge of business network transformation
1 min read
Business networks will increasingly become the main differentiator for manufacturers – and that means their IT architectures and the applications they run will be even more key.
That’s an assertion made by Peter Zencke, who sits on SAP’s Executive Board, and Vishal Sikka, SAP chief technology officer – speaking at the 11th annual SAP TechEd ’07 conference, currently running in Las Vegas.
Sikka challenged developers to play more of a role in their companies’ business network transformation by harnessing recent advances in the SAP technology platform.
And Zencke spoke of SAP’s accelerated innovation, with its business process platform, first delivered in SAP’s ERP solution and now expanded to service-enable all applications across SAP Business Suite.
It’s about maximising competitive advantage through faster innovation and productivity. Both spoke of the opportunity for manufacturers to “leverage the power of co-innovation for competitive advantage,” through an optimised network connecting employees, suppliers, customers, partners and distributors.
“In order to truly support a business’s ability to differentiate among competitors, an IT infrastructure must offer both a solid foundation and a flexible enterprise SOA environment that allows for the development of new applications,” said Zencke.
“That foundation is SAP’s business process platform, which is here today. Developers, customers and partners have been asking for a technology infrastructure and an application platform combined in one that lets them easily create composite applications to differentiate their companies in the market.
“At the same time, SAP has outlined a road map to allow for a continuous and accelerated stream of innovation, whether that innovation is delivered by SAP in its applications, co-innovated with partners or created by companies by their development organizations. SAP TechEd is the physical manifestation of the global SAP ecosystem, and we applaud the individual and community contributions that have unleashed a new wave of IT and business innovation around the world.”
“Today’s IT professionals have to overcome the classic tradeoffs between flexibility, optimization and integrity to create real innovation and business value,” said Sikka.
“Simple technology alone won’t get this done – although a solid, open platform is the primary requirement. Today’s developers must have the skills and ability to demonstrate the value of enterprise SOA investments and be able to rapidly close the gap between IT and business requirements.”
