In the introductory article we explained what SAP Business Technology Platform is and its four main areas. In this article we go into detail about the specific capabilities of SAP BTP: what it actually does, what components it includes, and how companies can use it to innovate, integrate, and automate their SAP ecosystem.
The main components of SAP BTP in detail
SAP HANA Cloud: SAP’s in-memory database available as a managed service. It allows you to build high-performance analytic applications, query large volumes of data in real time, and manage structured and unstructured data in a single system. It is the foundation on which S/4HANA cloud applications and many extensions developed on BTP run.
SAP Integration Suite: the integration suite for connecting SAP and non-SAP systems, managing APIs, and implementing event-driven architectures. We explored this component in depth in the article on SAP Integration Suite.
SAP Build: the low-code/no-code development area of BTP. It includes SAP Build Apps (to create mobile and web applications without code), SAP Build Process Automation (to build workflows and automate processes) and SAP Build Work Zone (to create enterprise portals). Allows non-technical users to contribute to the development of digital solutions.
SAP AI Core and AI Launchpad: artificial intelligence services integrated into BTP. They enable AI model training on SAP data, deploy pre-built models, and integrate AI capabilities into business applications. Popular use cases include demand forecasting, automatic document classification, and anomaly detection in financial processes.
The clean core principle: why it is critical
SAP BTP is designed around the clean core principle: extensions and customizations to the SAP system are developed on the BTP platform, separately from the S/4HANA core. This allows the SAP core to be upgraded without rewriting customizations with each upgrade, reducing maintenance costs and increasing the agility of the system over time.
For companies with highly customized SAP ECC systems, the move to S/4HANA with SAP BTP represents an opportunity to restructure the application landscape in a more sustainable way: reducing accumulated technical debt and building future extensions so that they do not accumulate again.
How SAP BTP Integrates with S/4HANA
SAP BTP and SAP S/4HANA are designed to work together. Standard S/4HANA APIs (available on the SAP API Business Hub) allow BTP to access data and functions of the ERP system in a governed manner. Extensions developed on BTP can add functionality to the SAP system without changing its core, which remains upgradeable and supported by SAP.
This architecture allows companies to have the best of both worlds: a stable and supported ERP core, with the flexibility to extend and innovate on the BTP platform independently.
How to assess whether SAP BTP is right for your company
SAP BTP makes sense when the company needs to integrate SAP with external systems, extend S/4HANA functionality without changing its core, build custom applications that use SAP data, or automate processes involving multiple systems.
There is no point in adopting SAP BTP just to follow a technology trend: like any IT investment, it must meet concrete, measurable needs. The correct starting point is to understand what problems you want to solve and see if BTP is the right tool.
Want to understand how SAP BTP can be concretely applied to your business? Contact Technis Blu for a technical discussion with our SAP integration and innovation experts.
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