Power Platform | SAP BTP and Power Platform?

So last week (November 15th, 16th), SAP hosted their 2022 TechEd event and introduced their SAP Build as part of Business Technology Platform, according to them a low-code solution that helps accelerate development and automation. So has SAP finally entered the low-code market and finished their acquisition work with AppGyver and Signavio?

According to Juergen Mueller (Chief Technology Officer) within the Keynote where they´ve been introducing SAP Build to the community, the future of Enterprise Software is composable. They introduced over 1.000 workflow templates being available from the SAP Build store making it easier for business developers working together with SAP S/4HANA in the backend.

I loved how pro code, no code really comes together here… And now people of all skills can work together to solve problems faster.

SAP TechEd 2022, Juergen Mueller CTO

I think it´s a fair assessment SAP TechEd and especially the Build part of it was kind of a confirmation of the matured low-code / no-code motion that Microsoft´s Power Platform is part of for several years now. So you may ask, if this option by SAP is a competitive. I´ve been a builder for many years now, and I always extended my knowledge around trends and tools that makes my life a lot easier. So from a „builder´s“ standpoint: I do get another option in my toolbelt of course.
Juergen Mueller was also talking about Business and IT coming together, same as Business- and Pro developers like the ABAP community coming together, something I talked about in my previous article around Fusion Teams.

You can do anything as long as you put your mind to it

SAP TechEd 2022, Juergen Mueller CTO

Well in this mindset – what would be if the next generation developers consider to use an orchestrated platform based on SAP BTP and Microsoft´s Power Platform and combine strengths?

This certainly to allow for creating the next generation of intelligent, sustainable enterprises. Using Microsoft´s Cloud services starting from Azure for foundational identity, security and tenant management capabilities, continue using Microsoft 365 for collaboration, Microsoft Business Applications for additional data, LinkedIn for business relations or even stepping up with one of the Microsoft Industry Cloud solutions. End-to-end processes between Enterprise Resource Management, Customer Relationship Management, Human Capital Management solutions (systems of records) with products, such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office, or even a Power Platform driven Business Application (systems of actions).

But how to design this next generation collaborative applications, without taking into account one important part – the data foundation? Juergen Mueller also talked about this important part in terms of their integration layer. In the visual above, you see many cloud powered- or even on-prem data being available in your company already (lower left). End-to-end processes being analyzed with the capabilities of Process Advisor as part of Power Automate and based on recommendations being transformed into the next generation collaborative applications. AI being used not only to analyze data and get the gold nuggets out of it. Dataverse as part of Power Platform for instance being used to mash-up data from various sources using virtual tables and virtual connectors. Additional AI services for allowing an easier app- or process creation supporting a builder while creating and finally – using low code / no code tools such as Power Platform and SAP Build coming together and making it easy for any developers to increase software development and build compelling new apps or processes.

Over 1.000 workflow templates offered by SAP Build, over 800 additional connectors offered by Microsoft making it and easy task for Business- and IT developers creating these collaborative apps. Help increasing margins and reducing costs within your company´s digital transformation projects. What´s your take on this?

Until then,…