Since launching SAP Cloud ALM more than a year and a half ago, SAP has helped customers manage the implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
Now, SAP is introducing improved capabilities to simplify the implementation experience, add operations capabilities to manage cloud solutions, and support additional offerings like SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Customer Experience solutions, among others.
Tim Steuer, vice president of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) at SAP, reveals how he and his team have been helping improve the solution since launch.
Q: What are some of the updates you and your team have been working on since the launch of SAP Cloud ALM?
A: When we first launched, the initial scope was focused and strategic, simplifying the implementation experience for customers on their way to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. With 50 customers within our implementation portal at the time, we received great feedback from customers that did not use ALM tools from SAP in the past. This included a 12-week SAP S/4HANA Cloud project at a small company with only five employees in IT.
We’re now adding operations, expanding the full capabilities of SAP Cloud ALM to support other cloud products, including SAP SuccessFactors solutions, and integrating parts of SAP Cloud ALM to solutions including SAP Customer Experience, SAP Ariba, and SAP Concur solutions, among others. It’s exciting to get this opportunity to support so many more customers with their transformation projects and help them grow as organizations.
Additionally, we’ve added several capabilities to SAP Cloud ALM to enhance the initial implementation phase and assist with streamlining operations for customers looking to deploy and operate cloud solutions from SAP, including:
- Process management
- Task management
- Test management
- Release timelines
- Integration monitoring
- Exception monitoring
- Business process monitoring
- Event and alert management
How are these updates impactful for customers?
Customers t are going through cloud implementations are experiencing something totally different than an on-premise scenario. Instead of long cycles – let’s say with updates every four years – there are constant updates with the cloud. Customers need a tool to absorb and integrate the continuous innovation by cloud providers into existing business processes. SAP Cloud ALM is designed to do just that.
In a recent conversation, for example, Leonardo De Araujo, a partner from Beyond Technologies, told us that SAP Cloud ALM is a game-changer for them and the company recommends using the solution for implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The road map SAP provided convinced them, and they plan to adopt new features in the future.
Additionally, with SAP Cloud ALM, SAP helps ensure cloud operations, which enables customers to shift focus away from technical administration and monitoring and allows them to focus on more strategic things, like how cloud solutions work together or how to manage a seamless flow of data.
Our ambition is that ultimately customers won’t need a dedicated administrator for SAP Cloud ALM. That means all they’d need to do is onboard team members to collaborate on the platform and select the cloud solutions that are managed by SAP Cloud ALM – without technical knowledge.
What is the significance of these new capabilities?
By greatly expanding on the number of products that support SAP Cloud ALM, we’re broadening our customer base and helping more of our customers adopt to the changes that come with transitioning from on premise to the cloud. This is also a shift for us because we’re able to not only guide our customers with the adoption, but also move into the operations space and help ensure smooth day-to-day operations after implementation is complete. This means counseling our customers in a totally different way, like solving problems of integration between various cloud solutions, as well as finding out why certain business processes aren’t working.
Can you share any plans for SAP Cloud ALM and tell us how customers can learn more?
Expanding SAP Cloud ALM doesn’t stop this year. In fact, we’re hoping to add SAP Cloud ALM to all components of the Intelligent Enterprise, including SAP S/4HANA, by 2021. We plan to increase capabilities and expand the footprint to cover hybrid solutions.
All SAP Cloud customers will be able to leverage SAP Cloud ALM at no additional cost through the SAP ONE Support Launchpad. We’re thrilled about the opportunity to empower our cloud customers on their journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise.