SAP Business Data Cloud

Score8.6 out of 10

87 Reviews and Ratings

What is SAP Business Data Cloud?

SAP Business Data Cloud is a fully managed SaaS solution that unifies and governs all SAP data and seamlessly connects with third-party data—giving line-of-business leaders context to make even more impactful decisions.

Categories & Use Cases

#1 most frequent

Manufacturing

29.7%

142 installations of 478

“We are in the process of replacing multiple SAP Business Warehouse platforms with a wide portfolio of enterprise business intelligence solutions and integrations with a modernized alternative in SAP BDC.”
— BI Architect, Chr Hansen (Enterprises)

#2 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

19.5%

93 installations of 478

“Merging SAP and NON SAP datasources”
— Vice President of Solution Lines, Analysis Prime (Mid-sized Companies)

#3 most frequent

Information

7.9%

38 installations of 478

“No Standard SAP connectors to integrate legacy non-SAP manufacturing systems”
— Senior Consultant, Bosch global software technologies (Enterprises)

Pros

Robust data integration with both SAP and non-SAP systems
Effective data modeling and creation of data products
Facilitates AI and Machine Learning initiatives

Cons

Complexity and lack of seamless integration with non-SAP systems
Complex, high-maintenance, or difficult-to-justify licensing and cost model
User experience and ease of use require improvement, especially for non-technical users

Venu Nandha Kumar

Product Owner in Information Technology at HAITS (1001-5000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Currently, we are using SAP BW4HANA as backend in our organizations. We have SAC as our frontend tool. Along with the we are using SAP Datasphere as well. But with AI is now in pipeline many business users are looking for solutions which can talk and provide answers in real time using AI, but SAP have clearly mentioned that, SAP Joule will come into action/can be used only when BW is moved to SAP Business Data Cloud, hence we have started with exploration of SAP Business Data Cloud to interact with SAP Joule (AI)

Pros

Supports AI (SAP Joule) & Machine Learnings
It integrates with SAC, to provide real time analytics
We can also do Planning and Analytics
Since it is on cloud, we can migrate our BW data into cloud

Cons

Though SAP Business Data Cloud supports non-SAP data, integration is still not user friendly
Since it combines multiple services together, Cost is based on usage of the tool
Could be better if there is automated BW to SAP Business Data Cloud migration tool along with ABAP logic conversion support

Return on Investment

Since SAP Business Data Cloud consolidates multiple tools into single platform - it reduces licensing, maintenance and infrastructure costs
Its helps Business in taking decisions fast with real-time reporting capabilities
SAP Business Data Cloud provides improved data quality and governance, which avoids reworks

Usability

Other Software Used

SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, SAP BW/4HANA, Microsoft Power BI

Harper Miller

Data Analyst in Information Technology at Agile Infoways (201-500 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Business Data Cloud makes it easy to monitor and manage data from different sources. It helps me locate insights across various attributes, such as product and customer. The SAP data is in one place, enabling quick user analytics and effective planning. I have been able to contextualize data from SAP and non-SAP sources.

Pros

Pooling SAP data under one place.
Provision of unified data analytics.

Cons

Dependency on SAP ecosystem slows down adoption.
Complexity and learning curve are quite challenging.

Return on Investment

Strong data governance and security features have enhanced positive ROI.
It has reduced data discrepancies and improved analytics.

Usability

Other Software Used

ClickUp, IBM Aspera on Cloud, Adobe Marketo Engage

Verified User

Consultant (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The main use case is around enterprise reporting, planning, and analytics. We use it to integrate data from different sources like Snowflake, S/4HANA, and SAC to harmonize data, create a common layer, and make data available for various reporting purposes. This helps business users see a consistent view of the KPIs.

Pros

One of the things SAP Business Data Cloud does particularly well is bringing data from different SAP systems into a more consistent and governed data environment.

Cons

Performance and resources management can be improved.
Troubleshooting for developers should be improved.

Return on Investment

One of the main benefits is having a more standardized data foundation for analytics. Instead of individual teams maintaining separate datasets and transformation logic.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure

Other Software Used

Microsoft Power BI

Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organisation uses SAP Business Data Cloud as a modern data warehousing and analytics platform. We were using the BW 7.5 on Oracle database. As SAP decommissioned the BWA feature in BW 7.5, we were facing performance issues. Moving to BW on Hana or BW4Hana looks short term solutions at that point. To overcome that, we were looking for the next options. Here, SAP Business Data Cloud suits better for our needs. The SAP tool for the SAP data would be a better and more reliable solution. SAP Business Data Cloud helps to transform the raw data to a semantically rich dataproduct. We are using replication flows for some premium outbound use cases as well. With this SAP Business Data Cloud suite, we were doing seamless planning for project cost. This reduces a lot of the data transfer process. Using the analytical model, we built multiple statistical dashboards. In addition to that we could able to achieve the realtime data replications which increases the accuracy and reduce the lag.

Pros

We have created the semantically rich dataproducts which are residing in the object store. We use the same dataproduct for the dashboarding and for the external non-SAP demand planning tool (maestro). This ensures data uniformity and a single source of truth.
We implemented the Capex planning model in SAP Business Data Cloud's SAC tool. Here, we could fetch the realtime data from the S4 source system and write back the planning data to the same source system via the SAP Datasphere using the seamless planning option.
An AI core model has been deployed in SAP Business Data Cloud for the service cloud V2 data. This trained model will identify the potential customers from the opportunities and automatically propose the quotation with higher accuracy.

Cons

There are no layer concepts or guidelines for the structured implementation. This leads to a lot of doubt where to use which object model and struggled to create an optimised dataflow.
There are no options in the application area to reuse the logics. If we want to manipulate the same logic between multiple source and target object means, we need to create multiple transformation flows. Future maintenance will be taken care of in multiple places to be in sync.
SAP is suggesting to keep the dataproducts in the object store space. To refine the dataproduct, we don't have extensive operation skills inside the object store. To add complex logics, we may need to flow the data to HANA space, perform those operations, and bring it back to the object store.

Return on Investment

It provides nearly realtime data. This ensures fast and accurate decisions by the user department. The planning models are accurate now. We could able to automate some planning functions as well. This reduces the manual efforts.
Single source of truth ensures the data uniformity. Due to this, the Demand planning team and the Sales and Operations department are looking at the data with zero deviations. This ensures the smooth operations in our manufacturing plants.
IT cost estimations are reduced after the required dataproducts are generated. Self service from the user department is increased. They should able to make the changes with the same time window of Business Requirement document creations. Catalogue features also an added advantage which significantly reduces the dependencies.

Usability

Other Software Used

SAP BW/4HANA, Azure Databricks, Maestro, IBM Planning Analytics

Verified User

Team Lead in Product Management (1001-5000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Initially we had lots of uncategorized data for which it was hard to understand the pattern and analyze. SAP Business Data Cloud takes all data and provides an useful pattern. This will also help us remove unnecessary data. When we received the analysis, we utilized it making our process better. Our best scope for use case is Order to Cash process.

Pros

Analytics - Provided detailed insight into my data and gives a useful pattern to make the process better.
Use of AI - It supports the workflows uses logic and makes the pipeline better.
Seamless Integration - Integrates with other data storages like Edna and allows transfer of data without creating extensive pipeline

Cons

Manual setup - while moving data, database connections must be set up in the target tenant before the flow to work.
It can provide scope to connect with GitHub
Filtering and sorting preferences can be saved to save time during each session.

Return on Investment

The Analytics and Insights provided was a great help from our earlier process. It saved our time more than half and provided better Insight.
It saves cost by requiring less migrations while connecting with Edna and other SAP Systems.
My team members are utilizing SAP Business Data Cloud effectively and overall performance is getting better for the team and for the project as delivery is faster now.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Collibra Platform

Other Software Used

SAP Cloud ERP (SAP S/4HANA Cloud), Manhattan Active Warehouse Management, Snowflake

SAP Business Data Cloud

What is SAP Business Data Cloud?

Categories & Use Cases

Most Frequent Users

Manufacturing

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

Information