SAP HANA, S/4HANA and SAP HANA Cloud: What’s Best for Business?

Finding the appropriate enterprise software package is essential in creating efficiency, scalability, and innovation.

SAP is an international company specialising in enterprise application software. Its products include several applications that can be adapted to suit various business requirements.

Of these, SAP HANA, S/4HANA, and SAP HANA Cloud are some of the most critical packages, as each has a clear purpose and is linked to the other in the SAP ecosystem.

Here, you’ll get a comprehensive comparison that you can use to choose an appropriate solution that best fits the objectives of your organization.

What is SAP HANA?

SAP HANA, or High-Performance Analytic Appliance, was introduced in 2010. Unlike conventional disk-based databases, data is stored in random access memory (RAM) in SAP HANA, which speeds up data retrieval and processing. The in-memory architecture enables hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP) by allowing parallel access to both transactional and analytical workloads.

Key Features of SAP HANA

• Real-Time Data Processing: This type handles a large volume of data at high velocity, making it suitable for real-time analytics.

• Columnar Storage: It optimizes data storage to be analyzed, improving performance.

• Integration with SAP Applications: Does the groundwork for applications such as S/4HANA.

• Advanced Analytics: Provide the option of predictive analytics, machine learning operations, and sophisticated calculations.

SAP HANA is not an application but a database platform that makes it vital for businesses to advance data management and analytics functions.

It can be installed on-premise or in a cloud (such as SAP HANA Cloud) and used for data warehousing, real-time reporting, or as a basis for custom applications.

Exploring S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) suite developed by SAP, launched in 2015.

They are developed solely on the SAP HANA database, which modernizes business processes by grouping various functions together in a single framework, such as finance, supply chain, procurement, and human resource functions.

In contrast to the former SAP ECC, S/4HANA implements the SAP HANA database to provide information in real-time and simplify businesses.

Key Features of S/4HANA

• Simple Data Model: Minimizes data redundancy and complexity, increasing processing and maintenance speed.

• Real-Time Analytics: Offers a present perspective to make quicker decisions.

• SAP Fiori User Interface: A touch-friendly, modern, and device-independent user interface is provided.

• Flexible Deployment: The deployment can be on-premise, public cloud, hybrid, or cloud-based.

S/4HANA is best suited to large businesses that want a fully integrated ERP system with real-time capability.

It covers industry-specific features such as manufacturing, retail, and healthcare functionality, and fully incorporates advanced capabilities such as AI and machine learning.

Decoding SAP HANA Cloud

SAP HANA Cloud is the SAP HANA in the cloud, which provides the same in-memory computing abilities plus the advantages of elasticity and cloud services.

It is one of the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) components, which contribute to the modern development of applications and data management in a cloud-native environment.

Key Features of SAP HANA Cloud

• Fully Managed Services: Reduced IT overhead as SAP performs hardware, operating system support, and backup responsibility.

• Scalability: Has variable scaling subject to pay-as-you-go pricing.

• Multi-Model Database: This database allows relational, JSON, and graph data models to satisfy various applications.

• SAP BTP integration: Allows the development and deployment of custom solutions and extensions.

SAP HANA Cloud can be used by companies that pursue a cloud-first approach, create cloud-native applications, or process IoT data.

It does not require any on-premise infrastructures, so it suits organizations that desire flexibility and less maintenance.

Conclusion

SAP HANA, S/4HANA, and SAP HANA Cloud have different value propositions depending on various business requirements. SAP HANA is a robust database, S/4HANA is an ERP solution, and HANA Cloud is a scalable, managed database on the cloud.

Assessing your business needs, IT capacity, and business outcomes (goals) will enable you to identify the solution that will help maximize efficiency and innovation. The transition to these solutions can be complicated, and given that SAP will end support for non-S/4HANA applications in 2030, time is running short.

Working with implementation experts can help complete the migration without issues and harness the most benefits. The correct solution could help your business to become more agile and informed by using real data to make decisions.