More than 200 attendees traveled to Chicago on October 23–25 for the fourteenth annual ASUG Experience for Enterprise Information Management. They came to learn from their colleagues, discover practical ways to apply their new-found knowledge, and prepare their businesses for the future of data.
In his welcome keynote, ASUG's CEO Geoff Scott noted, “I imagine that most of you are here today to learn how do your job better and how to address the challenges at your organizations.”
Scott presented insights that ASUG Research had gathered in a 2018 study from the enterprise information management (EIM) community and highlighted three things members are talking about:
- What’s affecting their current enterprise information management processes?
- What is SAP Data Hub all about?
- What happens to your data when you make the move to SAP S/4HANA?
Top Challenges for EIM Professionals
Thirty-one percent of survey participants identified connectivity as the biggest challenge. Scott asked, “How many of you today are operating in an environment where you have multiple ERP systems?” Most of the room acknowledged that was indeed the case.
Scott pulled additional insights from the ASUG Research study of the enterprise information management community, which identified that the benefits of master data alignment should be a focus for this community. Many of the breakout sessions, as well as a few of the keynote addresses explored this challenge.
Connect Your Data Landscape
One of the most talked about topics during the two-day conference revolved around SAP Data Hub and what it means for the EIM community. SAP Data Hub, now at version 2.3, is a data sharing, pipelining, and orchestration solution that helps companies accelerate and expand the flow of data across their diverse landscapes. In short, it’s designed to connect up your data silos and drive insights across them.
Attendees interested in learning more joined the SAP Data Hub Roundtable Discussion with David Quirk immediately after the day one keynote addresses. Although SAP introduced this product nearly a year ago, it still is mostly unknown among the EIM community—a fact that held true in this gathering at ASUG Experience. During the roundtable discussion, participants discussed their desire to find data insights across multiple platforms and how companies can bridge their data silos using the hub as a single data pipeline.
Watch Your Data Flow
During the day two keynote address, Lofan Leung, product manager for big data, EIM, and SAP Data Hub joined Prasanthi Thatavarthy, director of engineering, big data, on stage to provide an in-depth overview of SAP Data Hub.
Leung opened by saying, “By the end of this hour I hope you will all understand why we created SAP Data Hub, what the product can do, and how it will benefit you and make you more efficient by solving some of these big data challenges.”
Attendees saw first-hand how to work flow-based data pipelining during a live demonstration. The example Thatavarthy used showed the crowd how to track the life cycle of a dishwasher. Thatavarthy defined three steps of first collecting sensor and machine data from the dishwasher itself; then transforming, redefining, and mashing up information about the user’s behavior; and then finally analyzing the sensor and machine data to detect patterns. The result of this information would support product management with the data they need to decide on product quality improvements and which features to sunset.
Attendees walked away with a better understanding of how SAP Data Hub can filter data, visualize a data pipeline, and manage all data from a centralized point. Thatavarthy called this, “Centralized design and orchestration with distributed execution.” It seems to have been a big hit with one of the attendees who noted, “Looks like a promising tool.”
Move Your Data to SAP S/4HANA
As Scott mentioned in his keynote address, many in the EIM community are asking, “What happens to your data when you make the move to SAP S/4HANA?”
Of those who participated in ASUG’s research, most cited data migration and the ability to keep custom processes as the biggest concerns of moving to SAP S/4HANA.
Randy Connelly, VP of EIM governance for Data Migration Resources provided a good breakdown of the three types of migration scenarios (brownfield, greenfield, and hybrid) and then discussed how to bring in SAP Master Data Governance into each solution.
“There are a lot more opportunities with the hybrid approach,” Connelly said. “By leveraging SAP Master Data Governance and migrating either system by system, or company code by company code, or module by module, the migration becomes more manageable. It is worth keeping in mind, however, that this approach will take longer and could require the temporary setup of a parallel landscape.”
Speed Up Your SAP S/4HANA Migration
According to the ASUG Research study with the EIM community, more than half of companies are live on SAP S/4HANA or planning to transition. For those looking to make the transition, there are two major concerns: time and cost of the implementation.
Brian Regan, partner at Data Migration Resources, talked about “Accelerating a Greenfield Migration to SAP S/4HANA.” He highlighted the opportunity to choose either a “big bang” or phased deployment; being able to rationalize, re-imagine, and return to standard; and filter, harmonize, and cleanse your data.
Before you get started, he suggested that you should answer four questions:
- Are you currently operating on SAP? If no, then greenfield is your only option.
- What’s the size of your SAP instance? If it’s huge, then greenfield is right for you. If it’s not so big, then brownfield might be a better choice.
- What year did you implement your current SAP ERP? If it’s been a while, go with greenfield. If it’s recently, brownfield may be a better choice.
- How much customization do you have? If it’s a lot, go with greenfield. If it’s not a lot, go with brownfield.
How Machine Learning Makes an Enterprise Intelligent
According to the EIM community, 40 percent of survey participants said they have not yet, but plan to incorporate emerging technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence into their business operations.
Several sessions at the conference addressed exactly how to do this, including a how-to from SAP data scientist Puntis Palazzolo. She walked through demos using machine learning to improve your data quality by filling in missing data elements, featuring a customer example of a local appliance retailer looking to sync its data with what comes in from its hundreds of suppliers. After defining what it means to have quality data that’s valid, accurate, complete, consistent, available, and relevant, Palazzolo shared scenarios using machine learning workflows within SAP Data Hub to fix common data defects.
Other presenters echoed the value of using artificial intelligence and machine learning to manage the ever-growing data sets across enterprises. Marc Hoffman from Camelot ITLab demonstrated a conversational user interface named Chris that allows you to run your master data management operations with voice commands. The chatbot, which is driven by IBM’s Watson technology, went so far as to tell an appropriately techy joke, but shut down when Hoffman asked it to predict the year the Chicago Bears will win the Super Bowl.
Future Path for EIM Within Businesses
Businesses are transforming at an accelerated pace, and data is the asset that drives outcomes. Attendees agreed that data is king, and they were eager to learn all the ways they can get the most from it. The overall sentiment was that there is a lot of opportunity for enterprise data and information to grow and improve.
“I learned a lot about the SAP S/4HANA migration, how we get there, and how to leverage some of the tools we have already,” attendee Emily Kunschke said. “It’s definitely something we’re interested in. Being able to bring that message back to our organization is very important.”
More than just learning, attendees were looking to network, too. ASUG CEO Geoff Scott pointed out in his keynote that the power of the SAP community comes from its people. “I’ve made a few connections with others who are going through the same thing we’re going through. I look forward to sharing best practices and learning from each other,” attendee John Hnatishion said.
You can read more about this event and the enterprise information management community in this blog post. And you can stay connected with the enterprise information management (EIM) community all year long by joining an ASUG Special Interest Group focused on this area.