Elly Yates-Roberts |
In the new era of strategy-by-design, evolving architectures and composable solutions are not terms we associate with monolithic applications like SAP.
Each client conversation highlights a new reality in the post-Covid-19 world. The digital movement is here to stay, and clients need nimble, flexible and composable solutions. But with SAP, how does this happen?
The answer is simple – with more than one solution, and more than one vendor.
Our original thinking was “How do we build an offering that can embrace the largest set of the market segment in one uniform offering?” But we realised the vast differences between different segments from client conversations, taking us into runaway designs where one size will not fit all. We needed to break apart our offerings, modularise them and make them composable, much like the Lego blocks we grew up with. The same blocks can build a vehicle one moment and a space shuttle the next. Our services needed to be composable.
With the spinoff from IBM in 2021, Kyndryl was able to re-evaluate our approach to the SAP market.
Entering 2022, Kyndryl’s apps, data and artificial intelligence team was able to take our most successful and market-leading services, modularise them, and provide our clients with the ability to author composable solutions that meet their specific business needs. Now with the fire cooking, we add fuel with the vast investments of the hyperscaler of choice. The only question – which one creates the biggest flame?
The answer: Microsoft Azure. In our composable SAP evaluations, it became evident that clients would benefit in several ways from running on Azure. Azure Logic Apps would allow numerous integration points for Intermediate Document, BAPI, and RFC via the .NET connector from Azure. Sentinel would give clients a mix of security functionalities. Kyndryl could integrate our security and cyber resiliency offerings in a package for clients running on Azure. Clients would embrace platforms they have skillsets around, such as SQL, and have a mix of HANA configurations, all fundamental to a composable strategy that also requires tight integration.
By incorporating flexible and integrated Azure products, mixed with the composable services of Kyndryl, SAP clients can evolve their architecture for their application needs. Whether it be utility extensions today, cryptocurrency tomorrow, or data intelligence down the road, clients can build their composable enterprise resource planning strategy with Kyndryl.
To learn more about Kyndryl’s partnership with Microsoft, visit: https://bit.ly/3qSa4OK
Jamie Turner is apps, data and AI practice offering leader at Kyndryl
This article was originally published in the Spring 2022 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.