SAP BTP and Automic Automation: Complementary Powers for End-to-End Orchestration

SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) is undeniably central to SAP's strategy and a powerful asset for S/4HANA customers who are looking to extend and integrate core capabilities.

With robust services like SAP Integration Suite, SAP Datasphere, and the SAP Build portfolio, BTP provides essential tools for developing extensions, managing APIs, handling data, and building specific integration flows—all crucial elements for maintaining a clean core.

A common question we hear from leaders who’ve invested in SAP is, "Given BTP's capabilities, why do we need an external orchestrator like Automic Automation?" It's a valid question, and the answer lies in understanding the complementary strengths of each platform, especially when tackling complex, end-to-end business processes that span today's hybrid landscapes.

Understanding BTP's strengths in integration

BTP excels in many areas critical for modern SAP environments:

• API-led integration: SAP Integration Suite is a powerful solution for exposing and consuming APIs, connecting SAP systems to cloud applications, and managing specific point-to-point or mediated integrations.
• Data integration and pipelines: SAP Datasphere offers capabilities for data warehousing, data integration, and building data-specific pipelines within the SAP data ecosystem.
• Application extensions: BTP is the strategic platform for building side-by-side extensions that keep the S/4HANA core clean.
• Low-code/no-code: SAP Build enables faster development of specific applications and task automation, empowering citizen developers.

These are vital functions, often serving as essential components within larger business processes.

The end-to-end orchestration challenge in hybrid environments

The true challenge—and where teams pursuing the clean core principle often encounter complexity—arises when critical business processes (like order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, or complex operational workflows) weave through multiple systems beyond the direct scope of SAP and BTP. These processes frequently interact with a wide range of elements:

• Core S/4HANA transactions.
• Steps within BTP services, such as an Integration Suite flow.
• Interactions with non-SAP SaaS platforms, such as Salesforce and Workday.
• Data processing on cloud hyperscalers (including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform), using services like Databricks or Snowflake.
• Connections to legacy systems or mainframes.
• File transfers on-premises, business partners and cloud.
• On-premises platforms like manufacturing execution systems (MES) or warehouse management systems (WMS).

Successful execution requires more than connecting individual dots; it demands true end-to-end orchestration. This includes managing dependencies, ensuring correct sequencing, handling errors gracefully across systems, providing unified visibility, and meeting business SLAs for the entire process chain.

Where Automic Automation complements BTP

This is where Automic Automation delivers significant value. Powered by AI, Automic functions as the overarching, central orchestrator for the complete, end-to-end business process across your entire hybrid landscape.

Automic is available as a customer-managed solution (for on-premises or cloud deployment) and as a SaaS offering (Automic SaaS), regardless of which one you choose, the features and functionalities are exactly the same. While BTP services effectively handle specific integration tasks, Automic delivers these complementary advantages:

1. Unified heterogeneous orchestration: Automic is designed from the ground up to provide a single point of control for managing workflows across virtually any platform—including SAP (both S/4HANA and legacy platforms), BTP services, hyperscalers, databases, mainframes, container platforms, custom applications, MFT solutions, and more.
2. Complex dependency management: Reliably manage intricate dependencies based on time, events (such as file arrivals and message queues like Kafka and MQ), and task status. Coordinate between steps running on vastly different platforms. For example, ensure a S/4HANA batch job and an Azure Data Factory pipeline both complete successfully before triggering a BTP Integration Suite flow.
3. Centralized operational visibility and control: Gain a "single pane of glass" to monitor, manage, troubleshoot, and report on the entire business process flow, regardless of where each step executes. This simplifies operations and allows consistent SLA management across SAP, BTP, and non-SAP components.
4. Sophisticated error handling and recovery: Implement robust, cross-system error handling, including beyond the scope of individual BTP components. Define complex logic for retries, rollbacks, or alternative paths involving multiple platforms.
5. Seamlessly bridging legacy and modern: Integrate heritage systems (often essential for core business operations) smoothly into modern, S/4HANA- and cloud-centric workflows orchestrated by Automic.
6. Enhanced with Automation Analytics & Intelligence (AAI): Leverage proactive, predictive SLA management and faster root cause analysis across the entire orchestrated workflow, including BTP steps.

Working together: Synergy not conflict - complement versus “either or”

The goal isn't BTP or Automic; it's BTP and Automic. To get a perspective of the potential, imagine the following scenarios:

• Automic orchestrates an order process: It triggers data validation via a BTP Integration Suite flow, waits for its successful completion, executes the order posting ABAP in S/4HANA, and then generates a shipment notification process in an external logistics system.
• An event on an SAP Event Mesh (managed via BTP) triggers an Automic workflow that retrieves related data from S/4HANA, processes it using a Databricks job, and updates records in Salesforce via another BTP API call orchestrated by Automic.

In these cases, Automic acts as the conductor, ensuring all the skilled musicians (including BTP services and S/4HANA functions) play their part at the right time and in harmony.

Protecting your clean core with smart orchestration

By leveraging Automic for your overarching, cross-system orchestration logic, you effectively maintain your clean core strategy. Complex integration logic stays out of S/4HANA. Plus, you avoid pushing overly complex, stateful, end-to-end process management solely onto BTP, allowing teams to focus on the specific integration strengths of BTP services. Automic manages the "glue" and the overall flow externally.

Conclusion

SAP BTP is a cornerstone of your SAP strategy, providing essential tools for integration and extension. However, achieving true business agility and maintaining a clean core in complex hybrid environments often requires looking beyond individual platform capabilities. Automic Automation complements BTP by providing the robust, end-to-end, cross-platform orchestration needed to manage intricate business processes cohesively. Together, Automic and BTP offer a powerful combination for mastering complexity and maximizing value from your SAP investments. Plus, Automic is available as a customer-managed and SaaS offering, so you can choose what’s best for your operational requirements.

Ready to explore how Automic Automation can complement your SAP BTP strategy?

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