Cloud Computing 101: Digital Twins

Digital Twins is a concept that has been around for decades, but has recently become a hot topic in the technology world. It is most popular in the Healthcare, Automotive and Manufacturing industry and the growth of IoT is one of the reasons that the digital twin concept is becoming a reality for some many businesses. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object or system – but it is much more than a high-tech lookalike. Digital twins use data, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to help companies optimize, innovate, and deliver new services.

At its simplest, a digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical product, process, or system. Digital twins act as a bridge between physical and digital worlds by using sensors to collect real-time data about a physical item. This data is then used to create a digital duplicate of the item, allowing it to be understood, analyzed, manipulated, or optimized. Other terms used to describe digital twin technology over the years have included virtual prototyping, hybrid twin technology, virtual twin, and digital asset management.

SAP and Digital Twins

The network of digital twins institutes a real-time single source of truth – everywhere. It creates real-time, secure communications and a collaborative environment within the business while encompassing relevant external networks. The network includes not only the digital representation of the physical product or asset, but also the commercialization aspects represented by the ERP business system of record.

According to SAP, Digital Twins must have the following characteristics:

• Identity – a digital twin represents a single, unique physical asset; though we would prefer a 1-to-1 cardinality between asset and twin, business outcome considerations may imply a 1-to-N cardinality, each describing a different dimension; the digital twin can be instantiated at the creation (e.g. engineering, production, configuration, installation) and lasts until the asset is retired (or beyond if historic data is required)
• Representation – capturing the essential physical manifestation of the real asset in a digital format, typically using formats such as CAD, MES, or engineering models with corresponding metadata and classifications; traceability between digital twin and physical object is ensured through serialization
• State and events – reflecting real asset state (e.g. condition, location, speed, environment) in (near) real time providing information on properties that describe various aspects that the digital twin is built for; the digital twin triggers alerts and events on behalf of the object; historic state is typically recorded
• Context – describing operating context such as physical installation, ownership, reference to financial or asset management information, roles and business partner involved, service level agreements, service work performed on the asset
• Interaction – all properties above must be securely and digitally queried in a software system by other systems (via APIs) or users 

Because it manages and controls extensive variability in product and asset configurations, the digital twin of one becomes the true single source of truth. It bonds the  unique digital design of every product or asset to its  physical representation throughout the lifecycle. Companies can then address product individualization; accelerate time to market; provide a mechanism for the delivery of new business models; and ensure effective, timely performance of asset maintenance and repair. Furthermore, the network of digital twins that monitors distributed assets enables collaboration with partners  when managing assets as a service or engages suppliers  when defining part and assembly requirements and enhancing change management.

The approach combines digital twins with manufacturing solutions from SAP, cloud networks  and SAP Leonardo capabilities, including machine learning, blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), to optimize the product lifecycle with:

• Digital representation: SAP synchronizes digital twin business data, product information, asset master data and IoT-connected data from both on-premise and cloud solutions enabling companies to represent the world digitally. Solutions including SAP Predictive Engineering Insights, SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service and the SAP 3D Visual Enterprise applications provide access to  rich data processing capabilities and live configuration, state, condition and control information.
• Business process: Rich enterprise-grade data processing capabilities allow customers to create, access and update digital twins to support business processes. SAP solutions provide an integrated data model from design, production and maintenance to service, including packaged integration to existing systems for computer-aided design, ERP, and product lifecycle management. Offerings providing end-to-end process support for manufacturers and operators include SAP S/4HANA, the SAP Engineering Control Center integration tool, SAP Hybris Service Cloud solutions, and  the SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence and  SAP Manufacturing Execution applications.
• Business networks: With leading network offerings such as SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Asset Intelligence Network, and the SAP Distributed Manufacturing application, SAP is uniquely positioned to provide a virtual platform for collaboration on products and assets. The network of digital twins enables secure data access, sharing and governance on a global scale.
• Networks of digital representation: SAP enables  twin-to-twin connections in systems within a specific  asset and on an asset-to-asset level. SAP solutions such  as SAP Asset Intelligence Network provide semantic and industry-standards support in an asset core modeling environment to enable live enrichment during the product or asset lifecycle.

View the blog post on www.approyo.com

Innovations and Intelligence in the new SAP S/4HANA 1809

SAP S/4HANA is an intelligent ERP solution that enables companies to capture every opportunity in today’s digital world, SAP S/4HANA removes common obstacles associated with legacy ERP applications, such as batch latency, complex landscapes, and manually-driven processes. The latest release, SAP S/4HANA 1809 provides new innovations in a number of key industries.

In the area of Procurement, we’re delivering s number of Machine Learning capabilities with SAP S/4HANA 1809, for example:

• Increased invoice automation and efficient invoice monitoring for exception handling
• Reduction of free-text items by automatically proposing the creation of a new catalog item
• Proposal of material group for free-text items in purchase requisitions
• Provision of options for materials without source of supply

Quotation Conversion Rates is an innovation in Sales and Distribution which truly delivers on the promise of an intelligent ERP. As an internal sales representative or a sales manager, you can use Quotation Conversion Rates to track to what extent your quotations are being converted into sales orders before expiring. By leveraging machine learning capabilities, you can gain predictive insights into quotation conversion by comparing actual and predicted results. The Quotation Conversion Probability (also known as Order Probability) is the probability that a quotation item will be converted into a sales order item. The probability, expressed as a percentage, and net value of the quotation is used in order to calculate a total expected order value.

In Manufacturing we’re introducing Demand-driven replenishment. With the demand-driven buffer level management, you can plan and manage supply chains much more efficiently. Providing decoupling points with strategic stock positions, manufacturers can avoid the so-called “Bull-Whip-Effect”, where the variations in demand increases as you move further up the supply chain from customer to supplier.

Moreover, in inventory management, we included intelligence by leveraging predictive analytics and machine learning for decision support.

Finance as well has quite a few intelligent innovations in store for you, for example predictive accounting. When a sales order is confirmed in the system, this is not recorded in accounting until goods have been delivered and the invoice has been sent. With the predictive accounting functionality, based on the sales order, a predictive goods issue and a predictive invoice is registered.

• Group reporting – The need to deliver accurate, up-to-date financial information continuously in a company’s consolidation process is not limited to the level of an individual entity. Therefore, SAP has introduced the SAP S/4HANA Finance for Group Reporting solution which provides direct access to the underlying transactions and detail across the entire enterprise so that a company can confidently and efficiently consolidate their financial and managerial results required in their closing cycles. It enables organizations to extend this evolution towards a continuous financial close on group level. It provides unprecedented transparency by delivering a complete flow of collection, processing, analysis and publication of the information.
• Embedded analytics – Most finance professionals will agree that it is often cumbersome to get interesting information out of their ERP system. Additional capabilities have been added to support business users in getting insights more flexibly and efficiently, so they can concentrate on acting on the information, rather than investing time in number crunching.
• Tax service – Global tax regulations get more diverse, complicated and change more often than ever before. Keeping up with the pace of change, typically in multiple systems, is a challenge. SAP’s response is a central tax determination engine with rules and rates maintained by SAP or its partners. With the SAP S/4HANA 1809 release, emphasis has been placed on enabling self-service tax management, facilitating an organizations chosen approach to reduce the risks and costs of inaccurate calculations and liability from non-compliance.

Start your path to the Intelligent Enterprise with Approyo
Approyo provides full SAP service technology with extensive capabilities in consulting, solutions architecture, hosting and managed services, in order to develop the right solution for our customers. Check out our new Whitepaper, What's new in SAP S/4HANA 1809 and get started today...

Approyo and CEO Chris Carter Featured in BizTimes Milwaukee

Approyo is proud to share that we have been featured in the BizTimes Milwaukee magazine and website. The article written by Molly Dill, focuses on our CEO Chris Carter and our recent growth in the SAP ecosystem and Southeast Wisconsin over the past few years. Below is the article:
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Approyo LLC founder Chris Carter learned a lot from the failure of his first SAP software company, CCI, in 2012.

After CCI lost a major contract, Carter had to put the Milwaukee-based business into bankruptcy and endure significant strain on his relationships with family and friends, some of whom had worked for the company.

“I learned several things. First of all, don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” Carter said. “Second thing I learned is I never want to go through that again… so I work 10 times harder, 20 times harder every day. The third thing I learned is you’ve got to always be selling.”

In 2013, Carter took those lessons and applied them to the formation of Approyo. And it seems to be working. Approyo recently moved from a 900-square-foot office in Muskego to a 7,800-square-foot space in Brookfield and was named to the 2018 Inc. 5000 list with three-year growth of 557 percent.

“Being named as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States is a great honor. I’m proud of my team,” he said.

Like CCI did, Approyo consults with companies on implementing and hosting enterprise resource planning software from German company SAP. ERP software is used to manage and automate business operations and customer relations.

But unlike CCI, Approyo has spread its client base among 27 companies in various industries across the globe, including French IT services giant Atos. It specializes in a specific type of SAP system called HANA, which is poised for growth as SAP has asked its customers to upgrade by 2025 or face maintenance fee increases.

“Companies like Briggs & Stratton, Miller Brewing Co., Boeing and others, they literally use (SAP HANA) to run their entire business,” Carter said.

In 2018, Approyo’s revenue topped $5 million, and its last three years have been profitable, Carter said. It had grown to 73 employees this year, but recently eliminated its workforce in India to focus on new hires in the U.S. Approyo now has 31 employees, 11 whom work out of the new Brookfield headquarters.

“I don’t take any profits out of the company; I put it straight back into the company to grow it,” Carter said.

His next growth initiative: finding two to three companies to acquire.
“You can’t just be a small player any longer. You need to think bigger, you need to think aggressive, you need to think forward and not just day-to-day,” Carter said.

Five years down the road, he plans to sell the bigger, better version of Approyo.

View the original article:
https://www.biztimes.com/2019/ideas/entrepreneurship/approyo-moves-to-much-larger-hq-earns-inc-5000-spot/

About BizTimes Media
In print, online and in person, BizTimes Media provides up-to-the-minute business news, thoughtful analysis and valuable strategic insights to southeastern Wisconsin business leaders.

Our award-winning print magazine, BizTimes Milwaukee, includes industry trend analysis, strategic advice and one-on-one interviews with Milwaukee’s top executives, achievers and up-and-comers.

BizTimes.com is the place to find the latest business news in southeastern Wisconsin. Convenient and timely daily and weekly e-newsletters are delivered to your inbox to ensure that you’re always up to date.

BizTimes events bring readers face-to-face with local, regional and national industry leaders. From our flagship BizExpo to our Nonprofit Excellence Awards, BizTimes presents and sponsors over 20 of the region’s most relevant and well-attended events each year.

Photo Credit: Jake Hill Photography

Create Business Opportunities with Machine Learning

Machine learning technology teaches computers how to perform tasks by learning from data – instead of being explicitly programmed. Machine learning uses sophisticated algorithms to “learn” from massive volumes of Big Data. The more data the algorithms can access, the more they can learn.

Benefits of Machine Learning:

• Faster decisions - Machine learning algorithms can prioritize and automate decision making. They can also flag opportunities and smart actions that should be taken immediately – so you can achieve the best results.
• Adaptability - Artificial intelligence doesn’t just look at historical data. It can process real-time inputs – so you can adjust on the fly. Think of cars that can automatically stop before rear-ending another vehicle.
• Algorithmic business - An “algorithmic business” uses advanced machine learning algorithms to achieve a high level of automation. Making the shift can pave the way for innovative new business models, products, and services.
• Deeper insights - Machine learning can analyze big, complex, and streaming data, and find insights – including predictive insights – that are beyond human capabilities. It can then trigger actions based on those insights.
• Efficiency - With smart, machine learning-supported business processes, you can dramatically improve efficiency. Plan and forecast accurately, automate tasks, reduce costs, and even eliminate human error.
• Better outcomes - From triggering smart actions based on new opportunities and risks, to accurately predicting the results of a decision before it is made – machine learning can help you drive better business outcomes

Empower Your Digital Core with Machine Learning Powered by SAP and Approyo

• SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service - Optimize the entire maintenance program with real-time insights into current and future asset conditions.
• Remittance Advice Extractor - Extract payment information from unstructured documents.
• SAP Cash Application - Next-generation intelligent invoice matching powered by machine learning.
• Predictive Analytics for Contract Consumption - Proactively renew contracts by predicting their expiration and consumption.
• Predictive Analytics for Stock in Transit - Predict shipment dates and manage stock in transit.

Read the full blog post on www.approyo.com

What's new in SAP S/4HANA 1809

SAP S/4HANA® is a real-time enterprise resource management suite for digital business. It is built on advanced in-memory platform, SAP HANA, and offers personalized, consumer-grade user experience with SAP Fiori. Deployable in the cloud or on premise, SAP S/4HANA can drive instant value across all lines of business – no matter your industry or business size.

SAP S/4HANA is the digital core – the nerve center – of your entire business. It consolidates internal and external elements into a single, living structure that goes beyond traditional ERP software. In other words, it connects all of your processes, provides you with live information and insights, and seamlessly integrates your enterprise with the digital world at large.

The Intelligent Enterprise
Intelligent enterprises effectively use their data assets to achieve their desired outcomes faster – and with less risk. SAP is committed to helping every customer become a smart, best-run business and make the world run better.

Intelligent Technologies will help SAP Applications differentiate while at the same time natively comprehending the context of the business application. This includes higher-order intelligence with many scenarios oriented along business outcomes and relevant to lines of business, feedback mechanisms leveraging IoT and business networks as data sources for training feedback, as well as actionable insights in order to derive connecting insights to strategic decisions via a consistent User Experience (UX).

SAP HANA 1809 - The Intelligent ERP
SAP S/4HANA 1809, released in late 2018, significantly increases the possibilities for digital transformation across all lines of business. Imagine giving voice commands to your SAP ERP system and obtaining instant analytics. Or automating a large portion of your business processes, freeing employees for value-added activities. The streamlined architecture of the 1809 release is also scalable, enabling you to drive growth and profitability.

Industry innovations:

• Finance with Goods and Invoice Receipt Reconciliation leveraging machine learning, and the new SAP S/4HANA for Accruals Management, which is designed to support customers along the entire process of accruals
• Central Procurement, a big step in ERP landscape simplification and a functionality that will help you increase transparency across the procurement systems
• R&D innovation with the new Recipe Finder App and portfolio and project management analytics
• Manufacturing and Demand-Driven Replenishment, the game changer that helps you plan and manage supply chains based on customer demand, and not only via the traditional MRP procedures
• Retail and Fashion with new business scenarios including new planning strategies enhanced with segmentation functionality
• Banking, coming this release with and Loans Management / Deposits Management enhancements
• Public Sector, including major architecture simplifications
• Utilities with a new Analysis of meter reading, supported by an extended virtual data model
• Insurance, providing in that 1809 version a new Product configuration for insurance and digital products

Download our new Whitepaper: What's new in SAP S/4HANA today to learn more about the benefits and features of SAP S/HANA 1809.

Approyo Recognized as SAP Industry Expert

Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider, closed out 2018 by being recognized by multiple industry and international publications. The Wisconsin based company received six awards and recognitions in December focused on Approyo’s growth and expertise in the SAP marketplace throughout the year.

• Approyo named one of the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur360 List
• ACQ5 2018 Global Awards
• US - SCALE-UP COMPANY OF THE YEAR (IT SERVICES) 
• US - SAP SOLUTION PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 
• US - GAMECHANGER OF THE YEAR, CHRIS CARTER, APPROYO
• Approyo named a SB100 Winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards
• Approyo named one of the 20 Best Companies to Watch by Insights Success

“It is honor to be recognized by so many different publications for our SAP expertise,” says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. “2018 was been a great year of growth for the team at Approyo. Thank you to our team, partners and customers. These awards set the tone for the next year and being recognized as the SAP Solution Provider of the year is an accomplishment that showcases what we bring to the SAP ecosystem and how we can truly help!”

Honorees for the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine were identified based on the results from a comprehensive study of independently owned companies, using a proprietary algorithm and other advanced analytics. The algorithm was built on a balanced scorecard designed to measure five metrics reflecting major pillars of entrepreneurship — innovation, growth, leadership, impact and business valuation.

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is America’s most prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates the BEST Small to Mid-Sized Business Visionaries. With over twenty-five notable “Best of Small Business” categories to choose from, The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is the largest Annual Business Recognition Program in the US.

The ACQ5 Global Awards honor the leading deal teams, firms and professionals whose activities set the standard for our markets. This year, companies and individuals, representing every major market in the world, became finalists for the awards.

Read the full announcement on www.approyo.com

Approyo named a SB100 Winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards

Approyo was recently named a SB100 winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards. The company ranked No. 62 in the SB100 category, which recognizes the top 100 small-to-mid-sized businesses in the US for their growth & accomplishments in the previous year. The Best of Small Business Awards is a competitive and prestigious award that ranks Approyo as one of the most elite businesses in the country!

“It is honor to be recognized as one of the top small businesses by the Small Business awards” says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. “2018 has been a great year of growth for the team at Approyo and this recognition further validities our success in the SAP ecosystem. Thank you to our team, partners and customers.”

See the full list of winners in each category and learn more about the awards here.

About the Small Business Awards
The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is America’s most prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates the BEST Small to Mid-Sized Business Visionaries.  With over twenty-five notable “Best of Small Business” categories to choose from, The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is the largest Annual Business Recognition Program in the US.

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is presented by Small Business Expo (celebrating its 10 Year Anniversary with nearly 100 Successful Business Shows Produced), the Nation’s BIGGEST and most attended Business-to-Business Networking Event, Trade Show & Conference, hosted in 17 major US cities.  Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs attend our nation-wide events to attend cutting-edge business-critical workshops, shop for vendors that can help their business grow & network with thousands of attendees.