Introduced in 2017, SAP Data Hub is the all-in-one data orchestration solution discovers, refines, enriches, and governs any type, variety, and volume of data across your entire distributed data landscape. It supports your intelligent enterprise by rapidly delivering trustworthy data to the right users with the right context at the right time.
SAP Data Hub 2.4 was released in Janaury 2019. While this is an incremental release, following the Introduction of SAP Data Hub 2.3 major release, it is more than just corrections and bug fixes. There are several new features and key enhancements which provide greater flexibility and more protection for customers.
What's new in SAP Data Hub 2.4:
Extending native connectivity to support more databases and applications
Today, SAP Data Hub already provides a broad spectrum of connectivity to big data and enterprise sources. As integration remains a building block for the digital transformation, one of the priorities is to continuously grow the native connectivity with more enterprise applications.
In this release, SAP added direct integration with several structured data sources including MS SQL Server, MySQL, IBM DB2, and Google BigQuery. Once a connection is established, SAP Data Hub will automatically crawl the metadata for these connected sources. You can then browse, view, profile, catalog, and share the data directly within the Metadata Explorer. In addition, there are more than 350 predefined operators and data pipelines that already exist ready to be used for supporting broader scenarios.
Enabling Data Lineage for disparate & distributed data sources
SAP introduced the SAP Data Hub Metadata Explorer in the previous release. The goal is to provide a centralized location for all data professionals to gain insights on diverse datasets in today’s modern distributed landscape.
This release SAP is increasing our investment in metadata governance by offering end-to-end support for data lineage at the schema level. You can use the new lineage analysis feature to view a graphical representation of the source, transformations, and dependencies of a dataset. Lineage information can be extracted from computed datasets such as SQL View, and other types of computations including stored procedures, BW transformations, datastores, and the Data Hub pipeline modeler.
The Data Lineage feature will further help you to gain visibility about your data assets and greatly simplify root cause analysis. You will have a clear understanding of the data’s origins, how the data may have changed, and which areas might be consuming the data.
The initial support is focused on SAP connections including Business Warehouse, HANA, Vora and data pipelines. Our plan is to extend this functionality towards all supported sources as well as allow a complete audit trails for business security and compliance in future release
.
Providing a new Anonymization operator for individual’s privacy protection
With GDPR being enforced in 2018, SAP knows meeting this regulation is still on everyone’s mind. Previously, you could use the data mask operator to mask out all or a portion of the data that contains sensitive information. Now, you can use the new anonymization operator to further protect the privacy of each individual identity by grouping similar records into a category. Thus, you can discover statistically valid insights from your data without risking re-identification of individuals.
View the full post on www.approyo.com
Friday, February 8, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
9.5 reasons to upgrade to SAP S/4HANA today
SAP S/4HANA 1809
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.
Enter 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. SAP S/4HANA 1809 is the core to the intelligent Enterprise.
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).
9.5 reasons to upgrade to SAP S/4HANA right now:
1. Improve order fulfillment
2. Increase customer satisfaction
3. Reduce manufacturing error rates
4. Reduce procurement costs
5. Respond to market fluctuations faster than ever
6. Streamline your supply chain
7. Improve your manufacturing cycle time
8. Streamline your supply chain
9. Reduce unplanned downtime
9.5 The Intelligent Enterprise
Download the Whitepaper: 9.5 reasons to upgrade to SAP S/4HANA right now
Friday, February 1, 2019
SAP Releases Q4 and 2018 Results
SAP Announces Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Results on www.sap.com. The results continue to show growth for SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA. This growth mirrors Approyo's growth and accolades throughout 2019 and align with our vision as the premier SAP Platform as a service partner.
SAP Hits or Exceeds All Raised Outlook Metrics - Targets More Than 3x Cloud Revenue by 2023
Full Year 2018 Highlights:
Even after multiple guidance raises during the year SAP met or exceeded all of its 2018 outlook metrics.
For the full year new cloud bookings were €1.81 billion, up 25% (up 28% at constant currencies). Cloud subscriptions and support backlog increased 30%, reaching €10 billion at year-end. Cloud subscriptions and support revenue was €4.99 billion (IFRS) or €5.21 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), achieving the full year outlook (€5.15 to €5.25 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Software revenue decreased 5 % year over year to €4.65 billion (IFRS), flat year over year (non-IFRS at constant currencies). New cloud and software license order entry exceeded €10 billion and grew by 14% at constant currencies year over year in the full year. Cloud and software revenue was €20.62 billion (IFRS) or €21.58 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), exceeding the full year outlook (€21.15 to €21.35 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Total revenue was €24.71 billion (IFRS) or €25.96 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), exceeding the full year outlook (€25.20 to €25.50 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies).
SAP’s rapidly expanding cloud business together with solid growth in support revenue continued to drive the share of more predictable revenue. The total of non-IFRS cloud subscriptions & support revenue and non-IFRS software support revenue was 65% of non-IFRS total revenue for the full year 2018, up 2 percentage points.
For the full year, operating profit was €5.71 billion (IFRS) or €7.48 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), achieving the full year outlook (€7.425 to €7.525 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Earnings per share increased 2% to €3.42 (IFRS) and decreased 2% to €4.35 (non-IFRS).
Operating cash flow for the full year was €4.30 billion, a decrease of 15% year over year. Free cash flow decreased 25% year over year to €2.84 billion. At year end, net liquidity was –€2.49 billion.
Fourth Quarter 2018 highlights
In the fourth quarter, new cloud bookings were €736 million, up 25% (23% at constant currencies). Cloud subscriptions and support revenue grew 41% year over year to €1.41 billion (IFRS), up 40% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Software revenue grew 1% year over year to €2.09 billion (IFRS), up 8% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). New cloud and software license order entry grew 18% at constant currencies year over year. Cloud and software revenue grew 9% year over year to €6.32 billion (IFRS), up 11% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Total revenue grew 9% year over year to €7.43 billion (IFRS), up 13% (non-IFRS at constant currencies).
In the fourth quarter operating profit increased by 22% year over year to €2.40 billion (IFRS), up 8% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Earnings per share decreased 8% to €1.41 (IFRS) and decreased 15% to €1.51 (non-IFRS).
SAP S/4HANA
SAP S/4HANA is at the core of the Intelligent Enterprise. With S/4HANA, customers automate more and more of their business processes enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks. It detects patterns, predicts outcomes and suggests actions empowering companies across all industries to reinvent their business models for the digital economy.
S/4HANA adoption grew to approximately 10,500 customers, up 33% year over year. In the fourth quarter, more than 40% of the additional S/4HANA customers were net new.
Business Outlook 2019
Reflecting SAP’s strong cloud and overall business momentum as well as the Qualtrics acquisition with a January 23rd, 2019 closing date, the Company is providing the following 2019 outlook:
SAP Hits or Exceeds All Raised Outlook Metrics - Targets More Than 3x Cloud Revenue by 2023
- Cloud Subscription and Support Revenue Up 32% (IFRS) and Up 38% (Non-IFRS at Constant Currencies) in FY 2018
- Cloud Backlog Increased 30%, Exceeding €10 Billion at Year-End
- Cloud and Software Revenue Up 5% (IFRS) and Up 10% (Non-IFRS at Constant Currencies) in FY 2018
- Cloud and Software Order Entry Exceeds €10 Billion, Up 14% at Constant Currencies in FY 2018
- Operating Profit Up 17% (IFRS) and Up 10% (Non-IFRS at Constant Currencies) in FY 2018
- Guiding for Up to 39% Non-IFRS Cloud Subscription and Support Revenue Growth and Up to 10% Non-IFRS Cloud and Software Revenue Growth in 2019 at Constant Currencies
- Guiding for Up to 11.5% Non-IFRS Operating Profit Growth in 2019 at Constant Currencies – Faster Than Total Revenue Growth
- Targeting More Than €35 Billion in Total Revenue by 2023
Full Year 2018 Highlights:
Even after multiple guidance raises during the year SAP met or exceeded all of its 2018 outlook metrics.
For the full year new cloud bookings were €1.81 billion, up 25% (up 28% at constant currencies). Cloud subscriptions and support backlog increased 30%, reaching €10 billion at year-end. Cloud subscriptions and support revenue was €4.99 billion (IFRS) or €5.21 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), achieving the full year outlook (€5.15 to €5.25 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Software revenue decreased 5 % year over year to €4.65 billion (IFRS), flat year over year (non-IFRS at constant currencies). New cloud and software license order entry exceeded €10 billion and grew by 14% at constant currencies year over year in the full year. Cloud and software revenue was €20.62 billion (IFRS) or €21.58 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), exceeding the full year outlook (€21.15 to €21.35 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Total revenue was €24.71 billion (IFRS) or €25.96 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), exceeding the full year outlook (€25.20 to €25.50 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies).
SAP’s rapidly expanding cloud business together with solid growth in support revenue continued to drive the share of more predictable revenue. The total of non-IFRS cloud subscriptions & support revenue and non-IFRS software support revenue was 65% of non-IFRS total revenue for the full year 2018, up 2 percentage points.
For the full year, operating profit was €5.71 billion (IFRS) or €7.48 billion (non-IFRS at constant currencies), achieving the full year outlook (€7.425 to €7.525 billion non-IFRS at constant currencies). Earnings per share increased 2% to €3.42 (IFRS) and decreased 2% to €4.35 (non-IFRS).
Operating cash flow for the full year was €4.30 billion, a decrease of 15% year over year. Free cash flow decreased 25% year over year to €2.84 billion. At year end, net liquidity was –€2.49 billion.
Fourth Quarter 2018 highlights
In the fourth quarter, new cloud bookings were €736 million, up 25% (23% at constant currencies). Cloud subscriptions and support revenue grew 41% year over year to €1.41 billion (IFRS), up 40% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Software revenue grew 1% year over year to €2.09 billion (IFRS), up 8% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). New cloud and software license order entry grew 18% at constant currencies year over year. Cloud and software revenue grew 9% year over year to €6.32 billion (IFRS), up 11% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Total revenue grew 9% year over year to €7.43 billion (IFRS), up 13% (non-IFRS at constant currencies).
In the fourth quarter operating profit increased by 22% year over year to €2.40 billion (IFRS), up 8% (non-IFRS at constant currencies). Earnings per share decreased 8% to €1.41 (IFRS) and decreased 15% to €1.51 (non-IFRS).
SAP S/4HANA
SAP S/4HANA is at the core of the Intelligent Enterprise. With S/4HANA, customers automate more and more of their business processes enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks. It detects patterns, predicts outcomes and suggests actions empowering companies across all industries to reinvent their business models for the digital economy.
S/4HANA adoption grew to approximately 10,500 customers, up 33% year over year. In the fourth quarter, more than 40% of the additional S/4HANA customers were net new.
Business Outlook 2019
Reflecting SAP’s strong cloud and overall business momentum as well as the Qualtrics acquisition with a January 23rd, 2019 closing date, the Company is providing the following 2019 outlook:
- Non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue is expected to be in a range of €6.7 − €7.0 billion at constant currencies (2018: €5.03 billion), up 33% – 39% at constant currencies.
- Non-IFRS cloud and software revenue is expected to be in a range of €22.4 – €22.7 billion at constant currencies (2018: €20.66 billion), up 8.5% – 10% at constant currencies.
- Non-IFRS operating profit is expected to be in a range of €7.7 – €8.0 billion at constant currencies (2018: €7.16 billion), up 7.5% – 11.5% at constant currencies.
- In addition, SAP expects total revenues to increase strongly, at a rate slightly lower than operating profit.
- The comparative numbers for 2018 do not include Qualtrics. Callidus revenue and profits are included in the comparative numbers from the April 5th, 2018 acquisition close date.
- While SAP’s full-year 2019 business outlook is at constant currencies, actual currency reported figures are expected to be impacted by currency exchange rate fluctuations as the Company progresses through the year.
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Thursday, January 31, 2019
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:
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:
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
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.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
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:
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.
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...
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
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.
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...
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
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:
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
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
Thursday, January 17, 2019
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:
Empower Your Digital Core with Machine Learning Powered by SAP and Approyo
Read the full blog post on www.approyo.com
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
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AI,
Approyo,
Approyo SAP,
Machine Learning,
Predictive Analytics,
SAP,
SAP Hana,
SAP HANA Cloud,
SAP S/4HANA
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