Running a digital business is complicated, and it’s not easy for management to get a full picture of what’s going on in the entire enterprise.

BusinessObjects Cloud is the new software as a service (SaaS) offering from SAP that offers a new range of analytics functions.

Importantly, it is connected to both on-premise and cloud applications so customers can do analytics on a range of data, using the cloud.

It includes business intelligence (BI), planning and predictive capabilities, with governance, regulation and compliance (GRC) coming soon.

Vertical applications allow the embedding of analytics into other applications. This lets business extend their existing applications.

But why will customers invest in the public cloud? research shows that, within the next two years, we will see that 36% of customers will have replaced on-premise systems, with 31% on the way to doing so.

Bringing data into one place, and allowing business leaders to make meaningful decisions based on a 360-degree view of the company is the ultimate dream.

SAP Africa’s Paul Vermaak explains that the company’s Digital Boardroom system helps businesses to interrogate a broad range of data to make realtime decisions.

The systems is based on Business Objects Cloud, which consumes data either in the cloud or on-premise, and aims to contextualise and simplify performance reporting across all areas of business in realtime.

“SAP Digital Boardroom intends to provide total transparency to board members, executives and decision-makers with a comprehensive, realtime view of business performance across an entire company,” comments Bernd Leukert, member of the executive board of SAP SE, products and innovation.

“We have incorporated fully automated business intelligence capabilities that aim to dramatically improve the quality and speed of reporting as well as collaboration in real time. As businesses continue to transform and evolve around the digital economy, executives will be able to use SAP Digital Boardroom for instant, data-driven insights that address ad hoc questions and improve decision-making. It will ultimately build trust between all board participants, employees and investors.”

When required to make highly informed business decisions, board members, executives and decision-makers are often faced with separate reporting solutions that present data in a static, isolated way. SAP Digital Boardroom aims to harmonise the view of company operations across all lines of business on multiple devices. This view enables users to understand the past instantly, predict the future and conduct business successfully in today’s digital economy.

Anticipated customer benefits include:

* Transparency: Standards-based reporting on financials, operations, marketing and sales are based on a single source of the truth, delivered in real time, with no data duplication.

* Data-driven insights: Powerful analytical exploration functions use a simple user interface to address ad hoc questioning and support improved decision-making.

* Simplified processes: An intuitive user interface enables natural interactions based on a single-screen experience. It is delivered through a modern touch-screen experience, whether using a projector, a laptop or a wearable device. Rich visualisations of live data eliminate static presentations. New collaboration features assign and track action items even outside of scheduled meetings.