We have all heard about Fiori, the SAP Cloud Platform and the fantastic capability to digitally transform your business. So where are you on this journey?

Focusing on User Experience

SAP embarked on the Fiori journey to seriously address the expectation gap between the modern user; Whom, let’s face it, was having a much easier time using the internet at home than performing the job at work using the old SAP GUI Screens. This approach focused on the User Experience and tailoring the information and content to the user’s role in the organisation making it much easier for folks to get thing done.

A core component of this strategy was to move form SAP GUI to a browser based user interface and use the fast improving HTLM5 responsive web application controls. UI was born as SAP set out to create a control set for the enterprise user. The SAP technology stack was now able to build and run web application and exciting opportunities arose from this capability. Customers could now use SAP technology to build all sorts of Apps and not ones that simply focused on easy input of a SAP transaction.

SAP Cloud Platform

The emergence of cloud technology and the ability to build transformation applications on this platform further extends the use of Fiori to deliver the user experience required in the current environment.

Apps are now delivered on Premise, as Hybrid Apps wrapped in Cordova or even device targeted native apps like those produced using the SAP cloud platform SDK for IOS.

Go to a conference and you will see shiny and fantastic apps built using this technology. Consulting companies will be spruiking their solutions and consulting expertise.

SAP will explain how you can use all the new tools like Web IDE, Build, Gateway Services, BlockChain, AI to deliver these new applications. It’s all about how and what can be delivered. It’s all about the great technology and the user experience.

Delivering and Maintaining Fiori Apps

Take notice of the deathly silence on WHO will be delivering these solutions. Who will maintain them and what happens once the business loves them and want more delivered faster at a lower cost?

A typical project using this technology consists of a User Experience Expert, A Fiori Front end Web Developer, a Gateway Solutions Architect and a Business Analyst to grease the communication between the parties.

What’s the Role of the traditional ABAP developer or SAP Functional Analyst. These are the people that know the SAP objects, data model and process the best. In fact, they know your business the best.

Would it not be an attractive option to “enable” these people to be the driving force behind digital transformation. To enable these people to sustain delivery of Fiori Apps by building new and easily maintaining existing apps. Imagine being able to deliver these results without the need to add new hires for needed skill sets to your organisation.

Using your Existing Team

This desire to empower and train the current set of developer and radically transform them into “Fiori” developers led to the genesis of IQX AppBuilder for SAP Fiori. It’s possible, take a look, ask around, speak to customers and developers who are using the product. Discover the journey they started by taking the first small step to use a standardise way of designing, building and running Fiori App, on-premise or in the cloud.

After all, what you get is a standard Fiori App, but what you do not get is just as important. You do not get:

Locked into the toolset – detach whenever you like
Lots of custom built Apps delivered and built differently by different developers and consulting companies
Expensive consultants even for simple changes
A demotivated and unloved SAP team with an aging skill set.

Running SAP but still using Spreadsheets for CAPEX?