#36: Back to on-prem, ChatGPT, Mining, ERP State of Mind
Hi there,
We hope everyone had a good laugh on April Fool’s Day. If not, it’s not too late to read about SAP extending ECC support until the end of existence, carrier pigeons replacing MS Teams and Slack, ABAP getting replaced with Perl, vendors outsourcing support to ChatGPT, and a new SAP pop album that goes number one in every chart at once.
Now back to business, end-of-quarter is no laughing matter!
-Jelena and Paul
The Great Repatriation
The cloud is all fine and dandy but some adopters are beginning to realize that it becomes “the problem it was meant to solve”: it’s just plain expensive. And as the pendulum swings in the opposite direction, some are falling back to on-premise.
One of the aspects of such decisions is scale, growth, and eventual “corporate plateau”. This article notes:
“… it’s becoming evident that while cloud clearly delivers on its promise early on in a company’s journey, the pressure it puts on margins can start to outweigh the benefits, as a company scales and growth slows.”
Back in the days, there was an expectation that eventually Moore’s Law would kick in and everyone would benefit from lower cloud costs. But so far it seems that mostly providers are reaping the benefits, if any.
Cloud also comes with a certain “flexibility tax”. Use less when business is slow, use more when it’s booming, seems like a great deal. But not all companies actually need this. Cloud is “renting other people computers”. If your business is not subject to huge spikes and is more predictable, why pay to rent?
In the SAP world, the same concerns have been percolating. At a recent ASUG meeting I attended, almost everyone talking about cloud mentioned it was expensive. On a much smaller scale, I’ve also experienced unpleasant bills when using the ABAP trial system in SAP CAL. (The system itself is provided free by SAP but you have to bring your own cloud, so to speak.) Cloud has undeniable benefits and I wouldn’t pronounce it dead by any means. But don’t let it cloud your judgment either, when it comes to cost. JP
ERP State of Mind
I recently stumbled upon a sponsored post on the ERP Software Blog, titled "Here are 9 Signs You Need ERP Software ASAP!" Among the reasons: "Your Data Is All Over the Place" and "You're Lacking Visibility." I got to thinking: Does implementing ERP software magically resolve all these issues for everyone?
(The answer is "No". Otherwise this would be a boring little piece.)
Many organizations treat ERP implementation as a one-time fix, a magical transformation from disorganized chaos to streamlined efficiency. This way of thinking misses the bigger picture. Enterprises constantly evolve, and the same problems they sought to address with ERP software will reappear in new, different forms.
The only way to fight it is to accept its ever-evolving nature. ERP is a whirlwind of possibilities, a constant awkward junior high slow dance between emerging challenges and innovative solutions. The most successful organizations don't just install ERP software and call it a day. They continuously adapt and refine processes, leveraging the flexibility and scalability of ERP systems to stay ahead of the game.
ERP isn't a one-time fix. It's an ongoing adventure, a journey to Mordor. Most places I work with that already have ERP still have these exact same problems. The best ERP isn't itself a one-time solution to all these issues (because nothing can be!), but a system that allows you to constantly update your own solutions to them. Embrace the whirlwind. PM
Process Mining
Recent ServiceNow announcement of a new platform release would’ve been just a bleep on my marketing anti-radar but the news about process mining caught my attention. ServiceNow is jumping into a “red ocean” where the sharks like UiPath, IBM, Celonis, SAP with their Signavio acquisition, and many others are already swimming.
What the heck is “process mining” and why would you care? Obviously no one is going to dig around business processes just for fun. This “mining” usually gets mentioned in the business process optimization or automation context. To optimize or automate something, you should first know what it actually is. And many companies don’t really know what processes are running in their systems and what they do. (This is a very common situation among SAP customers.)
On the technical side, these mining solutions rely on the logs and “events” to determine what is happening, where and when. It’s important to understand that just like real mining, this process takes time and data gathering should start as soon as possible. It’s not always possible to re-trace events accurately after they happened. If you have a project like this in mind, make it a priority and make sure to cover the processes that might run only once a quarter to get the best value. JP
A Tale of Two AI Assistants
Two tech titans (who, if you follow the dollars, are more closely related than it first appears) have decided to unveil their shiny new AI-powered toys: OpenAI's ChatGPT plugins and Microsoft 365 Copilot. While they might seem like twins at first glance, these virtual helpers approach their duties from slightly different perspectives.
With ChatGPT plugins, where the charming ChatGPT takes center stage, the chatbot itself does all the singing, dancing, and pretty much everything you ask. The plugins are like trusty sidekicks, amplifying its abilities and bringing even more to the party. It gives the ChatGPT experience a LOT more power.
In Microsoft 365 Copilot-land, trusty dusty 365 applications still reign supreme. Here, the AI assistant weaves itself into every nook and cranny of Office/Dynamics/Power Platform, elevating the user experience to new heights. But it's not the main attraction—rather, it's the cherry on top of the existing Microsoft sundae.
I think we're going to eventually see a world where both experiences (and others like these) move to chat/AI-first, and the plugins and applications move to supporting roles, completing smaller tasks unified by the chat interface. This AI adventure is just beginning. PM
Toying With Regex
Regex (short for regular expression) is one of the rare things that many programmers agree on: it can be powerful but no one really likes it. There are whole “Regex jokes” collections on Pinterest for a reason.
My recent encounter with regex at work only reaffirmed my commitment to never dealing with it again. But when you need to extract specific information from the text using a pattern in ABAP, there is just no avoiding it.
ABAP book author and Regex Slayer James E. McDonough recently shared a blog post on SAP Community about enhancing Regex Toy, the only ABAP-based regular expression tester. Reading it, I felt like a prized fool because I had no idea this tester existed, much less that it could also be enhanced. SAP is just full of surprises sometimes!
I sincerely hope you never have to deal with regex but in case you do, bookmark James’s post. This “toy” might save your butt some day. JP
Conferences For Everyone
The pandemic left me with UGH feelings in every corner of my life. I hadn't realized until lately that one of those corners was my SAP techie community feeling. Maybe they're unrelated, but I felt my connection to SAP tech stuff wane and fall apart at the same time as the world fell apart. Now that we've seen a shift out of crazy pandemic life, in-person conventions are breathing new life into the SAP techie world.
BTPCON is coming up in a couple of weeks with a solid set of speakers and material, UI5con is dropping in July with a great set of sponsors, and while I haven't seen a 2023 date set I have hopes that ABAPConf will continue its tradition of excellence. What's great about these conferences is that they're not solely orchestrated by SAP - they appear to be community-driven and ecosystem-sponsored.
These days, I don't do a lot of SAP-only projects. I tend to have a mix of SAP/ABAP with non-SAP cloud technologies. Concomitant with that mixing is a dilution of my read on the SAP community in general. I've asked some podcast guests their thoughts, but perhaps I should ask our readers: what's the state of play for passionate SAP techies these days? Do you feel like you get enough love, or enough challenging, meaningful work? Is there a geographic difference in these feelings? Is my feeling of a springtime in SAP techie conferences felt by my fellow nerds? I would really like to understand. PM
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I never knew about Regex Toy! This is such a time saver.